Re: Ian Hunter in the New Yardbirds

[Scott Swanson <swandwn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Constance writes:

>Anyhoo, here is an excerpt from the paragraph where Ian Hunter had
>just auditioned for Mott....
>
>"The new recruit was Ian Hunter Patterson from Shrewsbury.  Older than
>the others, he was a veteran of British beat groups in Hamburg, had
>recently backed Billy Fury and almost joined Jimmy Page's New Yardbirds."

Actually, Ian Hunter DID join the New Yardbirds -- but Jimmy wasn't a 
member of the group!

Confused?  Here's the long-lost story...

When Mickie Most found out (in the fall of 1968) that Jimmy Page and 
Peter Grant would be abandoning the "Yardbirds" name and going off on 
their own, he was a bit miffed.  I guess he felt that he owned a 
piece of the Yardbirds, since he was their producer as well as Peter 
Grant's boss.  So, he decided to cash in on the name by assembling 
his own group, which was to be called The New Yardbirds.

Most's plan was to have this band tour in places where Zep wouldn't 
be touring (i.e., small towns in the U.S.), flying under the radar 
before the first Led Zeppelin album had even been released yet.

The band included Ian Hunter on bass and Mick Strode (one-time Band 
Of Joy member!) on guitar.  They rehearsed for a few weeks but the 
whole project fell apart when Peter Grant found out and threatened 
legal action.

An interesting sidenote to the story: Hunter put a slightly different 
twist on the story in a 2002 interview -- he claimed that the band 
was assembled as a "backup plan" for Jimmy Page, just in case Plant, 
Jones & Bonham didn't work out!  However, I tend to doubt that aspect 
of the story, as it seems highly unlikely that Jimmy would have been 
willing to join a band that he'd never even met or rehearsed with.

Anyway, that's the story.  If nothing else, it proves that the "New 
Yardbirds" name existed in 1968.

Hope this helps,

Scott
(swandwn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)