My first wife, Krissie, was working as a receptionist for Don Arden at his Carnaby Street office, where she witnessed at first hand some of the problems the band were having. The Small Faces, despite a number one hit record with ‘All Or Nothing’, seemed to be permanently broke. She introduced me to Steve as she thought we were very similar personalities and also because my band of the time, the Birds, were experiencing similar management problems with Robert Stigwood. She thought that, perhaps, I could help Steve with the problems they were having as she knew that I loved that band so much. It was a bad time for them, Don Arden had stopped taking their calls, for some ridiculous reason, and Steve and Ronnie Lane blocked up every line on the switchboard so that nobody else could get through and Don would then have to talk to them. Unfortunately, Krissie would get the brunt of Don’s agitation as he would get really angry and shout and rant at her as if it was her fault. Towards the end of their time with him, the Small Faces got really scared of Don, and I recall a time after they had left that Don had sent one of his henchmen to the house that they were living in at Marlow, and actually fired a gun at the property. The Birds’ problems were not in the same league as theirs, thank goodness. I hung out with Steve at his various abodes and watering holes, but never really got to know the other guys at that time. I’d see Ronnie Lane at Steve’s gaff sometimes, but never really spoke to him. He was always smiling and I nicknamed him Smilin’ Head!
By February 1967, the Birds were no more and my new band, the Jeff Beck Group, were signed up to support US legend Roy Orbison on a nationwide tour that also included Paul and Barry Ryan and my heroes the Small Faces. No one in their right mind ever toured with the Small Faces! The tour kicked off at the Finsbury Park Astoria (better known as the Rainbow in later years) on 3rd March and the opening night was disastrous. The band were under-rehearsed but, worse still, the amplification broke down mid set. Well that’s what we thought at the time. Turns out it was sabotaged by those little East End urchins, BASTARDS!! Steve Marriott, or was it Ian McLagan? Probably both, actually. Just pulled the plug out of the wall. Why? Well just a bit of a laugh actually... thanks guys. Steve, always a practical joker, would ‘borrow’ Orbison’s guitar just before every performance, while the other guys took his attention away by chatting to him, and retune it to an even higher pitch forcing Roy to reach for notes previously thought impossible except for castrati. Orbison, handicapped by poor eyesight, never realised why the Faces were so friendly before each performance. The fact that his new best friends were in hysterics in the wings during his set should have given him a clue!
I think the Small Faces were seen in some quarters as a poor man’s Who. They were somewhere between a teeny bopper band and a progressive outfit. They were always one of England’s finest bands, though. I’ve always dug the album Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake, that really was a masterpiece. Myself and Rod played that record to death, absolutely loved it. It was ahead of its time. Ogden’s really should have scored on the same level as Tommy. When Steve left the band in the lurch we all thought he was mad, why on earth would you want to split that band? I was such a big fan it left me feeling gutted. Steve’s declaration in the music press that he ‘wanted to play with better musicians’ was below the belt and left a very sour taste in the mouths of the other three.
Although we crossed paths a few times on the road, it was then a matter of fast forward six years. Mick Taylor had left the Rolling Stones and there was a vacancy for just about the best job in the world. I’d been filling in and really expected to be given the nod on a permanent basis, without the whole rigmarole of auditioning. But audition time it was, in various locations across Europe, and the ‘opposition’ was truly awesome. The likes of Jeff Beck, Rory Gallagher, Peter Frampton and a whole host more including Steve Marriott vying for a place in the best band in the whole wide world (well, in my eyes anyway). Keith Richard was actually in Steve’s corner and still tells me today that Marriott should have got the job. Mick was never keen, I wonder why! Anyway, I got the job on a permanent basis and I’m still there living the dream.
Steve always had determination to remain in control at all costs, Mod ethics!
He was a good mate.