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les Rockers at Le Golf Drouot ( Paris) en 67 photo x...

A few years later, (around march 66) my band was called Les Rockers, we were the home-band in The Rockers club : La Locomotive Place Blanche(Paris). As well as performing, the band had to play backing Jean-Claude Berthon the boss of Disco-Revue magazine, who at this time was trying to sing, like several others in a sort of talent show every saturday night at La Loco.

One day we got a phone call from Jacques Barsamian telling us that Jean Louis Rancurel and himself were producing serial concerts and they were looking for a backing-band for Vince on this small tour of one month across France, we jumped for joy. We knew everything about Vince, we knew about his big 'flip' in 65 on stage at La Loco, but bloody hell this was Vince Taylor.... shit ! we were going to do our best to help him back on his feet again.

Fate would have it, that our drummer at the time Geza, was torn very much between his studies in medecin and a more difficult life as a musician, he left us and Bobbie Clarke wanted to do this tour with us. On the bill was writen : Vince Taylor and Bobbie Clarke backed by Les Rockers.

Under Bobbies' s control we rehearsed all the well known Vince songs, most of which we already knew quite well. We also put together his drum solo, one of the top trick of the show.Bobbie was certainely the best rock and roll drumer of this periode of time, he knew very well how to show off, like when he did extra fast drum roll with his double bass drum, whilst drinking a coke ...... people went mad.

Vince was alot more worrying to see. He had long hair down to his shoulder blades tied in a bow. Eyes half dull, he probably was on his way out of yet another drug therapy. He was so skinny it was frightening, he used to eat once a day in his room, two fried eggs and that was it. It was one of his first appearances on stage after his 'Matthew flip' on stage at La Locomotive.

After the first concert it was terrible, misfortune, misery, he stopped singing, stopped moving, and it wasn't the two fried eggs that he ate which were going to give him the strength he needed.

We started the intro to a song and he sang the first verse of another. Everynight he chopped and changed each song. We had to go and get him, bring him back, look after him permanently. He was only a shadow of himself and even then, alot slower.

One night in Britanny, a guy had just said to us, 'hey guys don't take me for an idiot, I know Vince and it certainly wasn't the guy who sang to night'. His friends joined him and it got round very quickly to a general brawl. Vince had to come back, in a terrible state, slur a few words in english to calm them down. It was really a down period for Vince. Another night in the North of France we ending up playing for 3 or 4 people, but by pure pleasure, we played anyway.

However one in ten, coming out of his state of lethargy and everlasting fog in which he was 24 hours a day, Vince suddenly driven by god knows what power, became he who we once knew, singing 5 or 6 songs the way he knew, then without any apparent reason left the stage without a word, and went back to his world blabbering his remarks each one more incoherant than the last, what a waste .....

To finish the last gala of this glorious tour was at Le Cadran at Colombes, a sort of big bar with a back room, seating 500 people. The boss, Roberto Seto, booked all the English bands, (he didn't manage to get the Beatles but he had The Animals, The Spencer Davis Group and Jimi Hendrix & the Experience, before they played at the Olympia as first act for Johnny Hallyday).

The three guys from The Experience as well as their soundchecker/driver, travelled in their little Bedford van , and Seto told us quite proudly that Hendrix, like the others, took his own gear out of the van.

We set ourselves up in the afternoon and did our soundcheck without Vince and Bobbie and waited for the evening to play. Just before going on stage Vince says to us :
'I can't sing - why ? I said - There is a bad spell here, When I'll start to sing everything will blow… I feel it… - don't be stupid I said we've got to go on stage - I can't, I can't, it's all gonna explode… everything....'

Never ending discussions, Bobbie took in hand and talked to him for about 20 minutes. The crowd pompadour's hair started to get impatient and shout. Roberto Seto comes hurtling in the lodge at asks us to start. We get on stage and start the instrumental version of Memphis Tennessee, then intro of 'Trouble' (Elvis style) from the film King Creole.

Intro was done and the first break for the singer to start his first solo : "If you .........." the sound system packed in, amps as well, lights packed in, nothing..... nothing .... Total nothingness.......... Just Vince who started to yell uselessly into the microphone: I said so, I said so and now look, I said so ....

The gig was cancelled, general brawl as per usual. This tour lasted nearly a month. The week after, Roger (one of les Rockers) got a phone call from Geza our drummer who had once again chucked in his studies and was free to play.

LAST DETAIL

In the Observatory, Phil Guidal talks about on page 31, about Vince at St Hilaire rue de Ponthieu (Paris) with a backing group, The Play-Boys reformed. What Phil Guidal didn't know was that really it was Les Rockers who were supposed to play with Vince. That's what the manager made us understand since the start of the last week of the Tour. The whole of Paris is going to be there, it will be great for you, a good name for yourselves.(?) Well, on the final day all of our gear was leave our places for The Play-Boys, especially together for this occasion with Vince, who by miracle touched by the holly Spirit of rock & roll, did a superb gig in front of Eddie Barclay, who had come especially to see Vince kiss ass for rock & roll.

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