Mothers
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{{dablink|For other uses of "mother" see [[Mother (disambiguation)]]}}
'''Mothers''' (formerly the Carlton Ballroom) was a club in [[Birmingham]], [[England]] during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Mothers opened above an old furniture store in [[Erdington]] High Street on [[August 9]], [[1968]].<ref name="Hornsby">''Brum Rocked On!'' by Laurie Hornsby, ISBN 0-9536951-5-8</ref> The club, run by promoter Phil Myatt, closed its doors on [[3 January]], [[1971]]. Between these times, more than 400 acts performed there, many of whom went on to greater success.<ref name="Duffy">''Mothers 1968 - 1971 - the home of good sounds'' by Kevin Duffy, ISBN 0-7093-0217-7</ref>
Possibly the most significant of the live recordings that took place in Mothers was [[Pink Floyd]]'s [[Ummagumma]], a double-album on [[EMI]]'s new label Harvest. It was released in October and featured two live sides, part recorded at Mothers on [[April 27]], [[1969]] and part at Manchester College of Commerce in June 1969.<ref name="Duffy" />
[[The Who]] performed [[Tommy (rock opera)|Tommy]] and [[Traffic (band)|Traffic]]'s world debut took place at Mothers along with fledgling rock bands like [[Black Sabbath]] playing some of their earliest gigs there.<ref name="Duffy" />
Some of the better known [[rock music|rock]] bands to play Mothers include: [[Family]], [[Fleetwood Mac]], [[The Edgar Broughton Band]], [[Traffic (band)|Traffic]], [[Free (band)|Free]], [[Roy Harper]], [[Blodwyn Pig]], [[Strawbs]], [[Quintessence]], [[Steppenwolf (band)|Steppenwolf]], [[Black Sabbath]], [[Deep Purple]], [[Jethro Tull (band)|Jethro Tull]], [[Colosseum (band)|Jon Hiseman's Colosseum]], [[Skid Row (blues-rock band)|Skid Row]] (with [[Gary Moore]]), [[The Nice]], [[T. Rex (band)|Tyrannosaurus Rex]], [[The Who]], [[Fairport Convention]], [[King Crimson]], [[Led Zeppelin]], [[Soft Machine]], [[Chicago (band)|The Chicago Transit Authority]] and the [[Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band]].<ref name="Duffy" />
Mothers was voted number one rock venue in the world by America's [[Billboard magazine]] and [[John Peel]], a regular [[Disc jockey|DJ]] at the club, was quoted as saying: "People are amazed to hear that for a few years the best club in Britain was in Erdington."<ref name="Duffy" />
[[Roy Harper]] later told [[The Amazing Pudding]] magazine:
<blockquote>That was the first club outside London that meant anything at all and that's why there's been this long association [of Harper] with Birmingham. I played there about six times between 1968 and 1970. I have always enjoyed playing here.</blockquote>
==Trivia==
{{Unreferencedsection|date=May 2008}}
The club had very low ceilings and the heat generated by the crowd and the equipment was sometimes overwhelming. [[Keith Moon]] collapsed from the heat during the performance of [[Tommy]] although he was eventually revived by a bucket of water. During a [[Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band]] performance, the heat produced condensation from the ceilings which dripped into the amplifiers, causing a short circuit.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.brumrock.co.uk Brum Rocked On!]
*[http://www.erdington.org/mothers/ Mothers' history]
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[[Category:Culture in Birmingham, England]]
[[Category:Music venues in England]]
[[Category:Erdington]]