Rock Shrines 41 - 46

Rock Shrine No. 41 – The Astoria [Nirvana, etc]

Welcome to one of London’s best rock venues: sweaty, dark, a bit seedy. Converted from a warehouse into a theatre and cinema in 1926, it became a live venue in 1986. Everyone has played here, from hardcore classic rock bands (The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple) to the kind of artists (Kylie, Madonna) who appeal to the clientele attending G.A.Y. on a Saturday night. Amy Winehouse showed she can be amazing shortly before she lost control. One of So Solid Crew shot himself in the leg trying to pull a gun out of his waistband in the middle of their set. But for Important Gigs, that honour must go to the debut show by The Raconteurs in 2007 and the UK debut of Nirvana in 1989. The doors closed for the last time last week to make way for a ventilation shaft and expanded Underground station being built as part of a new subway line.



Astoria Theatre, 157 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0EL


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Rock Shrine No. 42 – IBC Studios [The Who]


In the 1950s International Broadcasting Company Recording Studios (IBC) was the leading independent studio in London. In the 60s it became home to a roll-call of amazing artists, including The Beatles (who pre-recorded a live TV show), The Bee Gees, The Small Faces, Status Quo, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Jimmy Page (as a session guitarist), Golden Earring, Adam Faith, and Duane Eddy. Like Abbey Road Studio 2 and Trident it was noted for a room with a very high ceiling, creating great acoustics for rock bands. None tested this more than The Who, who recorded ‘My Generation’, ‘A Quick One’, ‘The Who Sell Out’, and ‘Tommy’.


Other era-defining music created here:
1. The Kinks – You Really Got Me
2. The Yardbirds – For Your Love, Happenings Ten Years Time Ago
3. The Easybeats – Friday on My Mind
4. Cream recorded their last studio album ‘Goodbye’ and parts of ‘Wheels Of Fire’.
5. Engineer/producer Glyn Johns recorded the Rolling Stones’ first demos in 1963.


In 1965 they were back in IBC to record “As Tears Go By”, either their own Italian version or the Marianne Faithfull version. Chas Chandler mastered several Jimi Hendrix records here and in the early 70s used it to record Slade. In the 80s, he bought IBC and renamed it Barn Studios. Situated in one of the most valuable real estate areas of central London, today it houses offices.

For more information, one of the studio’s engineers has created an extensive history web site: http://www.ibcstudio.co.uk/

IBC Studios, 35 Portland Place, London W1B 1QF


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Rock Shrine No. 43 – Central St. Martins School Of Art and Design [Joe Strummer]

Joe Strummer – or John Mellor as he was then known – began studying at Central in Sept 1970, one of over 400 applicants for the 60 available places. He wanted to be a cartoonist, though he told people he wanted to be in advertising. Joe later described the school as the “last resort of malingerers and bluffers and people who don’t want to work,” but it has long been one of the most prestigious art schools in Britain.

Graduates include a very long list of famous artists, actors, film makers and designers; musicians who went there include PJ Harvey, Jarvis Cocker, M.I.A., Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes from The Bonzo Dog Band, Sex Pistol Glen Matlock and fellow Clash member Paul Simenon. It was where Malcolm McLaren and Bernard Rhodes went when they needed talented people to help when dreaming up The Sex Pistols.

One of these was Alex McDowell, who did all the silk screening of McLaren’s t-shirts and posters. He later designed album covers then co-founded The Oil Factory to make music videos. Moving to Los Angeles, he is now a production designer whose credits include Fight Club, Minority Report, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Terminal, and Watchmen.

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Southampton Row, London WC1B 4AP

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Rock Shrine No. 44 – Rehearsals Rehearsals [The Clash]


On the evening of August 13, 1976, The Clash invited some music journalists and friends to Rehearsals Rehearsals to see them play. Even in the hyper-small Punk world of the time they had gone unnoticed, quietly scheming, writing and rehearsing an arsenal of songs. The lucky few walked out of the balmy evening into a brick walled room with a rock and roll backline at the rear. Behind it was a painted mural of a cityscape, all tower blocks and car dumps. The 4 x 12 speaker cabinets in front of them were painted dayglo pink.

After a suitable wait the group entered, walking purposefully in single file, Joe Strummer at the head. The bassist wore black, paint spattered Jackson Pollock style acros the fabric. One of the guitarists had wide stripes painted on his shirt. There were three guitarists. Without a word they broke into a racket best desrcibed by Sounds critic Giovanni Dadomo, who called them “a runaway train”. The music moved on rails, straight ahead and full of purpose, with short explosive solos that finished before you fully heard them. They moved to match the music; third guitarist Keith Levene was literally running up the back wall as he played. They played about 14 songs in 30 minutes, the essence of Punk: a short, sharp shock.

Just down the road from The Roundhouse, Rehearsals Rehearsals was an old Gin House at the end of of a row of Victorian stables. It sat in a near-derelict yard in a near-derelict part of town, the rail lines from Kings Cross and St. Pancras running behind it on their way to the North. Manager Bernard Rhodes had found it as a place for the band to work. The name came from someone complaining that all they did was “reharsals rehearsals”.

Upstairs were a couple of rooms covered in old film posters. The photo of them standing in front of “Untamed Youth” was taken here. It’s in these rooms that the band plotted, schemed, and painted their clothes, in the days before they had their uniforms designed for them.

Paul Simenon outside Reharsals Rehearsals. The car belonged to manager Bernard Rhodes. (Image from Rock Archive)

The band’s first album cover photo was taken here. The notorious “pigeon-shooting” incident in 1978 happened on the roof, when Paul Simenon and Topper Headon shot at passing pigeons with an air rifle, not knowing they were valuable racing pigeons.

There was always something to do at Rehearsals Rehearsals

The Clash left in 1982. Since then it has served as a retail outlet for a number of boutiques. The interior is mostly gutted and modernised. A row of apartments is being built where the stables used to be.

By the railway tracks. The Roundhouse is in the background. Apartments are being built where they stand. (Image from Rock Archive)

Rehearsals Rehearsals - The Gin House, Stables Market London, NW1 8AH


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Rock Shrine No. 45 – The Apple Store [The Beatles]


The Beatles’ accountants had bought 94 Baker Street as a financial investment for the group and it became temporary headquarters for Apple whilst 3 Savile Row was being renovated. But what to do with it after that… Pattie Harrison was familiar with a Dutch group called The Fool, who had run a boutique in Amsterdam, so in September 1967, The Beatles gave them £100,000 to design and stock a new Apple Boutique. The concept was that absolutely everything was for sale. It was ‘a beautiful place where beautiful people can buy beautiful things’.

The Fool engaged several dozen art students to paint a huge psychedelic mural across the entire front and side of the store which garnered instant complaints from local merchants. The City of Westminster had refused planning permission and the mural was only present for three weeks before the council threatened to repaint it and charge Apple for the privilege.




Invitations to the grand opening on 5 December 1967 read 'Come at 7.46. Fashion Show at 8.16.' The only drink available was apple juice. John and George were the only Beatles that attended.

The Boutique was a financial disaster and closed just 8 months later. On Tuesday morning, 30 July 1968, the staff was told to give everything away. The ‘beautiful place’ was no more. Today, somewhat ironically, the building is home to an employment agency.

Opening Invitation

Clothing Label

Apple Boutique, 94 Baker Street, London W1U 6FZ

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Rock Shrine No. 46 – The Scene (The Who)

The Scene Club in Ham Yard, Soho was thought of by many as Mod Central. It wasn't a hugely popular place filled to bursting with people, but more of an underground club where only the top mods hung out, and the whole mod style was created. The club's decor didn't match the smart cut of their clothes, being a bizarre dingy basement catacomb where the walls were padded and the floor was littered with cushions, but it was ideal for the pilled lifestyle they led, where you were buzzing into the early hours of the morning and needed a club that stayed open as late as 5am on a Sunday. The Goldhawk may have been a club for drinkers, but the Scene was definitely designed for pills.

Pete Townshend - "The Scene was really where it was at, but there were only about fifteen people down there every night. It was a focal point for the mod movement. I don't think anyone who was a mod outside Soho realised the fashions and dances all began there."

Ham Yard, London W1D 7DT

Rock Shrine No. 47 – Kensington Hypermarket [Jimi Hendrix, Queen]

One of the best shopping experiences of the 60s and 70s, Kensington Hypermarket was a multi-floor building filled with tiny stalls owned by budding clothes designers and retail wannabes. It was popular because they moved quickly with the times, with groovy psychedelic gear in the 60s, Biba and velvet rockstar knockoffs in the early 70s and punk clobber in ‘76 and ‘77.

Freddy Mercury owned one such outlet and it is here that Roger Taylor first met him.

On September 17, 1970, the last afternoon of Jimi Hendrix’s life, he went shopping with girlfriend Monika Dannemann and spent a good part of the afternoon here.

Although closed for many years it was only recently torn down and replaced with this nondescript office block.

Kensington Hypermarket, 49 – 52 Kensington High Street, London W8 6NS

Rock Shrines 31 - 40

Rock Shrine No. 31 – Station Hotel – The Rolling Stones


Every musician has started out the same: the secret pleasure of a small fan club. Even The Rolling Stones started out as unknowns.

By 1962-63 six guys within the bunch of blues fans that floated around the suburbs of London had fused into The Rolling Stones and were getting a reputation as something you had to see. The place to see them was The Station Hotel, Richmond, a suburb on the very edge of London. One of those told to check them out was 19-year old wunderkind Andrew Loog Oldham. He was publicist for The Beatles but wanted more. In his autobiography Stoned he describes the fateful night:

“Finally, in the dark and sweaty room, the Rollin’ Stones, all six of them, took to the stage while the…hundred-odd couples seemed ready for what they were about to receive and went apeshit. So did the group – they didn’t seem to start, so much as carry on from a previous journey…The room was as one, the music and audience had one particular place to go, a place I’d never been to but was happily being drawn to.

“On that stage, when I took in the Stones’ front line, I saw rock ‘n’ roll in 3-D and Cinerama for the first time….I’d never seen anything like it.”

Oldham became their manager and bent them to his fantasies of the ultimate rock group. His gift for outrageous publicity turned them into the second most famous group in the world. Just check the liner notes of the first few albums to see his talent for exaggeration.

Today it’s a bar and the interior has been gutted. But the back entrance remains, where the fans lined up and young Oldham entered to meet his destiny.


Station Hotel, 1 Kew Rd, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 2NQ


Rock Shrine No. 32 – The Africa Centre – Soul II Soul


Around 1988 Soul II Soul started life as a sound system and collective under the leadership of Jazzie B. A shifting group of musicians, the key people were Nellee Hooper from Bristol, vocalist Caron Wheeler and Japanese session drummer Masa, whose efforts to build a career in London were somewhat hampered by the lack of a work visa. Their residency at the Africa Centre in Covent Garden got them noticed and signed to Virgin Records and their first release, Club Classics Vol. 1 became a global hit. The band lasted throughout the ‘90s though never repeated the initial success. Hooper went on to become an A-list producer, working with Bjork, Madonna, No Doubt and Gwen Stefani, and Garbage, among others. What really made Soul II Soul distinctive was the invention of a brand new drum loop, which was the work of Masa and for which he never got credit.

The Africa Centre, 38 King Street, London WC2E 8JT


Rock Shrine No. 33 – Albert Hall


It’s been immortalised in one of the greatest songs of the last 40 years. It’s one of the most desired playgrounds in an artist’s career. It started out as an entertainment palace for fights and circuses.

Strange as it may seem, the Albert Hall is the Victorian equivalent of Staples Centre, MSG and all the music sheds. Glistening anew after a serious renovation, it’s one of the best places in London to see music. The audience sit in an oval shape, with boxes ringing the perimeter and cheap seats climbing in a steep rake right up to the high ceiling. The stage is at one end, in front of a massive pipe organ (on which Frank Zappa once played “Louie Louie”), which can make for interesting sight angles. When I saw Cream play in 2005 I watched Eric Clapton, seated behind the PA stack, bouncing his young daughter on his knee while Ginger Baker drum solo’d.


This is where Britain’s version of “The Sixties” started in September 1965, when a one-day poetry event with Allen Ginsberg drew all the freaks out of the woodwork, resulting in that ‘eureka!’ moment when the packed Hall realised they weren’t the only ones. Everybody has played here, classical, jazz and popular. But…Cream famously retired here in 1968 and reformed in 2005. Deep Purple played with an orchestra before reworking their blueprint for ‘Machine Head’. The Stones played in 1966. The Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1968. Bryan Ferry’s done it. Bob Dylan famously played here - acoustically in 1965 and electrically in 1966, resulting in a famous bootleg actually recorded somewhere else. Paul Simon played ‘Graceland’ for a week. But the residency king is Eric Clapton, who held an annual engagement for many years in the ‘80s and ‘90s, playing variously a regular night, a blues night and an orchestral night. In the end, the Hall is more famous than the participants.

http://www.royalalberthall.com/

Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AP


Rock Shrine No. 34 – Bag O’Nails [Jimi Hendrix, Beatles]


In Swinging Sixties London, when you got fed up with the Ad-Lib (what with Lennon freaking out because people were smoking joints in there) and couldn’t be bothered to trawl all the way down Picadilly to the Scotch of St. James (about, oh…a mile away), you walked five minutes (or had the chauffer drive you) to the Bag O’Nails. Situated at 9 Kingly Street, it’s less than 100 feet from Regent Street, one of London’s busiest streets, yet so invisible it might as well be miles away.

It was one of The Beatles' favourite places in 1967-68. Beatles assistant Mal Evans said in his book, “Ended up smashed in Bag O'Nails with Paul and Neil. Quite a number of people attached themselves, oh that it would happen to me...freak out time baby for Mal”.

On 15 May, 1967, Paul McCartney met New York photographer Linda Eastman for the first time.

Jimi Hendrix joined the roster of celebrated performers who held the stage when he played his second British show here in late September 1966. It was a promotional bash for The Experience, financed by manager Chas Chandler selling five of his six guitars. “Britain is really groovy,” Jimi announced afterward, just a week into his first visit to the country.



Bag O’Nails, 9 Kingly Street, London W1B 5PH


Rock Shrine No. 35 – Savoy Hotel [Bob Dylan]


We’ve all seen the video of Bob Dylan standing behind the Savoy Hotel dropping cards to “Subterranean Homesick Blues”. In ‘Don’t Look Back’ you’ve seen him take apart Donovan while holding court in his suite at the Savoy. This is the Savoy.

Opened in 1889, it was built by impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte, producer of Gilbert and Sullivan, and has always enjoyed a reputation as one of the most prestigious hotels in London. Famous guests include The Beatles, U2, Led Zeppelin, Sarah Bernhardt, Enrico Caruso, Lillie Langtry, Charlie Chaplin, Ivor Novello, Frank Sinatra, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Elton John, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, The Who, Richard Harris, Julie Andrews, Shirley Bassey, Jimi Hendrix, and Marilyn Monroe. It’s currently closed for a £100million refurbishment.

In the accompanying video of His Bobness in his hotel suite, the woman who stands up at 5 seconds is Anthea Joseph, who gave Dylan his first residencey in London. She ran the Troubadour in Earls Court and in her words, saw a pair of boots descending the stairs and when the rest of him came into view, thought, ‘Hmmmmmm, this looks interesting…’



Savoy Hotel, 91 The Strand, London, WC2R 0EU



Rock Shrine No. 36 – EMI House [The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Sex Pistols]



You’ve all seen the photo of The Beatles looking down from the balcony. It happened on the first floor (second floor for Americans) of EMI House, the buildng that used to stand here. When I worked here in the 70s we used to amuse ourselves by standing where they had. From this vantage point I watched Marc Bolan get into the front seat of his chauffered white Rolls Royce limo. He always sat in the front seat. Once I turned around and saw Freddie Mercury for the first time, thinking, “Who’s that strange lookin guy?” The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, Cockney Rebel, Cliff Richard, The Sex Pistols, Roy Harper, ELO…If your favourite band was on EMI or Capitol they visited here.

The front door.


Four smiles that changed the world.


Pink Floyd play at being pop stars in front of EMI.


Maybe if he hangs out long enough someone will sign him.


When Generation X (Billy Idol) signed to Chrysalis, we celebrated by taking a photo outside EMI. (What a punkish jape!) That’s me third from the left.


The building was pulled down a few years ago; its replacement being designed to fit in with the rest of the Square. Architecture fans will want to go next door to The Wallace Collection, which features a stunning atrium designed by Rick Mathur.

EMI, 20 Manchester Square, London W1U 3PZ


Rock Shrine No. 37 – The Jam’s First London Gig


It’s the summer of 1976 and you’re an unknown trio of Mod-loving kids living about 50 miles out of London. How do you get your first gig in London? You take your cue from the manifesto Malcolm McLaren is spinning in the weekly music papers and get your own gig. So one hot Saturday morning The Jam set up on the pavement in front of a street market, ran an extension cord from the Rock On record stall, and played to a handful of people. Most of them were curious passersby; about five of us were paying attention, including The Clash’s Mick Jones. Fifteen minutes later and it was over. Today, the market is a parking garage. The band played about where the street lamp stands.

The Jam’s first London gig – Newport Place, London W1.


Rock Shrine No. 38 – UFO [Pink Floyd]


UFO was London’s first psychedelic club, the equivalent of the Electric Circus in NYC or the Fillmore in SF. It was started by music entrepreneur Joe Boyd and John Hopkins (aka "Hoppy") in an Irish dancehall called the "Blarney Club", a basement venue under the Berkeley Cinema. This wasn’t the first time the location had been an essential nightclub; from 1919-1926 it was a jazz club where races could mix to hear predominantly black music.

UFO opened on December 23, 1966. As Joe Boyd wrote in his book ‘White Bicycles’, "freaks came out of the woodwork from all over the city”.

Joe Boyd: “The club’s first few months were idyllic. Freaks descended en masse. We made money, everyone was astonished by how many like-minded souls there were in London, the groups had a prominent platform for the first time and our beautiful silk-screen posters could be seen all over the city. Something new was happening every week and even bigger things, it seemed, were just around the corner. It is hard to convey the excitement and optimism in the air then.”

Pink Floyd were effectively the house band, though evenings combined live music and light shows, avant-garde films and slide shows, dance troupes and even "spot the fuzz" competitions as attention from plainclothes police increased. Producer Chris Thomas (Procul Harum, The Pretenders, Roxy Music, John Cale, Elton John, The Sex Pistols, etc.) remembers seeing the Floyd one night playing with all the PA equipment at the sides of the room, so that while the band were in front of you, the sound was coming from the sides. Another night they played behind hanging sheets that completely obscured the stage, with the light show projected on them. Pete Townshend was a regular, studying Pink Floyd from beside of the stage.

Pink Floyd at UFO:


How they looked if you weren’t on drugs:


When Pink Floyd grew too popular, Soft Machine became the house band. Others who played included The Incredible String Band, Arthur Brown, Tomorrow, and Procol Harum, who played there when "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was No 1 in the charts. On April 28, 1967, Jimi Hendrix turned up as part of the audience and then jammed with Tomorrow, who were headlining.

How many plainclothes policemen can you spot?:


UFO was killed by success — it was too small to accommodate the increasing crowds. In June, 1967, Hoppy was imprisoned for drug offences and further police pressure caused the landlords to revoke the lease. It moved to The Roundhouse for a few months but a high rent meant Joe usually lost money. In October it ended.

The building was torn down in 1970 as part of a huge, multi-block redevelopment. Today the location is still a cinema; the basement where Pink Floyd first wowed London is a room with a screen.

Let’s give the final word to Joe: “Like most revolutionaries, the freaks of 1967 aimed high. And like many, they failed to reach their goals. The list of disappointments is long, but one only need watch a right-wing politician or pundit talk about the era to realise how much was accomplished: the very words “the Sixties” make them spit with fury, so we must have got something right!”

UFO: 31 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 1BX


Rock Shrine No. 39 – MPL [Paul McCartney]


Paul McCartney moved his company McCartney Promotions Ltd (MPL) into Soho Square in early 1976. The lobby is a fascinating mix of faux-Art Deco and modern art, with an excellent Robert Rauschenburg silkscreen just inside the front window. McCartney has collected modern art for years and has the largest private collection of noted Scottish artist Eduardo Paolozzi. In return, Paolozzi designed the cover of Red Rose Speedway. (McCartney also worked with pop artist Richard Hamilton to design the White Album cover and poster.)

Pass by at night and, if the curtains are open, you can see an upper floor office with one wall completely covered in gold and platinum discs. Not many people know it, but McCartney is the largest independent song publisher in the world, owning the catalogues for Buddy Holly and several of the American Songbook standards.

M P L Communications Ltd, 1 Soho Square, LONDON, W1D 3BQ


Before he moved two blocks up the road to Soho Square, Paul McCartney had offices at this building.

Paul McCartney, 12 Greek Street, London W1D 4DL














Rock Shrine No. 40 – 23 Brook Street [Jimi Hendrix]


In 1968 and 1969 Jimi Hendrix was one of the world’s biggest rock stars. But when he wasn’t jetting to rock festivals and sold out concerts, the small flat on the very top floor is the palace he called home. He moved from here a few months before his death. In London there’s a society that puts blue plaques on buildings where famous people lived or, occasionally, famous events happened. Where the devil’s music is concerned, only one person has had that honour.


In a piece of sublime serendipity, Jimi lived next door to where another musical genius lived two centuries earlier.


The house where Handel lived and died is now a museum (Handel House Museum). The rooms where Jimi lived is now a kitchen and toilet area for their volunteer staff.

Jimi Hendrix, 23 Brook Street, London W1K 4HA