Vic Oakley fell in love with Country music at an early age. His older brother John was in the merchant navy and used to bring 78rmp records home. Vic lists his early influences as artists like Hank Snow and Lefty Frizzell. His career as a musician started on a very small scale in 1983. He had always been keen to learn to play the guitar and a friend who was a good musician lent him a guitar and showed him a few chords which he began to practice. Eventfully he was able string a few songs together. At that time, his wife worked for the chairman of Great Wakering parish council in Essex and Vic hummed and strummed a few songs at a council social gathering in their garden one day. The Council chairman suggested that he might like to play to raise money for the new village hall fund.
Although he had never played professionally or in any kind of band, Vic agreed to try and put a band together. He asked around the village and came up with seven people who were prepared play in a one off band for the event. They included Barry Philips on guitar, Hazel Connor on bass and Graham Sutherland on keyboards and Vic of course. It later transpired that Graham Sutherland was actually Graham Maitland who occasionally played with rock band Wishbone Ash in the 1970s. The makeshift band only played together once but by now Vic was bitten by the bug and he soon formed his own country band with a different guitarist Greg Hobson. As all the members had full time jobs the band only played occasional gigs at the local British Legion hall, it was more of a social gathering for friends who wanted to play together as a hobby.
By the early 90s they evolved into Easy Country and began picking up a few more local Essex gigs including the Barge CMC on Canvey Island where the compare was Alan Woodhuse whose brother Vic hosted Essex Country on BBC Radio Essex. Vic Woodhouse asked for demo which quickly led to more bookings further afield. On one occasion Vic went to the Froxfield CMC in Hampshire with Neil Lusk from Highway Connection who were playing at the club. Neil got Vic on stage to sing and Reg, who ran the club, gave Vic and Easy Country a booking, their first gig outside East Anglia.
In 1996 Vic was asked to join The Longriders by Les Evans, and he quickly agreed. The formation of the Long Riders in September 1995 dealt a devastating blow to George Moody with the departure of two members of his band, The Country Squires. Guitarist Les Evans and drummer Keith Roscoe left together. Les spent a short time with Colin Ford’s (former lead singer with Fever) new band Lost Legends but he and Keith soon formed The Long Riders with Kevin ??? on bass and new recruit Vic Oakley on lead vocals. A third members of The Country Squires, bass player Robbie Hawkes had also planned to join the Long Riders but he stayed in the Country Squires for a while as he couldn’t bring himself to tell George he was leaving but eventually he too succumbed to temptation and after 12 years on bass in the Country Squires he too left to join Long Riders. At this time The Long Riders comprised Vic Oakley (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Les Evans (lead guitar and vocals), Robbie Hawkes (bass and vocals) and Keith Roscoe (drums).
Vic’s time with The Long Riders was less than a year and he eventually left and was replaced by Peter (Pedro) Sunderland on lead vocals. Vic’s next band was Wanted Dead Or Alive who were formed in 1993 by Luke (lead guitar) and Jody Taylor (lead vocls). By 1996 they had been joined by John Oakfield (bass) and Martin Lee (drums). By the time Vic joined c1997, only John Oakfield survived from the original line up. When he joined Wanted Dead Or Alive, Vic told them that he wouldn’t be staying long as he was intending to launch his own new band No Regrets with Terry Conway. Sadly following an accident, Terry was unable to join the band but despite this set back No Regrets did come onto the circuit as a trio in 1998 and comprised Vic Oakley (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Robbie Burns (lead guitar and vocals) and Brian Steel (rhythm guitar and vocals). The band had three good singers and they soon got a reputation for good harmonies. This was maintained when they later downsized to a duo – good harmonies were always an important part of the act.
After a few years, Robbie Burns left to join Henry Smith’s Country Dreams. A number of top rate lead guitarists would later join No Regrets; these included Neil Martin, John Caswell, Dave Inglis and Terry Conway but in 2000 Bob Common came in on lead guitar and he and Vic would stay together for the next 22 years. Bob started playing guitar in 1967 and played many different styles of music including as a member of a non touring band in Dundee for many years before joining his first Country band, Rhodes County in the 1980s. His next band was Rufus Stone before joining the very popular Wishbone with Dave Anderson in the early 1990s. Following the disbanding of Wishbone at the millennium, Bob Common joined No Regrets on a part time basis while he was also a member of Rebel Yell for a year; and eventually joined full time in 2003. That year the line up was Vic Oakley (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Bob Common (lead guitar and vocals) and Clive Grant (lead guitar and vocals). Clive and Bob shared lead guitar but Clive’s time with the band was short, leaving in less than a year.
No Regrets have continued to work both as a duo and a trio until 2019 when the trio played its last gig after Dave Inglis decided to go solo. Until then, Vic worked with Bob Common on Scottish tours and tours of southern and central England and with Dave Inglis on tours of the North East. Bob Common retired from playing in 2021. Initially Vic planned to continue as a soloist but now he too has decided to go into semi-retirement and on 5th December he announced on social media “I have made the decision to quit touring at the end of this year it has got harder and harder to get enough work to justify doing it ….. I would love to thank all the people who have helped me to survive 33 years on the circuit I had a ball with some of the nicest guys on this earth I love you all, If Papa Vic’s gets going I will come over for that for sure” Papa Vic refers to Billy Curtis’ Dawlish Festival. The venue has cancelled and Billy is looking for a replacement venue. It appears we haven’t seen the last of Vic but it will take something special to coax him south from North Ayrshire.
Vic has now retired altogether from performing after a long and ‘enjoyable time on the road’.
Research by Nick Catford.