Let There Be The Marcus Hook Roll Band:
Malcolm and Angus Young shake the foundations!
An EXCLUSIVE interview with producer WALLY WALLER
By Stephen SPAZ Schnee
The
Marcus Hook Roll Band barely caused a ripple when their sole album, Tales
Of Old Grand Daddy, was released in 1973. In fact, the band’s legend
only grew when the band’s two young guitarists, Malcolm Young and Angus
Young, went on to form AC/DC,
one of the greatest Hard Rock bands of all time. But The Marcus Hook Roll Band
was not a proto-type for AC/DC. In fact,
Malcolm and Angus had no hand in the songwriting department. The brains behind The Marcus Hook Roll band
were Harry Vanda and George Young – Malcolm and Angus’ older
brother – who had been the creative forces behind ‘60s Australian hitmakers The Easybeats (‘Friday On My Mind’). Harry
and George had relocated the UK, where they wrote songs for other artists and
recorded under a handful of different pseudonyms. They hooked up with British
producer and former Pretty Things
member Alan ‘Wally’ Waller, who
manned the boards for their single ‘Natural Man,’ which was released under the
name the Marcus Hook Roll Band. Wally
saw a lot of potential in the band and was responsible for getting them signed
to EMI, the label that he was contracted with at the time. EMI ordered up
another single (‘Louisiana Lady’) and, eventually, an album. By the time Wally contacted Vanda and Young
about EMI agreeing to an album, they had already moved back to Australia . The duo had no desire to return to the UK and make the
album so Wally booked his flight and headed to the land Down Under. In the meantime, Harry and George recruited
Malcolm and, to a lesser extent, Angus Young to be part of the band. The actual
recording sessions for the album went well, although the flow of alcohol has
dimmed the memories of all involved.
Vanda and Young were the dominant musical forces on the album, but there
are moments when a few of the impressive guitar riffs leap off the album and
command attention – these were our first glimpses into the genesis of AC/DC. Powerful stuff.
By the time the album was completed and
the tapes were turned over to EMI in the UK , interest in the project had
waned and the label decided to pass on releasing the album. Vanda and Young
arranged to have the album released in Australia but, for all intents and
purposes, that was the end of the Marcus Hook Roll Band. Malcolm and Angus went off and formed AC/DC later
that year. Vanda and Young would
continue to write songs, eventually performing under the name Flash & The Pan and scoring a
worldwide hit in 1978 with their single ‘Hey St. Peter.’ Flash & The Pan would continue to record
sporadically throughout the ‘80s and into the ‘90s. The Tales Of Old Grand Daddy would eventually be issued a few times to
capitalize on the success of AC/DC and Flash & The Pan, but never in its
original intended form. In 2014, the
album will finally be released as originally intended – including the ‘whiskey
label’ cover - with some bonus tracks added including the first two non-album
singles and unreleased material. For
those looking for an AC/DC fix, the guitar sound and style is undeniable on
some tracks. However, the album is more
of a precursor to Flash & The Pan than Malcolm and Angus’ more popular outfit.
Stephen
SPAZ Schnee was able to chat with producer Wally Waller to discuss his
involvement with The Marcus Hook Roll Band, the making of the album and more…
STEPHEN SPAZ SCHNEE: Tales
Of Old Grand Daddy is just about to be reissued. Everyone’s making such a big deal about the
project because of Malcolm and Angus Young’s involvement, but I approach this
from the whole Vanda-Young angle because of their work with The Easybeats. How did the whole thing come about?
WALLY WALLER: I was an in-house producer at EMI at the
time. Somebody rang up and said,
“Can I make an appointment to see you?”
Working for someone like EMI, people send stuff to you all the
time. I used to plow my way through bags
of tapes that were mailed in and it’s really awful because most of it was just
pure shite (laughing). You know, people,
God bless them, they really think they’ve got something really good and when
they come in person, you hate to see their faces when you don’t say, “Well I’m
going to sign you,” you know? It’s
depressing at times. So, when I was putting his tape on, I was mentally running
through some excuses I might be able to use (laughing). But lo and behold, I listened to it and I
was knocked out. It was great. I loved the songs. I’d been waiting for this for a long
time. So, it was great to hear the two
that I immediately liked, and wanted to record.
I said, “Who is this? I want to
get these guys in the studio.” So he
said “Basically this is George and Harry from the Easybeats.” So, when we started, the only Young brother
there was George. On those early singles that I made with them at Abbey Road , Malcolm
or Angus weren’t involved with either of them - it was Harry and George’s mates
from Glasgow
really. John Tait, who wrote the
Vanda and Young bible, Inside Australia’s Hit Factory - he
calls them the Glasgow Mafia. There was
a guy called Freddie Smith on drums
and a guy called Ian Campbell on
bass, and George and Harry played guitars.
SPAZ: So, in all your travels with The
Pretty Things, you hadn’t met The Easybeats while on tour? You didn’t know
Harry or George before this project?
WALLY:
No, I didn’t. I was meeting them
for the first time. I joined The Pretty Things
at the end of ’66, so I missed the first two years. If The Easybeats did any
gigs with The Pretty Things, they didn’t do them once I joined. But it was great to know them. I loved the songs so I thought, yeah that’s
great – I wanted to work with them. They’d
obviously been around a bit and they did a bit of production themselves. I guess they came to seek me out. There were about eight or nine people working
at EMI at the time who were in-house producers.
I was just one of them. But, this
guy came to see me in particular. So, I
guess George and Harry must’ve thought, “Maybe this guy can bring something to
the party,” because they’d had a few things going on, but nothing had stuck. I
guess they were looking for somebody else with a slightly different take, a
slightly different angle.
SPAZ:
You produced the ‘Natural Man’
single at Abbey Road ,
which is a very unique record. Was it
difficult to put this record together and not be influenced by what was going
on around you like the Glam scene?
WALLY:
Well, there was other stuff going on like that, but I didn’t feel a real
affinity with Glam or that kind of stuff.
I would never be tempted to make that kind of record. I knew that that was something that was going
to pass. I had a feeling that something
like ‘Natural Man’ was a much more permanent thing. I think it stands up even today. The mix has its faults, but I think the song
is great. But I don’t know what I did with the drums! If you listen to everything else, you know
I’m big on drums. You can hear it. The bass and drums – it’s the engine
room. It’s the thing that everything’s
based on. It builds from there. And essential to that, of course, is the drum
sound. Especially on the album we made in Australia , I’m very happy with what
we did with the drums.
SPAZ:
You recorded the album in Australia . Was that the first time
you met Malcolm and Angus?
WALLY:
EMI - they weren’t really too hot on Marcus Hook, but they didn’t really
know - they weren’t real music people to me.
They were just executives that didn’t have their heart and soul in the
music business and everything was just units and stuff. I think someone from Capitol, who was EMI’s sister company in America, got on the phone
and said, “Listen, this ‘Natural Man’ single sounds great. We must have an album. Let’s get working on this act.” So, EMI now thinks, “Oh, this must be a good
band. This must be worth getting on
with.” So, they come rushing at me and
said, “We must have an album,” and I said “Well, it’s a bit too late. George and Harry have gone back to Australia , so if you want an album, you’re gonna
have to send me to Australia .” So they went for that. They sent me to Australia and when I got there, the
lineup was Harry on guitar, Malcolm on guitar, and George on bass, and John
Proud on drums, and that’s how we went along for a couple of days. Malcolm was real hot. So I said to George, “You know, your kid
brother, he’s really something.” He said,
“Yeah, I know. I’ve got another one like him at home.” (laughs) So, the next day he turns up with Angus and I
was blown away. I mean. what a
family. So, Malcolm, he used to turn
up, and Angus used to turn up now and again and he played on stuff. I think George just really wanted to get him
to see the inside of the studio and get the feel of it and so it was
great. It was great having him
around. The whole thing was a good vibe,
actually. I really enjoyed making the
album.
Angus, Malcolm and George Young (Photo by Phillip Morris)
SPAZ:
And the older Young brother, Alex, was also on the track ‘Louisiana
Lady,’ right?
WALLY: ‘Louisiana Lady’ was the second single that
we made at Abbey Road. I actually
already knew Alex. The first band I was
in, I worked in Hamburg . I’m now going back to ’62, ’63. I was a fresh faced teenager. I came from a very small town and I knew
nothing about the big wide world and suddenly I was plunked down in the middle
of Hamburg . I mean, it was unbelievable. I was a boy when I went to Hamburg and when I came back I was a very
happy boy. (Laughs) But, anyway, one of the people I met was
Alex. And when Alex turned up at Abbey Road with
George and Harry to put some tracks down on “Louisiana Lady,” it was then I
realized I knew Alex.
SPAZ:
Everyone is talking about Malcolm and Angus’ involvement. I feel that
something like “Quick Reaction” was really close to what AC/DC would sound like
but I felt that the rest of the album was almost a blueprint for Flash and the
Pan. They were most certainly a creative team…
WALLY:
George and Harry would come up to me and they’d say, “What about
this? Should we try this?” They had so many songs. I came back with so much material from Sydney on that trip. I mean, there was loads of stuff I had to
leave off and I think that because of the chaotic way that EMI was broken up,
quite a few years ago, I don’t think anybody really realized what they were sitting
on. stuff like this. On this release there are two new unreleased
tracks.
SPAZ:
You wrote ‘Moonshine Blues,’ which was a B-side. Its great tune with this Psychedelic bass
riff going through the whole thing, but it’s essentially a Blues song…
WALLY:
When I first went to work at EMI, they said, “Listen, if you want to get
a decent recording budget for anything you do, if you have any singles, make
sure one of the EMI companies gets the publishing on the B-side. So, when I started working with the Marcus Hook
Roll Band, I said to George and Harry, “It would be really good if we can give
the publishing of the B-side, to EMI.” They
both looked at me and said, “Well, we can’t because all our publishing is owned
lock, stock and barrel by Alberts in Australia .” So I said, “Well, they’re only B-sides, why
don’t I knock out some B-sides and put them out.” They said okay. It was never any problem. So, I didn’t really
think too much about it. I didn’t want it to sound like a Pretty Things
song. I made it kind of like a Marcus
Hook Roll Band song. Most of it I did myself. There were actually three
singles, and I recorded the B-sides for them.
I think ‘Moonshine Blues’ was the only B side that I actually got Harry
to put a vocal on, and I think I got Malcolm to put some licks and stuff on it
as well. So, on the other ones – there
was one song, I forgot what it’s called now, but I found out subsequently, when
they released it in Portugal all those years ago, they took my piece of crap
and made it the A-side. I couldn’t
believe it. I mean, it was never meant to
be anything but a throwaway B-side. George
and Harry wrote great songs and it was such a travesty that somebody put it out
as a single.
SPAZ:
The album was only released in Australia , right?
WALLY:
Right, yes. What happened was
once I got everything finished and everything produced and done, Capitol got on
to George and Harry who were then in Australia and said, “Okay we want to move
on putting a tour together. We want to
get behind this and want to get something really happening, we’re really hot on
this.” George and Harry said, “No, we
don’t want to tour. We want to stay in Australia . We’re here, we like what
we’re doing, we’re gonna stay here producing…”
So Capitol said, “Well, without a tour, we’re not interested in the
band.” So, they pulled the plug and then
they told EMI that we’re not interested anymore and EMI, now that Capitol
didn’t want it, they thought it must be rubbish. So, they forgot about it and put it on the
shelf. George and Harry arranged to release the album - the copyright was still
owned by EMI, but they bought the copyright for a five year period and so it
was released in Australia and did reasonably well. I had left EMI by then. I didn’t even know it had a release, but then
five years after that, I think, when AC/DC had started making some big noises,
Capitol put out a version of it. I think
it was called Full File, which was all the singles as well, and so everything
they could find from the Marcus Hook Roll Band.
SPAZ:
Is this new version of the album the definitive version?
WALLY:
Well, I haven’t really mixed anything so it’s exactly as it was. I had been to Abbey Road a few months ago when the
project was on the drawing board to get the stuff out of the archives and
listen to everything, and I was very pleasantly surprised at the technical
quality of what I heard. A lot of old stuff hasn’t survived so well. EMI tape, apparently, doesn’t have to be
baked in ovens. I think Ampex tape had a
lot of problems, but for some reason, EMI tape was manufactured in a different
way and I was very, very pleased to hear the fidelity was really good. I was very happy that we didn’t have to go
through all the shenanigans of trying to rescue tapes and everything. And not only that, I think also, when these
kind of recordings come to light normally from somebody like the Young
brothers, you don’t really expect it to be a proper bit of recording. Putting aside the quality of the songs and,
dare I say it, the production (laughs), the technical quality stood up so
well.
SPAZ:
Now, what’s next for Wally Waller?
WALLY:
A friend of mine from The Pretty Things, Jon Povey, and I are starting a project soon called The Bexley Brothers because we both
came from a place called Bexley. So did Phil May and so did Dick Taylor and some of the other Pretty
Things … But, Jon and I have been doing some stuff for a long time. The first band we were in, we used to do a
lot of harmony singing stuff and so we’re still at it (laughs). He lives in Spain , and he’s coming over next
month and we’re gonna sit down and see what’s what.
SPAZ:
What have you been spinning on your CD, DVD and record players?
WALLY:
This is a terrible admission, I have to say, but I’m not somebody who
listens a great deal to what’s going on.
I haven’t heard a lot recently - and what I have heard, I haven’t really
been knocked out by. If I were to pull
out an album now, I’d maybe listen to something like Buffalo Springfield. I might
want to listen to some Neil Young. I tend to listen to and like the people who
have really touched me, you know? Bob Dylan, naturally. Oh, you know who I listened to the other day
and I thought - they really knocked me out, and that was The Traveling Wilburys. I
mean the stuff they did, it’s just so naturally good - good playing, good
vibes. And that reminds me of the kind
of vibe I remember from the Marcus Hook Roll Band in Australia . It was a real good time, you know, where
everybody was just happy to be making music together. We all got on together, and it had a real
good vibe. To me I can hear it – maybe other people can too, but it was a good
time.
Thanks to Wally Waller
Special thanks to Joe Bucklew, Dana House,
Kevin Day and Melissa Dragish-Cordero
MARCUS HOOK ROLL BAND
TALES OF OLD GRAND DADDY
LP
CD
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