My neighbour from upstairs, Eike, was a good and very loud drummer from Germany that I’d played bass with for a short period a couple of years earlier. He is also a very good surrealistic artist. And dental technician! He and I had rehearsed frenetically for a couple of weeks with two Americans: a skilled guitarist, Glenn Fortinberry (whose father was something at the American embassy), and a singer from Dallas, Texas, Holly Brown. Holly was particularly fab, but I didn’t see her often enough to get to know her.
We played only one gig in a large venue at the American School in London, in St. John’s Wood. Elton John had played there the week before, which impressed me. He was already a pretty big star. The school was also very close to the EMI studios in Abbey Road. But I never gave that a thought and I never went there to try and catch a glimpse of any stars.
Shortly after that gig Eike went back to Germany and stayed there for a year or so to do his dental technician work and save money. When he came back to London he needed somewhere to live. So, he got in touch with me and moved into a room which happened to be free in the house where I was living on Torrington Park in Finchley. That worked out well and we hung out together often. We had a lot of laughs playing board games or going for a pint or a concert (or both) at the Torrington pub at the top of the road. Bands like Patto, If and Finnish rockers Tasavallan Presidentti, led by guitarist Jukka Tolonen, were regular visitors. While the rest of us in the house were working Eike would set up his massive drum-kit in the living room. With double bass-drums and four or five toms he completely filled the room. He would either beat them senseless or polish them. His many cymbals always gleamed brightly with a blinding sheen.
Eike got work with a band that never took off: Sam Apple Pie. Consequently, they didn’t play often enough, and he was bored stiff. Which is when he started painting, to pass the time. But in the end painting became the main event. Eike has never stopped painting, though he gave up playing the drums around 2003. He still commutes between Berlin and his workshop in Shoreditch, in east central London, where he also renovates antique cars.
https://www.deviantart.com/eikepopeike
The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam’s Dice is the B-side of the very wonderful Jimi Hendrix Experience single, Burning of the Midnight Lamp.