page_title: The Quarrymen
section_title: "The rhythm's in the guitars"
hierarchical_section_title: The Quarrymen / History / "The rhythm's in the guitars"
caption_attribution_description: English: The Empire Theatre, Liverpool
context_page_description: The Quarrymen is a British skiffle/rock and roll group, formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Originally consisting of Lennon and several schoolfriends, the Quarrymen took their name from a line in the school song of their school, the Quarry Bank High School. Lennon's mother, Julia Lennon, taught her son to play the banjo, showed Lennon and Eric Griffiths how to tune their guitars in a similar way to the banjo, and taught them simple chords and songs.
  Lennon started a skiffle group that was briefly called the Blackjacks, but changed the name before any public performances. Some accounts credit Lennon with choosing the new name; other accounts credit his close friend Pete Shotton with suggesting the name. The Quarrymen played at parties, school dances, cinemas and amateur skiffle contests before Paul McCartney joined in October 1957. George Harrison joined in early 1958 at McCartney's recommendation, though Lennon initially resisted because he felt Harrison was too young. Both McCartney and Harrison attended the Liverpool Institute.
context_section_description: Soon after the recording session, Hanton had a fight with the rest of the group and quit. Lowe too lost contact with the group after leaving Liverpool Institute, leaving the Quarrymen as just a trio of guitarists: Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison. Lennon's mother was killed in a road accident on 15 July 1958, dealing him a devastating emotional blow. The group remained mostly inactive throughout the summer, as Lennon took up a job in a restaurant at the Liverpool Airport. McCartney and Harrison, meanwhile, went on holiday hitchhiking in Wales, playing with a local skiffle group called the Vikings. Although Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison remained extremely close, the trio only performed a handful of times in the last months of 1958. When asked why they had neither a drummer or a bass player, they would respond "The rhythm's in the guitars."
  In the autumn of 1958, the group had another chance to audition for Carroll Levis, nearly a year and a half after the Quarrymen's first Star Search. For the audition, the group changed their name to Johnny and the Moondogs. Lennon was without a guitar, his having broken recently. Johnny and the Moondogs passed the first heat of the competition in Liverpool, and were invited to appear in the finals in Manchester. The group performed Buddy Holly's "Think It Over" to positive reception, but were unable to stay until the end of the competition to receive the results. As they were leaving, Lennon saw a cutaway electric guitar by the stage door, picked it up and walked off with it, later saying that the trip "wasn't a total loss."
  Following their Star Search audition, Johnny and the Moondogs changed their name to Japage 3 (combining letters from each of the member's names: John, Paul, and George). Lennon had a friend from art school, named Derek Hodkin, who owned a tape recorder, and Lennon convinced him to record the group (along with McCartney's brother Mike on drums). The group then asked Hodkin to act as their manager, and he agreed. Despite Hodkin's management, bookings for the group dried up. Harrison began a stint as rhythm guitarist in the Les Stewart Quartet, who had a weekly club engagement. By May, Japage 3 was defunct, although the three continued to see each other socially, and Lennon and McCartney continued to write songs together.
caption: The Liverpool Empire Theatre, where Johnny and the Moondogs auditioned for Carrol Levis
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