The Beatles Boxed Set (6 page)

            This
was their name when the band became closely associated with Allan Williams,
owner of the Jacaranda who considered expanding his bar and a strip club into
an entertainment empire, complete with bands and concert halls. John had asked
him to manage them, and Williams quickly agreed.

            As
they lacked a drummer, Williams came back with Tommy Moore, an experienced
drummer who was more than twice the age of George and Paul. As with the other
members of the band, Moore wouldn’t be staying long.

            The
band’s first tour was a ten-day jaunt backing up an unknown singer named Johnny
Gentle for his tour of Scotland’s dance halls. The boys thought this was their
band’s big break. It was, if only they played well enough to win the
summer-long residency backing up Billy Furry in Blackpool. But they only landed
the consolation prize of the Scottish tour, which was actually a low-paying
gig. However, it was better than nothing, so the band set out with high hopes.

            One
of their journeys proved to be disastrous and nearly killed Moore. The battered
van that Mr. Gentle drove collided with another car. Moore broke his nose and
knocked off a few of his teeth. Nevertheless, the band made the show that night
in Aberdeen. Back in Liverpool a few days later, the band played a show, and
then began the hunt for another drummer.

            The
band also served as backup for a stripper at Williams’ newest club. Paul said
later that it was “not an important chapter in our lives. But an interesting
one.” But unbeknownst to them, they were on their way to a far more interesting
chapter in their lives. By the end of the summer, they would find themselves
headed for the city of Hamburg in Germany, where their experience as a band
would prepare them for the bigger things to come.

Allan
Williams developed a friendship with Bruno Koschmider, a thuggish but charming
German club owner whom Williams met through an acquaintance. Koschmider owned
Bambi Kino, a porn cinema, Indra club and the Kaiserkeller.

This is how the boys looked during their
Hamburg days

            In
those days, Koschmider needed rock music to draw people to his bars. As it
happened, British bands were more favored than locals, so Williams and
Koschmider came together in serving their interests. Williams would send his
Liverpool bands to Koschmider’s clubs, the bands would have regular work,
Williams’ commissions would skyrocket, and Koschmider would supply beer and
booze for the rock-crazed customers.

            Williams
first sent the Derry and the Seniors to the Kaiserkeller club in July. The band
was so successful that Koschmider decided to convert the Indra from a strip
club to a music venue. And that meant he needed another band to play there.
Williams made the offer to John’s band, which by then dropped the
Silver
and just went with the name Beatles. But Williams emphasized that they needed
to find a drummer first.

            That
problem was solved when they discovered Pete Best, son of Casbah owner Mona
Best and former drummer of a band called the Blackjacks. The band was about to
break up, so Paul made the offer to Pete.

            But
Paul had another problem to consider. How should he convince his father to let
him abandon home and schooling to pursue his dreams to Germany? It was a
daunting task, and Paul could already see his father shaking his head.

            So
he enlisted the help of his brother, Mike, in convincing their father. Still,
Jim was unconvinced, so Paul asked the help of Williams, who came to their home
and talked with Jim about the opportunity that awaited Paul and his friends.
Jim finally relented after Williams told him that Paul would earn nearly twenty
pounds a week, more than Jim made on the cotton exchange. The memories of his
own showbiz aspirations also made the father agree to let Paul go.

            The
Beatles, along with Williams, his wife Beryl, and Lord Woodbine, crammed like
sardines into Williams’ small van on their way to Germany. Williams had failed
to procure work permit for his young charges, and so they pretended to be
students on holiday and arrived in the Reeperbahn district. They located the
address that Koschmider gave Williams.

The Beatles looked every inch the rockers
in their leather pants and jackets

            They
quickly found the Indra club, with a large neon elephant outside. Inside, it
was worse than they imagined. There were heavy crimson drapes that darkened the
room, beer-stained tables. And their lodgings, far worse than anything they’d
ever seen. It was just at the back of the cinema, the Bambi Kino, with bunk
beds, cement walls, not even a strip of wallpaper to cover them. And the strong
stench from the ladies’ room next door was overpowering.

            The
Beatles played that night on the small, wooden stage. The club was empty, and
so they had to take their guitars into the street and tried to entice passing
fun-seekers into going to the club. Paul recalled, “We were like carnival
barkers. We’d grab two people and do whatever they wanted – our whole repertoire
… we’d do all the jokes and try to be marvelous and make them want to come
back.”

            Koschmider
observed from the back of the room that the boys were just standing there. So
he’d shout at them,
Mach Schau
! Make a show! Move to the music!

            And
so, the boys began to move reluctantly at first, but with growing abandon as
the crowd picked up Koschmider’s chant.
Mach Schau!
John, Paul and Stu
would dance as much as they could. They would shout to the audience, the beat
propelling the dancing, which would further feed the volume.

            When
neighbors complained of the noise, Koschmider decided to bring in the strippers
back to the stage and pointed the Beatles to the Kaiserkeller, which was
relatively larger than Indra. At Kaiserkeller, the Beatles had better
accommodations and shared the stage with Derry and the Seniors.

            Spurred
by a bigger crowd, a bigger stage, and a friendly competition with Derry and
the Seniors, the Beatles played even harder. They would consume bottles of beer
provided by their satisfied customers. They would also take German diet pills,
although Paul barely took them at first.

A poster advertising The Beatles and Rory
Storm and the Hurricanes

            Their
life in Hamburg revolved around nothing but making music. And screaming. Paul
would scream
Long Tall Sally
and
Lucille
until his vocal chords
seemed on the verge of breaking. John would match him scream for scream with
Johnny
B. Goode
and
Rock ‘n’ Roll Music.
Then they would segue to
Your
Feet’s Too big, Memphis, That’s All Right, Mama
. George would also join in
with his solos while Pete beat the drums with fury.

            Their
nights were like that, with each set going on for thirty minutes, to forty, and
even all night if necessary.

            Right
from the start, the boys knew it was John’s band, but Paul was slowly emerging
as something of a leader as well. Howie Casey, sax player of Derry and the
Seniors, was impressed with the Beatles, particularly with left-handed guitar
player, Paul McCartney. He said, “You can always tell which one is the most creative,
and Paul obviously had that drive. He was so good at getting chords and
figuring out songs. And vocally he was incredible. I know John was the leader
in a way, but musically Paul was always in charge.”

            The
Seniors’ guitarist, Brian Griffiths, agreed with Casey, noting that Paul “could
play for more than anyone else, right into Gershwin and those guys. He had a
great ear for progressions and knew diminished chords and like that. I remember
thinking, ‘Why doesn’t he do that onstage?’ But they were a rock band.”
Griffiths added, “If he was going to do a song onstage, he wanted to do it
right. He’d work on it. I never saw him quake or crack, he could always pull
things off. And that was because he rehearsed, he prepared.”

            John
was Paul’s opposite in this regard though he was a captivating singer who could
bring to life a threadbare rock hit. But as the night wore on and the booze and
pills kicked on, John would go over the top. He would scream at the crowd,
“Clap yer hands yer fuckin’ Nazis!”

            Eventually,
the Beatles’ original month-long engagement extended. The weeks turned into
months, and their acts were getting crazy. One night, John performed with a
toilet seat around his neck and wearing only his underpants. Then another
night, Paul played a set dressed in a bedsheet. Another night, John came out in
a swimsuit. He dropped his guitar, spun in place, and whipped down his trunks
to reveal his pale ass to the cheering crowd.

The Beatles at the Top Ten Club, with
Paul on piano

            But
amidst the crazy nights and the booze and the pills, no one foresaw the end to
their Hamburg trip. The Beatles was offered more money and a better place to
sleep by Peter Eckhorn, owner of the Top Ten Club. The offer was way better
than what Koschmider provided them, so they played at Eckhorn’s club. By doing
so, they broke their contract with Koschmider.

            And
they didn’t expect what the Indra club owner did. Koschmider was so furious
that he got George deported. He was so shocked to learn that George was only 17
and was not of legal nightclub-working age. He also had Paul and Pete arrested
for arson although nothing but a blackened wall was damaged after they set fire
to a condom when they arrived at the dark cinema to retrieve their things. The
two were deported, but not after spending three hours in the police station.
John was also deported after his work permit was revoked. Only Stu remained in Hamburg
for a while, then borrowed money from his then-girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr for
his airfare back to Liverpool. Kirchherr was credited with inventing the famous
The Beatles’ moptop hairstyle.