Skegness Magazine

Skegness has produced its share of rock bands over the decades, but one of my personal favourites was ‘Sea-saw’. Anyone remember the group? You should – the lead singer was none other than Sid Dennis!

The band first took to the road in 1975, with band members being Sid Dennis (Bass and Lead Vocals), Geoff Dixon (Drums and Vocals), David Green (Lead and Vocals) and Richard Turland (Rhythm and Vocals).

I first saw the group when they were performing, as they often did, at the Anchor Pub, Sea Lane, Ingoldmells, Skegness in 1976, and I was immediately smitten – they played all my favourite heavy metal songs like Black Sabbath’s Paranoid and Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water. I remember Sid was a bit of a budding comedian; even then as he couldn’t resist telling a joke or two between songs. Indeed, when the band broke up, he went on to tour local venues as a fully fledged (rather risque) stand-up comic, very popular even today. Picture below by Paul Gooch – traditionally British stand-up comic, Sid Dennis of Skegness, as he was appearing at the Suncastle, Skegness.

In 1979, Sea-saw released an album on vinyl called ‘Welcome to Skegness’ and I’m thrilled to bits as I’ve just secured a copy of the original LP record. (front cover below)

The tracks are:

SIDE ONE
1 YEAH I CAN DO IT
2 STAYIN’ ALIVE
3 FOLLOW ME’
4 HOLD THE LINE
5 DOO WAH DIDDY
6 BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER
SIDE TWO
1 AFTER THE GOLD RUSH
2 LYIN’ EYES
3 HOWZAT
4 SMOKE ON THE WATER
5 WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

Track 3, ‘Follow Me’, was written by Richard Turland

Audio: Smoke on the Water by Sea-saw (password ’skegness’)

Sid also sang on a Skegness Lifeboat Charity Record which was released in 1989