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Mott the HooplePete
Frame and To talk to Ian Hunter today, and outline his future with impregnable confidence and determination, its difficult to remember just what a scuffling, mixed up waif he was back in 1969, when Mott the Hoople was no more than a twinkle in Guy Stevens' eyes. Guy, in a typical fit of inspired lunacy, was going berserk in a Denmark Street rehearsal studio, rejecting streams of applicants for a gig he'd advertised. He was looking for a singing piano player to complement a group he had just signed to Island records - but because he had such a clear idea of the sound and approach he wanted to achieve, it seemed impossible to find the right man for the job. Musicians came and went - with alarming rapidity - punctuated by Guy tearing his hair and yelling "next one, next one". Hunter, oblivious to these peculiar events being enacted in Soho, was ensconced in front of the television when the phone rang. "It was a bloke called Bill Farley, who ran Regent Sound Studios; I used to do a lot of demos there when I was a staff songwriter for Francis, Day and Hunter, and I'd got to know him quite well. He asked me if I'd seen the ad in Melody Maker - because the group was down at his place - and he reckoned it would be worth my while having a go for it. Well, I wasn't in the mood; I had a headache and I was tired - so I told him I just didn't feel like it, because though I was out of work and looking for a job, he'd got me to go to other auditions previously and they never turned out to be any good. In any case, I was a really crappy piano player". Two hours later the phone rang again. "It was Bill, ringing to to tell me there were only two to go, and the group didn't like any of them so far - and what's more, there was a retainer involved. Well, I still didn't bother - primarily because I didn't have a car; to get from Archway to Denmark Street involved 3 bus rides and a wait of about half an hour between each". At eleven, Bill phoned again. "He said I ought to get down there because they'd run out of applicants and the job was still vacant - so I relented and said I was on my way. The gods must have been with me because I got to the end of the road just in time to catch a bus - which got to Kings Cross just as my other one was leaving. So I nipped on that - and there was no wait at the next change either... So I arrived at Regent Sound within half an hour. Despite this, I went in the studio in one of those violent filthy moods when you think 'bollocks, what have I got to lose?' I had absolutely no confidence or ability on the piano, so it was a case of brazening it out, and when they asked me what songs I knew, I said 'what about Like a rolling Stone', because I could just about stumble through that. Well, as we played, this scruffy looking bloke who'd been lurking down the bottom end of the studio, slowly wandered around until he was standing behind me - and apparently he began to gesticulate wildly at the others, making signs of approval... it turned out to be Guy Stevens. So I'd played and sung, and they'd played along - and in some ways, it felt as if I was auditioning them - and then they sent me off to this club next door whilst they talked over whether I'd do or not. About half an hour later, Bill came in and told me I'd got the job - and got a phone call from Island Records the next morning confirming it". Thus, Ian Hunter joined the Herefordshire group Silence, and Mott the Hoople was born.
Silence's ancestry is far too complex to examine in detail, but, briefly, the picture is built up as follows: Overend Watts and Buffin played together (for five bob - twenty five pence - a night each) in a school band called The Anchors, who gigged at the Hope and Anchor in Ross-on-Wye during the summer of 1963. Deciding that their approach was too theatrically tame, They became Wild Dog's Hell Hounds, led by Wild Dog Watts, who's accessories included a gold lame waistcoat made up from curtain material, a Beatle wig and a dogs bowl from which he would drink water. This ensemble was responsible for fairly diverting R&B performances at local school dances and Conservative Club parties, but evolved into the Soulents - still retaining the Overend/Buffin nucleus, but this time specialising in Who imitations. Leaving school, but remaining semi-pro musicians, they became Silence (mark 1) until Overend accepted an offer to join Mick Ralphs' band. Mick, having started in a Bromyard outfit called The Buddies, went on to Problem before forming The Doc Thomas Group with Stan Tippins on vocals. Overend was seduced into this band from his career as a trainee architect, and he was followed by Buffin and an organist called Verden Allen. Then followed some gruelling years of what the music press tend to brush aside with the useful phrase 'paying their dues' - mainly on the continent, and particularly in Italy, where they recorded an album. Mick: "The gigs in Italy lasted, on and off, for a couple of years and they gave us a good deal of experience. Good English groups were very popular over there at the time - but we got really sick of pandering to the pop crowd with number like 'Release Me'. We really wanted to play our own music". The Doc Thomas Group folded in a fit of anguish, with the members anxious to re-assess their future - and during this limbo period, Mick, Verden and Buffin played in Jimmy Cliff's backing band - but the group reformed, firstly as the Shakedown Sound, and then as Silence (mark 2)... which was when the optimistic Mick Ralphs visited Island Records bearing demo tapes. Overend: "We were gigging mostly in Wales at the time, and we'd practically made up our minds to split up because of the dwindling work situation. Guy Stevens was our last hope, I suppose". Guy listened to their demos, but remained unimpressed. Gripped by a fit of tenacity, however, Mick Ralphs refused to take no for an answer - and pestered Guy to reconsider his refusal. This time Guy (to my mind one of the ten most important figures in British rock in the sixties) relented; he decided to modify Silence's line-up to a Band/Procul Harem/piano and organ combination and assume to roles of producer, manager and mentor... he even had a name ready for them.
Half Moon Bay Notes: The booklet that came with the 1990 Island Collection CD 'Walkin' With a Mountain' contained notes on the early days by Buffin... |
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Last update 18th January 2008 ©2008 Half Moon Bay
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