Such a pretty thing: A former Rolling Stone – Dick Taylor!

‘So we had the brother of Mick Jagger here and next year Dick Taylor is going to play here.’ I needed to laugh, yeah, Dick Taylor – I get the joke. But I didn’t get it. Ulli Schröder wasn’t talking about a Mick Taylor or a Rolling Stones tribute coming to the Stones Fan Museum in Lüchow. Dick Taylor has been a Rolling Stone! Back in the 60s, when the Stones started rolling. He was there, when it all began. And he left long before the group got famous, even before Charlie Watts joined them.

After that he and Phil May started The Pretty Things, May being titled by the press the man with the longest hair in Britain. The tabloid press, hm? And the more I read about Dick Taylor, the more interesting it got. The songs he wrote with his “long term band” are underrated gems, let me just name some for example: Midnight to Six Man, L.S.D. and of course the very first rock opera S.F. Sorrow!

Source: YouTube, Beat-Club

The months flew by and finally, it happens. Again, we are at the Stones Fan Museum and this time we just saw Dick Taylor performing with Tallyman.

But the story doesn’t end here, it’s just getting started. So here we go: After doing some signing after the show, Dick Taylor sits down, parking his pint next to mine. We’re introducing ourselves and I’m having a good feeling about this. My first question is going to be one that now seems stupid, as we just witnessed that rock ‘n’ roll is definitely not dead. So I’m telling him that I’m kind of ashamed to ask this now, but…

I need to ask you as a rock ‘n’ roll veteran performer.
Is rock ‘n’ roll dead?
Dick: It didn’t appear to be tonight. No, no. I mean, I do quite a lot of gigs where I live, and we have great audiences and no, it’s definitely not dead.
So you’re still doing shows from time to time?
Dick: I do. I live on the Isle of Wight, which is an island of England. And there’s a good local music scene. So I work maybe once a week on the Isle of Wight and then come and do stuff, in Europe or in mainland England every little while. It’s great. I hate to say it, but since The Pretty Things stopped, I’m actually doing more gigs. (laughs) It’s crazy. It’s crazy because, okay, they’re not big gigs, but I really enjoy playing. I may not be making a fortune, but I love it. Things like tonight are great, you know?
Yeah, it was a very special night.
I mean, if you look at the stage, there’s even a christmas tree. It’s totally weird! Why?!
Dick: (laughs) No idea! Yeah, but there’s loads of things with big tongues sticking out – why? (laughs again) No, this place is amazing. Have you seen the Isetta car over there? The little bubble car? It’s brilliant. I’ve got a little lamp which comes from 1959, which I’ve had forever. And, I thought maybe I could swap it for the Isetta (laughs)!

The elephant in the room

Let’s travel a bit into the past.
After some research, I stumbled upon this photograph of you and Keith Richards.

Young Dick Taylor and Keith Richards 

Dick: Wow.
You recall that?
Dick: Yeah, of course, but this is a very good print of it. Where did you get this?
On the internet. After some research. And then I went to the local drugstore to print it.
Dick: It’s really well printed. Well, because these pictures were taken by my mother. And some people from the RadioTimes, which is a big official BBC magazine in Britain, came and interviewed me and they said: ‘Oh could we borrow the pictures? We’ll give them back.’ And they’re gone. They never came back. So I want to find who has now got the originals and sue the fuck out of him (we’re both laughing).

Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and…

So here’s the other one. I think it’s Brian, right?
Dick: No no no. This guy is a guy called Allen Etherington who was also… I don’t know what he’s doing with a guitar, ’cause he never really played guitar. But he used to play the harmonica and shake maracas and things, when it was Little Boy Blue and The Blue Boys. Why we had that name? I have no idea. Well, I kind of do, because, do you know who Alexis Korner was?
Yes.
Dick: Well, Alexis, asked if we could give him a tape. So, we’ve been playing for years, but only rehearsing. We rehearsed in that room there (the window on the right). Maybe once a week.
Was that the living room?
Dick: It’s the living room of my parents house – yeah. The dining room. Anyway, Alexis said: ‘Can we have a tape? What are you called?’ And I think it was Mick who said Little Boy Blue and The Blue Boys (laughs). I always think what would have happened if we hadn’t had met Brian Jones. I don’t think a stadium would be filled for a Little Boy Blue and The Blue Boys (laughs again). But on the other hand, The Rolling Stones, I mean, when we thought of that name, I know we were rehearsing and again, we needed a name. And someone, we just played Rolling Stone Blues… and someone said, why not The Rolling Stones? But I don’t know who it was. It may have been Mick. It may have been Brian Jones, it may have been Keith, it might have been me. I do not know.
You have no idea, right?
Dick: No. I’m wondering if it was me because I thought of a few names for bands, so maybe. I don’t know. I’m definitely not going to claim it, but I’d love to know – you know – which one of us it was. Brians partner for years, I spoke to her, and she said, she remembered we were standing by a fireplace, which is right. Which was, you know, it was a room above a pub in Soho. And she remembers the name being suggested again and doesn’t know who.
It’s like with your first gig at The Marquee – people aren’t sure who was the drummer.
Dick: No and the crazy thing is that Mick Avery, who was listed as the drummer – he was asked – he said, I don’t remember. The one thing which I think you would remember, is playing the very first Rolling Stones gig. It surely would jog a couple of memory cells. I’m actually doing a gig on Monday – after I get back from Germany on the way back to my house – and Mick is playing the drums – Mick Avery. I’m gonna ask him sayin’: ‘Was it you, really? Were you just bullshitting when you said you don’t remember?’ But it would be lovely for him to say yes or no. Yeah.
I’ve got a question to this photographs as well:
If it’d be possible – what would you say to the young man next to Keith?
Dick: I’d say, become an accountant. (both laughing)
Change your profession, right?
Dick (laughs): Don’t do it! No, no, no, no, not so. I’d say: ‘That bloody bass is too big and is too heavy and why don’t you play guitar?’

I think that you have been asked this many times:
Do you regret quitting the Stones?
Dick: And my answer always is I regret the fact that people ask me if I regret leaving the Stones. Sorry, sorry.
I’m sorry.
Dick: I’m not gonna walk away, don’t worry. And the answer actually is no. Not really, because there are a good few reasons: I enjoy my life I have now, and I’ve enjoyed my life mostly over the however many years it is. Also, it’s impossible to imagine what it would have been like. You know, it’s basically a kind of non question. But as to leaving the Stones, no, I don’t think I would have liked to – honestly – to be in that position. Not because…, they are lovely guys, you know, they all, Keith’s a really nice guy. But he’s always Keith Richards, you know, he can’t walk down the street without people (going): ‘Wow oh, Keith…’ It must drive you mad. There was a woman who worked for the Stones. Sherrie Daily, who I knew quite well. And she had to do something with Ronnie Wood just after it’d been announced that he wasn’t well. Cancer or whatever. And she said the number of photographers coming up to him, and he couldn’t move, you know? I don’t think I would have enjoyed it – life in a goldfish bowl. No, it’s not for me. I like the fact that The Pretty Things were kind of slightly a cold band in a way. And over the years we got more and more credible, particularly with younger people. So that’s great. You know, that’s a good position of being, I don’t know, anyway.

Drummer drama and more

So let’s forget the Stones.
Your time with The Rolling Stones has been a very brief one.
But your time with The Pretty Things not.
What’s your craziest memory from that time?
Dick: Oh, shit. (laughs)
I got ya!
Dick: You did get me! I don’t know, holding our drummer by his underpants after he decided he was gonna climb out of a high window.
Why would he do that? To climb out and…
Dick: ‘Cause he was crazy. He’s crazy. Most of the crazy moments were to do with drummers.
It’s the drummers, right?
Dick: Yeah, we seemed to attract mad drummers.
Oh, really?
Dick: Yeah.
Which one was it?
Dick: That one was Skip Alan. He was actually the fifth drummer, because we started with a guy – because we went to art school – who I was in art school with, Pete Kitley, who is a lovely guy. But Phil always used to say he could only play one drum at a time. He couldn’t use both hands. Boom boom blop (imitates simplest drumming) But not, you know. And then we had another guy, a guy called Viv Andrews. Who was actually quite a good drummer, but he didn’t last very long. And then we had one called Viv Prince? No! And then we had another guy, whose name was John something or other… Phil didn’t like him.
Oh oh, bad chemistry, yeah?
Dick: Yeah, bad chemistry. I don’t know why. I really don’t know why. So he didn’t last very long. Then this guy Viv Andrews, who for some reason left or I don’t know. And then actualIy I do know we got spotted for a record company, and they said: ‘Really, we want to sign you.’ But we need a better drummer. So I’m afraid we got a better drummer who was Viv Prince. And Viv Prince was the first mad one. And then we had Skip Alan who was also mad. And… I don’t know. We’ve had several since then, but the last one we had was a guy called Jack Greenwood, who was, when he joined the band in… about 15 years ago? No, longer ago than that. He was 16. And the bass player, I would say George was 16 when he joined and they were great. They were such a good rhythm section. And weirdly, they actually, as a line up, it was the most stable line up we ‘ve had. It was maybe 15 years with them. So which was great. And they played right up until the very last electric show we did.
Ah, with David Gilmour and all that.
Dick: Yeah, yeah. All that. It was good because although we were obviously very different ages for some reason we all got on so that was great.
I think it’s not the age, it’s the people.
Dick: Yeah, yeah. Exactly.
It’s the same tonight with the Tallyman, the young gitarrist. How young is he? In his twenties?
Dick: Yeah, early twenties. He’s very good. Markus (Doms) is great.

Talking about memories, you and Phil May recorded Out Of The Island at the Jovel studio in Münster, in Germany.
Dick: No, we didn’t. It wasn’t recorded in Münster.
Yeah, you did. Or you didn’t?
Dick: Maybe it was. But the record company was based in a town in the south. I’m pretty sure. But anyway, we recorded… – that was a strange recording because it was when CD’s first really appeared. And how we recorded it, we recorded it basically live straight to digital. So it was squeaky clean. You know, these days people really wanna… when they record, they really want to have some analog equipment involved to make it warmer. Well, this was exactly the opposite. Nothing in between. You know, straight to digital. And mixed. Not mixed afterwards. No mixing involved. No, nothing. Just get the sound good. Record it. And that was the idea. So that’s how that happened. And it was actually gonna be called Off The Island but I asked John Langford from The Mekons to design a cover. And when the design for it came back… (laughs) This is a great sign. Only trouble is this is “Out Of The Island”, (laughs) So we kept that.

Any fond memories of working in Germany?
Dick: Oh, God. Hundreds of fond memories. Germany is such a great place to work.
Oh really? I didn’t expect that.
Dick: Ah really?! (laughs) You’ve obviously not been a musician who’s worked in England. (laughs) No, in Germany you’re treated very well. In England, you’re one step lower than the cleaners.

That’s right, I haven’t been. But I’ve witnessed things whilst being on tour in the UK in 2018, so I’m telling Dick Taylor this:
I went on tour with some friends. And in England, you get like a bag of sandwich toast, sliced cold meats and that’s all. And here you get pizza, drinks and stuff… These guys sold out a show and all they got was a bottle of red wine. And we were like seven people. Wow.
Dick: You’re lucky, you got a bottle of red wine (laughs).

What’s the worst you’ve got for a gig?
Dick: Certainly less than a bottle of red wine (laughs again).

Now’s your stage. Your words.
What do you want to say to the readers of this interview?
Dick: It’s great still to be doing stuff like, podcast interviews. Rather than sitting at home watching TV. (laughs) You know, it’s great to be gigging. It’s great not to be in a care home. (laughs) I think to be honest, I think playing music keeps your brain young. It really does. So I recommend it to everybody – just play music. Do something with your brain. Keep it working.

Big tongues and Keith Richards

So we’re getting to the last question.
Tonight you entered the stage of the Stones Fan Museum with Tallyman. What are your thoughts about this crazy place?
Dick: It’s insane, but it’s marvelous. It’s absolutely fantastic. But if I see another one of those big tongues, I’m going to – I don’t know – throw up. (laughs) I’ve seen enough big tongues now for my whole life. It’s a very clever image. Fantastic image. And another good reason for not staying in the Stones. Take a look at some of the caricatures of Keith and Mick and Ronnie. Imagine, you go into a place and you look at a picture of yourself, and you see these giant big fag, cigarette in your mouth. The thing is, Keith is such a nice guy, and he’s not like the image at all.
No?
Dick: No, no, no.
So what he’s like?
Dick: Well, all I can say is, last time they played on the Isle of Wight, where I live, I was invited to see the show and was also invited to the pre gig party. And I met Keith with my wife and my daughter. And I hadn’t seen him for years, and he was just so nice to us. And he was absolutely with my wife and my daughter. He was just lovely. So, yeah. You know, the image is one thing. The person is something else. I have a friend who has a radio station. The aerial got destroyed in a storm and the government department, which regulates radio stations, said, either you repair, if you don’t repair it by a certain time, we charge you something like 25.000 pounds or some big figure. And, Chris, who runs the station, was desperate, and he didn’t know what to do. And one day he opens the post. And in it was a check for the cost of the aerial from Keith.

And another person I met said they were collecting for repairs to a church and they thought, for a laugh, for knock on Keith’s house door, because they knew where he lived. And again he paid for that, so… a very generous man. The radio station is ’cause, it only played music, at that time you could only play music (like this) before 1960. And Keith either used to listen to it. Or one of his offspring, one of his children used to listen to the radio station. I mean he just likes the station. And that’s why he gave the money. But I don’t know how he found out. Maybe because it was taken off the air. Because it was stopped. So he made enquiries and found out.

Dick, thanks for your time and for being so kind! That was wonderful!

With Ulli Schröder and Dick Taylor.

The photographs from Dick Taylors past are used with his friendly permission.