HW / Record Collector / Terry Ollis int.

[Jon Browne]

#5 in a series of six

------------clip and save-----------clip and save-----------


Terry Ollis
"drums on the first two albums: now painting & decorating and playing
part-time in West London blues bands, including The Wake"

" I answered an ad in Melody Maker, and when I turned up it was just
John the bass player, Dave Brock and me. That was Hawkwind Zoo. I was
about 17; the rest were all, like, ten years older than me.
  Dave was quite impressed with Can and Soft Machine, bands like that.
He'd come along with a riff and then we'd jam for hours. We played loads
of gigs with all seven of us tripping and it was fucking amazing - you'd
go so far out and yet you'd all be there.
  If I died at the time, I couldn't have done anything better with my
life, because I totally believed in what we were doing.
  I left because it was becoming like a business; the idealism was going
out the window. Not from the band so much, but from the record company
and the management. After I left, I lent my drums to Simon King but all
their gear got stolen. I went to the management to get some money and
they said it would have to come out of my royalties. I left the
manager's office, bumped into Dave at the Mountain Grill, told him about
it and he said "Yeah, that's right." It was the biggest fucking slap in
the face I'd ever had, and it put me off the music industry. I mean,
we'd been living in each other's pockets for three or four years.
  I went off to Blackheath into semi-retirement, though I did play a
benefit gig with my mate Steve Took, fuckin' lovely fella. I think he
got a bit done in by it all, too."


I might do DikMik's later today, If I get a moment. It's only a quick
one!
--
Jon Browne