Psych

HQ: San Diego, Ca. Tony has graced the USA Scene for many years and put together the Fuzz, Flaykes and Shakes compilations, and also DJs at various clubs in Los Angeles and San Diego, we asked him a few searching questions recently and these were his responses.

01. How and when did you get into music and what were you listening to then?

I started playing 45s on my Mattel record player when I was about six years old. My sisters were teenagers in the 1960s, I found their records and I began spinning the Rolling Stones, Beatles and Kinks. My obsession continued well into high school watching local bands like the Crawdaddys. During this time, I listened to a lot of UK punk and power pop as well as the British-invasion groups.

02. Where was your first DJ slot?

I did a few guest spots at the Lhasa club in Los Angeles in the 80s but didn’t do a regular DJ slot until Hipsters in San Diego back in the 90’s.

03. What was your most memorable DJ spot?

My favorite DJ spot was at the Wild Weekend parties in the UK. and Spain. These weekenders brought together fans from all over the world and created many new friendships. I consider myself very fortunate to have been part of these festivals.

04. What so far, has been your worst DJ experience?

I don’t have a worst DJ experience, but the most challenging ones are when you are djing for a crowd of people requesting Madonna and Green Day.

05. Your favorite scene DJ’s and why?

I enjoy DJs that spin 45s that I don’t know but blow my mind on the initial play. European DJs always surprise me and in the States I always dig Jack White’s sets.

06. What has shaped your DJ sound and why?

I would say seeing live bands but I think as you age, your taste matures. Growing up in San Diego, bands like the Crawdaddys and the Tell Tale Hearts were my biggest influences and directed me towards British R&B, Dutch beat and American garage. As I grew older, I started digging psychedelia and some harder progressive sounds. Currently as long as it has a strong hook and is danceable, I’ll probably dig it. I have started to DJ songs that I never would have considered ten years ago.

07. What was your best ever find/discovery?

In 1986, during my first trip to London I found a copy of ‘Not to find’ by the Golden Earrings for eight pounds.  This is one of the rarest Dutchbeat 45s and was later valued at about 1,500 pounds. Another great find was in Phoenix, Az. I came across a copy of “Shadows” by the Electric Prunes for six dollars. This track is a one-sided promo that was released for the movie ‘The Female Trap’. I’ve recently been offered £3,281.75 for it but it’s staying in my collection for now.

08. Who was your biggest influence musically and your favorite artist(s)?

I think bands that I went to see and dance to in San Diego such as the Crawdaddys, the Tell-Tale Hearts. As for 60s acts, my favorite groups were Them, the Zombies and Love.

09. Do you collect specific labels/artists/genres?

I went through a phase of trying to find all UK beat 45s that were released as American pressings.  Some top ones include The First Gear ‘Leave my Kitten Alone’ on Mar-Mar Records and Tom Jones ‘Chills and Fever’ on the Tower label. I also will buy any garage 45 from San Diego even if it’s mediocre.

10. Where can folks currently catch your DJ set?

I was putting on club nights called Mind Machine and Haunted House-Au-go-go in Los Angeles but took some time off for personal reasons and now am back doing guest spots for various clubs in San Diego and L.A. I’ll be back doing another club night in L.A. soon.

11. What is the record you would most like to own?

I get asked this a lot but to be honest there are hundreds to list and most I don’t even recall until it lands in my hands at a record fair.

12. Please give us a top 10 all-time favorites and a current top 5 spins?

Top 10 Tracks of All Time:

1. The Allman Joys – Spoonful (Dial)
2. The Legends – High Towers (Railway Records)
3. William Penn Fyve – Swami (Thunderbird)
4. The Backgrounds – Day breaks at dawn (Cenco)
5. The Trolls – Walkin’ Shoes (Peatlore)
6. The Dream – Can I ask you one more question (Havoc)
7. Washington Merry-Go-Round – Got-ta Got-ta (Piccadilly)
8. The Coachmen – Grapes of Wrath (Sea-ell)
9. The Allusions – G ypsy Woman (Parlophone)
10. Raven – Calamity Jane (Rust)

Current Top five DJ Tracks:

1. The Backgrounds – Day breaks at dawn (Cenco)
2. Washington Merry-Go-Round – Got-ta Got-ta (Piccadilly)
3. Sunlight – Colors of Love (Windi Records)
4. The Chants – Hypnotized (B-ware)
5. Indiscrimination – Wishful thinking (Decca)

facebook.com/tonythetyger

There has always been an individual spark about Cornershop, While Paul Morley, the Observer, has said, ‘as interesting and adventurous as the Beatles’ and fans have described them as ‘instant aural sunshine for a grey day’. In the live arena they have toured extensively in mainland Europe and America with the likes of Beck and Oasis. Man about town, Darius Drewe, caught up with Tjinder Singh of Cornershop for an exclusive interview for NUTSmag.

DD: Why such a massive gap between albums? Five years passed between ‘When I Was Born’ and ‘Handcream’ and then a further seven before ‘Judy’. Are you perfectionists, extremely busy or just lazy?

TS: ‘When I was Born’ and ‘Handcream’ had a Clinton album between them, and between Handcream & Judy I did a film and we released a couple of singles through Rough Trade, and then set up our own ample play label.  Also we all had kids except our percussion who bought more congas and became a qualified nurse. In the last three years we have had three albums out. The average is plain to see even if you are not a further maths prog rock tutor. More seriously though, there is no point in pushing albums out unless you play the game, and we are not in it as part of the game.

DD: Back in the day you were photographed burning pictures of Morrissey due to a throwaway comment made and a misinterpretation of a lyric. How do you look back on all that 22 years on?

TS: Here was a person whose music with The Smiths we had all liked, putting out dubious feelers using Skinhead imagery, unqualified lyrics, Union Jack drapery, and like his denial on his sexuality (which is his right) not elaborating on the issue.  The unfortunate thing is that not elaborating on the issue of fascism still breeds race crime, from someone whom was very influential at the time. As an Asian at a time when Asians were seeing increased street violence this wasn’t something I, and we could let pass.  All these years later, I think we did the correct thing, and our stance on other issues has borne out that we did it with the right intentions.

DD: You were away for a few years, then returned with quite a different style, and a runaway no.1 hit thanks to the remix of ‘Brimful of Asha’. For five minutes, it looked like world superstardom beckoned, but somehow that never quite happened. Why do you think that was?

TS: After the ‘Women’s Gotta Have It’ album we spent a lot of time in America and then the ‘When I Was Born’ album did very well there. We would have been happy as we were to be John Peel’s festive 50 no. 1, but the Brimful Mix change things somewhat.  Even the label gave up on things after that, but for us we had started a Clinton album and that needed to be finished, and we continued as we were.

DD: The album ‘When I Was Born for the Seventh Time’ was very influential and innovative in that it took the ‘Britpop/indie pop’ template of the time (and the usual retro trappings thereof), your own Asian influences, and married both to hiphop beats, breakbeats and samples. Do you feel that, in a way, you were paving the path for a lot of the DJ culture that has followed? And prog rock men, the likes of Gruff Rhys and Gary Cobain, bringing guitar tunes to dance sets mining Eastern playback music?

TS: That is a lovely thought.

DD: What do you think of the recent compilations of Bollywood and Lollywood psych that have been doing the rounds? Do you think the compilers are finding the best tunes? And if not, give us the names…

TS: I’ve not heard much of it in comp’ed form, but there is some great stuff out there, as the music makers at the time mimicked western sounds, sometimes to hilarious results, and sometimes with the passing of time proves how great music can be.

DD: The album ‘Disco and the Halfway to Discontent’ came out under the name Clinton rather than Cornershop. Why was that? And will there be another Clinton record?

TS: Clinton was done so we could work with other people and take a fresh approach to what and how things were done. The music was not radically different, but more of the technology test department of what Cornershop did. In fact, the two are so similar that there probably won’t be another Clinton album. We are very pleased though that some say it predates much music by a decade, and even more pleased that not a week goes by without an inquiry about Clinton.

DD: After that came my personal favourite ‘Shop album, ‘Handcream for a Generation’ and the single, ‘Lessons Learned from Rocky I to Rocky III.’ The single itself, and some of the rest of the album, bore the influence of 1970s glam, while other tracks such as ‘Spectral Mornings’ delved further into the trance-like psych rock hinted at on ‘When I Was Born’. Who are the lyrics on that single referring to, the ‘soft rock shit’ and the ‘overgrown supershit’?

TS: Very glad you favour that album, and that’s why I said earlier that the record company gave up on us.  A lot of brain cells and effort went into that album.  Otis Clay opened it, & by touring with Oasis we had Noel on Spectral Mornings, and Guigsy did the bass on …Rocky I to Rocky III, then we had East London’s Nazerite reggae vocalists on Motion The 11, from USA we asked Rob Swift to help produce a couple if tracks. At the time I think I considered a lot of American groups as being ‘soft rock shit.’ I’m from the Black Country so considered groups like Metallica and Maralyn Mason as ‘soft rock shit’ and overgrown ‘supershit’ but in the fullness of time, I think they’re just shit. They certainly deserve everything that can be chucked at them.

DS: ‘Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast’ seemed to consolidate that same early 70s sound, as if the band had finally reached their ‘happy home’ in an almost retro-rock World. Are you all a bunch of old mods and rockers at heart? And who are your greatest influences throughout? The first thing you tend to notice is a lot of Velvet Underground in the song construction and guitar riffing, and a lot of “soul-chick” backing vocals, which could hint at either the Stones or the Floyd, but how knowledgeable are you on your obscurities?

TS: ‘In terms of production I like the 70s sound, mainly because I lived through the 80s and no musician got out of the 80s unscathed. I liked the rawness of a lot of Indian music, so that always played a part too. In terms of influences, there has never been a strong defining one.  I think the Velvets are a big influence…

DD: The promo videos from that period, particularly ‘Who Fingered Rock N Roll’ all seem to be similarly retro as if you’re hankering after a Britain long past. Isn’t that the imperialist, semi-racist and narrow-minded Britain that you once railed against?

TS: The Who Fingered Rock N Roll video used old footage because friends of ours were helping certain London Borough to archive such footage. The line from the song of ‘Who built the city’ seemed to go well with such footage so that was that.

DD: And now to 2012, and ‘Urban Turban’ Where would you say Cornershop stand in relation to the 2012 music scene?

TS: The Urban Turban album only became an album after a series of singles under the banner of ‘The Singles Club’ were released. I had a good few songs that we not related in any way, and it seemed a good way to put them out, and give something different to our supporters. Then, the tracks seemed to work with each other once they were mastered, and so it became the album.

It’s good to be able to do that, to just put things out, and in relation to the music scene of now, we feel that we are happy to continue as we always have done, without much regard for what others are doing.  People seem to be slowly catching up with Cornershop, and that’s an even bigger thing we have in common with the Velvets than just their music.

We look forward to hearing their well crafted and unique psychedelic sound of sitars and guitars at Le Beat Bespoke 9 on Thursday 28 March 2013.

Band Members:
Jacco Gardner – keys/vocals
Keez Groenteman – guitar/vocals
Jasper Verhulst – bass/vocals
Jos van Tol – drums

Discography:
‘Clear the Air’, and ‘Where Will You Go’ both 2012

1. Who are the other members of your band and what do you all do?

Jos van Tol plays the drums, Keez Groenteman plays guitar and sings backing vocals and Jasper Verhulst plays bass and does backings as well.

2. Where are you from and where are you based?

I was born in a city called Hoogeveen, in The Netherlands. I am currently based in Hoorn, where my studio is situated.

3. What inspired you to start making music and how old were you? What is your favourite instrument of the many you play?

My parents sort of pushed me into music lessons and eventually I started singing in a band. I learned bass and guitar, and keys too. My favourite instrument would be the bass guitar as it’s perfectly in between rhythm and melody. You can feel the vibrations as you play which is great.

4. How would you describe the music you make, and how would you say your solo venture differs from the work of your band The Skywalkers?

I’d say my music is much more melodic and soft than The Skywalkers. The Skywalkers were more about energetic raw beat music with a catchy organ sound; this is not the case for my solo work. Most of the songs have a dreamy cinematic feel to them.

5. You are often compared to Syd Barrett, is he one of your main influences in music? Who do/would you play covers by? And who do you despise?

Syd is where it all started. He really shaped my way of songwriting as his songs were the first I learned as I started writing songs. I don’t really despise anyone I think, but if I’d have to play a cover I would find it very hard finding something that would suit me. It could be anything, as long as it suits my voice, arrangements and style.

6. How are you finding playing live? Although you haven’t been playing live for that long you’ve already had some incredible shows.

It’s a process I have to get used to. I still feel more comfortable in the studio but playing live does feel better as I get more experienced. A highlight would be the show we did at the Fuzzbox night on the “Le Guess Who?” festival here in Holland.

7. How would you describe the current underground 60s scene? Do you participate?

I don’t feel part of a 60’s scene at all. I like the wave of neo-psych bands that’s coming along from the US, but most 60’s scene bands feel to me like they are too busy copying the 60’s and they forget to be original. Even in the 60’s bands had to be original to stand out.

8. We’ve seen a recent, very exciting development of psychedelic music being embraced in more main stream circles, with the success of the likes of Tame Impala. What other current bands do you rate?

I like White Fence, MMOSS, Paperhead, Maston, Crystal Stilsts, Quilt, Temples, and a lot more.

9. What should we expect from you in the future? What are your plans and ambitions?

The album has to be out there, which is goal number one, but that one’s almost reached as it’s released on 12 February. I guess my next ambition would be to tour the world and meet lots of like-minded people to work on music.

Band Promo Links
jaccogardner.com
facebook.com/jacco.gardner
twitter.com/jaccogardner

The band:

Lead vocal: Paul Wright
Lead Guitar: Lee Morse
Rhythm Guitar and backing vocal: Rick Hyde
Bass guitar and backing vocal: Phil Lodge
Drums and percussion: John Gagon
Trumpet: Martin Wilkinson

Discography: We’ve produced a series of demos / recordings over the years, but feel the raw energy of our live performances has yet to be captured in a studio environment. With recording sessions planned for the near future, we hope that we will have something we are happy to release by the autumn.

1. How long have you been active for and how did you get together?

The band has been together for 4 years. Paul, Rick and Phil were in a previous band together. Lee joined as lead guitar in January 2008 and John joined in March 2008. Finally Martin joined in December 2009 to complete the line up.

2. What influences do the band members have in common?

We’ve all got an interest in 60’s culture, the films, fashions and most importantly the sounds.

3. Are there any other bands you’d recommend from your area? Why?

Good friends ‘The Minx’, from Wythenshawe Manchester. We both rehearse at Blueprint studios in Manchester and recently shared support slots for the Moons. The band fuse pumping 60′s organ with a punk / scar ethos, which combines to make a unique sound and energy.

4. What’s the 60’s/underground scene like where you’re from?

We’ve introduced our own very successful night by the name of Run for Cover as we felt that the underground/60’s scene in Manchester was lacking. The night was held in Chorlton in south Manchester and quickly became very popular. Since then the night has moved to the city centre and has played hosts to such acts as the amazing ROSCO (Sterling Roswell of Spacemen 3) and Psych Folk troubadour John Stammers.

5. How would you describe the style you play?

Psychedelic garage with northern soul and mod leanings.

6. What are your live shows like?

Energetic, raw, wire-mesh tight and powerful!

7. What are your main influences in music? Who do/would you play covers by?

Our shared influences include 13th floor elevators, The Stairs, The Sonics. Small faces, The Yardbirds. We currently play 2 covers, liar, liar by The Castaways and Psychotic Reaction by The Count Five.

8. What are your main influences outside of music?

Being from Manchester we’re all into our football & fashion, we like to look our best. We believe that stage performance should be visual as well as audio.

9. Who write your songs and what subjects do you deal with?

Rick is the main song writer although both Lee and John have contributed several songs to the band’s armoury.

10. What’s your favourite song in your repertoire currently? What’s your favourite song by another artist?

Our current favourite song is called ‘the beat goes on’. It’s a Mersey Beat-esque jaunt that is effectively, a call to arms, to rise and conquer the pain inflected by a broken heart. Our current favourite song by another artist is Tosta Mista by Hooded Fang.

11. How would you describe the current underground scene?  Do you participate?

The current underground scene is alive and kicking in London and Liverpool where we gig quite frequently. We have also played across Europe in cities like Berlin, where the scene is immense.

12. What has been the biggest challenge to date?

Finding a hammond player to join the band.

13. How often do you Rehearse? Play Live? Record? Anything interesting coming up?

We are currently rehearsing once a week and have a new ep due to be out in the Autumn. We’re also playing the mod weekender in Brighton for the August bank holiday and will be putting on a single launch at our Run For Cover night in September this year (date to be confirmed)

14. What do you think of the music coverage in the media?

There is coverage of the 60′s underground scene, but you need to know where to look. This suits us. It means those with a genuine interest and enthusiasm for what we do can discover us, and leaves the scene untarnished by those who need to be told what to like.

15. Do you rate any current mainstream or underground bands?

We have a lot of respect for The Coral. To us they are a band that stick to their roots, remain credible and still achieve a good level of mainstream success. Recent bands that have caught our attention with 60′s style garage and pop tendencies, include Toronto’s Hooded Fang and The Hypnotic Eye from South-London.

16. Who/Where would you most like to record with and why?

We would love to work with Jan “Stan” Kybert. He’s worked with a number of bands/artists that we admire including, The Stands, The Draytones and of course Paul Weller.

17. What should we expect from you in the future?  What are your plans and ambitions? What interesting gig dates have you got coming up?

We would like to continue to grow as a band, developing our sound and line-up and to reach as many like minded 60′s enthusiasts as possible, across all of  Europe and beyond!

Band Promo Links -

soundcloud.com/elgazelle

www.facebook.com/elgazelle

www.myspace.com/elgazelle

twitter.com/elgazelle

 

Peter Markham from Ugly Things talks to Don Fardon, lead singer of the Sorrows. PART 2

GOODBYE WEBB STACEY, WILL PITY, DON MAUGHN – HELLO DON FARDON!

UT: After you left the Sorrows in ’66, you decided to give up the music business altogether, even swapping your Jaguar for a Morris Minor?

DF: When I left the Sorrows in ‘66, I had no job to go to, a new baby boy who was two-years-old and not very much money. My wife had a ladies’ hairdressers shop, which just about paid the bills, but left nothing over. So the first thing that went was the Jaguar. I met a guy who played rugby football with my brother-in-law, who had a cheap car for sale. It was a battered Morris Minor, which he agreed I could have and pay him for it when I got the money. I didn’t realize that he used to take the whole football team out in it on Saturday nights. We used it for about six months, when one day my wife called to tell me the front wheel had dropped off in the middle of the main street in Coventry and was blocking traffic! The front axle had snapped off.

We were now in real trouble, no money, we couldn’t pay to repair the car, bills were piling up and the pantry was almost bare. I was too proud to ask my father for help, which he would have given to us. My father had a huge house and gardens the size of a football field. So to supplement our food bill, when it was dark I used to go up there and grab a few cabbages and carrots to go with the two sausages we had for Sunday dinner. I don’t think times were ever as bad as they were then. But, by god, does it teach you to appreciate things. Something we have never forgotten. We had to sell my wife’s jewelry, and I remember making a promise to her then that one day I would make it all back and more.

UT: You were eventually convinced to return to singing and signed on with top London manager Eve Taylor, who also had Adam Faith and Sandie Shaw in her fold.

DF: I managed to get a job back in engineering with a company my father had once been a director of, and it was whilst I was there that one day the works security police came to tell me a car was waiting outside the factory gates. As I left work I went over to the car and the driver informed me that he had come from a London recording company and that I was to go with him back to London to arrange the contract. I told him to push off as I wasn’t interested, as I had just sorted my life out and had found a steady job at last. People had been to tell me the car from London had returned. I went to the driver and said, “Look, mate, what part of NO don’t you understand?” He said, “Why don’t you just talk to them? What have you got to lose? You can still walk away if you don’t like what you hear. It won’t cost you anything to listen, will it?”

So I went to London with him to see what it was all about. The record company said, “What will it take for you to sign a contract with us?” I said I wanted the equivalent of my annual engineering salary for at least two years in advance, paid into my wife’s bank account. They said, “OK, you got it!” I was back as a solo artist.

UT: Then you were signed by CBS as a solo artist, and were about to release your debut single, “It’s Been Nice Loving You” (written by Burt Bacharach and arranged by Percy Faith), on which production costs ran up to £6,000. But you ran into some problems with your old record company?

DF: My recording manager was Miki Dallon, who arranged for me to meet big time manager Eve Taylor, who said that I would be the next big thing to hit the scene. She went to a Christmas party at ATV Studios and whilst she was there she told everyone about this new singing sensation she was about to sign. Louis Benjamin, the head of Pye Records, heard her and whether through jealousy or what I don’t know, but he went back to Pye and said to his legal department, “What do we know about Don Fardon?” They checked their records and said, “He was signed to us with the Sorrows.” So the swine slapped an injunction on me which was in place for eight months before we could get it dropped. By that time Eve Taylor had moved on. I couldn’t record or work during this time, so it was back to square one—although the record company still paid me my wages, thank god.

INDIAN RESERVATON AND THE SOUL MACHINE

UT: Around this time you also fronted a band called Don Fardon & the Soul Machine, which was a popular stage act that toured all over Europe backing Ben E King, Arthur Conley and Aretha Franklin. Tell me a little more about that particular band.

DF: Back home I was getting restless, I knew some guys from Birmingham and approached them about forming a band so that I could earn some money. It became Don Fardon’s Soul Machine. After a couple of weeks gigging around, an agent saw us and offered me a tour of Germany. We set off for Berlin. All was well until we arrived at the East German checkpoint, when the drummer found out he had lost his passport! The keyboard player said he had his brother’s passport that he picked up by mistake, so we could use that. They looked nothing alike! Can you imagine how I felt as I handed over the eight passports? I hoped that by giving them in a bundle the East German border guard might not notice! I was crapping myself. And would you believe it, we got through. But when we arrived on the other side they made me fly him back to the West. During that tour I played on stage with the greatest names that the soul music world had every produced, including Otis Redding, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Sam & Dave and Wilson Pickett. (Black soul singer Chester Riggon replaced Don as the frontman of the Soul Machine, rechristened the Atlantic Soul Machine, who are amazingly still together – Ed.).

UT: Then you ran into Miki Dallon who signed you to his new label, Young Blood, and set your sights on Germany and France instead of the UK. The single “The Letter” sold over a million copies in Germany alone. How come you turned to the continent?

DF: We started releasing records in Germany first because I had established a name there. The first three records I released there were all chart entries, I was flying!

UT: In ‘68 “Indian Reservation” entered the charts in the US. How did that song come into your repertoire?

DF: My producer went to America, and returned with a fistful of demos for me to listen to. One of which was a song written by a housewriter at Acuff-Rose Music Publishers in Nashville, Tennessee called “Indian Reservation” which they thought might be a chart song, so I recorded it—along with, over the next six years, over 200 other tracks. “Indian Reservation” became a massive worldwide hit for me.

UT: You continued to tour the club circuit doing cover versions mixed with your own songs?

DF: I had found a Scottish cabaret band called A Touch of Raspberry and joined the cabaret circuit for three years.

UT: Your success in Germany allowed you to have your own radio show, and you also worked as a journalist for Axel Springer?

DF: My status in Germany was growing, and at this time it was probably one of my biggest markets. I received offers from all kinds of people. I started writing a pop column for a national German newspaper, and also used to record a weekly show which was pumped over the border into Eastern Germany. It was heady days.

I realised quite early on that if I wanted to make it big in Germany, I had to try and master the language. My German record company at first provided me with a driver/chaperone who was an attractive English speaking female. So when I arrived for my second tour, I asked if I could have someone who did not speak English. That was when they provided me with a male driver/bodyguard. When you spend a month, 14 hours a day, traveling all over Germany with someone who doesn’t speak your language, then you are forced to speak theirs. And it worked! That he turned out to be an ex-SS officer is another story. But my lasting memory of him was that if drinking booze became an Olympic event, then I had been in the company of the gold medalist! They say that when he moved house there were so many empty bottles in the back garden it put 10,000 DM on the value of the house! And when we flew to France and back, he drank so much on the plane I had to pay duty on him to get him back into the country!

UT: You also had a venture into the film business and did a film called ‘The Long and Short’?

DF: The German record company put my name forward to appear in a film, which was to be the German entry for the annual Golden Rose of Montreux [Rose D’Or] Awards. I as it turned out was to star alongside the French legend Charles Aznavour, who was one of the nicest guys I ever met. He was a walking history book on everything French. And of course a close friend of Edith Piaf, whom I adore.

UT: Two years later, “Indian Reservation” was reissued in the UK and became a hit.

DF: In ‘68 “Indian Reservation” became a hit all around the world, except in the UK. I don’t to this day understand why not. Miki Dallon told me it only sold three copies, and I bought two of those! When I was working on the Northern cabaret scene in the UK in 1969 I became very friendly with Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis. I used to stay at his family home in Manchester if I was working in the area. His mum was like a second mum to me; it was like home from home. Except for the giant fruit bat that shared my room with a three-foot wing span—and it wasn’t in a cage!

I arrived back from a gig one night late, and Dave was waiting up for me. He’d been to the pictures to see a film called Soldier Blue all about the demise of the Red Indians. He said, “I reckon if you re-release your ‘Indian Reservation’ now, it will be a hit.” I said, “No chance, buddy, the record company will never go for it.” So unbeknownst to me, he called them the next day, and as they say the rest is history.

UT: As promotion for the record, you went to the States to do some publicity. Could you tell me a little about your time Stateside?

DF: There was a Swedish guy called Jan Olafsson who worked at Young Blood. He had something to do with ABBA in the early days. He called me up and said that the Americans would very much like to have me over to do some publicity calls, so I agreed. We drove down to Dallas where we picked up some movie producer, and headed off to Oklahoma to the Cherokee reservation at Talaquah. It was the 150th anniversary of the Trail of Tears festival. To remember the uprooting of the Cherokee Nation from Colorado and the forced march in the middle of winter to their re-settlement in Oklahoma. There were over 3,000 Indians present when we arrived; it’s one of the most moving things I have ever witnessed. Also it was a bit terrifying, to be the only white people there. And they allowed us to film it. I presented a copy gold disc to the current chief of the tribe, a Wilma Mankiller, and we still keep in touch from time to time.

UT: In 1970 you toured Scandinavia and recorded an album in Sweden with English producer Roger Wallis. The Master of Ceremonies was Kim Fowley. How did that all come about?

DF: In September of 1970 I set off for my first ever Scandinavian adventure and I loved it. We recorded a 50/50 live/studio album backed by my Swedish session band, who were a great bunch of guys. I remember as we were on our way to Norway, it began to snow, I mean big time! At four in morning we were the only car on the road. I say a car, but we were in a converted ambulance, which had aircraft seats, very comfortable. We hadn’t seen another vehicle for an hour when in the middle of nowhere we came upon a traffic jam. It was -20 outside, so we sat for what seemed ages. Then I and the lead guitarist went to see what was wrong. Two guys in a VW Beetle had come round a corner and hit an elk, which had come through the windscreen, killing the driver and pushing the passenger into the backseat, and he was trapped under it!

The following day they took me to the top of the ski-jump. Who the hell decided it would be a good idea to strap two bits of plastic to your feet, go to the top of the tallest tower you can find and leap off? I am still in awe of the experience. Before I left Sweden, Roger Wallace, the record producer introduced me to Kim Fowley, and they said, “Why don’t you let Kim introduce the LP?” So we recorded a piece at a nightclub to put on the front of the record. What a loon!

UT: Did you have much to do with the other artists on Young Blood, like Jimmy Powell?

DF: At Young Blood it was just like one big family. We were all good mates with each other. Mack and Katie Kissoon used to do a lot of the backing vocals on my records. Z Jenkins, who was a session guitarist and played on the Carpenters’ records and played on “Baker Street” for Gerry Rafferty, came on the road with me for three years and acted as my musical director. Jimmy Powell and I worked together for a showbiz agency in Wolverhampton for a couple of years as booking agents, and we actually managed a local band called [Ambrose] Slade. One Monday morning, Jimmy, who at the time was skint, quietly sold them to Chas Chandler for £200! The pillock!

UT: In 1970 you released “Belfast Boy” about George Best. Tell me a bit about how that song came about.

DF: In 1969 or early in 1970 I got a telephone call from some guy who said he was an independent film producer and had been commissioned by the BBC to make a television documentary about the life of the world’s greatest footballer, George Best. He’d heard me singing in a show in the West End of London and said he would like me to sing the title song for the program. I told him that I didn’t do session work, and that I was under contract to a record company, so it wouldn’t be allowed. He said, “If they say you can do it, would you?” So I said, “Yes I would.” He phoned Young Blood and we got the OK, and into Abbey Road Studios I went to sing “Belfast Boy.”

At the end of the session he was over the moon with the result. He said “Don, that’s fantastic. Let’s go and have a drink to celebrate.” I said, “It’s 4:30 in the afternoon, all the pubs are shut.” “It’s OK,” he in- formed me, “we can go to my club.” So we’re sitting in this club, in a booth having a beer, when he notices some people in the other booth and waves to them. He got up and went over to them. I couldn’t see them from where I was sitting, but when he came back he said, “They want us to join them,” so over we went. It was really quite dark in the bar, so to my surprise, as I sat down in the booth, I looked over to be introduced to his friends, and sat looking at Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor!

The TV show came out the following Wednesday night at nine o’clock and from 10 o’clock for the next five hours the phone lines to the BBC were jammed. When would the record be available, what label was it on, etc. So my record company had a meeting with the BBC and licensed it and released it in 10 days. George and I spent many days together promoting it around the country and it became a hit. We remained friends till his death, and I did the epitaph on TV to him on the day of the funeral. When I am asked what he was like, I always say that he was the most ordinary guy you could every wish to meet. His most favorite things in life were a cup of tea and hot buttered toast. I’m sure he will be remembered for his football and not the other things that flawed his genius.

UT: In 1971 you left Young Blood and stopped working with Miki Dallon.

DF: In 1971 I had started to feel a bit stagnant. I was just cruising along the showbiz highway aimlessly. I met a guy who was a big noise with a brewery company, and during a meal we had a conversation about pubs and restaurants. He said, “If you ever fancy a crack at the license trade, give me a call.”

I had a young baby son whom I never saw, and a wife whose company I really enjoyed. I asked her one night if she fancied becoming a publican, and to my amazement she said yes. I informed the record company I was coming off the road and we purchased our first pub eight weeks later, the first of five we were to own over the next 20 years. There’s another book on this subject alone!

UT: You continued to release records on various labels up until 1976 when you retired from the music business. How did that come about?

DF: Although I continued to record, the restaurant life was so intensive, working 16 or 17 hours a day, I found that it took all our time and effort, so it was with a sad heart that in ‘76 I decided to retire from music altogether.

In ‘96 I joined the BBC to present a weekly show on music from the ‘60s and ’70s and then they asked me to do a daily show, so I was on seven days a week, and I loved it. It’s one of the best times of my life, and I got the bug back. I formed a country band to back me and wrote a musical called Line Dance Fever, got 12 female dancers and the best line dance teacher in the USA, Angelique Fernandez, to come over and off on tour we went for two years.

UT: Last year there was some renewed interest in your version of “I’m Alive.”

DF: I was on holiday in Spain last year, when one day my wife called me from the garden to say there was a phone call from a firm of lawyers in London who wanted to speak to me. They represented a mineral water company who would be interested in using one of my songs for an advertising campaign, and would I be agreeable? They wouldn’t tell me at first who the company was, but after much probing I found out it was Coca-Cola. I was delirious! The campaign was to be used on national TV and the ad company responsible called me to ask if I would audition to do the voiceover as well, which I did, and I got the voiceover too!

UT: Tell me a bit about your present day musical activities as well as the reunion of the Sorrows?

DF: Things and the moment are really great. I met a guy in Medem in France, a couple of years ago. and he called me out of the blue and asked me if I would like to do a country album. We did it in Nashville and it was released on December 6. As we speak, they have informed me it’s selling well in the US and Ireland, so I’m hoping for more tours later this year. I have also been contacted by a company who would like me to appear in some music festivals in France this summer, so it’s still “GO GO GO!” I am also trying to get a couple of the remaining Sorrows together to do a small nostalgia tour, but that’s still ongoing. •

SORROWS LIVE DATES 2012

Sat 2 June – Midlands Mod Weekender, Birmingham
Friday 29 June Festival Beat - Salsomaggiore Terme (Parma) Italy
Sunday 5 August Euro Ye Ye – Gijon, Spain

DON FARDON & DC FONTANA LIVE DATES 2012

Thursday 2 August – Euro Ye Ye, Gijon, Spain

 

THANKS: to Beau & Miki Dallon, Gered Mankowitz, Pete Chambers, Rolf Rieben, Mary Payne and Rayanne Byatt.

Considering I’m beuf en croute, to coin a terrible play on words, to what may well be the psych event of the year, I probably should have made more preparations (making sure there was enough gas in the meter to run a bath, jumping in it before the missus, et al) prior to setting off: the typically unpredictable Bank Holiday traffic (tailbacks of cars or empty roads with less buses, but either way, you’re fucked) doesn’t help either. Ultimately, all of the above combines into a recipe for surefire disaster that means I miss all but the final notes of July’t set, particularly galling from my perspective as my good friend Alasdair Mitchell of the Hidden Masters is now the bass player. Drat!!

Fortunately, he doesn’t throw a wobbler when I tell him, and several hours later we’re still on the best of terms at a small informal post-NUTS gathering at a friend’s house in N1: frontman and head honcho Tom Newman also tells me there’s a DVD I can watch for notes, but that’s scarcely the point. My first NUTsMag feature and I’ve already managed to cock it right up. Whoop-see daisy.

Still, never mind, onwards and upwards, there are too many good mates here for me to be in a bad mood, so the best thing I can do is order a drink and ensconce myself at a premium vantage point from which to watch the CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN let forth the first ever complete end-to-end performance of “their” (i.e. his) debut 1968 platter. And what a performance! I’ve seen Arthur live somewhere between nine and twelve times (even promoted him myself once), including both a stint as a member of Hawkwind and as provider of spoken word introductions betwixt the musical numbers of the Pretty Things’ SF Sorrow (which we will touch on later) but this is something quite different. For a start, there are no dodgy U2 covers involved, and secondly, while with Arthur you’re always guaranteed a certain degree of quality, tonight he and his Crazy World exuded sheer class above and beyond our wildest expectations.

Some of us know all the material, others perhaps less so, but I don’t think anybody expected it to be so mouth-wateringly tight yet loose at the same time in the way that the best psych should be, full of such vigour and fire (OK, we did expect ‘Fire’, but not that kind) and flow so seamlessly from tune to tune as to still retain the original album’s cyclical feel. But it did, and while I’d wager that over half the room were well acquainted with the Brown schtick, that didn’t stop jaws falling to the floor in sheer wonderment at what was being witnessed. Of course, Arthur has always been the quintessential Shaman showman, the man whose image, vocal style and theatrics laid the foundations not only for psych and prog as we know them but glam, shock-rock and even black metal, but very rarely does he get the chance to remind us just how great those early albums were.

Tonight at LBB, all that was put to rights, with frenzied renditions of ‘Come and Buy,’ ‘Time,’ ‘Child of My Kingdom’ and ‘Spontaneous Apple Creation’ – but all in the correct order – sounding as fresh as they had the first time round. Sadly no other original members remain from the glory days, but the current lineup, with the swooping, Rita Tushingham lookalike high priestess of lysergia Lucie Rejchrtova (formerly of Instant Flight) on keyboards, and Samuel Walker ably thrashing the traps where both Carl Palmer and Drachen Theaker once sat, are instinctively, intuitively tuned in to the true Crazy World sound, ably aided by Nina Gromniak’s scything guitar and the interpretative dance of Angel Fallon (also of Space Ritual). The venue may be a little more grandiose, but there’s still that touch of the old UFO club about this band: haircuts aside, this is about as close as 2012 gets to the real thing.

And Arthur himself is undoubtedly the real thing. Any man of almost 70 who can still sing, nay, shriek, at that volume, in tune, and still decorate it with those dollops of soul and blues that, again, launched a zillion careers, deserves some kind of knighthood – a dark one, obviously, but he deserves it all the same. “I Put a Spell on You” is now as much his song as it was ever Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ or Alan Price’: here, as much as in any number, Brown and his band demonstrate the whole combination of primal soul, R’n’B and even Olde English Music Hall roots which, when combined with jazz, neo-classical keyboard work and a healthy ingestion of “magic squares” created that which we now define as “UK psych-prog”, his band members such as Vincent Crane and Nicolas Greenwood soon also going on to record groundbreaking classics of their own.

In such music, the pop melodies and the soulful exhilarations are there, but rather than relying on the harmonies and choruses of the Beatles, Stones and other deities, the Crazy World album always was, and still remains, a symphony: music in varying and constantly shifting degrees of colour and mood. Yet, despite all that, every Mod about town (and a few Rockers too, judging by the front rows) can still “freak their stuff” to it without difficulty, and duly did so. My only complaint is that being, as it was, a performance of an album, there could be no surprises or time left for an encore, but on the other hand, maybe any attempt to follow what we’d just seen would have sullied its power.

Except, that is, if you’re a different band altogether, and you happen to be the headline act: a grand fanfare by Master of Ceremonies Caspar De La Mare, resplendent as ever in titfer, whistle and kipper, heralded the arrival of the Pretty Things (for ‘twas they) who achieved the unthinkable in managing to surpass their old mate Arthur for sheer power and create possibly an even more otherworldly atmosphere. This, you see, was not just any old Pretties gig, but the Electric Banana set: those who know the films from which these tunes came will understand therefore just how special tonight is. Some, like “Alexander” and “I See You” (the latter of which also appears on the band’s magnum opus SF Sorrow) have been aired before: others like “Danger Sign,” “Love, Dance and Sing,” “Eagle’s Son” and in particular “It’ll Never Be Me”, which graced the soundtracks of at least four classic Brit exploitation flicks, don’t get aired enough, and the chill down the spines of those lucky enough to witness it, myself included, is palpably visible.

You see, without the Pretties, aka the Banana, and their unique take on British R’n’B, which then flowered into freakbeat and psych, festered into prog, hard rock and metal, even veered off into reggae in the early 80s (as anyone who ever saw the Monster Club will attest) and provided the aural finish to so many of the films which go hand in hand with that music, I almost definitely wouldn’t be here writing this, and it’s probably fair to say that a lot of us wouldn’t be at LBB every few months grooving to it. All the requisite ingredients of what could be defined as ‘psych’ were here tonight from the music to the crowd to the raven haired dancing girls: the price of the beers (always hiked up slightly when we come in as opposed to the venue’s usual student clientele) was a harsh reminder that it definitely isn’t 1970, but if you closed your eyes for a moment it smelt and sounded like it was.

With regard to the PTs themselves as musicians, it never ceases to amaze me every time I see them how powerful they sound – if anything, with encroaching age, Dick Taylor gets heavier, fuzzier and dirtier as a guitarist, yet still manages to ring those bell-like signatures that form the core of the trademark Pretties sound from his instrument with a sublime sense of melody. Phil May’s voice may be deeper, more spoken in places than in days of yore (days of my what? Bad Puns Ed), but he remains note perfect, even when the rest of the band, including the ever-capable Frank Holland (rhythm guitar) and Mark St John (percussion and backing vocals) manage to forget how the final stanza of “Walking Through My Dreams” goes. Sod’s Law, if they had to nadger one song up, it would have to be my personal favourite, wouldn’t it? But one glitch in an otherwise perfect evening is easily forgiven.

R’n’B roots are returned to with ‘Midnight to Six Man,’ ‘Get the Picture’ and ‘Come See Me’ but there could have been no better end than the final throbbing crescendo of ‘£.S.D’ (yes, spelt that way – it meant money then), which, segued into ‘Old Man Going’ is possibly the best condensed demonstration of their durability. Their Kentish brethren the Strolling Bones may have the fame and the millions, but the Pretty Things retain the credibility worldwide that no stadium rock act ever has – and they’re still building on it. How something as sublime ever managed to crawl from the utter arsehole of Sarf East London that is Erith is still beyond me, but I guess half the best art has always been created out of a need to find something of beauty in an ugly environment…

Post-gig, LBB splits into various rooms covering a wide spectrum of underground vintage sounds with me heading into the Psych and Garage den for more hedonist fun till closing time. However the most remarkable aspect of Le Beat Bespoke its friendliness and warmth. Faces both old and new co-existed in the spirit of appreciation for above all the music (and not just the fashions, although some of the finest hairdos, dresses and three-piece suits known to man were still sported) there were many participants that looked more likely to be readers of Classic Rock or Prog magazine than Shindig or Record Collector, and even our venerable founder Rob Bailey, normally as stressed as any man responsible for organising a four day event could be, was sauntering round the room with a cheerful demeanour and wide grin, particularly whilst Arthur Brown did his thang.

Author: Darius Drewe Shimon

Photos by Horst A. Friedrichs & Ramees Farooqi

Take a look here for more photos from LE BEAT BESPOKE 8 and THE 8 HOUR TECHNICOLOUR DREAM 

 

 

 

Who are the members of your band and what do they do?

Louise Turner: Vocals
Mark Mortimer: Bass
Scott Riley: Organ, piano, vocals
Nigel Horton: Drums
Tony Russell: Guitars, vocals
Miri May: Vocals
Donald Ross Skinner: producer, guitar
Rich Skilbeck: Trumpet, flugelhorn, saxes
Simon Holland: Harmonica, trumpet, flugelhorn
Josh Large: Trombone

How did you guys meet and what drove you to make music together?

DC Fontana’s current line up is relatively new and we create music as a form of constant cathartic evolution designed to keep us out of the asylum as long as we possibly can.

How would you describe the style you play?

Art & soul… I think of it as melodic psychedelia copulating with earthier soul, jazz & folk vibes to create a cinematic offspring. It’s sonic medicine for poorly times.

What are your live shows like?

We never cut corners & always give an honest, 100% all or nothing effort that is value for money for these frugal, screwed up days but also, whenever we have the money, we like to make the bigger gigs more of a happening and add a whole visual ‘art & soul’ aspect to illustrate the music itself. This could mean elements of performance art, surrealism, optical decor etc and is all part of our creed that encourages us to make cool short films as well. We see ourselves as more than just songwriters and musicians and it’s why we spend so much time and money on making our records, videos and gigs up to a certain quality. We revel in working with talented photographers, dancers, painters, film-makers, graphic designers, costume makers, performance artists, lighting wizards, folk-dancers & others.

What are your main influences in music? Who do/would you play covers by? And who do you despise?

We are a sound-clash of sundry sonic tapestries woven from more than 300 years of influence and many people inspire us – some are probably obvious and a lot are not! The past may inform our present but we don’t feel the need to re-enact anything and so if we do play covers we inject our own DNA direct into their bloodstream. We’ve sprinkled our gigs with a few eclectic covers; from Morricone to World Of Oz, from Peru’s Traffic Sound to Germany’s Heidi Brühl & from the Velvet Underground to Jackie Lomax as well as Julie Driscoll & Pentangle… But there are no boundaries – I’d cover anything we felt we could add our own slant to. It doesn’t have to fit neatly into any generic bag to qualify. I try not to waste my energies on despising anything or anyone and prefer to be vibed up with positivity rather than weighted down in the misery of the gargantuan diet of rubbish the general public is force-fed on…

What are your main influences outside of music?

First & foremost, our friends and families but also I enjoy the various peripheral delights attached to creating music like the elements of art and film-making. Being in a group should be more than knocking off a few chords & lyrics – it should be an exhilarating ride and I am keen to work with people who awash with interesting ideas who can take on board our own individual personalities and help twist things. We made our ‘Six Against Eight’ video an eight-minute short film to pay homage to Pat McGoohan whereas on the more recent ‘Meshkalina’ video we wore hand-crafted animal masks while having fun exploring our love of late 60s/early 70s folk-horror movies like ‘the Wicker Man’ & ‘Blood On Satan’s Claw.’ The ‘Abbesses’ video sees us taking elements of ‘the Avengers’, “the Girl On A Motorcycle’ & late 50s nouvelle vague movies.

How many official recordings have you done?  How many released?  Where can they be found? And who write your songs and what subjects do you deal with?

The Contessa / Snake Charmer: 7” vinyl single (DCTone Records)
Six Against Eight: CD / mp3 album (DCTone Records)
Meshkalina / It Don’t Worry Me 7” vinyl single (Heavy Soul Records)
Meshkalina CD / mp3 EP (DCTone Records)
La Contessa CD / mp3 (DCTone Records)
La Contessa 12” vinyl album (Teensound / Misty Lane Records)
All available from www.dcfontana.com/shop.html

Subject matter varies wildly from the everyday like sex, freedom, joy and despair, unrequited love, mortality and even biscuits through to existentialism, metaphysics & the horrors of love turning violent, the ghosts of famous dead people having a mediaeval hoe-down after dark in Paris and the modern-day cult of underachieving banality. Some songs are the product of story-telling and much of it is personal experience given real animated life.  Expect the unexpected.

What’s the favorite song of yours currently?

A brand new one called ‘Devilangel’ which may appear on the next album.

How would you describe the current underground scene?  Do you participate?

Yes we participate whenever we can…. I personally love the diversity of peoples, clothes, tastes and styles: it mirrors our own search for the end of the rainbow.

What has been the biggest challenge to date?

Avoiding financial meltdown.

How often do you rehearse? Play Live? Record?

We are undoubtedly old school and gig frenetically; usually we play twice a week & rehearse weekly though it’s difficult as we all live so far apart.

What do you think of the music coverage in the media?

It can be summed up neatly in two famous words: shit sandwich.

Do you rate any other current bands?

As with all eras there are lots of great bands making great music across the spectrum of genre and even more people producing a great festering pile of kak. I particularly like the Silver Factory among others. The great challenge right now for all of us is to get our music heard because with the music industry imploding and the global economic difficulties I believe it’s never been as tough as it is now for people in the arts to stay afloat, let alone flourish.

Who/Where would you most like to record and why?

Recording with the strings section of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra on our first record is hard to top actually – that was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done in my life but we are forever pushing the boundaries with quixotic and interesting ideas and on the next album we are planning to record one track inside a church with a choir.

What should we expect from you in the future?  What are your plans and ambitions?

We are very ambitious and currently in a rich vein of song-writing; we’re corralling quite a corpulent collection of new tunes and there is a lot of music to be made yet! We will be heading into the studio as soon as we can to record new material but a lot depends on available funds because it costs us a lot for us to do the interesting things we do and everyone is struggling. I think we’ve made great strides this year and we are looking to keep building on what we’ve achieved thus far, disseminate our music as far as we can and continue to make interesting music and art. Although I find it difficult to quantify ‘success’ in this day and age we are happy with our first records – feel we’ve come a very long way in recent moons. It’s been exciting to play in so many different countries but there’s so much more we want to do; we all see our initial success as laying down a foundation for a brighter future.

Band Promo Links:

Website: www.dcfontana.com
www.myspace.com/dcfontana
www.facebook.com/dcfontana

The Band are… 

Aron: Bass & vocals
Mats: Drums
Måns: Guitar, vocals & sound fx
Sebastian: Guitar & vocals

How did you guys meet and what drove you to make music together?

Måns and Sebastian run a 60s club (99^th Floor) together and they talked about forming a new band a couple of years ago. Soon Mats, from Sebastian’s previous band The Giljoteens, joined. They now had the songs and the style but they needed a young handsome, untouched bass player. Aron, of Les Artyfacts, was the man for the job. He couldn’t play bass at first but he was young, handsome and untouched for sure.

Or: We all knew each other from before and all our previous groups more or less split up at the same time so The Flight Reaction is basically the debris from The Giljoteens, The Maggots and Les Artyfacts.

No seriously, we met at a record fair. We were the only guys who weren’t fat and smelly and fought over expensive seventies prog albums with songs about unicorns. When we started talking it turned out that we all know things about women as well! Incredible where life takes us sometimes!

No really, honestly, we all met at a zoo. We lived in the same cage and then we managed to escape together. You should see us when we haven’t shaved for a couple of weeks.

How would you describe the style you play?

Garage beat ‘n’ moody sounds, with more than a hint of psychedelia. No hippie drivel or stoner shite though.

Our style is very sixties influenced, but with no obvious carbon copy stuff – it’s all our own take on it and we really go for melodies and diversity in arrangements etc. We just pretend that nothing’s happened since 1967 when we compose. That’s not very hard, since almost nothing has happened since then.

What are your live shows like?

We try to present an equal mix of super great songs with tight harmonies and more freaky excursions, without falling into that tired ‘long guitar solo’ trap that a lot of people think is the same as ‘psychedelic’. Instead we opt for just taking off into echoes ‘n’ sounds, kinda Barret Floyd style but mixed with a stronger garage groove. We’re still working on getting a lightshow aswell, but most modern venues have black backdrops and lame ‘rock lights’… Of course we dress up for the occasions as well. You won’t see us hanging from any ceilings though – the music, sounds and our good looks are the show!

What are your main influences in music? Who do/would you play covers by? And who do you despise?

Covers…

The covers we play at the moment are ‘Citadel’ by the Rolling Stones (a UK band from the sixties who ventured into psychedelia for a short while around 1967, just like The Hollies) and ‘Green Destroys the Gold’ by the Beacon Street Union. We’ve also played ‘My Time’ by The Golden Dawn and ‘Nothing Can Bring Me Down’ by the Twilighters.

Influences…

Måns: The experience… and yeah stuff the 13^th Floor Elevators, New Colony Six, Silver Apples, the Pretty Things, Moby Grape, the Dovers, the Seeds, Barret Floyd, the Deep, Tages, countless (mostly US) punkadelic garage bands. A few eighties bands like the early Rain Parade, Laughing Soup Dish, the Steppes and some others also did some things that were very similar to what we wanna project with our music, methinks. Real psychedelia, and garage beat sounds, would be the short answer, I guess.

Aron: Tages, Pretty Things, the Wanted, the Smoke, St Louis Union, les Fleurs de Lys, Ronnie Bird…

Mats: The Crystal Chandelier, the Human Expression, and the Morning Dew – that type of moody psychedelia…

Sebastian: 60’s garage and psychedelia in general from bands that only mostly only recorded a 45 or two. The Dovers, Pink Floyd, Oscar & the Majestics, Electras, MG & the Escorts just to name a few.

Spitting vomit…

Måns: I hate hippie and theatre music, like Santana or the Doors. I don’t like cover bands much, like for example Led Zeppelin. I’m not into sports so I’ve never understood when people play as many notes as possible very fast.

The short answer to this question is: I like good music and hate bad music. And I am always right.

Aron: I have to say that I think Jimi Hendrix is quite boring. Overall bands/artists that play too much just to show how “skillful” they are.

Mats: Bands who are acting cool…

Sebastian: Cover bands are so boring, why bother? I mean the songs have already been done and probably much better anyway…

What are your main influences outside of music?

Måns: L.S.D.! No seriously… hehehe… life itself and all that’s going on around me. Love ‘n’ height. Nowadays I fly on memories ‘n’ feelings when tapping into those certain areas, lyricswise and so on. Magical thinking.

Aron: La belle époque, Napoleonic uniforms and 19^th C mysticism.

Mats: Like everyone else I enjoy collecting 45’s and when time allows watching old movies.

Sebastian: Apart from playing, I enjoy collecting records and playing them of course. Food and wine is a great passion of mine and the good thing is that you can combine the two extremely well together with friends, playing those records.

How many official recordings have you done? How many released? Where can they be found? And who write your songs and what subjects do you deal with?

Three singles to this date. Two are released on Copasetic records in Germany and one is released on 13 O’Clock records in the US.

Where can they be found? In well stocked record stores and around that thing called “the internet”… there is something called “google” which may be helpful when looking for newly released records.

What’s your favourite song currently?

Måns: The 13^th Floor Elevators ‘Roller Coaster’ and the Silver Apples ‘A Pox on You’ are always my favourite songs. Right now though I’m particularly fond of playing the Models ‘Bend Me, Shape Me’ on MGM over and over… and I keep getting blown away by Tages ‘Fantasy Island’ every time I play it…

Aron: Ronnie Bird ‘Rain in the City’, Cherry Slush ‘I Cannot Stop You’,  The Wanted ‘Here to Stay’

Mats: The Mystic Tide – “Frustration”, the Raving Madd – “Boundaries” and Crystal Chandelier – “Your Land of Love” go on repeat on my record player…

Sebastian: Park Avenue Playground ‘The Trip’, Painted Faces ‘I Lost You in My Mind’, Ramases & Selket ‘Mind’s Eye’, Paul Martin ‘It Happened’

How would you describe the current underground scene? Do you participate?

In Sweden there’s not really an underground scene for what we are doing – but there may be  seeds sown and when/if that’s harvested we will probably be there. We try to contribute organising clubs and spinning records from time to time. People generally love the things we are playing without necessarily being part of the small scene that we’ve got.

Good Swedish bands… Trummor & Orgel, the Fourtune Tellers, Voladoras, the Satans, Early Days…

What has been the biggest challenge to date?

To try and live in this world, surrounded by idiots.

How often do you Rehearse? Play Live? Record?

Often enough to not forget what we’re doing, haha! We’re recording at the rehearsal from time to time, when we got new songs. It’s a good way to work on lyrics and arrangements in between rehearsals. We’ve been playing live quite a lot. Gigs just kept pouring in for a while. Right now we’ve decided to concentrate on the album instead though, but if the right offer comes along we’re game!

What do you think of the music coverage in the media?

Mainstream media rock journalists probably have the easiest and most retarded ‘job’ on the planet… basic writing about whatever is ‘in’ this week and generally just making shit up in between getting drunk at free gigs. The biggest thing since the Beatles is apparently TV programmes where ‘average people’ sing washed out karaoke versions of washed out hits, so that’s what the mainstream ‘music media’ mostly write about these days.

Then there’s fantastic publications like Ugly Things, Shindig!, your own publication and so on, of course.

Do you rate any other current bands?

The Higher State and Paul Messis, Trummor & Orgel… we know there are lots more but these cats are the ones that spring to mind right off the bat.

Who/Where would you most like to record and why?

At the Abbey Road studio in ’67. Why? SF Sorrow, Piper… Or Gold Star in ’67! Or the Fenton studio! But seriously, it would be stunning to record at Atlantic here in Stockholm. It’s a huge old studio that’s been at the same location since the fifties. They still have all the old gear, including a sound technician who’s worked there since the sixties and knows all about doing analog tape phasing etc.. Masses of killer mics and tube compressors. Large recording room, looking just like it did in 1965. Way too expensive for us at this moment though. So we plan to record at our rehearsal and add vocals ‘n’ fluff in a studio run by an old friend who’s a dream to work with. It will hopefully be totally great.

What should we expect from you in the future? What are your plans and ambitions?

We would like to be the new standard bearers of a psychedelic revolution! Change the world etc – nothing less! Get rich, buy castles, invent a time machine and go back to 1966-1970 to buy records and meet Marianne Faithful. Have our own goose farm and produce foie gras. Travel in space. Lay golden eggs.

We will settle for making a really great LP though, and that’s in the works. We have a bunch of new songs and we’ve already made pre production recordings to choose songs, plan the flow and production etc. The plan is to have a good balance between live in the studio takes and whatever studio trickery we may come up with. We think that a studio album is something completely different from a live show. Live there’s the audience and the whole aspect of ‘now’. On a studio album we’ll make up for the lack of that by adding other elements instead – it’s more like a psychedelic ride though your mind, with us as the guides and non-captains!

We also have a new ’45 coming out soon, on 13 O’Clock records which may be the greatest little label in the known universe right now. It’s our take on the Rolling Stones – Citadel, backed with an original – Mourning Light. Apart from blowing you away it’ll also give you a taste of our recording philosophy… a deliberate mess! The third sound must be present and the best way to invite that is to accept chaos and just record what’s going on. Just like life itself. It’s a-happening!

Band Promo Links:

Live:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w4mWET1l5M&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxJg2d0x1tA&feature=related

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Flight-Reaction/167460559987563

Peter Markham from Ugly Things talks to Don Fardon, lead singer of the Sorrows.

Who was the greatest male British blue-eyed soul singer of the ‘60s? That question has been asked many times. Some people’s preferences are, with very good reasons: Steve Marriott, Reg King, Chris Farlowe, Van Morrison, Georgie Fame, Steve Winwood, Steve Ellis, Zoot Money, Duffy Power, Eric Burdon, Long John Baldry, Dave Berry, Jimmy Powell… and the list goes on. My favorite, though, without a doubt, is Mr Don Fardon, a native of Coventry—sometimes known as the “Detroit of England” (home of the Rolls Royce and almost every other British automobile). Fardon basically helped define the term “freakbeat” with his former band, the Sorrows, of “Take a Heart” fame.

Donald Adrian Fardon was born on August 19, 1943 and stands an impressive six-feet seven inches tall (that’s taller than both Long John Baldry and Mick Fleetwood!), and he possesses a big powerful voice of a wide range to match his spectacular frame. Fardon did stints with various local Coventry beat groups, before forming the Sorrows in 1963. After a handful of singles and one very underrated album, ‘Take a Heart’, he went solo in ‘66. Fardon didn’t achieve any real success in his home country, and was, in fact, unable to release any records for a short time due to contractual issues, so he instead set his sights on Germany and France, where he went on to become a hugely successful pop star in the late ‘60s, with a string of stunning singles recorded for the Young Blood label in the UK and issued by the Vogue and Hit-Ton labels on the continent.

While most New Untouchables readers are doubtless already familiar with the Sorrows, Don’s 1967-69 solo output is hugely underrated. His material was mostly rearrangements of other people’s songs, but transforming them into his own distinctive versions with the help of ace record producer, arranger and songwriter Miki Dallon, who also penned ‘Take a Heart.’ These brilliant sides of hip ‘60s club sound with big bold brass, swinging string arrangements, rocking guitar and groovy Hammond, backing Fardon’s rich baritone have been filling up floors at modernist events for quite some time. File them under “Mod R&B groover / blue-eyed soul dancer / garage fuzz dance floor filler”—terms that are used to much annoyance on eBay listings nowadays (I recently saw a Jimi Hendrix 45 listed as “Northern Soul!”). I personally can’t imagine ever DJ’ing without spinning at least one or two Don Fardon 45s!

John D Loudermilk’s “(The Lament of the Cherokee) Indian Reservation” was a massive hit for Fardon, with its pulsating beat, atmospheric horns and fuzzy guitar. (The Raiders cut their own version later and scored their only #1 US hit). Fardon’s version was initially released in ‘68, but topped the European charts in ‘70 and went on to sell an estimated three million copies worldwide (other sources claim one million, but that’s still quite a lot).

The early ‘70s saw Fardon with another unexpected hit single, “Belfast Boy,” a tribute to perhaps the greatest footballer of all time (that’s soccer to you yanks), the legendary womaniser, boozer and top striker for Manchester United and Northern Ireland, George Best. The quality of Fardon’s records fizzled out a bit up until the mid ‘70s, when he retired from the music business. He returned to performing in the ‘90s with some country & western “Line Dance Party” themed discs recorded in Nashville (which this writer has not heard for obvious reasons), as well as various compilations of his ‘60s output.

Last year saw a surprise resurrection of Fardon’s career when his version of Tommy James’ killer “I’m Alive” was used in a TV commercial for the Five Fruit Blend soft drink 5 Alive, complete with dancing dodo’s and a music video featuring a cameo appearance from Don as a gardener in an old age pen- sioners’ home full of senior citizens rocking out! Also upcoming at the time of writing is the reunion of the Sorrows, and a Coventry all-star rock’n’roll outfit called Don Fardon’s Rock-it.

After a few months of searching for Fardon on the information superhighway, I was able to track him down in his hometown of Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire (roughly midway between Coventry and Birmingham in the West Midlands, close to Rugby, the birthplace of the gentleman’s sport of the same name), which he has called his home for the past 30 years. An engineer by trade, he has also been a radio presenter for BBC Coventry and worked security with former British wrestler Tony “Banger” Walsh. Now in his late sixties, Fardon has been managing a series of local country pubs with his wife Susan and son Richard, in between the odd club gig and recording sessions, as well as being a grandfather. It doesn’t look like he has any plans for retirement any time soon!

THE HAWKS, THE VIKINGS, JOHNNY & THE REBELS, AND THE MILLIONAIRES

Ugly Things: You were born during World War II. What was it like growing up in post-war Britain in the industrial West Midlands?

Don Fardon: Yes, I was born during the Second World War, in one of Britain’s most bombed cities, Coventry. I always wondered as a child why Coventry was chosen as target. I now know, having lived near here for the past 60 years, that Hitler decided to show that the Germans DO have a sense of humor! My father had an engineering business, which the Luftwaffe duly flattened, and as his company was on essential war work, the government moved us 50 miles away to a shadow factory to enable his work to continue. I have here in the house a wine cabinet that the directors of Rolls Royce presented to him in 1945 which states “For the continuous supply of tooling from 1939-1945 with our immense gratitude for your aid to the war effort.” He made the tooling for the total production of the Rolls Royce Merlin engine that was used in the Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster bombers. The war years were dire. Hardly any food, fruit or meat. I never saw a sweet until I was six or seven years old. The first banana I saw my brother ate with the skin on! All this went on till I was at least 10 or 11. So you can understand why we all went barmy in the ‘60s when things returned to normal and the shops for the first time in our lives were full of goodies!

UT: What was your earliest interest in music, did you begin in skiffle groups like many other musicians from that era?

DF: My first interest in music began at an early age. I went to a boarding school as my father was always away on business and in 1948 I had a shock that still reverberates through me to this day… my mother died. I used to spend hours on my own listening to the radio—no TV then, not for another five years. On Sunday evenings when I started work I used to go to the Hippodrome to the big band concerts in Coventry. All the world’s best dance bands came and I loved it.

UT: You were born close to where William Shakespeare was born and for a time you considered a career as a Shakespearean actor?

DF: Although I lived right next door to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, I, like most children of my age, was completely turned off by the Bard. The stories were OK but the dialogue was undecipherable to most teenagers. We were more interested in the Goons.

UT: Tell me about your first band, the Hawks, where you went under the name of Will Pity.

DF: Whilst I was working as an engineering apprentice, I used to supplement my wages by working at the Locarno Ballroom. It was there that I saw my first electric band, the Hawks, and I was blown away. As I was leaving the ball- room at 1:30 in the morning, I saw the band outside. It was pelting down with rain, and all their gear was outside on the pavement. I asked what they were doing and they told me they were waiting for the van to come to pick them up, as the driver had taken his girl home. I said, “You should sack him!” And they said, “We can’t, it’s his van.” I said, “You should get a manager then.” The following Sunday my father told me, “Some people are asking for you at the front door.” It was the band, and they offered me the manager’s job! Which I took. Hello, show business!

Four weeks later we were at a cinema in Rugby and the singer hadn’t arrived. The cinema manager said, “I have 350 in there waiting for a show, if you aren’t on stage in three minutes I shall cancel the performance and sue you.” I really panicked as my name was on the contract, so I said “Right, on stage now, boys. I’ll sing!” and the rest, as they say, is history. When the singer did turn up I sacked him and became the permanent vocalist.

UT: Your next band was the Vikings, where you appeared under the name Webb Stacey.

DF: The first band that I actually formed was the Vikings. I had seen a fantastic lead guitarist in Coventry called Jim Smith, and he knew how to get a gig at the 2i’s Coffee Bar in London, where all the big names got started. So we formed a band so that we could play there, which we did, with Cliff [Richard] and Marty Wilde. But nothing came from it, so it was back to Coventry. I was with the Vikings for 18 months when I was approached by the management of the top Coventry band at that time called Johnny & the Rebels. They were having trouble with their lead singer and asked me to replace him. So I did. After a couple of years I became disillusioned with the Rebels. We were all on wages, and I could get more money alone, so I gave notice and left.

UT: You then formed your own band, Rockin’ Lord Docker & the Millionaires. What’s the story behind that dashing band name?

DF: I formed a band called Rockin’ Lord Docker & the Millionaires and walked on stage with a St Bernard dog, top hat, gold cane and a cloak. It was a “wow”—that is until a solicitor’s letter from Sir Bernard Docker—the chairman of the Daimler Motor Company arrived, informing me that unless the name was dropped I would be sued for defamation. So we became the Millionaires. (Don was replaced by not one, but two singers in the Millionaires, Beverley Jones and Ricky Dawson, known as “The Duke & Duchess” – Ed).

A SORROWFUL BUNCH

UT: In 1963 you formed the Sorrows with ex-members of several other Coventry beat groups. How did you get together?

DF: At about this time all the bands around the West Midlands used a late night café called Val’s. It used to stay open till four in the morning, so it was a great place to eat after a gig. It was here that I met Pip Whitcher, and after another meeting we decided to put a band together that would be different. He knew a bass player and I knew a drummer, and the bass player knew another guitarist. So we had a band.

UT: How did you settle on the name the Sorrows?

DF: We practiced in Pip’s mum’s front room, and as she came in to listen to us she remarked, “Well! You do look a sorrowful bunch.” We had a name.

UT: You had to come up with a stage name in the Sorrows?

DF: It was decided that as lead vocalist I should have a stage name, as was the custom back then, as in Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, etc.. So as we were called the Sorrows we looked for something sad, or lonely or miserable. The word that we found collectively was ‘mournful’, so I became Don Maughn, for about six weeks, until we played the Fairfield Hall in Croydon with Susan Maughn, who at the time had a huge hit in the charts with “Bobby’s Girl.” So I said, “Knickers to this! I’m using my own name from now on,” and so it was.

UT: The Sorrows were the most successful group to come out of Coventry. What was the local beat scene like back then? There was other groups like the Mighty Avengers, the Ivy League and the Orchids.

DF: The local beat scene back then was great. Because of our location, we were next door to Birmingham, which is only 18 miles up the road, so we, as a top band, were able to fill our date sheets, which kept us working round the clock. We worked with all the top bands of the time. The only group we never appeared on stage with during a six-year period was the Beatles. But we met them off stage on a couple of occasions. We became really great pals with the Who. Their drummer, Keith Moon, followed us everywhere. He really thought we were the bee’s knees. God, he was a mad sod! I nearly ended up in jail in Brussels because of his crazy antics. I had been doing a pop show for Belgian TV with the Who and Mud and several other British groups, and after it finished Moonie asked me to join them for a meal at a real top restaurant. It was the swankiest place I had ever seen. At the end of the meal we were chatting and Moonie said, “Did anyone see Tommy Cooper on TV last week?” He’d done a trick where he took hold of a tablecloth on a table full of crockery and whipped it away, leaving all the stuff on the table intact. “I can do that trick!” So he walks to a table away from where we sat where four business- men were dining, and said “Excuse me.” He then grabbed their table cloth and pulled all the contents onto the floor, leaving everyone in the place open-mouthed. He simply said, “Oh, sod it, it worked last time!” The whole table of ours promptly got up and legged it out of the place, except me who sat stunned and waited for the police to arrive. I was taken to the local nick, and whilst I was making a statement Moonie arrived and paid up for the damage, and I was released without charge.

UT: Tell me about some of the local Coventry venues like the Locarno Ballroom, Mercers Arms and the Orchid Ballroom.

DF: The local scene around Coventry was buzzing in the ‘60s/’70s: the Flying Club, where all the local groups played; the Matrix, where we saw the Beatles and Jerry Lee Lewis played regularly; the Orchid, where I booked an act that I’d seen in London called Chris Farlowe & the Thunderbirds and we supported him, and packed the place, and I made money like I’d never seen before. (The other booker at the Orchid Ballroom was a certain Larry Page, a for- mer singer who went on to discover the Troggs and run his own successful record label, Page One – Ed). Leamington Spa, our neighbor, had a magnificent park called Jephson Gardens where we played with five other local bands one Sunday afternoon, again packed with several hundred people. Our manager decided to book the biggest theatre in the Midlands, and organised a Battle of the Bands. Twelve of the best of the Midlands local bands played that night. A top A&R man from Pye Records in London was invited and first prize was a recording contract with Pye International. Guess who won? We did!

UT: One of the biggest acts on Pye was the Kinks. Did being on the same label as them affect your choice of material—to have a harder edge, so to speak?

DF: No, we already had developed our style by the time Pye signed us, and our A&R man John Schroeder looked out for material to suit us, and no one else.

UT: Despite being a successful local act, the first two Sorrows singles didn’t do too well in the charts. This must have been quite frustrating at the time?

DF: Not frustrating that the first two records were not hits. We were by this time playing all over Europe seven days a week, so we did not have time to think. In hindsight we maybe should have done more in the UK to promote them, as we did with our first hit.

UT: Pye/Piccadilly then paired you with producer Miki Dallon, who would mean a lot to your career in the rest of the ‘60s. How did you meet him?

DF: We never met Miki Dallon until the song he wrote called “Take a Heart” became a hit for us. He came to one of the TV shows we were doing to say hello, and that’s how we met.

UT: “Take a Heart” was previously recorded by Boys Blues. How did that song come into your repertoire?

DF: John Schroeder, our producer at Pye, found it for us amongst several demos he passed to us at the time.

UT: The single really started taking off after the pirate radio stations like Radio London and their DJ Kenny Everett started hyping it?

DF: We were becoming really big on the London scene at this time, we were playing all the big London gigs, and had created a strong fan base in the London area, so we got every TV show that was going that’s what I believe put us in the charts.

UT: Your drummer Bruce Finlay didn’t actually play on “Take a Heart,” but session drummer Tony Fennell did?

DF: Tony Fennell did play the drums on the actual recording that day as Bruce Finlay’s wife was in hospital. But Bruce spent a full two days with him to show him what to play prior to us going down to Pye studios. It shows how busy the studios were then, as they couldn’t rearrange another date to allow Bruce to come with us later.

UT: When “Take a Heart” became a smash hit, you recorded both German and Italian language versions. How was it like for a Midlands lad to try and sing in a strange language?

DF: I already had a fairly good command of the German language as we had toured the club scene all over Germany, so the German version wasn’t a hassle for me. However, the Italian version was a different matter. I had to write it down exactly as it sounded in English and we recorded it line by line!

UT: The Sorrows were a hard working band. You held several residencies at various clubs and even played at Coventry City’s Highfield Road ground during halftime?

DF: We were the favorite band of the chairman at Coventry City Football Club. He looked on us as a good luck charm. We played at a party when they were promoted from the fourth to the third division. So next year when they went from third to second division, we played at that celebration as well. So the next year as they were heading towards the first division, any crucial cup games we were asked to go down and play on the pitch prior to the kickoff. And it worked; they stayed in the first division for over 20 years.

UT: Having a record in the charts also meant that you got to appear on Ready Steady Go! and shows like that?

DF: There was not a TV pop show in Europe we didn’t do. We toured with all the chart names from America and the UK. I became friendly with some of the biggest international stars of the time, and still am.

UT: Would you care to name any names?

DF: The artists I have remained friends with are PJ Proby, Dave Berry, John D Loudermilk, Dave Lee Travis, the Hollies, the Tremeloes, James Burton from Elvis’ and Ricky Nelson’s bands. And I was friends with Roy Orbison until his untimely death, but still have contact with Barbara his widow, who is a super lady. Roy and I shared an interest in motorbikes, I still ride a Kawasaki ZRX1200; it’s a real adrenalin rush, It accelerates so fast it feels like it’s trying to pull your arms out the sockets!

UT: You and bassist Phil Packham left the Sorrows at the same time in 1966. What lead to the split?

DF: The Sorrows split because Phil Packham decided he had met the girl he wanted to marry. Unfortunately her father wouldn’t allow his daughter to marry some longhaired git in a pop band! So to our surprise he turned up one day for a gig with a short back and sides, and announced he was leaving to get married. We were all dumbfounded, and none of us believed it would happen. But we were just about to embark on a four month tour in Italy, which I thought was too long to be away, on one hit. I also didn’t like the idea of a change in band members, and the two or three people they were suggesting. So I decided to call it a day as well and go do it alone. Not a bad move as it turned out was it?

UT: What was your initial reaction when the band continued in Italy with Roger Lomas as lead guitarist and Pip Whitcher switched to lead vocals?

DF: My reaction when the Sorrows split was as it is when anything comes to an end, Ah well, that was that then, time to move on. I have made it one of my main focuses in life not to dwell on the past, always look ahead. You can’t change [the past], so live with it and move on.

UT: I am sure that you know that the Sorrows nowadays are classified as “freakbeat.” What do you think of that?

DF: I have come across this expression, “freakbeat,” but I don’t know what it means. Someone in this world is always trying to pigeonhole everything. We were just a bunch of guys who had a raw and exciting sound for the time we were together, and it made us stand out from the crowd. I have always believed that had we had better management we could have been one of the biggest bands around. The people who had hold of the reins were amateurs, and as such missed thousands of opportunities to promote and advance us.

Newuntouchables.com ‘head honcho’ and compiler of the Le Beat Bespoké LP Series selects some underground gems that can often be found filling the dancefloors at various events around the UK and Euro Scene based Clubs and Events! Well worth a listen! To listen to the podcast, click the play button in the left hand corner of the Podcast Player below! Et Voila!