In the mid-60s few sounded like West London upstarts THE BIRDS and when the posthumous Edsel release was issued 20 years later, their high-octane beat/punk take on soul music still sounded uniquely hazardous.


Long haired mods that made The Kinks and The Pretty Things look tame, the group that brought the charismatic Ron Wood to the stage, and one of the ’60s beat era’s best kept secrets… PAUL ‘SMILER’ ANDERSON speaks with singer Ali MacKenzie about the plumed ones’ ascension, fall and phoenix-like rebirth.


As the title of the Edsel collection so rightly claimed, “These Birds Are Dangerous”.


he’s singing. As he bellows the last few lyrics of ‘Leaving Here’ he punches the air in triumph – the star-struck crowd cheer and clap in response. Young mod faces staring upwards in anticipation of the next offering. This isn’t 1964 though, this is November 2009, and Ali has “come back home at last”.


A


Back in 1964, on the August bank holiday, The Birds took on the Monday night residency at The 100 Club, having only just turned professional. At the time the club was just shaking off its trad jazz connections to make way for the new R&B sound. The Pretty Things had bagged the Tuesday night residency, whilst Graham Bond preached the blues every Thursday. Trad remained intact on the other three nights but it wouldn’t survive long. The Birds, meanwhile, soon began to attract their own fan base including Viv Prince, erstwhile drummer of The Pretty Things. After a few drinks, he could often be found at the front of The 100 Club crowd yelling “Pete… my turn!”, screaming for the chance to take the stool and bash the skins.


The Birds’ story really began at St Martin’s Secondary Modern in the Middlesex enclave of West Drayton, just west of London. Here, a young bass player called KimGardener found himself playing alongside vocalist Ali MacKenzie in a Shadows type band called The Renegades. The group didn’t last long but the two boys were determined to continue. Not long after, they hooked up with Tony Munroe (guitar/vocals), RonnieWood (harmonica/guitar/vocals) and a drummer by the name of Bob Langham. With their average age being just over 16, the band – now known


li MacKenzie gazes down at the sea of sweat-drenched faces that fill London’s 100 Club, and watches as they mouth the words to the tune


as The Thunderbirds – adopted the newR&B music filtering in fromAmerica. After coming second in a beat contest at nearby Uxbridge (the winners being Eastcote band The Downbeats), they were offered their first residency at The Yiewsley&West Drayton Community Centre, which they christened “The Nest”. The boys soon became local favourites, and when put up against local rival groups such as The Hustlers, The Confederates and The Rhythmics in another contest, their version of ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ was enough to secure the £20 in prize money and attract offers of management. First priority was a name change – it had come to their attention that singer Chris Farlowe’s backing band were also named The Thunderbirds – so they shortened theirs to The Birds.


Soon enough, Tony Jenkinson offered to co- manage them with Leo de Klerk. Klerk was the uncrowned king of a chain of Home Counties clubs and dance halls. He put them on £10 a week, supplied a light blue Commer van and, more importantly, introduced them into his clubs, most notably The Windsor Cavern Club and The Olympia Ballroomin Reading. John Mansfield and Philip Hayward also ran some of their Ricky Tick nights at The Olympia in Reading. As the biggest promoters of R&B in the Thames Valley, they were probably de Klerk’s greatest business rivals, and as a result The Birds never got to play at any of The Ricky Tick clubs, including the famous Clewer Mead in Windsor. A bonus was that Leo also employed two local hard nuts in the form of Colin Farrell and his brother Tony. Their job was generally to make sure the boys were looked after. Colin would drive them to all the gigs but was certainly no roadie. He happily stood there barking out orders, making sure the band lugged their own equipment in and out.


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