Fact #156683
When:
Short story:
Paul McCartney holds auditions at the Albery Theatre, St. Martin's Lane, London, England, UK, Europe, to find a new drummer for Wings. The 49 drummers who apply include Mitch Mitchell, formerly with The Jimi Hendrix Experience, but after narrowing the field down to five drummers, the job goes to the less well-known Geoff Britton. Full article:
Geoff Britton : Clifford Davis, who managed Fleetwood Mac, told me that McCartney was looking for a drummer for Wings. I called MPL and was told the audition list was closed but I managed to talk them into giving me a listen.
(Source : The Beatles Off The Record 2 by Keith Badman)
Geoff Britton : You should have seen the people there. It was like a Who's Who of the music industry. I was a bit disappointed actually because I thought it would be a chance to play with McCartney, but they'd hired session men instead. Wings just sat out in front, in the audience bit of this theatre, and watched.
I wasn't really nervous. I'm never nervous, although I might be a bit apprehensive. We had to play about four numbers - some of it quite advanced stuff for an ordinary rock and roll drummer. Anyway, I got up there and did my stuff.
(Source : Interview in Disc music newspaper)
Denny Laine (Wings) : Mitch was on a head trip that day. Maybe he resented the fact that we'd asked him to audition and he wasn't getting the star treatment, which in some ways I feel a bit guilty for. Anyway, the one guy that shone at the end of the day was Geoff, and that's the truth of it.
(Source : not known)
Geoff Britton : A few days later I got this phone call and they said l was on the short-list of five, and this time it would be Paul and the group playing. That time l had a 20 percent chance, yet I felt it was more hopeless than ever.
I met Paul and the group and they were really nice. Anyway, after that I got a phone call saying they'd narrowed it down to two geezers. Each of us spent a whole day with the group and had dinner with them. Then one day... the phone rang. It was Paul. He said, 'Well, we've decided,' and he was mucking about, geeing me up. In the end I said, 'Well, who's it gonna be?' and he said, 'You got the job.'
(Source : Interview in Disc music newspaper)
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(Source : The Beatles Off The Record 2 by Keith Badman)
Geoff Britton : You should have seen the people there. It was like a Who's Who of the music industry. I was a bit disappointed actually because I thought it would be a chance to play with McCartney, but they'd hired session men instead. Wings just sat out in front, in the audience bit of this theatre, and watched.
I wasn't really nervous. I'm never nervous, although I might be a bit apprehensive. We had to play about four numbers - some of it quite advanced stuff for an ordinary rock and roll drummer. Anyway, I got up there and did my stuff.
(Source : Interview in Disc music newspaper)
Denny Laine (Wings) : Mitch was on a head trip that day. Maybe he resented the fact that we'd asked him to audition and he wasn't getting the star treatment, which in some ways I feel a bit guilty for. Anyway, the one guy that shone at the end of the day was Geoff, and that's the truth of it.
(Source : not known)
Geoff Britton : A few days later I got this phone call and they said l was on the short-list of five, and this time it would be Paul and the group playing. That time l had a 20 percent chance, yet I felt it was more hopeless than ever.
I met Paul and the group and they were really nice. Anyway, after that I got a phone call saying they'd narrowed it down to two geezers. Each of us spent a whole day with the group and had dinner with them. Then one day... the phone rang. It was Paul. He said, 'Well, we've decided,' and he was mucking about, geeing me up. In the end I said, 'Well, who's it gonna be?' and he said, 'You got the job.'
(Source : Interview in Disc music newspaper)