PETER FRAMPTON – THE FACE OF THE HERD
The Herd might have been Frampton’s launch pad but it was also a great ‘live’ act that enjoyed Top Twenty hits with songs like ‘From The Underworld’ and ‘Paradise Lost’. Alongside these blockbusters, The Herd produced a varied output that defies categorisation. Big band jazz arrangements, ballads, comic songs, they tried ‘em all. Yet the Sixties was a good time for experiment. The Who, The Yardbirds and Kinks all did crazy stuff before the all-devouring cloak of heavy rock descended.
‘The Best Of The Herd’ (REP 5031) is the latest Repertoire CD to pay tribute to the band’s legacy. Released on June 9 it includes 26 tracks from various singles and the band’s sole album ‘Paradise Lost’. It provides a welcome companion to ‘The Complete Herd’ (REP 5032) and ‘Paradise & Underworld’ (REP 4257).
Seeing The Herd album covers depicting Peter in a bright green suit recalls the colour The Herd brought into a rather drab scene. We now have a Technicolor image of Swinging London through films like ‘Blow Up’. In fact the pubs in those days shut at 10.30 p.m. and were full of men in grey raincoats drinking up pints of Watney’s Red Barrel before taking the last bus home.
Mercifully the streets of London were safe enough for Peter Frampton, Andy Bown, Andrew Steel and Gary Taylor to flaunt their finery as they arrived from the suburbs to appear on TV’s ‘Top Of The Pops’. It seemed as though The Herd were unleashing the first stirrings of Glam Rock. I remember entering their BBC dressing room and being suffocated in clouds of talcum powder, deodorant and feather boas. Hair dryers, make up and mirrors gave the impression of being back stage at a West End musical.
But as I discovered The Herd were serious musicians who loved jazz as much as pop. Peter’s idol was guitarist Kenny Burrell while organist Andy enjoyed the work of Jimmy Smith. It was all part of The Herd’s rather schizophrenic approach to life and music. What we’d now call ‘diversity.’
Recalls Peter: “I used to come see them play when I was aged 15, way before I joined. They were the Number One beat group in West Wickham and I got to know them by being the precocious pest that hung around saying ‘I can play guitar.’ I made friends with Tony Chapman and told him: ‘You really need me to sit in.”
Peter went to a Technical College in Bromley, where his father Owen Frampton was head of the art department. He gave Peter his first guitar lessons and also taught fellow pupil David Bowie art. Peter and David became life long friends. Frampton started playing banjolelee when he was seven and switched to guitar aged eight. He had classical lessons but loved The Shadows and began playing pop with local groups the Little Ravens, The Trubeats and The Preachers.
Peter: “It was around 1965 that I went to see The Herd. Eventually Tony Chapman said ‘Okay, come and play with us.’” In 1966 Frampton had to decide whether to return to school after the summer holidays to do his ‘A’ levels. He really wanted to go to the Guildhall School Of Music. “But – no way! I had been in The Preachers with Tony Chapman. When Terry Clark left The Herd, Gary and Andy said they would do the singing but they needed a rhythm guitarist to fill in. So that’s when I sat in. Then the line up completely changed when they asked me to join. At the end of the holidays Andy said ‘There’s a position here for you. Gary’s going to switch to bass; I’ll switch to keyboards and you’ll be the guitar player.’”
Peter recalls that his father tried to help out when he was due to sign a management deal with Billy Gaff. My dad said: ‘Look if you left school and got a job at the post office, you’d get £15 a week. So I want a guarantee from Billy Gaff that you’ll be paid £15 a week.’ So I got my £15 a week. Then one week we had a really big gig and the band earned £20 each. I still got £15. As time went by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley became our managers. Then whatever we earned was split four ways. But I always thanked my dad for the only management deal that ever benefited me.”
The Herd got a residency at the Marquee where producer Steve Rowland saw them and recommended the group to songwriters Howard and Blaikley. Rowland also suggested he should be their producer.
Frampton: “Ken and Alan came down and said they were very interested. We were excited because this was ‘the big time.’ They wrote ‘I Can Fly’, our first single for Fontana.” The band’s next single ‘From The Underworld’ got to Number 6 in the UK charts in 1967. It was an epic production orchestrated by Mike Leander. Says Peter “It was phenomenal. I’d never been involved in anything like it. At least I knew about the myth of Orpheus in The Underworld, which was the basis of the song.”
Chart hits transformed the band’s career but there was a problem. The band wanted to play their own material and their jazz aspirations were reflected in the instrumental ‘Impressions Of Oliver’ from The Herd’s album ‘Paradise Lost’ (1968). But Frampton understood the need for pop success.
“Ken and Alan were wonderful songwriters. They helped us get a record deal and we weren’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. But it wasn’t everything that we wished for. We were a much more musical outfit and yet we were becoming a pop group. In our set we played Kenny Burrell, Jimmy Smith and Grady Tate jazz numbers. Andrew Steele was our fantastic new drummer and Gary Taylor was a great bassist and singer. On ‘Paradise Lost’ we were given a chance to show what else we could do hence ‘Impressions Of Oliver’ where I was trying to be as much like Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell as possible.”
Despite their noble aspirations The Herd were caught up in a wave of pop fan fever. Where once a few aficionados had politely applauded their efforts now hordes of screaming girls invaded the stage determined to rip off Peter’s shirt and trousers. The reluctant star was feted by pop columnists and became headline news. He didn’t mind the mayhem but it caused some jealousy and embarrassment.
“Penny Valentine of Disc called me ‘The Face Of ’68. I had joined The Herd as the guitar player and backing vocalist but Howard and Blaikley wanted me to be the lead singer. That meant the ‘end is nigh’ for me. I remember Richard Green of Record Mirror overheard the band bitching about me. Of course that was in the paper next week. ‘Dissent In The Herd Camp.’ But I had no idea this kind of success would happen. It was very uncomfortable for me because I loved the band. I remember us playing the Streatham Ice Rink, London. We had to get from the dressing room to the stage through the crowd and we had no security. I don’t think my shirt made it and I lost a few locks of hair. It was pretty rough being chased across the ice! It was great fun being mobbed for three weeks. Then it really got nauseating because we couldn’t hear ourselves. What was the use of being on stage if no one could hear what we were playing?”
The Herd went on tour with The Who, Traffic and the Tremeloes after they hit with ‘From The Underworld.’ If Peter had it rough with the fans, The Who was much tougher. “During the tour I was kidnapped by Keith Moon and John Entwistle and driven all around England in their Bentley, which was a very dangerous situation. I was soon shown the ropes. If you are going to trash a hotel room you’ve gotta learn from the masters.
I was just amazed at what was going on. They did all sorts of things to me. They hung me out the window of one venue by my feet. Every time I went near the window of the dressing room the crowd outside screamed. Keith thought this was hilarious so John, Keith and Pete upended me and dangled me out the window. It was a Michael Jackson moment! I went along with them but didn’t realise how serious it could have been. We were three storeys up. I nearly got too close to the fans that night.”
The Who took hotel rooms next door to The Face and in the middle of the night they’d break through the connecting door and tip him out of bed. “I never got any sleep. But they were just lovely people. Everyone says how crazy Keith was but he was really warm and genuine guy. I loved him. I joined The Who socially for that tour.”
The band’s next hit ‘Paradise Lost’ involved Andy Bown doing a stripper theme on organ. Peter confessed the Herd hits were his least favourite numbers ‘live’. Their last big production hit ‘I Don’t Want Our Loving To Die’ got to Number 5 in April 1968.
Eventually The Herd left Howard and Blaikley and Peter began meeting with Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane of the Small Faces. On their recommendation Andrew Oldham briefly took over as The Herd’s manager. Peter had long been a big fan of the Faces and meeting Steve Marriott would have far reaching consequences.
“It was a big step because it made me realise that it was only a matter of time before we’d end up playing together. Either I was going to join the Small Faces or he was going to leave them. At this point The Herd was floundering.”
The band began work on a second Herd album but it was never released. Says Peter: “Someone has the tapes. There is a whole album’s worth of material that never got mixed. We re-signed to Fontana and did a single called ‘Sunshine Cottage’. Marriott and Lane helped out but we didn’t get the ‘New Release’ spot on ‘Top Of the Pops’. And if you don’t get that, you’re sunk. I quit the group, and then Andrew Steele left. The band carried on for a while with Henry Spinetti on drums. I became immersed in recording with Steve Marriott in Humble Pie. I had lost my feeling for The Herd but it was very difficult leaving because they were the reason why I got into the business. But I just knew the band was going nowhere. I idolised Steve Marriott and it was a mutual thing because we really hit it off. “
After The Herd Andy Bown formed Judas Jump managed by Don Arden and later joined Status Quo as their resident keyboard player. Andrew Steele went to America and played with Neil Sedaka for many years. He now lives in Alaska where he has worked as a policeman. Gary Taylor played bass for Gerry Rafferty on ‘Baker Street’ and worked as a BBC DJ before moving to Australia where he now runs a Perth recording studio.
Peter Frampton joined Humble Pie and I went to all their early gigs. I remember Peter driving me in his new car, an Aston Martin DB5 complete with in-car record player loaded with 45 singles. We flew to LA where the band played at the Hollywood Bowl and Peter celebrated by eating brown rice and mueseli. He was never one for wild excess. But a healthy diet prepared him for the worldwide solo success that came with his double live album ‘Frampton Comes Alive’ (1975) and smash hit single ‘Show Me The Way’.
Peter’s career since the Seventies has experienced many ups and downs including the loss of old Pie friends Steve Marriott and Greg Ridley. He became a recluse for a while but during the last few years he has taken part in a tribute concert to Steve Marriott, toured the UK with Deep Purple and Thunder and recorded new solo album.
Peter still has a soft spot for his first big group. “I would like to have seen the last Herd album come out because it was a lot deeper. We did a version of Bob Dylan’s ‘I Want You’ in the style of Vanilla Fudge, which was very dramatic. That would have really opened people’s eyes to the potential of The Herd.”
Tuesday, June 6th, 2006 in Hot New Repertoire Releases.
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