John’s Children | Jet | Radio Stars | Interview | Andy Ellison

Andy Ellison is a one of a kind singer that fronted cult bands like John’s Children (with Marc Bolan), Jet (with members of Sparks and Roxy Music), and The Radio Stars.

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Ellison was always wild, often performing hanging from lighting rigs atop of speaker stacks, starting a riot on The Who’s tour of Germany and getting thrown off said tour, leaping into audiences from the stage and subsequently damaging himself in most performances… His recent autobiography Stunt Rocker is filled with true life tales that you won’t forget.

“Punk rock had been born!”

You recently wrote an autobiography titled Stunt Rocker, was it difficult to remember all the details from the past?

Andy Ellison: Not at all, most of them are seared into my memory like short bursts of film.

Did it bring any (almost) forgotten memories?

As I wrote, Stunt Rocker, these short…sometimes scary…sometimes quite sad, but mostly very exciting and often very funny, “my memory films,” played incessantly in front of me. And as you say, many forgotten memories rose to the surface.

How do you recall the early 60s when you formed The Clockwork Onions with drummer Chris Townson?

You may or may not remember that this decade was the most amazing time to take part in. Music was unbelievably exciting. I was very lucky, I went to an outward bound boarding school, where I met Chris Townson, we became lifelong friends. Some of the crazy adventures surface in my book. But the best thing is after leaving school Chris somehow found himself drumming in a local band in Leatherhead near our Box Hill school in the Surrey Hills. “Yeah man, I’m a drummer in a group!” he announced, “We’re called the Clockwork Onions…You’ve got to come! It’s this Saturday at Fetcham village hall, you know, near Leatherhead?” Before this I had no idea that Chris could play drums and I was really intrigued as to how he was now playing in a group. I definitely wanted to see him play the following Saturday. That Saturday evening I got on the train at Waterloo and headed for Surrey and the Clockwork Onions live at St Georges Hall, Fetcham. Little did I know that that night was to be the beginning of an amazing musical career that would take me through five decades, possibly six…maybe seven? The hall was quite packed as I walked in through the main entrance. The first thing I noticed about the group was how loud the drums were. I made my way to the front and waved at Chris. I was wearing my usual belt of harmonicas strapped across my chest like a gun slinger. Suddenly during the next bluesy song, the singer jumped off the stage shouting, “LEAVE MY BIRD ALONE!” A young guy fled out of the hall followed by the irate singer. After a short while the band stopped, and the hall went quiet. After a while the band started up with another bluesy number without a singer. For some reason, I don’t know why, I leapt up onto the stage and started wailing away on one of my harmonicas into the centre mike. To my own amazement I then started singing, even though I didn’t know the words. I was just making them up. At the end of the song everybody cheered, and Geoff gave me a thumbs up. I turned around and Chris was grinning as he launched into another twelve-bar song. Well that was it… I was going to be a Rock Star! I was soon rehearsing with them and gigs started coming in, even some support with The Small Faces. I changed the name to, “The Silence,” mainly because we played so loud. Chris and I were obsessed with The Who and The Small Faces. There are some great stories about Don Arden, The Small Faces gangster/manager in my book.

The band went through various name changes from The Few to The Silence. How did you get to play abroad?

After Chris and John Hewlett (our bass player), got arrested in the South of France, being jailed, then escaping and meeting up with Simon Napier Bell in St Tropez. It’s a long story… But here’s a bit… St. Tropez was buzzing, music was pounding from bars and clubs. Turning a corner at the end of the small port, into Rue General Allard, and passing a night-club called the VOOM VOOM, John was stopped in his tracks. “That sounds like The Steam Packet!” “Let’s go in.” The dimly lit club was full, with its hip, young set, grooving wildly in a mist of Gitane and Chanel. And there on the stage was Long John Baldry, and Julie Driscoll. Around the perimeter, Jetsetters were seated, downing exotic cocktails. Strolling to the bar John and his date B.B. passed one table, when a voice rang out, “Hey you! What’s a good-looking boy like you doing with a horse like that? Come on over here and sit down with us dear boy… What are you drinking?” John was quick to notice that at this gentleman’s table there were quite a few famous faces, and one he could never have dreamed of… His all-time fantasy, the real Brigitte Bardot! Over the next few cocktails, John was also to find out he was sitting with a famous English pop manager Simon Napier-Bell, manager of The Yardbirds. As the evening wore on and sipped further cocktails, John relayed the adventures he had been on for the last week. Simon gradually became seduced, listening to his crazy stories and also to hear about this great group John was in, The Silence. “Maybe you could come and see us play when you’re back in London?” he proclaimed. Then suddenly remembering, “However, my friend, Chris… He’s the drummer in The Silence. He’s still in jail in Cannes, and somehow I need to borrow some bail money to get him out.” Late into the night and many cognacs later, not only had Simon agreed to put up the bail money, but had agreed on his return to the UK, to come and see this great Surrey-based group. That night John was violently sick over the plush white leather seats of an open top Bentley… Shortly after our signing, Simon put us in Paris for a month at The Bus Palladium. Now that’s a story…but too long for here.

What kind of impact did Simon Napier-Bell have on the band which at the time changed its name to John’s Children?

I’ll give you a little bit about Simon coming to see us play once back in England. It was a beautiful and hot summer afternoon as we headed down the Dorking bypass to the foot of Box Hill, we were to play at a big summer swimming pool party. We set up the group’s equipment at the deep end of the pool, around the diving boards. I extended my mike lead, joining three leads end to end. I had been doing this for some time now as it gave me a lot more freedom to run around. I also had this idea to sing at some point from the top board. Looking around, I was taken by the wonderful situation of this open-air pool, above was the tree lined hill looming steeply up into the blue skies. By five o clock, a lot of the partygoers had arrived, and a DJ was busy spinning the latest 45s. At 6pm it was time for our first set, but still no sign of Mr. Napier-Bell. 8’o’clock and still no sign as we started the next set, the sun by now dimming to the west. Then sure enough, about ten minutes into this set, I noticed a very smart, tanned, fair haired gentleman, smoking a large cigar, stride in at the far end of the pool. “Hey! That’s him,” whispered John, as we broke into a raucous version of The Pretty Things’ ‘Rosalyn’. By the time we were nearing the end of our set and we were blasting into ‘Gloria.’ a recent hit by Them, I decided to take advantage of my extended mike lead, by climbing on some of the tables, and then up to the top diving board. Halfway through the song as I was belting out, “G-L-O-R-I-A. GLORI—AHHHH!” I decided things needed a bit more excitement, so I dived headfirst into the pool. Sparks flew from my mike lead and the PA fused. As I swam to the side, Chris, (still in his angry mood, but mind you that’s how Chris always played the drums), started kicking his drum kit into the pool, finally throwing in the cymbals. There was a stunned silence, and then whoops of delight from the bemused partygoers. Punk rock had been born! Saturday, 11th July 1966, about 8.15pm. Could have been 8.30. Oh my God… That’s it, I’ve blown it!’ I thought, climbing out of the pool and seeing no sign of the famous manager. Suddenly from behind, I felt a hand on my shoulder. “That was very interesting!” Then thrusting a hand-out to each of us, “Well, I haven’t seen anything… Quite like that before! Your name’s Andy, isn’t it? I think you should find some dry clothes… And you all deserve a drink. Do you know a good local pub?” The evening was going very well, as round after round of drinks were consumed. Simon seemed the most gregarious of companions, entertaining us with endless hilarious stories. I think by the end of the evening Simon was quite taken by our wild enthusiasm and strange sense of humour. I’m not sure if it was the eighth, ninth, or tenth brandy, or maybe our devil may care attitude that caused Simon to announce… “I’d like to manage you!” Shortly after this Simon had arranged a lot of gigs. Soon changing our name to John’s Children and asking that we all dress in white, not only on stage, but at all times. Then after we’d had a big hit in California with ‘Smashed Blocked,’ he bought a nightclub for us with the proceedings, John’s Children’s Club. He then shipped over Al Capone’s Oldsmobile, and hired the Surrey chapter of Hells Angels to escort us to gigs, as an entourage at the front and back. You have no idea of the reaction we got as we drove into towns. Times couldn’t have been more fun and crazy.

“At the time we were louder than The Who”

You were the most outrageous acts…what kind of stuff did you do in life and what was the audience reaction?

In John’s Children we caused riots on tour with The Who in Germany. Eventually being thrown off the tour after we virtually destroyed the Stadium in Ludwigshafen. This is well documented at the time and in various books. We were deported and had all our equipment confiscated. Don’t forget by now Marc Bolan was in our band as guitarist. At the time we were louder than The Who, Simon having had this wall of Jordan amplifiers shipped over from Nasa. During the act I would sometimes fight with John on stage with blood capsules, dive into the audience and run amok with pillows full of feathers, dangerous fights would occur, eventually making it hard for me to get back on stage.

News had spread across Germany about this strange band that were apparently upstaging the mighty Who. From our dressing room we could already hear the baying of an eager crowd. Our bank of Jordan’s occasionally sparked electric overloads. The lights dimmed and people rushed to the front. Chris leapt behind his kit, smashing into his drums like a demented octopus. Then the rest of us ran out onto the stage, John thundered out his massive low bass sound that shook the walls of the auditorium. Marc slashed into the first chords of ‘Jagged Time Lapse’. We knew we wouldn’t have long on stage tonight before we were pulled. So as soon as we went into the next number, John started kicking all the front row lights in. Then I somersaulted over the heads of the assembled bouncers, landed in the audience, and with pillows full of feathers, I started running. Twelve thousand Germans went berserk.

Ten years later I was in a band called Radio Stars, here I would get up to even more dangerous stunts. This was the time of punk, but we in John’s Children had been getting up to all this ten years earlier. I now had a trampoline behind the drums so that I could somersault over them at the beginning of our act, sometimes spinning into the audience. I got so many injuries on vast tours. I would climb the lighting rigs and hang upside down by my legs. The high-powered light swings down. It smashes into my leg. The pain is incredible. I try to swing back up. I’m twenty-five feet above the audience. I’m topless and hanging upside down by my legs. I’ve got a microphone in one hand and I’m trying to sing the last chorus to ‘There Are No Russians In Russia’. I’ve climbed high on to a lighting rig and hang, swinging precariously by my legs. I tuck the mike into my jeans and try to swing up again. Then another light swings down across my left arm, smoke hisses up from my flesh. I have to let go of the microphone… It falls away. Again, I try to swing up… Another red-hot light swings down. This time onto my right arm. It’s agony and I can smell burning flesh. One more time… One more time… My energy fading. The scaffolding shakes dangerously… Then I came to the realisation… There is no way I am going to get back up and swing back over the scaffold poles. Now I have no option. I am just going to have to let myself fall backwards, headfirst. I hang there upside down for a few seconds more, looking at the crowd way below me. I release my legs. I fall backwards into the audience below the back of head just missing the stage. I lay unconscious for a while. I get up and try to sing for a bit. I’m taken to hospital once again, In fact this time I’ve broken my back. More exciting accidents in my book.

“We signed to Track Records, alongside Jimi Hendrix and The Who”

Would you like to discuss the making of the first three singles and how did that get you to Track Records?

Our first single ‘Smashed Blocked’ was banned by the BBC, as was our album ‘Orgasm’. ‘Smashed Blocked’ has a spiralling intro, very psychedelic, with a “voice over” from me. Our second single ‘But She’s Mine,’ has Jeff Beck, the legendary guitarist playing on it, he was another artist that Simon was managing. I think the other single was, ‘Come and Play With Me In The Garden’. A story based on the film, ‘Night Must Fall’, with Albert Finney. Then Marc Bolan joined us and he wrote, ‘Desdemona’. Kit Lambert, who managed The Who and who had started Track Records, came to see us play. Afterwards Kit spoke with Simon, and said that if we lost our tall guitarist, Geoff McLelland, and got another smaller guitarist, (I think he was referring to the fact that bands at that time were all of a similar height, like The Small Faces), then he would sign us to his new record label. Simon was also managing a folk singer by the name of Marc Feld, soon to be Marc Bolan. It wasn’t long before he was in our band. But this was a traumatic period, having to lose our faithful guitarist, Geoff, who had started the band. We signed to Track Records, alongside Jimi Hendrix and The Who.

What’s the story behind your debut album, that originally should be named ‘Orgasm’. What were the circumstances around it?

Well it remained with that title ‘Orgasm,’ but it was banned everywhere. Only rereleased by Cherry Red Records, some forty years later. Initially, Simon had this idea of a live record, so we went into Advision Studios in Bond Street, where we played our gig set, live in the studio. Afterwards we all listened to it and thought it sounded good. But Simon had other ideas. The next day I was the only one invited back to Advision. I was wondering why it was just me. Simon played back the previous day’s recording. But now it had a stadium full of screaming girls over all our songs. Simon had been to EMI and purchased the sound of the mass hysteria at The Beatles concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Now and again girls screaming for “John.” The whole thing sounded like a manic concert. “Right Andy, this is what I want you to do. Go into the vocal booth and between tracks and over the screaming, ad lib, as though you were on stage.” Obligingly I made it sound like a real stadium concert, with Simon introducing us at the beginning, over the screaming crowd. It was released on White Whale Records in America, but was quickly banned after the Daughters of The Revolution, a religious sect, caused such a stir, burning our records, et cetera because of the title. ‘Orgasm,’ being the orgasmic state of hysteria apparently that we hadn’t really instigated….

How do you see your career as a member of Jet and Radio Stars? What are some of your favourite moments from that period of time?

I’m just here to have as much fun as possible and I never know what will happen next on stage. It all happens just by chance. But I feel free and a bit mad…which is good. One of my favourite moments was playing at the Apollo in Glasgow, it has the highest stage with an orchestra pit twenty feet below, with a smaller hydraulic platform immediately in front, which was used to take up various equipment from the deep orchestra pit below. During our soundcheck the platform had been lowered to about three feet below the main stage. This platform, I thought at the time, was a permanent fixture. Also a great rostrum, from which I could leap down on to, from time to time. At 8pm the lights dimmed, I leapt over the drum kit, and Jet blasted into the first number.

I ripped my shirt off and threw it down to the audience below. Halfway through the first song, I thought it would look good if I leapt into the darkened void and down onto the smaller stage just below and sang from there. It was during this somewhat now extended journey down, that I realised the hydraulic platform had been lowered back down some fifteen feet into the orchestra pit, way below. Now in the dark, bruised and slightly bemused, my mike still in hand (the lead had snapped out in the fall), I crawled to a small door to the left. The rest of the band, wondering why I hadn’t climbed back on the stage, continued playing the first verse of the song. Picking myself up, I raced down a long corridor assuming there was a quick way back to the stage. Unfortunately I’d now got into a labyrinth of tunnels. I convinced myself that if I continued upwards I would eventually arrive backstage. Instead, as I ran faster and further, the noise of the crowd and the band got quieter. Eventually the maze of corridors came to a stop, I pushed open the door in front of me and leapt through. The door slammed behind me and to my shock I found myself in a darkened alley somewhere at the back of the venue, I was now confronted by a couple of bemused drunks, staring at the topless man holding a microphone. I sped past them and rounded to the front of the building. There were still a few punters going in, up the steps. Unbelievably, I could still hear the rest of the band banging away at the first verse. I had to get back in, but I now looked like a crazed madman, bare top, kneepads, mike in hand and my arms and chest covered in dirt. Running up the steps and pushing past some stragglers buying tickets, I entered the large foyer. Hastening towards a large heavily tattooed security guard, I tried to explain my predicament. He was not impressed and obviously thought I was some nutter on drugs. Grabbing me, he proceeded to march me back outside. Swinging around, I spun out of his grasp and leapt back through the doors into the auditorium followed by some angry bouncers. I ran down the centre aisle to the roar of the crowd, climbed the scaffolding to the left, supporting the PA, and swung out onto the stage.

Is there any unreleased material by John’s Children or any of the discussed bands?

I think there may be a couple of John’s Children tracks in tins somewhere. Possibly ‘Third Degree’ and ‘Menthol Dan’. There’s also a film of us on tour with The Who in 1967. The film was shot by a couple of Americans for Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. Apparently it’s in a film box with, John’s Children, written on it. The last we heard it’s in a church, owned by The Who. This is where they store hundreds, possibly thousands of boxes of film, don’t forget Lambert and Stamp were film makers before they managed The Who, their initial intention had been to make a film about an English 60’s band, they then decided they wanted to manage The Who instead, but always filmed everything. So far we’ve never managed to get permission to find the elusive film.

Looking back, what was the highlight of your time in the band? Which songs are you most proud of? Where and when was your most memorable gig?

Every night was a highlight, so many on the massive tour with Eddie and The Hot Rods and Squeeze in 1977. But possibly the last night on The Who tour was just too crazy for words. I’m proud of ‘Cluster Bombs’ from my recently released CD and vinyl. I love ‘Sitting in the Rain’ and ‘It’s All Over’, on The Radio Stars, ‘Holiday’ album. Also off Radio Stars new album ‘Broadcasting To The Nation’. I’m pleased with ‘Back in Your Town’. Very soon I have a new album coming out ‘Let’s Wake up the Neighbours,’ with 16 new tracks. On this new album I’m very proud of ‘Was He Pushed,’ ‘Blister Bird,’ ‘Losing all My Friends,’ ‘When I was Young,’ ‘Platform,’ ‘Let’s Wake Up The Neighbours,’ and ‘Rich Man In A Rocket’.

What currently occupies your life?

Sex and Statins and Rock and Roll.

Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.

Whangdepootenawah….

Klemen Breznikar

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Headline photo: Andy Ellison with Radio Stars | Credit: Andy Ellison’s personal archive

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