Des OReilly.com (A Musical Life)

Sadly I have to let you know that Dave Millen the Puppets guitarist passed away on Tuesday Jan 19 2010.He had advanced lung cancer and a brain tumour plus other complications and  according to his daughter Lee, who was with him at the time.he died peacefully, comfortably, quietly and painlessly in hospital in Welwyn Garden City .

                                                                                                                                 RIP Dave

                                      

                                                                   One of the very best guitar players I ever saw``DES

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                   

                                                                       Dave Millen  the Puppets guitarist 1962- 1967

                                                                              RIP  :  DES ~~~JIM~~~DON  :  RIP

I first met Dave in 1959,he was the guitarist with Bob Johnson and The Bobcats, without doubt the best beat group in our town of Preston Lancashire. I used to see them around the traps and Dave always stood out, always leading from the front, he was extremely versatile.

 

I joined The Bobcats later and apart from a stint with Rory Storme in Liverpool, I remained in the same band with Dave until the end of the sixties.

 

After Joe Meek picked us up, and became our recording and personal manager, things really started to move. He changed our name to the Puppets then quite early in the piece we were asked to back American, Little Miss Dynamite, Brenda Lee.

 

Now Brenda was truly a huge star, famous for rock songs and big ballads, and as we were just three young lads from Preston all around 18 at the time, simply to be asked , was a huge honour.

 

When you think about it we were a trio, guitar ,bass and drums, so there was a lot of responsibility on young David’s shoulders, he was playing both Rhythm and Lead guitar, the only instrument playing the chords for a huge star like Brenda Lee. He managed it very well indeed. Well from there our reputation spread quickly and we were asked to back other Americans, the fabulous Ronettes, Big Dee Irwin, Dee Dee Sharp, and Gene Vincent.

 

 This little trio from Preston with a sound far bigger than you would imagine, backing and working with some of the biggest stars on the planet at the time. The main reason for this was simply Dave’s expertise, he had the uncanny ability, seemingly always , to play appropriately, he was truly unbelievable, sometimes you would swear you could hear two separate guitars, he was able to play all sorts of styles like Barney Kessel, Chet Atkins and Les Paul, , plus he was a great Jazz player too, Hank Marvin style was no problem, nor was Duane Eddy,  he had this wonderful ear and very very quickly he was able to grasp a new song or arrangement.

 

 In fact all three of us picked things up quickly , we played for  a whole bunch of Brit stars, but the two biggest were Crispian St Peters who during the six months that we were his band, had two top five Hit records, and Billy Fury ,Britain’s best rock balladeer ,and a top top artist !!!

 

Dave and I shared the lead singing in the Puppets but Jim also sang,we sounded well together which is probably another reason we were selected often as a backing band, we could provide decent harmonies behind solo singers. We introduced a new member to the band, Don Parfitt who not only played but sang both solo and backups, adding more strength to the whole process.

 

After The Puppets Dave and I teamed up again, with Daz Smith on bass, and went out under the name of 3D.We played once a week at The Lancaster Hotel in Preston, helping to establish the house as Preston’s leading Rock venue. I recall we used to play a number by Mose Allison called ‘Parchment Farm’ we extended this song to last the whole set around 30/40 minutes, with each of us taking a ten minute solo. Dave’s solos were exceptionally good.

 

So from my point of view Dave was simply a  brilliant guitarist, very very talented indeed, I consider myself to have been fortunate to have worked with him. We stayed in touch over the years, and he sent me some of his keyboard tracks and he was excellent on that too. He was an exceptional musician RIP Dave, good working with you.

 

Des

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The  Puppets guitarist Dave Millen's recording of "Boogie Music' late 60s.Dave's singing and playing lead and rhythm.(Excellent)

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The Puppets guitarist Dave Millen wrote and arranged this track 'Dance of the Fire Maidens' it's a piece he wrote and recorded for a dance troupe in about 1999. It was written to suit the choreography, which is why the strange rythmic phrases are in there from time to time. Great stuff folks enjoy.~~Des

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The Puppets guitarist Dave Millen's 'Four Brothers' this is Dave's take on the old Woody Herman classic , Just done for fun because he likes it .!! I always knew Dave as a first class guitarist,obviously I now know him as a first class arranger and keyboard player.Good Stuff folks ,this one dates from a couple of years ago. Enjoy~~Des

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The Puppets  guitarist Dave Millen wrote and arranged this one 'Ambiology' it's one he did recently to test his new PCs recording facilities(software synths and the like).Nice easy listening.I'm glad he did,and sent it to me.Now you can listen to it. Good track, enjoy.~~Des

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