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The Yardbirds’ drummer recalls what Clapton was like at the time
Eric Clapton first achieved fame as a member of The Yardbirds, band he was part from 1963 to 1965. Due to creative differences he decided to leave the band, joining John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, which would be really the start of his career more focused on the Blues.
In an interview with Guitar Player, the drummer Jim McCarty, the only surviving original member of The Yardbirds, recalled what Clapton was like back in those days he was with them and was still figuring out which musical path he would follow. Curiously, after Clapton, the band also had other two future acclaimed guitar players: Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.
The Yardbirds’ drummer recalls what Clapton was like at the time
"Eric was coming from a difficult upbringing, because he wasn't really brought up by his parents. He was brought up by his grandmother, who he thought was his mother. We met her, and she was a lovely woman, very chatty and very friendly. But that gave him a challenged outlook on things, and I think he took the blues up as his personal crusade."
"He was totally dedicated to the blues, and also seemingly very ambitious and very much into fashion and how he looked. He made sure he was dressed in the latest gear, and the coolest clothes. Even when he came to the audition, he was very well-dressed. And he would change. First of all, it was an Ivy League style, and he had a crew cut, and then he'd suddenly grow his hair and grow his sideburns and have different clothes and become like a different person."
"Eric was obviously gonna go somewhere. You knew that, yes, one day he'll be a big star, 'cause he was driven to do that, and he was getting a reputation while he was playing with us. He used to copy blues solos — Matt 'Guitar' Murphy or Buddy Guy or somebody — and copy them note for note before he got his own thing going. But he loved blues and he was very, very serious about it, even though he did actually mess around quite a lot with us in terms of jokes and funny voices and impersonating weird people."
He continued:
"But he was a very moody sort of guy. We'd be traveling in a transit van, going to the shows, and he would sit in the corner and not talk to anybody. The rest of us would be messing about, and he'd be in a little world of his own, obviously quite unhappy with the way it was going."
Near the end of Clapton's service, The Yardbirds fought desperately to stay relevant, looking for a hit song that would keep them afloat. This didn't sit well with the guitarist, who quickly found a reason to leave in John Mayall. McCarty remembered:
"They were all good songs, but they weren't gonna be hits. They didn't stand out like 'For Your Love' did, and when Paul Samwell-Smith suggested we do it like with the harpsichord and the bowed bass and everything, Eric didn't like the way that was taken over. He thought we were selling out. But he was seemingly quite happy with John Mayall," Jim McCarty said.
In the beginning of October Chris Dreja, the band's original bassist, who also played the guitar later on, passed away at the age of 79. Alongside McCarty, he was the only surviving Yardbirds' original member.
Dreja was often called “the other” Yardbirds guitarist since he shared the stage with the three legendary musicians who were part of the band in the 60s: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. The news of his death was shared by the music publisher David Stark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YcHrYBLMxE&list=RD0YcHrYBLMxE&start_radio=1&pp=ygUadGhlIHlhcmRiaXJkcyBlcmljIGNsYXB0b26gBwE%3DThe post The Yardbirds’ drummer recalls what Clapton was like at the time appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.
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