Biography
The Apostolic Intervention ranks among the finest acts ever signed to Immediate Records without earning any real notice, much less commercial success, and that distinction stands out sharply against the label’s remarkable roster. Formed late in 1965 in Hertfordshire under the name the Little People, the quartet featured Angus Shirley on guitar, Peter “Dino” Dines on keyboards and vocals, Bob Argent on bass, and Angus’s younger brother Jerry Shirley on drums. Like many beat groups of the period, they began by mixing American R&B into their sets and looked up to the Small Faces, who were then scoring hits with a comparable sound and lineup. Their greatest moment on stage came when they shared a Hertfordshire bill with the Small Faces, after which lead singer Steve Marriott took the younger musicians under his wing.
Marriott convinced label founder Andrew Loog Oldham to audition the group, securing them an early-1967 visit to the company offices. Oldham admired their music but rejected their name. A curious exchange followed: Marriott proposed calling them the Nice, yet Oldham—possibly after consulting a religious supplement—insisted on Apostolic Intervention and promptly assigned the rejected name to P.P. Arnold’s backing band, which included Keith Emerson. Impressed enough to take further action, Marriott produced the band’s debut single and donated a new composition he had just written with Ronnie Lane, “Tell Me (Have You Ever Seen Me).” According to Shirley, Lane disliked handing the song over, believing the Small Faces could have used it themselves, and walked out of the session ahead of schedule. Because Argent was too anxious to perform, Marriott played bass on the track, which emerged as one of Immediate’s strongest debut singles: melodically sharp, packed with hooks, and distinguished by exceptional musicianship, above all Jerry Shirley’s drumming, whose intricate patterns lifted the instrument beyond a simple time-keeping role. The B-side, an original featuring Marriott on vocals, displayed equal promise and further convinced Marriott of Shirley’s abilities.
The single failed to chart, and the song later gained wider exposure as an album track on the Small Faces’ first Immediate LP, released later that year. Subsequent recording attempts proved fruitless, and the Apostolic Intervention disbanded by year’s end. Dines and Jerry Shirley then joined Tim Renwick in the groups known as Little Women and the Wages of Sin. Dines went on to play with the Keef Hartley Band and T. Rex, while Shirley continued working for Immediate as a session musician on Billy Nichols’s solo album. In 1969 Shirley reunited with Marriott in Humble Pie, where he achieved international recognition.
Marriott convinced label founder Andrew Loog Oldham to audition the group, securing them an early-1967 visit to the company offices. Oldham admired their music but rejected their name. A curious exchange followed: Marriott proposed calling them the Nice, yet Oldham—possibly after consulting a religious supplement—insisted on Apostolic Intervention and promptly assigned the rejected name to P.P. Arnold’s backing band, which included Keith Emerson. Impressed enough to take further action, Marriott produced the band’s debut single and donated a new composition he had just written with Ronnie Lane, “Tell Me (Have You Ever Seen Me).” According to Shirley, Lane disliked handing the song over, believing the Small Faces could have used it themselves, and walked out of the session ahead of schedule. Because Argent was too anxious to perform, Marriott played bass on the track, which emerged as one of Immediate’s strongest debut singles: melodically sharp, packed with hooks, and distinguished by exceptional musicianship, above all Jerry Shirley’s drumming, whose intricate patterns lifted the instrument beyond a simple time-keeping role. The B-side, an original featuring Marriott on vocals, displayed equal promise and further convinced Marriott of Shirley’s abilities.
The single failed to chart, and the song later gained wider exposure as an album track on the Small Faces’ first Immediate LP, released later that year. Subsequent recording attempts proved fruitless, and the Apostolic Intervention disbanded by year’s end. Dines and Jerry Shirley then joined Tim Renwick in the groups known as Little Women and the Wages of Sin. Dines went on to play with the Keef Hartley Band and T. Rex, while Shirley continued working for Immediate as a session musician on Billy Nichols’s solo album. In 1969 Shirley reunited with Marriott in Humble Pie, where he achieved international recognition.