On The Road South
Ray and I were signing on the dole still. ‘But c’mon guys we’re recording,’ Dave said. ‘We know,’ Ray and I said, ‘but we have to sign on or we won’t get any money.’ The record company called out a Limo and we were driven down to sign on in this stretch to tell them that we weren’t earning any money.”
Jack Endino (known for his work with Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Nirvana and, more recently, the first Sonics recordings in 40 years) mixed the album in Seattle adding his skill, but fortunately keeping the historic sound intact. The rock and Detroit stylistic they were known for now also featured some slower brooding numbers like The Doorsy ‘Revolution Stone’ and the tough bluesy ‘Resurrection Joe’. Notable were performances from Shindig! deities Phil May and Dick Taylor of The Pretty Things.
“Keith Richards says that he was in a room and bloody Muddy Waters was painting the goddamn ceiling,” points out Ray, seemingly out of the blue. “The exact same thing happened to us as Dick Taylor was painting the room where we recorded. Mark St John who owned the studio and managed The Pretty Things said, ‘What would you think of having Dick and Phil
Insert of Come Down Heavy
play on your album?’ So Dick laid down some guitar and Phil played some harp with Jim.” Jim laughing explains how the two masterful bluesmen agreed on what to play: “‘Do you know this one?’ Phil asked. I nodded. ‘Great, do this on the fourth hole down and then move it up one’ he instructed. We were away... Wah, wah, wah. ‘I always do that one,” he said, “it’s fucking great.’ ‘Me too,’ I laughed. SO away we went.”
Reaching #2 in the indie charts, Thee Hypnotics had now become a recognisable name and were regulars in the weekly music papers Sounds, Melody Maker and NME,even if they were not quite as wealthy as Mick ’n’ Keef.
Playing across France, Spain and Italy (Phil recalls, “Paris was always good… they liked anything sexy, loud and psychedelic. We had long hair and wore tight trousers too, so they loved it”) it wasn’t long until the album tour took Thee Hypnotics back to their beloved USA. Everything was on the up. The record was selling, the live shows were rocking and the group were on form. America would be brilliant. They’d wow the audience, impress bigger labels and the world was their oyster. With the addition of Geordie rhythm guitarist Robert Zyn to beef up the sound and let Ray focus on his razor-sharp lead work... they were set to stun. After dealing with some business in Seattle the group travelled to Minnesota for the first stretch of a lengthy tour that would take them across the entire continent. Pleased with themselves after a gig with The Smashing Pumpkins Ray, Jim, Will, Robert and Phil returned to their van. “We had dinner at a Perkins Diner after the gig,” remembers Ray with an uncomfortable expression. “When we walked out to get in our regular two bench seat van Phil said to me, and I remember this distinctly, ‘No, after you Ray. Get in, be my guest’ ‘No Phil, after you,’ I replied. ‘No Ray, after you.’ And he won, so I went in, Will followed and Phil sat by the window. A short while up the road at an intersection, a Buick planed into the side of us at 70 miles per hour, smashing into Phil’s hips.” Jim continues, equally uncomfortable, toying with his mineral water bottle: “I saw it coming. The guy ran a light. I saw this flash at the corner of my eye and thought ‘That car should be slowing down!’ And then bang... Our van was pushed up onto a ramp, his car span right round with the doors bent in and ended up pointing in the opposite direction. I ran over to the car to see if they were all right, and the bloke in the back said, “Hey dude, I was asleep. Wha’ppened?’ There were beer cans everywhere. They had been really been boozing it up in the car and were utterly trashed.”
“I’m small,” adds Ray, somewhat
aggrieved. “If it had hit me as it had Phil I would have been broken in half. My finger got cut badly from holding a bottle of beer and the heel of my boot just flew off from the power of impact. It was carnage everywhere. Jim was running around in a daze looking for his bag, the bloke who had hit us was trying to flee the scene even though his leg was broken. He knew he was drunk and fucked up. It was terrible. A real mess. Phil was on his back and could not move whatsoever. He couldn’t breathe and the ambulance people were asking him his name. I was panicking, ‘His name is Phil Smith. It’s Phil! It’s Phil! It’s Phil!’ ‘Shut up,’ they said. ‘We’re trying to do our job.’ It was terrible.”
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