PARTY CENTRAL
KEN SHARP: Tell us about the house in Pimlico at 22 Westmoreland
Terrace, that sounds like it was the greatest place...
IAN MCLAGAN: It was Party Central!
KEN SHARP: How long did you guys live there?
IAN MCLAGAN: A year.
KENNEY JONES: I mean, we was all cocky little guys, but it was
one of those times where you wake up in the morning, and you couldn't
wait to be with each other. Even though there were times when
it was quite tense, and I mean it's, like, when we was in the
studio, and before I could do a track I'd have to wait until bleedin'
2 o'clock in the morning. And I was always an early to bed and
early to rise person. That was the big difference to me, but I
couldn't wait to be with everybody. I mean, in the studio was
a pleasure, being around everybody was a pleasure. But that's
why I didn't live in the house in Pimlico, because I would get
no rest. But I was quite happy you see, because I'd live with
my parents, and I could drive there in five minutes flat from
the East End to Pimlico, which is Chelsea.
KEN SHARP: Kenney didn't live there did he?
IAN MCLAGAN: Well, he was living at home, he had a happy home
life, and we were Jack the Lads and we wanted to get fucked up
and get stoned. You could take a pill and no one would know you'd
taken a pill, but you couldn't smoke dope around the house without
your parents knowing, y'know. It was a terraced house with four
stories. We had a youngish maid called Lisle who was a character,
she was just a bit older than us -- I haven't seen her since I
left England in '78, but she was our housekeeper on and off through
the years. She was later Woody's housekeeper, she may still be.
We were in the house from Christmas night 1965 until Christmas
1966. We'd all split up with our girlfriends that day. I was living
with Ronnie at his house, you know, his parents' house, or Kenney's
house -- we were on the road. And Steve had gotten this house
and wanted me to move in that day. Pimlico is behind Victoria
Station.
KEN SHARP: So lots of people came by, I heard Brian Epstein came
by one night....
IAN MCLAGAN: He came by. The guy he brought spiked us with acid
for the first time. It was fabulous.
KEN SHARP: Did the neighbors bother you?
IAN MCLAGAN: Never once. We ignored 'em.
KEN SHARP: What was a typical day like?
IAN MCLAGAN: There wasn't a typical day. We'd get up late, Lisle
would cook us breakfast -- we told her we didn't want no weinerschnitzel
when we first get up. The party would begin as soon as we got
up. Roll a joint and keep going. Downstairs in the dining room
we had a piano. In the sitting room we had our guitars and stuff.
All of our songs from 1966 were written there. The photographer
from the photo session for the first album had chalked this wall
with kids' faces on them. And Steve had started drawing joints
in the mouths. On different covers you can see them. When I'm
signing covers, I always outline the joint now.
KEN SHARP: Did a lot of fans come around the house?
IAN MCLAGAN: Oh yeah. There's a great shot in Paolo's book --
I don't know where he got it -- kids would keep their distance
respectfully behind the wall at the end of the road, and when
we'd come out they'd come running up the road. I think the neighbors
shooed them away as well. We had a year's lease, so it had run
out by the end of 1966. We'd fired Arden, and he paid the lease,
so it had run out. By that time we'd had enough. That's a long
time for three people to be in and out of each others' pockets
so we split up at that point and got separate places.
But we actually did live together again later, with our girlfriends!
That was out in the country in Marlowe. We didn't have any money
and we figured that would be cheaper! It was actually very much
fun and we got to play more than we did at the other house. The
girls got along alright, but they were excluded in a way because
we were playing music all day and all night, but it was fun.
I'm always making notes for my book, and this morning at breakfast
I suddenly had a flash -- my memory is incredibly vivid, you know,
which is amazing for someone who used to smoke dope morning to
night -- I don't do that anymore, you know. Anyway, I suddenly
had a flash of being back in the car with Ronnie, Steve, and Kenney.
We had one of those little record players in the car. We had Freddie
King's "Hideaway," and the b-side was at 33 1/3 rpm,
and you couldn't play it on those things! But Fontella Bass' "Rescue
Me" was Steve's favorite for awhile, and he used to play
it over and over, and I used to hate the trombones on that record.
I heard it the other day and I went: "...damn trombones!
Damn Steve!" We used to put a blanket up in the two windows
in the back, because Steve, Ronnie and me'd be in the back smoking,
and Kenney would be in front with our driver Bill Corbett. Kenney
would always be in the front turning the heater up, and we'd be
in the back going "...turn the fucking heater down"
'cause we were stoned, you know. Kenney was a pill popper like
us, but he was living at home, and he didn't smoke dope like us.
I mean, he was in the car, he'd be smokin' it (passive smoke)
-- you couldn't avoid it. Our driver was stoned the whole time
and he used to complain because he used to drive the Beatles,
and he'd say: "...you little bastards, drug addicts, not
like the Beatles..." as if they were from another planet
or something, and we'd all say "aw fuck off Bill. What do
you think fab gear means?" And he'd say it meant "good
clothes" and we'd say "...bollocks, it means good hash.
'Fab Gear' means 'good hash' ya idiot." It was like a code.
We used to have this expression "It's nice to be nice"
which meant it's good to be stoned.
