Starting with this ticket sent in by Paul Clarke from Essex,
who was at a STRAY gig in Woolwich in 1977. 
He also sent in two flyers HERE and HERE

Geoff Pollock remembers...

I was just googling The Rainbow and looking at their list of gigs. Stray was mentioned. Woah! Seen them there more than once at the Rainbow including a Saturday morning promotion gig for Saturday Morning Pictures. I had seen them many times before, mind you. The first time may have been the back room at The Star Croydon. Certainly saw Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep there. Anyway from then my mates and I followed them all round London. There are too many to remember but almost certainly regular haunts like Bromley Tech, Marquee, Regent Street Poly, The Mistral, Imperial College, Rainbow of course and perhaps even the Greyhound and Chilsehurst Caves too. It would be good to hear of memories of these venues (jefroc@sky.com). These gigs taught my mates and me the art of headbanging! Good times. Well may have been all in my mind. Still have the first 3 albums. Cupboard under the stairs I think but will never get rid of them. Anyway having googled The Rainbow I googled Stray. Well bloomin hell Del is still gigging. Seriously splendid news. It must be close to 40 years since I spoke etc. to Del. Good to hear you're still gigging. Keep happy! Geoff

And from Pete Adams in the West Midlands...

Well where do I start...  I have always been a big Stray fan, having bought Saturday Morning Pictures in '73 after a recommendation from a school friend. Needless to say I was hooked straight away and continued with Move It and subsequent albums. During 1977 at a party at which I was deejaying I had a load of albums stolen, including all my Stray. Over the years I revisited my old albums on many occasions and in particular missed my Stray. I tried to find them over the years but to no avail, even visiting rare record shops. Fast forward to last Friday when I pick up Classic Rock magazine and find Move It on there! I immediately put the cd on in the car and was transported back to my bedroom in 1973! The next day I google "Stray" to find all your albums have been re-released and not only that you are on bloody tour!!! Absolutely amazing! I have now ordered off Amazon, Saturday Morning Pictures, which I should get tomorrow and have a good old reminisce.

Keith Redmayne remembers thusly....

First live band for me was Stray at the Mecca in Sunderland. Steve Gadd swinging the mike stand around, dustbin explosions going off and fantastic strobe lightning. I can honestly say I must have seen em 20/30 times. I bootleg recorded them on an old cassette machine in Newcastle. Next time I saw them I managed to tell Del about this so he told me to send the tape to him for a listen. Back came the tape with a letter from Del saying the recording was crap but thanks anyway, but they were playing Newcastle in a few weeks and if I brought this letter and showed the doorman they would let us in free. Yes they did and we got a lift halfway home after helping the roadies with the gear. Proper Job!
Regards
Keith

Phil from Ulverston says...

I was reading some of the emails for the hard core Stray fans and their recollections of gigs in the 1970s. I bought Mudanzas when it was a new release and was hooked within 2 minutes of putting it on the Dansette stereo player which I lugged to school and back. A week or two later I found a copy of Saturday Morning Pictures and took great pleasure in blowing everyone away with some stunning tracks. About a year later a mate of mine rang to say that Stray were performing live at the Fairfields Hall in Croydon. I hitch-hiked from Carlisle to Croydon (go look at that for a journey) to see the gig. I am sure it was one of the first appearances of Pete Dyer? Maybe you will know? I have every LP released up until 1990. They still get played regularly and I hum along to disguise the scraches and jumps acquired from the wear and tear of years of being played at parties. Head banging to Hallelujah! is a compulsory part of New Years Eve.
Phil

And in response to the message above, Jim Davis writes....

Hi,
I don't remember a venue in Watford called the Hydrospace, but I do remember Stray placing the Kingham Hall.
It was my favourite of all the venues in the area because it was so small and because the wooden floor used to bounce quite a lot. (Well it was almost my favourite - Wishbone Ash appeared at a small place just outside St.Albans called the Pioneer Club that was just one of the best concerts I ever went to - it put them fourth on my all-time 'live' list just behind Cream, Taste and Jeff Beck).

The only problem with the Kingham Hall was that no booze was allowed in - fortunately it was usually possible to get the girls to smuggle a few bottles in under their long skirts.

Jim

From Gary Herbert in Colchester...

Well firstly what a turn up to see a message on the Time Machine from Steven Riches who I knew 35 years ago and haven’t seen since. I too first heard Stray at the disco on Hythe Hill as Terry Youngs and Roy Barker played “All In Your Mind” every week without fail. By the way Steven if you read this I lived in Winchester Rd when you were in Myrtle Grove.
The first time I saw Stray was at an outside gig on the Middlewick Ranges in Colchester it must have been around 1972 , Mott The Hoople also played.

Then was a fantastic gig at Woods Leisure Centre in Colchester in about 73/74 (still with Steve Gadd) that show was excellent all the explosions and mostly songs from Mudanzas. Over the years I must have seen Stray more than 50 times with memories of the Roundhouse / Jesus on stage with the band always in my mind. Incidentally I was also at the St Albans gig with Budgie which jogged a few memories on the guestbook page. Two things are important about Stray, firstly, although there has been line up changes the music remained strong,”10” is an example of that being one of the best albums to date. Secondly and more important Del Bromham is an absolute gentleman who always has time to speak with friends of the band no matter what’s happening. That's why the support lives on and will continue to do so. Stray are truly a people's band.

From David Wielachowski in Edinburgh (formerly of East Acton)

Ttwo little stories of my time following the world's best rock band, Firstly is the greatest night my mate Cliff and me had at the Marquee club in Wardour St, after yet another great set by the band. Imagine my great surprise to be invited backstage for a wee chat with the band, absolutely outstanding, although Imust admit I was a little bit worse for wear. It is something that has stayed with me all this time ( in fact to my embarassment I do recall sitting on Mr Gary Giles' guitar stand) but I was a skinny teenager at the time so I am sure I didnt bend it too much.

The other story I want to tell is after another gig, this time at the Toby Jug in Tamworth Broadway, the band finished just a little bit late this night due to the fans' cries for more, so on leaving the gig imagine to me and my mate's horror to see the last stage coach for East Acton pulling out of Dodge City with Shane at the reins. To make things worse it was the dead of winter, about minus 10 degrees and one hell of a long walk home. After about 3 hours walking and freezing we did finally reach home, ears still ringing, hard at the time but well worth it. Thanks for the great music, keep it coming, would love to see you live again - any chance of coming to Edinburgh on your next tour?

From Doug at Bexhill

I first saw Stray on the 27 October 1969, what a memory, at the Star Hotel in Croydon. I went to see Blossom Toes, but they didn't appear and Stray filled in. From that day on I was hooked. I must have seen them 60 times, following them around South London. The Greyhound, Hobbit's Garden Wimbledon, The Marque, Fairfield Halls, The Castle Tooting, I remember one night here their gear kept breaking down and they appeared free of charge the next week.

I had several badges saying I am a Stray, and bought the cream and red T shirt. I have still got the first five vinyl album, and have recently Downloaded Time Machine from the Borderline gig. This was the first time I have seen them for thirty years. What I would give to see them live again on the south coast somewhere.
Thanks Del and the boys for all the pleasure you have given me over the years.

...and now, an update from Doug

After not seeing Stray for near on 35 years (see above!) I was very excited to see that they were appearing at The Portland Hotel in Hove on 16th May.

The day finally arrived and I made the hour-long coastal journey on my own from Bexhill to Hove with a nervous knot in my stomach. They were everything to me in the late sixties and early seventies when I followed them around Croydon and South London.

I parked my car in a side street near The Portland, and made my way to the hotel. Just as I passed a take-away, three men came out, I looked in disbelief, it was the band including Del in his hat. I turned around feeling like an old anorak, introduced myself, shook hands with Del, and mentioned "I used to see you at The Star Hotel in Croydon", Del said "Yeah, Blossom Toes were supposed to appear" I said "They didn't turn up and you took their place".
We reminisced for about five minutes, I bid them goodbye wished them well and I`ll catch you later.

I then had the most fantastic two hours, listening to some of the oldies (Time Machine, I Believe It, etc.) shaking my head (with very little hair) and moving my hips. The memories came flooding back, I was in tears of joy. The band were awesome.
It was a night I will never forget. Thanks Del, and the boys, for letting me relive my youth.

Keep Rockin.
Doug.

Followed by this, from John Ben...

Hi,
Was reading about Doug's experience at seeing Stray for the first time at the Star in Croydon. I was the promoter of the Star, The Tooting Blues Club and Hobbit's Garden amongst others. I remember that night well and yes Blossom Toes couldn't make it, Stray were the supporting band so I reduced the admission to half price and they played the whole evening. They went down a storm and came back on several occasions as the headline act and always packed the place.
From memory they were managed by Dave Arnot at the time. (I wonder what happened to him).

Another reason that night sticks out for me, I met my first wife!!!!!!

Late 60's early 70's was a great time for live progressive music.
John.

P.s If anyone has any of the old flyers, posters etc I would love to hear from you johnben@talktalk.net

Michelle Lee writes...

Hi! Stray really helped make my teenage years in the 70s special, mad and soo bad. I saw them them quite a few times in Southend on Sea, Essex. They were my favourite band and I remember my friends and I drooling over Steve Gadd, his jeans were sooo tight. Especially loved 'All In Your Mind' . Noticed that they recently played at Club Riga in Westcliff. Hope they come back soon, because I will definitely be going to see them.

Bob Barker remembers...

Stray were the first ever live band I saw, Hobbit's Garden Wimbledon, must have been around 1970/71. Main memory is the strobe lighting - wonder we didn't all have epileptic fits! Never actually owned or listened to a Stray record, but I've just been listening to some of the songs on Spotify, the music is damn good, and I'm adding them to my collection. Now all I need to do is to get through my 'O' levels, see Wimbledon get into division 4 and get myself a girlfriend!

Well, at least the 'O' levels are sorted anyway.....

Pram from Nottingham says...

My fond memory is of STRAY playing at The Greyhound hotel in Croydon, Surrey opposite Fairfield Hall on a Sunday evening either in 1973 or 1974. I saw them a few times - they were a very exciting band to watch. Thank you.

Trogg from Littlehampton in West Sussex says....

Crikey - I don't believe it! You're still at it! I first saw Stray at the Carshalton park free concert - I think I was about 15 or 16, making it around 1975/76.

I was so proud to be there with all my school mate freaks who had not heard of Stray. I had heard plenty of your stuff from my brother who was the DJ at the Hole In The Wall pub in Southwark, London. He used to get me in there - it was a rock church in its day and I met many a muso there. The park gig was amazing and what made it so was that the girl I had fancied for so long at school was blown away by the fact I had knowledge of such a cool band. So it worked for me and a good night was had. Cheers guys, and I will be along to see you soon. All In Your Mind' is my all time fave track.

Chris remembers seeing Stray at Chatham City Hall...

This was actually the first gig I ever went to, must have been some time around April to June 1974 - I really cannot remember exactly, but I was in the Royal Navy, serving on a Frigate based in Chatham and a good buddy of mine on board who had very similar musical tastes to mine suggested we go and see this band, Stray, who he had a couple of LPs by
and who, in all honesty, at the time I had never heard of. The band came on and played their stuff and my memories of it were that it was some very competent heavy rock music, particularly well embellished by this extremely blond character performing some pretty hot stuff on his Firebird.

Going home a couple of weekends later, I mentioned the experience to some friends and one of them piped up "Stray? Yeah, they're a pretty good band, got their 'Suicide' - bloody good album!"

Consequently I was hooked and 'Move It' and 'Mudanzas' found their way into my collection alongside all my Sabbath, Zeppelin, Nazareth, ELP, etc. - sadly 'Suicide' had gone out of press by the time I went to look for a copy so I had to wait for the recent compilations.

Step forward 15 or 16 years and I meet and become friends with another guy where I am working at the time who, again, shares a similar taste in music and who plays guitar, which I have messed about with and start to take a bit more seriously as a result of this meeting. We chat a bit and it transpires that in a former life he was part of the Stray entourage, is still a good friend of Del's and seems to remember being part of the crew at the gig I went to back in '74.
Step forward another 12 or 13 years and this same friend gives me a call to say that Del has invited him over to a gig in Chiddingfold, near Guildford, do I fancy going? Stupid question really!! We got over there and sat down with Del for a drink and a chat before the gig started and I found him to be a really nice, down-to-earth guy, happy to talk to anyone who takes an interest. While we were chatting, the irony of us all having been in the same building nearly 30 years earlier without knowing it at the time really came home.

Del, it really has been a privilege to be able to have a chat on the couple of occasions we have managed it and I appreciate the hours of entertainment you have provided me with. I hope you keep on going for years to come and I look forward to seeing you at more gigs and maybe having another chat.

Cheers
Chris

John says...

Hi,
The Black prince in Bexley hosted loads of good bands in the early 70s which included Derek and the Dominos, Lindisfarne and Status Quo, but the queue for Stray was always the longest, twice round the car park. Not only were they always great but the exploding dustbins were a fantastic bit of the show. A schoolfriend was deaf for two days for being too close to one.

I went straight out and bought the albums Stray and Saturday morning Pictures and played them for years. Thanks lads.

Regards,
John Foord-Divers

I first came across Stray purely by chance - I got 'Letter of the Week' in Melody Maker, I think I was 17/18!!
That was a great thrill for me, but in the post a few days later, my prize arrived...'Saturday Morning Pictures' - the LP!!
I immediately became a Stray fan, & subsequently saw them twice... in Harrogate supporting the Groundhogs ( I think ), and at the Fforde Green pub in Leeds.

Those were great nights... but sadly although I've got the CD's I haven't seen them since!!
Maybe I should put that right this year!!

Regards,
Tony

Colin Moss of Lincoln says...

I used to play guitar in a band called "Scapa Flow". We supported a lot of top bands around 70-74 and one of them was Stray. It was at the Winter Gardens Cleethorpes I believe around 72/73. I remember chatting with them in the dressing room, the exciting show and the exploding dustbin with the toilet paper snow shower (which the band sat shredding up in the dressing room prior to the show). On the way home in the van, Stray were behind us, flashed their lights to stop us, and handed over a microphone we had left behind at the gig.... what a nice bunch of guys!

I am still playing and doing gigs, but always remember that night nearly 40 years later. Great show and nice people.

Thanks,
Colin

This message comes from John Butler in Boston Massachusetts...

Hello! Reading with interest about all the recollections from Stray fans. I first heard of Stray in late 1971 through my girlfriend Marcia. She was a hard rock lover and knew every underground rock band in existence, and when she saw my record collection of James Taylor, Simon & Garfunkel and a load of bubblegum music, she told me that if we were going to be together I needed to get rid of this stuff. All of Marcia's friends knew about her large hard rock collection, and living in a small town in Maine USA, she didn't want anyone to know that she was dating a bubble gummer.

One time a friend of hers asked what kind of records I had, but Marcia quickly jumped in and joked, "He has a bunch of comedy records." From listening to Marcia's music over and over I began to like it. The Stray lp that I remember her having was Suicide. I loved this record and played it a lot. I even tried to buy a copy but had to order it because it didn't sell. Every Monday night from 7 to 9 we used to listen to a college radio station that had this DJ who would play nothing but hard rock. This is where I first heard Our Song, and How could I Forget You. You would have never heard these songs on any formatted station that catered to Top 40. Needless to say we went to Portland that weekend and bought Saturday Morning Pictures.

By 1979 I lost touch with Marcia, but I still have all of the Stray records, along with thousands of other hard rock artists. Stray has been one of my favorite bands, and when finding out couldn't believe how young they were when they recorded their early material. Collecting hard rock for all these years I've been able to learn about a lot of other little known bands. It amazes me how many schooled hard rock lovers from America have never heard of Stray. My friend used to always say that there is no justice in music, and this proves it. Great musicianship, great singing, great production and great songs only means great music! And great music is Stray. Still holding the rock n' roll torch in Boston USA.

Tony puts it in a nutshell...

Never forget a double bill with Status Quo at Mile End, must have been around 1974, and Stray were the dogs wotsits.
Regards, Tony

And to prove that even rose-tinted glasses sometimes need the occasional polish, this email came in from Slim, who says...

We have all been to great Stray gigs, in my case it's probably over a 100 if I include The Killer Bees. I was even at the The White Lion in Putney when The Del Bromham Band Played there. So I thought I'd recall one that wasn't so great, (not Stray's fault I hasten to add). The gig was in Woolwich a Stray stronghold where they did many fab gigs at the Poly.

There was another college in Woolwich, The college of further education and the Student's Union decided to start putting on gigs. There was nowhere big enough on the campus so they booked the Town Hall, capacity about 400 I guess. To make sure it would be a success ( I assume), they booked Stray. I was a student at the college and even I didn't know it was happening until the day before when I noticed a handdrawn A4 poster on the S.U door. This was back in the days before PCs and websites, about '74 or '75. I checked and sure enough the gig was on. I only noticed one other poster which was in the refectory. It didn't bode well, hardly anyone knew it was on.

Only about 20 or 30 punters were at the gig and to cap it all there was an electrician's strike and only electricians were allowed to turn the house lights on and off so the whole gig was played with the house lights full on. Stray played but unsurprisingly the magic was missing that night. I had a brief chat with Richie Cole at the bar, he was not a happy rock star " Fu**ing idiots" may have been grunted. Hardly worth putting the snakeskin boots and leather strides on I thought but reckoned it best not to say.

On the Monday morning there was a notice on the S.U. door berating the students for not supporting and that they wouldn't be putting any more gigs on. I gave the organisers my thoughts on the mismanagement of the promotion but they fell on deaf ears and no more gigs happened while I was at the college.

Speaking of the Killer Bees I moved to Northampton in about '92 and kept meaning to check out a band who had a cool name. They often played at The Old House At Home, which was just a short walk from home but I could never be arsed to see them. Eventually I got round to it. As I entered I could hear the band playing Percy The Pimp, bloody hell I thought this is the first time I've heard a band covering a Stray song and they're making a decent job of it. The balding (sorry Del) guitarist even looks and sounds a lot like Del Bromham. Then I noticed the Axe he was playing and it all clicked into place. Now that was a magic gig!