after a few minutes Sutch suddenly appeared back on stage and said were the F*** is the rest of the band, he somehow had got free and made his way back to the stage, Carlo returned a few minutes later saying they had got him not realizing that he was back on stage ready to continue, We finished the show with fantastic applause, we then carried on to the following gig in Stevenage to complete the eventful night.

One gig that reminds me of the madness of Screaming Lord Sutch was when we got a plane to Paris to do a show at The Olympia, Upon exiting the plane, Lord Sutch thought it a good idea together with Brian Keith to get out 2 real swords, they started sword fencing down the aeroplane steps as a publicity stunt for the television cameras,  All hell broke loose when the police arrested him and put him behind bars, we never thought he would do the gig that night, but somehow he managed to make it right with the police and with only minutes to go arrived at the Olympia to great the audience which was mostly full of Beatniks, the show was as usual a great success, suffice to say, Sutch’s generosity came to the fore once more, and we slept top to tail, 7 of us together in one bed while he probably had a bed to himself.
The next day we drove to Rouen, 8 in 1 car, did the gig, then back to the airport, 8 in 1 car, What a nightmare, still, That’s Rock and Roll.
 

I found out very quickly that Screaming Lord Sutch was very tight as far as money was concerned, We only received £5 a night no matter where the gig was, Scotland, Wales, or back at base in Harrow, I remember our first night, it was a double gig, the first was in Ware, the 2nd in Stevenage, Little did I know that he would use my Ford Consul car to transport equipment and 8 Men and Woman to each venue to save him hiring a van, while he travelled in his own car, This was the one and only time I allowed this to happen as we all put our foot down and got a hire van for future gigs.

The gig at Ware started to a packed hall with Screaming Lord Sutch nearly setting fire to the curtains during the song Great Balls of Fire, the music was fast and furious Rock and Roll, typical Screaming Lord Sutch, very loud, half way through the next number he was dragged off stage by the crowed and seemed to float on a sea of people and ended up out the front door, Carlo and others chassed after him thinking that he was going to be set upon by the local hard men,  John Lawson the bass player and myself continued to play on stage,


  

 
 

 

Lost Soul - Mandrake Root the theme I wrote for the P.J.Proby orchestra had a further use in Screaming Lord Sutch’s, band The Savages, as a drum solo theme for Carlo Little to play, This theme has been used without consent by Ritchie Blackmore with his band Deep Purple on there first LP Hush, and was used as there opening number for about 3 years, I worked with the Deep Purple bass player Nickie Simper on a few gigs and he told me about the situation.

See Extract from the book Black Knight, Ritchie Blackmore by Jerry Bloom, Published by Omnibus Press 2006:

After so many years as a backing musician, Blackmore was now in a siuation that he could approach with serious intent.  With Deeves Hall fully kitted out with the latest Marshall amplification, and Lord's hammond organ in place, it was a happy time for all as Simper recalls.  "We breeezed in with all the Marshall equipment.  No neighbours, so we could make as much noise as we liked; plenty of space so we did not have to get in each others way if we didn't want to.  Close enough to town that you could be in The Speakeasy in 25 minutes, I loved it."  The first tune the band worked on was  "Mandrake Root", Lord had no reason to query it's originality but Simper who was well familiar with the London music scene recognised it immediately.  "Mandrake Root" was written by a guy called by Bill Parkinson and it was called "Lost Soul" originally.  He was with (Lord) Sutch before Ritchie and they used to do that as one of there opening numbers. When Ritchie took over Carlo (Sutch drummer Carlo Little) taught him the melody note for note, sung it to him.

Since reading this book I now feel free to make this situation known.

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