Heartbreaker Read Online Free PDF

either me or my career.
    ‘All Tom and I could think of was how soon we could get another band together. We needed to make some money; besides, being in a band was a great way to meet girls.’ Johnny grinned. ‘We were teenagers. Girls were nearly as important as music.
    ‘Our next band was the Rockin’ Robins. We advertised in the local paper for band members and held auditions in the club. We played together regularly and earned a living of sorts for a couple of years playing rock and pop covers.
    ‘Meanwhile, I had managed to get my driving licence and with what we made from the band and the part-time jobs we used to take to help make ends meet, Tom and I had bought an old van to get around in. Before that, we’d used a milk float.’
    Alex burst out laughing. She broke her own golden rule and interjected. ‘Get out of town. You can’t go to gigs on a milk float.’
    Johnny laughed, delighted. ‘It wasn’t one of those electric things, it was a flatbed truck. Sometimes still had a few crates of milk on it when we used it. Honestly. Our lead singer worked for the guy who owned it, he let us borrow it so long as we put petrol in to cover what we used. What with that and the passion Tom had for floral shirts back then, I think we were the least stylish band in town.
    ‘We were starting to argue a lot, though. The other two wanted to stick with popular covers, whereas Tom and I wanted to write and play our own stuff. We were becoming more influenced by people like Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Rory Gallagher. We went to stay with my cousin Steve in London and we saw the Yardbirds play Luton College in the summer of 1968. I remember it was a Sunday night, pissing down with rain, but it was worth the soaking. The gig was run of the mill, the band had obviously had it, but we were just blown away by Jimmy Page’s performance; you should have seen him. It’s almost old hat now, but when Jimmy used that violin bow on his guitar … Jesus Christ, you should have been there. They were playing the number that became Dazed and Confused , it was brand new. Can you imagine that? That big old sleazy riff creeping round the room like a peeping Tom in a dark alley. Jimmy had a Fender Telecaster and he was sawing and chopping at it with the bow, he got sounds out of it like we’d never heard before. With or without the bow, he could make that thing cry and moan so that the hairs on the back of your neck stood on end. He was awesome, Alex. I can’t tell you. He’s still one of my biggest heroes today.
    ‘Unsurprisingly, that spelt the end of the Rockin’ Robins and if I’m honest, I was glad. I was sick of playing other people’s music, there was no vibe when we were performing. Sure, there was a spark with Tom, we’d go off on one in the middle of a number occasionally, just let the music go where it wanted to, but we got so much shit from the other two when we did that. Instead of joining in, they’d just mark time. They liked things nice and neat, as rehearsed. I think they wanted us to be a fucking jukebox. It was starting to become a chore. Music just shouldn’t be like that, you know?’
    Alex nodded.
    ‘Since the band was finished, Tom and I took it as a sign that we should chance our arm and move down to London. We didn’t want to leave it a moment longer, so much had already happened. The year before had been the Summer of Love, although not so’s you’d notice in York, and this was the year of political awareness, student protests around the world. Music had gone from Sergeant Pepper to Sympathy for the Devil and Tom and I were still playing other people’s tunes. We felt things were passing us by. There was a real urgency to our actions. We sold what we could, raided our piggy banks, upped sticks and left.’
    ‘Weren’t you scared?’
    Johnny ran his hands through his hair. ‘Things were different then. It felt like the world was young, an anarchic adolescent. People were pushing out the boundaries