The Savages were down to do a single for Joe Meek without David - who put me forward as singer. Joe pushed a contract under my nose, and, very reluctantly, let me recruit my own backing band, The Thrills, for this ballad 'I've Seen Such Things'. Originally it was titled 'Has Anyone', and penned by Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness from Manfred Mann.
The B-side, 'She's Too Way Out', has been on several compilation albums, and been written about for capturing a bunch of lads, rocking out the way they wanted. After we'd done the backing track - lifted from a chord sequence on a Cliff Bennett track - I jotted down ideas for the lyrics and went to lunch. When I got back, Joe had completed them. To promote the A-side, we did a Thank Your Lucky Stars, and through Eleanor Bron, I was introduced to Vicki Wickham, producer of Ready Steady Go, but she decided that my image - jet black quiff, mohair suit and son - was too retrogressive for the show.
The B-
Six months later, I was back in London with Carlo Little, The Savages' drummer, in Circles - who had been signed to Island for a one-shot 45, 'Take Your Time', produced by Guy Stevens. By the end of 1966, however, Carlo and I were Savages again for five weeks in Scandanavia. when we got back, Ritchie Blackmore was recruited as we turned into Lord Caesar Sutch and the Roman Empier, and he, Carlo and myself cleared off to Germany for a tour as Neil Christian's Crusaders. Ritchie and I talked vaguely about forming our own band. Among the drummers we considered was Ian Paice. That was the beginning of Deep Purple, but Robert Stigwood had expressed interest in signing me on my own, and sent the air fare to London to his Hamburg office.
Stigwood was trying to sort out a deal for me, but I was in a pub down Denmark Street with Alex Harvey, when the phone rang. "Is there a bass player in there?" That's how I joined Rupert's People with Adrian Gurvitz on guitar, John Trout - later keyboards with Renaissance - and my flatmate Johnny Banks, once the Merseybeats drummer. A single, 'Reflections Of Charlie Brown', had been recorded already as a ripp-off of 'A Whiter Shade OfPale, and we bubbled under the Top Forty for three weeks, but Rupert's People only lasted for three or four gigs. We were also accompanying people such as crispian St Peters. I also spent six months with Carl Douglas of 'Kung Fu Fighting' fame.
Next up was another three-piece called Storm, but we ended up with Billy Fury for a year before going out to Germany and coming back to likewise serve Bob and Earl. Instead of getting on with what we should have been doing, we made money as journeymen doing backing work.
Stigwood was trying to sort out a deal for me, but I was in a pub down Denmark Street with Alex Harvey, when the phone rang. "Is there a bass player in there?" That's how I joined Rupert's People with Adrian Gurvitz on guitar, John Trout -
Next up was another three-
