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Legendary drummer Geoff Britton chats with Kal and Rosy. Part 1 where he auditions for Paul McCartney & Wings (and gets the gig!)
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0:00
what Manfred baton and you angel you the
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man who is actually drumming on that is
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our superstar afternoon Jeff Britain
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we've been so excited I'm very glad to
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have you with us I'm honored to be here
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I tell you what though we never stop
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talking and you know you've been popping
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backwards and forwards and sorting out
0:20
some different things with Barry over
0:21
the past couple of weeks but basically
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every time you have nobody gets any work
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done because you can we just just
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telling us about the various things that
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have happened in the life and times of a
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rock drummer and actually you were on
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that one angel station album from
0:34
manfred Mann's Earth Band yes although
0:37
you were just checking cuz you're like
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is this me or is it me do you forget who
0:49
you've worked with over the years - okay
0:55
mm-hmm
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don't forget but you're not sure what
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versions sometime people bring out a
1:01
re-release and normally I know when it's
1:05
made by listening but I was because we
1:08
were talking about Chris Slade the the
1:09
drummer who was pretty basically
1:11
Manfredo I was just saying oh that must
1:13
be Chris Slade and it wasn't right let's
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start at the beginning can we write at
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the beginning and you were your BAE
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profession wasn't really the job or was
1:29
it just to start with well I was
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actually expected to take over my
1:35
father's business he was a tailor now
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it's shops in southeast London and that
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was the that was the plan unfortunately
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I saw Gene Krupa playing with Benny
1:46
Goodman on our black-and-white TV and
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I'm afraid the seal was my fate was
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sealed so what did a young person in
1:55
Lewisham do then to become part of the
1:58
rock scene of that so I must be quite
1:59
buzzing there really is no or really
2:02
London's through that period was the
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place if I if I look at it from a sort
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of historic point of view
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the rock-and-roll that came from America
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wasn't eclipsed by the Brits we had a
2:16
good go at it but the Americans had the
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edge now then when we got into what I
2:21
call our pop when our rock bands apart
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from one or two of the Americans didn't
2:25
quite catch it and it's kind of like
2:27
that in Reverse and I was of that
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generation that came through the early
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60s I mean I saw the Beatles live in
2:34
those days and and everybody really in
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London was kind of like a magnet for all
2:41
that energy and all that creativity well
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you so we are listening to predominately
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American music then as you were starting
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to grow and learn as a music yourself
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well my dad was a big fan of the
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Armstrong and my brother who's five
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years older than me was it was Frank
2:57
Sinatra then Frankie laine and so I kind
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of it morphed out of that but once I
3:03
wasn't listening to that because that
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was the family music on the record with
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78 records but once some Bill Haley and
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Elvis and Lonnie Donegan had opened the
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page then there was no turning back that
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was it
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look who were you working with same when
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you just referred started out well I was
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very fortunate in one sense when I say
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falter because when it came to the
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audition with wings it wasn't they were
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you know Mitch Mitchell was on the day
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that I played Mitch Mitchell was Jimi
3:33
Hendrix drummer and he was it was a
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game-changer along with a few others of
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that great creative time that England
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had her in terms of our pop groups so he
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came on to play and other guys who were
3:47
grade but not great all rounders and I'd
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worked quite extensively for the club
3:53
méditerranée
3:54
which is a big holiday organisation
3:56
throughout Europe in their hotels and
3:58
their holiday camps and doing that we've
4:02
you know Ireland to play everything from
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paso doble ChaCha's and and when when
4:07
everyone gone to bed then we could work
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as a jazz group and play around sort of
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stuff and have a bit of fun with the
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late-night revelers so I kind of had a
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musical baptism in everything I'll go
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fortunate and I kind of have the
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attitude still there's there's only two
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kinds of music and that's good or bad
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and so everything's it's comes under the
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category of good I like to listen to
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Jeff tell us the story of how of the
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actual audition for wings because it's a
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fantastic story it was it was 150 guys
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and you how did you find out about the
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audition because I was chatting you say
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me and Jeff each other for ages where we
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don't plan to there was no phones there
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was no mobile basil or wince no email
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you know oh okay it's a larger story but
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basically it was in the Melody Maker
5:00
that Dennis I will have been American
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drum with wings and he'd come back to
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America and so the manager would put an
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advert in Melody Maker Melody Maker was
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was the Bible the encyclopedia it
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advertised everybody and it it covered
5:19
everything
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so one it advertised that Makani was
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looking for a drummer and I was standing
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in for a friend of mine running his dojo
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his martial arts club in West Wycombe
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Kent I stepped on to option hour to
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study for a couple years and one of the
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students was the manager of Fleetwood
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Mac and in the break he said to me are
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you going for the wings audition and I
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sit down like I said there was no no
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internet and McCartney productions was X
5:53
directory so fish cave is his name and
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he's the guy he's the one two on the
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stretcher but we were talking about
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previously so used to say at tomorrow
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morning and I'll call you through the
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number which he did and I then phoned up
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the wings management who then told me
6:09
that the list was closed and that they
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had hundreds and hundreds of application
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which they had actually brought down to
6:16
1552 or four and I don't know how it
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happened but he just kept talking and he
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just said do you know I'm gonna put you
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on the list
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and which he did and then a few days
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later I got a phone call saying would I
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be free to come up to the Opera Theatre
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in Smarties Lane in London's West End
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and they'd be holding auditions so I
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willingly accepted I was I was given the
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two o'clock slot so on the way into town
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on my I was alone living in all this I
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came and so I jumped on my motorbike
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and I stopped in Lewisham to pick up to
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him Russell who had a hit record at the
6:55
time with stretch with why did you do it
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and he was hot so I said to him on the
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back we're going up to audition with God
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so you told another drum of you were
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going for a Paul McCartney audition most
7:09
musicians would you know hell kept it
7:12
for themselves that's quite magnanimous
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of you do you help each other yeah he's
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one of my dearest closest friends I
7:19
could get him started in the business in
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that sense when he saw my drum kit
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because we lived on the same block in
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those days and well I didn't really
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think in terms that I was going to get
7:30
the gig it was just kind of a crack you
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know theater and we could park the
7:47
motorbike right by the stage door and we
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walked in and there was a bit of a who
7:52
are because Jim Russell wasn't on the
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list and he wasn't allowed to play and I
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was kind of throwing my toys out the
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tram and saying well if he can't play I
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won't play and at that stage I realized
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something wasn't quite the normal
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because I had a view to the stage and I
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could see that there was nobody from
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wings or McCarron stage there was Rob
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towns empires great
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drama and so I asked the people
8:20
organized I said what's the story and
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they said well you you get to play with
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these guys do about six or seven tunes
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and Macker and the management are in the
8:30
theater watching you so I said that's
8:32
okay I'll play three tunes and Jim
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Russel will play no no that wouldn't
8:38
that would fly and there was this real
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impasse because I stuck my neck out I
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had my mate with me and they were
8:46
telling me it was it was a no-go
8:48
anyway the phone went and the guy hot
8:52
past fire was canceling so Jim Russell
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got half past five slot who cancels on
8:57
Paul McCarthy yeah he was hoping to
9:00
reach out to us he had some some genuine
9:03
family thing and he couldn't make it so
9:06
would he have another day well I've got
9:09
my two o'clock spot which was fortunate
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because they stopped for lunch so they
9:13
all buzzed off to the pub and then Jim
9:15
Russ and I got in on those drums and
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really got them where we were
9:18
comfortable and tuned them up the way we
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like them because I was the first
9:22
drummer back on after lunch at two
9:23
o'clock now because Jim Russell was on
9:26
my slate when I was there we were
9:28
allowed to sit in the theater which
9:30
nobody else had the choice that's how I
9:32
saw Mitch Mitchell with Jim Ross and I
9:38
were really big fans of Mitch Mitchell
9:40
as I say he was a genuine 60s going
9:43
change along Ginger Baker and a lot of
9:45
great guys I truly love and respect so
9:48
anyway we're Mitch Warsaw and Jim Rice
9:51
when I sit down both of us I'm prepared
9:53
or unplanned we both said in unison Oh
9:57
Mitch Mitchell because as far as we were
10:00
concerned the gig was over I mean he
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shouldn't even been auditioning he just
10:04
had a bad day so that's that's a story
10:06
and then it goes from there
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there was a space in time I get a phone
10:10
call would you prepare to come into the
10:13
canned
10:15
a Theatre in Camden Town and now you
10:17
meet Paul and you play with the guys so
10:20
I got a morning or an afternoon of that
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and nobody gives anything away just to
10:26
play a few songs and you told you five
10:28
few more songs and then a few more days
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go by and I got another phone call would
10:34
I come in and spend all day with the
10:35
band and go out to have lunch what have
10:37
you and which I did and I took I had a
10:41
mate with me on all those times helping
10:43
me use my drums and just just you know
10:46
your mates with your moral support as it
10:48
were and then a few more days passed and
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energy I was out jogging I lived
10:53
obviously a big big field and I was out
10:55
jogging and my there next wife opened
10:59
the window and shouted that Paul
11:00
McCartney was on the phone to play in an
11:06
audition he was a big yes she's play
11:09
rock'n'roll do they okay well done okay
11:14
okay so the very first plan with madcap
11:17
with Paul um he says to me do you like
11:21
rock and roll I said come on Paul we're
11:26
both the same did the same I eat I said
11:27
we grew up on rock'n'roll so he said you
11:31
like it I said constant I love it so he
11:33
said do you know Lucille so I said well
11:36
yeah I said are you gonna do the Little
11:38
Richard version or the evidence because
11:40
throw mystically there they're very
11:42
different so he goes oh he's an
11:45
appreciative that were not in my
11:47
direction and we ended up doing the
11:49
Everly's version where the drumming is
11:51
is body harmon great drama of that era
11:54
did all the evidence hits and yeah we
11:57
started off with that and yeah we went
12:00
through a lot of Buddy Holly sang songs
12:02
because Paulo owns the songbook and they
12:05
all moved into some of the Beatles staff
12:09
swing stuff it just you just an audition
12:12
you know what do you fancy playing I
12:14
fancy this someone starts to riff
12:16
you'll just join in it's just Germany
12:18
would call the coppers
12:20
I gotta be honest that I was sitting
12:23
behind him and
12:25
looking at him and then thinking I can
12:28
remember with my mates that there will
12:30
in Jody and watching the Beatles do a
12:32
gig and from that point on they just
12:35
went ballistic there'd been nothing like
12:37
that it's all really since in music
12:39
history of anyone and he grew up getting
12:41
that big and that popular and I'm
12:43
sitting there behind him just playing
12:45
with him and it was just like funny our
12:47
music such a such a equalizer because
12:50
when you're all jamming along you all
12:54
your musicians are gonna blow and quite
12:57
interesting but I did I did look at me
12:59
think my god that's the head you know
13:02
think that's just my arms would freeze
13:09
[Music]
13:14
yeah that's very true and in actual fact
13:17
Mickey bowler who was the faces know it
13:22
really wrote Stewart he did all these
13:24
solo stuff with Rod Stewart and he was a
13:26
real in-demand session guy and great a
13:29
great drummers I have this great great
13:30
player well he turned up you see a
13:32
little bit nervous and you know too much
13:34
to drink and so I think I think nose on
13:38
something of that caliber complier game
13:41
so I did what Billie Jean King the
13:44
tennis player did I visualized visualize
13:48
the whole thing sitting there talking
13:50
and feeling nervous and then relax too
13:54
much time going through it again
13:55
so on the day and having a really dear
13:58
friend with him my mate Bevo accompanied
14:01
me just
14:02
we were just natural and having a laugh
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and nose didn't come into it really
14:06
didn't it was very special
14:09
you put a list of songs together for us
14:11
and things that you've played on things
14:13
that you've loved there on the years but
14:15
we've actually got you playing in
14:17
rehearsal doing jets we a mission you
14:23
haven't actually heard it ahead of us
14:24
playing it now if you're if you're okay
14:26
for us to players it's on the internet
14:27
anyway love to is that all right
14:30
I guess this afternoon Jeff Britain in
14:33
rehearsal with Paul McCartney and wings
14:35
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