I was playing with a bunch of lovely Aussies in England in 1974 and we were going to be signed to the Rolling Stones as their first band...until they decided not to get involved with having another band on their label. Nothing to do with us, they just realized what a headache it would be and why bother. They let us use their rehearsal room in Bermondsey (just up the road from where Saiichi and I used to rehearse at Terminal studios in the late 90's) and I would play Charlie's grey pearl Gretsch kit that was so famous....that was fun. We then put together some numbers and recorded a demo at little TW studios in Dawes Road in Fulham.

On one number, we needed a Clapton style guitar solo which our guitarist wasn't up to...his style was completely different. The engineer at TW said he knew a good guitarist they used to use on demos who was starving and would love the session work and they called him up while we balanced the sound.

A few minutes later in popped this lovely Irish guy with a black Les Paul and we were all introduced...this was Gary Moore. Gary asked to listen to the song, put on the cans and listened to the whole thing once. He plugged in his guitar to a Fender Twin, tuned up, got a sound level and nodded. We all looked at each other...what was he nodding about? Gary said, "Let's do one!" So, we counted the number in and took off and Gary zinged a perfect guitar part first take as if he had been playing the song for weeks! We couldn't believe it. Who WAS this guy? And why wasn't he famous?

We played it back, the take was perfect. We paid him and said "thanks," and Gary smiled and said he liked the music and if we wanted him for anything else, he was available. Then he packed up and left, leaving us all stunned, and the engineer beaming. Gary wasn't at the studio for more than 30 minutes.

Magic sidewalk---check this out:

One of our Aussie friends was Glen Shorrock, a lead singer who was struggling with a weird 12-piece Belgian band called Esperanto signed to A&M. He was sleeping on the floor of the band's unheated house in Brussels. By 1975, the music business in England was imploding and everyone was heading for LA...even the record companies. Rod Stewart moved out there, Chrysalis and Island opened offices on Sunset blvd., and lots of musos were heading for the west coast. All my Aussie friends were heading either for LA, or back home to Melbourne. My penultimate day in England, before heading for San Francisco and thence Melbourne to join my mates in Oz, I was in Notting Hill Gate and walking along a particular stretch of pavement when I ran into Gary Moore.

We chatted, I asked how he was doing, and he was still living hand-to-mouth, which seemed so ridiculous, because he "had it." I told him I was off to Australia, and he said he was envious...all his friends were leaving the sinking ship, but he didn't have the bread to do so. We said our goodbyes and best of lucks, and went our separate ways. The NEXT day---my LAST day in England, I happened to be at the SAME spot in Notting Hill Gate and ran into Glen Shorrock! Glen was back from Belgium, A&M had dropped the band, the band broke up, Glen was in his 30's---then too old to be a rock star---was very depressed and said he was packing it in and going back to Melbourne to work in his father's antique business. His rock dreams were over. I felt so sorry for him, and commiserated with him, wished him the best of luck back home and said goodbye. We would look each other up when we were both back there. Poor Glen.

Another of our Aussie friends was (and still is) Steven Kippner who was struggling as a singer/songwriter/guitarist. Steve ended up in LA with the rest of us who didn't go back to Melbourne from London straight away. Steve was "kipping" (we always teased him about that) at various friends' houses in Hollywood...house-sitting, sleeping on floors, and living pretty rough whilst writing songs and just squeaking by with the help of his friends.

Steve, as did all my Aussie mates, knew Olivia Newton-John very well, as they all came up together in Melbourne. Olivia was then living in Malibu and would invite all her friends up to her sumptuous house to see how the other half lived (and give them all a good meal)...but it was all good friends, and Olivia was very down-to-earth and gracious, never forgetting her friends from back when they were all struggling.

I never got to Australia because I got sidetracked in LA when I ran into a bunch of my Aussie mates who were camping out there, hoping to make a strike, and then got into the movie business by painting the Starship Enterprise for the first Star Trek movie. Well, Steve not only made a strike, he hit a grand slam home run by writing "Physical" for Olivia, who turned it into a huge hit. Steve very quickly got his OWN floor high in the Hollywood hills to sleep on any time he wanted!

An Aussie star named Renee Gaye landed a gig at the Roxy to try to break into the American market, and we all met at a manager friend of her's house out in the Valley next night. Glen Shorrock was there...in the meantime, he had gone back to Melbourne, thoroughly depressed, worked with his dad, looked up all his old muso mates who were all working day jobs, and they put together a garage band just for old times' sake. Well, their little garage band turned into The Little River Band and Glen was now RICH and a star! He said, "Paul, remember when we met on your last day in London...how down I was?" I nodded. Glen said, "Can you believe it, I'm now worth millions, we have gigs lined up all over the world, I have a huge house where I've always wanted to live---it's everything I ever hoped for...it's amazing!" Not poor Glen! And he deserved every bit of it.

And now Gary Moore has also made it big, as he deserved to do...that was one magical bit of sidewalk in London! I wonder if he still has the same Les Paul?

And I've never made it to OZ!!!! When I move to England, I'm going via Melbourne. I'll probably want to move there once I see it...sod's law.

I was up at eguitars in San Rafael a couple of months ago, and Michael had a bunch of guitars in their cases all laid out on his floor, having just bought someone's collection. There was one really weird, ugly, trapezoidal case, all beat up, and I asked Michael what was in it. He said it was an original case for the first flying V guitars made in the 50's, but the guitar in it was from the 60's. It was the ugliest case I had ever seen and said so. Michael said, "Guess what it's worth, Paul." I looked at him...something was up, but I said, "Twenty-five dollars." Michael smiled and said, "Try twenty-five THOUSAND dollars." Un-fucking-believable.

Guitarists....you're all mad.