U2
Germany: 1985
Why I Ghosted U2...
There's a good reason I didn't call U2 back after demoing The Jamma (V1) - backstage on their ‘Unforgettable Fire’ Tour in 1985. Mind you, I was to open Live Aid with Status Quo in July, U2 were also playing so I could pick it up with the guys again then… a-ha… simple yeah?
It’s a very cold January 1985, me and my band SHASS are recording our first album in Info Studios in Monhiem Baumbeg in Germany.
One night when me and the band were out for a beer in Düsseldorf half an hour up the road, I saw a poster about U2 playing the ‘Musensaal im Rosengarten Mannheim’, on 1st Feb. That was only about 2 hours away (Germany is big!). So as I do, I called the venue to speak to U2.
Can I Speak With U2 Please?
I explained that I'd invented a new musical instrument and am recording with my band and would love to show the instrument to the guys as they were so close, and I thought they’d love it. And asked to speak to U2.
The Unforgettable Fire Tour team for U2 happened to be there; setting up. This was around a week before the gig.
I think it was Tour Manager Dennis Sheehan, who spoke with me, he was really cool and super helpful, and set up the demo.
An Unforgettable Gig
We were all put on the guest list and the plan was; set up the kit, watch the gig, and then do The Jamma demo.
These were heady days, everything seemed possible at that time. My band had won a rock competition. We’d just recorded at Abbey Road Studios and had our first single ‘Money Talks’ released. So there we were, recording our first album. The world seemed really interested in The Jamma, including Jermaine Jackson, which kinda led to meeting Michael… more on that in another story… Join The Tribe for the full scoop.
So anyhoo, we’re off to see U2 and demo ‘my baby’ to the guys in a few days. But we also have to finish the album...
What could possibly go wrong?
I can't properly remember how we got to Mannheim. I do remember something about a kebab (shashlich) some beers, and Jurgen (the studio tech and nice guy) driving us...
Anyhoo, we arrived, and I set up The Jamma. The gig was amazing - not unusual for U2 let's face it! I think there was a tuning problem with the opening tune ‘11 O'clock Tick Tock’ but the gig was awesome.
After the gig I was chaperoned to the green room backstage. It's a testimony to the guy’s that they walk off stage and still have time, energy and sheer decentness, to see my demo.
An Unforgettable Meeting
As I expected, a more natural, interesting and friendly bunch of people than U2, you would be hard pressed to find. All the guys were really chilled. We chatted about the basic functions and the principals. The Simple Demo Video in The Sound Lab shows you what I demoed to U2 backstage.
Back then, the tech just was not where it should have been - in my inventive mind. But still the guys got it instantly, and were really interested.
As most people know U2 have a long history of embracing and pushing the boundaries of technology in both their studio recordings and live shows. The ancient Jamma V1 was interesting enough for them to ask me to meet them again off tour, so you can imagine, I'm gagging to show them V2!
Bono wrote down a number (for Candida I think her name was), she was their personal assistant at the time.
He said, “Pete that's great, we're interested, please call her and set up another meet when we’re off tour”.
And that was that! (erm...)
On the way back from the gig, somehow (!?) I got separated from my manager and ended up arriving very late back at the studio without my jacket. I only had my teeshirt, a packet of fags, a lighter and a bottle of very strong Jack Daniel’s. I still can't remember how that previous part of the eveing unfolded. Maybe its best not to try...
There was 20cm of snow, it was -5c and strangely, I was fucking freezing. I got out of the taxi, walked to the studio canteen - that is:
***always left unlocked***.
To find it locked.
No probs i thought, “i’ll bang on the bedroom windows and wake up the band to let me in”.
I should explain that Info Studios has accommodation and we were staying there. But the thing is, recording studios have triple glazed windows, especially in Germany.
So I'm banging on the bedroom window of my dear friend the bassist, (I’ll call him ‘John’ to protect his privacy), but he just can't hear me. That’s when I learnt that he sometimes sleeps with his eyes open. [Hey 'John' mate, if your reading this, please contact me, I'm better now.]
I can't get to the other bedroom windows and bashing on them was'nt going to work anyway, so there I am stranded just outside of the canteen on the terrace, in -5c, in deep snow, in a t-shirt, with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and some fags.
Survival Mode Kicked In
I started with the ‘drinking to stay warm’ idea. After an hour, it didn't work. Then I had the brilliant idea of carving a ‘cup’ in the snow on the garden table outside the canteen, filled it with Jack Daniel’s and lit it! Trust me it works! Well for a while…
At some point before I passed out, someone got up, turned the canteen lights on and I could see them in the canteen. I practically threw myself through the glazed canteen glass doors, and finally got noticed.
I spent the next week delirious, bed ridden, thin, depleted, visited by a doctor and nearly hospitalised; and on some unidentified but powerful medicines.
I started to feel a bit better, but the crunch point came when I went for a piss and fainted in the tiled bathroom. I smashed my head on the sink and lay on the cold tiled floor for apparently, several hours.
I was discovered, naked, by my bandmates on the bathroom floor, because I've not turned up for the vocal take = kinda important as I'm the vocalist and guitarist!
It took a very long time for me to feel better, let alone to sing and be a creative musician. You can hear that my voice is weak on the recordings. Problem was, we had about 3 days to finish the album... But no worries! One of the guys - 'John' - at the studio had a mum who was a doctor and gave me some 'Mother's Little Helper' pills - as the Rolling Stones so aptley put it. Those little yellow Captigon pills kept me awake and alert for those three days with minimal sleep. And, kept my eyelids open on the long train ride back to the UK after we'd wrapped recording and mixing the album.
I had no idea they were Fenethylline, a strong and extreemly addictive amphetamine and a milder form of Dexamphetamine that was already being used by the military to enable soldiers to stay awake for long periods of time and to "enhance courage and bravado".
After all that, I was completely exhausted, trying to recover, trying to finish a great album and properly launch my music career, and The Jamma.
It's OK, I'll Meet U2 Again At Live Aid...
And with all the stuff going on after that with TV shows, licence deals with Dynacord, oh, and being invited to open Live Aid with Status Quo…
By the time I had the mental capacity to call U2, I'd lost the piece of paper Bono gave me. But as mentioned, I thought I'd catch up with them at Live Aid…
My manager, let's call him ‘John’ (!) was doing underhand things I learned many years later, but at the time he said he’d try to get hold of U2, but it came to naught. He had no incentive I guess as he wouldn't benefit from the success of The Jamma - it occurred to me years later. I still wonder about that… I have so many 'what If's'...
So dear reader, that is the reason I didn't call U2 back. I hope you'll agree, it's not a bad excuse?
But now this website is published, I will! I'm sure U2 will love The Jamma V2.