Early Seventies

Back again! It's been a while but unfortunately life tends to get in the way...

We're now back in 1975 and I've flown from Johannesburg to Durban to join this six piece band. They had a three month contract at a hotel in Durban, with potentially loads of future work lined up for them throughout the country.
The agency that had the band on its books was at that time the biggest agency in South Africa.
Anyone who was in the industry here at that time will know who I'm talking about!

This particular agency introduced a system that they dubbed the "sliding scale" commission deal. What it meant was that the more money they managed to negotiate for the band at a particular gig, the more commission they took. This ranged from 10%  up to 25%!
A large amount of unhappy musicians were playing at venues around the country.
The problem was that these guys (the agents) had worked deals with the various hotels, clubs, restaurants etc., whereby they signed "sole agency" contracts, so that the venues had to book the musicians through them - the agents - (even if they didn't want to).
If a band or an act were to approach the venue directly, they would be told that they had to contact the agency if they would like to work at that particular gig.
So as per normal, the musicians got themselves screwed!

So here I am at this total dump of a hotel two blocks from Durban's beachfront. I think it may have been called the Astra Hotel? It was near the Four Seasons as far as I remember.

For those of us in the band that were awake early enough in the morning, breakfast was served in the Dining Room.
I can still remember the breakfast cereal being left out in bowls the previous night with Durban's notorious cockroaches crawling all over the food. The cereal was stale from being left overnight and full of who knows what diseases.
This was Rock 'n Roll.

I had been booked to join this band as the keyboard player. At that time, any keyboard player had to have a Hammond Organ (because that was the sound then - although it was changing). And you had to have an Electric Piano, possibly a Hohner Clavinet and a Synthesiser of some make.
That's why most keyboard players from the seventies were broke - we had to have all this gear to get "the sound".

I had arrived in Durban with the previous argument (a two year affair of hellish dimensions), a suitcase and no gear! (I didn't have any keyboards then!)
They had a piano at the gig so I managed with that for a few days.
I went to one of the local music shops and hired a Hammond BC Organ and Speaker cabinet. I had never heard of the BC.
I knew the B3, but this was something else. In retrospect, the music shop probably couldn't sell it and that's why they agreed to me hiring it in the hope that I may buy the poor thing!
I think the BC title may have been taken from Biblical times! This thing was ancient, and was certainly not a Rock 'n Roll organ.
I have since researched the machine and have discovered that it dates back to 1937! Rock 'n Roll was not even a dream back then.

Getting back to the gig - at this hotel, the General Manager decided that this would be the perfect venue for cabaret.

We had been booked as a rock / commercial band playing hit parade numbers etc.
Imagine our surprise when we were presented with this "double act" from the U.K. who were to perform cabaret. They were a husband and wife "team".

The cabaret rehearsals were a joke.
The husband from the act presents the band with a pile of badly written sheet music and says "right, let's go!" 
The only member of the band that could read music was me, so I wrote out chord charts for the other guys so that at least we could get through the material.
We somehow scraped through his dreadful act, which among other things included a really bad impression of Mick Jagger and Elvis.
Funny how some memories never fade even if you want them to!

When we had finally finished rehearsing with him, we had his wife's act to sort out.
She was even more dreadful!
Real corny one liners and "comedy" mixed with badly sung songs.
She'd definitely never heard of Spike Milligan or Monty Python, or anybody who was funny.
And when you hear the same bad jokes night after night and realise the act is dying a death you wonder why the act is still in the game.
Can't they see that it's not working?
This pair were obviously from the B, if not the C cabaret circuit in the U.K.

Years later I discovered from a dear friend who was the Housekeeper at a very different hotel, that her father (the Housekeeper's) was the General Manager at this dump, and that the cabaret "artist duo" was his brother and sister in law!
Nepotism rules I tell you!

We'd been there possibly a month when things started to go wrong.
The "Cabaret Artists" were now getting cheesed off with the fact that the crowd were more interested in the band than them.
The crowd started heckling the act with the intention of getting the band to play, so that they could party. (Which if you think about it, that's what it was all about).

As a result we were fired! We weren't attracting the right crowd etc. etc. What a load of cobblers!

Fortunately for us, the General Manager of another Durban Hotel, "The Savoy" (also since long gone), in the Berea area, had heard us playing and asked us if we'd like the gig.

His deal was: I know you guys are in trouble, so I'll give you food and accommodation in return for the music. If the place starts pumping, then we can negotiate a contract with money!

Those were the days when club owners, managers, agents etc. actually came to listen to various acts.
Not any more I'm afraid.
Now it's 'do you have a web site?, where can I find you on You Tube?!'

The only problem was that this particular hotel hadn't had bands, or music there for a while.
In fact the music that they had before, appeared to be a cocktail pianist with maybe a singer.
This was apparent when we arrived at the venue to be confronted with a stage only big enough to hold a grand piano and a mike stand.

Being me, the first thing I did was try the piano. I played a few notes or chords only to be affronted by this diabolical muffled metallic sound!
I thought what on earth?! (These days it's wtf?) but I didn't use that terminology back then and still don't now!
I lifted the lid of this poor old Grand Piano - it was a Beckstein if you don't mind - to discover it had sea sand inside -How?!? and waiter's trays all over the strings.
Now that is really WTF!!

Needless to say, we didn't use the piano. It was removed and we had to set up very cramped on the stage.
Unfortunately because the venue hadn't had music for a while, the manager's advertising etc., didn't really work and the venue never really took off.

The band were also keen to return to Cape Town - where there was potential work, I was keen to return to Johannesburg - where I thought there was work and as a result, that was the end of that band for me.

I landed up not returning to Johannesburg, but went down to Port Elizabeth for almost three months due to financial constraints.

When I finally returned to Johannesburg I discovered that the previous argument was nicely shacked up with my supposed "best friend"!


Unwittingly the guy did me a monster favour!

We move on, only to discover what the next curve ball is that life will throw at us....

So I found a flat in down town Johannesburg. This place was right next to the railway line, so sleep was a rather rare commodity in the early mornings, but as with everything, you get used to it.
This flat was a bachelor and the rental was R11 a month!!!
I know this was 1975 but R11 a month?
Only problem was it was communal ablutions etc., but who cares? it was fine for the time.

I had to watch the pennies after the Durban fiasco and at that time had no gig, so every second day I would buy a roll of Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles and that would be the meal sorted for the day.
On the alternate days I would go to this restaurant / cafeteria a few blocks away where they made the most amazing plate of chips and that would be my meal.
I would cover them with All Gold Tomato sauce, Worcester sauce, HP sauce, salt and vinegar - those chips were sooo nice!

That was my diet! I lived like that for a couple of months.  (I'll bring out the violin in a minute)!

During that time I was visiting all the recording studios, looking for session work etc. (found a few), and going to venues listening to bands.

One day I walked past this club in town and outside they had this poster which said:
Louis and the Bad Boys.

There were four photo slots on the poster and in the slots were Louis Greef (guitar), Ronnie Robot (bass), Andre Smith (drums), and the fourth slot had a question mark (?).
So I walk in to this club and there is the band (a three piece) and Louis, who I'd known from when he was with Omega Ltd., rushes up, gives me a bear hug and says "where the F... have you been !?! I've been looking for you for months!"
The question mark slot had now been filled.

This was my introduction to some serious Rock 'n Roll.

To be continued ....