IanMcLagan.com - The Story of the Small Faces in Their Own Words: Touring America

TOURING AMERICA

RONNIE LANE: The Small Faces never made it to America; we got as far as Belgium. We never got asked, and a series of managers were too busy ripping us off to sort of go for the big bucks in America. We used to do tours and play generally in cinemas -- there obviously wasn't a movie going on, but you'd play on-stage in cinemas, and we had a bunch of screaming girls -- aaahhh, it was terrible.

KEN SHARP: We were never lucky enough in America to see you. There's all these stories about why the Small Faces never toured America. Set the record straight for once.

IAN MCLAGAN: Oh I can tell you why, Paolo Hewitt and all those others ain't got it right. Nothing to do with drugs, I didn't get busted until 1967, so how could that have stopped us from going to the States in 1966? The only reason was that with Don Arden, he didn't want to relinquish control over us. If we went to the States, he'd have to have an American agent, and he wouldn't have control, and we might have found another manager -- which we probably would have. So he came to us with one deal, which was a Greyhound bus tour with six other bands in a bus, 4th on the bill, very little money. I mean, what were we gonna say? No!!! It worked, 'cause he didn't want us to go, see.

STEVE MARRIOTT: I think it's a case of English managers didn't like you going to America in those days; put it this way -- they didn't like you to go because they didn't have any control over you. It would have meant that the English management would have had to farm you out to American management. The same applies now to American managers, having had a few American managers, they don't like you coming over here (to England) because they're out of control, they want complete control, and when they can't have it they get the horrors, so obviously the English would rather keep you in Europe and the Americans would rather keep you in American territories. That's the way they work 'cos the minute they have to farm you out to other businessmen, then they get the horrors that they're gonna get shafted like they're shafting you.

KEN SHARP: Did it mean anything to the band to capture America?

IAN MCLAGAN: No. Well, we wanted to go, but it was too late. If we had gone in 1966 when we were still up-and-comers, it would've been great. I mean, we were headliners in England. The Who were very clever, they opened for Herman's Hermits. Jimi Hendrix opened for The Monkees. I mean, they were awful bills, but it made the Who, it made Jimi Hendrix. We never got a good offer, a realistic offer.