Help Yourself were formed in the London area of England in 1970 initially as a backup band for
Malcolm Morley, who was signed as a solo act under the management of the Famepushers, whose acts
Brinsley Schwarz and
Ernie Graham had also secured contracts with the U.K. division of United Artists/Liberty Records. The band consisted of
Richard Treece (guitars/vocals/harmonica),
Dave Charles (drums/percussion/vocals),
Ken Whaley (bass), and of course
Malcolm Morley (guitars/keyboards/vocals).
Help Yourself recorded their debut self-titled album in early 1971. The songs on that album were completely written by
Morley.
Ken Whaley left the band after the debut, to be replaced by
Ernie Graham (guitars), who had just released his solo album on Liberty.
Help Yourself were experiencing some financial difficulties at this time, as were a number of other bands in England, so they teamed up with bandmembers from
Brinsley Schwarz and moved into a rented house in Headley in 1971-1972 called the Grange, where
Led Zeppelin had recorded
Led Zeppelin IV earlier that year.
While at the Grange, the band recorded second album
Strange Affair, released in early 1972, with the addition of
Graham and Jonathan "JoJo" Glemser to the band.
Graham and Glemser left during the recording of
Strange Affair and were replaced by
Paul Burton for the completion of the album. The lineup of
Burton,
Morley,
Treece, and
Charles recorded another album almost immediately,
Beware the Shadow, which was released at the end of 1972. None of the first three albums were big sellers.
The Helps, as they were called by fans, appealed to a hippie audience and found moderate success in the U.S., where they appealed to Deadheads and fans of such bands as
Quicksilver. Glam rock was the big rage in England at the time, but
Help Yourself were found to be a bit too rural for radio play, especially in England, so there was basically no promotion or support for the band.
In 1973,
Ken Whaley returned to the band and
the Helps recorded an album that was appropriately called
The Return of Ken Whaley. The initial release of that album contained a "bonus" album called Happy Days, which was recorded live on tour with the Flying Aces. Shortly after the release of
The Return of Ken Whaley,
Help Yourself broke up.
Malcolm Morley went on to join the Welsh band
Man, with
Ken Whaley later joining him there. The remaining bandmembers joined
Deke Leonard's Iceberg and recorded a couple of albums, while
Treece later joined
George and
Martin Ace in the Flying Aces. The original lineup of
Help Yourself re-formed in 2002 to help remix tracks originally intended for their long lost fifth album. Compiling material recorded in 1973 alongside three new recordings (featuring drummer Kevin Spacey), 5 was released by Hux Records in 2004. ~ Keith Pettipas