plainxte - Tumblr blog

plainxte · 2 days

Text

Queen Fanclub Convention 2023 Part 3: Ken Testi

Next on this series of posts on the Queen Fanclub Convention 2023 is a panel interview with Ken Testi, who was roadie and manager to Ibex and was still involved when the band later became Queen. (My post on the previous interview with Sue Johnstone here!)

A list of highlights for you who cba with the long transcript. Just as with Sue, some of has been previously told across different sources about early Queen:

Ken was the person who put Freddie on stage the first time with Ibex. He witnessed Freddie coming up with the "gimmick" of taking off the boom arm from his mic stand.

He afterwards arranged gigs for Queen around Liverpool, the last time being at Top Rank Club to support 10cc.

Queen once rejected a £25k advance offered by B&C Records, owned by Tony Stratton-Smith, because they don't want to be second-fiddle to Genesis.

Ken's favourite memory of Freddie was when he was playing with Ken's 4 year-old sister on his lap teaching her to play noughts and crosses (tic-tac-toe).

Just as I did with Sue, I came up to Ken for a selfie and he also kindly signed my programme (click to enlarge picture).

Transcript is under the cut below. I used the help of an auto transcription service and edited it manually afterwards.

Disclaimer: English is not my first language so there are parts that I marked as "indistinct" and the accuracy may not be 100%. This wouldn't be their fault for not pronouncing it clearly, it would be mine for not catching it properly. There were words that I tried to guess based on context, marked with (?) at the end. (A LOT of indistinct words in this one... they're both from Liverpool.) I also tried my best to cross-check with other sources to ensure accuracy.

TW: Mentions of transphobic content. Regrettably, after properly cross-checking some materials, I realized there was a mention of an outdated, transphobic comedy sketch in the narrative. I marked the start and end of this section in bold red. Please proceed with caution.

Jim Jenkins (J): Right, we're back to our second interview. That is our last interview for the day. We've got two interviews. The only guest that wasn’t coming, who I would have loved to be here because he would have completed Sue, Tim Staffell… He would have been great, but hopefully he's going to come next year. So I'll tell you who he is before hand... (indistinct) (Note: I realize now that he was referring to John Harris… who’s going to be a guest in the convention for 2024.) So anyway, so for our second interview today, we're going to bring on stage a gentleman that was really around Queen in the very beginning. And I mean the beginning. He didn't get recognized in the movie Bohemian Rhapsody. And I think if anyone should have been in that movie, it's this man now because he did so much for Queen. Will you please welcome Mr. Ken Testi! (applause)

Ken Testi (K): Shall I sit down?

J: Yeah, just sit down there.

K: (to the audience)Thanks for coming!

J: Thank you for coming. I’m sorry… and I know

K: Sue, yeah. Where are you, Sue? Is she still here?

J: Yeah, she’s right there (in the audience).

K: (to Sue in the audience) You were so right on so many counts. I mean, they are such nice boys, you know, I mean – and I took them to meet my mum, and my grandmother, and they were lovely they brought a box of chocolates, cause you know, I mean they were nice, well brought-up (indistinct). (to the audience) Sorry, this is a conversation between me and Sue. (laughter) But we’ll talk about that later.

J: I wish you could be seen backstage just before Tim… Ken sees Sue, and Tim Staffell walked in Sue was like (imitates excited squeal). It was brilliant, it was absolutely brilliant! I love reunions. You know (indistinct) when you see people at the convention… that was brilliant.

So Ken, I want to take you back to 1969…

K: If only you could. (laughter)

J: Would you change a few things?

K: Oh, yeah. Yes.

J: Okay. In ‘69, you were involved with the band called Ibex.

K: Yes. A school band.

J: Yeah, right they were. So, you went to London with them, and then, what happened?

K: Eh… Well what happened from Ibex, really, until one night we were celebrating Pat McConnell’s... (nods to Sue in the audience) Sorry, that was another nod to Sue, yeah. Pat McConnell’s 21st birthday, and we asked her where she wanted to celebrate her birthday, and she said, well, let's go to The Kensington (pub), because there's a local band in Kensington called Smile, and all of her girlfriends that were – the different ladies colleges around Kensington at that time, they'd all had Smile playing at their various functions. Very popular band. And all the girls fancied the guys, like (indistinct), they were all really good-looking guys, and they sometimes went to The Kensington, so I think we'd make Pat's birthday celebration complete if they just happened to walk into the pub that night.

Well, bugger me. (laughter) They did. Tim wasn't there, but Brian and Roger were, with their friend Fred. Now Fred wasn't in their band, as you know, and I wasn't in Ibex, so Fred and I were on the outside of the conversation, while the girls were enjoying themselves chatting to the guys from Smile and introducing them to the guys from Ibex. Freddie and I were standing off, because we weren't actually part of those bands, and I offered to buy Fred a drink, and he said, he introduced himself as a singer. And I said, “Do you sing with these guys?” He said, “Oh no, no, no, no, but I'm a singer.” “Okay, would you like a drink?” “Oh no, no, no.”

Like Sue was saying earlier, I'm sorry to keep going back to Sue, but they never had any money in their pockets. And Fred was reluctant to accept a drink from me, I think, because he wouldn't be able to pay me back for it(?). But I've got nothing going on. I can't actually physically go to the bar without giving a drink to someone else. I mean, that's just how it works. So I eventually, at the third attempt, I said, “Fred, I'm going to go to the bar, please have a drink.” And he said, “Well, I’m singing.”

(TW: mention of transphobic content)

And it's a bit like David Walliams in, um… what's that show? David Walliams?

Audience member: Little Britain!

K: Little Britain, yeah! Where he’s saying, “I'm a lady, you know.” And - painfully obvious, you know, that he isn’t. And Freddie was saying to me, “I'm a singer, you know.” But clearly, you know, we haven't done any singing. He said, “I'll have a pot of lemonade, if that's all right. It's for my voice. I'm a singer, you know.” (laughter) So I got him a lemonade.

(End TW: mention of transphobic content)

And we took the guys from Smile and Fred back to the flat that I lived in, and Brian picked up Mike Bersin’s guitar and started to play it. Freddie, Freddie had it all – vocal harmonies, and knew all the words. And I'm thinking about the conversation he had earlier, he said he wasn't in that band, but he knows all their stuff, and he's singing all their harmonies. We're very impressed by these guys because they've just recorded an album. For Mercury Records? Smile recorded for Mercury.

J: Yeah.

K: Where did Freddie get that idea from? Oh, come on! Where's Tim when you need him? (audience shouts and gestures at Tim in the audience). Well, he probably knows, yeah. I was very grateful years later to be seeing a copy of that album. It was only released in Japan, I think. But I've got a copy of it. And it's lovely to hear it. And going back to Sue – Earth is just a fantastic song… Sorry, what was the question? (laughter)

J: I’d forgotten! (laughter)

K: Cheers.

J: Let's go back to Ibex, so you, did you get Freddie to join or did he push himself in?

K: Oh I never interfere with the artistic process. That's something they arranged between themselves, you know, when I was out in the room. But Freddie was in pretty quick, and they started rehearsal, and Sue may remember, sorry to keep going back to – but Sue would remember that Smile rehearsed, well, Tim would certainly remember, in the music room, or what was called the music room at Imperial College, which was just a separate little (indistinct) thing, and we (indistinct) that, for a little while with Fred, good show, works out well. We had some shows previously booked for the August Bank holiday in Bolton, of all places, and Fred came up with (indistinct), as you know a lot of people were in London that summer. And we filmed a full (indistinct) with people, there was a bit of equipment in there, but it's mostly people, and we drove up to Bolton and did two shows. Bolton Octagon Theatre on Saturday lunchtime, and Victoria Park in the afternoon, and there was a photo, or a few photos, from Victoria Park that are in circulation, and you've probably all seen them, I would expect. Yeah. So that's putting Freddie on stage for the first time, I think.

J: You were always arranging gigs for people…

K: Still doing it, yeah.

J: And you're still doing it today with Deaf School. So – The Sink, and to The Magnet Club. How did you get to do that gig? Because that was at St Helen’s.

K: Yes, that's right, because Mike Bersin, he was the lead guitarist with Ibex and Wreckage, he started in Liverpool Art College that September, and back in those days when student unions had money, there was a small amount available for the graphics department's freshers-do. Mike took the money and called me, and I was actually just arrived back in St Helen’s, and I had to hitchhike in, as Sue pointed out earlier on, I had to hitchhike back again the same day to pick up the van to bring the rest of the band up and the equipment, and Brian and Roger jumped in the van and came up with me, with Pat McConnell, again, and we did this little cellar in Hardman Street in Liverpool. Does that answer your question?

J: Yes, of course.

K: I'm trying to keep, sorry if you...

J: No, don't worry about it!

K: I do go off! I’m sorry…

J: Your mind is up and everything. So, there’s Freddie performing out in Bolton in August… September in Liverpool.

K: Yeah.

J: What did you think of him? What was he like? Sue said he didn't have that greater voice at the beginning.

K: Well... The thing is that he was a great catalyst and he consolidated… the… I like a good three-piece tune, you know. I mean I really do, and so did Fred. Fred was right into a strong three-piece. He was particularly into a strong three-piece with a frontman. So we'd all appreciated Hendrix, well obviously from the (indistinct) all going on really, but… uh… The Who were a big thing for Fred. He only had a small record selection, a small record collection of about twelve albums, there's a few Beatles albums in there, some Hendrix, about three Who albums, and of course Bowie was a singer in front of a three-piece.

Freddie really liked that dynamic and coming back to Ibex, it’s a three-piece and adding a frontman had a lot now, whether his voice was where it was – if you listen to Roger, Roger will say he sounded like a bleating sheep. (chuckles) (defensively) I’m quoting. I don’t think that’s fair. Maybe Roger’s covering his back here because he and Brian had been rejecting Fred for so long, maybe it suits him to view it through that lens. (silence in the audience) Have I said something wrong? (laughter)

J: Nope! Not at all!

K: It’s like therapy, this.

J: (jokingly gestures to himself) Doctor Jenkins…

K: (laughs) Yeah, go on.

J: There's Freddie now, you've got him in Ibex and he's itching to get into Smile.

K: Well, he had been, for some of you, I mean – it's my view, hindsight being the tool that is, that he was just desperate to demonstrate to Roger and Brian that he was (indistinct) at that time, you know, that he was a good fit for them, and as Sue pointed out, sorry, as Sue pointed out earlier, he was very keen on those visits to Truro and Cornwall to offer his suggestions.

J: I can imagine what that would look like. And so Tim decided to leave Smile, which obviously Freddie must have jumped for joy, I’m thinking.

K: Well he’s a pretty good singer, that Tim. Yeah.

J: So what happened to Ibex? Freddie went into Queen…?

K: Well, you know, A little bit (indistinct) really, they did one more gig in Widnes, um… Christmas… Wade Deacon’s grammar school for girls, now demolished. Yeah, but… Mike was in college in Liverpool, Fred was in London, John was in London, I don't know where Mick had gone to, he's in America now, but you know.

J: So that was the ending, it phased out.

K: Yeah.

J: So Queen, Freddie decides to join Brian and Roger, forms the group Queen...

K: Yeah, well they finally cave in that's the problem.

J: Well, both of them caved in for him.

K: Yeah, well, I got a phone call from Kensington Market. I'm in St. Helens now I'm at the local college and I've become the social secretary. Fred calls me and says, “I'm forming a band with Brian and Roger.” I said, “About bloody time, Fred!” He said, “We're gonna call it Queen.” I said, “You’ll never get away with that.” (laughter) I Thought he was going up against the monarchy, frankly. He seemed a bit… yeah. He said, “I'm changing my name. I’m going to be Freddie Mercury.” And I said, “That’s alright. All good.” And immediately thought, “Where did he get that from?” And I go back to Tim – Mercury Records, was that a seed that was planted earlier on? Maybe. I don’t know.

J: Maybe. Possible.

K: We’ll never know.

J: No, not now. So you've arranged gigs for them. So we’ve got this new band Queen. And you've arranged gigs in St Helen’s…?

K: Well, I was a social secretary, I’ve got a budget. (laughter) Great, so yeah, I can offer them support slots at this stage, and I've got a gig coming up at the end of October. They've been to Cornwall that summer. So we've got a support spot for them, and can I get them another one, can I get them another slot somewhere to make up… to help out with the expenses and make it more economical? And can I get them a gig at The Cavern? And I said, you don't want to work The Cavern, it's awful, it's full of (indistinct), you know. But because it's iconic and the association with Mersey Beat and all that sort of stuff, they wanted to do it. But Mersey Beat left for London in 1963, you know, it was, you know. I don’t know, I think that’s my personal…

J: And then you got them back at Christmas for another gig in St. Helen’s.

K: Actually, yeah, they did a little headliner and got them another back-to-back gig with that as well. So, suddenly Queen are not only big in Cornwall, they're actually quite big in St. Helen’s. (indistinct, but implies something like how they’re not big places so it was not very much) (laughter)

J: Queen went and did some recording, they did the tapes, is it true you took the tapes around to record companies?

K: Oh yeah! Yeah, um, got turned down by EMI suit, left out the building, (laughter) um, no, um, this was 1971, um, uh, they recorded at De Lane Lea, which was a stroke of luck, very high quality demos. Um, (indistinct) got left out of the building there, um, but I got an offer from, uh, a label called B&C records, which had a couple of hits. Um, but it was owned by a guy called Tony Stratton-Smith, who you may have heard of. Yeah, uh, now Tony Stratton-Smith was also the manager of… I've got brain-freeze, um…

J: Genesis?

K: Genesis, yes that’s it. And Queen refused a 25 grand advance, which is quite a lot of money in ‘71, um, and the thing with advances, the advances are only what opens the door, it's not the final closure, but they were offered an advance of 25 grand, and they turned it down because they figured that if they signed to a company that Tony Stratton-Smith was involved in, that they would always be playing second fiddle to Genesis. And I thought that was really brave, because that was quite a lot of money, and quite a lot to turn down. When, as Sue pointed out earlier, they never had a penny in their pockets, and they had no money there.

J: So they turned down a lot of money.

K: Yeah.

J: So you signed to Trident.

K: Yeah.

J: Were you pushed aside then? (?)

K: Not really – well… I was at initial meetings with Trident and I felt personally intimidated by the (indistinct), frankly. But I, for other reasons, I had to return to the northwest at the beginning of ’72, to support my mum and my brother and sister. (indistinct). Brian did come back and I was offered a role when the album was eventually released. But by that time I had taken on a mortgage and I just couldn't – there was I think 25 quid a week was the offer. I think the band around 30 quid a week at that point. And it was all turned down, I had to – with enormous regret I had to refuse.

J: So Freddie recorded a couple of songs and released a single called Larry Lurex.

K: Oh, he did, yeah.

J: which he sent to you. What were your feelings on a single coming out by Larry Lurex just before Queen were going to hit the record shop?

K: It was confusing because it's not the sort of thing you do really. It was unexpected but it was at the suggestion of an engineer of Trident’s who they had some down time… and it was a nice little exercise I thought, it was a nice thing to do, why not? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I Can Hear Music.

J: Yeah, I Can Hear Music. Um, you went on tour with Mott the Hoople.

K: Oh yes. We met at Liverpool Stadium, yes.

J: Yeah! And then you got gigs for them in Liverpool again, at the University and Top Rank Club.

K: Oh, Top Rank Club! Oh, a friend of mine, Paul Lewis, and myself, thought we'd try our hand at promoting. We loved the idea of 10cc. Uh, 10cc, we'd just started to have a hit with a single called Rubber Bullets. And I thought it'd be... It was financial suicide, actually, because we did it over Christmas and nobody came. Seriously, we had 10cc, Queen, and the band I was playing in at the time, so it didn't work out. Still (indistinct) for that one.

J: And that was the end of your involvement with Queen then?

K: Not really, no. I mean we stay in touch. I mean, if we'd had mobile phones then we'd probably still be in touch, you know. But because people change phone numbers we just kind of got out of sync with each other.

J: So you got involved in the Liverpool music scene with club like Eric’s?

K: Yeah, yeah.

J: How did that happen for you?

K: I've been on tour with a band called Deaf School for a couple of years, and I've got back in touch with Roger Eagle. Roger Eagle, I'd last met at Liverpool Stadium with Queen, but I've done a gig with him with Ibex in Manchester years before. (to the audience) I'm sorry if I'm boring you now, because... So, we knew the stadium was going to close, so Roger was going to be out of work. I knew that I couldn't go to America with Deaf School for other reasons. So, Roger and I were discussing what we were each going to do. Roger thought he might like to start the club again, as he'd done in Manchester, and I said, well yeah, I'll be up for a piece of that. So, we started, because I'd been in London, I knew the agencies better than Roger did, I was able to contact a few bookers that I knew. We were able to put a bill together for our first month in October 1976. We opened with the Stranglers, followed with the Runaways, followed that with the Sex Pistols, and after that… opening spell, every agent in London was on the phone trying to book their act. After that, we never booked another act. The acts booked us.

J: It was a big club, Eric’s. Huge.

K: Yeah. And it was all down to The Runaways, really. Anybody remember The Runaways? You do, right, OK. Well, five gorgeous Californian girls and their manager was a maverick. And he'd done lots of things with all manner of people. And we knew him better than we knew The Runaways. So we thought that if he's back in, they're definitely going to work. And it was a gamble. Oh, I'm going to go off – so I went to Wardour Street, to the agency. It's just around the corner from Trident studios. And I got the address and I looked – we didn't have sat-nav. Can you believe that? I will tell you, in (indistinct) I saw exactly... And I knew Trident, I knew The Ship, I knew other agencies, but I couldn't identify that building. So I got a ticket, got the train down... It was a brothel. (laughter)

There were 12 doorbells. You know, 12 bell-pushes. And next to each one there was an exotic service. And I didn't know which one to press. (laughter) But I think number 11, it said “agency”. I'm going to tell you a secret in a minute. It said... So I pressed the button that said “agency”. Now there might be 12 buttons, but there's only one bell. (laughter) There may be a range of services but there’s only one girl. And she comes clip clopping down the stairs, throws the door open. I said, “I'm looking for the agency.” And the look across her face! I've never disappointed a woman so much in my life. (laughter) And she took me upstairs two flights and there's a section of a landing, it's sectioned off and there's a young lad on a desk with a pad and he's booking The Runaways tour. They're doing massive theatres and I get the date for a little unknown club in Eric’s, in a club called Eric’s.

And by the time we did that show, the News of The World, which is a broadsheet in those days, they've done a double-page spread of the previous weekend's show in Glasgow where the police brought water cannon out to clear the crowd, and our queue was out of Matthew Street, up 10th and Court(?) along Victoria Street and Castle Street and back into Matthew Street. I don't think the Beatles ever did that but we had it all the way round the block. (applause)

J: (indistinct)

K: And I was able to indulge my habit of putting people on stage for the first time. Because I put Holly Johnson on stage for the first time there. I put Pete Burns on stage for the first time there. Big in Japan (band). And people like Ian Broudie, The Lightning Seeds. That was a good one. Yeah, loads of stuff.

J: Did you –

K: The Teardrop Explodes.

J: The Teardrop Explodes. Did you used to put on Larks in the Park in Sefton Park? Was that you?

K: No. (laughter)

J: They were brilliant. Have you ever seen Frankie Goes to Hollywood?

K: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

J: (indistinct). I thought that was you. I’m surprised it wasn’t.

K: No, no – I did put him on the first time.

J: It’s got Ken Testi written all over it.

K: Yeah. I've been living a long life, you know.

J: So you’ve always been around, I bet – you've gone through the 60s, the 70s…

K: Oh no, the 60s never happened in Lancashire. (laughter) It, it wasn't until we got to London, and we saw what was going on.

J: And you’re still doing it today.

K: I know. I was (indistinct).

J: It’s incredible.

K: I know. (indistinct)

J: What would you do if you found another Freddie Mercury? Will there ever be another Freddie Mercury?

K: Yeah, I think that was a one-off, wasn’t it? Yeah. Bless him.

J: I asked Sue what was her happiest memory of being around Queen. Have you got one around Queen and Freddie, Ibex?

K: Probably, I mean, I remember my 4 year-old sister on Freddie's lap, and he was teaching her to play noughts and crosses. (chuckles) That was, yeah, ridiculous. Those early shows, I mean, I met Freddie… The venue in St. Helens was back to back with my parents' club, so we just had to walk out the back door, really, and Freddie was going on, ready to go on stage. And I mean, even in those very early days, he was doing, you know, (indistinct) he was doing vocal exercises, which I'd never actually seen anyone do. And he had his boom arm from the mic stand, and I said, “Why do you use it now?” And he said, “It's my gimmick, dear. Everybody needs a gimmick.” “Oh, okay.” And I thought – I associated the term, gimmick, with the likes of comedians, comics, tickling stick, I mean, gimmick, you know. But Freddie, I mean, throughout his career, I mean, he built his career on that, to me, you know, his visual presence all hung off that, you know, and it was a guitar, it was a saber, it was an icon – you know, it was whatever he wanted it to be. Beautiful thing to do.

J: You mentioned before about phoning Kensington Market.

K: Yeah!

J: And Sue had letters getting delivered.

K: I know! (to Sue) And we never crossed over in that time, did we?

Sue: No!

K: No, um yeah… (indistinct, to Sue)

J: So, Sue was getting letters, you were making phone calls to Kensington Market. Can you remember anything about those phone calls? I know it's a long time ago.

K: Well, yeah. There was a coin box, obviously Alan Mair’s store, yeah, and... (Sue speaking indistinctly) Yeah, sorry, it's just me and Sue, I was chatting. (laughter) And, so yeah, I mean… because people change flats and you can only have a line on one of the deposits and the time you have to wait, you know, it just wasn't worth having a phone on you, really, if you're in a flat in London, unless you’re on a long lease. So, yeah, well, we did what we could, coin boxes (phones) were common, my parents had a pub so we had a phone, obviously, and – so I could call the market, speak to Fred, uh, and that’s what we did, and that’s how we communicated.

J: Business was getting on in Kensington Market, (indistinct)

K: Oh yeah, all over! No, but I mean, I mean, coin boxes, wherever, you know, people, we have to do what we can do. And we all had a catalogue of phone numbers in our hand. We even remembered loads and loads of phone numbers.

J: What do you think of Queen today for touring with people like Adam Lambert and Paul Rodgers?

K: Well, going back to Fred's death, obviously my feelings at the time were one of substantial loss, but my earliest thoughts, well not my earliest thoughts, but – what are Brian and Roger going to do now? Because they'd been here for far longer than Freddie had been part of it. So, I did feel for them very much at that time. So, I was greatly gratified to see them able to do anything, really. And I say anything, I mean, really. Look at what they're doing. I mean, Freddie would be delighted, wouldn't he?

J: What do you think Freddie would think of this today?

K: Well, he’d love it. Yeah. If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing. (hums and laughter) And who said that?

J: That's pretty true. That is amazing, Ken. You know, you're a vital part of the story of Queen, and you’ve all got – to me it's a jigsaw, and people like Sue Johnstone and yourself are at the beginning of that puzzle, and we're here now, all these years, I was talking about ...

K: The last time I saw Sue, (to Sue) last time I saw you was at The Stranglers’ gig in Bristol.

J: How long ago was that –

K: It might not have been Bristol, but it was definitely a Stranglers’ gig.

S: (indistinct, Ken laughs)

J: I just think it's great the way you come here and tell us your stories about your time with Queen…

K: Well – it's been my therapy, you know, it's been my therapy. Oh God, I've got a lot of people.

J: Feel a little bit better?

K: (laughs) Yeah.

J: Right ladies and gentlemen, again, fascinating stories. I know this is from the past, but without these two people we’ve interviewed today, we might not be sitting here today and talking and listening about a band that we all love, that these two saw, and are called Queen. Will you please show your appreciation – Ken Testi! (applause)

#interview #queen convention #ken testi

12 notes · View notes