THE BILL HUNT INTERVIEW
By Martin Kinch
Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio - December 1999
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MK: Bill, I first got to know of you when you were doing sessions for The Move,Tell us a bit about what you did before that... BH: Before The Move I‘d been involved in bands
round Birmingham, The Breakthrough, they used to do Radio 1 live appearances, I
spent three months in Zurich with that band working over there. We were working
in hotels and various places following other Birmingham bands like Black
Sabbath that used to do a circuit over there. Then after that I was with a band
called Hannibal, another band called Saffron who weren't very well known in and
around Birmingham, I think it was from Saffron that I heard at the Midland Art
Centre that Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne had been in looking for a horn player to
join their new set up. MK: So what was the
first band you were with that actually went on to record anything? BH: I don’t
think we did much recording with The Breakthrough, but with Hannibal we did an
album with a producer and the management of Black Sabbath who had just had a
big hit with their album Paranoid, their first album. We had the same
management and the same producer I can’t remember his name at the moment, Roger
something. So ‘course we thought Black Sabbath have been successful we thought
well this is it for us we‘re gonna crack it but nothing much happened. MK: You released one album and there was a
single as well wasn’t there? BH: From Hannibal? I’m not really sure about that
there may have been. I know the album has just been re-released by something
called Retro Records or something like that in Germany they’ve just brought it
out on CD. I haven’t listened to it so I can’t tell you what it’s like! MK: Well I’m sure a lot
of people haven’t actually heard it so I think it would be quite nice to play a
track, they are quite long tracks but there is a
short-ish track called Look Upon Me - shall we play that one? BH: Yeah great I’ll look forward to it. (Plays Look Upon Me) MK: OK that's Hannibal, a track called Look
Upon Me. Did you do any touring, any gigs with the band at all? BH:Yeah, the way that Hannibal came together, there
was a band called Bakerloo around Birmingham that featured a guitarist called
Clem Clemson, Clem Clemson was a brilliant young musician who went on to work
with John Highsman in Coliseum and became a big session guitarist, with his
manager Jim Simpson from Birmingham, Jim had funded an album for Bakerloo and
shortly after, virtually at the same time, Clem Clemson left to do other things
so Jim Simpson had got this album that he wanted promoting in Germany so we
actually did a tour of Germany under that name - Bakerloo, before we changed the
name to Hannibal although nobody in the band had played on the album! Such is
the business! MK: So do you still keep
in touch with any of them at all or not? BH: It was based around a guitarist called Adrian
Ingram. The first time I met Adrian was at Smethwick Baths. I was in a band and
we had lights! We’d heard of their reputation but we thought we’d win the night
because we had these coloured lights that used to flash on and off you see and it was really err…. we were impressed by it anyway! But he had this three piece blues band that were known locally,
they came on and absolutely blew the place apart he was a fantastic guitarist
and although he hadn’t got any education or musical qualifications then,
he did get a load,and he had the Guitar Chair
at the Leeds School of Music for Jazz he's a brilliant jazz guitarist, he does
Jazz gigs now over here and the states and has written books on Wes Montgomery
and various guitarists so a very accomplished musician, but he was the main
feature of the band - Adrian Ingram, I think all the numbers were written by him. MK: Do you keep in touch
at all? BH: OH that was the question wasn’t it! Yeah I do occasionally keep in touch with
Adrian. MK: So when did the band split up and were Jeff
and Roy calling upon you at the time the band were going or what happened
first? BH: No they didn’t know the band, as I said I heard through friends in Birmingham that Jeff and Bev had been to a place called The Midlands Art Centre which is still going
in Birmingham, and a lot of bands then used to rehearse down there at the Art Centre and they’d been down
there looking for musicians that played horn and I don’t know how I got the
number but I contacted Jeff I think, at his house coz he didn’t live far from me
on this big council estate, I lived on one big council estate, he lived on the
next one and I think I rang him at home and arranged to go over there and Bev Bevan and Roy Wood were gonna go over at the
same time so I sort of drove over there with my horn and went in and just
played a few things for them, played piano as well we all got on well and Roy
like, turned up an hour later as usual, and that’s how I first met them. MK:When do you think that would have been? What
year was that do you remember? BH: I think it may have been about 1970 MK: So you said you’d played on TV with them,
did some live work did you record on the last Move album at all do you know? BH: I did, I got to know them at the time of
Message From The Country and I’ve got the acetate upstairs, Roy actually gave
me the acetate of that and I don’t know whether I actually played on that or
just went in and made animal noises - there’s a track, I think it was Message
From the Country where there’s all these animal noises and we were making cows
and pigs, I think I was one of those. MK: So you must have been with them at the time
when they sort of split up and turned into ELO, that must have been a bit of a
strange sort of time? BH: Yeah, they
were keeping The Move going really to fund the ELO concept, which I think was
Roy’s name but an idea that Jeff and Roy shared, and Jeff really joined The
Move with the purpose of forming this new band The Electric Light Orchestra.
But The Move were able to fund them while they set up and recorded the ELO
material. MK: And you went on to record the first ELO album
with them didn’t you? BH: Yeah they’d recorded a lot of material and the
first time I went down to London with them was to the Phonogram studio near
Marble Arch, which I think Paul Weller bought and might still own and it was to
add some horn, French horn, and also I think Roy had got a small brass trumpet
so on the introduction to 10538 Overture I added the horn part and added some
trumpet parts which I think they speeded the track up to make it sound higher
at the end of that track. MK: I think we’d better hear it then. ( Plays 10538 Overture) BH: Absolutely! MK: 10538 Overture the very first ELO single and featuring the horn of Bill Hunt who we
are speaking to now. Soon after that album was released though Bill, Roy left
the band. Did you actually leave at the same time? BH: If I can just mention one thing, talking before
about Paul Weller. Paul Weller had a single out, I think it was his Stanley Road album, and it was one of my nephews came up and said have you heard this
Paul Weller track, it just sounds like 10538 Overture and I listened to it and
I couldn’t believe it, I think it was in the same key as well. But it was
interesting, that connection, that the 10538 was recorded in the studio that he
later bought. MK: I think the track you are on about is called
The Changing Man. BH: Yes that’s right. MK: Let’s have a quick little listen to that so
that people can listen to the similarities in the two, but you are right,
they are similar. (plays Changing Man - Paul Weller) MK: That's The Changing Man by Paul Weller.We threw that one in as well, We were talking about the early days of ELO, Roy left soon after that album was
released didn’t he? Did you actually go with him at the same time? Must have
been a bit of a strange time? BH: Yes. It was, basically there were two
very talented musicians and two ambitious musicians in Roy and Jeff and
friction occurred really and it came to its height on the Italian tour. I think
when Roy came back he felt that the atmosphere and tension was building and he
did say to me that he’d had enough of that with The Move, with the original
line up of The Move, and he never wished to be in a band with that sort of
tension around, and for that reason he decided to leave Jeff with ELO and to
form Wizzard. MK: Well all the press
reports said did he fall or was he pushed - what do you think about that? BH: It’s difficult; I mean it was his decision. OH
no he wasn’t pushed. No he wasn’t pushed it was his decision to leave and to go
along a new rock n roll path rather than the classical sort of path. MK: And you left at the same time yeah? BH: Yeah he left, I wasn’t particularly happy with
ELO, to me it wasn’t the greatest live band I’d heard and I was thinking of
leaving anyway but then Roy said he’d got this new concept and he’d like me to
join it. I got on very well with Roy, I
liked his sense of humour and obviously I admired his musical talent and such,
so I was happy to go into Wizzard with him.
Which was a band with a great atmosphere and I think the atmosphere of
the band comes across in the singles. MK: Yeah you’re right
and the first single, which was called Ball Park Incident, was released around
Christmas time in 1972 that was a really exciting point wasn’t it? BH: Yes, absolutely fabulous that’s right, was it
released at Christmas time or earlier? MK: Yes it was released in December of 72 but was a hit in January of 73 BH: Yeah, that was fairly successful that was, top
ten so we were pleased about that being the first single. MK: Number six, and you must have been quite
pleased as well cause you wrote the B side didn’t you? BH: That’s right, which is a Harpsichord based
piece, the Carlsberg Special which was a particular favourite drink of the
band - I don’t know why coz it tastes bloody awful now. MK: Now, the Carlsberg
Special, piano's demolished phone 021-373-4472 I shan’t forget that phone number
nor will you, will you? BH: No and I’ve just remembered why we liked it,
it was a particularly strong drink. The phone number, that was a little
surprise the band played on me, I think I did have a title for it I can't quite
remember what the title was but then they told me they had a new title for it
but wouldn’t tell me what it was and I couldn’t understand why but I went along
with it. Then when the single came out it had got my home phone number on the B
side! And so I was kept busy with the
phone for a while. MK: What did you think
when people started ringing you up, did you mind? BH: I didn’t really mind, I was young, newly
married actually but I just thought it was a bit of fun. The people who rang up
were friendly and often surprised that they were speaking to a member of the
band. But it soon wore off when we were getting phone calls at all times, in
the end we couldn’t use the phone so we had to ask for a change of number. MK: And some poor old
lady got that number didn’t she? BH: Well yeah, after my complaint that we
couldn’t use the phone they gave me a new number and you’d have thought they
would put the other one on the shelf for a while but they gave it some lady, I
think she was 85, we’ve just seen the article haven’t we, and she was getting
pestered with the phone calls then. MK: Was that the first tune that you had written to
actually get recorded? BH: I think it was yes, the instrumental, that’s
right. MK: Ok well quite a few
people listening to this are probably wondering what we are talking about so
we’ll play it. The Carlsberg Special by Wizzard, this is the B-side of Ball
Park Incident and it was written by our guest today - Bill Hunt. (Plays The
Carlsberg Special) MK: That’s great. The Carlsberg Special by
Wizzard. Did Wizzard perform that live Bill, at all? BH: We never did no, I don’t think we ever did do
that one live, I don’t think many of the B-sides were
performed live. MK: Have you ever
attempted to play it live at all yourself? BH: I can't play it now it’s that fast! MK: It is fast isn’t it?
It sounds a very complicated piece to play is it? BH: Yeah it’s based on a Bach piece one if his
Preludes, it’s the same sort of chord sequence as that and it’s just a little variation on
that really. MK: So 1973 was an
amazing year for Wizzard with two number ones, See My Baby Jive and Angel
Fingers. Is 1973 and that sort of time all a haze to you now or do you remember
it quite clearly? BH: Well there’s parts that I do remember quite
clearly I mean the thing was it was great fun, it was a great band with a great
atmosphere and as I said before that sort of came across on the singles like
See My Baby Jive and the Christmas one of course. MK: And of course Roy
was also having solo success as well and you were telling me that you played on
some of his solo stuff as well? BH: Yeah with the solo album, he didn’t play a lot
of piano, Roy, so if he needed some piano bits in he used to ask me to come in
and play on them. MK: So what do you think
when you go into a shop now because we are approaching Christmas as we speak,
and every shop you go in is now playing I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day.
Does that bring back good memories for you? BH: Oh yes it was a great time, a great time with
the band and I’m proud to be associated with it, it was a little bit of rock
and roll history and I’m proud to be associated with that. I still think its
better than the Slade single and I’ve told Dave Hill and Nodd that! MK: You must have
recorded it in the summer did you? BH: I can’t quite remember when we did record that
one. I know Dave Hill tells me that they recorded theirs in New York in the
summer and it was really really hot and they were all sweating and some of the
recordings were done in corridors to get the echo effects and all these New
Yorkers were walking passed looking at this British band dressed up in
Christmas gear singing about Christmas and they thought it was a load of
nutters. How right they were! MK: Well it was a good
year for Christmas records, Slade had one in the charts as well as you just
mentioned but you say you prefer it to the Slade one? BH: I think it’s a better song yeah. MK: Ok Let’s hear it then.
(Plays I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day.) MK: There they go,
Wizzard, I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day, and who hasn’t had a dance to
that at some drunken party somewhere! We are talking to Bill Hunt who played on
that track, also in ’73 Wizzard released an album called Wizzard Brew,
that’s a great album do you like it? BH: Yeah, it missed the target with the public
really, I think Roy’s greatest talent was as a pop singles writer. It was
interesting at the time that Jeff couldn’t write pop singles, but Jeff was very
good on the concept album tracks and Jeff didn’t have a great deal of success
in the early days where as Roy had all those singles with The Move. But as the
scene changed and people like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd were coming in. The
album scene became more important than the singles scene and I think that the
three minute single is where Roy’s talent really lies. MK: It was very
different wasn’t it from things like See My Baby Jive and Angel Fingers. BH: Yeah I think the fans must have been
flabbergasted! MK: And it’s just been
released on CD,Did you know about that? BH: I didn’t
know that, its good to know that the music still goes around. I remember We’re going for a Jolly Cup Of Tea, I don’t know what the fans thought
about that one! MK: Did you play on that
track? BH: Oh yes, I seem to remember a lot of brass
instruments going into it, yes it may have been that track I played a lot of
brass instruments on. (Plays: Jolly Cup Of Tea) MK: You must have had
great fun, not just recording that album but being in Wizzard, it must have
been a fantastic job at the time,Was it? BH: Absolutely. Obviously it was successful, you go
round the country. One of the fondest memories is to go on stage and just have
all those people in an ecstatic mood there to greet you, and we just had a
great party on stage. MK: Now Roy’s an
incredible talent in my opinion. What’s
he like to work with in the studio? BH: Roy was Brilliant. Very easy to work with, the
reason being that he knew exactly what he wanted, he’d got the sound in his
head, the concept in his head - It's not the same as going in with someone who is
not quite sure what they want and is trying different things out. Roy was full
of music, he’d got it all in his head. Then it was just a case of working with
us to bring that sound out. But having said that, we put our own ideas in as
well, and Roy would let us and encourage us to do that and to be creative in
the studios also. MK: Well he gave you all
a chance to write B-sides to singles which is something a lot of people don’t
do. BH: That’s right. MK: You went on to
record an album called Eddy And The Falcons in ’74. Now was it during that
album you decided to leave? BH: I remember the photo session more than the
album tracks, I think we started to do some albums tracks but then I think that
was the time when I left and Bob Brady played on it. On the album cover is says
that there were two piano players, myself and Bob Brady. MK: Did you play much on
the album? BH: I can’t quite remember how many tracks I did
on that one, I think a lot got wiped when I left! MK: Do you think much
got recorded that didn’t get used during the time when you were with the band? BH: Not when I was with the band no. I don’t
remember much that didn’t get out. MK: Must have
been a very hard decision for you to make, with this successful band having all
this fun. Why did you leave? BH: Well there
were various things going on in my life. My wife was pregnant with our first
child. I don’t know whether that gives a certain seriousness to your situation
when you start looking at things a little bit differently and a bit more into
the future. Roy was having solo success and talking about gigs at the Albert Hall using different musicians including Rick Wakeman (that obviously stuck in my
mind) on keyboards and various other musicians and I saw Don Arden pushing Roy
as a solo artist rather in the way that Rod Stewart had left the Faces and
became a solo artist. And I couldn’t see a long term future for the band
although I think that was the wrong move to make with Roy. I think Roy is much
more successful with a good team around him rather than on his own. MK: It was
soon after you left that the success started to dwindle a bit didn’t it? Why do
you think that was? Was that Roy’s song writing or was he being pushed into
something he didn’t want to do? What was going on there? BH: I think
with pop bands, and Roy was the master of the three minute single, I think that
pop bands don’t last forever and styles change, new audiences come up. And
because we weren’t able to get into the album market, because it was like a
singles band, artists change, bands change and the next change came in really.
The next fashion came in. MK: Do you remember if
you played on a track called This Is The Story Of My Love? BH: I remember the track very well and I think I
did play on that one. MK: It’s one of my favourites let’s hear it. (
Plays: This Is The Story Of My Love) MK: From the Wizzard album
Introducing Eddy and The Falcons, that was This Is The Story Of My Love (Baby).
We’re talking to Bill Hunt who left the band when that album was being recorded. Did
you still follow the bands career though after you’d gone? BH: Yeah but I moved into different areas then,
into teaching, I’d been to the school of music in Birmingham and got a degree
in teaching so really since I’d been to school that’s what I’d been trained to
do and trained to be, so that’s the area I moved into. But yeah I’ve always
been interested in music and followed both Jeff’s ELO progress and
the Wizzard progress. MK: Was it hard to go
back to a day job after being in a rock band like that? BH: It was difficult but you‘ve got to get round
to it sometime! MK: You gotta pay the rent haven’t you! BH: Absolutely! BH: That's right, later on. Ray had obviously done
tours with Wizzard and was also managed by Don Arden for a time and
we made contact again and I did some gigs with them. Culminating in
a video at the London Palladium. MK: You've just mentioned
Don Arden, he was recently on TV in a documentary what did you think
about that? MK: BH: MK: Talking of image, lets
just go back to your Wizzard image because you came across as a bit
of a mad man! Was that hard to do or are you a bit like that anyway? BH: MK: OK so tell us now how
you ended up working with Slade and Noddy Holder. BH: MK: BH: MK: BH: MK: BH: MK: BH: Nod and Jim made the decision that they didn't
want to tour anymore, obviously Nod as you know is very busy doing TV
and he's just written a book, so he got busy doing other things and
he thought he'd done his best with Slade and didn't want to become a
parody of his former self. He was also getting lots of offers to do
other things, radio shows, TV shows and so he's gone into that. But
Dave and Don formed a band that they called Slade 2, a bit like the
ELO 2 thing, and continued gigging. MK: BH: Well bands are always changing lineups and personnel all along the way and it's just a natural continuation, just because one person wants to leave, that's their decision but the rest of them are musicians and that's their job and I just see it as a continuation. MK: Now you’ve
got a son who’s in a band and I believe he’s playing tonight isn’t he? BH: Yeah, he’s
playing at Ronnie Scotts in Birmingham tonight with his group. He’s
a very prolific songwriter cause he’s a good songwriter as well, the
songs seem to flow quite easily out of him. He sings, plays guitar and
this is the first gig with his new lineup. MK: Good luck
to him for that. And you’ve got a nephew Miles and everyone will have
heard of his band the Wonder Stuff but they’re not going anymore are
they? BH: No the Wonder
Stuff finished but Miles is still gigging in this country and in the
States and brings out CD’s which are available, I believe over the internet.
MK: Is that
under his own name or with a band? BH: That’s under
his own name Miles Hunt. MK: We are approaching
the Millennium, what are your plans for the year 2000? BH: The year
2000, well I’m looking forward to the Millennium party at Steve Winwoods
house I’ve had an invitation so I’m looking forward to going down the
Cotswolds and enjoying myself down there. MK: Well Bill,
Enjoy the party, All the best for the year 2000 and thanks for doing
this interview. BH: It’s always
a pleasure to see you Martin. MK: Cheers Bill
Thanks. MK: Tell us
more about your son Will, you played on his "Entertaining Archie" CD
didn't you? BH: MK: And also
since that interview you nephew Miles has recorded an album with the
Wonderstuff called "Escape From Rubbish Island" Were you involved with
that album ? BH: MK: I'd be interested to
know what Will and Miles think about the work you did with ELO and Wizzard
BH: I suppose you'd better ask them, but as I'm Will's
Dad and Miles was a page boy at my wedding, I hope they show a bit of
loyalty. When Miles and his brother Russ were young, I know they had
great fun having an uncle in Wizzard. Nearly as much fun as I did! MK: Are you still teaching ? BH: MK: What instruments did
you teach your students - keyboard, brass? BH: MK: BH: I've always gigged and enjoy playing. I have been
working quite a bit with Frog and played keyboards, accordion and horn
on his Symphony Hall and N.I A. gigs in Birmingham, which are available
on DVD. BH: Frog's a great character with a great voice and
stage charisma. I first saw him playing with H Caine, his guitarist,
at The Belfry, now a major golf venue near Brum, in the 60's. He was
as as much a part of the Birmingham scene as anybody; knew The Moodies,
all Roy's bands and was a mate of Ozzie's. If you want some good stories
he's the man. He was also managed by Don The 'Ard 'Un and got put on
the Wizzard shows. I don't think he was very happy about it though.
With the sort of country-tinged stuff that they did, I think it was
a bit of a thankless task going on before us. He remembers it well. MK: I don't think I've ever asked you this before,
Of all the ELO and Wizzard tracks that you played on, which are your
favourites? BH: MK: The track you wrote
for Wizzard "The Carlsberg Special" was chosen as one of the tracks
on a Harvest compilation called "Art School Dancing" It's a great track,
I wonder why they chose that one to represent Wizzard and were you surprised
to see it on there? BH: MK: Do you ever see any of your old Wizzard mates BH: Yes, we have been in touch over the years. BH: MK: MK: When you are out shopping in December and you
hear the Wizzard Christmas single, do you still get a buzz from hearing
it? BH:
MK: How would you like
to be remembered in years to come, as a good music teacher or a loony
with wings, sawing a piano in half, maybe? BH: I did see, on 'Youtube', a TV performance of
Angel Fingers with me bowing Rick's bass. I should have had an Oscar
for that. Maybe some of the kids will remember me as a good music teacher. MK: Have you got a message for any of your old ELO
/ Wizzard fans, who may be reading this? BH: BH: Martin, thanks for remembering me. This interview is © Martin Kinch and may not be reproduced in whole or part without permission
A CD called "Slade B Sides" has recently been released, this CD contains the two songs that Bill co- wrote with Slade's Dave Hill. The two tracks are "Lay Your Love On The Line" and "Red Hot", both of which were B sides for the singles "Radio Wall Of Sound" and "Universe", respectively.
Bill's nephew, Miles Hunt is a member of "The Wonderstuff"
and Bill played organ on 3 tracks on the album "Escape From Rubbish
Island"
Dec 2007
Bloody Meadow is the name of a local field After nearly 35 years since Bill's 'Carlsberg Special' was released by Wizzard, now is your chance to hear 'the follow up!' Feb 2008 Talking of The Carlsberg Special, the track was recently used as backing music during a BBC4 programme called Saville Row. Bill was half asleep when the show came on and he told me... "As my brain started to assemble the notes I realised they were playing The Carlsberg Special, which they proceeded to play all the way through. You could have knocked me over with a ferret! Always knew it had quality (like the suits)"
May 2009 Bills Son Will had some good news recently, See
here
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Bill
has recorded a new track called 'Bloody Meadow' which is included on
a compilation CD called 'A Drop In The Ocean' Bill wrote and produced
the track, he tells me that it would not have been out of place on the
first ELO album and is a bit Marston Moor-ish. 
