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Q: Did Rory Storm & the Hurricanes make any recordings while
Ringo was a member of the group?
Not officially. By the time I'd arranged for them to record with
Oriole, Ringo had long left. Many years later, after Rory's death,
I was chatting to Rory's sister Iris. During the conversation she
mentioned that among the possessions left to her she had a tape
recorder which was a full performance of Rory Storm & the Hurricanes
on stage at the Cavern with Ringo on drums. Imagine the excitement
I felt! I immediately got onto my friends at Abbey Road Studios
and they were equally excited and said that no matter how primitive
the tapes may be they had the technology to improve them and were
looking forward to me delivering the tapes and an album could be
released. I got back to Iris who said she'd got the tapes and played
them. They began with Bob Wooler announcing the 'Golden Boy' Rory
Storm….and then a Cliff Richard programme from the radio took
up the rest of the tape. Apparently, Rory's mother had used the
tape to record Cliff Richard on the radio, wiping out the Cavern
performance we'd all been longing to hear!
Q: What effect did Ringo's sudden departure have on Rory Storm
& the Hurricanes, both professionally and personally? Were there
any hard feelings on their end?
In some ways I think the heart went out of them. They had a series
of great drummers ranging from Gibson Kemp to Aynsley Dunbar, but
things never seemed to click. Initially there may have been a sense
of betrayal because Ringo left them in the lurch during their Butlin's
season, leaving immediately without fulfilling his obligation to
complete the Butlin's booking. They had to get someone at the camp
to sit in for him. I wrote about it in a feature in Mersey Beat
which suggested 'The Ghost Of Ringo Still Haunts This Group.' Ringo,
of course, arranged for Brian Epstein to record them, but I have
the feeling that Rory didn't have all that much ambition outside
of Liverpool.
Q: To those of us outside Liverpool, and Great Britain as well,
Rory Storm is basically known for his association with Ringo Starr,
but he seems to fade from the history pages after Ringo left the
group. Did he stay active in the Liverpool music scene until his
death in 1972 and what became of the other members of the Hurricanes?
Rory was actually a disc jockey in Amsterdam when he heard of his
father's death and returned to Liverpool. It always amazed me that
someone which such an impediment as a noticeable stammer could be
a D.J. Also, his stammer completely disappeared when he sang. There
had been various member changes in Rory Storm & the Hurricanes
in the years before he went to Amsterdam, but the heart seemed to
have gone out of the group with the loss of Ringo and the death
of Ty Brien.
Q: When the Beatles moved to London, how much contact did you
have with them?
 A
social relationship still existed. Initially when I moved to London
I concentrated on journalism with columns and articles in Weekend
magazine, Marilyn, Valentine, Music Now, Record Mirror and Record
Retailer. Then I was asked to take over publicity for the Kinks,
the Hollies, the Pink Floyd etc. Similar to our life in Liverpool,
Virginia and I spent our time 24/7 with the groups, attending the
weekly TV shows, going to all the gigs and festivals. Bobby Darin
invited us to move into the house he rented in London with him -
he even helped me to write a song!, we'd accompany Keith Moon to
drinking clubs, get up to mischief with Peter Noone (he'd buy stink
bombs and things at a magician's shop and throw them into crowded
pubs and run away!), I'd take the Pink Floyd to the BBC Radiophonics
workshop, was continually challenged to wrist wrestling by Allan
Clarke of the Hollies and so on.
I'd be with the Beatles and Stones regularly at the Scotch of St
James club and then I became pr for the main London in-clubs frequented
by the Beatles and other groups - Tiles, Blaises, the Revolution
and the Speakeasy. We'd be at parties for the Bee Gees at their
homes, attend Savile Theatre concerts and so on. When Apple began,
I'd be invited there regularly to listen to their new releases in
advance and to spend time with Derek Taylor in the press room (heavy
smell of pot and lots of lager to drink!). I brought the Beach Boys
around to Apple and also my former pen pal the science-fiction writer
Mike Moorcock and the Beatles gave him £1000 to help him publish
his New Worlds magazine. It was at the Apple party that John introduced
me to Yoko and John often gave Virginia and me a lift from the Speakeasy
to the Bag O' Nails club. We were sitting at the Bag O' Nails on
the next table to Paul one night. Paul told Virginia he'd just returned
from Liverpool where he'd visited Rory Storm's house and saw a picture
of Virginia and Iris together. Then Chas Chandler came up and introduced
Paul to Linda.
However, there was so much to do in those days, traveling to the
continent and America with the various bands I became press officer
for and going around to the gigs with the artists I represented,
who included Procol Harum, Ten Years After, Jethro Tull, Christine
Perfect, David Bowie, Free, the Beach Boys, Mott the Hoople, the
Pretty Things, Alexis Korner, Led Zeppelin, Supertramp, Nazareth
and numerous others. Then, following the break-up of the Beatles,
I continued as pr and other acts included Suzi Quatro, Hot Chocolate
and Kim Wilde.
I'd seen John right up to the time he left for America, saw George
for the last time at the Speakeasy, Ringo at Tramps and Paul at
a couple of his Buddy Holly luncheons.
Q: The circumstances of Pete Best's ousting from the Beatles
differ widely depending on who is telling the story. Pete's supporters
say he was fired because the others were jealous of his popularity,
especially with the girls. The other side says he was not a very
good drummer. Is the truth somewhere in the middle or were there
additional factors at play?
 The
Beatles were a fantastic group when Pete was with them. During those
two years the Beatles matured and developed and John was to say
that they were at their best in Liverpool and Hamburg - well, that
was when Pete was a member. At times I felt that John got on better
with Pete than with the others - in so far as having a drink and
a laugh were concerned, not regarding his musical collaborations
with Paul.
It's a fact that in Liverpool Pete was the most popular member
of the group. There is much evidence to substantiate this. Take
the major article on the Beatles which Bob Wooler wrote for Mersey
Beat, for instance. The only Beatle mentioned by name was Pete Best,
who Bob called 'mean, moody and magnificent.' Girls used to sleep
in his garden just to be near him - they didn't act that way with
the other members. Wooler regarded him as so popular that he suggested
that the Beatles should have Pete in the front with the others behind
him. This was unheard of - but they took his advice. However, when
it happened, the girls went berserk and dragged Pete off the stage,
so they couldn't do it again. This never happened with any of the
others. On their return from Hamburg Pete had developed 'the atom
beat', a dynamic style of playing which helped to establish the
Beatles sound - and which was copied by other Liverpool drummers.
 When
they went down for their EMI audition, George Martin suggested that
for the actual recording session which would take place at another
date, he'd like to use a session drummer.
This was the excuse used to get rid of him. When Mona Best phoned
him about it, George Martin told her, "I never suggested Pete
Best should go. All I said was that for the purposes of the Beatles'
first record I would rather use a session man. I never thought Brian
Epstein would let him go. He seemed to be the most saleable commodity
as far as looks went. It was a surprise when I learned they had
dropped Pete." When Ringo went down to record, he was deemed
unsatisfactory and session man Andy White was hired - I don't know
why so many writers seem to ignore this. Over the years, due to
hindsight perhaps, George Martin has changed his story, probably
influenced by the myths.
Over the years Pete was disparaged many times. It was bad enough
that he was summarily sacked without the slightest compensation
after two years in which he was part of establishing the Beatles
name, reputation and music (this wouldn't happen today), but the
Beatles tried to explain why they sacked him by various innuendos
(except for John who maintained that the sacking of Pete was a shameful
act). They said that he was always off sick. In fact, during the
two years he only missed three gigs because of genuine illness -
and informed them in advance each time. There was the suggestion
that he wouldn't conform with the moptop hairstyle - but he was
never asked to and Astrid said she didn't want to style Pete's hair
anyway because it was too curly to suit a moptop. Ringo Starr stated
in a Playboy interview that Pete took drugs - this was completely
untrue, he was the only one who refused to take Preludin in Hamburg.
Pete rightly sued and won his case. Generally, the excuse that he
wasn't a good enough drummer, which had been used over the years,
was finally denied by Paul in his 'Wingspan' interview a few years
ago.
Q: I once heard Klaus Voorman say that when he heard the Beatles'
first record, he was very disappointed because it didn't capture
what they were really like on stage. Do you think they deliberately
toned down the energy they showed on stage during their early years
to make themselves marketable to a wider audience?
No. There were other brilliant Mersey bands that were magic on
stage but their talent didn't seem to translate to recordings. It
was just a matter of learning the difference between stage work
and studio work - look how the Beatles recordings matured during
their 'studio years.'
 The
main example is what happened with Pete Best. A&R (artistes
and repertoire) managers in London often hired session drummers
for recording. This happened throughout the Sixties. When the Beatles
recorded their first audition for Parlophone, George Martin explained
that he would like to have a session drummer because a stage sound
was different to a studio sound, that although it didn't matter
with singers and guitarists, in the case of drummers they liked
a specific technique in the studio. He explained that this was no
reflection on Pete, just the fact that session drummers were more
used to what was required in a studio. George and Paul used this
to get rid of Pete. Yet when Ringo came down to record, George Martin,
Ron Richards and even Paul McCartney weren't happy with Ringo, which
was why Andy White was hired as session drummer for their first
record.
The Beatles didn't specifically tone down their stage energy, they
were directed in the studio by George Martin to record in a way
standard to recording studio techniques…but the energy was
still there, just listen to John on 'Twist and Shout.'
For their Decca audition, they'd listened to what Epstein had advised
- and were to regret it. John later told him not to interfere with
their music, just to concentrate on the percentages. So when they
recorded their first album 'Please Please' me they tried to replicate
their stage act.
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