A few weeks ago, we brought you the first review of "Head On 1974", the fast-looming Iggy and the Stooges double CD, throwing a new light on their infamous Michigan Palace swansong, along with gigs in Toronto and San Francisco. This package is the latest in an amazing run of historical documents from UK label Easy Action.
The sneak preview prompted I-94 Bar reviewer Robert Brokenmouth to prevail on the man behind it, Easy Action honcho Carlton Sandercock, to have a chat. Here's the result.
Iggy and the Stooges at Bimbo's in San Francisco in 1974. Richard Mc Caffrey photo, label supplied
I-94 BAR: So, another Iggy and the Stooges release? There's a famous question asked of Andrew Carnegie: 'How much is enough?' - is your answer the same? What differentiates the Toronto show from all the others? You've added the Bimbos gig too - why?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: Yes, it is enough!! Hence why I say: this will be our last Iggy/Stooges release. In fact there’s too much out there much by other labels that don’t give a toss about the legacy - but many people are also uninterested in the retaining of any kind of Purity and Accuracy to the legacy.
The Toronto show was one of the band's last shows, along with the Michigan Palace, and recorded onto reel to reel. I hadn’t known this show was ever recorded so it excited me to be able to compare it to the Michigan Palace show.
"Metallic KO" is a legendary album, but it was chopped up and messed about with over the years. This is the pure thing from a 1974 show. I thought of it as an important document. I added the "Bimbos" tracks because we could improve them. Sonic cleansing has improved since 2004 when we initially released those tracks (ED: They appeared on Easy Action's revelatory six-disc "Heavy Liquid" box in 2005) but also they fit with the 1974 concept.
I-94 BAR: I'll just explain for those Stooges fans who didn't grab the "Heavy Liquid" box back when it was in print: for the first time, the complete properly recorded Olympic Studio tapes from the band's London period; the complete recordings from the Morgan Sound Studio in Detroit; a full disc of Detroit rehearsals; plus recordings made at CBS Studios in New York; and three gigs: live at Max's Kansas City (July 1973), at the Whisky A Go Go (October 1973, and the four songs from Bimbo's.
One reason this release is so significant is that various versions had already been issued of some of the songs from these tapes, without any clarification or context. "Heavy Liquid" is the mother-lode-and-a-half and Carlton eventually issued a careful selection of tracks on a double LP and single one CD "Heavy Liquid (The Album)". A few copies are still available here.
So, Carlton, could you tell us about yourself - where you grew up, and in what circumstances - what got you hooked on the music bug - did you ever pick up an instrument - what happened?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: I was born in Cornwall, in the south-west corner of England. Our family moved around every three years as my father got head-hunted in his work, and we were upping sticks and moving house all around England. My mum used to sing with her sister when she was younger so the radio was on a lot at home.
Nothing really sank in during most of the 1960s - maybe except for The Monkees and Dave, Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, who performed “The Legend of Xanadu” on "Crackerjack" (a children’s TV show of the time). I think it was the whip-cracking that I liked.
My first real music obsession was T. Rex in 1971 with "Hot Love". I became a huge fan as No.1 single was followed by No.1 single. The next year it was Alice Cooper and David Bowie, and then all the glam stuff and Roxy Music came along.
By the mid-1970s I was more a Bowie fan than anything else, and through him I learned about quite a bit such as The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Kahil Gibran, Bertolt Brecht, Jacques Brel.
1977 was the weirdest music year of my life. I was in love with Stevie Nicks after a feature on the reformed Fleetwood Mac in Melody Maker in the summer of 1976, and I was avidly waiting for this new Bowie record which seemed shrouded in mystery; Iggy Pop was releasing a new record - and at this point I'd never ever heard Iggy Pop.
I bought "The Idiot" and a new reissued copy of Iggy and The Stooges' "Raw Power" on the same day and thought the speed was wrong on one of them!
I was also intrigued by US comic rockers KISS and of course the UK punk scene had kicked off the previous year and now records were coming out. All in all a very confusing year.
I always toyed with the idea of playing guitar - even when I bought a drum kit - but never really had the conviction of learning. I was in a few bands as a singer but it was just for fun more than anything else. I like "tinkering". I have a baby grand which I like sitting at for a whil…tinkering ...
I-94 BAR: Go on, make us Colonials out here in the sticks jealous! What was your first gig? Second? Third?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: My first gig was The New Seekers at Wakefield Theatre Club May 1974. This was a venue my parents used to go to - they knew I was mad keen to see T.Rex, so they thought this might be the next best thing
Second gig was Alvin Stardust at Batley Variety Club matinee performance for under-16s in 1975. This was a workingman’s entertainment club in the middle of Yorkshire. We were getting a little nearer to what I wanted - but you just went to see what was available nearby.
My third gig was Mud, also at Batley Variety Club, a matinee performance for under-16s in 1975.
My fourth gig was Siouxsie & The Banshees at Plymouth Metro in May 1978 - the band was still unsigned and ... this concert kinda changed my life (musically).
My fifth was David Bowie at Earls Court (29 June to 1 July 1978), and I went on all three nights ... my hero. At last. I lived on a cloud for months after.
I-94 BAR: As a young jerk, I recall being horrified that the local bands I was seeing regularly weren't recording their gigs. I couldn't understand it. To me these people were making fabulous music, and every time they played it vanished into the ether ... gone except for (in me) increasingly fuzzy memories. Comment?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: I think in my early teens the concept hadn’t really occurred to me until one day at school I met this guy, older than me, who had a David Bowie bootleg. I didn’t understand what it was and why it wasn’t available in the shops, but soon looked into it and realised that there was a whole world of live recordings by people I didn’t know about. By the time I was 19 or 20 local bands were actually taping their shows and rehearsals and flogging them at gigs. By the 1980s a lot of my wages were spent on live tapes by mail order.
Composite image (not AI) from Cleveland. Credit for original images to Helen Linna, label supplied.
I-94 BAR: I started collecting live recordings of bands, and making my own, about forty years ago. The tech has improved - maybe - since then. So, perhaps it's because I'm accustomed to trying to hear the band through the fudge of a band which is very loud and recorded on a pissy mike with a machine which can't adjust the music down out of the red that I still get excited when an unknown recording of a favourite band pops up.
Yet I still see various disparaging comments online about sound quality on official band releases (such as one of the gigs on the VU's "Loaded" box set), as if sound quality is the only benchmark. How do you respond to comments like this - especially, as I suspect, it's mostly based on ignorance.
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: Ahhh, yes. I used to get irritated by "fans" moaning about the quality of stuff - as if I could get into my time machine with current up- to-date equipment and record those shows. There are many many "fans'"who have never been near a bootleg, and have only been brought up on the standard-issued album - I mean, that's fine, I get it, but they all have to jump on their social media platforms and moan about it. Now, THAT irritates me - but I no longer care.
The document is rare, the annotation is (for once) correct, and you're holding a piece of history in your hand, not "Frampton Comes Alive" for fuck's sake!
I-94 BAR: What made you decide to start a record label? Surely that, along with making films, is a sure-fire way to hurling money down a sink?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: Yes, it is, but since school I have loved music and spent hours and hours as a teenager and in my 20s and 30s devouring information and sounds old and new. I had a record shop in the 1980s - but that was even more of a money pit. I had a romantic view of working for a record label, and after a few years of working in the industry I decided to go for it at 32 (in 1992).
I-94 BAR: What's the story behind the EasyAction label? you've been going for so long now, like all long-time established names, you seem to be taken for granted.
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: EasyAction was established in 2004 with my friend Steve Pittis who shared my love of certain artists like the Stooges and the Banshees, but also introduced me to a lot too. Because we had no money, we couldn’t get artists to record for us so I started seeking out rare, live radio broadcasts etc and then contacting the artists and getting an agreement for us to issue these recordings.
Because I cared so much, I would spend money cleaning up audio and making damn sure that our packaging was second to none. Easy Action began to develop a good name for itself.
Today, there is very little interest in buying music - or owning it. Spotify have single-handedly destroyed the music industry and for us, the catastrophic Brexit simply banged in the nails. We are at the end of the road now - it was fun and I met many legends and worked with a lot too, but it is virtually impossible to sustain a record company these days.
I-94 BAR: What are the most valuable things you've learned along the way?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: Think outside the box! Regardless of what people say, keep doing what you’re doing if YOU believe in it. Try and make the product the best it can be, and engage with social media as absolutely little as is humanly possible.
I-94 BAR: After years of growing up, I think honesty and consideration are the grease and bolts which keep our society's engine running more or less smoothly. This may seem obvious, but you seem to have a reputation for these things ... surely you're not unique?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: It sometimes feel like I am. I've had other labels steal stuff from us, knowing we are too small a company to do anything about it. But there are many folks I've met and know that are equally honest and considerate.
I-94 BAR: Right, for an outsider, the real questions are: why the Stooges, and why carry your obsession to such extremes? What was it which got you excited in the first place, and is that excitement still in you?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: Ha! OK prior to EasyAction I had been at an import-export company, and worked with Jean Marc and Thierry at Revenge selling their records. Then I had a record company called Trident Music and we had released a Stooges CD and I’d made contact with Iggy’s then-manager, a wonderful guy called Art Collins (RIP) with whom I kept in touch.
The first three records Stooges, I loved and treasured - but there was a real mess as far as the catalogue and legacy went - it was in a terrible state. I’d been fortunate enough to buy the original multi-track master tapes from London’s Olympic studios and save them going in the skip. bin I thought it would be brilliant to release these recordings which were of the highest audio quality.
I also decided to become a self-appointed one-man “righter of the wrongs” regarding the Stooges’ releases and make sure EVERYONE was paid. It took me ages to track down James Recca to pay him his royalties but I did it in the end.
The Stooges’ story (1967-1974) is a lot more diverse than some people think; they were a VERY hard working band and they were quite focused as a unit - but obviously the drugs did for them in the end, which is truly sad as they had a decent fourth album in the making.
I-94 BAR: One thing which keeps me astounded is the expense - surely baking tapes is horribly pricey? And then, the proper editing/ remixing/ mastering all must cost a bomb.
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: Well, if you’re gonna do the job do it properly. I’m not like other labels who will transfer direct from a cassette to vinyl or CD and put it right out. If we can make it sound better than ever before - I have to do it. Yes, baking and re-mastering can be expensive, and how many people give a ‘flying one’...I don’t know to be honest . But I'D KNOW if it wasn’t done properly.
I-94 BAR: You're the only label which has discovered and released so many Stooges discs - over the years, you developed relationships with the band members and, now, their families. How have these people regarded what you've been doing?
Ron and Iggy at The Victory in Toronto. John Catto photo, label supplied.
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: With mild amusement ha ha ha! I met Ron and Scott - both really lovely blokes. Scott used to call me and leave a message on my answerphone ‘Hi Carlton, it's Scott Asheton ... from the Stooges’ - as if I didn’t know who he was!! I now account to his daughter Leanna and to Kathy, the boys’ sister. Kathy is a huge support when I need it, and that in turn helps me work harder.
I got James Recca interviewed after all these years, which we printed into an extra libretto to the "You Don’t Want My Name" box set. Steve Mackay was lovely, too. Nice to have all the people dropping you a line every now and then.
When I first got in touch with James Williamson we got on very well and we did a live album with him before he rejoined the Stooges. He told me a lot about the source of the Bomp recordings which was useful (and interesting).
I-94 BAR: Again, for the Stooges fans who don't own the "You Don’t Want My Name" box, it's four live shows from 1971. As Carlton’s notes say: “When the line-up included James Williamson and Ron Asheton on guitar, with Jimmy Recca on bass ... and what a sound they make, too! mind-blowing isn't the word. Why this whole thing was restricted to a handful of gigs, with all the set list bar "I Got a Right" being scrapped is beyond comprehension this band are truly magnificent.”
Christmas is coming up, by the by, so if you don't have this Stooges missing link, go here.
Moving on, Carlton, I won't mention names, but other labels have become notorious for copying your carefully restored and curated issues, and repackaging them as their own, effectively bootlegging the music. You must've been very hurt and upset when this became known?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: Yeah, we all know who they are. The record industry is now a pretty small world - especially the indies - and to have one of your own do that its pretty LOW.
I-94 BAR: Why are you also offering the two-disc "Head On - 1974" as a package deal with the four-disc "Theatre of Cruelty" box of shows at the Whisky Au Go Go?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: Because no bugger bought the "Whisky" box so I’m giving people the opportunity make good on their awful previous decision not to buy it… at a good price too!
I-94 BAR: I gather there are a few other bands for which you harbour a similar obsession. Care to share and explain?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: Other artists? Sure. As previously mentioned, The Alice Cooper Goup, Roxy Music, T.Rex, The Dammed (the first two albums in particular), The New York Dolls, Patti Smith, The Velvet Underground, The MC5, The Psychedelic Furs, Janes Addiction.
I’m also personally a huge fan of Bowie, Kate Bush, Sigur Ros, Porcupine Tree. And I recently discovered the delights of Steve Kilbey's solo material; not having been a fan of The Church, that’s been a joy. So, I have quite an eclectic taste, really.
I-94 BAR: You famously published Dave Twist's thematic collection of memorabilia, "Glitter and Glue". Surely there's a Sandercock collection waiting to be published?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: Yes, Twisty is way more proficient at curating than I am. It started out as his Instagram page, and we chatted about what kind of book it would make . Neither of us were sure, but I said if we did it it would be something most EasyAction customers would want because, apart from being my mate and one of our designers, Dave Twist is the archetypal EasyAction customer!
I-94 BAR: You favourite glam-era band, and why?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: T. Rex, although I think they were way more than a glam-era band. Bolan’s songwriting between 1970 and 1974 produced so many hits, and the feeling of real excitement that they "might" be on "Top of the Pops" on Thursday night was exhilarating! Ahhh, those early teen years when stuff was so exciting you could burst! Slade are also worthy of mention, obviously.
I-94 BAR: And EasyAction have a huge pile of T.Rex CDs, T-shirts, and turntable mats. Incredible. Back to it: your favourite punk-era band, Carlton, and why?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: The Damned - because of Brian James, because of "New Rose". My interest in them waned after Brian left. I really loved the Buzzcocks although I never really really saw them as a punk band. Pete Shelley's songs were as near pure beautiful pop as you can get. Also the wonderful Magazine who were definitely post-punk. I’m not really big on punk, but it was brilliant for five minutes.
I-94 BAR: Five most significant gigs you've attended?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK:
- Siouxsie & the Banshees at Metro Plymouth 5th April 1978. I was 17 and came away from that show in a daze for weeks, such was the impact …. beautifully dangerous.
- David Bowie at Earls Court. My first-ever Bowie concert - just couldn’t stop smiling for days.
- Primal Scream and MC5 (DTK) at Royal Festival Hall. In the presence of greatness and had lots of laughs with the bass men Manni and Mike Davis. I was sat in the auditorium, the ONLY person watching both bands jam together in rehearsals ... just fuckin' surreal. This show became a film: “Black to Comm” (available here.)
- KISS at Wembley, 8th September 1980. Front row! it was like being in a dream! I saw them again at a secret gig at the Marquee Club, which was weird. Love 'em or hate 'em, they know how to put on a show
- Janes Addiction at ICA, London in January 1989. We had been importing their indie album all of the previous year and now I got to see them in a small club. It was a Warners private party; I sneaked in stole their booze - the band were FULL-ON! it was snowing heavily and there were loads of fans waiting outside THEN the fire alarms went off ... band stopped and everyone was ushered out into the street - moments later the doors were opened and the hall had five times the amount of people and the band took it to another level.
- Led Zeppelin, Knebworth 1979.
- Daisy Chainsaw at the Camden Falcon pub, in May 1991. Never seen anything like this lot - blew my mind there was nothing of a mind-blowing nature in London in 1991; chainsaw guitars ... an utterly bonkers lead singer...a breath of fresh air when we desperately needed it. Oops, that’s seven!
I-94 BAR: And EasyAction have a Daisy Chainsaw single out, and also publish the band's spin-off band, Alien Airforce. Okay, Carlton, what about the five most significant gigs you wish you'd attended?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK:
- T. Rex, the 1972 summer tour ... well, any short UK tour at the height of Bolan’s messiah worship, I think their fifth No.1 hit single in a year was in the charts at the time: "Metal Guru". I’d have been 12 and would probably have passed out with excitement just seeing T Rex live. However I would NOT have wet my pants! (ED: so YOU say.)
- Stooges, Michigan Palace February 1974. I’m betting it was a tad scary - I'd have been 13.
- David Bowie at the Tower in Philadelphia, June 1974. He only toured this in the U.S I've seen film from this tour and I’d have loved to have been at one of these concerts.
- Thin Lizzy at Hammersmith Odeon, 1976. These shows spawned the "Live & Dangerous" double LP, one of the best live albums ever.
- AC/DC, 24 May 1978, Plymouth Metro. Having listened to the live album recorded on this tour, Bon Scott was on fine form and Angus just kept on keepin' on riffing. I’d been to The Metro for the first time the month before - it’s a small club and this would have been explosive! Hell Ain't a Bad Place To Be!
- Any of the Kate Bush shows at Hammersmith Apollo in 2014. She only ever played live in 1979, but then what started out as a week’s residency turned into three. Plus she had all the songs in her canon to play with this time .
I-94 BAR: You state "engage with social media as absolutely little as is humanly possible". What alternatives are there? What other paths would you suggest for the inventive and determined young bands?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: You can’t avoid social media altogether but try and USE it to direct it to YOUR website where you need to interreact Daily with people who go on there and are interested in what you’re doing . I don’t do Instagram much but I think its less toxic than Facebook possibly. Spotify won’t do you any favours - they will take money for your work and not pay you. Bandcamp is a better option; try and create your own community away from Facebook.
Iggy in Toronto. John Catto photo.
I-94 BAR: Over the years you've released a lot of bands which I suspect flew against the current grain - which were you the most impressed with? Which bands/ musicians were you just so, so excited by?
CARLTON SANDERCOCK: Yes I have invested in dozens of new acts .. the ones that stand out the most would be Hanterhir with whom I am still working. They recently come off supporting Hawkwind.
Dollface were a band I signed in the early ‘90s. They should have been massive; just the right amount of ingredients great song writing great musicians Very rock ‘n’ roll. They supported Slash. That was a good tour .
Female multi-instrumentalist Maple Bee is ethereal and sublime. It is my greatest disappointment that I could not get this artist more coverage. She would have ruled New York, Berlin, Paris and Madrid.
Also, a young bunch called Hypophora who wrote amazing songs. The lead singer was heaven-sent and they delivered one of the best debut albums I’ve heard. But their flame was so bright for so short. It’s really hard to get even THE most talented artists away in today’s climate.
"Head On 1974" pre-orders are open here and will ship very soon. Linited to 500 copies.
