WORDS BY VINCE EAGER
The year was 1959 and Eddie Cochran had co-written and recorded a song that, two decades later, would determine the future and lifestyle of one Dave James of Coventry in England. At age 10, music was fast becoming an integral part of Dave’s life when he discovered the Sex Pistols’ recording of Somethin’ Else. Following his efforts to discover more about the song, his uncle had bought him his first Eddie Cochran album which featured the original, and far superior, version. Over the coming months David became obsessed with Eddie’s music, prompting him to buy a Hofner Committee guitar in order to try and emulate his new-found hero.
During the following years Dave’s appetite for Eddie’s lifestyle and music prompted his father Bob to support him in his quest. It wasn’t long before Dave formed his own group, The Eager Beavers. His father contacted promoters and bookers nationwide in order to get the group work and it culminated in them being booked for three Eddie Cochran festivals in Chippenham, the town where Eddie’s fatal crash took place in 1960.