Dave Adrian (R.I.P) In His Own Words
8 min readBy Dave Adrian
I started my long rock music career as a band manager . In those days , the telephone and the Bedford van were the essential tools of management . The office was more then often the backroom of a cafe or a pub , and also the meeting place for all parties concerned . Most of the London and Liverpool based bands used to venture on the road with little Ford vans full of
equipment , and often kitchen , hotel room and what have you function at the same time . All on a phone call contract with a venue in a club in Paris or elsewhere on the continent . (remember the Beatles in Hamburg …) The contract was draughted on a ” Roneo “ink duplicator ; it was far from being clear as much for the managment as for the band …
On festivals or ” package ” venues , most bands would use the same ” backline ” : same Marshall amps etc… , only a particular snare drum hi hat cymbal , would change for a particular band , in order to make the venue cheaper to organize , and pay the bands a bigger percentage on the door tickets . On the coastal see resorts , when the gigs where in Casino’s , sometimes the bands would not get paid and gamble their money home in the playing rooms …
Even back to the days of the ” two eyes ” in Soho London , in the fifties , most people do not realize that some of the most famous artists of the rock history met in to say the least ” casual ” circumstances ,such as mentionned above . It is difficult to comprehend in this time of giant corporations ,computers , T.V. Videos , super hyped stardom , etc… Why so much achieved with so little ? For the simple reason that rock was definitely a ” magic ” word in those days : the sound was shaking the world since the early rock period , and the more progressive bands as the ” Rolling Stones ” were gaining huge momentum and following by word of mouth only . I remember seing them for the first time in Maidenhead , England : it was obvious from the start they were going to become a social phenomenon . It could not be missed … It was all new , from the rythm & blues licks to the denim Lewis jacket . In this time and age ,no such thing is ever possible again…
In Paris , I managed for a while the bands venues for a club called the ” bus Palladium ” . This was also a completely new thing : James Arch the owner had this great idea of using a theater with non stop bands playing every night . Up to three thousand people were at the door ,throwing money in the air to get in ; the national press was contantly covering this ” social novelty ” . And it was !
One day , around the same period , I met a man called Olivier Coquelin he managed the ” Cheetah ” chain of clubs in the States . He offered me there and then a contract to manage the bands . Alot of money ! I turned it down , I was too busy with my own things ; could have changed my life .
One good deceased friend was ” Screaming Lord Sutch ” , the founder of all Horror Rock . His band , ” the Savages ” , must have had every name guitarist in England in it’s long history : from Jimmy Page to Ritchie Blackmore … He was a great man . His gig s were unbelievable . I remember one where at the first note played , the two sides of the room where the audience was collided in a fight , one side being Rockers bikers the other side Teddy boys ( followers with ” drape ” clothing of the early fifties rock ) . On another gig in the ” Speakeasy ” in London , he walked out not happy at all about the closure of his private black money tunnel to the Swiss mountains …
I slept in a hotel in Paris , the ” hotel des Beaux Arts ” , inroom no 13 , ( of course ) , where Jim Morisson died … ( the Doors , heard about them ?) A small room , if any . All the major bands on tour used to sleep there. A photographer friend of mine and friend of Jim and Shawn Flynn , ( son of Erol Flynn , ) had a load of pictures of Jim taken in his flat and in Singapor , during the making of a film . I wonder what happened to all that material . Jim used to order a crate of wine every morning instead of breakfast . Once kicked open the door of a night club , once they asked him if he was a member …
The names of bands I came across is very wide : ” Winston’s Thumb “had a guy of the steve Marriot band the ” Small Faces ” ; another ” the Ingoes ” , had a bass player Brian who played with Ronnie Lane . You see , the rock underground community was still reasonably small : most musicians knew one another by word of mouth , and offers to leave or join a band was done for instance in the Pub next to the ” Marquee Club ” in Wardour street , Soho , London . That was also a booking agency , with some of the biggest name bands of England on the list . Georgio Gomelsky the manager , was also the first and official manager of the ” Rolling Stones ” ; he now lives in New York . I have’nt heard from him since those days , but I always will remember him for the fact that each time I came to London by Ferry for bookings he always laid on the bar a bottle of Johnny Walker Black label without uttering a word . Kind of ” relax after the trip , we talk later … “
This is an amusing one : one night in the ” Pheasantry ” club in King’s road , Chelsea , London , I saw some customer in trouble ; he could not afford to pay his drinks : it was Robert Stigwoog ! ( probably before he became a world wide producer ) Another night , in another pub , I sit next to … Johnny Rotten : he is a very cool guy , we spoke for two hours about rock and his ideas ; far more astute than people think he is . Across the road , some other crazy nights ; Lemmy from ” Motorhead ” a very sociable nice guy . Kit Lambert , back to his flat for drinks : he was the manager of the ” Who ” . ( By the way Keith Moon apparently picked up the idea of the double bass drum from it’ s inventor , my friend Bobby Clarke ) .
Stephen Delft is a guitar maker now living in New Zealand .
One day I visit him for business . In his flat is Art Garfunkel with
lady . I had a long talk with him . Well , he is not at all like people would think ; rather down to earth as a metal guy …
A very old friend , a drummer called Bobby Clarke , was also involved with a singer who became a legend in France : Vince Taylor . He blew it after a huge national promotional campaign , explaining to a selective audience in the Paris Olympia , that he was Jesus Christ or something to that effect … I think a bit of the LSD drug had something to do with that statement . As for Bobby , he was the original drummer of Billy Fury , and after Vince played for Johnny Hallyday . Vince died in Zwitserland a while back . I have not seen Bobby for more than a decade .
I met the ” Stones ” under other circumstances in a Paris club called ” La Bulle ” ; Ispent the evening with Brian Jones and Keith Richard . Brian was a very talkative man , very interesting , Keith of course quieter rolling some huge joint all night long and smiling … In a pub venue in White city , I remember being acquainted with a band involving Carlo Little ( original drummer of the ” Rolling Stones ” before Charlie Watts , ) , Nicky Simper , ( first bassist of ” Deep Purple “; my friend Bobby was also the first drummer of the band … ) Dave Edward , an unknown giant of the guitar , friend of Rory Gallagher ( I personally find Dave far better ) , etc… All this outfit in front of fifty drunken people , with a Indian singer doing covers of Elvis Presley . The ups and downs of Rock , one might call it …
Bruce Thomas , of the ” Elvis Costello ” band , was also a good acquaintance. I personally prefered his work with the ” the Sutherland brothers and Quiver “. This was a circle of friends involving a tremendous singer Clive Maldoon , who wrote with another friend DaveCurtiss . Dave Curtiss and Bobby Woodman formed a short lived project called ” BODAST ” with Steve Howe , wholater joined ” Yes ” … Dave has recently made a huge hit for … Madonna .Good luck to him , the song was twenty years old . ( check ” Google ” )
Also met the ” Scorpions ” in their early days of the ” In transe “
album . in the ” Colosseum ” venue . Uli Roth was a giant guitarist , world class , it was a incredible band , in the vein of the legends Hendrix , Zep ,Who . Rudolf Schenkar offered me to manage them ; they were pending some sort of contract with Muff Winwood . Then they left for America , without Uli who formed ” Electric Sun ” ; they made it huge over there , but were never the same rock milestone they were in pass of becoming with Uli . Differences of opinions , I suppose … Interesting detail : the girlfriend of Uli at the time , was the ex of Jimmy Hendrix at the time of his death . She confirmes what I always suspected : Hendrix did not die of an overdose , but was poisoned in one way or another …
Another night , in ” Dingwalls ” Camden town ; London . I am having a drink with Alexis Korner , the great founder of British Blues . There is a band at the bar with us : the singer asks for a glass of water . At that very second , the whole water pipe system of the club blows up . It took the fire brigade the whole night to fix the piping , and we were thrown out . Alexis is unfortunately now dead . He started the very early ” Rolling Stones ” …
On some days in London , to make ends meet , I had to resort
to ” busking ” in the “Underground ” : the trick was simple ; one verse per train carriage , as it came into the station . There was no point going further when they had walked away , and deposited money in the hat . Better wait for the next train … This was sometimes very lucrative . That was the beginning of my folk rock career . People were buzzing on the music : I could see it .
These anecdocts are not classified in chronological order ; also I do not fall in the category of people keen on ” name dropping ” , ” I knew such and such …” . I mention the people I really knew . There are thousands of other casual meetings of interest , but I explained previously , in those days anyone with personality could meet anybody , without having to pass bodyguards , executives , backstage passes checked six times …
I can guarantee I have seen and heard the most incredible bands around , totally unknown , through the lack of scouting of the major companies . That’s were it all started going wrong even twenty five years ago : too many people in the businees of music that just do not have a clue of what they are talking about . In those days , there was an ewpression for such people ” pseudos ” … Now , well the essence is high technology . But I reckon it might be the saviour of rock music ; it’ s a sword with two edges no one can really control . The faster it moves , the better …
About Author
