PURPLE GANG HISTORY

The Forgotten Flower Power Band From The London Underground

A VAN FOR ALL SEASONS

PSYCHEDELIC LONDON ACCOMODATION FOR THE PURPLE GANG

Hotel wrecking by some `60`s bands are the stuff of legend, but our hotel WAS a wreck,and it was on wheels.Purple Gang never stayed in hotels.We were expected to fend for ourselves by our over-generous record company.. in a bid to toughen us up for stardom..no doubt in the Bankruptcy courts later.We lived as travellers in our legendary van..

As Geoff Bowyer (piano/washboard/vocal/kazoo/lunacy)says in 1997-

"My fondest memories were of my life in the van travelling the M1 and the new M6 in all weathers, along with dozens of other bands in other vans, all on Safari for a recording contract and that perfect college gig. Because our electrical equipment consisted of only one microphone and a small amp (that resembled a sewing machine case) it meant that there was room in the van to sleep five insane young men.At night though ,the mandolin, guitar, washboard and jug slept in the cab covered over with coats…not to keep them warm,but to stop them giving the game away that the soon -to-be- famous five were asleep in the back.We`d basically sleep where we ran out of petrol-places like Regents Park,Hampstead Heath,Cheyne Walk…even The Mall.

In the morning we would queue outside public baths waiting for them to open or outside public toilets with our towels, soap and toothbrushes..to freshen up.These times of what others would find an unbearable existence I found highly amusing-and much better than being in a job or being an Archbishop…but it did remind me of an extremely cramped, smelly,hardware shop on wheels."…JOE BEARD

The first van we had was a THAMES TRADER 12 cwt.which had two large jugs painted on the sides ,so we must have had the appearance of being paraffin salesmen ,which might explain the occasional queue of strange types with cans asking us"how much a gallon?"I think it was pale blue in colour originally,but eventually had flowers and posters pasted along it.Most would be collectable `60`s memorabilia now..had they survived.

In Spring1966 I went along to a local foam factory and managed to scrounge some foam sheets which I cut to shape to line the inside of the van…I put 3 layers down.Now it was a hotel on wheels.We would sleep in the van as we (and it seems our record company) ,had no finances for anything better.The attitude then was "think yourselves lucky we gave you a contract and brought you to London……now look after your selves"…so we did.We made the most of it and when the gangster suits arrived around Xmas `66, we hung them around the inside on coathangers.

The two smallest in stature were forced to sleep at the back ,horizontally between the wheel arches and we other three,lengthways at the front section.The instruments went in the cab.At the time it reminded me of those dreadful slaveship plans you would see in history books.

So, at night,parked near a gig or in a London park or alley ,the van would be inconspicuous to Old Bill..but generally they were OK with us and let us continue as long as we kept our heads down.With the instruments tucked away in the cab, under coats and the suits hanging around the sides it got quite warm in winter…..but the condensation was bad.We even had to wipe the suits down in the cool mornings.

Once we were woken up after a foggy night (where we had just stopped and turned in for the night )by a cavalry officer, in full regalia (on horseback) ,who drily pointed out that we were in The MALL and in danger of being arrested as Her Majesty was due in about 20 mins.It was so foggy the previous night we had not realised where we were.

At night ,before we slept, sometimes we would play and sing quietly( if we were in a good mood and a lot of the time we were.)Gerry would play harmonica and me guitar.Jug and washboard were rested though…hardly lullaby instuments.Sometimes we just sang , old songs we`d heard in earlier folk scene days,maybe early Dylan or blues or even old Scottish ballads like "The Water Is Wide".A favourite was "Ain`t no more cane on the Brasssos" which The Band eventually covered ,but we learned it from "Duster" Bennet.

To listen to music whilst travelling ,we had a Decca transistor radio ,operated by batteries, which lived in the cab window.Occasionally you would get a decent song coming off the BBC Light Programme like a Beatles or even Dusty Springfield.We liked all sorts of stuff apart from blues and jugband,(which you would never hear)..any good song really.One number we learned this way was Ramsay Lewis` "In Crowd" which went in the set later.

THE LUNATICS ARE IN THE VAN

Unfortunately,the first van came to an untimely end around midnight Nov 26 1966.It had been my 21st birthday bash ,back at home in the local pub,with relatives and friends ..and I had got drunk.My friends had left to go on to another party and I was a bit envious.Relatives were great ,but to a young guy..mates were better.Briefly, I found the van keys and drove off to this farm to join in ,but only made it a mile down a country lane..when a telegraph pole jumped out and assaulted the van.I woke up looking at the stars( on my back without shoes and a splitting headache)I could hear whirring,steam hissing and realised the van was wrapped around the telegraph pole.The pole was where I had been sitting and it looked like the van had eaten it.I couldn`t move for a while, nothing worked ,but slowly I got up and staggered back to the van and switched lights and ignition off.Walking unsteadily to the nearest house,I rang the bell and waited in the darkness until the disturbed occupant slowly opened the door .Dressed in pyjamas ,he found one of the world`s first psychedelic gangsters, slumped in the porch with a bloody face ,asking for help.I wanted to say that Elliot Ness and The Untouchables had intervened to stop a vital "hooch" run -but it seemed more appropriate to ask for a cup of tea and a telephone.The guy got in touch with my long suffering old man, who took me off to hospital.The charge nurse insisted I did not have a cracked skull, but a cracked personality instead and should clear off home.

I was lucky to survive and the Goddess of jugbands ,Viola Lee herself,must have given me a lucky break.Today, this would have been a criminal offence (rightly so )but in those days the local copper,"Nobby Clarke" got me out of trouble -as long as I forked out £32 to have the pole replaced.My pole is still there.

The next morning one of our friends (the one who had suggested our new name "Purple Gang"..and who himself lived in a perpetual world of the "Roarin`2O`s )was passing by in his trilby hat and greatcoat (he was then 21 years old )..stopped and on seeing the van parked outside my parents ,on the grass verge, realised I had to have been killed,no-one could have survived that impact. Wonderfully, he took his hat off and stood to attention for several minutes, ( in a W.C.Fields type grand gesture of respect for the dead) then crossed himself and began to slowly walk away,head bowed.I banged on the window and waved ,eventually attracting his attention.He looked back to see the ghost of his old mate at the window and ran off.Later on of course he phoned and I confirmed that I had indeed been fortunate.(Two years earlier I had been in another terrible crash with him and he had lost the sight in his left eye ..again I was lucky..Viola Lee must have been on hand then also.)

TAKING OVER THE TOWN

Naturally the band were furious at my idiocy and really missed the dear old van.There was talk of concrete boots and canals..until I persuaded the ever- generous father of mine to bail me out by buying another.This he said he would do, on condition that when we hit the bigtime,he would have a red Ferrari off me.No problem,Geoff and I were going to be succesful songwriters, so we obtained the second Purple Gang van.

This second van was a Commer 15 cwt. and was black with" Purple Gang" in purple lettering down the sides, in typical `60`s swirly lettering.Foam was again used to kit out for sleeping.In the meantime Purple Gang had been contracted to appear as gangsters for an advertising campaign in Swinging Chelsea.

"Stone Dri" was a range of rainwear clothing and they wanted to be up with the "Happening" scene, so they asked their Ad. Agency art director to find a pop group to help sell a new image.He happened to be a fan ,so he came up with a gangster theme called "Taking Over The Town".We were to be in the shots (but behind the models) and at great expense, a 1920 Chrysler with running boards and whitewall tyres,was wheeled into the studio behind Cheyne Walk.There were Tiffany lamps, rubber plants and all the usual `20`s paraphenalia.We drove to Chelsea and found Frank Sweeney`s studio,parked up and went off for lunch to The Seven Bells.On return, there were a couple of old dears who had spotted this pop group van and wanted it removed ,forthwith ,from their solubrious neighbourhood.Frank came out to explain that we were expected to be there for several days and could they be tolerant.?No way ,they went off to see the local constabulary to get rid of these drug-crazed hippies..or were they drug-crazed gangsters….or even drug crazed hippie-gangsters?Either way they wanted us gone.Sure enough Old Bill called to see us, and they were really cool,saying if we just kept it quiet and did the job,then go quietly ..they would look away.They were sick of these complaining old miseries anyway.So we got on with being international models.

Next to us was a bistro called "Fanny By Gaslight"and the owners were ok with us but occasionally one or two customers peed down the sides of the van.One night a guy was too drunk to open his flies ,so his lady friend did it for him and not only that disgustingly held his penis whilst he peed over our van!So we went straight into singing "The Water Is Wide" to their embarrased shock..off they went followed by our jeers and laughter.

We had to change in the van, falling over one another as the models had commandeered the loos and changing rooms in the photographers studio.The morning passers -by would have to look twice as they saw gangsters getting out of the van.The models were gorgeous and slim ,but one girl who looked like a twig (NOT "Twiggy")fainted as soon as we started.This went on all morning until Frank gave her some money to go and feed herself as she was costing too much in time.She was also high on slimming pills.We posed around the car and played cards with trilbys ,cigars,props etc. then Walker took out his gun that he had fired over the heads of the UFO crowd some nights earlier..Frank wanted to use it ,so it went in the shot.But later the Art Director was nearly fired (pardon the unintentional pun ) for this ,as children were also in the shot.These adverts went in `60`s mags."Vogue","She", "Honey" and "Nova" and I still have some of the cuttings in my scrapbook.

BIKE

On the last night,the local residents sent a vigilante on his bike to harrass us into leaving.This was such a farce and needs telling.We were half asleep and we had made friends with all the hardworking models and had been out for a drink.So as we were about to settle down to sing to harmonica,as usual, we heard this squeak of bike brakes and a voice grumbling about "bloody hippies".Ank our jug player who was( and is still )a collector of memorabilia, had recovered a broken drumstiok out of "Sound Techniques"(as it would probably be one of Nick Mason`s of The "Floyd")and suddenly he had this in his hand.Then brazenly, the lone vigilante had come up to our van and started to let down a tyre(I wondered at this point where his logic was leading ,if he wanted us out).Ank flung open the back doors and we all yelled like savages.,tumbling out behind .The mortified vigilante stood in terror,then bolted towards his means of escape ..the bike.He jumped on and started peddling madly, looking for all the world like Kenneth Williams in a "Carry On " scene escaping from Hattie Jacques, until Ank threw the drumstick onto the pavement -where it rebounded up perfectly -into his front spokes.Over the handlebars he somersaulted,yelling for the police and landed in a flower bed.At this we got back in and drove around to Old Church Street by Sound Techniques,howling in tears of laughter…but still watching out for vigilantes.

THE HAPPIEST DAYS OF OUR LIVES

Further down the King`s Road was the World`s End pub and opposite was the now world famous( but gone) "Granny Takes A Trip"boutique run by artists Nigel Waymouth and Michael English.Not only did we do our publicity shots for the album there,Nigel also designed our poster there -of the old lady on the back of a Harley Davidson.now auctioned by such as Bonhams no less .We, however had this poster pasted on the van sides by now and were getting stopped by fans and hippie UFO club people.Then on went The 14 Hr Technicolour Dream poster with us proudly billed alongside Pink Floyd and all the others we shared our musical world with at that moment in time then a couple of other psychedelic ones and we weren`t so inconspicious anymore.

Eventually,Joe Boyd our manager got a big place at 90 Westbourne Terrace,Bayswater, and our van would be seen outside, though this time we had our own room (with The Incredible String Band lodging in the next )

However,before we all moved in there I had a weird experience going home one night.when the van was struck by lightning.It was raining hard and I had dropped everyone off and was alone driving home .Suddenly I jumped out of the seat as the van lit up blue and all lights went out.Also, my heart seemed to stop and the ends of my fingers tingled .This all happened in a second…but then it was over and I was back driving in control but shaking like a leaf.A scary but awesome experience…Viola Lee had given me a third let off

The van stayed with me one night when I had a cold. And the boys went off to look for grub in the Bayswater/Paddington area.I asked them to bring me a hamburger or something and settled down with Robin Williamson`s sitar.Two georgeous `60`s ladies called round that night, but I was the only one in and so they did not stay unfortunately.I regretted not asking the first to come and watch "East Of Eden" with me which was showing at the cinema round the back…….she would have said no anyway probably…..the late Sandy Denny,and the other..Caroline Coon about to start up RELEASE the drug bust help organisation along with Joe .Later that night a shaken Purple Gang came back to relate to me how they had a met a BBC radio disc jockey in the food joint, who had enticed them back to his flat and began showing them porno boy photographs and generally making lewd suggestions.When Chris Denning rang his mate Jonathon King and said "come round I`ve got The PurpleGang here"the band fled.King and Denning are both in jail(at time of writing) for sexual depravity/ paedephilia activities.(Denning later offered to plug "Granny Takes A Trip" free opting for a commission as he was so sure it would be a hit the second time around (in 1976).

Sometimes we would drive past the Albert Hall and Joe would say "We`re gonna play there soon guys"and I would gaze up at the place and think "If only".We never got to play it ,but the Incredibles did in their own inimitable flower-power way.

The van was seen back up in Cheshire between gigs outside the door of The Castle Inn back Church Wallgate as we would be inside with our friends.We would go off to parks and outdoor swimming pools,parties and such .The locals could not believe the way out look of the van by now.Sometimes we would give an imprompu performance off the back of the van as we could do the jugband stuff,we did this several times.

By now the van was being recognised around central London especially by UFO types or people who listened to John Peel`s "Perfumed Garden"Radio London Pirate radio show (he plays "Granny" to this day and it was played on his last show of "PG")

This culminated with the old van being mobbed by hippies in Oxford Street the day before we went up to MuswellHill and a date with The 14 Hr. Technicolour Dream.

The second van survived to an old age and ended up in a scrapyard somewhere……a bit like the band that lived and laughed in it all those years ago.

J.BEARD 2002 -04-05

These memoires belong to Joe Beard of The Purple Gang and may not be reproduced without permission .

www.thepurplegang.co.uk

C.J.BEARD…Daisy Bank Studio Poynton,Cheshire SKI2 ITG UK… June 2001…joe.beard@virgin.net 

Did You Read Part 1 ????

Images ~ Ernst Fuchs ~ Pardo ~ Paul Ortloff