History of the band Casino / Tuesday

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Casino spent eight years touring and recording in the 1970’s and then went their separate ways. The split was amicable so they could pursue other options and there was always a possibility of returning to play together (which they finally did after 40 years to record TBC by The Band Casino)

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Originally from the West Country the band began when they lived in the Yeovil area, when Peter O’Donnell and Rod Trott formed the group then called Tuesday, later to change the name to Casino and currently The Band Casino.

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Peter and Rod met playing in a local folk club when Peter was still a teenager and signed as an apprentice footballer.  Rod had been in several bands on the same circuit and had already been writing songs. They began writing together with Peter playing lead guitar and Rod on vocals.

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Tuesday also had Pat Haynes on acoustic guitar, Robert Sinnick on bass and Syd Guppy on percussion. The band left behind their folk roots and soon developed into a rock band.

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The band signed to Pye and released their first single ‘Big Mr. Little Man’ written by O’Donnell and ‘Sewing Machine’ written by Trott /O’Donnell on the B side.

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After Pye, Tuesday were then signed by A&M records who paid for an album to be recorded, firstly at the famous Rockfield studio in Wales and then at George Martin’s Air studios in Oxford St, London. Rockfield was the world’s first residential studio, so the band all stayed there and sometimes recorded through the night. The Queen album ‘A night at the opera’ was also recorded at Rockfield, very shortly before Tuesday were there.

By 1974, Following their third record deal with State Music the name Tuesday was changed to Casino so as to avoid confusion as to which day the band might be performing.

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Rod Trott left the band, with Peter becoming the main songwriter and lead vocalist as well as playing guitar with Chris.

State Records released Casino’s first single in 1975, with the song ‘Crazy’ written by Peter O’Donnell with ‘So Much Love’ written by Trott /O’Donnell on the B side.

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‘Crazy’ had lots of radio play with Johnny Walker playing it as one of his last records before he left Radio 1.

The single reached Number 2 in the Piccadilly charts with Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody at Number 1. Both bands were to be featured on Top Of The Pops, so Casino quickly came back from a European tour only to find that the programme was cancelled due to industrial action which took TOTP off air for several weeks. ‘Crazy’ slipped down the charts and it was a big disappointment to miss their TV debut.

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The band toured extensively for 8 years, particularly in Holland, Germany and Italy as well as many venues including The Marquee and The Speakeasy in London and university gigs throughout the UK, supporting the top bands of the time including Steely Dan, Supertramp, Ritchie Havens, Curved Air, Thin Lizzy and 10CC.

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Casino released an album in 1976 both in the UK and the USA with State Music, produced by Peter Gage (with ‘Shooting Star’ and There’s a Cuckoo in Your Nest’ produced by Wayne Bickerton and Tony Waddington)

Side 1 ‘Tonight’s The Night’, ‘Crazy’, ‘Romancer’, ‘Shooting Star’, ‘Squire Gordon’

Side 2 ‘So Much in Love’, ‘When Your Mother Walks in’, ‘There’s a Cuckoo in Your Nest’, ‘Binoculars’, ‘Midnight Groover’

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