Fact #144742

Barry Gibb (Bee Gees) : The most vivid scene, for me, was this secret underground club called The Speakeasy. The only people who knew of or got into it were the top end of British pop - The Beatles, The Stones, The Who. It was set like a '20s funeral parlour; a coffin door would open, and suddenly there were the Stones and Beatles sitting round.

I met Pete Townshend and John Lennon there … we'd just had our first hit, we were coming up to Massachusetts, USA. It was just on the eve of Massachusetts, USA. Massachusetts was number 22 in the British Top 50. I remember because David Shaw, the Financial Director from RSO was in the club, in The Speakeasy, that night.

It was a fantastic place, underground, the coffin at the front door, the swinging wall and once you went in there it was ... like a wall that swung round, with the coffin, so you would go round and the coffin and everything would disappear and you'd suddenly be underground and there'd be - well, the only thing I can describe is just that we were swallowed by this late 60's Mersey boom. A place they had discovered as a watering hole, where no-one would mess with them, because (in public) no-one would ever leave them alone. You had The Stones, or The Beatles, and they'd all be together and everyone had that much in common. I don't see much of that today.

Robin And Maurice will tell you the same thing that artists actually did call each other, messed around together, got drunk together and played each others' albums to each other.

There were some who got more drunk than others but you would, in fact, go to a club and play your rival band your new album. They would bring their album and play it to you so there would be times like that where the Stones would play The Beatles their album or The Beatles would play the Stones their new album and one side or the other would get wiped out and it was a very friendly, competitive, atmosphere.

So, I met Pete Townsend there, and he introduced me to John Lennon, who was actually wearing the Sgt Pepper clothes. I don't think John knew who he was being introduced to. He was talking to somebody else and he went like that and shook my hand, and went "How ya doing?" and carried on talking.

I don't think he was being rude, just pre-occupied. Pete certainly didn't behave as if John was likely to be rude. He kept saying, "John … John … John, I want you to meet this kid," but it didn't really go any further.

Then the Stax thing happened. Otis Redding started singing at The Speakeasy on a regular basis and that whole soul thing started to pervade. A Whiter Shade of Pale was the beginning, I think, of the whole Stax movement, even on The Beatles, it moved in because you can hear it with Billy Preston and people like that.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, February 9, 2001)

Jan Olofsson (rock photographer) : I spent most of the Sixties taking photographs of show business personalities and doubled up doing some PR work for artists like John Leyton, Manfred Mann and Heinz. I also used to out drinking a lot with Viv Prince, and Brian Jones and his Swedish girlfriend, Anna Wholin.

I got on well with all the up-and-coming stars and we used to mix socially at London clubs like The Bag O'Nails, Speakeasy and Revolution, and pubs like De Hems. I also went to lots of private parties.

My personal favourites were those held at The Lotus House in Edgware Road, a great Chinese restaurant owned by Mr Koon. In fact the promoter, Arthur Howes, held a lot of parties for The Beatles there. (Source : http://www.forces.org/writers/james/files/olof.htm)