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 Jimi
& Soft Machine - Univibes N° 8 - Novembre 1992
JIMI & SOFT MACHINE
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PART ONE - INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT WYATT
by Caesar Glebbeek
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UniVibes: How did Soft Machine
get hooked up with Michael Jeffery?
Robert Wyatt: Kevin Ayers who had written quite a
bunch of songs did come to London and looked around and
gone up to various people's offices... Jeffery said: "Mickey
Most will do a single for you, that means you've made it."
We said, "Oh, that's nice". He said, "The
only thing is that he decides what material you do and how
you are doing it. So you put yourself in his hands and he
will make you successful" and we thought "what's
the point in that?" I think that they lost interest
in us after that.. [Management] had another bloke there
Tony something...
UV: Garland?
RW: That's right. And he used to worry about our
dress-sense and say, 'look, you don't have to go mad, I
don't wear a white shirt" He was very nice... and very
smart... There was an amount of bad feeling with us from
the start because a couple of people were interested in
producing us and helping us because they were sympathetic
to the more innovatory side of what we were doing. Where
as far as I understood it the Anim office were more concerned
with the route of turning a group into a proper professional
pop group. And trying to get us disciplined to make [and]
do proper songs...wear proper clothes and then we could
make an LP and freak out a bit... They weren't interested
in that...
UV: And what about Kim Fowley as Soft Machine producer?
RW: There was Kim Fowley certainly. He was interested
in us. He wasn't a bit interested if we had a hit or not,
he just thought, "oh, this is a group that I can make
funny noises with."
UV: What were your impressions when you saw the Jimi
Hendrix Experience rehearsing?
RW: The sound totally filled the room I couldn't
even tell you where it was coming from. It was like a Science
Fiction film where you were in an enormous place and you
open a door and suddenly you are in a vortex, you know,
without a bottom and a top and a ceiling; it was almost
choking. I didn't in fact identify immediately particular
tunes or instruments, [it was] just a sort of orchestral
effect... this was something like total guitar, a total
group actually. I think that people underestimated the importance
of say Mitch on drums. Mitch his reputation preceded him,
he was already a heavy weight... He was very fluid, he would
just kind of 'swoop and dive' along with Hendrix, so that
it all helped to make this kind of swirly atmosphere instead
of that kind of ploddy atmosphere that most rock bands have...
UV: What about Mitch and Noel?
RW: They both had their role. I always compare it
with the John Coltrane Quartet - if is very important that
the bass player and the pianist stepped into these very
simple anchor points... I don't think Noel's interested
in improvising and all that. And I think that three improvisers
wouldn't have worked... Noel and Mitch, if anything, suffered
in reputation 'cause they were so good at being that one
sound, getting the effect that Hendrix was after and allowing
him to be the spectacle, the front of it...
UV: What did you think of Mitch as a drummer?
RW: I didn't expect it. You don't expect it in pop
groups. You don't have to be a very good musician to be
a good rock musician [!]. Mitch was holding the sticks right!
In the end I start holding them wrong - you can break rules
when you know them - and a lot of people thought, "weIl
you can't if you play rock 'cause it's too loud', but he
did... Jimi didn't actually display himself as a working
musician the way a lot of the musicians do... If you listen
to his records they were really the heavier side of the
black funk of that period. He was interested in getting
those rhythm's right. I do remember that he would work with
Mitch on the drum parts. As the composer of the pieces he
would have an idea of what everybody would be doing, or
at least what the basis would be. Like he wouldn't just
compose his own bit. Having said that, once they got the
feel then they [Mitch and Noel] were as free as the wind...
If we got flack for playing incomprehensible music, or for
not playing hits, Hendrix was always [saying], "don't
pressure them." He was very keen on people experimenting,
I think he liked the fact that we were trying out unusual
things more then the results.
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"He was a master of organising a dramatic event...
he couldn't stand boring bits and he would keep things
moving or changing or tighten them up to get the boring
bits out. He was ruthless like that with his own material.
Don't let himself get away with anything...
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UV:
What about Jimi's character?
RW: He was so cool and so shy. Spoke quietly. I mean
he had his act but apart from his act you didn't feel like
invading his privacy in the same room, at least I didn't.
I can see people did and it was very embarrassing. Sort
of an illusion that because you admire somebody they want
to have you breathing down... When he wasn't working he
was usually protected by sort of a praetorian guard of leggy
women... obviously rather more interesting than [talking
to] some fucking drummer!
UV: How did Soft Machine come onto the 1968 tour?
RW: I don't remember a single conversation about
it! It's more like being a private in the army, you're not
at the generals discussions of strategy...
UV: Did you see much of Michael Jeffery?
RW: When we did see him every once a year or whatever
it was, he seemed to be much more sun tanned every time!
The management take on all the kind of hustling qualities
off the musicians, so he can appear like a fucking saint,
you know what I mean? Whereas lesser mortals have to do
their own hassling... Yeah, you'd see more of Chas [Chandler]...
I never worked out what they [managers in general] were
for!
UV: How did Vanilla Fudge come onto the tour?
RW: Michael Jeffery was a bit sheepish about this
- he said, "I know you got your time sorted out for
your act, whatever you do, you know, 35, 40 minutes, 'but
we got a fourth group on, so you got to cut it down to 20,
25 minutes." He said, "we didn't really want them
but anyway don't make a fuss." And then the Vanilla
Fudge arrived, and accompanied, I kid you not, by two geezers
straight out of the Godfather. You know, sort of scars down
their cheeks, kind of looking around at everybody watching
the equipment... and everybody including Michael Jeffery
was frightened. That was the only word for it. And apparentIy
according to, it may even have been Neville [Chesters],
maybe Chas, Mike Jeffery got a phone call saying, "The
Fudge haven't made it on the West Coast, they'd like to
join your little tour." And they said, "no, we
got our package tour." And they said, "you don't
understand what I'm saying, the Fudge would like to join
your tour, you don't want any trouble, the Fudge join your
tour." And big and powerful though they were, everybody
made a gap, even Hendrix played shorter. It was frightening...
it looked like a straight Godfather phone call...
UV: Mafia?
RW: Oh, absolutely! They decided, they invested in
this band and that this band hadn't done well on the West
Coast yet... and they decided the way to do it [was to]
stick them in just before Hendrix... And me and Mitch used
to sit in the back doing little satirical routines behind
the stage - every time the organist [Mark Stein] got down
really awkwardly, playing with one hand, getting down on
his knee, for I think a bit of [sings] 'People get readyyyyyy',
we all would get down on our knees and behind backstage
with our hands up in the air [sings] "readyyyyyy."
And you saw scar-face looking and you would say, "oh,
sorry sir" There was this really frightening atmosphere
when they were on. We were all very glad when they were
taken off. It was a failure...they certainly were spectacular,
but their routine was actually so tight and slick that it
didn't go down that well, because the rest of it... there
was a kind of real wildness about it, the music there was
a kind of looseness, a freedom about it, that you can't
manufacture. You can't manufacture excitement like that...
I think Eire Apparent's roadie [Dave Robinson] complained
about their equipment being shuffled off stage in a heap
once instead of taken off, and was beaten up and complained
to management and they said, "don't make a fuss",
you know...
UV: How were the guys in Vanilla Fudge themselves?
RW: They were allright, they tried to be friendly...the
only one I actually remember being unpleasant was the drummer
[Carmine Appice]...[like] he was the thing and Mitch was
shit... he [Carmine] had one af these kits that sort of
looked like an antique shop...
UV: Back to Jimi again, would he pop in during Soft
Machine studio recordings?
RW: I seem to remember him during studio work mainly
on the West coast... but I remember him actually in there
more towards the end of the year [1968] and then being in
and out...
UV: Tell us about your demo, 'Slow Walkin' Talk',
with Jimi.
RW: I recorded the song on the West Coast [at TTG,
late October 1968] which I didn't use until years later
[note: re-recorded with the new title 'Soup Song' and released
in 1975 on Robert's solo LP Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard].
The vocal wasn't very good, which is why I think we didn't
make anything of it... Hendrix came in and played bass on
it. 'Cause I just did vocals, keyboards and drums. It was
a kind of a Mose Allison kind of thing... he came in and
listened and whispered something... He would retire to the
corner and be a shadow and say, you know, "I could
try the bass line an that, you wouldn't have to use it."
And he got Noel's bass and you have to remember he's left
handed, so he's playing bass the wrong way around, puts
down a first take, a fucking Larry Graham bass line. He
heard it once including the changes, the breaks and all
that, and it was staggering.
UV: What about Jimi's ability to play rhythm and
solo at the same time?
RW: Even the good ones, they'd have their rhythm
guitar and then they switch a button and then they can play
[the solo]... then switch a button and they'd have two things
they did. I don't remember that sort of crude division with
Hendrix at all... the effect of what I call picking guitar
'cause what he reminded me of in his singing and his playing
was actually more like acoustic blues picking people, who
of course would do that. Like Spanish guitarists, they're
using their fingers, they're not just trashing with the
plectrum. Well you can pick a few notes at once whilst doing
a sort of bit of a bass-line or you can do something at
the bottom whilst moving a top-line.... There's lots of
places on the guitar where you can get the same note but
of course you can do different things with it. And his work
on that, on actually finding different ways to get to the
same note, so the effect to move from one to the other could
be exciting. I mean of course this is what every musician
tries to do but I just remember him being very conscientiously
trying, always working the best in [the] most exciting way
of doing that...
UV: He used his thumb as a kind of 5th finger on
the guitar.
RW: Yes that's right. But also you'd have to have
the imagination to hear it...
UV: What about ladies during the 1968 tour?
RW: It was sort of open season!
UV: Would you watch the JHE performances during
that tour?
RW: Oh yeah! I mean, that's the funny thing 'cause
I've been on the road with other people and you would absolutely
not bother. I mean you found out what they were doing and
you'd go and get drunk. Of course not every night but on
the whole I would, partly because it would never be quite
the same and partly because as a drummer... Sitting behind
Mitch was ways on education... After all the psychedelic
and roar there comes a moment in the evening when he'd [Jimi]
take it right down, as they say, and do "Red House"...
and your heart would be in your mouth. I mean your hair
would stand on end, that was so beautiful. These hushed
opening moments and the way that was played. I wouldn't
have missed that, I mean every night you would see, you'd
think God, this is a great moment of music concerts you've
seen here, and even on the 20th night in Wisconsin you would
realise that. But that would be the very simple thing, Hendrix
playing the blues. It was so intimate. He brought that intimate
blues to the masses in a way that the rhythm and blues movement
didn't on a whole. They sacrificed that intimacy to be rock
bands, so they used the shouting blues as the basis for
the English rhythm and blues movement... This is actually
an intimate quiet blues, that you wouldn't dream of doing
in front of a rock audience. And that's it, they heard the
blues sung like it ought to be sung. Because he was a great
blues singer... Apart from being a musical gig, the going
to a gig is also going to the theatre. And that's the thing
with Hendrix - it was a theatre piece. And there again I
don't mean this like a circus act. I mean everything you'd
expect from a theatre, the drama, and the pace and the variety
and the build-ups and the drops. I think he was a master
at organising a dramatic event. He wasn't indulgent actually,
he hated the boring bits, he couldn't stand boring bits
and he would keep things moving or changing or tighten them
up to get the boring bits out. He was ruthless like that
with his own material. Didn't let himself get away with
anything.... He wouldn't want to break the spell. He'd get
on stage and there would be a spell and he had to keep that
spell. And things can break a spell. We aIl know those gigs
and you see three numbers and you think, "well fuck,
I'm going to the bar"... but that's partly because
Jimi wrote interesting songs that were all different from
each other. They weren't just different versions from the
same song...
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PART TWO - SWAP-OVER- RECORDINGS
by Caesar Glebbeek
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For many years there's been this rumour
that Jimi played on the first Soft Machine single ("Love
Makes Sweet Music" produced by Chas Chandler b/w "Feelin'
Reelin' Squeelin" produced by Kim Fowley) - released
17 February 1967 on Polydor. Ian MacDonald wrote in his
article on the Soft Machine in New Musical Express,
25 January 1975: "... The first mix of the A-side featured
rhythm guitar by Jimi Hendrix... who happened to be down
the corridor in the next studio doing his debut single,
Hey Joe. The two groups dropped in on each other's sessions
and became friendly - to the point where Hendrix invited
Wyatt, Ayers and Allen to do back-up vocals on "Stone
Free". Finally, however, both swap-over appearances
were rejected in favour of alternative takes." The
song which MacDonald is actually referring to is "Feelin'
Reelin' Squeelin" which was the original A-side
of the single until one week after its release Polydor switched
the order around by making "Love Makes Sweet Music"
the new A-side. In a recent interview with Kevin Ayers in Record Collector (June 1992) he answered the question
whether Jimi had 'been at the session for the first single'
with: "He was, but I don't think he was actually recorded.
I remember him scratching around and I remember him liking
the lyrics to "Feelin' Reeling' Squeelin". Going
back to MacDonald's article, he states that "Feelin'
Reelin' Squeelin" was recorded at De Lane Lea Music
studio in London. However, according to the Soft Machine
release Triple Echo the song was recorded at CBS
Recording Studios, also in London. But during January 1967.
As far as could be determined, the JHE recorded at CBS on
13 and 21 December 1966. If Jimi was 'down the corridor'
it could only have been in December 1966 at CBS, but not
as MacDonald claims doing "Hey Joe" (recorded
23 October 1966 at De Lane Lea or 'Stone Free' (recorded
2 November 1966, also at De Lane Lea). Unfortunately it's
impossible to pin down where the Soft Machine recorded at
any given period between late 1966 and early 1967 as they
(just like the JHE) were booked into any studio that was
available at any given time: Advision, De Lane Lea Music
Ltd. and CBS. Also, to make things even more complicated,
as late as 4 February 1967 the Soft Machine were doing a
final overdub session for their first single at Olympic
Sound Studios (just 13 days before its release!) - and who
were in the same studio recording until 09.30 of that very
same morning? Indeed, Jimi, Mitch and Noel... As "Feeling
Reelin' Squeelin" was almost certainly recorded during
several sessions spread out over several studios it's anybody's
guess when the 'swap-over appearances' actually took place.
Robert Wyatt: I don't remember any of that really
except that he did play some guitar... It [has been] suggested
that that's how we met Jimi [but] we met him because we
were already signed to that management and then they signed
Hendrix shortly after we had been signed to them... and
using the same rehearsal rooms. So that's how we met...
and they would book us into the same studio...
UV: So it is in fact possible that Jimi did play
on some stuff?
RW: Certainly if he is, it's an academic point,
because if he is on it it's in a very sort of low key
way. He might actually [be] backing up Kevin's rhythm
[guitar], I don't know, or David's. I just can't remember,
I remember that yeah he would come into the studio...
UV: So which studio was it, Advison, CBS, De Lane
Lea?
RW: I don't remember...
Another claim about Jimi playing during or on a Soft
Machine session comes from Kim Fowley, the producer of
"Feelin' Reelin' Squeelin". He has stated that
Jimi recorded his song "Fluffy Turkeys"(released
on The Incredible Kim Fowley LP in the U.S.A. on
the Original Sound label - year of release unknown) with
a Soft Machine member. Years ago I decided to write to
Kim Fowley but not really expecting a reply. Surprise!
About nine months later he mailed me a postcard stating
that Robert Wyatt was present at the 'Fluffy' session
with Jimi.
Robert Wyatt: Thanks Kim! I don't remember that...
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PART THREE - HUGH HOPPER INTERVIEW
by Caesar Glebbeek
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Univibes:
Were you a roodmanager
prior to the 1968 Hendrix/Soft Machine tour in the States?
Hugh Hopper: No, not really. Well, only in England
with the Soft Machine... I was in school with Robert Wyatt
and I was in a band here in Canterbury with Robert, which
then split up into Soft Machine...
UV: Wilde Flowers?
HH: Yeah, the Wilde Flowers was originally the band
yes, right. So that continued in Canterbury slightly different.
And Robert left with Kevin [Ayers]. But they were actually
doing music of mine anyway, songs of mine anyway which I
had written, that we played as Wilde Flowers... and then
about a year after they've been in London, I think, Robert
asked me if I wanted to be a Soft Machine eh, roadie, because
their roadie had left or wasn't happy or whatever [but]
I was involved with them anyway, musically and as friends.
UV: What did you do during the 1968 tour?
HH: Hendrix had one roadie who was Neville Chesters.
And Soft Machine had one roadie, which was me... I had to
set Soft Machine's gear and also both of us loaded all the
gear. To start, there was only one load of gear, there was
only one lot of Fender amps...
UV: Only Fenders, no Marshalls?
HH: No. At the beginning of the tour Fender actually
provided, I think, something like three or four amps. Which
had to be used for both bands, which was not a good situation.
And in fact Neville wasn't told [about] this 'til we were
getting on the plane, that another band was using his gear
as well.... It could have been disastrous. In fact it was
fairly disastrous anyway because it wasn't the right gear
for Hendrix. It was too clean and not enough orbit... Neville
did most of the driving... he wouldn't let me drive because
he was the chief roadie... He was a nice guy in some ways
but he was also very kind of obsessed by some things...
he was very conscientious. He really sort of cared... we
always got to a gig late but I mean he cared whereas I didn't
really care. I only [was] just doing it 'cause I was working
for friend...
UV: So as soon as one gig was over you tore down
the gear and hit the road again?
HH: We started off, first of all, flying the gear.
But this was before the flightcase stage. So in fact a lot
of the things got broken, amplifiers got smashed, so in
the end it wasn't worth flying. So we had to drive. So it
meant driving overnight to the next gig... but he [Neville]
was very conscientious and it really hurt him if something
went wrong. But we were always late, every gig. I think
we never were on time at all. Because it was such long distances...
UV: Would you stay in the same hotel as the groups?
HH: Oh yeah. Sometimes. There was no real kind of
separation... more times than not we were in the same hotel.
But sometimes we had to stay en route somewhere else, like
in a Holiday Inn, because it was easier for us to go on...
UV: Kevin Ayers once claimed that the only reason
he thinks the Soft Machine was on the tour was because Jimi
liked the Soft Machine.
HH: I don't know. The basic reason was because it
was part of the same management... There was no way you
would be on it. Because that tour consisted of about six
bands... Hendrix and us, there was the Animals and Eire
Apparent, Alan Price... I mean it was an Anim agency tour...
Most of the time it was just Hendrix and Soft Machine going
around. And there was the Animals and Eire Apparent going
on another circuit. Sure, obvious if Hendrix hadn't liked
the band then there was no way he would have allowed it,
or he would have made it heavy... Robert, and Noel and Mitch
were quite matey...
UV: So what kind of problems did you have on the
tour?
HH: It wasn't technically very difficult. It was
just very hard long hours... and also during the tour more
and more equipment got added. I mean, we started with very
little equipment. Not enough. We ended up with about three
times that. And various people would actually give us equipment
on the way... By the end of the tour it meant that we had
a truck full of stuf whereas before we had sort of a small
truck half empty... There were times when I'd been actually
loading this gear that I had taken out of the truck only
a couple of hours before, loading in at 1 o'clock in the
morning in this strange place, in the middle of nowhere
in America, you know, to go somewhere else. Some nights
we checked into the hotel maybe for on hour just to get
a shower... So I was really starting to get disorientated
and feeling strange...
UV: What did you get paid? Per week?
HH: Yeah, and it was not very much. I started off
on 100 dollars a week. There weren't many expenses.... and
Neville was very generous. He liked to pay for my hamburgers!
It was part of his thing, you know... We were always complaining
'cause it was so hard, so difficult to get actually to the
gig and set it up... the two of us... so eventually the
management put it up to 150 dollars a week...
UV: Who would get things together if Chas Chandler
wasn't there?
HH: Gerry Stickells. He was really the guy. Gerry
was actually the guy that kept that tour together... in
fact if it hadn't been for him, well... that could easily
have been a real disaster for the tour. As it was, it was
kind of limping along the whole thing. Because it was very
thrown together. And we started off with a few gigs and
most of them were changed. But then more and more [were]
added as Hendrix became more and more known... but I always
thought, compared with today when you have a roadcrew, thirty
at least, three trucks, lighting. I mean it's a joke, two
people! One person for Hendrix, one person for Soft Machine...
UV: Wasn't Roger Mayer around?
HH: Yeah, weIl, yes and no. He was supposed to be
the electronic wizard, so he showed up at a couple of big
gigs and then cleared off and didn't do a thing [apart from]
having a good time... he didn't do anything. He just came
over on the strength of having built Hendrix's Octavia...
UV: But didn't he do repairs to gear?
HH: No, no...
UV: Who took care of that then?
HH: Well in fact, nothing much really went wrong
with the gear. Except that things would be completely smashed
in an airplane, so that was gone...so, no, in fact a lot
of things kept going and finally Hendrix sent for Sound
City and Marshall amps from London, his favourite ones and
ended up with all the odd gear anyway...
UV: Did they take off the Sunn gear at that moment?
HH: I think Soft Machine got that eventually if I
remember... well everyone was using the Fender, right. And
then Jimi got Sunn gear and I think he got a Marshall amp
and Soft Machine had the Fender gear and so that should
make things a lot better...
UV: Remember anything about the press conference
in New York, 30 January 1968?
HH: There was a guy, who was this publicist [Michael
Goldstein]... He was great, he was like the typical New
York, Jewish PR guy... with this little revolving badge
or something lighting up. Completely in the park... It was
like the usual stories, like The British Are Coming, or
they trot out every year...
UV: Were there other people helping out during the
tour?
HH: Occasionally in a big theatre there would be
a sound person or a lighting officer... It was nothing like
today...
UV: Columbus, 3 March...
HH: One of Hendrix's guitars got stolen. I think
it was in Columbus because we got there really late. I mean
really, really late and we needed some help to carry the
gear in, so one guy picked up... everybody was sort of taking
stuff in... and some guy walked away with it... I think
Fender gave him about three or four during that tour...
UV: Any after-gig jam sessions you went to?
HH: I remember the Shrine, in L.A. [10 February].
Before the gig we had the sound check and various people
kept turning up, Dave Crosby and Micky Dolenz and all these
people. There was a jam with Buddy Miles on drums... Electric
Flag. 'Cause I remember they were actually on stage, they
actually had a little American flag in a spotlight... I
seem to remember he had a blow with Hendrix in the afternoon.
L.A. was like that... we would put an amplifier down and
someone would plug in immediately...
UV: Texas gigs...
HH: There was a guy who did the Texas gigs called
Bob Cope, the promoter. And he was really on the ball...
he was like an old-time promoter... he was a real Texas
guy and he was really in charge of everything. Like if anything
went wrong, that guy was fired... and very nice to the musicians...
When we first met Bob Cope's crew, they met us at the airport...
we picked up the gear from the airport and we came to unload
at the theatre and there was this sack... it had Bank Of
Texas on it... [us thinking] like a billion of dollars in
the sack. And the American said, "don't dare open it",
so we went back to the airport... We suddenly realised that
Mike Ratledge's organ wasn't in the van... this had been
loaded, the sack, instead of the organ, which was left in
the airport. In fact all it was were returned checks!
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UV: Smashing Up Time...
HH: It was usually very controlled anyway, it was
aIl part of the last number. And Gerry Stickells was at
the back holding the amp. There were times when Hendrix
was pissed off in the middle of the tour, he wasn't happy,
you know, because the sound wasn't very good...
UV: Chicago, 25 February, afternoon gig...
HH: There was a slope down into the theatre in Chicago,
[Neville had] forgotten that he had already opened the back
of the truck...
UV: So all the gear went out?
HH: The only thing that was smashed was a suitcase
of mine... it was just like one of those sort of comic film
moments, rumble, rumble, rumble, imagine aIl this priceless
gear...
UV: Madison, 27 February 1968...
HH: The sound was fantastic. It was a fairly small
place and a shitty little club, terrible, no room for gear
but in fact it was a great sound...
UV: Mark Boyle...
HH: Mark Boyle was very pro Mike Jeffery. Because
Mike Jeffery supported him a lot... you never heard a word
against Mike Jeffery. He thought he was a great guy...
UV: Teamsters in Cleveland, 26 March...
HH: Neville and I got to the theatre and they asked
us if we were members of the Teamsters, which was the drivers
Union... we just sat in the truck while they were sorting
it out... first thing they didn't want [to have] anything
to do with the band at all... eventually something was sorted
out and we had to tell them exactIy where to put things.
We weren't allowed to lift anything which is really annoying,
it takes you twice as long to tell someone where to put
it...
UV: Chicago, 29 March...
HH: That's the only one which Hendrix didn't play...
he was picking up radio on aIl the amps and I think it's
because there was actually kind of a steel building...
UV: Soft Machine did play, though.
HH: We did play, yeah, that's right... it was just
the radio and buzzing. I think that was the only one that
was actually cancelled on the tour...
UV: Yeah, apart from being a bit late.
HH: Not a bit late, a lot late!
UV: Newark, 5 April...
HH: I was loading at the back of the theatre and
every thing had gone in except one microphone standard and
I just went out to get it and the door was shut and locked,
you know, I couldn't get in, so I had to walk around several
blocks to get to the front of the theatre holding this mike
stand which could have looked like a gun or something. That
was the only time I really felt, you know, I could actually
be shot at this moment. The second show was cancelled...I
just felt, you know, such a strange feeling... feeling very
uncomfortable, just wanted to get it out of the way as quickly
as possible... In fact there weren't any problems, it was
just very, very quiet, almost kind of stunned...
UV: End of tour - 1st leg...
HH: That's when Soft Machine were recording here
[New York]... Neville split there in fact. We parked the
van with all the stuff in and we parked it outside our hotel
and then Neville split...it was just sitting outside and
it finally got towed away. I had to go and get it from a
very spooky place somewhere out in New York by the cemetery,
and most of the stuff was still in it... There was a picture
of Hendrix somebody had given us on the road when he painted
a picture of him and the radio was gone but all the gear
was safe in the back. I remember I had to contact U-haul,
the people who owned the van and this very nervous guy came
to the hotel in New York 'cause a great deal of money was
owed because we took the van over three months before and
it was supposed to be for a couple of weeks but in fact
because of the tour we kept driving around. So anyway, several
thousand pounds or dollars was owed... he thought first
of all I was not gonna pay him or secondly that I was gonna
attack him, or whatever, I had the cash there... that made
him even more nervous...
UV: Would Jimi pop in during the Soft Machine recordings?
HH: [When] he was [also] recording, I think they
did. I think they all popped in from time to time... because
it was all part of family anyway...
UV: Would you see much of Jimi besides at the concerts?
HH: As much as I saw Hendrix, Hendrix wasn't out
to partying... because on the road it usually was hotel,
hotel, hotel, so during the day Hendrix wouldn't get up
until Gerry Stickells woke him up. Neville used to say that
on the first tour [1967] he [Jimi] was known as the bat,
'cause he was always in his dark room and had his clothes
on. I wouldn't really see Hendrix until half an hour before
he was due to go on, you know. Gerry Stickells was the guy
who's had the problem of waking them all up... I don't know
how he did it... he was certainly the guy who held that
tour together...
UV: How much drugs were there around?
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HH: Everybody was smoking obviously, that was normal.
I think things like speed, acid. I think that's as much
as there was. I certainly don't think there was any heroin...
I could not even remember if I ever saw Hendrix smoking
but I'm sure he must have done, everybody did... I remember
Mitch always seemed to be awake during the night and asleep
during the day and he always said he was an downers during
the day and uppers during the night, which I don't know
if it's true... in fact the best time we saw Noel play was
when he had obviously drunk a bit more than usual but was
not incapable and he played like a dream and he was sort
of fluid and all that... There wasn't any kind of crazy,
sort of 'over the top' things. Certainly not before a concert...
UV: Do you recall seeing Jimi ever writing down Iyrics
during the travelling?
HH: The few times I actually travelled with him and
flying he'd be kind of distantly, sort of obviously thinking
about things like that... Once going up the steps to a plane,
there used to be an airline called Braniff
from Texas and all their planes were [in] different colours,
really bright colours, red, orange, yellow, green. And
he was actually standing next to me sort of saying, "Wowl
The colours!"... always feeling, sort of digging
things... he was really kind of a quiet guy actually in
public in most occasions. He was very kind of within himself
and digging things from a distance... He was never kind
of raving party-goer like Noel and Mitch... Noel always
seemed to be like a kid. He liked jokes and he liked sort
of practical jokes and playing tricks on you... but Mitch
is a sharp guy, he is really kind of intelligent and witty
and sharp, sardonic, so I can see that Noel would actually
get on his [Jimi's] nerves... I remember one gig [Fort
Worth, 17 February] where after the gig Neville and I
were packing up the gear and Noel came out to talk to
Neville, 'cause he was quite friendly with Neville, in
tears, because Hendrix hadn't liked the gig and Noel had
gone into the dressingroom to say something and Hendrix
said sort of, "I don't wanna speak to any fucker
tonight" and it may have been because of Noel or
maybe just his general feeling but Noel took it really
as a personal thing and he came out and he was actually
in tears... I remember a period in the middle of the tour
when Hendrix was really pissed off a lot of the time,
just with sound problems, I mean it was difficult music.
It would be easier now but then it was just like big amps
behind and then a microphone and that was it. It wasn't
easy to produce. Hendrix was having problems probably
getting across and I don't how much of that was because
he wasn't happy with the music, he seemed to be happy
enough playing most of the time...
UV: How would Gerry Stickells deal with Hendrix babies
during the tour?
HH: He would probably just refer it to the lawyers...
there must have been a lot of Hendrix babies around but
I am sure there are quite a few phantoms as weIl...
UV: There were also bills for damaging theatre equipment?
HH: Yeah, I remember the one period when Hendrix
was pissed off and at the end he did "Wild Thing"
- the last number. At the end he didn't do the business
with the guitar on the amplifier, what he did [instead]
was get the head of the guitar and ride along the footlights
at the bottom of the stage and popped them all. It was really
impressive. It looked good but the theatre did not like
it at all...
UV: Do you remember where this was?
HH: It could have been something like Wisconsin,
it was a smallish town and I remember the guys, sort of
stagehands, all sort of straight stagehands sort of shaking
their heads... the audience loved it, but I mean it wasn't
planned I think...
UV: Would Jimi ever make comments like 'weIl done'
after a show?
HH: Not to me... I only remember Hendrix saying very
few things to me. I mean it was things like, "hey,
hey, where's my guitar?" because often he wouldn't
have a guitar with him, he'd just arrived from the hotel,
'hey, where's my guitar?"...
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