‘I know a bass player who came up from Southampton with a group to audition,’ Joe said. ‘I think we could get him.’
‘What’s he like?’
‘Well, he’s tall, quite good lookin’.’
‘No, for fuck’s sake, what’s he like on the bass?’ Trust Joe.
‘I’ll get him down and see what you think of him.’ He turned up. His name was Heinz Burt.
I wasn’t impressed. He was a bit image-conscious, to say the least. Not a very desirable quality for a musician to have, in my book. I hoped he was goin’ to be useless. It would have made it easier. As it happens he was passable. But he didn’t fit in. He was too ambitious. Wanted to be a ‘star’. No good for us. We didn’t want to be stars if it meant pandering to the masses. We wanted to enjoy ourselves and play good music and fuck about and that. I decided to take the easy way out and rather than tell Joe I didn’t like him, I told Joe I didn’t think I was up to playing lead guitar and I wanted to go back on bass.
‘Okay,’ said Joe. ‘We’ll carry on auditioning for a lead guitarist. But I shall build a band round Heinz.’
By this time Don Groom had got fed up and went off to join Mike Berry’s new group, The Innocents. We now needed a drummer as well as a lead guitarist. The advert went back in the Melody Maker, now saying, ‘Drummer and Lead Guitarist wanted for Hit Recording Artists, The Outlaws’. Things were looking gloomy. But every cloud has a silver lining. I got a phone call from someone who had been up at Joe Meek’s, who said he had just seen Alan Caddy and Clem Cattini (Johnny Kidd’s guitarist and drummer) walk into Joe Meek’s to audition for The Outlaws.’ Great! I’d heard them play. Perfect! I’ve rang Joe.
‘Is it true?’
‘Yes,’ said Joe. ‘But they’re no good for you so I’m forming a group with them round Heinz.
‘But I know how they play. I like ’em.’
‘Well, they’re now in my new group I’m forming called The Tornados.’
Fanks, Joe!
We carried on auditioning. We found a drummer who suited us. Mick Underwood. All we needed was a lead guitarist. Me and Ken remembered seeing a guitar player (another one who was with Sutch) that we liked. Let’s find out what he’s up to. We found out his name was Ritchie Blackmore and we got him down. He wasn’t particularly quick at pickin’ up a tune but he had a style of his own, a good sound and a good Rock ’n’ Roll feel. He was in.
The new Outlaws had fire. Me, Ken, Mick Underwood and Ritchie were a Rock ’n’ Roll band to be reckoned with. Right. All we need is gigs to prove ourselves and we’re away. Someone saw in one of the music papers that Gene Vincent was looking for a backing group. Ken got on the phone. Don Arden came down with Gene Vincent to have a look at us, liked us, and we got the job. The tour that was coming up was a tour with Jerry Lee. Fantastic! On the same bill as Jerry Lee! I’ll get to meet the bloke. But the best was yet to come. Don Arden called us into his office a couple of days before the tour.
‘Fellas, you’ve got a choice. Jerry Lee needs a backing group. You can back Gene Vincent or Jerry Lee.’
Got a choice? There was only one. Gene Vincent was one of my Rock ’n’ Roll heroes, but Jerry Lee was God! It was too good to be true. Something had to happen to take the edge off it, and it did. Joe Meek called us into his office to announce that Heinz had now left the Tornados to become a star in his own right.
‘Oh, great. Good luck to him.’
‘He is going to be added to the Jerry Lee tour.’
Mistake, I thought, but it wasn’t none of my business. I should have guessed what he was leading up to, though.
‘He needs a backing group and I would like The Outlaws to back him.’
Hold up a minute. I had nothing personal against Heinz but in my book he just wasn’t any good. Jerry Lee and Gene Vincent were. Also, his image was all wrong for the show, he was too flash and slimy.
The greasy, lary Jerry Lee and Gene Vincent followers were not gonna take kindly to the ‘White Tornado’. He was a dumb cluck crumpet Rock ’n’ Roller. His image was fashioned to the ‘pin up a wanker on your bedroom wall’ dozy tart brigade. The audience we were gonna get would be 90 per cent herberts and I didn’t wanna be associated with him. No, sod that. Not under any circumstances can we back Heinz.
But they say everyone has his price, and on this occasion we were skint. On top of all that our gear was falling apart. Amps held together with gaffer tape, bass strings that had been boiled for the tenth time (a cheap way of puttin’ a bit of life back in ’em), and the arses were hangin’ out of our trousers.
‘Look,’ said Joe, sensing not a lot of enthusiasm, ‘before you turn it down I would like you to meet someone.’ In comes this geezer, a typical hard-nosed businessman. He was introduced to us and we waited to see what he had to say. It was like something out of a Rock ’n’ Roll film. And it’s the scene where you laugh and say, ‘That don’t happen in real life!’
‘Boys, I’ll come straight to the point. I am a millionaire and I am to become Heinz’s manager. I would like you to back Heinz on this tour. If you accept, you will each be given an open cheque book, and providing everything you spend is to the benefit of the band, you may spend as much as you like. New amplifiers, guitars, basses, drums, clothes, new van, whatever. Just make sure I get a bill for everything. You will be on a retainer of £30 a week for your food, etc. In return I shall expect 50 per cent commission on your earnings when you become famous.’
Famous! He could have said 200 per cent of our earnings, it wouldn’t have made any difference. We never had no plans to become famous. We just wanted to enjoy ourselves, play good music and fuck about and that. Good music! I pulled myself together to ask an important question, my compromise.
‘If we back Heinz, does it affect us backin’ Jerry Lee?’ Even all this I would’ve turned down if he’d have said it did. ‘No, I see no reason why you shouldn’t back Jerry Lee too.’
Great!
The next minute there we were, hoppin’ up and down Charing Cross Road like we’d just been let out of a nut house. We’ve gone mad! Gibson guitars! Epiphone bass! Twelve string guitar! Drumkit, strings, cases, Gibson amps, Fender amps! We bought the lot. Ken took time off to ring his local garage to order a new van. Every now and then it crossed my mind that the price we had to pay was having to back Heinz. But that won’t be too bad. We were still backing Jerry Lee – and we had all this new gear! New amps, new guitars! It’s gonna be great! I can cope.
Or could I?
The show opened in Birmingham Town Hall. We’d been filming in the morning, a film called ‘Live It Up’ in which Heinz was starring. We arrived in Birmingham just in time for a quick run-through with Jerry Lee. We did ‘Great Balls of Fire’ and a couple of others, and I could tell Jerry Lee was impressed with our band. I swelled with pride!
The show started. We were to open, then Heinz, then Gene Vincent, and Jerry Lee was to close. Off we went with a few Outlaws Rock ’n’ Roll tunes. We went down great. It was Heinz’s turn. We announced him to the backing of ‘C’mon Everybody’. The crowd waited, and so