Dick Flood & The Searchers – Randy Charles, Allen Barnes & Roy Pylant
Combination of electric bass, organ and piano!
Hey folks! Here’s a picture and another short bit of trivia from my (hidden) past. That’s one of my 1960’s original DICK FLOOD groups known as “THE SEARCHERS”. Left to right; Randy Charles on lead guitar, a very young Allen Barnes on drums and Roy Pylant on what we had named “The Monstrosity”. It was a combination of electric bass, organ and piano. Three electrical musical instruments piled on top of one another. Oh what a sound we had. And oh yeah; the tall guy dressed in white is (was) me.
Early on a serious problem arose about the name I had chosen for my group. Some very talented fellows over in merry old England had formed a really great rock & roll group and as my luck would have it they all had decided to call themselves “THE SEARCHERS”. I had just begun recording for Epic Records. And some of my records were making it into the country charts. (ie; “King or a Clown” and “Another Stretch of Track”). Because the group in England was rock & roll and I was country I did not concern myself too much with that until the they started to make huge crossover chart recordings such as “Sweets For My Sweets” and “Sugar & Spice”. Out of my respect for them, and after many a debate with myself I decided to relinquish my claim to the name. And I changed the name of my group to “The Pathfinders”. That name stuck throughout my entire Dick Flood musical career. Everywhere I was booked I was faithfully advertised as Dick Flood & His Pathfinders.