Page 32 - the NOISE May 2015

RoBeRt wyatt: suit JaCket au natuRel
soft machine, circa 1967 musiC Bloodline aRChives
Canterbury is an english city in the district of Kent, about 55 miles southeast of London. It has a rich and varied past that stretches back to before recorded history. In the lit- erary arts, it is famously the setting for Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the birthplace of playwright Christopher Marlowe.
In the early 1960s, at the same time Beatlemania was spreading from Liverpool to the rest of england (and later the world), a very different sound was brewing in Canterbury. It can all be traced back to The wilde Flowers, a band which never made any records but became a sort of finishing school for the local players. The wilde Flowers and the surround- ing scene spawned soft Machine, Caravan, Hatfield and The north, Gong, Henry Cow, national Health, steve Hillage, Allan Holdsworth, and Fred Frith, to name but a few.
In the same way The Rolling stones, The yardbirds and other London groups created a new music out of the blues, the Canterbury musicians did it with jazz. They shared not a specific sound but rather an aesthetic: a willingness to ex- periment, an emphasis on improvisation, and a whimsical dry humor. The Canterbury scene never birthed superstars like Jagger/Richards or Lennon/McCartney, perhaps due to the esoteric nature of the music being created. Vocals and hit singles were not foremost. This was music for adults, not your average top 40 fan. These bands played fusion and progres- sive rock years before the terms were invented. It was one of the first true underground scenes in england.
Out of The wilde Flowers came Robert wyatt. He was born Robert wyatt-ellidge in Bristol, on the western coast of eng- land near wales. He attended grammar school in Canterbury where he met many of his future band mates. His fast jazz- influenced drumming was the heartbeat of The wilde Flow- ers’ sound. wyatt was also blessed with a unique tenor voice, scratchy but clear. It allowed him to escape the drummers’ curse of being stuck in the back unnoticed. when The wilde Flowers performed, many were amazed that the singer who sounded like he had just smoked half a pack of unfiltered cig- arettes was the unassuming blond chap pounding the skins.
In 1966, wyatt, bassist Kevin Ayers, and guitarist Daevid Allen left The wilde Flowers to form soft Machine with key- boardist Mike Ratledge. Allen, who would soon depart the softs, had met william Burroughs in Morocco and called him for permission to use the name. The group quickly became popular on the same “swinging London” psychedelic scene as Pink Floyd. some say their early performances were better than the Floyd’s. Most of their peers dug jazz, but soft Ma- chine were one of the few groups who had the chops to fully integrate it into their sound.
They certainly made a hell of a lot of noise for a trio. Rat- ledge used distortion, phasing and wah-wah on his keyboards and fed the whole thing through stacks of 100 watt Marshall amps, as did Ayers with his bass. To be heard over the racket, wyatt punished his drums and cymbals to the point of de- stroying his kit regularly. Keith Moon wrecked his drums by kicking and throwing them, but wyatt did it by playing.
The Robert wyatt of 1966-1969 was a colorful character. Despite his diminutive size, he had a huge capacity for drugs and alcohol. wyatt had no compunction letting everyone within earshot know he was Communist and atheist. since he usually played shirtless, he began painting a suit jacket and tie on his bare torso for concerts. He’d walk up to a girl and say, “I’m Robert wyatt,” and stick his tongue in her mouth. After flustering the young lady, he would turn on the charm and he’d be in. Ratledge was a better musician and Ayers was better looking, but wyatt was the group’s most voracious skirt chaser. He had to score with a different bird every night and began plowing through every available woman in the area.
Robert’s soft Machine persona is perhaps best summed up in a track from their first LP, “why Am I so short?”:
I’ve got a drum kit and some sticks
So when I’m drunk or in a fit
I find it easy to express myself
I hit the drums so hard I break all the heads And then I end the day in one of my beds
I’m nearly 5 foot 7 tall
I like to smoke and drink and ball
I’ve got a yellow suit that’s made by Pam And every day I like an egg and some tea But best of all I like to talk about me *
Another group with the same manager had moved into the practice space next to soft Machine’s, and the wildest guitar sounds Robert had ever heard were coming through the wall. He went over to have a peek. It was a black man with frizzy conked hair and Robert could not believe the things he was doing to that guitar. The bassist and drummer, noel Red- ding and Mitch Mitchell, recognized Robert from the scene and waved him over. He was introduced to Jimi Hendrix, an American living in London. Jimi was laid back and friendly. Robert produced a joint from his shirt pocket, lit it up, and they were instant mates.
Robert didn’t think Jimi would like his band because they
32 • MAY 2015 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us