Читать книгу Mad, Bad and Dangerous - The Book of Drummers' Tales - Spike Webb - Страница 12

Gary Powell was the first drummer with Pete Doherty’s band The Libertines. After front man Carl Barât’s much-publicised fall out with Doherty, the band split and Barât formed Dirty Pretty Things, taking Gary with him as drummer. Since then they have enjoyed several UK hits, the first of which, ‘Bang Bang You’re Dead’, reached number 5 in the UK singles chart. They’ve toured extensively and featured at festivals like The Isle of Wight and T in the Park. Gary has also played with The New York Dolls.

I met Gary in a Soho pub for a quick chat and we ended up eating sushi in a Japanese bar just off Leicester Square. It was there he told me about a regrettable incident a few years ago…

It’s been a heavy-going couple of weeks of rehearsals, culminating in a performance with the Dirty Pretty Things at the Fuji Festival in Japan. I’ve just checked into my hotel after a long flight. I’ve been drinking on the bus for five hours with no sleep all night, so I’m completely knackered and can’t wait to get my head down for a couple of hours. My room is on the seventh floor so I get into the packed hotel lift with my luggage and my drumstick/accessories bag slung over my shoulder. As I squeeze in, I am aware that my Vick Firth drumsticks are sticking out of my bag, possibly poking in the face of whoever’s standing behind me.

The doors close and the lift begins its slow assent upwards. Then a voice pipes up from behind: ‘Ahh! Vick Firth, someone’s a drummer!’

Someone’s taking the piss. All the tension of the last few days releases itself and I reply: ‘Oh Vick Firth, somebody’s a WISE ASS!’

The lift stops at the first floor and the doors open. A few people leave and the doors close once again. Unable to resist, I turn round to face my wise ass. Surprisingly, I recognise the face. Then the face speaks: ‘Hello, I’m Mitch Mitchell.’

Mitch Mitchell, the drummer in The Jimi Hendrix Experience! Someone Gary has admired ever since he started playing the drums. In fact, he’s a genuinely wise guy with whom Gary would have loved to have struck up a conversation, but now wouldn’t know where to start. Nice one.

Gary clams up. Well, he can hardly say, ‘I’m so sorry, Mitch. If I’d known it was you, I’d have been a lot more friendly because you’ve been one of my heroes ever since I started playing. Any chance we can start this conversation again with me being nicer?’

So the rest of the journey in the lift is conducted in total silence, with me staring at the lift doors. I can’t wait to get out. It seems to take forever to get up to the seventh floor, and the longer it takes, the less appropriate it feels for me to strike up another conversation.

Well, what could he say… ‘Anyway, you doing much at the moment?’

Or: ‘I’m doing the Fuji Festival. I could get you a back stage pass if you’d like to come along…’

When the lift finally reaches my floor, I step out with a sense of relief. But it doesn’t end there. Mitch steps out, too, and then follows me down the long corridor to my room. He’s staying in the room opposite!

Not only had Gary blown an opportunity for a quick chat with one of his all-time heroes, they might even have ended up hanging out together for the duration of the hotel stay.

Mitch: ‘Great to chat with you, Gary. Say, how about I knock you up in a couple of hours and we can go down to the bar – shoot the breeze!’

Gary: ‘Yeah sure, Mitch. Look forward to it!’

Sadly, it was not to be…

Most drummers have their heroes – usually more than one – but rarely do we get the opportunity to bump into them at close quarters. Even more rarely do we find ourselves insulting them in public. So next time I’m going about my business and someone I can’t see makes a comment pertaining to drumming, I shall keep my cool and be polite at all times. Just in case it’s Charlie Watts.