AUDIENCE Newsletter 14

June 2006

Chez Zulu

Since Audience reformed, individual commitments have conspired to prevent the four of us getting together often enough to concentrate on new material. Instead, in the knowledge folk wanted to hear many of the old favourites - and everything's somebody's favourite! - rehearsals have concentrated on bending more familiar material into shape and to filter out that which, for whatever reason, no longer worked.

We've pretty well exhausted all the material from the '60s/'70s albums that can realistically expect to find a place in the live set, so if your favourite hasn't yet appeared it probably won't - though you never know! But the good news is - we've finally found time to put our heads together and work on new songs. None were sufficiently ready to go on the set list at last week's Borderline gig, but we did manage to put the Audience stamp on "False Prophets", an eerie, thumping track from Howard's solo cd - "The Evolution Myth Explodes".

We'll be bashing it out again at the Boom Boom Club at Sutton, Surrey a week on Sunday - that's 11 June. The gig falls exactly 35 years after one of a series of dates we played at Leytonstone's Chez Club. In those days, in common with several other suburban London venues like Klooks Kleek, Croydon's Greyhound, Cooks Ferry Inn and Eel Pie Island. The Chez was a place working bands really enjoyed playing, even though it inevitably meant a reduced booking fee and was described by one reviewer thus; "...a limited choice of ale, very cold and the pool tables don't work"

The Chez Club was a small dance hall over The Red Lion pub, first licensed in 1826 as The Robin Hood. In the absence of a Town Hall it was also the town's unofficial meeting house for many years. Local lad Howard had always gone there (though probably not as early as 1826) both to play and to see other bands. The Who, Small Faces and The Action appeared there frequently during the mod era, and with the advent of hairier heads, Howard, Keith, Tony and I would go along to see Family, Jethro Tull and Colosseum. When hair disappeared again, the creaking floorboards played host to punk and ska. 

Today, in an increasingly gentrified Leytonstone, the rough, tough and scruffy Red Lion has been spruced up and re-launched as a South African theme bar named Zulus www.zulus.co.uk - so at least the old place still shakes to thumping drums

Up the junction

Clint Bahr, bass player with TriPod www.tripod-theband.com a powerful and very different New York prog band who are linked to our own website www.audienceareback.com emailed following the piece about the Brill Building (April Newsletter, No. 12).

Apparently, Clint's father-in-law worked in the famous New York song-writing centre in the 1930s/'40s. His name was Buddy Feyne www.buddyfeyne.com and he collaborated on songs with artists as diverse as Gene Autry, Louis Jordan, Charlie Parker and Lester Young. His songs have been sung and played by Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, George Benson, Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, Clint Eastwood, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Earl Hines, Billie Holliday, Joe Jackson, Harry James, Stan Kenton, Barney Kessel, Cyndi Lauper, Jerry Lee Lewis, Henry Mancini, Manhattan Transfer, Oscar Peterson, Django Reinhardt, Boz Scaggs, Bessie Smith, Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughan, Fats Waller, Muddy Waters and many more.

And you can also include Keith and myself in the credits! Buddy Feyne was the lyricist to Erskine Coleman's "Tuxedo Junction", which became a standard Glenn Miller feature. Keith runs a business, making and selling MIDI Files, one of which features "Tuxedo Junction".  I'm sure Erskine, Buddy and Glenn would have been content with Keith's arrangement, but I'm equally sure they would have hated what my band, "The Soundsmen", did to it in 1964. Our version was a mongrel Twist, with Shadows-style lead guitar (not my fault - I was on rhythm guitar) and a touch of Famous Flames' 'funky chicken' r & b (that bit was my fault!). We wore bright blue matching silk suits and our singer, Ricky Rand (referred to behind his back as Randy Rick, and quite right, too) wore silver lame. All in all, a shameful thing and not as nature intended!

From Paris to Clitheroe

Johnny Paris died of leukaemia at the age of 65, the first of three band front men lost over the last few weeks. I was a real fan of Johnny and The Hurricanes in the early '60s when I aspired to be a halfway decent lead guitarist.

Not that guitar was their main feature. Guitarist Dave Yorko was OK, but The Hurricanes put sax and organ up front and Johnny Paris was among the first sax players I took notice of in rock 'n' roll. Others included Danny Flores aka Chuck Rio of The Champs, and King Curtis, who played on The Coasters' "Yakety Yak". Boots Randolph www.bootsrandolph.com was another. He played more yakety (his biggest solo hit was "Yakety Sax" and his royalties from The Benny Hill Show alone must have been immense). And I'd have to include Steve Douglas (just listen to him on Duane Eddy's "Peter Gunn") and The Piltdown Men which unsubstantiated legend has it included jazz baritone sax player Gerry Mulligan.

The Hurricanes hit the charts with around a dozen instrumentals between 1959 - 1961 but it was their first single "Crossfire" - and "Buckeye", the b-side to their first major hit, "Red River Rock" - that had the most effect on me. In fact, their b-sides, often more rough and rocky, were always better than novelty a-sides like "Rockin' Goose" and "Reveille Rock". Perhaps it was Paul Tesluk's organ and Johnny Paris' rasping tenor sax that made The Hurricanes that little bit dirtier than The Ventures www.theventures.com and other 'surfin'' contemporaries - much as I loved 'em all. But while arguably of that genre, I think of Johnny and The Hurricanes as part of a route that led me to the likes of Booker T and The MGs  

Confined to a wheelchair since 2001, Freddie Garrity has died from pulmonary disease at the age of 69. Not one to bother with genuine anecdotes about show-biz friends, he preferred to tease gossip columnists with stories like "After a gig at Bournemouth, I went off to the bar with The Everly Brothers."  He'd pause and the journalists would lean forward eagerly. "One of them drank everly and the other smoked everly".

In fact, although easily dismissed as silly because of their zany dance routines and nods towards old time music hall, Freddie and The Dreamers www.tsimon.com/dreamers.htm were at least as good as many of the working bands of the early '60s. I saw them live around the time of their first hit, a somewhat lightweight version of James Ray's "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody" which Freddie was quick to point out was nothing on Ray's sublime original. The set, at High Wycombe Town Hall, was littered with perfectly acceptable versions of r & b favourites of the day, like "Some Other Guy", "Money", "Kansas City" and "Tallahassee Lassie" plus Roy Orbison ballads which Freddie's range and accuracy covered admirably. But my fondest memory of the gig was the band's ritual humiliation of a local bully, a yob known as Clitheroe. 

Some way into the set, Clitheroe took up position with his elbows on the edge of the stage, trying to stare lantern jawed bass player Pete Birrell down. Birrell met his gaze, stopped playing and adopted a chimpanzee-like stance. Freddie and the rest of the band backed off to the wings where they huddled in mock fright, cowering not from Clitheroe - whom they studiously ignored - but from Birrell. As the music ground to a halt the entire audience watched, wondering what the neighbourhood 'hard man' would do next. The silent staring contest continued for maybe a full minute with Clitheroe's discomfort and embarrassment growing ever more palpable. Finally, he turned and strode out of the hall, accompanied by the sound of much sniggering.  He never had the same authority again.

Sadly, less than 50% of The Dreamers are still with us. Pete Birrell died from cancer in 2004, aged 63, never knowing he'd destroyed the reputation of a local 'gunslinger'. Drummer Bernie Dwyer - who would sometimes pause mid-set to have a surreal conversation with his drum kit - died in 2002, also from cancer, at the age of 62.

Desmond Dekker www.desmonddekker.com has died, aged 64, from a heart attack. Apart from having considerable respect for the songwriting of Jimmy Cliff, I was never drawn to ska, blue-beat or reggae, not even during Bob Marley's heyday. But my eyes were opened sometime around 1973 when The Nashville Teens, with whom I was playing at the time, shared a gig with Dekker and his band, The Aces. This was a very competent, tight soul band, and Dekker showed a depth and range I would never have suspected from his chart hits. I'm still unlikely to put any reggae on my cd shelves, but I'd always stop and listen to a Desmond Dekker record because there was rather more to him than "The Israelites".

Far from being a front man, you'd have to work at it to find out much about Jack Fallon, who has died aged 89. In the mid-'60s, he was booking agent for my band, The Ginger Tom People, but I didn't realise until many years later that Jack was a big time bass player. He never said a word about that aspect of his life, which included playing for Big Bill Broonzy, Duke Ellington, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Tubby Hayes, The Ted Heath Band, Lena Horne, Django Reinhardt, Tommy Steele, Josh White (alongside drummer Phil Seaman - see January Newsletter, No 10), Sarah Vaughan - even Bob Hope. I might have been mildly impressed by his having played for Ellington and Vaughan, but I would have held him in huge esteem had I known he'd arranged and played on "Last Train to San Fernando", a hit in 1957 by Johnny Duncan and The Bluegrass Boys. This, and another Duncan hit, "Footsteps in the Snow", was formative stuff for me. Johnny Duncan, who died in 2000, was, along with Chas McDevitt and Lonnie Donegan, a bridge between the British pseudo-Sinatras and the burgeoning rock 'n' roll scene of TV's "Oh Boy" and "Boy Meets Girl".

As a booker, Jack Fallon momentarily connected The Ginger Toms back to that scene when we were hired as backing band for one of the great British '50s rock hopes, Vince Taylor who Jack no doubt knew from the old days. Adding even more to the occasion was the fact the first gig was at the "2 I's" coffee bar, where Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard and a host of other early UK rock stars were discovered.

Sadly, Vince, his one minor hit "Brand New Cadillac" long forgotten, was an embarrassing wreck, perpetually drunk and drugged out, and his 'comeback' came to nought. The most vivid recollection I have of him was his constant insistence that an old Rosemary Clooney (George's auntie) song we performed together would be a massive hit if he could only get it released. In my view, the song was quite awful and totally uncommercial. Years later, "This Old House" put Shakin' Stevens at the top of the charts and proved me wrong!

Interestingly, "Brand New Cadillac" was revived by The Clash on their classic "London Calling" album and Vince Taylor, who died in 1991, is cited by David Bowie as the inspiration behind his concept "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars". Funny old world, ain't it?

And the unassuming Jack Fallon - of whose reputation I had no inkling? He hadn't finished his career by any means. Nine years after he'd found bookings, pre-stardom, for The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, he appeared on the latter's classic "White Album".

Outing the Chan

I finally have an answer to Dave Dyment's query regarding the true identity of Howard Chan (May Newsletter, No. 13). At a point where he felt his solo career had stalled, Howard (Werth, not Chan) was pondering a name change. When record company executives asked what he wanted to be called instead he said "Howard Chan" then promptly forgot about it. 

Subsequently, the first pressings of "Lucinda" came out under the name Howard Chan. Howard (Werth, not Chan), like any experienced musician, would naturally have assumed the record company hadn't paid any attention to him or his Chan suggestion, so he was understandably surprised. Foreseeing the prospect of conscription into The Red Army, a strict diet of rice and having to spray his Baldwin an unfashionable scarlet, Howard (Chan, not Werth) urgently renounced his new identity. 

Although only a handful of Chan discs escaped into the world before his alter-ego regained control, it was too late, and greedy capitalists like Dave Dyment are the only ones to benefit by ownership of these rarities.

Drum stuff

Russ Wilson asked whether we found Genesis 'nice guys' when we were all Charisma up-and-comings and I'd have to say 'yes', even though we had considerably less to do with them than with Lindisfarne, Van der Graaf and Jackson Heights. I don't personally recall sharing more than a few words with any of Genesis apart from Phil Collins, and then only because "Sounds" journalist, Jerry Gilbert (between sets at London's Lyceum) suggested Phil and I should do something together because our voices sounded similar. This was at a point when Peter Gabriel was still Genesis' lead singer and Collins and I were both singing backing harmonies.

Howard remembers Collins, in a despondent and pessimistic "Genesis are never going to make it" mood, asking to be considered for the drum position should Tony Connor vacate it. Well, he's vacated it now Phil, but you've been beaten to the punch again by the 'new boy' and we wouldn't swap our John for the nightly privilege of playing "Groovy Kind of Love"!

Howard also added new clues to the item in April Newsletter, No. 12 where we were attempting to identify "Howard Werth and The Moonbeams'" live drummer. Howard could only remember him as "Bryn", but we've now established this was Bryn B Burrows. Bryn went on to form The Fabulous Poodles and is the younger brother of Clive Burrows, baritone sax player in the '60s and '70s with Zoot Money's Big Roll Band and The Alan Price Set.

Things we never knew

Russ also thought we had played on an album by Colin Scot, released on Charisma with an all-star backing band. Colin Scot died in 1999. To my shame, I don't remember him at all, but I've subsequently tracked down an album called simply "Colin Scot", now on cd and re-titled "Colin Scot (Remastered)"

Audience members are entirely absent from the list of Charisma sessioneers, which includes Brinsley Schwartz, Van der Graaf Generator's Peter Hamill, Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson from Yes, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins from Genesis, King Crimson's Robert Fripp, Jane Relf from Renaissance and ex-Magna Carta and Elton John guitarist Davey Johnstone - who was also session guitarist on Howard's (Werth, not Chan) "Lucinda". 

The line-up also includes legendary trumpet player Eddie 'Tan Tan' Thornton (ex-Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames) whom Keith worked with in the mid-'70s behind reggae star Delroy Washington and in The Roy Young Band -see Keith's reminiscences at http://www.audiencefansite.co.uk/page21.html The Colin Scot cd is on Eclectic Records, and these days, so are we, so perhaps that's where Russ made the mistaken connection.

"Are you aware of Octobre?" asks Charles Vachon. Can't say we were, Charles, but apparently they were a well regarded Canadian band during the 1970s, falling somewhere between King Crimson and traditional folk music. and apparently borrowing something from Audience - or from Keith in particular. 

I'm sure I'd approve of Octobre, because they're widely considered to be a forerunner to La Bottine Souriante www.bottinesouriante.com  If you've not heard them, give 'em a listen. The name means "smiling boot" and the front line consists of accordion and fiddle, plus keyboards, bass guitar, a fat brass section and huge vocal harmonies. No drummer. The fiddle player does it all with his feet whilst playing and singing. It's Jacques Brel meets The Beach Boys with Fred Astaire and The Memphis Horns - soul, rock, folk, cajun, jigs and jazz, and quite amazing.

Good buys

For cds including Howard's three solo albums, the re-released first album "Audience" (with bonus tracks) or the 2004 live "alive&kickin'&screamin'&shoutin'" go to www.luminousmusic.co.uk 

But if you're looking for harder to find 'collectables' email me at fox@foxproject.org.uk for the current list. The list usually includes the three Charisma albums on cd plus any rarities we've managed to scavenge from hither and thither. This time, for example, there's the 1982 solo single by Howard, featuring The Isley Brothers "Respectable" backed with the Ray Charles classic, "Lonely Avenue" - written by the great Doc Pomus (another inmate of The Brill Building). This 'un comes in a picture sleeve and is excellent throughout.

Email me for the list as often as you like, 'cos it changes almost daily and the price of anything that fails to move is reduced month by month. And while you're getting in touch, share your memories for the newsletter or beg the answer to a question that's been bugging you at fox@foxproject.org.uk where I sit with little to do each day but count my legs and try to remember who I am.

Trev Williams