Jim McCarty Interview
Giorgio Gomelsky makes The Yardbirds famous and then they fire him
Have you ever wanted to fire your boss? Even though this boss may have given you your first big break and helped you create some of your best work, eventually you’d just had enough of them. All pastures ahead looked greener without this boss. This is what happened to The Yardbirds. And this is Jim McCarty’s story about their boss Giorgio Gomelsky.
The first thing I notice about Jim when we get our remote video connection going is how quick he is to laugh. His easy going manner makes him a joy to talk to. He’s in his late 70’s now and is still very active as a musician and writer. I would find out in our lengthy interview that he’s as quick to recall details about his storied past as he is to laugh about them.
As stated, this is a lengthy interview, and for that reason I’ve created a Table of Contents for those looking to skip to sections of interest. But let me assure you, I enjoyed every minute listening to Jim’s stories, and you will too. Not only are his stories many and great, but I’ve enhanced them with short clips so you can see and hear the events he’s telling us about. I kept these clips brief to keep the flow of the conversation going, but I’ve included links if you want to explore them yourself in more depth. You can find all this info in the video description section, and embedded in the video itself.
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When Jim formed a band with his school mates, they also started exploring the nascent R & B club scene that was developing in the Richmond suburb of London. Rapidly, these very young men, so “green” as Jim likes to put it, found themselves in the eye of a storm that would eventually be called the Swinging 60’s of London. They would soon be mentored by a rock and roll Rasputin named Giorgio Gomelsky who would help them turn their bluesy rave-ups into hit records. They replaced the Rolling Stones as the house band at Giorgio’s Crawdaddy Club, and would soon open live shows for The Beatles. A tour of America would follow.
This roadway to hit records and fame that Gomelsky guided them on was rarely a smooth ride.
One of their main fan attractions, lead guitarist Eric Clapton, would leave the band right after recording their first hit record. His replacement, Jeff Beck, would also eventually leave, abruptly in the middle of a tour. Fortunately Beck’s good friend Jimmy Page had joined the band by then, and although the Beck/Page dueling guitars didn’t play together long, it was Page that would tour and record with The Yardbirds to their end of days.
And what happened to Gomelsky? Well … looks like he got left at the side of the road somewhere, well before Page joined the band. Seems there was a mutiny a’brewing that can be summed up in the simple phrase that would decades later become the famous refrain of “show me the money”.
To hear these stories unfold in Jim’s detailed accounts is not only fascinating rock and roll history, it’s a privileged front row seat to one of the greatest shows in music, told by not just a witness, but a very active participant in determining the sound of rock and roll’s future.
So I’ll just step out of the way here and let Jim McCarty tell his story. And for those of you who are feeling a little lost, here’s a small roadmap to help guide you …
Interview Table of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction
0:02:00 Exploring the music scene of London’s Richmond district
0:07:00 “Nobody Told Me” book by Jim
0:18:00 Giorgio Gomelsky and the Crawdaddy Club
0:30:00 Sonny Boy Williamson, first recordings and Eric upsets Sonny
0:39:30 First studio recordings at RG Jones studio
0:48:30 Next studio recordings at Olympic studio
0:54:00 First album “Five Live Yardbirds” at the Marquee Club
0:56:50 Making “For Your Love” their first hit includes harpsichord
1:05:20 Eric leaves
1:11:10 Keith Emerson to replace Eric?
1:14:35 First recordings with Jeff Beck
1:24:10 Recording “Heart Full of Soul” with sitar and tabla?
1:30:00 Jimmy Page buys the sitar?
1:33:00 Eddie Offord
1:35:50 Julie Driscoll
1:38:15 “Still I’m Sad” Gregorian chant created while taking a leak?
1:42:00 Off to America, End of Part 1
1:42:45 Part 2, writing songs
1:45:10 Recording “Got to Hurry” written by Rasputin?
1:50:10 First US tour
1:52:55 Hullabaloo TV show with David McCallum
1:55:55 Live at LA party, Lenny Bruce complains about noise
2:01:35 Recording at Sun Studio with Sam Phillips in Memphis
2:04:15 Keith Relf drunk/sober doubled vocals on “Train Kept A Rollin’ ”
2:07:40 Recording at Chess Studio in Chicago
2:09:20 Jamming with Buddy Guy and Willie Dixon
2:19:30 Back in England Giorgio gets fired by the band
3:36:00 Recording with Mickie Most, the hit maker
2:49:00 SF show with Cecil Taylor, one of the last live concerts
2:56:20 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Jim McCarty Interview:
I can't thank Jim McCarty enough for being so generous with his time. Look for his book “Nobody Told Me” here … http://www.jamesmccarty.com/nobody-told-me/
Also, a big thank you to David First for use of his interview in TapeOp … “Giorgio Gomelsky: Recording the Yardbirds” BY DAVID FIRST, TapeOp magazine NOV/DEC 2007 … https://tapeop.com/interviews/62/giorgio-gomelsky/read/ http://www.davidfirst.com https://davidfirst.bandcamp.com
Thank you Rick for this great interview with Jim McCarty, a beautiful feather in your cap. Towards the end of the interview, Jim mentions briefly that he saw Giorgio again with Chris Dreja when they played at Tramps in New York City, a place where Giorgio produced a lot of concerts for three decades ... and I have seen pictures on the internet of Jim and Chris at WOR on September 7th 2011 where they gave a radio interview together with Giorgio. If you could get a footnote from Jim about this reunion - probably the last time he saw Giorgio alive - it would be very interesting to hear if he thought that the ill feelings created by their break-up in the sixties was all water under the bridge, if they had buried the hatchet, etc. I remember that, when this get together did happen, Giorgio told me that Chris and Jim were the ones who had invited him to come to the radio station, and I can tell you that Giorgio was very happy about it. I guess you could say that he felt vindicated. But maybe Jim remembers this from a different point of view ...