Stripey was a Rhyl schoolboy band formed out of jam sessions at the Bodunig public house in Dyserth in 1975-76.



The line up featured Steve Allan Jones vocals and keyboards, Mike Peters on bass guitar, Dave Parry on guitar, Gary Jones on drums, Julie and Melvin on vocals.

The band played a few gigs in the Rhyl area including the 6th form discos at the Stables nightclub, Talardy Hotel, St Aspah Wales. Louis Parker, the owner, let them rehearse at the Talardy Hotel on Sundays. Parker went on to become a music agent, representing stars including Boyzone, All Saints and The Prodigy.



Stripey split up after a gig at a North Wales holiday camp when they were asked to vacate the stage – they were playing mainly covers but very badly. Mike Peters went on to form the Toilets & Steve Allan Jones retained Gary & Dave to form Amsterdam which would also feature Eddie Macdonald.

I’ll relate my memory of that time, the band Stripey wore Marks and Spencer ladies stripey t shirts … blue stripes! For my 50th birthday Mike bought me a similar shirt! Stripey split up when we were kicked off a cabaret stage at a holiday camp. While we waited for Mark Harris to pick us up in his dads decorating van, Mike and I decided that Stripey wasn’t what we wanted to do. I think I was going off to Europe with the school choir (my first tour!) and neither Mike nor I knew what we wanted to do musically. It was September that year (1976) when we both saw the Pistols in Chester when the path became clearer. Simon mentioned the 1520 club … sadly demolished to make way for housing but Mike realised that without a gig in Rhyl we had nowhere to play. Mike as usual took direct action and so a punk club night at the 1520 arose. There was a real buzz around the town then, so many of us holding down 9 to 5 jobs but trying to create something meaningful. I think it’s correct to say that Stripey was our nursery. We learnt how to be in a band, we learnt that playing other people’s songs wasn’t much fun if we could write our own. – Steve Allan Jones July 2021

Page updated 04/07/2021