Biography
The Apostolic Intervention may rank among the finest acts that Immediate Records ever signed without earning even modest notice, let alone commercial success, an assessment rendered all the more striking by the label’s formidable roster. Formed in Hertfordshire toward the close of 1965 under the name the Little People, the quartet comprised 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-style R&B numbers, and they held the Small Faces in particular esteem for charting regularly with similar material and a comparable lineup. Their career peak as a live act came when they shared a bill with the Small Faces in Hertfordshire, after which lead singer Steve Marriott took on something of a mentorship role.
Marriott persuaded label founder Andrew Loog Oldham to audition the group in early 1967. Oldham admired their sound yet rejected their name, prompting a pair of lateral decisions: Marriott had hoped to call them the Nice, but Oldham, perhaps influenced by a newspaper’s religious supplement, chose the Apostolic Intervention instead and promptly assigned the name the Nice to P.P. Arnold’s backing band, which included Keith Emerson. Impressed enough to oversee their debut single, Marriott also supplied a fresh composition he had just written with Ronnie Lane, “Tell Me (Have You Ever Seen Me).” According to Shirley, Lane was reluctant to part with material that the Small Faces might have used themselves and departed the session early. Bob Argent proved too anxious to perform, so Marriott played bass; the resulting A-side stood as one of Immediate’s strongest first singles—catchy, hook-laden, and distinguished by outstanding musicianship, above all Jerry Shirley’s drumming, which transcended a conventional rhythmic function. The B-side, an original featuring Marriott on vocals, displayed equal promise, and Shirley’s skill left a lasting impression that would later prove consequential.
The single failed to chart, and the song gained wider recognition only when the Small Faces included it on their first Immediate album, released later that year. Subsequent recording attempts proved fruitless, and the Apostolic Intervention disbanded by year’s end. Dino Dines and Jerry Shirley then joined Tim Renwick in the groups Little Women and the Wages of Sin. Dines subsequently played 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 and achieved international success.
Marriott persuaded label founder Andrew Loog Oldham to audition the group in early 1967. Oldham admired their sound yet rejected their name, prompting a pair of lateral decisions: Marriott had hoped to call them the Nice, but Oldham, perhaps influenced by a newspaper’s religious supplement, chose the Apostolic Intervention instead and promptly assigned the name the Nice to P.P. Arnold’s backing band, which included Keith Emerson. Impressed enough to oversee their debut single, Marriott also supplied a fresh composition he had just written with Ronnie Lane, “Tell Me (Have You Ever Seen Me).” According to Shirley, Lane was reluctant to part with material that the Small Faces might have used themselves and departed the session early. Bob Argent proved too anxious to perform, so Marriott played bass; the resulting A-side stood as one of Immediate’s strongest first singles—catchy, hook-laden, and distinguished by outstanding musicianship, above all Jerry Shirley’s drumming, which transcended a conventional rhythmic function. The B-side, an original featuring Marriott on vocals, displayed equal promise, and Shirley’s skill left a lasting impression that would later prove consequential.
The single failed to chart, and the song gained wider recognition only when the Small Faces included it on their first Immediate album, released later that year. Subsequent recording attempts proved fruitless, and the Apostolic Intervention disbanded by year’s end. Dino Dines and Jerry Shirley then joined Tim Renwick in the groups Little Women and the Wages of Sin. Dines subsequently played 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 and achieved international success.