How did you get into
playing drums? I guess that happened at a very early age, so was it your own
choice or was it a wish of your parents?
I was having Piano lessons, but wasn’t doing so
well. At the start of secondary school aged eleven I started music lessons. My
teacher would play the Piano in class. He needed a drummer to accompany him. Five
pupils anxiously raised their hands. He asked us to do a pattern on the snare drum.
I was the only one who passed the test. So I became his drummer. My parents got
me into a Scottish marching band, and bought me a snare drum. I had lessons
every Wednesday night at Cassio College in Watford. It was great. I could give
up piano. I really enjoyed working out the different patterns on the Snare
Drum. My father was very pleased with my progress and encouraged me by buying
me a hi-hat for my birthday. I really wanted a bass drum but he said it was too
expensive. On Christmas morning at 6 am he asked me to hand him his dressing
gown from the wardrobe. There inside the wardrobe was a bass drum. I was
elated. A friend down the road played guitar and popped over for a jam, we
would rehearse Cream tracks from the album "Disraeli Gears" on
Thursday nights in my bedroom. I gradually worked up to a larger kit. The odd
extra drum or cymbal from money I earned on my paper rounds. In 1972 a new kid
joined the school, Simon Phillips (no relation) he finished school early every
day because he played drums at "The Palace Theatre", London in the
production "Jesus Christ Superstar". His teacher was Max Abrams. In
1966 Max Abrams wrote "Modern Techniques for the Progressive Drummer"
which was the book everyone used. It was a bit of a shock as prior to this I
was the best drummer in the school. The positive side was that Simon's father
took me under his wing. Simon's father produced an end of year show at the
school, here Simon and I had our full kits up on the stage doing a rehearsed drum
battle. I brought my drums to his house on Sundays and we rehearsed.
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| Blonde |
As far as I understand your first professional band was Blonde. What are your best memories about that period of your life?
At aged 15 my parents had to move to a larger
house to accommodate my grandmother who had lost her sight. They could afford a
large house as they clubbed there money together. We ended up in a 7 bedroom
detached house with a cellar. The whole house desperately needed doing up. It
was agreed I could use the cellar for band rehearsals. My guitarist friend came
down and rehearsed with his bass player. The bass player said he knew a better guitarist.
We invited him down the following week. The better guitarist said he knew a
better bass player. We invited him down the week after that. He turned out to
also be a singer. We now had a band. We rehearsed every Tuesday and Thursday
night. We called ourselves Blonde. We played standard songs and got gigs at
local pubs and clubs. We did a talent competition in Watford which we won. But
when they found out we were only 17 we were not allowed to take the prize. We
also did other competitions, Weddings, parties etc.
Could you tell me
about the band Bogart, please? How old were you when the band was formed?
Bogart is the same band as Blonde but when I
was 18 we changed our name because a big new band called Blondie came out. Also
because we now had a keyboard player and were changing our style to Progressive
Rock with influences such as Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
How did you get in
touch with Secret Records? Did they see you at some show or did you send them
your tape or something?
A guy called Martin Hooker who worked for EMI
Records came down to the cellar to see us and loved what he heard. He said we
were obviously not going to chart with this kind of material and that we would
need to write some commercial songs. Also the Punk movement was starting. So we
changed our tact. We recorded "The Reebaneeba" on Secret Records
which was the first record on Martin Hooker's label. He later changed the name
to Music For Nations.
"The Reebaneeba" was recorded in Magritte
Recording Studios in West Drayton. We were hoping "The Reebaneeba"
was going to be a dance craze.
The band also managed
to record a video which wasn’t usual for a young band at the time. How did that
happen? (Note: I’m sure the video was on
YouTube, but I can’t find it now! If someone has it, please get in touch in the
comments or via email (see “A Message to all” for details).)
I had a friend who lived next door to a studio
called CTVC which stands for Church Television Corporation which was a subsidiary
of Rank Corporation. They filmed Arab soap operas. I went straight into the
control room and asked the Engineer if he could give me a job. He said can you
operate a Boom, I said yes. He sent me out onto the film set I climbed up onto
the platform, all I had to do was swing around the microphone making sure it
was as close as possible to the actors but not in camera shot. So afterwards he
said can you come back tomorrow at 10am. I was on the payroll. Some weeks later
I asked if he would do a video of my rockband Bogart, he agreed. That’s how the
video came to be.
Would you agree that
Bogart were a hard rock band with a punk attitude?
Yes, we got on the London circuit playing every
week at different venues. It was fashionable to act tough. The audience were
mainly Punks, often throwing half-filled cans of beer and spitting at us. This
was an act of appreciation. Strange times!
How can you describe
relationships between punks and hard rockers in the late 70’s? Was it like a
rivalry or was it more like collaboration or something else?
You had Punk, New Wave, Hard Rock, they were a
team. I wouldn’t say it was a rivalry, it was more a quiet respect. Then you
had Prog Rock and Jazz Rock which was disliked by the Punks and they would let
you know. I can remember seeing gangs of Punks setting upon people just because
they liked a different type of music.
Was the band active in
terms of live shows? Why did the band split-up eventually?
My parents were on holiday in Spain. My father
called me to tell me that that a band had pulled out last minute from a club in
Figuerers, Spain. I said great we will do it. When I asked the band they said
no. So I formed another band from other people I knew as I desperately wanted
to do it. Ed Poole (now Bass player for Bonnie Tyler) who worked in the music
shop, Alan Rolfe who was a keyboard player mate, now a professional Elton John
tribute, etc. My friend Steve hired a van, we chucked all the gear in the back
and drove to Spain. Playing two gigs a day for three weeks. I met a DJ called
Gerry who was the Sound Engineer in a private recording studio in Devon owned
by Lone Star. He thought I would be perfect to Drum with them.
That’s how you met
Kenny Driscoll, I guess?
Yes, I auditioned for Lone Star when I returned
from Spain. I met Kenny Driscoll and the rest of the band in their detached
thatched house in Devon. It had an adjoining 16 track recording studio which we
had full time use of. I was invited to move in. I lived there for 20 months. It
was great fun spending all my time playing the Drums. We had a scrambling
motorbike which we did time trials on around the fields and a horse called Smuggler
which we would ride. The closest I've been to feeling like a Rock star.
 |
| John Phillips during his time with Lone Star |
Who was in the band together with you and Kenny? Did you try to record something in the studio and shop it to labels? What happened to the band?
The other guys in the band were Dave on Bass, Steve
Jones on Guitar, a Greek guy called Simon who I became really close friends
with. We did a 42 date tour supporting Budgie which was a great experience. We
have many recordings we did in our studio. However, we went to Marcus Recoding
Studio in London to record a single called "Speedway". It was sent to
CBS Records to try and rekindle a new recording contract but it never came
forth. The original band was famously given forty thousand pound upfront by CBS
and blew it. So that is probably the main reason. During a rehearsal one
afternoon we had a phone call. Whitesnake wanted Kenny Driscoll to visit a
castle in Scotland to audition as their singer. He went off for a while. A
couple of weeks after that we had another phone call, Ozzy Osbourne wanted me
to audition to play Drums with him. I went up to Birmingham for a while and
played some tracks with him, spent a couple of months learning a whole load of
stuff. I went back to my parents house and decided to do some auditions,
amongst the people I met were Showaddywaddy, Generation X and Famous Names.
Your next step was
Lautrec. Did you know them from previous shows, parties or did you just answer
an ad and come to audition?
At one of Lone Star's gigs we had a support
band called Lautrec, they were a really nice bunch of guys. They asked me to
join their band. So I did. As I was beginning to think Lone Star were not going
to nail a recording contract.
Tell me everything you
can recall about your time being with the band: shows, songwriting process etc.
Were you in the band when they toured with Saxon, Magnum and Def Leppard?
We did alot of gigs. I lived with the singer,
Reuben Archer & his stepson Laurence Archer. Reuben had a Graphic Design
company to run, Laurence & I spent time writing songs together. I was not
in the band when they toured with Saxon, Magnum and Def Leppard.
Where and how the
single “Mean Gasoline/Shoot Out The Lights” was recorded? Was it a step forward
for you comparing with your recording experience with Bogart?
We recorded the single “Mean Gasoline/Shoot Out
The Lights” at Shepperton Studios. The Who were recording in the next studio. Whilst
I was tweaking the Drums with the Engineer, Roger Daltry walked in, we chatted
about Architecture and Fish Farming, I think he just wanted to get away from
music for an hour. Arnold Schwarzenegger was filming "Conan The Barbarian"
in a close by studio, we chatted outside while he smoked a huge cigar. Gary
Newman was pottering about, looking like a very shy individual. "Hue and
Cry" were rehearsing their stage performance in another area. It was a
step up from recording with Bogart as Lautrec were a strong part of a post Punk
music movement known as NWOBHM. There were others which were part of this group
such as Saxon, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard. There was a strong feeling of
comradery between these bands. The truth of it was that we were a movement of
musicians that wanted change and recognition for a hard hitting and yet
conscientious endeavor to put across a high quality sound and visual
experience. Everyone was happy to help and encourage each other. There was a
respect when it was justified. Bruce Dickinson would come along to the Lautrec
gigs and enjoy the show. I met Joe Elliott at The Hammersmith Odeon and he knew
of Lautrec and wished us the best.
We did a live music TV show for the BBC and
recorded “Midnight At the Moulin Rouge” and “Red Light Ruby” as well as
"Shoot Out The Lights" and "Wait A Minute". Only
"Shoot Out The Lights" and "Wait A Minute" were broadcast. No
one had copies of the other two except myself. I knew a Director at the BBC and
he got me a video tape of all four tracks from the show, I didn’t share the
other two tracks with anyone until 2006 when I digitally transferred and
published them on Youtube.
Why didn’t you follow
Reuben and Lurence Archer to Stampede and decided to join Weapon?
I was contacted but didn’t get the message
until it was too late. In those days there was no mobile phones or Internet,
you had to rely on someone taking a message on the pay phone which we shared
with the guys in the other rooms where I lived. Not the most reliable form of
communication. Reuben Archer will tell you. He asked me to perform at Reading
Rock Festival but simply couldn’t get hold of me.
You toured with Weapon
in 1981. Was it a headline tour or was it the tour in support of Motorhead?
What’s your favorite memory about Weapon?
I became a bit tired of fighting to climb up
the ladder & just wanted to have a good time. I managed to get with Weapon,
we did some small shows like The Granary in Bristol and The Greyhound in Fulham,
Danny Hynes and Jeff Summers were great to work with. The Bass player would
stick his bare bottom out of the window when we were driving along, if there
was a good looking girl walking by, very impressive! It was just all a great
laugh, they didn’t take themselves too seriously which was quite refreshing and
a great laugh playing with them. In 2018 we got back together to do some dates
in Belgium, they were just as good fun as back in the 80's.
 |
| Weapon |
You also were in Megaton (read interview with Jeremy Nagle here). Was it just a brief period of time or did you record anything with them or play some major shows?
Again playing with Megaton was a great
experience. TPA Studios in Denmark Street was condemned. The sewage pipe was
leaking, every time someone flushed the toilet from the flats above it stank
the whole place out. We lived there for 3 months with 24 hour use of the
recording studio. We recorded loads. We giged every Thursday night at The
Horseshoe pub in Tottenham Court road and gained a massive following.
 |
| With the guys from Megaton |
Finally we got to the point when you joined Ozzy Osbourne. I couldn’t find any information about that, so tell me everything about that stuff. When did it happen and who else was in the band? What songs did you play or rehearse with Ozzy? Was it still in the UK or was when Ozzy moved to the States? Why did you quit the band?
As I previously mentioned whilst I was in Lone
Star I was asked to spend some time with Ozzy Osbourne at his house in
Birmingham as they were looking for a Drummer. We rehearsed and loosely
recorded "Crazy Train", "Goodbye to Romance", " I don’t
Know", "You Looking at Me" and "Believer". Very
speedily and roughly. I became very friendly with Randy Rhoads, we were fairly
low key characters compared to the others. The bass player was Bob Daisley. He
was pretty crazy with Ozzy. Had I stayed with the band I would almost certainly
have been in the airplane with Randy that fateful day whilst Bob and Ozzy were
sleeping in and would not be alive today. I never joined the band full time.
I auditioned to join Waysted with Pete Way and
met Cliff Moore who was also auditioning as a Guitarist. I ended up getting together
with Cliff Moore who was forming a band with the bass player Alex Bowler we
called the band Heroes and did some gigs at The London School of Economics and The
Marquee on Wardour Street. Alex was later
in McKenna's Gold with Ted McKenna from the Sensational Alex Harvey band and
now works with me in my current band Forever Free.
Are you still an
active musician? Do you stay in touch with anyone from the above mentioned
bands?
I stay in touch with most of the Musicians I
played with in these bands. Sometimes I am asked to Dep with them. I started
playing Drums at 11 years old, it has opened up for me very close friendships. Playing
in bands you get very close to your fellow Musicians. Times spent working
together are very memorable. I am currently working with a band called Forever
Free we have gigs about once every three weeks and created a tight following
playing only songs from Free, Bad Company and Led Zeppelin. This is really
enjoyable, I don’t think I will ever not be in a band, its a big part of my
life. Unfortunately I always seemed to of been in the wrong place at the wrong
time or the right place at the wrong time. But it doesnt matter I had a great
time and still do with my band buddies up to the present day.
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