Steve Peregrin Took
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| Steve Peregrin Took | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Stephen Ross Porter |
| Born | July 28, 1949 |
| Origin | Eltham, London, England |
| Died | October 27, 1980 (aged 31) |
| Occupation(s) | Drummer, bassist |
| Instrument(s) | Drums, Bass guitar |
| Years active | 1968 - 1980 |
| Associated acts | T-Rex |
Steve Peregrin Took (July 28, 1949–October 27, 1980) was an English musician best known for his bongos playing and for his membership of T-Rex.
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[edit] Early life and Tyrannosaurus Rex
Took was born Stephen Ross Porter in Eltham, London. He took his name from the hobbit Peregrin Took in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. At the age of 17 he answered an advert in Melody Maker for the electric band that Marc Bolan was forming in response to his departure from John's Children.
Simon Napier-Bell, (their manager at the time), recalled of Bolan: "He got a gig at the Electric Garden then put an ad in Melody Maker to get the musicians. The paper came out on Wednesday, the day of the gig. at 3 o-clock he was interviewing musicians, at five he was getting ready to go on stage" ... "It was a disaster. He just got booed off the stage." [1]
Took outlived a gig disaster, the departure of other sidemen and, with Bolan, formed an economy version of the band, busking in subways on acoustic guitar and bongos. The 'official story' has always been that Track Records repossessed the electric equipment forcing the duo to go acoustic. Not so according to Napier Bell. In an interview not published until 2007 Napier Bell recalled of Bolan that after the first disastrous electric gig "He didn't have the courage to try it again; it really had been a blow to his ego." ... "Later he told everyone he'd been forced into going acoustic because Track had repossessed all his gear. In fact he'd been forced to go acoustic because he was scared to do anything else." [1]
Took had been forced to sell his full drum kit to enable the duo to pay the rent until paying gigs started to come in. As an ersatz flower-power unit, Tyrannosaurus Rex proceeded onto the club and stage circuit and thence into the record shops, where they clocked up three albums and two top 40 hits.
It was Took's arrangements which were instrumental in transforming Bolan's music from the straightforward rock 'n roll it had once been (and would again be one day) into an 'exotic' brew of musical influences which so enthralled Bolan's new target audience of 'hippies'.
In Tyrannosaurus Rex, Steve Took contributed harmony backing vocals which are more noticeable in live recordings such as the surviving footage from the 7th Jazz and Blues Festival held at Kempton Park Race Course. This Festival would go on to be the multi-million pound Reading Festival. Took also provided bongos, African drums, kazoo, pixiephone; Chinese gong and in later stages some bass guitar and returned to a full drum set.
While still in Took had begun to develop his own song writing and by early 1969, with recording just complete on Tyrannosaurus Rex's third LP, Unicorn, Took felt confident enough to make his move. According to Tony Visconti, Took tentatively suggested to Bolan that the duo could perform some of his own material as well as Marc's. Bolan refused. This was close to a final straw for Bolan and indeed Took.
In addition, by this time the life styles of Bolan and Took were in direct conflict. Bolan was living quietly with wife-to-be June Child, while Took was determinedly hanging out with the 'bad boys'. Bolan barely tolerated Took's drug use and Steve Mann now of Private Eye recalled that it was clear they "cordially detested each other". [2]
After Bolan's rejection Took took two of his songs to Twink. Subsequently, the songs were included on Twink's seminal album Think Pink. Bolan was furious at this.[1]
In addition, Took's friendship with Bolan's 'idol' Syd Barrett had also developed through their shared interests in both LSD (acid) and 'strange musical noises'. Mick Farren in a personal interview for [3] recalled that Took would "drag a bemused Syd Barrett along" to events in Ladbroke Grove in the late 1960s and indeed Took would remain friends with Barrett well into the 1970s. Given Bolan's reaction to Took's work with Twink it is unsurprising that Took's work with Syd Barrett on the still unreleased "Ramadan" tracks was kept a closely guarded secret for long after Bolan's death.[4] While in Tyrannosaurus Rex Took also worked with David Bowie and appears on a BBC Bowie album.
Before the poorly organised and promoted first Tyrannosaurus Rex tour of America Bolan and his management sacked Took. One reason was that at a party 'someone' spiked the punch and in Bolan's mind there was no doubt that it was Took, particularly as Took gloried in his nickname 'The Phantom Spiker'. [1]
Despite being sacked Took was contractually obliged to go on the US tour, but as you can imagine his heart was not in it and he 'drowned his sorrows' in as much drugs as possible. This allowed the management to say upon the return of Bolan and wife-to-be June that it was Took's behaviour on stage which had caused the sacking, rather than it was the sacking which caused the behaviour on stage.
Needless to say, Bolan replaced Took quickly and the rest is history in regard to Bolan as he transformed into the teen idol he wanted to be with his band T-Rex. An interesting note about Bolan's thoughts on the Tyrannosaurus Rex years is given by Simon Napier Bell: "Marc hated it, every single minute of it. He'd do a gig and the promoter would say 'oh sorry we can't pay you. Have a couple of joints instead, or a couple of sugar lumps". ... "And the more it went on, the more he hated it, because he was trapped in this horrible hippy thing, because he'd gone out of his way to attract an anti-commercial hippy audience". [1]
[edit] The Pink Fairies
After being sacked by Bolan, Took formed the Pink Fairies (mark 1) with newly ex-Deviant Mick Farren and Twink. They evolved out of the drinking club of the same name by Took, Syd Barrett, the Pretty Things, the Deviants etc in 1969. However, this didn’t last that long as Twink and the other Deviants formed a new band called the Pink Fairies (mark 2) which were greeted with applause before they even played a note due to the reputation of the name gained by the Took/Farren/Twink incarnation. Took appears prominently on Mick Farren's first solo album Mona the Carnivorous Circus (1970).
[edit] Shagrat
- Further information: Shagrat (band)
Larry (or "Lazza") Wallis and Tim Taylor, guitarist and bassist with 60s underground band the Entire Sioux Nation, were headhunted by Farren and Took in February 1970. A month later, Farren dropped out, leaving Took an outright bandleader for the first time in his career. With the addition of drummer Phil Lenoir, Shagrat was formed (the name is that of an orc in The Lord of the Rings); they recorded three tracks at Strawberry Studios and played live at Phun City before the rhythm section dropped out. Took and Wallis continued with drummer Dave Bidwell, rehearsing with various bass players and eventually forming an acoustic trio. Wallis would later join the Pinks, transforming the band, leading them on the Kings Of Oblivion LP. Later in 1975/6 Wallis and Took again worked together.
Took played support slots for Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies, as well as jamming as third drummer, and once even playing bass guitar for the Pinks. He worked with a number of Hawkwind members during his lifetime, most notably Robert Calvert and Nik Turner. While still with Bolan, Took recorded a session with Syd Barrett; it appears likely that Barrett is on the recordings done in Mayfair by Took and friends in 1972 which were recorded while Took was managed by Bolan's ex-manager Tony Secunda.
[edit] Steve Took's Horns
Steve Took's Horns was not just another of Steve Took's many projects in his gloriously ill-fated (and too often overlooked) solo career, it was also the first band together of Trevor Thoms and Ermanno Ghisio-Erba, or as Inner City Unit (ICU) fans would know them, Judge Trev and Dino Ferari.
The group recorded a session of three brilliant studio tracks in November '77 before going on to perform a gig on 18 June 1978 at the The Roundhouse, as part of "Nik Turner's Bohemian Love-In"
Took felt the gig had gone badly, and the years of being dismissed as a 'drugged-up loser' by various people particularly those in the Bolan fraternity took their toll. So for Steve himself, it was a depressing enough experience for him to pull the plug on the band shortly after they came offstage.
However the potency and talent within the band had made too much of an impression on those close to Steve Took's Horns for the story to end there. Nik Turner, having first drafted Ermanno/Dino into Sphynx for a live festival LP recorded that August, went on in 1979 to incorporate the Trev/Dino partnership into the new Inner City Unit.
Took guested with ICU a number of times; the last recorded dates being June 16, 1980 and sometime around June 21, 1980 at the Stonehenge Free Festival in Wiltshire. A festival frequented by other 'Festival Bands' most famously Took's old Ladbroke Grove 'mates' Hawkwind.
[edit] Steve Took's death
Steve Took's life ended on Monday 27 October 1980. Took was just 31 years old. Took was sharing a flat just off Portobello Road with Valerie Billet. Due to Tony Secunda's financial activities in 1972 royalty cheques were arriving more frequently, and Took had received one that week. The lack of deprivation seems, ironically, to have stripped Took of incentive to perform and thus advance his career.
The day prior to his death, Took had bought some drugs for himself and Billet, mainly some powdered morphine and a bag of magic mushrooms. Billet recalled that the evening before Took died they had both injected themselves with the morphine. The effects of morphine and magic mushrooms are both short lived and Took's death certificate records the cause of death as being due to asphyxiation after inhaling a cocktail cherry (and not a cherry stone as incorrectly listed in some sources). Drugs were not listed as a contributing factor,[3] even though Took's death is often wrongly listed as a "drugs misadventure"[5].
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e DVD & 72 page Book - T-Rex - Up Close And Personal Book author Dave Thompson - Published 2007
- ^ Days in the Life: Voices from the English Underground, 1961-71 by Jonathon Green
- ^ a b http://www.steve-took.co.uk Steve Took's Domain]
- ^ Random Precision: Recording the Music of Syd Barrett, 1965-1974 by David Parker
- ^ http://www.portobellofilmfestival.com/talkpics/talk-babylon5.html Tom Vague’s Hollywood Babylon W11
[edit] External links
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