Editing Mott the Hoople (section)

===Pre-Mott===
The Doc Thomas Group were formed in 1966 with [[Mick Ralphs]] on guitar, Stan Tippins on vocals, and [[Pete Overend Watts]] on bass. Ralphs and Tippins had been in a local [[Hereford]] band, the Buddies, and Watts had been in a local [[Ross-on-Wye]] band the Soulents with [[Dale Griffin|Dale "Buffin" Griffin]] on drums. The Doc Thomas Group had a [[concert residency]] at a nightclub in a resort town in Italy. The group were offered a recording contract with the Italian label Dischi Interrecord, and released an eponymous album in January 1967. By 1968, Griffin and [[Electronic organ|organist]] [[Verden Allen]] had joined the band.

Although the group toured and recorded in Italy as the Doc Thomas Group, their [[concert|gigs]] in the UK were played under the names of the Shakedown Sound and, later, Silence. Silence recorded [[demo (music)|demos]] at [[Rockfield Studios]] in [[Monmouth]], Wales, which were offered to [[EMI Records|EMI]], [[Polydor Records|Polydor]], [[Immediate Records|Immediate]] and [[Apple Records|Apple]] but with no success.