WHEN Stew Mills looks back in his diaries from his four years on the road gigging, the date Friday, August 27, 1971, proves a particularly memorable entry.

From rubbing shoulders with the great and the good of the music world, to putting out a fire in their van on the way to playing in front of more than 100,000 festivalgoers at Weeley, life was certainly in the fast lane for hard rockers Hackensack.

The quartet took to the stage in Weeley at midnight, having earlier been signed up by Muff Winwood at Island Records – who proudly boasted Cat Stevens, along with Mott the Hoople, on their books.

Status Quo, T.Rex and Mungo Jerry were among a Who’s Who of names to follow Hackensack on stage later that day, who because of the organised chaos in Weeley, were forced to play 20 minutes over their allotted time – on account of being the only band to have arrived.

The night would prove less memorable six miles away for sleep-deprived Clacton residents, who were unable to get any rest as the hard rockers kicked off the festival.

Hackensack proudly took home £50 between them for their endeavours on stage that night.

Stew, now 67, the band’s bass guitarist who has lived in Thorpe Bay for more than 30 years, looks back fondly on Hackensack’s “finest hour” and hopes he can track down elusive video footage captured by “an army of cameramen” on stage.

He said: “I’ve kept diaries and it was certainly a memorable time for us, if we could find out what happened to the film from that night, it would be even better.

“We even had a roadie which was a big thing for us. That day we were the first ones to arrive, and even as we finished our time on stage, the others bands weren’t ready.

“So we had to carry on.”

Hackensack began their journey in 1969, fronted by vocalist Nicky Moore, regarded as one of England’s best and heaviest lead singers.

Following their big break with Island, they released one single, “Moving On” in 1972 and after moving to Polydor, one album, “Up the Hardway”, released in 1974, after which the group disbanded.

When asked why things came to a halt for the rockers, Stew said: “For whatever reason the album bombed, and I left in 1973. About six months after, Hackensack disbanded.

“I think we just couldn’t make it work in the studio, recording a live album would have been a much better way to go for us.

“We had so much energy, and I think Island weren’t able to capture us. That said, we still had plenty of touring , about 400 gigs in two years across Europe.

Interspersed with the band’s relentless gigging, Pye Records mobile recording studios were at the Cavern Club, Liverpool, in May 1973 where Hackensack topped the bill for the last night in the famous club, but mysteriously, no recordings were ever released.

Stew is hoping to chronicle the band’s time in print, as he prepares to write a book on Hackensack.

The band has also released “Give it Some” – a limited edition vinyl reissue.