Last updated: 12 August 2010
In 1967 Amen Corner toured with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Allan Jones remembers the time.
By this time Hendrix was a big name, having played at the ; do you think people were coming specifically for him?
"There were a lot of good bands on there, it was a great, diverse bill. The Floyd were very cool, The Nice were also very cool, then there was us who were managed by Don Arden, Sharon Osborne's dad and a notorious gangster figure in rock'n'roll managers, and The Move who were managed by at the time, then you had Hendrix at the top, so it was a heck of a bill.
It appealed to a lot of different people, not just Hendrix fans. He was the star, there's no question about that, but as a bill it's surprising it worked so well. Of course it was in the days when Floyd were still with . It wasn't the big long, epic, 15 minute songs, it was three minute pop songs.
Was there an awareness amongst the bands playing that Hendrix was a star?
Definitely. Well he was a star. You'd only have to see him once and you'd know; he was phenomenal. He had this persona about him that had never been seen before. He was a mixture of Little Richard, Otis Redding and as a guitar player... as a package he had all his roots sorted: everything from blues to jazz to psychedelia. The movements and the sexual connotations of everything he did... It was like he was [making love to] the guitar. With his tongue.
Hendrix had caught on to Hendrix before the States.
"Yes we're a small island really. In London at the time, it was the epicentre of what was cool: The Beatles and The Stones had been doing their thing and of course London was awash with fantastic bands and clubs and very groovy people. I think New York didn't have the pizzazz that the British scene had with all the fashions and the models and all that stuff. It was a good move bringing Jimi Hendrix over here.
Was there any sense for Amen Corner of this being a hometown show?
Well there was a buzz about it I guess, but it was more for the audience than it was for us in a way, because we were just part of a tour and all we cared about was making sure we didn't make any mistakes. We didn't really take it in; it was just another show. If anything the Albert Hall was the number one show because it was such a great place to play anyway. Cardiff's Sophia Gardens wasn't a great venue; it was a big old barn. It wasn't built for music and the sound wasn't very good.
Was there any post-gig partying after that show?
I can't remember.. I probably went home! We were very much a safe band, compared to everyone else. We were as green as grass; The Experience and The Move... well, there was definitely a clique of bad boys on that tour and we weren't a part of it. We got on really well with each other, and it was a good laugh with all the characters involved but you could certainly pick out the druggies. You knew who was doing what with whom. They'd all be off doing their own thing. You could always tell!
"They probably were enjoying themselves before, during and after the show! No doubt they hooked up with some young ladies after the show and gone back to the hotel."
How was the tour arranged? Was there a tour bus?
"We normally all went separately. At one point we did have a bus but it wasn't your typical tour bus. It was like a passenger bus! It wasn't as elaborate in those days. I remember Hendrix used to be in the front with his entourage. He wasn't one of the boys really; there was nothing wrong with his attitude but he was outside of the general body of the bands. He was a bit of a loner really. It was just his personality I guess; he was shy. You wouldn't have thought it would you? He was an extrovert on stage but off stage he was an introvert.
Hendrix played bass for you on one occasion didn't he?
"Yes he did. We had a residency at the in Margaret Street in the West End. It was a basement club and I believe it was owned by the Kray Twins but I'm not exactly sure. You'd go down the steps into the basement, through some double doors and you'd walk into what was like a funeral parlour with a coffin laid out with a cloth over it. There'd be a book on top of the coffin and a couple of very well-dressed but large gentlemen acting as security. It was all very plush: velvet couches, nice lighting, very expensive. But it was the clientele really: you'd have all the bands there if they were on tour, if they had a night off.
"Every night of the week there'd be people there you'd recognise, plus it was full of women! We did a residency there during 1967 and we played there once a week. One night we were performing our soul revue thing. We were doing Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and we had a break.
"Hendrix came up and said 'Hey man do you mind if I play bass?' No, not at all, you carry on... so he came up, turned the bass upside down because he was left handed, and played Sgt Pepper's with us, which was quite surreal really. It was that kind of place. I saw a jam there with Keith Moon, Stephen Stills and Eric Clapton. I'm just lucky to have been part of it really."
So you look back on that time fondly?
"It was all brilliant. I don't think we had a bad night on that tour. We always used to go down pretty well. It was just a privilege to be on the bill and to get the chance to finish playing and watch Hendrix twice a night for 30 dates. That's pretty awesome, something to be thought about and relished."
