by Steve Harris
Northern Echo Teesside — 23 May 1970
Meet the top teeny pop group — Steve Harris probes the enigma of the Family on the eve of their Newcastle performance.
UNDERGROUND is as nebulous as any expression spawned by the frenetic world of pop. Someone once, rather cynically, defined it as that which had no artistic virtue, other than being “underground.”
Within that definition, Family are perhaps the most successful British underground group, except that they adamantly refuse to see themselves as such. “We are now a teeny bopper group, as are Fleetwood Mac and Jethro Tull, because we appeal to the 14 and 15-year-olds,” John Weider, the group’s violinist said in a recent interview. “As soon as you lay down sounds on record you’re no longer underground.”
Despite their popularity — the seventh most popular British group in the last Melody Maker poll — they remain an enigmatic and largely unknown entity as far as the great British public is concerned.
To the newcomer to Family music the most striking feature of the group is the guttural, almost raucous singing of Roger Chapman, whose instant “idol dancing” gyrations and distinctive falsetto, make Elvis Presley look like the respectable ballroom crooner he is.
“It’s nice to be musically half and half. I think we’ll probably end up doing one acoustic set and then one electric, in concert,” said John Whitney who plays the now famed twin necked guitar.
“We are a happy group,” says drummer Rob Townsend. “We all get on socially as well as on stage.” Family is more than just another group name, it is a highly individual and distinctive art form and life style, which can only get better as the months go by.