Mott the Hoople 1974 Autumn Tour Programme

Dale 'Buffin' Griffin was born Terence Dale Griffin in Ross-On-Wye, Herefordshire - farm lad! Dale's mother was a beauty queen (as is his wife of today) and his father a keen musician, which isn't as leading as it may seem, as he was master of the piano, guitar and mouth organ, whereas Dale was never interested in anything but drumming! He got his first kit at the age of eight, which was about the time he came to befriend a school-mate named Pete Watts, who in fact coined the nickname Buffin. They formed a group together, but it didn't last long, and soon Buffin had to look for a job, whereas Pete 'got the breaks' and became a professional musician right away! Buffin was first a salesman for a brush firm and later a P.R.O. for an electrical firm, always working behind his kit at night.

Then one day Pete rang him up, and asked him to join his band, called Shakedown Sound. He did, and the line-up of Pete Watts, Buffin, Verden Allen, Mick Ralphs and Stan Tippens decided to move to London. They had already drawn the attention of Guy Stevens when things started to go wrong with Stan Tippens' voice. But that's where Ian came in, but not with Stan leaving the picture: he's still an essential part of the Mott scene, as what our American friends might call a utility man!