Black Cat Bones '67 - Left to right: Stuart Brookes (bass guitar), Derek Brookes (rhythm guitar), Paul Tiller (lead vocals), Frank Perry (drums), Paul Kossoff (lead guitar).
by
FRANK PERRY
Soundbite - Early Paul with Black Cat Bones rehearsing THE SKY IS CRYIN' 1967
For the entire piece (around 13 minutes) click HERE
I began playing drums in the spring of 1964. I am completely self-taught. The sum-total of my tuition comes from about 10 minutes with another boy at school in my class and then a further 5 minutes with the guy who was teaching him. Tim Harris was the latter's name and he went on to play drums with The Foundations. At the time he showed me the basic jazz technique of hand independence. After a few months I'd bought a kit and was allowed to practise at home for half an hour a day. I then joined a rhythm and blues band which I called Abstract Sound. Somehow, I don't remember exactly how, the band broke up. I then answered an advertisement for a drummer for the Chicago blues band Black Cat Bones. The departing drummer was a close friend of Paul Kossoff's and he was present at the auditions. He chose and recommended me for the band most probably for my technical facility. I believe that this put me on a good footing with Paul who accordingly appreciated and respected my playing. We seemed to spark each other off - in a creative sense!
From my jazz technique I was strongly into syncopation and my style was what I'd call a 'driving' style i.e. I'd push the musicians towards stretching the limits of their playing. In other words, I did not play in a 'laid back' way - leaning on the beat - but more forwards to the next beat in anticipation. I also had a very strongly emotional approach. This, I feel, was reciprocated by Paul. In rehearsals each number lasted a long time with Paul taking any number of choruses for his solos. We seldom, if ever, looked at each other whilst playing. For a start, I had my eyes shut for most of the time, and with my head down. The standard style of playing at the time was definitely 'beat' music and from this perspective I was far too busy and non-conformist. Actually, my attitude was to PLAY and have fun. I wasn't even conscious for some 15 years afterwards, even of the idea of imitating black blues bands. I realised all those years afterwards that the purpose of meeting occasionally at the Brookes' house to listen to records was most probably in the hope that I'd get the message. However, I never ever had any word of this from Paul. I think that Paul was something of a kindred spirit in this approach and I certainly felt closest to him in the band.
I would often talk to him in some despair at the small list of numbers that the band had in its repertoire. We'd been playing them for so long that I felt they were like mini-operas. I could play them in my sleep. He empathised but our view was in the minority. I remember going into a record shop with him on our way to the Brookes house in High Barnet to check out the latest Jimi Hendrix release. The rest of the band were blues purists. Of course, the freedom which Hendrix and Mitch Mitchell were enjoying appealed to both of us - perhaps that's why he called his next band FREE?
We played with a few Black artists. Champion Jack Dupree was one of these. He was great fun to play with and to be with. I recall a gig in Cambridge where in the interval Paul and I were mingling with the crowd and this lovely-looking girl approached us both. I declined but Paul was definitely into it and was planning to return to Cambridge on his own. Later I asked him how it went and he seemed quietly satisfied! I remember thinking that he certainly had energy to put into that thing! Actually, he'd also dated my younger sister Sandra for some time too. My mother had knitted/crocheted me a woolly hat and Paul wanted one also. So, she made him one of his own in a russet colour which he wore at that time. He often used to pick me up in his mother's car for rehearsals and gigs. I believe that it was on such a journey to Cambridge that I noticed him doing strange things with his hands. It turned out to be finger exercises which he happily showed me how to do. He was quiet and we talked little and yet, I didn't feel distant from him - he was a warm-natured person. But I think that he was also very bright and quick-witted, discriminating and discerning. He wasn't a fool. He also seemed a fairly good judge of character. I think that all this meant a heightened awareness of suffering through his increased sensitivity. Drugs, alcohol and smoking are ways of reducing this emotional burden. When I knew him he only slightly indulged in the latter. He was always friendly and never moody.
Like me, Music came first with him. I wasn't aware of any 'ego' problems with Paul. He just did his thing with quiet confidence. He neither sought the limelight nor avoided it. The MUSIC was the thing! In fact, I'd almost say that he was very 'studious'. Talking in the band consisted mostly of what you'd expect from rehearsals. Outside of that, I don't recall very much happening on the communication front at all myself. We all just got on with 'the business'. I think that we all considered ourselves to be 'real' musicians. As a result the 'glamour' antics of the popular music industry wasn't part of our performance style. Apart from Paul's facial expressions, the band was undemonstrable.
Considering his powerful father, he didn't seem to me to have any problems in that direction either. That's not to say that David Kossoff went throwing his weight around. Far from it. I recall him dropping in on a rehearsal with a large box of 'Coca-Cola's' and I never even noticed him entering, although I did feel a change in the atmosphere of the room. But he definitely put everyone at their ease and was just one of the other fathers there showing an interest in their son's activities. NB. (The Brookes' father was always there alongside my father - who recorded the rehearsals for his own pleasure).
In short, Paul was 'natural'. He knew what he wanted to do and he was doing it. Simple as that! He didn't seem to be out to impress anybody. He just did what he loved. He played his guitar with love and unselfconsciously. He was never a 'poser', but a genuine guy with real humanity and a good friend. He wasn't overly serious, he was capable of fun but not at the expense of anyone else. There was definitely an air of 'cheekiness' or 'puckishness' about him that was also part of his makeup. But, over-all, I'd say that he was a warm-hearted, lovable, and likeable fellow, and a bit of a rogue.
Like myself, he didn't seem to have a big voice in the band. Politics weren't his style nor mine. He just wanted to PLAY. I think that he enjoyed the band and believed in it. He was a great guitarist and if he'd ever left the band I would have gone too. Without him the band would have been nothing to me. We shared in the creative Fire. As I said, we sparked each other off!...
I'd say we got into the Blues because it had more meaning. It was to do with feelings. We were somewhat disillusioned with the prevalent materialism and intellectualism. The Blues was a 'back to basics'. It was more to do with a feeling of sharing the human condition and caring for each other. The 'rat race' was left behind in exchange for better values...
Well, February 1968 saw the band asking me to leave because I couldn't pare my drumming down enough to what they wanted. I think this might have been to do with Mike Vernon (a manager) who probably saw the band benefitting from the Blues boom (happening then) if one or two changes could be made. Paul came around to see me and I told him that he'd be the next. This is because of the singer Paul Tiller who was jealous of anyone stealing his thunder. He'd (Tiller) asked me to cut back on my drumming during the number "Rock Me Baby" (where I was using polyrhythms) during his harmonica solo, and he was always on at Paul to cut down his playing too. Well, three months later Paul had left of his own accord and came around to visit me again and asked me to form the band that became FREE with him but I declined as I'd already chosen to go into jazz at that time. After all, that was where my technical facility lay and I'd had enough of all the amplifiers and ego scene - there was no amplification for drummers then.
So I knew Paul from the summer of 1966 until February of 1968. I have only positive memories of Paul as no negativity of any kind ever passed between us. He was one of the finest musicians that I've ever worked with, and I've played with the very best!
FRANK PERRY 1995
- at the request of David Clayton (founder of F.A.S.) to include something of my memories for his special issue of
Free APPRECIATION SOCIETY (ISSUE 67 March 1996)
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