I was an American in the U.S. Navy stationed in Thurso Scotland .  Whenever I was off duty, I would go into town and walk around. I use to visit a local Music Shop on a regular basis and finally introduced myself  and got to know the lady who worked there Mrs. Susan Aitchison. We became friends and she allowed me to put up a flyer in the store, advertising to start a local band.

I met a guy named Mike Sutherland who said he was also looking to start a band. So we embarked on a new adventure. Mike and I found some more guys to  join the group. At first we had a lead singer called Spike Mulligan who was  only with us for a short time because he was moving out of the area. He was a great vocalist. We then found a bass player named ( Fred Wilson ) who use to play with a group "EILEEN & THE TALISMEN " to take over for Spike as lead singer. Some of the members of their band use to play with Lulu, they  were "Lulu and The Lovers". Of course Lulu left for the states with her singing career and went on to do the movie TO SIR WITH LOVE.

After we recruited Fred we needed a drummer, rhythm player and a bass player. Mike had a few more friends up his sleeve to check with. Graham Walker was our first and only drummer. He was great! Out side of school his only  ambition was to become a great drummer and work in that area for the rest of his life. ( Which he did by the way). He played with many well know British names and bands later on such as: Gale Force 8, The Thought Criminals, Spiggy Topes, Gollum the underdog, and Jonny Sutherland. Later on Graham  also played with The Gary Moore Band and George Harrison from the Beatles.

Next we needed a rhythm guitar player. We found a guy named Roger Niven and he did a great job as a rhythm guitar player and as a back up vocalist. He  Stayed with the group for as long as I was there. In fact I sold him just  about all of my guitar equipment before I left to come back to the States. I  understand that today Roger is a council accountant and he also has a group called "RANT". They have a new British Techno-Celt sound that's a hit with Scottish clubs and radio stations. He has two major record companies that are fighting to launch them worldwide.

Finally we needed a bass player, we found Alistair McCleod. He worked at Dunnray and built his own bass amplifier. He didn't talk much but was content to just play with the group. He was very good! He was always willing  to help out where ever he could. His home brew bass amp. had some very  unique sounds. Sometimes he would have to kick the side of his amp. to make  it work.  Bummer!

Well, then there was me, I was the rhythm guitar player and back up vocalist. Mike left to join a rival band shortly after spike moved and that's when we found Roger. By the way Mike and I remained friends even though he defected. So when Mike who played lead left, I then took over lead and Roger came with  us to play rhythm. However sometimes we would switch back and forth depending on the songs we played. I introduced some of the material we played but most of  what we did focused around:

KINKS, ROLLING STONES, SAM & DAVE, BLUES, HENDRIX, VENTURES, OTIS REDDING,

Graham came up with the name for the group. He said he was watching
a late night special on how they grow opium in the Far East. So he wanted to use "THE OPIUM TRAIL". I didn't care much for that name, all I wanted to do was play music, and these guys were pretty good. I guess I shouldn’t complain about the name because we did get to Record for BBC 1 and be a part of a film documentary representing the beat groups in northern Scotland. You would think that must've been the height of our career, but not really. At one point the "CREAM" was going to be playing in Inverness and we were asked to open for them. I'm not sure now why we didn't, but at least we were able to see the concert and hangout with them at their hotel afterward. Actually I enjoyed talking with all 3 of them. They were going to be leaving for the U.S. in a few months on their first tour here and I was due to go home shortly. They told me when and where they would be in Detroit so I could come and see them - but for some reason that never materialized. Anyway, I can at least say I met them and at that time in my life, it meant a lot to me.

That was then and this is now. Today I’m involved with electronics and computers and no longer play the circuits. Many years later I still play the Piano and guitar some and sing with a choir.  Life is good!   As you can see from this web page everyone of us had a great beginning and I believe we’ll all have a great finish in whatever we pursue in life.
 

”MUSIC IS AN INTERPETATION OF TEMPERMENT,
IT LIVES ONLY DURING IT’S PERFORMANCE”

By the way many of the photographs shown on this web page were taken by Photographer “JIM ZORMAN”. - Many Thanks Jim!  He worked for the CIA for several years after he got out of the Navy and then was a professional opera singer for approximately 12 years.  Jim also did some computer work for 4 years and now he makes his living off the Internet. Here’s a couple of pictures of Jim.