Phil May Interview
Part 1

By Mike Stax
(Originally published in UGLY THINGS #4, 1985)
SECTION ONE (via mail)
UT: You come from Dartford, Kent, did you have a basically middle class background?
PHIL: Yes, I'd even say partly lower mid class.
UT: Any particular childhood memories?
PHIL: My childhood was spent being shunted round from house to house, school to school, due to parental fracturing, stepfathers, etc…
UT: When did you first start getting into rock'n'roll and R&B?
PHIL: When I was at art school. I was turned on to R&B by fellow students, Keith Richards, Dick Taylor. We sat around playing guitars or listening to tapes of Howling Wolf, Bo, Chuck, etc.
UT: What made you decide to form your own R&B band?
PHIL: When the Stones went pro and Dick decided to stay on at college we formed the Pretty Things.
UT: Were you surprised at the Pretties' sudden success?
PHIL: Hard to say really, it just happened.
UT: How did you feel about all the unjustified criticism that the Pretties were just copying the Stones?
PHIL: It didn't really affect us, and seeing Brian Jones lived in part of our house, we remained in contact, if not as bosom buddies, though both Viv and myself spent a lot of time with Brian J.

UT: I've seen pictures with Brian Pendleton playing bass, and John Stax on harp, did Brian play bass on any of the records?
PHIL: I don't think he played it on record, though I think Dick did.
UT: Did you, or John Stax, play most of the harp on the records?
PHIL: We split it between us.
UT: What was the first original song you wrote?
PHIL: I think the first was a B-side on the second single, the name of which escapes me. ("We'll Be Together").
UT: Was writing originals easy for you?
PHIL: It was really a necessity, we needed material.
UT: You got "You'll Never Do It Baby" off the Cops & Robbers, were you friends with them?
PHIL: I'm not sure if we got it off them, though we certainly knew them.
UT: What bands did you hang around with most?
PHIL: Them, I suppose, P.J Proby, Donovan.
UT: You knew Twink at this time, do you remember much about his band, the Fairies?
PHIL: Yes, we played a lot of gigs together. We liked the band musically and as people.
UT: What kind of reaction would you get walking down the street looking the way you did? Was there a lot of hostility?
PHIL: Yes certainly lots of hostility and hysteria from fans.
UT: Did you go out of your way to create outrage?
PHIL: It seemed to follow us. Though give a dog a bad name etc!
UT: Your live shows were supposed to be the wildest. I've seen pictures of Viv Prince crawling around the stage, not even playing his drums. And pictures of you rolling around on the floor and generally going insane ... What could an audience at a Pretty Things show in, say, 1965, expect to see?
PHIL: Just what you described.
UT: What exactly happened to Viv Prince on the 1965 Australia/New Zealand tour?
PHIL: I guess due to general excess, he slipped a few cogs. Though the conditions throughout the tour were conducive to such behaviour.
UT: You had a fanatical following in Europe, especially in Holland and Germany, why do you think this was?
PHIL: They identified with the spirit of anarchy in the band.
UT: Can you tell me something about the Pretty Things movie that was made in 1966?
PHIL: It was just really a forerunner of the promo video. It was a lot of fun to make, everyone was experimenting with music and film (visuals).
UT: What were the circumstances surrounding Stax and Pendleton's departure from the group in 1967? Do you know of their current whereabouts?
PHIL: I think they generally found the going too tough, the exchange rate not favourable. Brian, I'm not sure where he is, but John is alive and well in Australia, I saw some pictures of him taken earlier this year.
UT: I've read a lot of negative comments you've made about the Emotions album, do you feel there was any worthwhile material on there?
PHIL: Yes some, but it was overlaid with Reg Tilsley's arrangements that didn't always enhance.
UT: Is there any unreleased early material still in the vaults? Live tapes?
PHIL: Don't think so.
UT: What is your favourite Pretty Things record?
PHIL: S.F. Sorrow, if I had to choose, though there's fondness for others.
UT: You've just released a new album that shows a definite return to the old R&B material, any chance of a Pretty Things tour in the near future? If so, can we expect to see you in the U.S.A.?
PHIL: We are touring in the U.K. and Europe, though I'm not sure about U.S.A. That would only happen with a hit single I guess.
UT: What other plans do you have for the future?
PHIL: Cutting a new song, possible single!
UT: Any closing comments?
PHIL: Both Dick and I still enjoy playing and the line up we have now is one of the best we've had. Apart from that, who knows?
SECTION TWO (via telephone)
UT: You say Dick Taylor played bass on some of the early records, was this only on a couple of tracks, or was it common practice?
PHIL: No, it was just if John was playing harmonica and we wanted to take it in one take, then Dick would play bass. Or the only other way would be if Dick had worked out a bass line just by sitting around on a certain number. When we came to record it, it would be much easier for Dick to play it, leaving John free to play harmonica or something else.
UT: Did you use session men on any of the early records? 'Cos I've read interviews where people like Jimmy Page claim to have played on Pretty Things records.
PHIL: No. Jimmy I think is the only person. He came down to the session 'cos he had an idea for a song, which I wrote with Jimmy and Bobbie Graham, who was our producer, a song called "You Don't Believe Me." Jimmy came down to sort of routine it with the band, and ended up playing on it.
UT: Did Bobbie Graham produce all your early records?
PHIL: He produced a couple of singles and one album.
UT: So he produced the Get The Picture album?
PHIL: Yes, that's right.
UT: What's all this about questions being asked in Parliament about the issue of the Pretty Things? It mentions it on the back of the second album.
PHIL: Well, that was in actual fact, I think, the New Zealand Parliament, 'cos we had a life ban from New Zealand.
UT: Was that due to an incident with setting some stage curtains on fire?
PHIL: Well there was quite a few incidents! Certainly when we left, our manager had an ulcer and collapsed in New Zealand. He was in hospital for about six weeks after we left! So he got to see all the television bulletins, and we were given a life ban, I don't know, I mean I've never tried to go back, but we were supposed to never be allowed back.
UT: What kind of things would be going on?
PHIL: Well, it was kind of … it was just normally what happens on a tour. But they said that we corrupted the morals of New Zealand youth. What was brought up in Parliament was us and bands of our similar persuasion shouldn't be allowed to tour New Zealand again.
UT: What was the incident with Viv Prince setting some things on fire onstage?
PHIL: 0h, well it wasn't so much Viv, it was the kids. Because Viv was running round with a lighted torch on stage, a lot of seats were burned and broken up, and after the band went offstage the kids rioted and smashed the place up. It wasn't so much that Viv though. I mean they were very worried about the fire anyway, on stage, and they would try to sort of throw water over it and things!
UT: So what would be going on musically when Viv was running around not even playing the drums?
PHIL: Well it was just something like a Bo Diddley number or whatever.
UT: Yeah, that's what I thought, it would just be like a Bo Diddley number, but without drums.
PHIL: He used to take a drum out with him! Various bits and pieces, throw 'em all on, anything!
UT: Tell me about 13 Chester Street -- who lived there?
PHIL: It was a house we used in Belgravia, which is right around the corner from Buckingham Palace. It's property owned by the Duke Of Westminster, who owns about a third of London, or quite a large part of the very expensive part of London. We rented the house for about a year, Brian Jones lived there, the Pretty Things, various people used to come and stay. We were eventually kicked out because of all the comings and goings at all hours of the night, there was always parties being raided by the police. In the end when our lease came up they kind of kicked us out, because they thought we were basically bringing the tone of the neighbourhood down.
UT: Did Viv Prince have some kind of drug bust early on?
PHIL: Um, I don't really know if he actually had any form for it, whether he was seriously convicted for it. I don't think he was picked up ever with us.
UT: So there wasn't a lot of trouble with the police hassling you or anything?
PHIL: There was always associations between the band and drugs, but in the early days I don't think anybody was picked up. We were searched at airports and things, they raided the house, but I don't think anybody was ever charged with anything.
UT: Have you seen Viv recently?
PHIL: The last time I saw him was when we recorded the live album.
UT: What's he doing now?
PHIL: He's on the fringe of Hell's Angels I think! (laughs) He's not playing drums at the moment. But he's still the same Viv -- still quite a lunatic! He was in very good form, he seemed remarkably healthy.
UT: What about Skip Alan? What's he doing?
PHIL: Skip I saw a few days ago. He's running his father's factory. His father has a factory and he jacked it in, so Skip had to try it. He didn't really have much choice -- take it over or let it go. Skip's running that.
UT: Must be a whole different thing from being in the Pretty Things.
PHIL: Oh yeah. He said so. He's in good form, but he's missing music very much.
UT: Why did the Pretty Things never tour the USA, until the seventies?
PHIL: The management -- which was foolish really on their be part -- felt they were making money in Europe, and they wanted to wait for a really serious offer. Also, to some extent, our record company in America never worked very well with the singles.
UT: I think they only released a couple of them.
PHIL: Well "Don't Bring Me Down" was covered by an American band, and they banned our one, they wouldn't play it on the radio. So rather than get us to kind of get round that in some way, or persevere with it, they let another band cover it who got a hit with it. (Miami's H.M. Subjects took it to #5 in Florida, - MS) If the single had got into the Top Ten in America (the Pretties' version) we'd have obviously toured. I think that kind of management, again, it wasn't particularly a wise move, I mean it was a bit stupid on their part. But they were waiting for the sort of ultimate killer record to go there with. Then we offered Dick Clark sort of various tours, but the money was so bad I guess the management turned their back on America. They thought they were being smart and holding out. We were working so much in Europe they didn't feel the need, which was very shortsighted of them. But I also believe that if we had gone to America then, the band would have split up by the seventies. I think if the band had gone there and done very well, like the success we had in Europe, it would have sort of blown everybody out much faster. And America was always something left for us in the seventies, to aim for. Which is why when we got Savage Eye and Silk Torpedo in the charts there, there was still something to do there. Whereas, if it all happened in '64, then when the band started to break up in sort of '67 or '68 -- John Stax left and Pendleton left -- I think it would have all gone. It would have blown itself out really. It all happened pretty quick anyway -- almost too much too soon. I think if America had have happened that soon -- I don't say that Dick and I and Skipper wouldn't have gone on playing -- but I think the Pretty Things would have kind of just wiped themselves out.