Fact #188865
When:
Short story:
The Yardbirds, including Eric Clapton, pay a visit to the home of British labour peer Lord Ted Willis, who had recently described pop music as "a cheap candyfloss substitute for culture." They play for him in his garden in Shepherd’s Green, Chislehurst, Kent, England, UK, Europe.
Full article:
Greg Tesser (publicist) : Lord Ted Willis, a Labour peer, but probably more famous as the creator of TV mega-hit series Dixon of Dock Green, had got up in the House of Lords and denounced the music of such bands as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones as 'Candyfloss Culture'.
Giorgio Gomelsky (manager, The Yardbirds] : In Parliament he'd made a sweeping attack against youth culture. So we decided to surprise him. We went outside his house in the suburbs of London and set up The Yardbirds, with a generator, and started playing really loud music. On a Sunday, when he was resting. He came out and talked to us.
Greg Tesser : It wouldn't last five minutes, he intimated. Now, through my father, I knew Lord Ted. In fact I attended his ennoblement party at the Cafe Royal. So, my plan was to get The Yardbirds down to his house in Kent and get them to do their Marquee (London club) act in his garden, with all the media in attendance.
Sally Willis (daughter of Lord Willis) : I thought it was going to be the usual very boring day, and suddenly there came a knock at the door. Dad wanted to turn everyone away, as he felt it was just a stunt – which we all knew it was – but I begged him to let the band and their entourage in.
The Yardbirds performed about three songs in our garden, and then a neighbour called the police, complaining about all the noise. The police turned up, but because dad was Lord Willis, and had created Dixon Of Dock Green, they let it go on for a little while before it had to stop.
Greg Tesser : Eric Clapton was very reserved in those days. He dressed himself in Ivy League clothes, had a crew cut and dug Bob Dylan. His ethos was that the music came first – the blues, that is – and he wasn’t bothered about Top Of The Pops or the charts. He wasn’t a great talker in those days but, having said that, he was the only one of the band to ask for a tour of the Willis home. Escorted by Lady Willis, Clapton seemed genuinely interested in all the fixtures and fittings, and a visit to the Willis bed chamber gave the lady of the house the opportunity in years to come to boast that she had “had Eric Clapton in my bedroom.
The band’s lead singer, Keith Relf, was a nice guy,” Tesser says. “He was very intense looking, and slight of build. He had only one lung, and on occasions would collapse on stage. Obviously traumatic moments for him, but they also affected me in a big way, as I was required to contact the press about his condition. It was something I hated, as I felt it was cashing-in on his fragile health.
He (Lord ted Willis) enjoyed a friendly, if one-sided, dialogue with Giorgio. Giorgio revelled in the whole stunt, milking it for all it was worth, while at the same time explaining to Ted the whole ethos and meaning of the blues. I don’t know what they talked about but I’m sure Giorgio must have said ‘knockout’ during their conversation – in those days everything was a ‘knockout’ to him.
(Source : Classic Rock interview, unknown date)
Greg Tesser : The stunt worked like a dream, and the band made all the papers big-time, even The Daily Telegraph! Their manager Giorgio Gomelsky was so chuffed with my stunt that he said to me I should go out on my own, which I did, taking The Yardbirds, Georgie Fame and Zoot Money with me.
(Source : Marquee club website interview)
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Giorgio Gomelsky (manager, The Yardbirds] : In Parliament he'd made a sweeping attack against youth culture. So we decided to surprise him. We went outside his house in the suburbs of London and set up The Yardbirds, with a generator, and started playing really loud music. On a Sunday, when he was resting. He came out and talked to us.
Greg Tesser : It wouldn't last five minutes, he intimated. Now, through my father, I knew Lord Ted. In fact I attended his ennoblement party at the Cafe Royal. So, my plan was to get The Yardbirds down to his house in Kent and get them to do their Marquee (London club) act in his garden, with all the media in attendance.
Sally Willis (daughter of Lord Willis) : I thought it was going to be the usual very boring day, and suddenly there came a knock at the door. Dad wanted to turn everyone away, as he felt it was just a stunt – which we all knew it was – but I begged him to let the band and their entourage in.
The Yardbirds performed about three songs in our garden, and then a neighbour called the police, complaining about all the noise. The police turned up, but because dad was Lord Willis, and had created Dixon Of Dock Green, they let it go on for a little while before it had to stop.
Greg Tesser : Eric Clapton was very reserved in those days. He dressed himself in Ivy League clothes, had a crew cut and dug Bob Dylan. His ethos was that the music came first – the blues, that is – and he wasn’t bothered about Top Of The Pops or the charts. He wasn’t a great talker in those days but, having said that, he was the only one of the band to ask for a tour of the Willis home. Escorted by Lady Willis, Clapton seemed genuinely interested in all the fixtures and fittings, and a visit to the Willis bed chamber gave the lady of the house the opportunity in years to come to boast that she had “had Eric Clapton in my bedroom.
The band’s lead singer, Keith Relf, was a nice guy,” Tesser says. “He was very intense looking, and slight of build. He had only one lung, and on occasions would collapse on stage. Obviously traumatic moments for him, but they also affected me in a big way, as I was required to contact the press about his condition. It was something I hated, as I felt it was cashing-in on his fragile health.
He (Lord ted Willis) enjoyed a friendly, if one-sided, dialogue with Giorgio. Giorgio revelled in the whole stunt, milking it for all it was worth, while at the same time explaining to Ted the whole ethos and meaning of the blues. I don’t know what they talked about but I’m sure Giorgio must have said ‘knockout’ during their conversation – in those days everything was a ‘knockout’ to him.
(Source : Classic Rock interview, unknown date)
Greg Tesser : The stunt worked like a dream, and the band made all the papers big-time, even The Daily Telegraph! Their manager Giorgio Gomelsky was so chuffed with my stunt that he said to me I should go out on my own, which I did, taking The Yardbirds, Georgie Fame and Zoot Money with me.
(Source : Marquee club website interview)