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Digger talked to the late ex-Moody Blues bass player Clint Warwick about his experiences in the sixties and
his return to the music business after leaving it at the height of their
success.
This article is the intellectual property of www.retrosellers.com and cannot be reproduced without express
permission.
Photographs © The Clint Warwick Official Website
The Moody Blues are a band who had two manifestations, effectively two distinct
bands, first as a vibrant R 'n B band emerging from the bustling Birmingham scene
and, since 1967, as a larger-than-life progressive rock band performing on stage with huge
orchestrations and producing monumental LPs. Clint Warwick belonged to that first
incarnation - the one with Denny Laine, later of Wings, and the one that had a huge
international hit with Go Now. Albert Eccles, (renamed Clint Warwick after an amalgam of
actor Clint Walker and singer Dionne Warwick) left the music business in late 1966 and has
only recently dusted off his bass and revitalised his vocal chords to resume a career in
music - mainly due to the implorings of various die-hard Moody Blues fans.
Clint with The Dukes
"I was playing with Danny King and The Dukes and latterly Gerry Day
and The Dukes in and around Birmingham. It was Shadows-type stuff. I had been involved in
various bands since the 50s and the skiffle boom. We never worried about money - just
played for the fun of it. There was one street which had a whole line of pubs. We would go
into each one, washboard and tea chest in tow, and persuade each landlord to let us play
and then pass around the hat. We made a bit of pocket money. But we had fun and it was a
good training ground. We worked at Butlins, as so many bands did, and we were stars of the
show for seven nights, even meeting Billy Butlin himself. Danny introduced Denny Laine and
Graeme Edge but Danny didn't like the material and suggested we form another band. We were
short of a pianist and found out that Mike Pinder had the offer of a sponsorship deal with
the big local brewery Mitchell's and Butler's. We had a short residency at The Moathouse
nightclub and painted 'MB5' on the side of our van but almost immediately the brewery
decided they didn't like us. I can't imagine why! So we improvised the name The Moody
Blues. A demo was sent to London and producer Tony Secunda called us down to London. This
was our big break. It all seemed to happen very quickly," recalls Clint.
"Our baby was only 3 months old and I was having to tell the wife "I'm
off!" We all ended-up in a flat in Chelsea. I bumped into Ursula Andress coming out
of one of the neighbouring flats. We quickly befriended all of the other bands - The
Stones, The Who, The Kinks, The Animals, Bruce, Baker and Clapton who were later to form
Cream and, of course, The Beatles with whom we had a particularly strong friendship. They
were just ordinary guys like us and we visited each other regularly. There were no frills,
no pretensions. When they played us a demo copy of Paperback Writer I said to Paul
"You bastards, you've done it again" and he just smiled. But there was no
competitivenesss - it was very good-natured, no aggro. We were mates. Often, Brian Epstein
would join us. I didn't really notice anything different about him, he was just a good
bloke."
Clint with The Dukes
Clint felt under a lot of pressure to honour his familial commitments and
tried to encourage his wife to come down to London with the baby and to get involved with
the band scene and to befriend the girlfriends and wives of other band members.
"Christine got on quite well with Cynthia Lennon. Cynthia and Jane Asher tried to
persuade Christine to join them on a shopping trip but she said no," An inspired
cover of the Bessie Banks song Go Now saw The Moody Blues rocketing up the charts and all
hell broke loose, with demands for TV appearances and press and publicity engagements.
Clint was having a great time but was guilt-ridden about leaving his wife and baby behind.
So, after a lot of soul-searching, he decided to quit at about the same time that Denny
Laine decided to seek new pastures too, and they were replaced by Justin Hayward and John
Lodge. Ex-Animals bassist and producer Chas Chandler and ex-Spencer Davis Group bassist
and producer Muff Winwood both tried to persuade Clint back into the music business. But
he returned to his original trade of carpentry. Within two years Clint's wife was seeking
a divorce and he was left wondering whether he should have pursued his musical career
after all.
Clint with The Moody Blues
Christine and Clint had two sons. Very sadly, Paul died in 1996, but other son Lee is
still a great source of pride and joy for Clint who values his family and friends highly.
Clint has found a new love in Pam, who also helps him with his website. "I don't know
a thing about the web, I leave it all to her. But I am very pleased to have a website and
we have some plans to develop it," Clint tells me. He also has a great deal of
memorabilia from those days - "We were big in America, Japan, France, Germany and I
have a lot of souvenirs and mementos. It was a fun time and a great time and I like to
have things to stimulate those memories."
A local songwriter, Steve Pearce, approached Clint and suggested he try
performing again, not as a bass guitarist, but utilising that voice of his that featured
so prominently on the early Moody Blues harmonies. Clint was naturally reticent, but
nevertheless did get up and perform and has now recorded his first release in over 35
years. Called My Life The Waltz, it is a reflective and melodic song, skillfully played
and with Clint's throaty and mature voice, almost speaking in parts, sitting well somehow
with the tune. "It's a Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan style, so they say," and the plan
is for Clint to record more. Even when Clint picked up a bass guitar after all this time
he says it was as if it was yesterday. "It's a bit like riding a bike."
I ask Clint what are his favourite memories. "Obviously, having the hit with Go Now
and that whole scene. We jammed with The Beatles. Denny and Paul got on really well, which
is how their later association in Wings came about. I remember playing in a jam with
George and he brought a sitar and was experimenting with it. We all had a go. Then we just
sat listening to George, who was already quite accomplished with it."
And how would Clint have coped with fame - say a Beatles-level of fame?
"I would have been the same, just been myself, I am sure of it," he says. Clint
is still in touch with many of his 'Brum Beat' pals - "Danny King and I are like
brothers. We go fishing together and he is a really good mate."
And Clint is looking forward, not back, to his new found career and sharing life with his
new found love.
Clint in the 2000's
Visit Clint's website at www.clintwarwick.co.uk
This article is the intellectual property of www.retrosellers.com and cannot be
reproduced without express permission.
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