Richard Mills (guitar, vocals) Brett [aka Bert] Pulham (guitar) John Chapel (keyboards) George Bird (bass) David Skates (drums)
Southend-on-Sea, Essex, band Crocheted Doughnut Ring formed in 1967 out of two other bands, Force Five and The Fingers, both of which were managed by legendary producer Peter Eden.
Eden christened the band Crocheted Doughnut Ring after a
Peter Blake pop-art collage. Eden also pseudonymously wrote their debut single ‘Two Little Ladies’ released on Polydor in 1967
- Two Little Ladies (Azalea & Rhododendron) [2:55]
- Nice [3:00]
Apparently Polydor ‘rush-released’ the single, and as a result, neglected to sign the band to any contract. The single lacked a B-side, so Eden took the backing track, experimented with different techniques like phasing and cross-fading, and came up with the song ‘Nice’.
This was then presented to Polydor as the B-side for ‘Two Little Ladies’.
The single was released in October 1967. Pirate radio stations decided to flip the single and play ‘Nice’ instead which proved more popular than the A-side, however the song ‘Nice’ was deemed “too far out” to play on the newly-formed Radio One.
Over the next year, the band issued three more singles (one under the moniker Doughnut Ring), all of which were ignored in the UK.
The band called it quits in early 1969, with some of the members going onto form the offshoot band River but they fell apart as quickly as they formed.