History
The origins of Macari’s Music Shop lie way back in the dusty days of Music Hall Entertainment. Tony Macari was the leader of a touring show - The very successful Dutch Accordion Serenaders, which travelled far and wide entertaining theatre-goers all over the country throughout the 1930s and 40s. Concert posters boasted of the £3000 electronic organ - England’s first Hammond, of Joe Macari - radio’s voice of Popeye, the Zuider Zee girls and of Larry Macari - Europe’s greatest exponent of the piano accordion!
By the early 50s the popularity of cinema was threatening to close down the Music Halls all together - but Tony had other ideas - He bought a circus tent from Billy Smart and decided to tour in that. Five years later however, the public had really decided that they would rather watch Fred and Ginger instead of the yodelling cobbler and so the scenery was rolled up for the last time, the greasepaint washed off and the silk costumes were packed into big wicker trunks along with the Dutch dancing clogs which were destined to become ornaments, ashtrays or children’s toys.
At about the same time the new music scene was getting ready to explode
- over in America Elvis Presley was doing something weird with his hips
and hip kids in England were fighting to get their hands on any new R&B
releases - so Tony opened a music shop - in Edgware London - Macari’s
was born! He sold records, brass and woodwind, the odd record player,
a few guitars and of course the obligatory accordion. His two sons, after
pursuing their own musical endeavours, had also ended up in the musical
instrument business - Joe, an accomplished clarinet and saxophonist, at
Boosey and Hawkes and Larry was now manager at Tom Jennings’ Vox
amplifier shop at 100 Charing Cross Road.
It was Joe and Larry who joined forces to buy the first music shop to
appear in Denmark Street London, previously a riot of songwriters, publishers
and agents - the year was 1963 - the music business was about to go wild!
Clientele at Macari’s included every up and coming band, the shop’s popularity boosted by the introduction of the new Tonebender Fuzz Box made by the Macari brothers under the banner of Sola Sound, later to become Colorsound pedals. Notably, Tonebenders went out to Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Pete Townshend who were all instrumental in steering the pedal towards its final design. Indeed, the success of the pedals gave the brothers a chance to move out of the side street into a new premises in Charing Cross road - Macari’s Musical Exchange characterised by the big Vox logo over the door and the ‘sale now on’ posters that never seemed to come down. It was here that Jimmy Hendrix acquired his two AC10s, where Frank Zappa got his Tonebender and Vox guitar, where the Who had to have a charge account because they trashed so much gear, where Marc Bolan bought all his crazy effects boxes, where Genesis would shop when they had long hair, where the Stones cleaned them out of guitar strings, anyone who did anything seems to have done it here!
Indeed things were going well and two more Macari’s opened - one at 22 Denmark Street specialising in keyboards and another at 122 Charing Cross Road - all this plus the now world-wide Colorsound business - things were looking good. However, changes were afoot - in 1976 the Vox shop came under demolition orders, a year later it seemed the Denmark Street shop was becoming unprofitable and was sold, at the same time demand for Colorsound pedals was dropping due to the invasion of the new high-tech boxes from Japan.
At this point a third generation of Macaris appeared - Joe’s son Anthony and Larry’s Son Steve. Growing up surrounded by music had left them in good stead to follow in their fathers footsteps - over the next few years 122 Charing cross road with its tiered windows brimming with vintage instruments and its high walls of acoustic and semi-acoustic guitars was developed into the West End’s premier guitar store. The addition of the sole agency for Marshall amps did nothing to harm the Macaris’ rejuvenated reputation and by the late eighties the business was back on it’s feet. Time for a move to the current premises!
102 Charing Cross Road had always been regarded as the classic Macari’s and so when the chance came up to move to a similar corner property at no 92 it was jumped at. Guitar music’s resurgence in the nineties has allowed further meandering into classic instruments and once again Colorsound is establishing itself as the no.1 effects pedal around - new clients include Ash, Blur, Bernard Butler, Edwyn Collins, Gomez, Oasis, Warm Jets, Placebo, Primal Scream, Pulp, Coldplay ,Snow Patrol Skunk Anansie, Soundgarden, Terravision, Therapy and Paul Weller to name a few.
So have a browse around the Website and see what were up to , or come and visit - You’ll find that Macari’s is not just another guitar shop , but a family business with musical roots going back more than a century . Whether you use music for relaxation, as a pastime, if it’s your work or just plain fun, Macari’s guarantee you expert advice plus top-notch service, and always with a smile.
