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Geoff Britton 1
Jan 13, 2025
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
0:02
man who is actually drumming on that is
0:04
our superstar afternoon Jeff Britain
0:08
we've been so excited I'm very glad to
0:10
have you with us I'm honored to be here
0:13
I tell you what though we never stop
0:17
talking and you know you've been popping
0:18
backwards and forwards and sorting out
0:20
some different things with Barry over
0:21
the past couple of weeks but basically
0:23
every time you have nobody gets any work
0:25
done because you can we just just
0:26
telling us about the various things that
0:28
have happened in the life and times of a
0:30
rock drummer and actually you were on
0:32
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
0:38
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
0:57
don't forget but you're not sure what
0:59
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
1:21
start at the beginning can we write at
1:24
the beginning and you were your BAE
1:28
profession wasn't really the job or was
1:29
it just to start with well I was
1:32
actually expected to take over my
1:35
father's business he was a tailor now
1:38
it's shops in southeast London and that
1:40
was the that was the plan unfortunately
1:44
I saw Gene Krupa playing with Benny
1:46
Goodman on our black-and-white TV and
1:50
I'm afraid the seal was my fate was
1:53
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
2:03
place if I if I look at it from a sort
2:08
of historic point of view
2:10
the rock-and-roll that came from America
2:12
wasn't eclipsed by the Brits we had a
2:16
good go at it but the Americans had the
2:18
edge now then when we got into what I
2:21
call our pop when our rock bands apart
2:24
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
2:29
generation that came through the early
2:32
60s I mean I saw the Beatles live in
2:34
those days and and everybody really in
2:37
London was kind of like a magnet for all
2:41
that energy and all that creativity well
2:44
you so we are listening to predominately
2:46
American music then as you were starting
2:48
to grow and learn as a music yourself
2:51
well my dad was a big fan of the
2:52
Armstrong and my brother who's five
2:55
years older than me was it was Frank
2:57
Sinatra then Frankie laine and so I kind
3:00
of it morphed out of that but once I
3:03
wasn't listening to that because that
3:04
was the family music on the record with
3:06
78 records but once some Bill Haley and
3:10
Elvis and Lonnie Donegan had opened the
3:13
page then there was no turning back that
3:16
was it
3:17
look who were you working with same when
3:19
you just referred started out well I was
3:22
very fortunate in one sense when I say
3:24
falter because when it came to the
3:26
audition with wings it wasn't they were
3:29
you know Mitch Mitchell was on the day
3:31
that I played Mitch Mitchell was Jimi
3:33
Hendrix drummer and he was it was a
3:36
game-changer along with a few others of
3:38
that great creative time that England
3:41
had her in terms of our pop groups so he
3:44
came on to play and other guys who were
3:47
grade but not great all rounders and I'd
3:50
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
4:03
paso doble ChaCha's and and when when
4:07
everyone gone to bed then we could work
4:09
as a jazz group and play around sort of
4:11
stuff and have a bit of fun with the
4:13
late-night revelers so I kind of had a
4:16
musical baptism in everything I'll go
4:19
fortunate and I kind of have the
4:21
attitude still there's there's only two
4:23
kinds of music and that's good or bad
4:25
and so everything's it's comes under the
4:27
category of good I like to listen to
4:29
Jeff tell us the story of how of the
4:32
actual audition for wings because it's a
4:34
fantastic story it was it was 150 guys
4:37
and you how did you find out about the
4:40
audition because I was chatting you say
4:42
me and Jeff each other for ages where we
4:43
don't plan to there was no phones there
4:48
was no mobile basil or wince no email
4:50
you know oh okay it's a larger story but
4:58
basically it was in the Melody Maker
5:00
that Dennis I will have been American
5:03
drum with wings and he'd come back to
5:06
America and so the manager would put an
5:11
advert in Melody Maker Melody Maker was
5:13
was the Bible the encyclopedia it
5:16
advertised everybody and it it covered
5:19
everything
5:19
so one it advertised that Makani was
5:23
looking for a drummer and I was standing
5:26
in for a friend of mine running his dojo
5:27
his martial arts club in West Wycombe
5:29
Kent I stepped on to option hour to
5:32
study for a couple years and one of the
5:34
students was the manager of Fleetwood
5:37
Mac and in the break he said to me are
5:42
you going for the wings audition and I
5:45
sit down like I said there was no no
5:49
internet and McCartney productions was X
5:53
directory so fish cave is his name and
5:56
he's the guy he's the one two on the
5:59
stretcher but we were talking about
6:00
previously so used to say at tomorrow
6:03
morning and I'll call you through the
6:05
number which he did and I then phoned up
6:07
the wings management who then told me
6:09
that the list was closed and that they
6:12
had hundreds and hundreds of application
6:14
which they had actually brought down to
6:16
1552 or four and I don't know how it
6:20
happened but he just kept talking and he
6:22
just said do you know I'm gonna put you
6:24
on the list
6:25
and which he did and then a few days
6:28
later I got a phone call saying would I
6:31
be free to come up to the Opera Theatre
6:34
in Smarties Lane in London's West End
6:37
and they'd be holding auditions so I
6:40
willingly accepted I was I was given the
6:42
two o'clock slot so on the way into town
6:45
on my I was alone living in all this I
6:47
came and so I jumped on my motorbike
6:51
and I stopped in Lewisham to pick up to
6:53
him Russell who had a hit record at the
6:55
time with stretch with why did you do it
6:57
and he was hot so I said to him on the
7:01
back we're going up to audition with God
7:04
so you told another drum of you were
7:05
going for a Paul McCartney audition most
7:09
musicians would you know hell kept it
7:12
for themselves that's quite magnanimous
7:14
of you do you help each other yeah he's
7:17
one of my dearest closest friends I
7:19
could get him started in the business in
7:22
that sense when he saw my drum kit
7:23
because we lived on the same block in
7:24
those days and well I didn't really
7:28
think in terms that I was going to get
7:30
the gig it was just kind of a crack you
7:32
know theater and we could park the
7:47
motorbike right by the stage door and we
7:49
walked in and there was a bit of a who
7:52
are because Jim Russell wasn't on the
7:54
list and he wasn't allowed to play and I
7:57
was kind of throwing my toys out the
7:59
tram and saying well if he can't play I
8:01
won't play and at that stage I realized
8:07
something wasn't quite the normal
8:10
because I had a view to the stage and I
8:11
could see that there was nobody from
8:13
wings or McCarron stage there was Rob
8:16
towns empires great
8:18
drama and so I asked the people
8:20
organized I said what's the story and
8:22
they said well you you get to play with
8:24
these guys do about six or seven tunes
8:27
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
8:34
Russel will play no no that wouldn't
8:38
that would fly and there was this real
8:40
impasse because I stuck my neck out I
8:44
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
8:55
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
9:11
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
9:17
really got them where we were
9:18
comfortable and tuned them up the way we
9:20
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
10:02
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
10:08
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
10:22
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
10:30
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
10:51
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
14:03
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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