Klooks Kleek
The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Cream, Jethro Tull, The Yardbirds and Ten Years After. These are just some of the rock superstars that, in the early 60s, passed through the doors of The Railway Hotel, West Hampstead in North West London and upstairs to a fairly inconspicuous function room that was “Klooks Kleek”. Quite where the name came from is a bit of a mystery but it is believed to be named after some obscure jazz album, Klook being the nickname of the band’s drummer.
Beatles or the Blues
Klooks Kleek was the brainchild of Dick Jordan who originally opened it as a jazz club but the explosion of new bands playing black American music and the huge following it was creating made him decide to open up a regular Tuesday Rhythm & Blues night. The UK had gone Beatles crazy, the four mop tops also had cut their teeth on this music in relative obscurity whilst playing the Starlight Club in Hamburg. Incidentally next door to the Railway Hotel was the Decca recording studio where the Beatles auditioned for a recording contract and were famously rejected.
Whilst the rest of the country was engulfed in “Liverpoolmania”, London and the South East remained firmly loyal to the blues and its legions of followers gave rise to a unique “blues circuit” that took in such clubs as The Flamingo,100 club (still very active today) in Central London, Ricky Tick , Blue Moon, Fender Club, The Crawdaddy, famous for kick starting the Rolling Stones, and of course Klooks Kleek .
The rock star apprentices
Today’s big stars were of course just jobbing musicians back then and it was the bands they played with that captured the attention of the audiences. These were just some of them: Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band, Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, Herbie Goins and the Nightimers, Geno Washington and the Ram-Jam band, Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers and my personal favourite The Graham Bond Organisation. John Mayall, in particular, is worthy of further mention and although not one my favourites his dedication to the blues is legendary as he is still playing with as much enthusiasm today as he was 35 years ago albeit in the States. Countless top guitarists including Eric Clapton and Peter Green have served their “apprenticeship” with the Bluesbreakers and as such John’s services to music has recently been rewarded with an OBE.
Klook’s all stars
Klooks was like an old Victorian drawing room, some 20 metres square and unlike other venues had no stage at all. The floor was carpeted, the walls curtained in red velvet and covered in flock wallpaper, all making for very good acoustics. There were no mixing desks, lighting rigs, sound/ lighting engineers or even sound checks, the bands just tuned up and played. It was a bit like a gig in your own front room and I often left with a stiff neck after peering over someone’s shoulder all night. All the bands had catchy names and flamboyant characters from zany Zoot to moody Mayall and of course superb musicianship. The music was actually quite varied from a jazzy Georgie Fame to the strict blues of John Mayall, the powerhouse Atlantic soul of Geno Washington and Chris Farlowe to Zoot Money who blended all the genres into his highly amusing sets. The Graham Bond Organisation were quite unique in that they were a four piece as opposed to the others who were generally 5-7 piece outfits and played the blues their own way incorporating original compositions, not usual at that time. They were also sadly quite short lived as bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker soon left to form Cream with Eric Clapton but not before The Graham Bond Organisation became the most popular and respected band of that era.
When someone good was on at one of the blues circuit venues it was a good excuse for an armada of immaculate scooters driven by equally immaculate mods to travel in convoy to the gig. Whilst all these places had their own special character and fervent supporters, for me, nothing could really match the sound, intimacy and atmosphere that was Klooks Kleek.
All good things……
By December 1970 music had moved on and Klooks Kleek ceased to be. However the club was renamed the Moonlight Club and catered for a new music scene spawning such stars as Family, Uriah Heep, The Jam, The Cure and The Who amongst others. Also in the early 70s Northern Soul was born in the Manchester region of the U.K and the Moonlight Club along with the 100 club became the “6Ts” for a night or two every month - the southern outposts of Northern Soul. Today Northern Soul is still as strong as ever.
After decades of live music The Railway Tavern, West Hampstead has now become a trendy bar playing today’s dance music, musicians have been replaced by DJs, artists in their own right such is the skill required to mix and scratch in time with the music. Ironically many of these DJs expertly mix 60s soul, R&B and 70s funk to a modern beat giving them new life and a new audience.
Useful web sites:
http://www.johnmayall.com
http://www.zootmoney.org
http://www.grahambond.net
A really BIG thank you to Allan Ashton for submitting this article - certainly rolls back the memories! Please visit his website Electrodrums here
Allan lived and worked in London/south east until semi-retiring to Spain in 2004. Played drums in bands for over 40 years, Blues, R&B and a soul band called “Respect” for about 12 years. He now writes freelance for local mags in Spain and also in the US. Allan still plays regularly and runs the above site about electronic drums:
Far Out !!
Hello, nice post. Bookmark it.
i CAN ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT A D.J.NAMED (i think )P.B PLAYED SOME RECORDS WITHOUT SPEAKING BEFORE THE MAIN BAND CAME ON TO THE CARPET. HIS INTRUDUCTION WAS ‘RAMSEY LEWIS’S WADE IN THE WATER ‘ABSOLUTLY FANTASTIC READING THE ABOVE BROUGHT BACK SOME GREAT MEMORIES HOW LONG AGO !!!!
Thanks for the history. A friend and I were wondering what happened to the place (we’ve never been there, we live in Oz) and you’ve given us the whole story. Anyone interested in the sound of the place should get a copy of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers’ cd ‘John Mayall Plays John Mayall’ recorded live at Klooks Kleek on Monday 7th December 1964. A cracker!
Oops - forgot to mention that you should also listen of course to the Graham Bond Organisation cd ‘Live At Klooks Kleek’ also recorded circa 1964. Some issues of the cd are titled ‘Person To Person Blues’ but it’s the same music. They do ‘Wade In The Water’, so Ray above may like to hunt it out if he doesn’t have it already.
There is a new landlord at the Railway Hotel with live music set to return in March! Will post details when confirmed.
Somewhere around ‘66 my Highgate ‘Prince of Wales’ friends and I went to see Eric Burdon & the Animals perform at the Railway Hotel - cracking good music and the place was jammed - it had narrow stairs, lots of smoke and the smell of beer. Eric performed ‘House of the Rising Sun’. This is all I can dredge from memory! But is it the same ‘Railway Hotel’?? Was there more than one??!
I live in Abbey wood Erith Kent. I have a small room that I set upa home recording studio in. But I need help.
I have a pc with an M-audio 10 x 10 sound card. Cakewalk Sonar 8 sequencing software, A small Mackie mixing desk,
1 controler keyboard, 1Yahama Sy35 keyboard, 1 Drum machine. Midi-sport 2×2. 1 korg sound module. Two flat screen Monitors, Pair of powered studio monitors.
I need help in setting up the system to achieve the sound that I need to get, by linking the out put from the sequencer to the Sound card and to the Mixer channels. I get sound but not separated as per channel . After my set up is completed I will require some tuition
Can you help me and what would be the cost?
Please let me know if you can look at my project and when. or if you know someone that may be able to help.
Frank
I would like to add to your list of “rock stars that have past through the doors of the Railway Hotel” - Jimi Hendrix.I was privileged to have lived at the Railway Hotel in my mid ‘teens - my father managed the pub between 1967 - 1970 when it closed to make room for modernization.
Of the most famous rock stars I saw there was Jimi Hendrix - he was introduced as a surprise guest by Dick Jordon the owner of the club and was therefore not previously advertized on the billboards .If my memory serves me well I believe it was Feetwood Mac ( I am open to correction) who was
the main band playing that night in 1968 and Jimi Hendrix jammed with them - a brilliant performance!
Anybody out there at that performance?
Regards,
John Maher
[...] Extra’s - Klooks Kleek - The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Cream, Jethro Tull, The Yardbirds and Ten Years After. These are just some of the rock superstars that, in the early 60s, passed through the doors of The Railway Hotel, West Hampstead in … [...]
My friends and I used to frequent Klooks Kleek regularly in the mid 1960s because I lived in West Hampstead. I’m sure I saw black American R&B and blues singers there as well as the British bands named. One night I walked by and heard Howlin’ Wolf singing even though I was on the street outside. I was really torn - should I go to hear the Wolf or carry on by and go to Dave Young’s and get stoned. To my eternal regret I got stoned instead! (At the time it seemed like the better choice!) I remember bumping into Tom Jones in the audience another time and he said “these black guys can really sing”. I was surprised by how short he was.
In 1966 I went to university (Sussex) and there heard Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and others. A rather straight acqauintance told me a new rather good banc were coming. I asked who they were and he said “Cream”. I said I never heard of them so they can’t be anybody worthwhile! My third regret is I was going to go to the launch party at Roundhouse featuring the Doors. I really meant to go, but again got too stoned.
But I did see loads of others perform in the 1960s: Beatles, Stones, Captain Beefheart, Pink Floyd about 4 times, Jimi Hendrix 5 times, The Tamla Motown tour 1963? I first got into R&B and Ska around 1962 at the Roaring Twenties club in Carnaby Street, but that was all DJ stuff.
Lovely,Alan.
It brings back so so so many great memories.(Wish I’d had the confidence to chat up some of those great looking girls…..Was 21 and so tongue tied after having been to an all boys grammar in Sheffield).Anyway I never failed to make the short Tuesday hop from our shared Finchley house (Magggie Tatcher’s Morris Minor was permanently parked in the garage).
My personal favourites were Chris Farlowe graced with Albert Lee and Herbie Goins, who I think had Mcloughlin.I do think several of the sidemen are worthy of mention.And of course Clapton raising Mayall’s band to dizzy heights …what an explosion of sounds we’d never heard before! Could’t wait to buy Friday’s Melody Maker to find out who was playing where.The nice thing was the band’s were often in town on Sunday night at the Flamingo.
Was pivotal in pushing me to take up tenor and I still play jazz in hotels and restaurants here in Malaysia
Without wishing to be pedantic, Klooks Kleek didn’t reopen as the Moonlight Club in the 70s. Klooks Kleek was on upstairs from the Railway Hotel; the Moonlight Club opened in the basement below the Railway. Both have now been closed down for a number of years, although the Railway is still a pub. Up until the end of 2009 they had live music on Saturdays (usually covers bands), but that seems to have stopped now.
I was there the night Hendrix jammed - it was with John Mayall. He borrowed Mick Taylor’s guitar and played it upside down. I went with Mick Ralphs of Mott the Hoople - we were both regulars and knew Hendrix would be there as Mayall had tipped me off in Dobells Jazz Record Shop a few days earlier. The club was named after Kenny ‘Klook’ Clarke the founder of bebop drumming. Without a doubt Klooks Kleek was the best live venue to catch anyone who was going to be anyone or already was! I also saw the New Yardbirds there before they became Led Zep as well as all the jazz and blues greats
I am currently writing a book on the history of Klooks Kleek and the Railway Hotel, with the cooperation of Dick Jordan and Geoff Williams who ran Klooks throughout the 1960s.
I would like to hear people’s memories of the Club which we could publish.
Email me at:
dweindling@blueyonder.co.uk