Graham Reid | | 9 min read
Honey, I Need
I was only just talking to Viv on the 21st August when observing the 60th anniversary of the NZ tour: The insane New Zealand rock and roll tour by Britain's Pretty Things, the tour to end all tours!
Viv was the last of the English rock and roll loons .... he mentored Keith Moon in behaviour on (and off) the stage.
Dick Taylor of the band recalls Keith Moon studying Viv closely before joining the Who.
Just after leaving the PTs Viv subbed for an ill Keith for a couple of weeks. After a week, Pete Townshend implored Keith to get better quickly because Viv was driving them (The Who!) nuts.
He also played in Carter Lewis with Jimmy Page, was there when McCartney turned on the first time , and even got the shit beaten out of him by a heavyweight boxing champ after an all nighter .... Ohhh Viv!
He was also an excellent drummer. Watch the Pretty Things (in)famous show in the Netherlands at Blokker in April 1965 ... this is the show that Kiwi kids got to see a few months later.
The PTs send the Dutch kids into a riot , and Viv .. well Viv is being Viv. No wonder the Pretty Things had such a profound effect on NZ kids into music at the time .
So going back . . . it's New Zealand, August 1965 .... for some reason I always think of life then as being in black'n'white.
Reaction to the Pretty Things' hair length and Viv's outrageous behaviour Jackson Pollocked all that . Not only did the headlines about the group run hot, the length and breadth of the country, it is hard to deny the subsequent and profound impact that was made on a number of local groups and personalities.
Let's start at the bottom and head north ... Dave Hogan & The Unknown Blues from Invercargill, Roy Colbert & Ian Fraser and The Third Chapter in Dunedin, artist Chris Grosz, Chants R&B, Mee & The Others, and the Longhairs notably Paul Fischer from Christchurch, Rick Bryant, The Breakaways, Roadrunners, Bitter End, and Dead Things from the Wellington area.
NBR's Barry Coleman and his R&B group The Plague from Rotorua, The Stoners from the Waikato, Grimm Ltd & Billy TK's group The Sinners from Palmerston North, Rex & The Roadrunners from New Plymouth (and perhaps their drummer Doug Thomas became our own Viv for a moment).
The Dark Ages and myriad other teenage R&B groups in Auckland that suburban dances, The Top 20, and Galaxie all fostered .... young men who grew their hair LONG ... receiving the wrath of war vets - "We fought the war for you!" ... aping their new heroes, crudely learning songs like Hey Mama Keep Your Big Mouth Shut, from the PTs first LP, and banging 'em out on Jansen or homemade amps.
Track down Chants R&B 1966 live recording of Don't Bring Me Down. It's an ear melting version recorded in their own cellar club the Stage Door that hits MC5ish intensity, and Grimm Ltd's take on Baby Doll live at Palmerston North's Nicoberg Lounge is a racket that could only be made by a bunch of kids at the bottom of the world!
"Here's a song by The Pretty Things ... Baby Doll"
Rock and Roll artist Chris Grosz got mentioned before ... a while back he was working on a script for small film about a jacket Viv left in Christchurch that was shared around members of the garden city's longhair R&B scene apparently gifting the wearer out of world shamanistic 'powers' .. or did I make that up .. either way I'd love that jacket to be found.
Clive Coulson from the Dark Ages followed up his contact made with the Pretty Things , which led him to Peter Grant and tour managing Led Zeppelin, while guitarist Mick Sibley became a respected ornithologist ... when I first interviewed Mick about The Dark Ages and Pretty Things he was the zookeeper at Auckland zoo.
I once hiked up Mt Eden and bumped into a track-suited Rick Bryant taking a long breather after his hike to the top. We cut straight to the Pretty Things.
I never knew Hamish Kilgour of the Clean was a huge Pretty Things fan. Not until he and I shared a wonderful hour in Titirangi Village talking about the '65 tour while he waited for a ride to George Henderson's place in Huia.
Both Billy TK and Reno Tehei have told me that seeing the Pretty Things on that tour of '65 was pivotal for them. Billy said hearing Dick was the sound he'd had in his head for sometime but didn't know how to express it, and Reno was floored by them in Gisborne.
And speaking of Gisborne , the 5.6.7.8's from Tokyo were beyond excited to land in Gisborne, on a plane 'with propellors', at the same airport the Pretty Things arrived in 34 years earlier!
Guitarist Ronnie proudly had Dick Taylor's signature on the back of her guitar. This was before Tarantino 'discovered' them. We reached out to locate a copy of the September 1965 Photo News, the one that has all the pics of the PTs in Gisborne, and a local Air NZ airport employee stepped up and miraculously sourced us a copy !
Mike Fallow observed the anniversary milestone of their tour with a piece for the Southland Times and Stuff, where Dick Taylor of the band shared some words, and PTs fan No 1 Dave Hogan came through as well with his amazing crystal clear and reliable memory of the Invercargill visit.
Dave named his first band The Unknown Blues, a song from the first PTs album.
I asked Viv if he wanted to participate , but he said he wasn't up to it.
I even got to talk to guitarist Dick Taylor on 95bFM's Dirtbag radio with host Matt Rapley, and my old footballing friend Marcus Lush let me start the topic of the tour on his evening talkback show on Newstalk ZB.
In my role as tour manager for the White Stripes I was able to invite Phil May side stage at the Ally Pally to watch an electrifying WS show.
Ron Asheton told me about his and Dave Alexander's visit to England before they formed The Stooges .... he was a PTs fan.
And we all got to meet a charming VIv in Faro, in the south of Portugal in 2005. Coming to say goodbye to us, at check-out of our hotel, he brings us a bag of lemons from his orchard instructing me to give them to his old bandmate Jimmy Page next time I see him.
Believe it or not, said lemons are given to Mr Page the next day ... true story.
When Mike Stax, Andy Neill and I eventually got the book of the tour out I was able to give one to Mick Jones )of the Clash) while here on Gorilla's business. Radio Birdman loved the book as well.
Sandy Edmonds was still a Pretty Things fan when I finally caught up with her, but Ray Columbus always stayed on the other side of the fence.
Brent Eccles stepped up and hosted them at the Powerstation in 2012, 47 years since their first visit, and the PTs blazed through a set that touched on all parts of their career.
Brent's got a rock and roll heart. He even got an all original line up of The Pleazers including bassist Ronnie Peel (who prior to the Pleazers was in Australia's own Pretty Things, The Missing Links with our own Andy Anderson on vox) to reform for one last time that night!
I couldn't have gotten on this crazy ride without acknowledging two formidable rock and roll fans and researchers of the highest order ... not to mention two fellows that understand the importance of fun in this game...
Andy Neill from Gisborne ... he was my first sensei in all things Pretty ... and I still get the same tingling feeling whenever I hear Sandy Edmonds version of Come See Me.
He first played me that punchy as fuck Zodiac 45 ("We wanted them loud on juke boxes,” Eldred Stebbing once told me) in his Parnell flat (which was a stones throw from the Parnell motel the Prettys had stayed in).
Sandy recorded that skull cruncher in August 1966, a year after the Pretty Things first toured NZ . The Pleazers backed Sandy on that single.
They had arrived on the scene a year earlier from Australia, on Eldred Stebbings invitation. Not just to record for Zodiac, but Eldred ensured these new Ozzies in town earned their keep during the day as well, by cleaning up, and painting the old Shiralee club he had just purchased, rechristening the spot ...The Galaxie.
They dug the Pretty Things. Years later Pleazers drummer Speedy Gilmore would share his pics from the Pretty Things Auckland Town Hall show.
The Galaxie became a second home for the new generation of Pretty Things acolytes ... The Soul Agents with guitarist Clarry Schollum , who up until recently was keeping tubes glowing in valve amps all around the city for modern day descendants of the Pretty Things sound, and their singer was Murray Grindlay who would of course go on to the Underdogs replacing Mick Sibley who had come from the Dark Ages (good grief this is becoming more Pete Framish by the minute).
Last time I saw Mick was at the Prettys Powerstation show in 2012, no doubt remembering when the Dark Ages opened for the PTs at the Top 20 at the end of their NZ tour.
The La De Das, Shapes Of Things, The Spectres, The Breakaways, The Layabouts, The Rayders (legend has it they recorded a version of the Prettys ode to the 'lifestyle' Midnight To Six Man) were a few of the acts who had cribbed a tune or two via the Pretty Things, not to mention the look.
Back to Neil: he followed the dream of moving to the UK and has done rather well ... I never thought at our first meeting in '87 that 18 years later we would be knocking on the door of Viv Prince's adobe style home in the south of Portugal watching pots and other kitchenalia being flung through the doorway to welcome us to the court of the Prince.
Thanks Andy, it's been a trip and continues to be ....
Mike Stax thank you.... way before the internet I sent Mike a copy of Wild Things to review for Ugly Things. We corresponded by mail, and in 1993 Paul McKessar at Flying Nun got me a grant to go to Garage Shock in the US, where unbeknownst to me my Wellington pal, and PTs fan Andrew Tolley is also attending.
I wrote to Mike and he welcomed me into his world in San Diego. I took a copy of the NZ Truth with the Pretty Things on the cover "shock exhibition" to give to him.
In his lounge was a giant print of the famous PTs group shot taken in Invercargill, which he sourced via Dave Hogan ... At a later stage a book on the Pretty's tour was mooted and Mike pulled it all together as only the master of Wyld tales from past dimensions could.
Mike should be knighted for his stewardship of all things Pretty (And Ugly!) in the last 45+ years through Ugly Things magazine .
Viv and his exploits on that 1965 visit have intrigued recent, past and future rock and roll tourists to NZ.
The Schizophonics from San Diego are fans, and especially of our own Chants R&B which in a way is via the Pretties. First time visitors to NZ in a couple of months ,The Fadeaways from Tokyo are all 'Pretty Things In NZ' fans, and bassist Toyozo tells me they will play some Pretty Things songs.
Spanish visitors Dr Explosion and Los Chicos and even Daddy Long Legs from New York, all asked about the tour on their visits here .
It's 2025. I hadn't called Viv for over 10 years when I first reconnected with him in late July.
I was unsure if the 20-plus year old phone number I found scrawled in an old phone book for him in Portugal still worked. But it did.
As soon as I told him it was me, without hesitation he asked "How's NZ? "
At the end of the conversation he asked me how is Jack White, and asked me to pass on his regards which I did. Jack was chuffed.
We spoke a few more times but now Viv's gone. Love you man!
Viv Prince - King Of The World - Long Live The Prince!
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John Baker has been most things in rock'n'roll, singer and frontman (Psychodaizies, Ratso), tour promoter, archivist, album enabler, tour manager, writer and most all all enthusiast.
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For more on the Pretty Things at Elsewhere go here for a classic single and here for a 2012 interview with the band's Dick Taylor.
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