Queen by Mark Hodkinson

Author:Mark Hodkinson [Hodkinson, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-85712-055-7
Publisher: Music Sales Limited
Published: 2004-03-14T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

HOW REGAL IT SOUNDS

THE PLAN HAD ALWAYS been for Ibex to spend just the summer of 1969 in London, so, once the money and enthusiasm had run out, they returned to Liverpool. Mike Smith was the first to head north. He was a few years older than the others and was offered a job as part of a construction team building the M56 which passed through Cheshire from Manchester to Liverpool. He needed the regular money so he reluctantly told the group he was leaving. He was replaced by Richard Thompson who had already learned most of the songs through attending their shows. Richard and Freddie had become fairly close friends, they lived near to one another and had similar tastes in music. One of their regular haunts was The Marquee, and Richard often drove there with Freddie singing along loudly to the radio.

Mike Bersin, always the most pragmatic member of Ibex, took up a place at art college in Liverpool, as he had promised his parents he would do if the group hadn’t landed a record deal by the end of the summer. John Taylor was the only one to remain in London; he had settled into his new life and was being asked to play with other bands that congregated at the record shop.

Like many groups, Ibex’s demise came about in stuttered fashion. On their return to Liverpool they were able to make contact with allies old and new through Mike Bersins college course. They were offered gigs and Ken Testi had the onerous task of welding together a band whose members lived nearly 200 miles apart. He was keen, unusually so, and on one occasion hitched to London and back to collect Freddie. The singer responded to this determination and spent a few weeks living in Liverpool, giving it one last shot. “It was really weird seeing him around Liverpool,’ said Geoff Higgins. “He dressed like an alien compared to everyone else. He was always in his velvet trousers and three-quarters length coat. He had this habit of hiding his buck teeth with his top lip, pulling the lip down over his teeth somehow.”

By this point Freddie had instigated a new name for the group. He had never been enamoured of Ibex, so he rang each of them, telling each one the others were in favour of a change and suggested Wreckage as an alternative. “He rang me and said the other two were up for it, so I might as well be too,” said Mike Bersin. “It was so like Freddie to do that sort of thing. He was very direct and usually got his own way. We didn’t really care all that much what we were called, so it didn’t make much difference. I turned up for the next rehearsal and everything had Wreckage sprayed on it.”

Freddie moved in with Geoff Higgins’ family in the pub they were running, Dovedale Towers, in Penny Lane. He had to spend most nights on the floor in

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.