Little Free Rock Newspaper Cutting: Terry Poole, Paul Varley, Lord' Eric Carboo & Peter Illingworth.

Little Free Rock    Part II          by Peter Illingworth

So  Frank was gone!      Eddie placed an advert in the Melody Maker and we auditioned a few guys, deciding on a guy called Dave, whose surname escapes me.  Dave had a Gibson Violin Bass, which was his most impressive asset.  He was semi-pro and working as a Skip Driver when he wasn't gigging with us, and for this reason we soon decided to look for someone else.   This produced Terry Poole who had previously worked with May Blitz and Bakerloo, and later went on to work with Robert Palmer and Elke Brooks in Vinegar Joe.  Through Terry we signed with the William Morris Agency in Saville Row.     Terry played very differently to Frank, in style and sound that it was inevitable that even playing the same songs we sounded different. Frank had been a bass player in the Jack Bruce mould, and Terry was a 'plectrum' player and player in a more staccato guitar-like manner. 

Following a gig at the Marquee one night with UFO, I was in bed when I heard the Group Van's engine start up.  Initially I assumed that someone had gone to get cigarettes.  Thankfully, I decided to check and found that everyone was in bed and our fully loaded van was being stolen.   Terry had a little Ford Popular car, and he, Eddie, Paul and Rod the Roadie took chase whilst I went to phone the Police.

As luck would have it, the thieves got themselves lost and were driving around the Crystal Palace area in circles. They were so disorientated, that they even stopped when Eddie flagged them down.  Eddie got into van with them whilst the others waited for the Police to arrive.   The thieves convinced Eddie that if they were turned in to the Police it would achieve nothing, but if he let them go, they would 'cross his palm' with lots of wondrous things.  Like a pratt Eddie drove them back to North London.   Meanwhile, back at the flat, we held a summit conference and decided that Eddie had to go!   That had been our livelihood disappearing up the road, and he had let them go, probably to do the same thing to others. In my book, people who steal from musicians are the lowest of the low! When Eddie returned at about 9am in the morning bearing (stolen) gifts we gave him his marching orders.  

That event, I suppose, was the beginning of the end!.  A week later Eddie arrived with his Mother for moral support and took away the van for which he'd signed the agreement, although our money had almost paid for it. I went to the Landlord to find that the rent hadn't been paid for almost a year.   Everything began to crumble.  No book-keeping had been done and our employment cards hadn't been stamped.   Had we known the situation it would have been much easier for us to disappear, leaving Eddie with the burden of the debt. In reality we had been subsidising the ailing Eddie Sandham Agency, which although having prestigious Offices in Shaftesbury Avenue, was not doing nearly enough business. I inherited all Eddie's debts.I still remember Mrs Sandham's parting shot at me,' Peter, you used to be such a nice boy!'   So he'd pulled the wool over her eyes too!

In desperation I flagged down a guy in a van who was passing the flat and asked him if he wanted to run us to some gigs, and began a friendship with a guy called Gerry Reasley, who's mother had a grocery shop next to Penge East Station.  Initially Gerry ran us to gigs, but soon started lending us his van.   Eventually we blew the engine up in Belgium on the way to the South of France, and had to get towed back to England.  St Tropez had to manage without us that time!

Our landlord was very understanding and relieved that Eddie was gone and I commenced to re-imburse him for the money we owed him, by doing painting and decorating work on his properties when we weren't gigging. He even lent me the money to buy another van.  He really was a great guy!   His wife certainly used to give him some grief about his leniency towards us.

Terry, who had not been a party to all the debts incurred, understandably decided to quit.   That's when Jon Taylor was recruited and moved into the Sydenham flat. Jon was totally different again as a bass player, being a funk motivated.  He'd worked previously with Karl Douglas (Kung Fu Fighting) and Killing Floor.

  Little Free Rock:    Jon Taylor, Peter Illingworth, Paul Varley & 'Lord' Eric Carboo

The music was changing and becoming tighter and funkier, and we became involved with Jim Carter-Fee's Revolution Agency, who had represented Steamhammer.  They were finding us work at places like The Pheasantry in Kings Road, The Penthouse Club on Hyde Park and Blaises in Queensway, which were generally Disco Venues.   Quite a change for LFR, but we were in the 70's and it was work.  We treated a regular Tuesday Night gig at the Cafe Des Artistes in Fulham as a rehearsal, but used to get people like The Glitter Band in the audience. Now because of our syncopated way of playing it was decided to augment the line-up with another instrument, which is when Nick Payn joined.  Nick played saxophone, flute and harmonica. He went on from LFR to play with Moon, Paul Young's 'Q' Tips and more recently Chas and Dave, The Midnight Horns, Lonnie Donegan's band, and is currently working in Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.  Eric was still beating hell out of the talking drums!

We started working for The Robert Stigwood Organisation, who represented the Bee Gees, Eric Clapton and Slade, and as Slade where making big moves on the charts Stigwood's were looking for a Club Band to take over their work. We used to work the Speakeasy in Margaret Street quite regularly, as well as dates with Slade on Tour.   Roger Forrester organised a recording session in a Cheepo Studio in China Town, so that Robert Stigwood could hear us and decide whether to sign us up.  These tracks appear on the Time is of no Consequence CD.  To get separation for the bass Jon actually played in another room.  It's a wonder that we recorded anything at all in those conditions. The engineer kept de-tuning Paul's drums to stop vibration, so the snare sounds like it's made of rubber, and as for myself, if I played a bum-note I was stuck with it, because we weren't allowed to do it again.  We should have called it 'Warts and all!'    Unfortunately for us, Saturday Night Fever was a mega success for the Bee Gees in America, and Robert Stigwood never did return to listen to our tapes. I was however later on allowed to buy the tapes from The Stigwood Organisation.

In an effort to improve our lot, I answered an Ad in the Melody Maker - Girl Singer requires backing band, work waiting! and got the gig.     The 'girl' in question turned out to be Sarah Gordon, who had just parted company from her previous band, Bondage.   She used to whip the guitarist with a bull whip during the set, a dubious privilege which was taken over by myself.    Pictures appeared in Nave Magazine to prove it!!

  Little Free Rock with Sarah Gordon:  L to R:  Lord 'Eric Carboo, Jon Taylor, Peter Illingworth, Sarah Gordon, Paul Varley & Nick Payn

Her Manager, Graham Lucas, had been a Trumpet Player in Mecca Dance Bands, and had connections with the Gale Agency owned by The Tremolos in Frith Street.  He was never known to turn down work, and we found ourselves working in Cabaret Clubs, where Sarah would have to develop a Shirley Bassey type persona, then the next night we'd be expected to be a Heavy Metal band in a College somewhere up country, and Sarah would have to take on a Tina Turner persona. At the Dunoon Polaris Submarine Base we had to add another when we had to play to their black club and Sarah was suddenly Aretha Franklyn, or would have liked to have been.

She did get it wrong a few times and she did the wrong act for the wrong people.   Like the time at Morecambe Bowl where we were booked for a full week's cabaret with Duane Eddy. We got the sack after the first night.    Sarah's topless act, even though it was done in strobe lighting, was unacceptable.

It all made sense one night in Northamptonshire when some guys came up and said 'What the hell are you guys doing with her!'.  They'd been big fans of our heavy rock stuff  soon after our Album was released.   They told us they'd seen her stripping at a club locally.   So when Graham didn't have her singing with us, he was managing her career as a stripper.   On the one hand we were working, on the other we weren't going to command much respect!  It was just a total bastardisation of our art and a means to an end!

Whilst playing in Samathas, an upmarket West End Disco off Regent Street, Paul was seem to be socialising with two American guys, and what we didn't know is that he was being head-hunted.   Paul came to me one day and most apologetically announced that he was leaving. He's been asked to join The Arrows, and the 'session' he'd supposedly done for them, had actually been an audition.  They went on the have hit records with Micky Most, a TV Show, and made a mint from Joan Jet's cover of their song A Touch Too Much.

Once again, Jon recruited Kevin Flanagan, an aquaintance of his as a replacement for Paul, and the balance of power in the band had shifted to Jon.  It got to the stage that when we were offered a gig I had to phone around to see if everyone was available, and I soon realised that the band was just another gig for these guys.  They were doing sessions for other people as well as working with the band and I couldn't raise any commitment from them. Their priority wasn't Little Free Rock anymore. 

One of the high spots should have been our trip to Spain for a French agent.    Just our luck that he was a lunatic!    The trip started well with a boat trip from Southampton to Bilbao on the SS Patricia but trouble started at Bilbao when they wouldn't let us take the van out of the docks because they said we didn't have a lorry permit!   The mad Frenchman taxied us to Lerado where we borrowed equipment to do a gig, then taxied us back to Bilbao to try to get the van. I travelled with him, in fear of my life, as he was falling asleep at the wheel.

When we did get the van out of the Docks, the French agent took off and we drove over to the Costa Brava. Everything went swimmingly and we played in Hotels in places like Sitges and as far down as Valencia, Gandia, until about a month later and we arrived at a Disco in Salou, near Barcelona where Mungo Jerry we supposed to be using our equipment. When we arrived at about 4pm, the manager came out and greeted us as Mungo Jerry, and we explained they would be arriving later.   We set up, and as the evening progressed, still no Mungo Jerry.  We had a meeting with the manager and agreed a fee to go on.  After our set, we came off stage to be surrounded by Solicitors and Police to be accused of working some sort of confidence trick.  The audience all wanted their money back because they'd paid to see Mungo Jerry so no-one was happy. What had happened was that the French Agent had started us gigging up and down the coast, then he'd been and sold Mungo Jerry, The Equals and Gary Glitter to the numerous clubs and discos as far afield as Majorca, getting the money in advance.  Then he disappeared.   We never saw him again!  

   Little Free Rock with Sarah Gordon in Spain.   L to R:  Nick Payn, Jon Taylor, Sarah Gordon & Peter Illingworth

Fortunately, in the first few weeks we had met an agent from Barcelona who'd told us that the Frenchman we were working with an idiot, but we weren't able to break the contract. So when he disappeared we immediately went to Barcelona and he started to provide us with work straight away.  It was different work, further inland, for Spaniards rather than for Holiday Makers in exclusive Country Clubs and Discos, but we were nearly lynched at several hotels when we returned because our Frenchman had not paid any bills when we'd stayed there during the first month of our trip.  I don't think the Spaniards had seen naked black breasts before, and they certainly were a hit. Sarah used to have to sweet talk the local Policemen so that we didn't get arrested.  Spain was rather repressed in the early seventies. The most memorable gig for us  was probably the Hexagono Open Air Disco in Valencia Gandia where we played with Mike Black from Los Bravos.  We were there for 12 days.  I recall there was no earth on the electricity, and I had to run a wire about 25 meters to the gents toilet and hook it up to a water pipe. Fortunately we still had our return tickets for the boat back to Southampton and eventually about 4 months later we arrived back in England relatively unscathed, to continue the round of Colleges and Cabaret Clubs.

   Little Free Rock in Spain.  L to R:  Nick Payn, Jon Taylor, Kevin Flanagan & Peter Illingworth

Gerry Reasely, the guy who's van we'd borrowed when Eddie took ours, had moved in to a room in the flat, along with Jon and myself.   Gerry ran a building company with his partner Dave Bartlett, and asked me to do some work for him when we weren't gigging.  It was this that finally ended my Little Free Rock career, because whilst working at a house in Purley, Surrey, I fell from a ladder and dislocated my shoulder.  At the Mayday Hospital in Croydon they strapped me up and kept me so for about 6 weeks.  Jon, immediately got another of his muso mates from Charring Cross Road to come and sit in with me.  He learnt my songs and guitar parts and within days was out gigging with the band and Sarah Gordon.  When my strapping eventually was removed, my arm muscles had dilated and I had to go for physiotherapy.   This took just long enough for me to realise that I'd had enough of sitting in the back of a Transit Van dragging up and down the motorway, and I made the decision to quit.

Little Free Rock (in name only) continued to play with Sarah Gordon until the following Summer, when they returned to Spain. Along with Sarah Gordon and augmented by two more girl singer / dancers they were very much a soul revue. They had just finished a gig, and driving through the night to the next when the Van, carrying the band, the two girls and all the equipment, ran off the road and down a cliff-side.   No-one was killed, but the equipment was smashed to matchwood, in fact Graham did call me to ask me to go over to Spain to retrieve as much of it as possible because of the Chamber of Commerce levies which were imposed in pre-Common Market days on exported equipment.   I declined because it sounded like big trouble, and it hurt too much to not be involved in Little Free Rock anymore!

And that my friends is a far as the story goes!    Paul, Frank and Peter are alive an well!   Paul is in San Franciso, Frank in deepest Hertfordshire and Peter is now an Essex boy!    I hope you've enjoyed this site and thankyou for visiting!

Back to  Little Free Rock   Part 1    by Peter Illingworth

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