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IN the wild surge of "I'm Into Something Good" to the No. 1 spot in the NME Chart, cheerful, toothy grinned Herman has received a large slice of the publicity, and the four Hermits, living up to their name, have tended to fall into the background. Really, it was only to be expected that Herman, as group leader and spokesman, should be thrust into the limelight. But he's not too happy with the situation. "We're all the same status among ourselves," he told me recently. And he was very pleased when I suggested that he should chat about the Hermits. "Great!" he enthused, and started. The first he threw the spotlight on was lead guitarist Lek Leckenby. "Lek is the oldest member of the group - he's 21," said Herman in his infectious Manchester accent. "And he's the sort of intelligent one of the group. Makes all the big decisions that us youngsters can't manage! "I met him in the Cavern, Manchester - which, by the way, is a great place. Knocks spots off the Liverpool one in my opinion! "Anyway, there he was, lead guitarist with a group called the Wailers. At that time we were Herman and The Hermits. Karl Green and Keith Hopwood were with me. "So I walked up to Lek and said to him: 'Can you play guitar?' he came back with 'Can you sing?' But he joined us - and so did Barry Whitwam, who was also in this Wailers group." Barry, for some mysterious reason, is known as Barry the Bean to the rest of the group. I'm told his face reminds them of a bean! Perhaps it does to the initiated but to me it didn't bear the slightest resemblance. But Herman describes Barry as "the fighter of the group." He explained: "Every day we have a sort of friendly fight and Barry's the one who could smash us all in and knock us cold. But he always lets us win. "As I said, he was also in the Wailers and we consider ourselves very lucky to get him - he's one of the best drummers in Manchester. The next on Herman's list was Karl Green - who of the four Herman associated most with himself. "He's like me: all the time he does everything for laughs," explained Herman. "Two years ago he joined us when we were called The Heartbeats. Members kept dropping out, so Karl came in on bass. And he's been with us ever since." Karl, a former process engraver, is 17. |
Herman's description of Keith is "the joker." "Not the usual sort of joker though really," he says. "He sort of sits around and doesn't say a word for hours while the rest of us clown about and throw ourselves around. "Then suddenly, without warning, he comes out with the most fantastic crack. I can't think of one off-hand, but they're so impromptu that he really curls us up. But he's not the quiet type - a bit reserved perhaps." Keith, who used to be a telephone engineer, ranks with Herman as the smallest member of the group. They're both 5ft. 9in. "And that's the Hermits," concluded Herman. "It may be a cliché but we really are one big, happy family. We never have rows - not real ones. "We have plenty of friendly arguments, of course. And if we do get any problems we usually take them to Lek, or our manager Charles Silverman, or rely on this!" "This" was a small, bangle-type cluster of beads. "It's called a Persian luck," Herman said. "It was given to me by the owner of the Manchester Cavern. "We all use it for small decisions. You take a certain number of beads and whether that number is odd or even decides if the answer to the query is yes or no." Herman's certainly not one for taking chances! Around his neck he wears an assortment of pendants given to him by fans, among them the Greek Orthodox Church medal, the Jewish Star of David, a crucifix, a plain cross and a St. Christopher medal! But while the group are with him, he need have no worries. "I could go on with this lot for the rest of my life," he said. "Why? Because they're just me." |
