The Vic Briggs interview

I first asked Vic about the early days of his association with Brian Auger.

Vic: There was, of course, the Brian Auger Trinity before Steam Packet. Brian on Hammond, Rick Brown on bass and Micky Waller on drums. I would occasionally do gigs with them on time off from Dusty Springfield’s band. When I formally joined Brian at the start of the Steam Packet it became Brian Auger AND The Trinity.

In July of 1966 we were booked to play the Papagayo Club in San Tropez for the whole month. Long John Baldry and Julie Driscoll were the singers. It was decided that this would be the end of the Steam Packet. Henceforth it was to be “Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and The Trinity”.
On August 1st we drove to the Côte Atlantique resort of Les Sables d’Olone and performed for a few days. Long John Baldry did not come. On Saturday 6th we drove to Belgium and performed at the Comblain La Tour Jazz Festival on the 7th. This was our last gig with Baldry. When we returned to London Rick Brown and Mickey Waller were replaced respectively with Roger Sutton and Clive Thacker.

Apart from L’Olympia gig in October these were the only gigs that we did in France when I was with Brian, although it’s possible that he returned to France after I left in November and December. Certainly I didn’t play Frejus.

Vic went on to tell me about a key player in this story: Giorgio Gomelsky, the infamous music producer, manager, filmmaker who managed Brian Auger & The Trinity, the early Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds among others.

Vic: Here’s how Giorgio Gomelsky fits into our story: Giorgio was, and probably still is, an amazing man. He seemed to have endless energy and enthusiasm. Giorgio was the manager of Brian and Julie Driscoll. Also their record producer. Initially the Steam Packet had three managers: Giorgio for Brian and Julie, John something for Rod Stewart and another for Long John Baldry. It was all a bit cumbersome and Rod was let go in the spring of 1966.

At some point, probably early in 1966, Giorgio became record producer for Johnny Hallyday and became very close with him. He went on to produce a number of other top French artists but I don’t remember their names except for Serge Gainsbourg with whom I recorded, with Giorgio producing, in 1967. Giorgio recorded the Johnny Hallyday album “La Generation Perdue” in the summer of 1966 at Philips’ Studios near Marble Arch. I knew it well as I had recorded there a lot with Dusty.
We recorded the hit single : “Noir c’est Noir” (“Black is Black”) at that time. Thereafter, I would often see Johnny with Giorgio in the London clubs, mostly the Scotch. All this was before Jimi’s arrival.

– On a personal note: I was in Tahiti (a French speaking country) in 2000 on a cultural exchange with an Hawaiian Hula group. In talking with the locals they were mildly impressed when I told them that I had played with “Les Animals”. But when I told them that I was le guitariste on Johnny’s “Noir c’est Noir” I could see that I had gone up quite a few notches in their esteem.

Jim: Brian said that prior to the London meeting with Jimi, The Trinity had already toured in France playing “stadiums” with Hallyday.

Vic: Brian had a great deal of success in France for which I am very happy but I believe it happened after I left. Specifically after November 1966.

Jim: So, after Steampacket, how the did the new trimmed down group go down. Were you packing the clubs?

Vic: Perhaps the impact was initially down; people had been used to seeing us with Long John Baldry. But our music was really hot and we did well. Julie was an excellent singer and Brian was and still is a fantastic musician. Roger Sutton and Clive Thacker were not necessarily better musicians than Rick Brown and Mickey Waller – although certainly not worse – but they were much easier to live with.

Giorgio was such an enthusiast that he would promote people if he thought they were good, whether or not he had any financial interest. He also was always ready to spot the “next big thing”; which leads me to Jimi Hendrix.

Jim: Did you know Chas Chandler before September 1966?

Vic: I used to run into Chas at the clubs in London and knew him on a first name basis but not a real close acquaintance.

Jim: How did you feel about Chas’s urging that Jimi should play with you?

Vic: I didn’t know; Brian had not told me. It came as a total surprise and didn’t bother me. In fact, it wasn’t until years later when the books started being written that I even found out that he had called Brian to arrange it. I always thought that they just showed up and Brian was being magnanimous.
For almost forty years I thought that Chas had just shown up on the off chance that Brian would let Jimi sit in. I literally had no idea that Chas had called Brian and arranged the jam, for the simple reason that Brian never said anything to me about it before or after. Brian and I were friends but he didn’t tell me everything. Nor was he under any obligation to do so; it was his band and I was an employee.

Jim: Now, was the first gig with Jimi at the Cromwellian as Brian insists?

Vic: No, it was at The Scotch of St. James. In all I am 100% certain this encounter happened at The Scotch. It remains emblazoned on my memory although I had no idea just how much my life would change and indeed the whole music scene because of Jimi.

The memory of that night at the Scotch was so firmly fixed in my mind that when I read in some Hendrix book – just four or five years ago – that Chas had said it was at Blaises I was shocked; even more so when Brian was reported as saying it was the Cromwellian. I don’t need any confirmation that it was the Scotch; it is so clear in my memory. But, if I did, Brian has provided it for me, even if he thinks it was The Cromwellian. Here’s how I know:
From your interview with Brian: “I have a mental picture of Jimi being introduced to me and looking out across the stage at the staircase that goes up from upstairs to the first level of The Cromwellian.” Brian is absolutely correct. I too have a similar picture in my mind. There is only one thing: the staircase at the Cromwellian was not visible from the stage, whereas the staircase at The Scotch was, as Brian says, right across the way and easily visible from the stage.

Kathy Etchingham (January 2013): “You can see the top of stairs from the stage but then the people coming down the stairs from the ground floor (first floor american) are temporarily hidden by the DJ booth and a wall before they come round the end into the main part of the disco. He would have been able to see them. The Scotch has nothing to do with it. That was earlier.”

Vic: (January 2013): “I would agree (with Kathy about the stairs), however you will remember Brian’s comment. He talks about seeing the stairs “ACROSS FROM THE STAGE.” The Cromwellian stairs were at the other end of the room. As it happens I was close to the stairs when they came in so I greeted Chas even before he went over to talk to Brian.

One other thing: Brian talks about it being a Friday gig. I do not recall playing the Scotch on Fridays. Brian could make more money out in the London or Northern clubs on the weekends thus the Scotch (and Cromwellian) gigs tended to be midweek fillers. I am certain that it was midweek – Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, – and not a Friday. My best guess – Wed 28th. The Brian Auger Trinity without Julie Driscoll.

Here is another thing that makes me sure it was the Scotch. It is generally agreed that Jimi was at the Scotch on the night of the 27th of September sitting in with The VIPs.
> Rod Harrod who was the manager of the Scotch insists that it was on Monday the 26th of September!)

Vic: The next night when I arrived at the Scotch to set up. I arrived about 8:30 pm and we were due to start playing at 10:00 pm. The club really didn’t start happening until around 11 and would often go on until dawn even though it officially closed at 3:00am (might have been 4). It was a Wednesday. The reason why I say that is because I can often tell you the days of the week when significant events happened in my life. Ask my wife about this, it never fails to amaze her.
I had no sooner arrived in the club and descended to the basement where the band was due to play when I was accosted by a waiter. I don’t remember his name.
We didn’t even make small talk but he immediately started talking about the previous night. The conversation went something like this:
“You should have seen the crazy guy who played here last night*. He looked like the Wild Man of Borneo.”
“Who was that?” I asked.
“Some black guitar player that Chas Chandler found in New York. He’s amazing.”
Thus it is unlikely that a waiter at the Cromwellian would have said something about Jimi playing at the Scotch, especially since he said “played here last night”.

* He must have said “The other night”.

Very shortly after I talked to the waiter, Chas Chandler came strolling in. This was most unusual as we were still setting up and Chas was not the type of guy to show up at one of the after hours clubs so early. This was perhaps 9pm, early for the Scotch which didn’t usually warm up until about ten or so. Let me stress here: it was just Chas with Jimi. Kathy Etchingham was not with them.
He had in tow a rather unkempt and skinny looking black guy, with the wildest hair I had ever seen. At that time no one in London had frizzed out hair. “Vic” said Chas, “This is Jimmy from New York. I asked Brian, he said it’s OK if Jimmy sits in with you guys, but he needs to borrow your amp”. I turned and shook hands with Jimmy who, of course turned out to be Jimi Hendrix. I offered him the use of my amp and asked him if he wanted to use my guitar. “No thanks man”, he said, “I’m left handed.”

At that time I was playing an unusual Marshall stack that the Marshall people had developed. It had twelve six inch speakers with a hundred watt amplifier. Jimi plugged in his Strat (which was right handed but strung left handed) and turned every control on the amp up to eleven! I was horrified. For one thing I was sure this would blow out the speakers, I had never turned the volume up past five. And for another, The Scotch of St. James was about twice the size of the average living room. What was this guy trying to do? Jimi must have seen the look of horror on my face because he immediately said to me “Don’t worry man, I turn it down on the guitar”. This was probably Jimi’s first encounter with a Marshall amp.

I went back on stage and we finished our set. Jimi came up and said how much he dug my playing. I asked him why he played a right handed Strat when I knew there were left handed ones available. “Those left handed Strats are shit, man,” was his reply. I had no idea how much our paths would cross in the next couple of years.

Jim: Did you jam a little before the club appearance?

Vic: No, it was exactly as described. Jimi had a little run through – not really a rehearsal – with Brian and the guys before people started showing up.

Jim: What was your personal reaction on hearing Jimi play (his technique, abilities,…)?

Vic: Well I’m probably going to make myself sound like an egomaniac but I was not that impressed with his playing. I was not impressed with playing the guitar behind his head (I had used that one myself) nor playing with his teeth. The tricks were one thing but his guitar playing I found to be very good but not scary. You see I was into jazz and I had already developed a prodigious technique for the time. I felt that, if I wanted to I could do whatever Jimi did. It’s just that it was not my bag so I didn’t think of him as competition and didn’t get all freaked out.
Even though I was not terribly impressed with Jimi it was as if there was a part of me that knew a major change was coming in my life and that Jimi’s destiny would be somewhat intertwined with mine for the next year or so.

When I saw him play his guitar behind his head, I remembered that there was a country singer in the UK in the 50’s named Johnny Duncan who had done the same thing with a mandolin. I had even done it myself on the odd occasion so it didn’t impress me too much. Frankly, it’s not that hard to do.

When he appeared to play the guitar with his teeth, it looked to me like he was doing “pull-offs” with his left hand but making it look like he was actually plucking the guitar with his teeth. I don’t know what the truth was but that’s what it looked like to me.

Jim: Any memories of the music that Jimi played with Brian?

Vic: He played maybe three or four songs and pulled out all the stops. I can confirm that he played “Hey Joe” because I remember him telling Brian that it was the same four chords over and over. The other songs were probably blues. By the way, this wasn’t a jam. A jam, by definition is all the musicians having a chance to show what they can do. This was a showcase for Jimi, accompanied by Brian and the guys.*
After he played we made some small talk. I don’t remember what was said. He came across as a likeable individual and I had a generally favorable impression of him. Believe it or not I didn’t actually get to jam with Jimi until May of 1968 in Zurich.

*Vic let Jimi take his place on guitar for this historic jam at The Scotch

Jim: Do you remember seeing Johnny Hallyday at The Scotch that night?

Vic: I cannot say for sure if Johnny was in the Scotch on that fateful night when Jimi sat in with Brian. But if he was you can be sure that Giorgio would have been with him, smoking Gauloise, consuming copious amounts of liquor and endlessly talking, no, heatedly discussing, music. I saw Giorgio down at the Scotch with Johnny so many times that it’s very possible that they were there that night and that Giorgio suggested that Johnny have Jimi on the Olympia show. Don’t misunderstand what I am saying, I am not saying that I didn’t see Johnny there at The Scotch that night. What I am saying is that I saw Johnny down there with Giorgio a lot. And he certainly could have been there that night. I just cannot be 100% certain. I would put the chances of his being there at 85%, maybe higher.

Jim: Were you aware that the Paris Olympia was ahead at that time?

Vic: Not as I recall. I must make clear that I know nothing about any business discussed between Chas, JImi, Giorgio and Johnny Halliday, nor where it might have been discussed. You might say this would have been above my pay grade.

Jim: Was there more than one gig with Jimi? Do you remember doing Blaises with Jimi guesting?

Vic: There were no other Jimi gigs, jams or sit-ins with Brian until after I left Brian in the 1st week in November. Jimi may have sat in with Brian on other occasions but to the best of my knowledge not while I was with Brian which, as you will see, was only another month or so. I am 100% sure that Jimi never played with Brian again while I was in the band. After all that was only another two or three weeks. I did not see Jimi again until we arrived in Paris.
Once I was with The Animals we did many notable gigs together.

Jim: You don’t remember seeing Hallyday at the Scotch so do you think it was possible that Brian jammed at Blaises with Jimi (before l’Olympia 66) but without you being there that night?

Vic:  Brian wasn’t doing any gigs without me at that time, I was a permanent member of the Trinity. Plus he and I mostly went out clubbing together. Also he probably would have said something to me if that had been the case I don’t remember that he did. For reasons that I still don’t understand, that night at the Scotch when I fist met Jimi is emblazoned on my mind in great detail. I only remember playing Blaises’ with Brian once and it must have been a very unmemorable gig because I don’t remember anything about it except: a) we were there; b) I didn’t think it held a candle to The Scotch or Cromwellian. I’m pretty sure that was the only time I even set foot in the place.
The Blaise’s gig had NOTHING to do with Hendrix. It could have been before the famous Scotch gig or it could have been before L’Olympia. It could even have been after L’Olympia gig when I was already getting ready to leave Brian.

Georgio Gomelsky’s comments about the Hendrix/Auger/Hallyday meeting were published in the Hendrix fanzine Jimpress and the article stated that Hallyday”s 1966 London sessions were recorded at Olympic Studios. I sent these comments to Vic and here is what he had to say:

Vic: Let’s take a look and see how good Giorgio’s memory is. First of all, the article says that Johnny’s album was recorded at Olympic Studios. Every session I did was at Philips’ Studio near Marble Arch. I’m not sure Olympic was even open then as I didn’t find out about it until December of that same year when The Animals recorded “When I was young” there.
Georgio says that “Every Thursday Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll were playing.” First of all, Julie was not there that night. Second, I think we have agreed that it was a Wednesday. Thirdly, it was not a regular gig.
He also says “Their performance always ended with a sort of jam session with many of the relevant musicians in London at the time; people like Jeff Beck, Stevie Winwood, Eric Clapton and many others participated regularly.”

It is hard to write this without sounding like an ego maniac but truth is truth. Although it was generally acceptable for people to get up and sing with us (Brian and the Trinity) NONE of the people he mentioned ever PLAYED with The Trinity at the Scotch, Cromwellian or Blaises while I was with the band. I believe Stevie Winwood sang, as did many others. The stage was always open for people to join us but there was NEVER a regular jam session and Jimi’s jam was arranged ahead of time by Chas. Jimi Hendrix was the ONLY guitar player who EVER jammed with The Trinity while I was with them and I don’t remember Brian ever relinquishing his seat at the Hammond to anyone with the possible exception of Zoot Money. Why was this? Because with our blend of jazz and rock we were playing at a level that was far above the abilities of the best rock musicians in London at that time.
There was once a jam during a gig in East London with Steam Packet and John Mayall (with Clapton) when both bands got on stage at the same time. Some days after the gig (at the Cromwellian) Clapton came up to me and told me that I had blown him off the stage. Not kidding! This was the only time when I was with the band that Clapton was on stage with us; Jeff Beck never was.
Geogio states that “The club was in the basement”. True, the music room of the Scotch was in the basement. You could eat down there but there was another room with bar at ground level where you could eat without too much noise. I do not remember that the Cromwellian had a separate restaurant.

So I don’t know if this clears anything up. Also there is still the matter of the waiter who said to me that there had been a wild man there the previous night. More than anything else that confirms it for me that it was the Scotch.

I recently (January 2013) showed Vic the Melody Maker press cutting which proves that Brian Auger and The Trinity were annouced for Blaises on the Thursday 29th September. Here is what Vic had to say about it:

Vic: All I can say here is that from the press clipping we played Blaise’s on the 29th. If Jimi had shown up, I would have remembered. As I remember, the gig was a bit of a let down, especially after all the excitement of the previous night. I am pretty sure that was only time I ever set foot in that place. I didn’t like it and I didn’t like the crowd. I am certain I never went in there for other than to play.

So things are rather muddled concerning these first encounters. See my Brian Auger interview page for the latest updates and the solution to the mystery!