“The Liverbirds” by Mary McGlory and Sylvia Saunders [Book Review]

Hands up who has heard of The Liverbirds?

No?

Well, all that’s about to change, in fact if you’re from Liverpool there is a chance that you may be in the know via the sell-out musical Girls don’t play Guitars that ran at the City’s Royal Court Theatre in 2019 and is due a re-run this September.

Sometime prior to that show, I was in conversation with a very good friend of mine and fellow music writer, Paul Fitzgerald who was enthusing about The Liverbirds, a largely forgotten all girl Beat Band who formed around the time of The Beatles Cavern era, taking a similar journey from Merseyside to Hamburg but unlike their fellow Merseybeat friends they stayed on, entertaining their ever-growing German fanbase.

Paul had the idea that the girls, who were Britain’s first female Rock and Roll band, needed to get their story out there and promptly wrote an article for the now defunct Getintothis website. Liverpool playwright Ian Salmon who was then enjoying success with his Ghost of Elvis comedy The Comeback Special, got on board with Paul’s mission and Girls don’t play Guitars was born.

The success of that play led to a whole new generation of fans wanting to hear their music and find out more about their incredible story and now they can, due to Spotify and the new autobiography by the two surviving members, guitarist Mary McGlory and drummer Sylvia Saunders.

It’s a fascinating read in 2024 due to the changing status in music. It seems like only recently that the Brit Awards would have to carry out a deep search to find nominees for Best Female Artist award. It felt like Annie Lennox was the only annual contender for years, regardless of whether she had made any music that year or not. Thankfully that has changed, and women are impacting the British music scene again. In the early 60s, the scene was dominated by men, and the Liverpool movement was no exception with John Lennon sternly telling The Liverbirds they didn’t have a hope with the now familiar line, “Girls don’t play guitars!”

The book begins in a traditional music biog’ mode with origin tales from the suburbs of North Liverpool that are funny and infectious, making this an incredibly easy read. Helped by the differing tones of the two authors who take turns to deliver chapters, it’s not long before we get to know these characters well.

Despite Mary’s faithfulness to the church and their pact to remain innocent on tour, there are enough episodes to suggest that the whole sex, drugs and rock and roll culture wasn’t completely off limits and many big names make guest appearances throughout the book. Friendships with The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks in particular, and The Beatles (They finally proved John wrong), help to create a colourful backdrop to their story, but their relationship with the Hamburg set (Klaus Voorman / Astrid Kirchherr) provides tales not found in Beatles books.

The tradition in most Beatles’ tomes to paint Hamburg’s Reeperbahn as the area where every young man’s dreams could be satisfied, is told from a refreshingly female point of view, with a very different take on the lives of the sex workers that lived there. The friendship with Astrid doesn’t just focus on her doomed relationship with Stu Sutcliffe and we learn much more about this fascinating character.

They speak fondly but honestly about the troubled lives of their bandmates, the late vocalist Pam and bassist Val, and their stories provide perhaps the saddest and most poignant chapters of the book.

Beyond the expected tales of club life, touring, TV appearances and numerous relationships, we also get a soap-like saga of what happened once the band split up. The fact that most readers will only just be discovering the band members for the first time, there is a risk of “Who really cares?”, but by this point, we do care and find ourselves wanting to know how Mary and Sylvia kept the dream alive, right up to the point when Paul Fitzgerald phoned Mary’s house and ignited the flame for their story to be told. The rest is history with the play, book and re-released music out there, but the tale isn’t over yet.

Hearing one of their most popular songs, “Peanut Butter”, playing over a club scene in Ethan Cohen’s recent Drive-Away Dolls movie is incredibly satisfying but even more exciting is the fact that an actual Liverbirds film is now being produced by Ben Proudfoot, winner of the 2024 academy award for best short film (The Repair Shop).

The Liverbirds story could well have remained one of British rock’s best-kept secrets, but due to the interest of a couple of curious music fans, its looking like they may soon become a household name at long last.

Not only did they prove John Lennon and many others wrong, but their journey also provided a blueprint for how to take on a male-dominated industry and beat the odds with absolute style. If ever a story of a band needed to be told, then this may well be the one.

Pick up your copy of “The Liverbirds” from the Faber & Faber website here

Author: Mary McGlory and Sylvia Saunders
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Release Date: March 14, 2024
Format/Length: Hardcover, 320 Pages

Mary McGlory and Sylvia Saunders “The Liverbirds” Book Cover