“If my father wasn’t able to drive us to a gig, we had to catch a taxi.”A fight broke out - once.“It was basically everyone in the club fighting,” he said. Although initially nervous, they were a hit and were soon asked to perform at all the military bases around Bermuda.“We played a lot of Beatles hits and some Mick Jagger,” said Mr Pereira, explaining that transportation was sometimes a problem as they were not yet 16. A teacher at Kindley Air Force Base in St David’s heard them play and suggested they perform there at a weekly event for teenagers. “It was good enough,” Mr Pereira shrugged.That first performance went so well that they were inundated with requests and started playing every Thursday, usually at weddings for Portuguese families. “We looked at each other and said, ‘Are we ready for this?’ We just kept on practising.”They named the band Silvertones after the brand of Michael’s guitar - Silvertone. “Somehow, we stuck together playing and practising,” Mr Pereira said.A year later, their mother, Maria, offered up the band to play at a friend’s wedding. They had limited musical abilities, but turned the family garage on Aubrey Road in Hamilton Parish into a studio and hammered away at their instruments. Emboldened, they formed a band with their younger brothers, Danny and Jimmy. They were excited, but had no idea what to do with the instruments until six years later, when a neighbour taught them to play You Are My Sunshine.
The Pereiras fell in love with music in the 1950s, enthralled by singer Ricky Nelson’s performances on the sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.When they were 7, they were given guitars for Christmas.
Manuel Pereira did not expect that many people would show up.But to his amazement, “people kept coming, and coming” and the seats soon filled.The turnout, at the Police Recreation Club this month, was extremely satisfying for the 73-year-old who had been performing with his twin brother, Michael, and their long-time friend, Glen Cuoco, for decades. It was a wet and windy Saturday and The Travellers were waiting to perform. Manuel Pereira with the cover of Silvertones’ album Sing Out Loud (Photograph by Jessie Moniz Hardy)
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