Fact #111702
When:
Short story:
The Zombies come to the end of a chaotic and terrifying Asian tour with a gig at The El Diarado Club, Luzon, Philippines, after which they fly home to London, UK.Full article:
Paul Atkinson (The Zombies) : In Hong Kong, we had plotted with (local Decca Records executive) Cheng and another promoter to come back to the Philippines and do another two weeks of shows around the islands. We came in, and we played in another part of Luzon - we played there, flew to the next island, opened up the morning paper and the club we'd played at the night before had burned down. Played a club that night, next day it burned down.
(Source : http://aln3.albumlinernotes.com/Zombies_Chronology_66-68.html)
Chris White (bassist, songwriter, The Zombies) : We didn't really believe anyone would do what followed. We played in at least two clubs on the golden mile of Manila - it looked like Las Vegas. They had like a pyramid club and we played in there and within 48 hours both clubs had burnt down. I'm not kidding, and there were threats and we flew down to the southern islands and then we came back and it was Easter so we were stuck there because they are so ultra-Catholic that they had these parades with flagellants that whip themselves and people who are actually crucified to pay penance. Frightening. We had the phone tapped and everything like that.
Also, the tax clearance office was closed over Easter, you see, so we were stuck in this hotel with oil drillers who were all on the same thing - couldn't get out. Manilla was a rest and recreation place for Vietnam at the time and so there were loads of Americans and we were just stuck in the hotel waiting for clearance to come back to London and find our manager Tito Burns.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, for Mojo magazine)
Paul Atkinson : We were scared, but Cheng said Araneta won't harm you, he's gonna get the promoters', so we did our two weeks and just ran to the airport and flew back to London.
I didn't even have time to go to the bank, so I had a Qantas airline bag stuffed full of peso notes. I thought 'Shit, I've got all this money, and it's gonna get confiscated', because I knew you weren't supposed to bring it outside of the Philippines. We get to Heathrow, and customs say 'Rock band eh? OK, open everything up.' The usual score. So I'm trying to hide my airline bag, and they said 'What's this?' I explained that it was actually money we'd earned, it was our income. 'Really, and you're paying it in here? That's good, that's export income for England. Congratulations.' So I went to my bank in St Albans and counted out these thousands of pounds worth of peso notes; it was very funny. We got away with it, but that was the end of the road for Tito Burns. He was pissed off at Araneta for revealing the deal he made with him. But apparently they were doing it a lot with English and American bands who played in the Philippines, many were cheated that way.
(Source : http://aln3.albumlinernotes.com/Zombies_Chronology_66-68.html)
Chris White : I remember we phoned Tito Burns and said that we were stuck there, because we had two other gigs as soon as we got back, and Tito said, "Oh I'll deal with it," but later we found out he hadn't told them that we weren't coming back, so we were blamed for it. So then Tito said, "Boys, I want you to find a manager. Say I've got religion." We should have seen at that point he was feeling guilty about ripping everyone off, because he was also Dusty Springfield's and The Searchers' manager as well.
So then we wanted to do our own album and that's how Odessey and Oracle happened, and in the making of that the others were getting restless, because we hadn't had any success and we came back from the Philippines having earned
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(Source : http://aln3.albumlinernotes.com/Zombies_Chronology_66-68.html)
Chris White (bassist, songwriter, The Zombies) : We didn't really believe anyone would do what followed. We played in at least two clubs on the golden mile of Manila - it looked like Las Vegas. They had like a pyramid club and we played in there and within 48 hours both clubs had burnt down. I'm not kidding, and there were threats and we flew down to the southern islands and then we came back and it was Easter so we were stuck there because they are so ultra-Catholic that they had these parades with flagellants that whip themselves and people who are actually crucified to pay penance. Frightening. We had the phone tapped and everything like that.
Also, the tax clearance office was closed over Easter, you see, so we were stuck in this hotel with oil drillers who were all on the same thing - couldn't get out. Manilla was a rest and recreation place for Vietnam at the time and so there were loads of Americans and we were just stuck in the hotel waiting for clearance to come back to London and find our manager Tito Burns.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, for Mojo magazine)
Paul Atkinson : We were scared, but Cheng said Araneta won't harm you, he's gonna get the promoters', so we did our two weeks and just ran to the airport and flew back to London.
I didn't even have time to go to the bank, so I had a Qantas airline bag stuffed full of peso notes. I thought 'Shit, I've got all this money, and it's gonna get confiscated', because I knew you weren't supposed to bring it outside of the Philippines. We get to Heathrow, and customs say 'Rock band eh? OK, open everything up.' The usual score. So I'm trying to hide my airline bag, and they said 'What's this?' I explained that it was actually money we'd earned, it was our income. 'Really, and you're paying it in here? That's good, that's export income for England. Congratulations.' So I went to my bank in St Albans and counted out these thousands of pounds worth of peso notes; it was very funny. We got away with it, but that was the end of the road for Tito Burns. He was pissed off at Araneta for revealing the deal he made with him. But apparently they were doing it a lot with English and American bands who played in the Philippines, many were cheated that way.
(Source : http://aln3.albumlinernotes.com/Zombies_Chronology_66-68.html)
Chris White : I remember we phoned Tito Burns and said that we were stuck there, because we had two other gigs as soon as we got back, and Tito said, "Oh I'll deal with it," but later we found out he hadn't told them that we weren't coming back, so we were blamed for it. So then Tito said, "Boys, I want you to find a manager. Say I've got religion." We should have seen at that point he was feeling guilty about ripping everyone off, because he was also Dusty Springfield's and The Searchers' manager as well.
So then we wanted to do our own album and that's how Odessey and Oracle happened, and in the making of that the others were getting restless, because we hadn't had any success and we came back from the Philippines having earned