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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 33 No. 4. 7 April 1970

Salient Interview

page 20

Salient Interview

Peter Cresswell, now working on the staff of Time and Tide, was a member of the Salient staff in 1959 and 1960. Earlier 'this year he offered Salient the transcript of an interview he was about to tape with Nigel Chester, the fifth Beatle. We have been unable to print the interview until now as official clearance was necessary from Time and Tide. We would like to thank that magazine and Peter Cresswell for the opportunity they have given us.

When did you join the Beatles?

Just back before Sergeant Pepper. The last track McCartney recorded was Getting Better. My first one was Fixing a Hole. There was quite a long break after Revolver. John and Ringo were ready to call the whole thing off but George and Brian convinced them that they still had places to go as a group. That was mid-February, 1967. All they had of Sergeant Pepper was five finished cuts and a few trial tapes.

How did Brian Epstein find you?

I was singing with the Stan Tracey Trio at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London at the end of 1960 but I got fed up with it. I joined the Blackburn Repertory in January 1967. I had a small part in Willis Hall's The Long, the Short and the Tall. I was playing Private Bamforth under the name 'Nigel le Page'. Brian was in the audience and only sat in the first act. He was waiting for me at 10.30 though. That was the end of the stage for me . . .

According to Somerset House records, on 27th February Nigel John Chester changed his surname by deed poll to McCartney. Apparently you didn't change your christian names too?

No. I didn't need to.

Why did you change your name at all?

John'll tell you that. I was just about brain-washed in the first few weeks after I met Brian. Actually, it was helluva funny. I had to learn a lot of mouldy stuff about McCartney but that didn't take too long. After all, they knew nothing much about him really—the public I mean. He was divorced when he was nineteen. His ex-wife tried to sell the story to the Mirror and they just laughed at her. Some of the newspapermen knew, though. And some of the people who worked on the first Lester movie knew a lot more about him than that: Dick Lester knows bloody well where McCartney is now but he's not saying anything, is he? There are quite a few who know about me but they agree with what Brian did . . .

Paul McCartney of the Beatles

Well, what did he do after he met you at Blackburn?

As I said, he made me learn a lot about McCartney. I had to learn some of his mannerisms and so on. I spent a lot of time with George too. He taught me some of the arrangements they'd done on Revolver and I learnt some of their tricks. George Martin was a lot of help too. Brian told me to start working on some of the ideas McCartney had had and George had some pretty good orchestrations worked out already. All that business about John doing most of the lyrics and McCartney doing the guts of the composing was pretty well believed then. But it wasn't true. They worked almost completely separately. So 1 had these tapes of McCartney hammering away at his Yamaha. There was some good stuff too. But I was much more interested in jazz than McCartney—he goes in for the early rock and the ballads. My jazz style is pretty obvious on tracks like I am the Walrus, Hey Jude, Rocky Raccoon and Happiness is a Warm Gun. McCartney would never have done them like that . . .

What was your attitude towards the Beatles before Brian brought you in?

Well, I thought the Beatles were doing some interesting things. I was more interested in Mendez, Jimmy Smith—people like that. I'm a great Gershwin fan and even lifted a few bars for Fixin' a Hole . . .

And now?

I've swung back a little now, 1 had to. I didn't mind so much—commercial music is becoming more and more complex, anyway. I like the Beatles' music very much, of course . . . it's great. I write a lot of it, after all!

How do you get on with the others?

At first it was hard. As I said before, they weren't sure they wanted to go on. They closed ranks a bit and I was on the outside. It's okay now. But the Beatles aren't the happy Mersey lads they were in '65—not that the cheeky LiverpooI lads thing was ever very real, anyway.

McCartney's relationship with Jane Asher must have caused complications ...

At first, but we faded her after a while. Brian worked on her and she consented to a few appearances. It was difficult ... we both looked as sour as hell. Everybody thought we were having trouble and would break up soon—Teenset had a front-page story about it which was really very funny.

Anyway, that was okay. I'd met Linda about a month before Brian came to sec me at Blackburn. We had to keep her hidden for quite a while. Even then, the marriage was a surprise . . . not the way McCartney would have done things at all.

And the Apple float? The company was being planned by Brian and John before McCartney left, right?

Yes. The idea had been pretty well thrashed out. McCartney's exit made it more or less vital from the legal angle, you know. We had so many contracts . . . the whole thing had to be rationalised.

Back on some of the more practical difficulties now—you can't play a guitar, can you?

No. But I'm left-handed, which was useful because I can at least hold the blasted thing ...

So who fills in?

George mainly. He had to do a lot of overtime.

How did you get on with stage shows?

I mimed. I found it very tough at first. A lot of viewers on the Ed Sullivan Show noticed. We cut down on the number of live performances though—and I got better at it. But it was good really because John and George wanted out of the stage shows.

What about your accent? Radcliffe and Mersey don't have much in common.

Well, they didn't go in for eating bread butties at Radcliffe, that's right enough. But the accent didn't take long to pick up. I went to Rada after leaving Radcliffe in 1963 and Hal Irving said at the end of a year there that I had a talent for caricature. He didn't think I'd go too far though and said I should do some Provincial Rep. The accent has slipped now and again—on Honey Pie, for instance. I didn't get a chance to put down the lyrics again and we had to let it go. The accent is pretty inconsistent but nobody picked it up.

Besides singing with Stan Tracey at Scott's you were a jazz singer/MC and you occasionally did some drumming.

Yes. Actually, I've done some drumming since but not for the Beatles as such. Ringo wasn't available for The Ballad of John and Yoko so I filled in on that one. The drumming is pretty jazz-oriented but that was right for the song really.

You won't tell me where McCartney is and why Epstein moved him out?

No. John'll tell you.

Well, do you mind if this gets published?

Why should I care if you've gone to all this trouble? Everyone will think it's part of the put-on anyway. People like you only got onto it because you heard it from someone in Melodymaker or Radio London. You won't convince anyone. Maybe Nigel Chester fell under a Stepney bus last week anyway.