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WITH THE BEATLES:

On the Eve of his Performance at White's Bar on May 21st,

Pete Best Talks About  the Birth of a Musical Phenomenon

   
The Pete Best Band

By Robert E. Martin

     For two short yet remarkable years, Pete Best lived a piece of Rock 'n Roll that is equally mythic as it is legendary. 

As the drummer for The Beatles from the years of 1960-1962, Best was the man that kept the rhythm rocking for what is arguably the greatest, if not most influential recording group in the history of popular music. 

Born on November 24, 1941 in Madras, India, Pete Best joined forces with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Stu Sutcliffe in late 1960 on the verge of their first tour to Hamburg, Germany. 

It was during this tour that the group polished their sound during 8 to 10 hour sets at clubs in the notorious 'Red Light District' of Hamburg.  Moreover, it was during this period that the group obtained their first recording contract with Polydor Records and adopted the then revolutionary hairstyles that would make them the scourge of parents throughout America.

Shortly before The Beatles became known worldwide, Sutcliffe died of a brain hemorrhage when the group was jumped by a band of drunken soldiers, and Best was dismissed by the band, who opted to select Ringo Starr to take his place.  (Indeed, this period is documented quite well in the excellent film Backbeat).

  
'Before they were Fab': The Beatles circa 1961 and 1962 with Pete Best.

While the other Beatles thought Pete was a pretty good drummer, in Hamburg they heard and met Ringo. When the Beatles and Pete returned to Liverpool, they got introduced into the Cavern Club. Pete played on "My Bonnie" and the other tracks recorded with Tony Sheridan for Bert Kaempfert in Germany.

In November 1961, Brian Epstein became the Beatles' manager, and in April, 1962, Brian succeeded in getting them an audition with George Martin at Parlophone, which happened on June 6.

By this time, both Paul and George were encouraging Brian to help them get rid of Pete, to bring on Ringo permanently, who had been filling in for Pete with the Beatles every now and then.
In late July, George Martin committed to recording the Beatles. When George Martin told Brian that he didn't care for Pete, and that they would use another drummer on the sessions, he didn't know the Beatles were already thinking the same thing.

Brian broke the news to Pete during a lunchtime meeting in his office on August 15.  The magazine Mersey Beat broke the news on August 23. Pete Best fans were outraged. Petitions signed by hundreds were received at Mersey Beat. Cries of "Pete Best Forever---Ringo, never!" were heard at the Cavern Club.

The following Monday, one of the many scuffles outside the Cavern Club resulted in a black eye for George Harrison.

While The Beatles went on to create musical history between the years of 1962-1969, Best adopted a commonplace existence back in Liverpool, England, where he has resided for over 40 years.
With only Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr standing as surviving members, the tale Pete Best has to tell is significant - not only for his unique perspective; but because Best is also picking up the reins in a live touring show entitled Best of the Beatles, which consists of set-lists comprised entirely from the catalog of songs The Beatles performed between the years of 1960-62, when Pete was still drumming in the band.

Pete Best will be presenting Best of The Beatles at a live performance at White's Bar on Saturday, May 21st during two shows at 7:00 & 9:00 PM.  Tickets are $26.00  and still available at White's.
Last week I had the rare opportunity to speak with Pete Best on a trans-Atlantic call from his home in Liverpool.

Review:  I'd like to start with the current state of your musical career. Are you performing newer material & originals, or is it strictly songs from the period you were with The Beatles?

Best:  At this present moment in time, Bob, I'm performing all the songs from my period with The Beatles.

Review: You've probably been asked this a million times, but when you look back on that period is it with regret or thankfulness that you were able to be part of such a unique musical history?

Best: I look back on it all with fond affection, to be quite honest. I knew them for three years and played with them for two, and if you take the dismissal out of it, I regarded them as friends. In those two years we achieved an awful lot of success. We went to Hamburg basically unknown and within a couple of weeks became the top dogs in Hamburg and returned a completely different band.
     

We took the Mersey side by storm and went back to Hamburg and then got a recording contract with the biggest label in Germany. Everything was moving along and happening. Each time we did something we reached another pinnacle. It was a lot of hard work, but we were achieving things that had never been achieved before by a local band from Liverpool.

Review: Which of The Beatles were you closet to and why?

Best: I was a friend with all of them, but I would have to say my closest friendship was with John.

Review: Why is that?

Best: The first time I met them when they opened at my Mother's club 'The Casbah' in August of 1959, they opened as The Quarrymen and had no drummer. It was just John, Paul, George and Ken Brown. Then in August of 1960 I received this phone call and went off on this big adventure.
  

The first time I met them I liked all of them, but there was something about John - his sense of humor, the way he handled himself, which I thought 'Yeah, this is an endearing type of guy'. Plus we shared the same likes & dislikes.

 

But then I found when we went to Germany that John and I would be the last ones back from the bars and we'd stay up while the others were sleeping. During that time I found another side of John that the public never saw. The public always saw the caustic, sardonic witted John Lennon who used his humor and his behavior to keep the audience at bay. But during the time I spent with him I saw another side - a very kind and loving side. So if you put those two entities together you have a complete man. He was a great guy.

Review: Do you feel he was the driving force behind the band?

Best: I'm not ducking the question, but at that time we were all on a learning curve. Paul had more formal training, but everyone inputted. Everybody's opinion was always taken into consideration. What happened after I left I'm not privy to, but it became very apparent that John seemed to be the one who everyone alluded to as the leader.

Review: So were those Reperbahn days pretty wild?

Best: Oh, you could say thatŠ.

Review: Is it true you all had to sleep together in a little cement cubicle?

Best: Oh yeah, the first trip to Hamburg we didn't know until we got there and suddenly found out we were living & performing in the Red Light district, which was fine with us. No complaints, you know!  But then we found out we were playing not at the Kaiser Keller but at the Indira, which was a smaller club. The proprietor wanted us to make it as big as the Kaiser Keller. That was our challenge, which we accomplished.
    

On that trip we lived in a couple of rooms in the back of the Bami-Keno, which was a cinema the club owner owned. Paul and I dubbed it the 'Black Holes of Calcutta' because it was two concrete dungeons with something resembling a bed. But in hindsight, it's that old rock 'n roll cliché, isn't it?  Kids out on the road can put up with anything.

Review: Do you still speak with Paul?

Best: I haven't seen or heard from him in over 40 years, Bob.

Review: On that second European tour The Beatles did, Ringo got sick and a substitute drummer was used. Were you ever considered for that?

Best: That was the Australian Tour and Jimmy Nichols stood in because Ringo had tonsillitis and couldn't start the tour. As far as I know, I was never considered for the position.

Review: You still live in Liverpool. Has it changed much?

Best: I've been here since 1945. My family & friends are all here and I like the people. Liverpool has been through its tough times, but now I'm proud to say it's got a revival going again. Tourism is very big and a lot of construction is going on to accommodate the people flocking to Liverpool.

Review: What do you think of the current music scene? Is it in a pretty good place?

Best: Like everything else I've been in the music scene so long I see a lot of it like a clock. Things seem to be going around for the second time again. Music is getting re-invented again and people are rediscovering the Mersey Beat and the '60s sound. Younger bands are implementing and using those influences from those early days, especially with the English music.

Review: Seeing as you were at the epicenter of the birth of the Mersey Beat sound, what qualities coalesced to make it so unique?

Best: It's always been there, is the uncanny thing. Liverpool was always a hotbed for young musicians, but it always lived in the shadow of London where the major labels are. Then when we broke through the rest of the country went 'Oh, my - look at this!'  But the hotbed was always percolating. When the music broke on the airwaves then it was brought to the attention of the world - then Liverpool was seen through the eyes of the world, and that helped define the sound.

Review: How were you approached to join the band?

Best: I saw them play at the Casbah Club with no drummer and had formed my own band with Ken Brown called the Black Jacks in August 1960. The Beatles had been through several name changes and backed Johnny Gentle, an English singer, on a tour that was a disaster. The guy playing drums at the time, Tommy Moore, said he'd had enough of this and wanted to revert to being a normal guy.
       

The Beatles saw me playing drums around Liverpool and had the opportunity to go to Germany and liked what they saw, so I got a call from Paul McCartey. He said they'd had an offer to go to Germany but needed a drummer, how would I like to step into the slot?
     

I said, 'Okay', but let me talk to my boys. So I spoke to my band at the time and they said, 'Go ahead, we don't want to become professional. We have serious jobs to consider.'
       

So I told Paul I was in and he asked me to come down the following morning to audition, if you can believe that. I threw my drums in the truck the following morning and went down to the Wide Van Club, which later became The Blue Angel, and we blasted off about six numbers that were standards everyone was playing in Liverpool at the time.
    

The group went in a corner with their manager, who at the time was Alan Williams, and they had a hubbub. Then it was off to Hamburg.

Review: What is your most memorable experience with the group?

Best: Oh wow, there are so many. Everything we did in hindsight was a cornerstone for something else we built upon. But apart from establishing ourselves in Germany, which was a great achievement because we came back sounding like a new band. Taking Liverpool by storm was a great achievement itself, actually. But I'd say getting a recording contract with Polydor was the high point, because that put us on a different level with the other bands. We only made a couple of records together, but the rest is history.

Review: Were you ever told the reasons for your sacking?

Best: No, but let's look at the theories. I can't accept the drumming theory, as when we came back from Germany, other groups copied my style using the loud bass drum.  Also, Bert Kaempfert was quite happy with my drumming when we recorded in Germany.

As for Ringo being a better drummer, well, he was replaced on 'Love Me Do' as well, wasn't he? The hairstyle? That's all rubbish, it was never discussed. Jealousy?  I was aware of the Pete Best fans but there were plenty of Paul fans, too. As long as the group got attention, I was happy. Personality? I took part in all the crazy stunts and drinking. I was a Beatle.

A rumor around the Cavern was that it was because I turned down Brian Epstein's advances, but I don't believe that. Unreliable? I missed four shows in over two years, so if that makes me unreliableŠ.

At the end of the day two people still alive know the reason.

Pete with Miami Steve and Bruce Springsteen

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