| One of the most remarkable
figures of British pop music, "Screaming Lord Sutch" combined a
love of rock and roll with British eccentricity and a natural proclivity
for publicity. Where Johnny Kidd was a pirate, Sutch took an American
model: Screaming Jay Hawkins. Hawkins' show included a coffin in
which he made his stage entry, items intended to portray him as
the product of some voodoo magic, and songs such as "I Put a Spell
on You," intended to drive the message home. Sutch used all of this
and gave it a British spin that was in part Jack the Ripper and
grave robber. His band, the Savages, was a training ground for some
remarkable musicians including Ritchie Blackmore (later of Deep
Purple), Matthew Fisher (later of Procol Harum), and Nickie Hopkins
(a session pianist who played on recordings by the Beatles, the
Who, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, and others). |
| The band would also
add dramatic touches to the show. Long-time Savages drummer, Carlo
Little says that for the Jerry Lee Lewis song, "Great Balls of Fire":
|
We got to
do the fire in the middle. So we had a biscuit tin, you know,
a foot square biscuit tin filled with paper and petrol And when
you took the lid off, the fumes were quite strong and it was
always the piano player's job to light that fire and on the
first beat of the bar of the guitar solo…. And many a time
he put too much petrol in and it would really go up with a six
foot flame. And if it was a low ceiling, like with bits of stuff
hanging down-sometimes these clubs would have little decoration
hanging down, especially if it was near Christmas…, you
know, that papier-mache stuff-it would go straight away….
We just carried on. We just pulled it down from the ceiling,
stamped on it, poured the watering can on it and carried on.
And I suppose the bloke swept it up the next day… So every
song had something about it and then we'd end up with the coffin
song, or something really gory. (Interview 4 April 2000) |
| Unfortunately, while
Sutch excelled in theatricality, he lacked musical ability and he
never had a "hit" record. Nevertheless, he had a solid fan base
and musicians knew his band and his material. |
|
