In the fall of 1964, Brian and Dave formed the band '1984' - named after the George Orwell book. The group was primarily made up of a number of Hampton Grammar School classmates. A Harmonica player named Tim Staffell (also a Hampton Grammar School student) was asked to join the group after he was seen playing the harmonica in the wings of a local concert hall.

'1984' spent the next couple of years playing in and around London. In spite of being primarily a cover band, they were able to secure a number of impressive gigs. The most impressive of which was held on December 23, 1967. Billed as 'Christmas On Earth', the event was an all-night affair, held at London's Olympia Theatre. A host of headlining acts were featured on the concert including Pink Floyd, Traffic, Tyrannosaurus Rex and a guitarist named Jimi Hendrix.

This was not the first time that '1984' had been featured on the same bill as Jimi Hendrix. Earlier in the year, the band played in support of Hendrix at Imperial College. It was here where they had a brief brush with Hendrix when he asked "Which way's the stage man?"

The band also recorded a couple of demos at the Thames TV studio. The resulting tapes included a couple of identical takes of a song called 'Step On Me' - co-written by Brian and Tim.

The group disbanded in 1967 after Brian decided to devote more time to his studies in Astronomy at Imperial College.