Travellin'
Man: Life as
a session musician on the road
After his spell on
the R&B club scene Carlo then drummed with various bands that
were made up of musicians who were joined together from various
roots of the, now rapidly expanding, British rock family tree. On
the road often involved sacrificing the luxuries of home, but it
sure was worth it in terms of fun... Click
here to see all the gigs listed
Some
handbills, advertising gigs from the 1960s
Buddy Britten
& The Regents: Aug 1964
Buddy Britten & The
Regents were a Merseybeat group. Carlo was with them for
three months, with bass player John Lawson from one of the
later line-ups of The Savages. Didn't do that many gigs,
they were mostly in and around London. One of the funnier
times Carlo remembers with this band was during a gig at
The Rink Ballroom, Swaddlingcoat. "After the gig, we
didn't have anywhere to stay so the promoter said we could
sleep in the ballroom for the night. He locked us in and
we tried to get comfy on the floor. It was so
uncomfortable that someone got up, found a bingo machine
and we had a great laugh playing bingo at three in the
morning!"
Buddy
Britten
The Echoes: Oct
1964 - May 1965
This band had just come
back from S. Africa backing Dusty Springfield. Carlo:
"All I can remember from this period is that the van
was breaking down all the time, so there wasn't much fun
to be had here."
Neil Christian
& Crusaders: Jun-Oct 1965
Video
clip of 'That's Nice'
It was during this time
that Carlo performed some sessions for Jimmy Page, who was
now producing for other artists. The tracks also featured
Jeff Beck and Nicky Hopkins, who had just been given the
all clear after his hospitalisation which had forced him
to quit Cyril Davies' All Stars.
Neil Christian & The
Crusaders had been a big club draw since 1960 (one of the
earliest members was Jimmy Page). Similar in nature to
that of The Savages, they played and packed-out dance
halls up and down the country. Carlo: "By the time I
joined them they were mainly doing weekend gigs, as work
had temporarily dwindled for The Crusaders at this
point". But Neil Christian's hit single 'That's Nice'
was just around the corner. The song charted around Europe
and made him a minor star. (Neil Christian and his wife Sandra later became
Godparents to Carlo's youngest daughter Emma).
Neil Christian
Chris Lamb
& The Universals: Nov 1965-Jun 1966
Showband, playing Irish
clubs in Kilburn and US bases.
Screaming Lord
Sutch & The Savages: Jul 1966
Left to Right:
bassist Nick Simper, Screaming Lord Sutch,
guitarist Ged Peck, drummer Carlo Little
The Circles:
Aug-Nov 1966
This line-up spent half
their time backing Sutch, but also worked as The Circles.
Lord Sutch
& The Roman Empire: Dec 1966-April 1967
L-R:
Matthew Fisher, Tony Dangerfield, Ritchie
Blackmore, Joel James, Sutch & Carlo
A
temporary aberration had Sutch calling himself
'Lord Caesar Sutch' and, for publicity, the band
were required to dress as Roman Gladiators! The
first gig they did was a benefit for the wife of
the late Johnny 'Shakin All Over' Kidd, who had
died in October 1966. The line-up included Richie
Blackmore, and Matthew Fisher on keyboards who had
recorded 'Whiter Shade Of Pale' with Procol Harum
during his spell here. He stayed with the Empire
for financial security until the record took off!
Back: The roadie,
Carlo, Sutch, Tony Dangerfield. Front: Joel James,
Ritchie Blackmore
The band also toured
Sweden during this time. Carlo: "It was thick snow
when I went there with the Roman Empire. We were driven
around in a big American 4-wheel drive with a little
trailer for the equipment to go in towed behind. The
promoter had sent a roadie to drive it. It had snow chains
on the wheels, that's how deep the snow was. We did abut
10 days of gigs, and always went down well with the
crowds, who were really excited. We met and talked to
the 'Hep Stars' in one of the dressing rooms, who later
turned out to be members of Abba."
Poster
advertising Roman Empire gig Jaguar Club, Scala
Herford, Germany, Jan 1967
L-R: Tony
Dangerfield, David Sutch and Carlo in the Roman
Empire
Neil Christian
& The Crusaders: April-May 1967
Carlo
went back to this group again just for a short tour of
Germany, where Christian had scored a big hit with 'That's
Nice'. During this period the band also included guitarist
Ritchie Blackmore, bassist Tony Dangerfield and pianist
Matt Smith. Before they set off for the continent in
Carlo's un-trusty old Bedford van, Christian said,
"here's ten quid - I'll see you in Berlin...and that
was to cover everything for the band to get from Wembley
to Germany! He went off in his new Mustang, of
course!" So off they went on £10 expenses.
Neil
Christian
On the
way Carlo had a fist fight with Tony while driving at 70
MPH, and by the time they got there they were so exhausted
they fell asleep on a petrol station forecourt. After the
tour they finished in Hamburg and went to the Star Club
and Top Ten. The rest of the band decided to stay for a
few days (they had busty women to keep them occupied!) and
Carlo went home, complete with their instruments in the
back of the van. He didn't see them for YEARS after, and
had sold their instruments! It was while in Hamburg, not
long after these events, that Ritchie formed Deep Purple.
Carlo in
Germany
Billie Davies:
Jun - Aug 1967
Left: Billie in
her heyday
Left to
Right: bassist Nick Simper,
singer Billie Davies,
guitarist Ged Peck,
drummer Carlo Little, in Frankfurt
The Flowerpot
Men: Oct 1967-Sept 1969
The Flowerpot Men. Back: Neil Landon, Peter
Nelson, Tony Burrows. Front: Robin Shaw.
The Flowerpot Men on Tour. The main members plus
Carlo on drums, Nick Simper on bass, Ged Peck on
guitar.
The
Flowerpot Men had just had a huge hit in the British
charts with 'Let's Go To San Francsico' when Carlo joined
them. It
was while with this band that Carlo met the legend
Jimi Hendrix - in cafe The Blue Boar on the M1!
"All the bands would congregate there on
their way back and forwards from gigs,"
recalls Carlo. "It was just before The
Experience hit the big time and they must have
been touring to get themselves known. Well, Mitch
Mitchell the drummer, who used to come and watch
me in the early days, recognised me. He came over
with Jimi and introduced me as 'the guy who
started it all off for me'. "
Video
clip of 'Lets Go To San Francisco' by
The
Flowerpot Men
Doing the usual rounds of gigs up and down the
country, the touring took them to the Latino Nightclub in
South Shields, a small town just outside Newcastle in the
north-east of England. It was here that 19 year-old Iris
King worked as a croupier. Struck by her beauty, Carlo
asked her out, and they were married within 6 months! The
wedding, in Wembley on 20 July 1968, made the national
papers, due to the number of stars that turned up. Noel
Redding from the Hendrix Experience was there. Jon Lord
played the organ for them (the church organ had broken
down, so he plugged in his!), and Flowerpot singer Tony
Burrows (who later had hits with song Love Grows Where My
Rosemary Goes and the group Brotherhood Of Man) gave the
bride away!
Some
handbills, advertising gigs from the 1960s
Buddy Britten & The
Regents were a Merseybeat group. Carlo was with them for
three months, with bass player John Lawson from one of the
later line-ups of The Savages. Didn't do that many gigs,
they were mostly in and around London. One of the funnier
times Carlo remembers with this band was during a gig at
The Rink Ballroom, Swaddlingcoat. "After the gig, we
didn't have anywhere to stay so the promoter said we could
sleep in the ballroom for the night. He locked us in and
we tried to get comfy on the floor. It was so
uncomfortable that someone got up, found a bingo machine
and we had a great laugh playing bingo at three in the
morning!"
L-R:
Matthew Fisher, Tony Dangerfield, Ritchie
Blackmore, Joel James, Sutch & Carlo
