WEM le son à la Pink Floyd.

Citation : 1966. Invention of the "Slave" P.A. System. Possibly the most rewarding and personally satisfying development. In a world bristling with the likes of Alvin Lee and his Ten Years After, The Faces, Jethro Tull, Rod Stewart, Hendrix and indeed the Rolling Stones with so many brilliant groups waiting to emerge but who were unable to do so for the lack of a powerful and competent sound system. This limited the exposure of groups to small venues and pubs or whatever size a couple of lashed up Marshall 100 or Hi Watt Guitar stacks could handle.

For the next 5 or 6 years any group or Band who were serious about their sound HAD to use my WEM Slave P.A. System and they beat a path to my door. This basic system is still used universally to this day by all the P.A. producers (except that the powers are 50 time greater than mine were in those days.

WEM P.A. made possible all of the great, early festivals. Lincoln, Shepton Mallett, Isle of Wight with Dylan in 1970, Isle of Wight with Hendrix in 1971, The immaculate "Stones in the Park" Concert with its quarter of a million audience where I mounted a mere 1500 watts but which could be heard in Edgware and is still rated, to this day, as the most exemplary and perfect sound reproduction of a modern day band. It was breathtaking.........

They started referring to me as the "Father of British P.A." a while back. That's because I'm getting on a bit. . . . I love it.

The first WEM P.A. System with its absolutely Hi Fi quality made its first public appearance at the 1967 Windsor Festival with the help and encouragement of the brilliant Harold Pendleton, owner of London's "Marquee" Club. Suddenly artists could be HEARD with my massive P.A. System with a basic starting power in excess of 1000 watts - power unheard of since Hitler's Nuremberg rally.

Balloon Meadow, Windsor, England, August 1967, The band? Fleetwood Mac on their first appearance. Their private sound was engineered by the legendary Dinky Dawson now in the U.S.A. And the world wakes up to a fresh new world of music. The first 1000 watts of pure Hi Fi power used in live music had arrived. And where was I? I had been arrested for disturbing the peace !!

And the curtain lifted on a new world of music. Multi thousand audiences were now practical, possible, desirable and certainly available and could, at last, HEAR. Now all those brilliant young musicians could emerge and do their thing. Back line gear could be miked up to help it all along. The all important singer could be heard for miles. The rest is everybody else's history.

Citation : And where was I? I had been arrested for disturbing the peace !!