year off to concentrate on music. (He would resume his studies later, switching to biology at North London Polytechnic.) Brian, though, had now finished the final year of his degree, and wanted to remain at Imperial as a post-graduate to work on a PhD thesis on the movement of interplanetary dust. May’s future as an astronomer seemed assured: hehad already spent time in Switzerland studying zodiacal light at an observatory hut, and, after graduating, had been invited to carry out astronomical research at Jodrell Bank Observatory at the request of the eminent astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell. As one of May’s professors explained: ‘Brian was first and foremost a bright physicist … There was no question of him becoming a rock star.’
His academic future may have been mapped out for him, but May was now a fixture in the audience at the Marquee, watching bands, especially their guitarists, and mentally taking notes. At least one prominent guitar player still recalls the lanky, busby-haired youth as a permanent presence at his gigs, approaching him after the show to ask technical questions about the equipment he was using. The conflicting influences in May’s life appeared almost side by side on 24 and 26 October 1968. On 24 October, Brian, watched by his parents, was awarded his Bachelor of Science by the Queen Mother at the Royal Albert Hall. Two days later, Smile played a gig at Imperial, opening for Pink Floyd.
Tim Staffell has always maintained that the Floyd show was Smile’s debut performance. However, Chris Smith, while agreeing that the group’s debut was at Imperial, believes it was supporting The Troggs. ‘We turned up and they were soundchecking,’ he explains. ‘If you’ve ever heard The Troggs Tapes [a bootleg recording of the band arguing in a studio], then that’s exactly what they were like. Also their drummer hardly seemed to play with both hands at the same time. I remember looking at the other guys, open-mouthed. These were pop stars. They’d done “Wild Thing”. We couldn’t believe it. Why are we supporting them? We could blow them off!’
The group also encountered another problem: Brian’s stage clothes. ‘Brian had the afro-type hair by then but he still looked very much the student,’ says Smith carefully. ‘He turned up for the gig wearing a bri-nylon shirt and one of those knitted string ties you’d have worn in 1964. Extremely square. So Roger took him back to his flat to change. But with Roger being much smaller than Brian, there wasn’t much in his wardrobe that fitted, except for this purple waistcoat … which he put over the bri-nylon shirt.’
As Chris recalls, Smile opened their show with a segment from Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor played on his Selmer Capri organ.‘Then Brian hit this huge guitar chord, Roger went into a drum roll, and we did this big vamp and straight into “Can’t Be So Bad” by Moby Grape.’ But it was their four-part harmonies ‘with Roger’s lovely tenor on top’ that shocked him. ‘I was surprised how good it sounded. Thinking back, you had it all there: Brian’s guitar sound and Roger’s drums. All you really needed was a smart guy to come along with some good ideas … Someone like Freddie.’
‘I guess Smile wanted to be heavy rock,’ said Tim Staffell. ‘But there was also a pressure to try and make it appear virtuoso.’ Staffell’s mention of this pressure summed up a potential problem with Smile’s music, for both him and their keyboard player. Chris Smith and his Selmer Capri would only appear with Smile on a few more occasions.
‘I loved the creativity of it, but musically it wasn’t for me,’ Smith offers. ‘Roger was a rocker, and I liked that, but he wasn’t into the blues. We’d be round his flat listening to the first Led Zeppelin album or Yes and I’d be thinking, “What happened to Muddy Waters and Otis Redding and Howlin’ Wolf?” In my mind, I had this idea of playing in a little Rolling
His academic future may have been mapped out for him, but May was now a fixture in the audience at the Marquee, watching bands, especially their guitarists, and mentally taking notes. At least one prominent guitar player still recalls the lanky, busby-haired youth as a permanent presence at his gigs, approaching him after the show to ask technical questions about the equipment he was using. The conflicting influences in May’s life appeared almost side by side on 24 and 26 October 1968. On 24 October, Brian, watched by his parents, was awarded his Bachelor of Science by the Queen Mother at the Royal Albert Hall. Two days later, Smile played a gig at Imperial, opening for Pink Floyd.
Tim Staffell has always maintained that the Floyd show was Smile’s debut performance. However, Chris Smith, while agreeing that the group’s debut was at Imperial, believes it was supporting The Troggs. ‘We turned up and they were soundchecking,’ he explains. ‘If you’ve ever heard The Troggs Tapes [a bootleg recording of the band arguing in a studio], then that’s exactly what they were like. Also their drummer hardly seemed to play with both hands at the same time. I remember looking at the other guys, open-mouthed. These were pop stars. They’d done “Wild Thing”. We couldn’t believe it. Why are we supporting them? We could blow them off!’
The group also encountered another problem: Brian’s stage clothes. ‘Brian had the afro-type hair by then but he still looked very much the student,’ says Smith carefully. ‘He turned up for the gig wearing a bri-nylon shirt and one of those knitted string ties you’d have worn in 1964. Extremely square. So Roger took him back to his flat to change. But with Roger being much smaller than Brian, there wasn’t much in his wardrobe that fitted, except for this purple waistcoat … which he put over the bri-nylon shirt.’
As Chris recalls, Smile opened their show with a segment from Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor played on his Selmer Capri organ.‘Then Brian hit this huge guitar chord, Roger went into a drum roll, and we did this big vamp and straight into “Can’t Be So Bad” by Moby Grape.’ But it was their four-part harmonies ‘with Roger’s lovely tenor on top’ that shocked him. ‘I was surprised how good it sounded. Thinking back, you had it all there: Brian’s guitar sound and Roger’s drums. All you really needed was a smart guy to come along with some good ideas … Someone like Freddie.’
‘I guess Smile wanted to be heavy rock,’ said Tim Staffell. ‘But there was also a pressure to try and make it appear virtuoso.’ Staffell’s mention of this pressure summed up a potential problem with Smile’s music, for both him and their keyboard player. Chris Smith and his Selmer Capri would only appear with Smile on a few more occasions.
‘I loved the creativity of it, but musically it wasn’t for me,’ Smith offers. ‘Roger was a rocker, and I liked that, but he wasn’t into the blues. We’d be round his flat listening to the first Led Zeppelin album or Yes and I’d be thinking, “What happened to Muddy Waters and Otis Redding and Howlin’ Wolf?” In my mind, I had this idea of playing in a little Rolling
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