Later on in that year, around October we decided that we wanted to increase the size of the group and try to find a keyboard player and maybe some brass. We were playing one gig; not sure where but it was up the road from Risca, perhaps in Cross Keys. At the end of the night, as we were packing up, I heard someone playing a piano in the hall. I think it was some sort of rock and roll; however whatever it was, it sounded good.
I wandered over and saw this thin faced young chap who had a spikey sort of haircut. Before I even asked his name, I asked him if he had an organ, to which he said yes, a Vox Continental. I didn’t even want to check whether he could play it, I just asked him to join us on a gig the following week. Apparently he had been playing a piano at the end of various gigs for a few weeks, trying to attract interest and join a group.
The following week we played a place called Beaumont Hall, somewhere up the valleys, with the organ player, who was called David Kubinec. For some reason that I can’t remember, Dave didn’t use his Vox, he ended up playing a piano that was already on stage, using a microphone stuck inside to amplify the sound. It seemed to go well, so Dave joined the group.
Dave, or ‘Kubie’ as he was known, played with us for the rest of the time I was in the group and went to Germany with them in the late 60s. After he left the Pieces, he became a member of The World Of Oz which managed to achieve a hit single with one of his own compositions, ’The Muffin Man’ released on Decca’s underground label Deram. Dave then passed through the ranks of progressive rock band Mainhorse Airline and a band called the Rats. In 1978, Dave released a solo album called ‘Some Things Never Change’, the same album I found in the London HMV store some years later.
It was a big shame we didn’t exploit the writing skills of Dave. Perhaps they came after he left the Pieces; however, I like to think they were there, just waiting to be pulled out of his mind. He also started singing more when he left the band. I assume this was because he wanted to be the front man and not just the keyboard player.
I wandered over and saw this thin faced young chap who had a spikey sort of haircut. Before I even asked his name, I asked him if he had an organ, to which he said yes, a Vox Continental. I didn’t even want to check whether he could play it, I just asked him to join us on a gig the following week. Apparently he had been playing a piano at the end of various gigs for a few weeks, trying to attract interest and join a group.
The following week we played a place called Beaumont Hall, somewhere up the valleys, with the organ player, who was called David Kubinec. For some reason that I can’t remember, Dave didn’t use his Vox, he ended up playing a piano that was already on stage, using a microphone stuck inside to amplify the sound. It seemed to go well, so Dave joined the group.
Dave, or ‘Kubie’ as he was known, played with us for the rest of the time I was in the group and went to Germany with them in the late 60s. After he left the Pieces, he became a member of The World Of Oz which managed to achieve a hit single with one of his own compositions, ’The Muffin Man’ released on Decca’s underground label Deram. Dave then passed through the ranks of progressive rock band Mainhorse Airline and a band called the Rats. In 1978, Dave released a solo album called ‘Some Things Never Change’, the same album I found in the London HMV store some years later.
It was a big shame we didn’t exploit the writing skills of Dave. Perhaps they came after he left the Pieces; however, I like to think they were there, just waiting to be pulled out of his mind. He also started singing more when he left the band. I assume this was because he wanted to be the front man and not just the keyboard player.
Kubie on the far right, next to Adrian
Short version of the 40 minute interview in which Kubie talks to Jon Kirkman about his career. Think it was done in 2009.