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Paul: Benz (Paul Bensley) had a full size Hammond organ which was particularly heavy. Many years ago we rehearsed in a 'studio' which extended underneath a footpath on a busy road in Shepherd's Bush. The way in and out was through a trap door in the footpath and then to negotiate a vertical ladder. Getting the Hammond in was treacherous enough as it was in peril of smashing on the 'studio' floor, but then ...the get out.
Benz went first, pulling the thing up the ladder, with me pushing
from underneath. He went up through the trapdoor and I just kept
pushing. Eventually after much straining I gave the organ its last
shove and it went out onto the pavement. I followed it up but couldn't
see Benz anywhere, until I looked down and there he was ...
We eventually cut the beast down to half size, losing the bass pedals,
and covering it in white melamine. It looked great and we took it
to our next gig where it was greeted by a round of applause from
Led Zeppelin's roadies Sadly it was stolen from the band van not long after and never seen again. Benz and I still wonder where it might be. |
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Jan: Often
with bands on the road a certain 'in house' language develops,
phrases that mean nothing to anyone else listening but ..well
you had to be there. Anyway,
one night we happened to have Steve Marriot (ex 'Small Faces')
in our audience - he being in town on tour with his band at the
time. Not only amused by one particular portion of our show (which
required I did a rather zany impression of Rod Stewart) but also
glad to meet up with some fellow 'Englishmen abroad', he invited
us all back to his place afterwards - which turned out to be a
boat moored at the back of the hotel. So there we all were floating
on the Mississippi in the wee small hours, listening to rock 'n
roll anecdotes by ambient candle lights Suddenly
Richard (great guitarist and perpetrator of most in house jokes)
calls across to our keyboard player you've
guessed it, so rapt in the conversation Mick hadn't realised he'd
moved his foot dangerously close to one of the candles, |
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Paul: Back
in the darkest recesses of time, Benz and I were in a band that
gigged every Tuesday at 'The Swan' on the roundabout at Hammersmith.
I fondly remember the night a drunken Irishman came up to me at
the bar and said The
Thursday spot was covered by a heavy metal band. They came to
see us, we went to see them. God knows what they made of our punk/ELP
hybrid They were called 'Iron Maiden'. |
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Paul: One
of my bands landed a gig at the British Music Show. The red and
yellow posters appeared all over town (well I did see a few) announcing
'Interior' supported by 'The Cuddly Toys'. We had heard of the Cuddlies
but were happy at our 'headlining' status. The big day came and with the exhibition in the main hall of the Wembley Conference Centre, the bands were upstairs. It was all very professional, with a stage and a big rig and as the hour approached the room filled with eager punters. 'The Cuddly Toys' were good and had a great reception. We were a bit nervous but looking forward to playing to such a crowd. The Cuddlies finished to tumultuous applause and the crew began to strip the stage and set up for 'Interior'. This took a while during which time the audience began to drift off. Food and drink we figured, they'd soon be back. We did the gig to a couple of girlfriends and a nutter too confused to realise Rod Argent was playing downstairs with an all-star band. |
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Jan: Way
back in the early days of my experimenting some enthusiastic agent
decided I should go out as a solo cabaret act plying me with a
list of contracts... surely this was the 'big time'?! The first gig suddenly arrived, my poor sister, Steph, was roped in for 'moral support' (the truth being she was in exactly the same state as me, two total quivering nervous wrecks!). We arrived at a golf club way out in the sticks.. there was a small stage at the back of the room occupied by a drummer and keyboard player with an 'enormous' dance floor in front where I knew I was expected to do my bit (whatever that was supposed to be) and around which a terrifyingly gigantic audience of three couples were scattered, eating their dinners and waiting to chew me up for desert. The
PA was supposed to have been provided but I'd been expected to
take my own mic ..'er excuse me where do I plug this in?'... All of a sudden I was talking.. God knows what about.. all I could think was 'talk girl talk' anything to avoid that other awful noise.. if I could just talk long enough maybe my half hour would be up and I could skulk off as some kind of novelty act .. but the intro to the next song heralded those oscillating ovines into action again... At
the end of that eternal set I sheepishly (oops sorry!) asked Steph
"Well?!?" to which she enthusiastically answered |
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During our five month stay in LA, we became quite friendly with John Goodsall, a guitarist who started 'Brand X' with Phil Collins. I had seen them at the Venue a few years earlier. He now lived in LA and gigged around the area with 'The Fire Merchants'. On one occasion we went to see the Merchants supporting a well known avant-garde guitarist and his band at 'The Palomino'. This guy was playing any old notes - intentionally and unintentionally. It was clear to me that he'd never actually learnt to play the instrument and had managed to hoodwink enough punters to make a living at it. I could take so much and then no more, so we decided to leave and went to bid John 'Goodnight'. I made reference to drivel passing as the avant-garde. "Yeah" he said, "Avant-garde a clue" |
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Our copy of "Brain Salad Surgery" remains unsigned. |
