honestly say that if we’d stuck with Leo, things might have been totally different. The day we saw all that money in the envelope, we’d already tried and judged him. We’ll never know though if that amount of money was just for that one gig or not.”


The Management: Charles and Eddie Richardson


Every good story needs a villain, and this story is no different. Whilst attending a club in Catford, South London, The Birds were approached by a couple of heavies stating an interest in managing them (bands were seen as good legitimate money makers in the underworld, even the Kray twins took to managing Yorkshire beat group The Shots for a while). With promises of connections in top clubs, an offer of a brand new Ford Transit van and improved wages, the men convinced the group that all they needed to do was sign on the dotted line for all their dreams to come true. The only blip here was that they were still contracted to Leo. To the band, this now seemed to be the ideal time to finally ditch him and a meeting was set up between de Klerk and the new potential managers. Leo arrived at the Park Lane premises with his lawyer and the Farrell brothers as back up. Unfortunately, he was unaware that the new interested parties were none other than Charlie and Eddie Richardson, notorious South London gangsters and arch rivals of the Krays. Leo knew he was out of his league but was desperate to keep them. The Richardsons’ lawyer pointed out that any contract Leo held must be null and void because the band members would have been too young to sign it. Leo’s lawyer retorted that they’d had the boys’ parents sign the contracts so everything was quite legal. Not quite it seemed, as it was then pointed out


that it was the current manager’s duty to provide the boys with some sort of daily tuition, and if it wasn’t in the contract he could be seen as legally negligent. Realising that he had been outsmarted, Leo hurled abuse at his own lawyer before storming out of The Birds’ life for good.


In truth, Ali MacKenzie wasn’t as sure as the others that they should be leaving Leo. “A


“We were totally pampered: we had a van, we had a car, and we had roadies. We even had a tambourine allowance because I smashed them every night!”


manager is so important. You’ve got a band, you’ve got a promoter, and you’ve got to have a manager. It’s all one big jigsaw. Unfortunately for some guys, their managers don’t do what they promised and just took the lot! I think our biggest mistake was getting rid of Leo. It was wrong. We were totally pampered: we had a van, we had a car, and we had roadies, all the gear was paid for. If anything broke down it was paid for. I can


The Birds signed on the books of the Robert Stigwood agency. As the group was no longer required by Decca, Stigwood happily placed them on his own Reaction label and talks about what should be the new single began. A version of a song called ‘La Poupee Qui Fait Non’ (which translates to ‘The Doll Who Said No’) written by French singer-songwriter Michel Polnareff was recorded. The band hated it and changed the title to ‘Good Times’. It sounded completely unlike any of their previous releases, and was uncannily edging towards a more pop-art sound that The Creation were about to perfect. A version of The Who’s ‘Run, Run, Run’ was also recorded. Unfortunately it was never released as a single, and did not appear until The Birds compilation The Collectors’ Guide To Rare British Birds was released in ’99.


“We got out of our contract with Leo and went with Robert Stigwood, although he wasn’t our manager,” remembers Ali. “Stigwood was doing this stuff with Kit Lambert for Pete Townsend so we recorded ‘Run, Run, Run’. Funnily enough I don’t remember recording them. It was just a vehicle and an avenue for Pete. Anybody involved with Stigwood and Lambert was offered Pete’s stuff, so that he could get it out to the masses… and the royalties of course.”


At this point a new company was set up with Tony and Ali joining the Richardsons’ solicitor in a company aptly named The Popgressive Music Company. Any decisions surrounding the band would now need at least the signatures of any two current band members. In theory this would at least secure that the band got the best deals on offer. One such offer they agreed to take up was to appear in a cameo role for a British horror filmcalled The Deadly Bees. The low budget movie, based on H F Heard’s novel A Taste For Honey starred Suzanna Leigh and Frank Finlay as a couple investigating a swarm of killer bees. At the start of the film, the screen is filled with that familiar fuzz guitar as a white polo necked Ronnie throws his head back in mock anger. The camera then pans back to reveal the band playing in a TV studio. Apparently written by Tony and Ronnie the same week they appeared in the film, ‘That’s All I Need You For’ is one of the band’s best recordings, remaining unreleased until the ’99 CD. The band spent an entire day on set, filming several takes. What we’re left with is the only known footage of the band. Visually exciting, from the black and white stripes on Ronnie’s guitar and Ali’s jerky body moves to the immaculate mod haircut sported by Kim Gardener, we can now imagine how great they must have been to see live. The footage ends when the actor playing the television presenter utters the line, ‘Thank you, The Birds. I’msure we all wish them luck on their forthcoming tour of America!” Sadly, that line is completely untrue. The Birds never left these shores to tour anywhere. There had


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