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SMALL FACES FINALLY CONQUER THE STATES
Sunday April 15,2012
By Terry Staunton
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/314677/Small-Faces-finally-conquer-the-State...
Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones, Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott in the sixties
THIS weekend sees The Small Faces receive one of the most coveted awards the music world has to offer. Close to four-and-a-half decades after they split up, the group are inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, joining an elite club of legends.
Only half a dozen acts are chosen each year by the US-based institution, and what makes the inclusion of four unassuming east London lads particularly special is that it’s the first time in its 30-year history the hall of fame has opened its doors to a band that never played live in America.
“It’s a great honour,” says drummer Kenney Jones. “It’s not as well-known in this country, but in America it’s like a music biz knighthood. It used to bug me that we didn’t get in earlier, I thought they’d forgotten about us. Every year I’d see the list of nominees and wonder: ‘What’s going on? Where are we?’
“I assumed we’d shot ourselves in the foot by never going over there, but Mac (keyboard player Ian McLagan) couldn’t get a work permit because of a minor drugs conviction. Trivial by today’s standards, but it left us stuck at home.
“It hit us hard, because there was a feeling we could have done really well in the States, that we would have slotted right in, our sound was so attuned to America’s own music. There was no YouTube or internet, of course, so if you didn’t go over there and play you might as well not have existed.”
It used to bug me that we didn’t get in earlier, I thought they’d forgotten about us. Every year I’d see the list of nominees and wonder: ‘What’s going on? Where are we?
Drummer Kenney Jones
The Small Faces’ lack of American success contributed to their early demise, as did the lack of money they made.This was despite scoring 12 UK chart hits in three-and-half years, including such classics as All Or Nothing, Lazy Sunday, Itchycoo Park and Tin Soldier. Out of frustration, front man Steve Marriott fled the nest in 1969. He died in a house fire in 1991.
Theirs is a perhaps typical tale of bad decisions and poor management, although Jones is remarkably casual about the mistakes of the past.
“I have to be honest and say that I never understood what people saw in us in the first place. When we started out we were just four little lads, practically boys, who weren’t looking for any reward. We just wanted to play and it was a bit of surprise when we realised people liked us.
“For a long time we never felt part of the scene, never felt we were competing with anyone. The Beatles? The Stones? They were miles better than us as far as we were concerned – no contest! It slowly dawned on us, thanks to the fans, that we had something to offer.
“We got really good really quickly, but it would have been nice to have seen some money at the end of it.
“None of us ever sat down and thought about figures. We didn’t like it when we got ripped off, but it didn’t stop us enjoying what we were doing. Maybe that’s why we got screwed, we were too busy with the music to pay any attention to the business side of things.”
The band were managed by one of the most notorious figures in the British music industry, Don Arden (father of Sharon Osbourne), whose tough guy image persists today, five years after his death. Jones, however, has fond memories of the man.
“Don’s reputation as an ogre is so wide of the mark, I always thought he was a big teddy bear. He took us under his wing, touted us around and before you knew it we were on TV and had records in the charts. He was very enthusiastic and really believed in us. Having said that, he promised to look after our money and he didn’t.
“It was all image with Don. He liked gangster films and adopted a sort of Jimmy Cagney persona, but it was just for show. At the end of the day he was quite a softy. We all came from a part of the East End that was much tougher than anything Don ever experienced. There were some hard men in my neck of the woods who’d have sorted him out if he had overstepped the mark, he wouldn’t have got away with anything too underhand.”
Jones, McLagan and late bassist Ronnie Lane addressed the American question in the aftermath of the band, when they reconvened as The Faces, with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood. Both groups are inducted into the Hall of Fame this weekend and sees the surviving members playing together for the first time in 19 years – a belated US debut for The Small Faces.
“When we formed The Faces and Mac’s conviction was far enough in the past not to be a problem anymore, we were determined not to lose out,” says Jones. “We toured the States constantly, living out of suitcases for about three years, and ended up headlining stadiums.
“Due to that success, The Small Faces became a bit of a curiosity and people started to check us out retrospectively, so the only impact we ever made in America was after we split up. The Small Faces wouldn’t have had a look in if it wasn’t for The Faces.”
Back in the UK, meanwhile, The Small Faces’ legacy continues to gain momentum through regular reissues of their hit singles and albums. The band’s four original LPs resurface again in May, in pristine remastered editions packed with previously unreleased outtakes and demo recordings. Jones is also curating the Itchycoo Park festival in June, two days of live music in the grounds of Hurtwood Park Polo Club, Surrey, of which he is part-owner.
He’ll be at the helm of an all-star band of famous friends, including former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman. The rest of the bill comprises other chart names from the Small Faces’ era and tribute acts.
“I’m so taken aback, so amazed that our music is still loved so much,” says Jones. “Every decade we gain new, younger fans; it’s like a legacy that gets handed down from father to son. We got a lot of attention off the back of Britpop and there are people like Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher bigging us up all the time. We’re cherished like an antique.”
For details of the Itchycoo Park Festival, visit
http://www.itchycooparkfestival.com/01483 272 828
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