Life (15 page)

Hope you are both keeping well and all that, chiz, chiz.

I’m having a ball here, I live in my friends flat in Chelsea most of the time and we are starting to make the music business quite profitable. The next big craze over here is for Rhythm & Blues and we are in demand. This week we have clinched a deal to play regularly at the Flamingo night club in Wardour Street starting next month. We were talking to an agent on Monday who reckons that we have a very commercial sound and if all goes well and he isn’t another twister we could be earning £60 to £70 a week shortly, also there is a record company starting to send us letters as regards a session in the next few months. Straight up the Hot Hundred.

Still, enough of my antics. Everyone here is back to recovery, except that my leprosy keeps coming back and Dad’s got Parkinsons disease and Mum’s down with the sleeping sickness.

Can’t think of much more so will sign off now have a luverly Xmas

Love from Keef X

This is the first sighting of my nickname “Keef” and shows it didn’t come originally from fans. I was known as “Cousin Beef” in my extended family, and that turned naturally to “Keef.”

T
he short time covered
by the diary ends at the exact moment when our future was assured—our getting a regular gig at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, from which everything sprinkled out. Fame in six weeks. To me, Charlie Watts was the secret essence of the whole thing. And that went back to Ian Stewart—“We have to have Charlie Watts”—and all the skulduggery that went down in order to get Charlie. We starved ourselves to pay for him! Literally. We went shoplifting to get Charlie Watts. We cut down on our rations, we wanted him so bad, man. And now we’re stuck with him!

At first we had neither Bill nor Charlie, though Bill is mentioned in the second diary entry:

January 1963

Wednesday 2

New bass-guitarist with Tony trying out. One of the best rehearsals ever. Bass guitar adds more power to sounds. Also secured with bass guitarist is one 100 gns Vox amplifier. Decided on programme for Marquee. Must be a knockout to secure a bigger spot.

Bill had amplifiers! Bill came fully equipped. He was a package deal. We used to play with this guy called Tony Chapman, who was merely a fill-in, and I don’t know if it was Stu or Tony, much to his own detriment, who said, “Oh, I’ve got this other player,” which was Bill. And Bill arrived with this amplifier, believe it or not, protected by Meccano, with the green stuff on the screws. A Vox AC30 amplifier, which was beyond our means to possess. Built by Jennings in Dartford. We used to worship it. We used to look at it and get on our knees. To have an amplifier was crucial. First off I just wanted to separate Bill from his amplifier. But that was before he started playing with Charlie.

Thursday 3

Marquee with Cyril

1 or 2½ hour sets £10–£12

Very good set. “Bo Diddley” received with very good applause. 612 people attended session. 1st set good warm up. 2nd set swung fabulously. Impressed some very big people. Received £2. Paul Pond:—“Knockout.”

Harold Pendleton asked to be introduced.
[He was the owner of the Marquee! I tried to kill the guy twice, by swinging my guitar at his head. He hated rock and roll and was always sneering.]

Friday 4

Flamingo ad: “Original Chicago R&B sound starring the Rollin’ Stones.”
[And we’d never been north of bloody Watford.]

Play Red Lion. Sutton. Pickup came unsoldered.

Red Lion:—Band played poorly, nevertheless a raving reception especially “Bo Diddley” & “Sweet Little 16.” Tony diabolical. Discussed presentation for “Flamingo.”

Good quote in MM.
[
Melody Maker
]

Came up in the afternoon. Lost wallet 30 /- in it

Should be retrieved.

And a first hint of a recording, of any sort:

Saturday 5

Got wallet back,

Richmond

Cock up. My pickup clapped out completely. Brian played harp and I used his guitar. “Confessin’ the Blues” “Diddley-Daddy” & “Jerome” and “Bo Diddley” went well. Mad row with promoter over money. Refused to play there again. Discussed new demo disc. To be made this week with any luck. “Diddley-Daddy” looked good. With Cleo and friends as vocal group. Band earned £37 this week.

Thirty-seven pounds for five blokes!

Monday 7th

Flamingo

Must hone Stu, Tony & Gorgonzola.

My guitar returned in perfect working order. Flamingo on first thought not too hot. But Johnny Gunnell more than satisfied. Tony must go. That means Bill and Vox. “Confessin’ the Blues” went well. Lee came down. I’ve got my brand.

In which I seem to assume the mantle of musical director. Johnny Gunnell—it was the Gunnell brothers, Johnny and Ricky, who ran the Flamingo. And Bill and his Vox are secured. A historic day. That last line is from Muddy Waters: “I’ve got my brand on you.” I was definitely hot on Lee.

Tuesday 8

£30:10!!!

Ealing.

Band played quite well. “Bo Diddley” was an absolute knockout. If we can repeat this performance at the Marquee we’ll be laughing.

Start at Ealing on Saturday. “Look What You’ve Done” reasonable.

6 /- !!!! 50% up on last week.

Thursday 10

£12. Tony Meehan reckoned the band.
[He was the drummer with the Shadows.]

Marquee. First set 8:30 or 9:00 musically very good but didn’t quite click. Second set 9:45–10:15 swung much better. Brian and I rather put off by lack of volume due to work to rule in power station. “Bo Diddley” tremendous applause, as usual. Lee and the girls came down. Approached Charlie for regular work.

Halfway through the set and suddenly the power went down. We were fucked! We were rocking! And then they put us to half power, due to an industrial action by the electricity workers. And we’re looking at one another, we’re looking at our amplifiers, we’re looking at the sky, the ceiling.

Friday 11

Bill agrees to stay on even if we chuck Tony.

Monday 14

Tony sacked!!

Flamingo

Surprise!!! Rick & Carlo played. Without a doubt the Rollin’ Stones were the most fantastic group operating in the country tonight. Rick & Carlo are 2 of the best. Audience was changed from last week which is the main thing. Money not quite so exciting. £8. Still, should rise steam now.

Rick and Carlo! Carlo Little was a butcher, a killing drummer, great energy. And Ricky Fenson on bass, a lovely player. They had bleached their hair blond for the gig. And who did they really work for? Screaming Lord effing Sutch. From time to time they’d sit in with us—that’s when Charlie still wasn’t with us, and it’s why he decided to join the band, because he heard we had this red-hot rhythm section. Ricky and Carlo, if they went into a solo, they would go into turbo max. The room would take off; they almost blew us off the stage they were so good. The two of them together. When Carlo set into that bass drum, this is what I’m talking about. This was rock and roll! As a kid, to play with these guys, who were only two or three years older than we were, but they had been at it a long time, was something. The first time they took me in there—“OK, it goes like this”—and I suddenly had this rhythm section behind me, whoa! That was the first time I got three feet off the ground and into the stratosphere. This was before I was working with Charlie and Bill or anything.

And from the earliest I always felt good on stage. You get nervous before you go up there before a lot of people, but to me the feeling was, let the tiger out the cage. Maybe that’s just another version of butterflies. It could be. But I’ve always felt very comfortable on stage, even if I screw up. It always felt like a dog, this is my turf, piss around it. While I’m here, nothing else can happen. All I can do is screw up. Otherwise, have a good time.

Next day is the first mention of Charlie playing with us:

Tuesday 15

All group money to be given up for at least 2 weeks to buy amp & mikes.

Ealing—Charlie

Maybe due to my cold but didn’t sound right to me, but then Mick & Brian & myself still groggy from chills and fever!!!

Charlie swings but hasn’t got right sound yet. Rectify that tomorrow!

Poor crowd. No money, chucking it. Have a day off. Rick & Carlo to play sat & mon.

So Charlie was coming in. We were going to try and figure out how to separate Bill from the amplifier and still end up winning. But at the same time, Bill and Charlie were starting to play together, and there was something happening here. Bill is an incredible bass player, there’s no doubt about it. I discovered it gradually. Everybody was learning. Nobody had any firm ideas of what they wanted to do and everybody came from a slightly different background. Charlie was a jazzman. Bill was from the Royal Air Force. At least he’d been abroad.

Charlie Watts has always been the bed that I lie on musically, and to see that note about how to “rectify” his sound seems extraordinary. But like Stu, Charlie had come to rhythm and blues because of its jazz connection. A few days later I write,
Charlie swings very nicely but can’t rock. Fabulous guy though.…
He had not got rock and roll down at that time. I wanted him to hit it a little harder. He was still too jazz for me. We knew he was a great drummer, but in order to play with the Stones, Charlie went and studied Jimmy Reed and Earl Phillips, who was the drummer for Jimmy Reed, just to get the feel of it. That sparse, minimalized thing. And he’s always retained it. Charlie was the drummer we wanted, but first off, could we afford him, and second off, would he give up some of his jazz ways for us?

Tuesday 22

£0

Ealing—Charlie

Cock up No. 2. Only 2 people turned up by 8:50 so we went home. Nevertheless we did a couple of numbers one using maracas, tambourine and wailing guitar with Charlie doing a big jungle rhythm (which just shows he can do it). Stopped by cops on way to flat. Frisked. Moaning bastards. No more work until Sat.

The big jungle rhythm was the Bo Diddley lick—“Shave and a haircut, two bits” is what the beat’s called, and what it sounds like. “Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley, have you heard? / My pretty baby said she was a bird.”

As for the frisk, when I read that, I thought, “Even then?” We had nothing. Not even money. It’s not surprising that when they hit on me for the real shit later, I knew about it. Frisked for no reason at all. And my reaction is still the same. Fucking moaning bastards. They always moan. You wouldn’t be a cop if you weren’t a moaner. “Come on, assume the position.” Back then there was nothing to find. I was frisked a hundred times before I even thought, “Oh my God, I’ve got something on me.”

Thursday 24

No Marquee

Cyril’s scared of the applause we get according to Carlo & Rick. Laid off for month. If nothing shows up in the meantime we’ll go back. Spent day practising. Worthwhile, I hope! Must persevere with fingerstyle. Great opportunities I feel. Bastard though. Can’t control ’em. Bleedin spider, feels like.

Saturday 26

£16

Ealing—Rick & Carlo

Band bit rusty. Quite good though. Audience up. Sweaty and crowded. Luvly!!!

£2

Lee was there.

Funny, can’t seem to fit all my new practiced dodgy bits into the act. Don’t relax enough. Boys a bit cynical lately.

Monday 28

Toss’ sister said Lee was crazy to have me but didn’t want to make a fool of herself and would I give her some help. I did fair I reckon.

Lee and I had broken up and this was the rapprochement—mutually agreed on both sides. “Toss” was short for Tosca, her girlfriend.

Saturday 2

£16

Ealing

Charlie & Bill

Fabulous evening with big crowd. Sound returned with a bang. Charlie fabulous.

By February 2, that night, we were playing with the final lineup and the rhythm section, Charlie and Bill. The Stones!

If it hadn’t been for Charlie, I would never have been able to expand and develop. Number one with Charlie is that he’s got great feel. He had it then, from the start. There’s tremendous personality and subtlety in his playing. If you look at the size of his kit, it’s ludicrous compared with what most drummers use these days. They’ve got a fort with them. An incredible barrage of drums. Charlie, with just that one classico setup, can pull it all off. Nothing pretentious, and then you hear him and it don’t half go bang. He plays with humor too. I love to watch his foot through the Perspex. Even if I can’t hear him, I can play to him just by watching. The other thing is Charlie’s trick that he got, I think, from Jim Keltner or Al Jackson. On the hi-hat, most guys would play on all four beats, but on the two and the four, which is the backbeat, which is a very important thing in rock and roll, Charlie doesn’t play, he lifts up. He goes to play and pulls back. It gives the snare drum all of the sound, instead of having some interference behind it. It’ll give you a heart arrhythmia if you look at it. He does some extra motion that’s totally unnecessary. It pulls the time back because he has to make a little extra effort. And so part of the languid feel of Charlie’s drumming comes from this unnecessary motion every two beats. It’s very hard to do— to stop the beat going just for one beat and then come back in. And it also has something to do with the way Charlie’s limbs are constructed, where he feels the beat. Each drummer’s got a signature as to whether the hi-hat’s a little bit ahead of the snare. Charlie’s very far back with the snare and up with the hi-hat. And the way he stretches out the beat and what we do on top of that is a secret of the Stones sound. Charlie’s quintessentially a jazz drummer, which means the rest of the band is a jazz band in a way. He’s up there with the best, Elvin Jones, Philly Joe Jones. He’s got the feel, the looseness of it, and he’s very economical. Charlie used to work weddings and bar mitzvahs, so he knows the schmaltz too. It comes from starting early, playing the clubs when he was really young. A little bit of showmanship, without himself being the showman.
Bah-BAM.
And I’ve got used to playing with a guy like this. Forty years on, Charlie and I are tighter than we could express or even probably know. I mean, we even get daring enough to try and screw each other up sometimes on the stage.