By Pete Frame of Zig-Zag

1963 - 1964 - 1965 - 1966 - 1967 - 1968 - 1969 - 1970 - 1971 - 1972 - 1973 - next - 10 commandements

1962

"Nut Rocker" year. In early 1962, he produced "Nut Rocker" twice : "the first time was with a group I called Jack B Nimble & The Quicks for the Del Rio label, but the woman who'd put up the money decided she wouldn't release it, so I went over to Rendez-vous Records and they said they'd put it out ; so I recorded it with the Rendez-vous house band, who we called B Bumble & the Stingers." The record was a smash, of course – even got to the top of the charts in England, and returned to our top ten ten years later. Kim, as well as having the initial idea and image, produced, published and wrote the song (which still brings him loads of money via the ELP version), but though he made several more excellent demos with B Bumble, they never came out because Kim wouldn't let his royalty percentage eroded. Shrewd fellow… looks at everything from the aesthetic and Jewish viewpoints ; "I'm in this business for the money" he told the guys at CBS, though it is obvious that he isn't.

Being another faceless group, the record company assembled a bunch of people who even toured England (I saw them at the California Ballroom in Dunstable !) masquerading as B Bumble & the Stingers. "They were just a bunch of slobs off the street – just horrible kids who had nothing to do with the record."

After that, he became associated with the Rivingtons in a strange, multifaceted project. The Rivingtons had gained some reputation as the Sharps, and had sung on "Little Bitty Pretty One," a massive hit for Thurston Harris, as well as being on Duane Eddy's first album in late 1958, and having their own singles put out on Lee Hazelwood's Guyden label. Their fame had declined, however, and they'd decided to start afresh as the Rivingtons. Fowley produced a couple of hits for them, including "Papa Oom Mow Mow" (backed by "Mama Oom Mow Mow" !), but their main pursuit seems to have been the catering business. "We used to cater parties… bringing in all the food, and singing for the guests, whilst we rifled through their belongings and stole all their valuables – it was another of those scenes. You see, in San Francisco, most of the roadies make their money by dealing dope, but in LA it's a different scene – the musicians and roadies make their money by stealing."

1963

"As well as producing various surf records, which didn't do too much, I was in the roller skating business… staging dances at roller rinks in California. I used to run the dances, and I used to appear with a band, impersonating hit groups – the ones whose photos hadn't been circulated at all… groups like the Stereos, who had a hit on Cup Records. We figured it did the groups a lot of good, because we were much better than they were anyway."

"I was hitch-hiking one day, and got a lift from this guy who turned out to be David Gates (now of Bread) ; he told me he was a songwriter, and I told him I was a record producer – so we went back and ha played this song he'd just written… and Candice Bergen, who was a friend of mine, said it was a certain number One." Kim got 3 chicks, who he called the Murmaids, to do the song on Chatahoochee Records (which was Kim's own label), and it sold a million. That was "Popsicles & Icicles," which was number One in the States, but didn't do a thing in England – lost in the Merseybeat.

1964

After producing loads of unsuccessful follow-ups to "Popsicles" (and leasing the first Kama Sutra productions for his label), Kim came to England to check out the British music which was successfully drowning out the traditional American domination of world pop music. Here he teamed up with his old friend PJ Proby, who was living in London and causing pandemonium in the charts, and became a legendary looner as well as Proby's stabiliser, friend and adviser. "But our friendship ended over a girl called Sara Leighton – we both fancied her, but he pulled her and that choked me off ; so I left him to fall apart and went back to LA."

1965

Early 65, with the Byrds happening at Ciro's, Kim became a dancer in Vito and the Hands, a mad dancing/theatre troup who later toured with the Byrds as enthusiasm rousers: "Vito was the real Tim Leary - he was doing everything that Leary said, but he didn't have the media coverage. But he was on that level… he's a great guy."

"Then I worked for GNP Crescendo Records as a talent scout, but they turned down everything I brought them, including the Mamas & Papas and Danny Hutton… and then they fired me."

Zappa then called on Kim to join the Mothers as a singer/happener in the very early days of the band. He appeared on stage with them and is featured on the "Freak Out" album, singing "Help I'm a rock" and "Who are the brain police ?"

1966

Returning to England, he became involved with a whole string of ventures:

"I named Family, who had just come down to London, and produced them doing "The Great Pretender" (the old Platters song) and "Silver Dagger" (from a Joan Baez LP), but no-one was interested at the time."

"I produced Mason & Capaldiwhen they were in Deep Feeling, and Slade when they were the In Betweens on EMI, and I co-wrote "Portobello Road" with Cat Stevens (which came out as the b-side of his first Deram single, I love my dog")."

"I produced "Gloria's Dream" by the Belfast Gypsies (a spin off of Them, with the MacAuley brothers from the old band) and recorded "They're coming to take me away" for CBS, covering Napoleon 14th's American hit. I was on "Ready Steady Go" singing that… and then I toured as Napoleon 14th… why not?".

"I also recorded 4 tracks for French Vogue Records."

During this same visit, he recorded with Mick Fleetwood, Keith Moon and Richie Blackmore, but can't remember the details of that, and he also produced the Soft Machine's first single "Love makes sweet music" / "Feelin Relin and Squealin." "I met them at the Roundhouse and then w went into the studio; Chas Chandler didn't like the a-side and made them re-record it, but they kept the same b-side… that was great, wasn't it? You should have heard the a-side we did… much better than the one which came out."

1967

Returning to LA, he founded the House for Homeless Groups with Michael Lloyd (later the Osmonds producer) and several groups and musicians "rented my facilities and drained my brain."

Among the people hanging out there were October Country, who developed into Three Dog Night, the Sparrow, who became Steppenwolf, and the Rose Garden… not to mention guest appearances by Jim Morrison.

"During that time, I wrote the b-side of the Rose Garden's hit "Next plane to London," and produced the only solo single by Joey Covington (later in the Airplane), which was a version of "Boris the spider."

1968

Joined Liberty Records as a talent scout and artist, and also researched appropriate titles for 3 Ventures albums. Found Johnny Winter in Texas, which led to his recording "Progressive Blues Experiment" before Winter was "discovered" by Steve Paul.

Produced the Seed's obscurest tracks, "Wild Blood" / "Falling off the edge of my mind," release on GNP. "Sky Saxon has a new band now; they recently crashed the Kinks party in LA and played a set there - just burst in off the street and played unannounced. He's a weird guy… got stopped by the police in Dallas a couple of years and when they asked to see his identity, he showed them a picture of Jesus Christ… and I heard that he just threw his dog out because it wasn't a vegetarian."

Began to record a series of solo LPs.

1969

Produced AB Skhy's second album on MGM, which featured Ben Sidran, Curly Cooke and Tim Davis among others.

Produced "the first ecology album" - "We must survive" by Earth sland for Phillips, and Gene Vincent's Dandelion album "I"m back and I'm proud," featuring Skip Batin and the ubiquitous Mars Bonfire (brother of Steppenwolf's Jerry Edmonton, and himself an ex member of the pre-Steppenwolf group Sparrow). "Gene asked me if I'd do that album, and we got the musicians together between us. I don't think that either Gene or his widow ever saw a financial statement on that record, but I got a letter saying it had sold so many thousand copies, but the cost of the album had exceeded the sales income, so I only got session fees on that one."

Was MC at the Toronto Peace / Rock Ferstival at which the Plactic Ono Band played and recorded.

Went to Scandinavia and produced an album by Wigwaw ("the Finnish Beatles") in Helsinki, and albums by Contact and Scorpion in Sweden - as well as a solo single recorded under the name of King Lizard. Also devestated several clubs in Scandinavia by performing in person.

1970

Re-united with Skip Battin as a song writing partnership: "He and I had been eying each other as potential songwriting partners, and when he joined the Byrds, the opportunity arose and we took advantage of it." His songs began to appear on Byrd albums: "Untitled" in 1970, "Byrd Maniax" in 1971 and "Farther Along" in 1972 (see appropriate chapters in Byrds serial in due course).

Wrote song for the Cisco Pike film soundtrack, recorded and released as a single by the Sir Douglas Quintet.

"I also played the Whiskey A Go Go in LA, with a band including Skip and Mars and Elliot (Winged Eel Fingerling) Ingber on lead guitar. We did "Rumble" by Link Wray, and "Surfin Bird" by the Trashmen and all sorts of stuff - and I wore a gold suit and make-up. It was a total outrage: people were smashing each other up on stage, burning tablecloths and going mad, and because of the pandemonium, they wouldn't let me do a second set."

1971

Contributed lyrics for Leo Kottke's "Mudlark" album, and recorded 30 tracks for an RCA solo album which never dared to release - "Outlaw Superman."

Went to Memphis and Muscle Shoals and even cut a track at Sun Records - "Daddys in the crazy house," which has so far remained unissued.

Nothing much seems to have happened in 1971.

1972

Released "I'm bad" album on Capitol, which sounds like a cross between Edgar Broughton, Captain Beefheart and a wild puking animal. He's backed by Pete Sears, Mars Bonfire, Drachen Theaker among others. (Previous solo albums include "Love is alive & well," "In the Underground," "Outrageous," "Born to be wild," "Good Clean Fun" and "The day the earth stood still")

Went to Hawaii and did some recording and wrote some songs for Skip Battin's solo album, which has just been released here on Signpost Records.

Produced the debut album by revival rock band Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids at Gold Star Studio.

Came to England to look around, write songs, hustle people, record few hits and get his face spread across all the pop papers (including this one).

Wrote songs with Kerry Scott (see later) and 4 with Ian Hunter, record a new album called "International Heroes," which he reckons will be a big hit here.

1973

Has formed a "rock'n'roll workshop" in England - abunch of musicians that he came across and he plan to make a load of singles under various names in an attempt to recreate the old days of faceless groups who come and go with the wind. Claims to have discovered a whole lot of potentials stars - "the next Stevie Winwood, etc."

Silverhead, Steppenwolf, possibly Mott the Hoople, and Gene Parsons are all recording his compositions.

Plans to return to California in March where he'll begin a partnership with the owners of Gold Star Studio in Hollywood, where Spector, Eddie Cochran, Buffalo Springfield, etc… made all their greatest records. Among the first groups which he proposes to produce will be the New Topanga All Stars, featuring Spanky McFarlane (ex Our Gang), Matt Andes (ex Jo Jo Gunne) and others. And that's just about it.

Having gone through his whole musical career in such detail, I feel I should reveal something about the man himself. The first thing that strikes one is the world in which he appears to live - for instance, what starts as a lucid (if somewhat fanciful) statement, can trail off into his weird and nebulous dream-wonderspheres… Like when I asked him why he wasn't happy with his last solo album: "Let's face it; you're looking at the man who should be the Beatles and the Elvis Presley of the 1970s, but because of the way my albums turn out, I'm not. You've seen my photo… I look like a teenage boy, but I'm really ancient, you know. I'm unbelievable on stage, I sing rather well, and I write incredible songs… but I don't even open my mouth to sing them anymore, because they put wise men to death today - and I'm not going to be put to death." Sometimes he plummets into a well of despondency, and trails out his sorrows and regrets, his fear of growing old and being replaced in ladie's affections for a prettier face, but that's unusual because his favourite subject is Kim Fowley, King of Rock'n'Roll - and he's constantly attended and surrounded by musicians, friends, hangers-on, chicks… anyone who'll listen to his wild reminiscences. (These stories have, I might add, been very drastically toned down and, in most cases, deleted altogether. They are, like his language, extremely fascinating, to say the least, but would certainly lot conform to the standarts within which our printers are prepared to operate. Never mind; I'm storing the tapes of all this filth and obscenity and the whole ghastly lot will appear in my forthcoming book, "Friends and Heroes").

His "secretary," a charming young lady, bore the brunt of more crude and savage disrespect than I've ever witnessed; if Womans Lib knew about Fowley, they'd run him out of town. After a very embarrassing dissertation, in which he compared her qualities, he admonished her for happening to speak while the tape recorder was on: "if you talk in the same key as me" he bellowed, "it'll be too jumbled to transcribe - and when I'm dead, that tape will be worth millions of dollars, because I've had 43 gold records and I'm a legend.. when I speak on this level, it's as historic as you having an orgasm. You sometimes forget that I am everything that every human being in the music world wants to be."

In fact, Fowley has been subjected to more press put-downs than most. His records usually get ploughed into the ground by critics, but Fowley doesn't give a toss - he can still walk into the next record company and come out with a very lucrative contract… he says he's been on 17 different labels as a solo star alone. So, even if the constant criticism does sting down deep, he refuses to admit it; he still parades his lewd, loud and totally conspicuous flamboyance through the highways of Los Angeles, as if he actually does have something that other humans don't posess - his critics, he insists, live in a drab grey world and he just feels sorry that they will never be able to experience the rainbow technicolour streets he walks.

The pop world abounds with Fowley tales, but it's difficult to determine which have anay factual basis; it's difficult enough to get all the bullshit into the sieve, let alone sift out the truth. For instance, he and his rhythm guitarist friend Mars Bonfire (writer of "Born to be wild" and other grist) allegedly go out at night and look for dead cats, which they pickle in aspic and store in Fowley's deep freeze. He's supposed to have been arrested, on stage during his act at the Whiskey A Go Go, for "indecency"… something to do with what George Melly calls "yodelling down the canyon," so I believe. Then there are the 9000 or so chicks with whom he laims to have had sexual congree (the printers can't complain about the stupid euphemism I like that, can they?), and the one dans a half million dollars he claims to have accumulated over the years. "I'm rich" he says "… never spend a penny of the royalties from my hits - I invested it all, and consequently I'm one of the richest men in America." He's certainly not hard up for a few bob, but I shouldn't be at all surprised if his luxurious lifestyle is built on his wits rather than a solid financial foundation.

One little story I must tell - not from the mouth of Fowley, but from a guy from Chicago who I met. Kim, it seems, had got Capitol Records to organise a tour of big cities to promote "I'm bad", you know, meeting the local distributors, DJs and press, and holding a reception where he would sing, show off, fool around and pull women. Anyway, the Chicago DJs, a bunch of them anyway, thought they'd pull a trick on the trickster - so he landed at the airport to find a handful of screaming teenyboppers holding these bib placards which said "WELCOME, KIM FOWTREY." This really unnerved him, because he couldn't be sure if they were fooling around or wehter it was a serious attempt to honour his arrival, but being Capitol they'd got his name wrong. Then he was hustled into a limousine decorated with streamers - well, not exactly a limousine… a Volkswagen, in fact - so his knees were touching his chin as they sped off to his hotel.

His songwriting method is intriguing if not entirely praiseworthy. Instead of waiting for inspiration, he latches onto a subject and milks the idea for all that it's worth.. songs pour our to suit and capitalise on every trend, situaion or topic: "Precious Kate" - about the LA earth quake. "Portobello Road" - which he wrote with Cat Stevens in the Swinging London days. "Hungry Panet" - ecology/pollution. 3Glamorous" - glitter/decadence. "Citizen Kane" - Hollywood nostalgia. "Central Park" - mugging in New York. This list is endless: some are great, others are poor, but Fowley certainly has a very quick brain when it comes to floating out a lyric. (He sang an impromptu song into my tape recorder, which encapsulated today's pop world and the features of Zigzag the bootleg comes out soon!).

How does he do it? How does he keep up this incessant activity? The answer is simple - he works to a code; Fowley's Ten Commandements for Rock'n'Roll success (which he invented there and then):

Over the years, Fowley has often been a source of press amusement and a figure of fun, but in fact, though a lot of people seem to take him for an idiot, he's nobody's fool. He always has the last laugh… he's a lot shrewder than he ever lets on. And, though he's been responsible for some horrific rubbish in the past, he's also had a hand in some of pop history's greatest classics.

I happened to be with him when he was offered the job of ringmaster/producer of a "supersessions album involving Roger Chapman, Keith Moon, Tony Ashton and a whole load more "frustrated in their present group" types, but he turned the offer down on the grounds that he didn"t want to be any part of a "Lord Sutch Trip" - a jamming album which would make a lot of cash because the big names, but which would undoubtedly have very limited musical quality… and besides, he didn't want to hang around to discuss the proposition because he had a blind date with a chick with a 46 inch bust, and he was slobbering like a rabid dog.

I haven't heard the newly recorded Fowley solo album, but none of the others have ever been released here. Should you stumble across an import copy of any of these, do yoursenf a flavour and leave it in the rack… they are all, quite frankly, abominable horsemanure. His claim to fame is not as a singer, but as a song writer, scenemaker, admitted plunderer of the pop business, legendary producer, and as an unparalleled balspinner and swaggerer. He's number one in a filed of one… there just you couldn't beenough room in the world for two Kim Fowleys.

A great bloke… you can't help liking him - and the production job and solid rock'n'roll authenticity on that Flash Cadillac album is just magnificent.

With grateful thanks to Pete Frame of Zig-Zag.

And if you want to read more, there's also an history of Kim Fowley by Marc Zermati.

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