to pursue the transatl


with seven writs claiming loss of earnin The British band


the transatlantic charlatans armed earnings.


band meanwhile seemed slightly


were instead hearing the jangly guitar intro of ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ by American group The Byrds.


On August 2nd ’65 The Byrds – being touted as America’s answer to The Beatles – arrived at London Airport at the start of a 16-day tour of Britain and walked into the arrivals hall to be greeted by an irate Leo de Klerk. Leo had consulted lawyers and had decided


embarrassed by the whole proceeding and stood well back as their American namesakes were mobbed by screaming fans. Later, Mervyn Conn, the director of the agency representing The Byrds in Europe, was quoted as saying, “This is just a case of this other group cashing in with dirty, cheap publicity.” If that were indeed the case, it certainly worked in that the story made most of the national newspapers and music magazines. The Birds then took their first holiday in 14 months with a week in Jersey and the West Country. On their return they realised the legal pursuit would come to nothing. Three weeks after the airport incident, even one of the band members was quoted in the press as saying, “We are so busy we have not had time to even think about it – we are certainly losing no sleep. But so far as we are concerned, British is best!”


The Birds quickly found themselves back in the studio recording a much-needed follow up to ‘Leaving Here’. Once again they chose


an obscure piece of American soul – ‘No Good Without You Baby’ written by William Mickey Stevenson and originally recorded by Marvin Gaye for his How Sweet It Is album. The single was backed with yet another Wood original, the superb ‘How Can It Be’. Both sides of the 45 are full of the band’s trademark menace, aggression and fuzz guitar, but a different sound was achieved on the B-side by this time featuring Ronnie Wood on lead vocal.


Things seemed to be settling down nicely when a gig was booked for New Year’s Eve at The Starlight Ballroom in Greenford in December ’65. For some reason the fee – normally given straight to Leo – ended up in the hands of the group. Curious, they undid the envelope and discovered nearly £1000 inside. Naturally, they felt ripped off seeing as they weren’t getting paid anywhere near that amount for the evening’s work. A meeting was held at KimGardener’s parents’ house to decide how to ditch him. It wouldn’t be an easy task; Leo was a shrewd businessman and not the type you would want to cross, especially as he had the Farrell brothers watching his back.


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