Jimi Hendrix – Arrogance and a Death Threat

• Place – Isle of Wight Festival, East Afton Farm
• Time – August 26th 1970
• The Recording Crew – Vic Maile, Neville Crozier, Alan Perkins, Kenny Denton & Tony Carey

The Pye Mobile was booked to record the entire Isle of Wight festival that year, this meant a drive to Southampton and ferry trip for me, Vic and the boys.

We got there on Monday 25th of August and on arriving went to check out the site but didn’t start fully setting up until Wednesday 26th of August.

Judas Jump were already performing and Neville and Alan were busy on stage setting up mics whilst Vic and I were in the truck checking that mic feeds were arriving to the desk correctly. 

There was a hard-wired onstage headset with mic attached, this was plugged into a large orange box that housed the Neumann U67 mic power packs. This was to allow us to have communications between the truck and the stage.

As this was not always the most reliable method of communicating, it was one of my jobs to run between the two locations relaying messages.

The arrival of the Boss

Judas Jump had nearly finished their set when a guy appeared at the front door of the truck where I was sitting next to the eight track machines.

With a stern New York accent, he said to me “Is the tape running?”

My immediate thought was he was the band’s manager so I replied politely “Sorry, not at the moment.”

“Run the fucking tape.” he growled.

I looked over at Vic who gave me the OK, so I did.

The arrogant American walked off and Vic continued to check and mark up the desk, trying to make sure that we would encounter as few problems as possible during the next few days. 

The next act Kathy Smith had taken to the stage when Vic said, “Kenny, we are wasting tape, stop the machine.”

so I did.

It seemed pointless trying to record anything whilst we were still setting up.

To my surprise the American guy appeared again, this time he entered the back of the truck next to Vic.

Looking over at me he snarled, “Is that tape running?”

“No,” I replied, he went ballistic screaming, “Run the fucking tape and leave it fucking running.”

I immediately shouted back, “He’s my boss,” pointing at Vic, “not you, I do what he tells me.”

Vic gave me a sheepish glance and said, “Kenny, start the tape in record.”

He then turned to Vic saying,

“Anymore from that kid, he’s off the truck for the rest of the gig.”

Once he had left Vic told me that the American was Teo Macero and that Columbia USA were the clients paying for the mobile services and he was here to oversee the recording on their behalf.

This brief encounter ensured a silence remained between Mr. Macero and I until the following Sunday.

“Someone is going to try and kill Hendrix tonight.”

On the Sunday morning, I saw Teo shaking hands and saying goodbye to various people.

This seemed odd to me with still some major acts yet to perform.

I didn’t expect him to speak to me at all, so I was not only surprised when he did, but was astounded by what he said, which went something like this.

“Young man, I am leaving this morning and although we didn’t get off to a good start, I would just like to say thanks for all the work and long hours you have put in, also don’t go on the stage when Hendrix is on tonight.”

“Why?” I asked.

He replied, “Someone is going to try and kill him tonight.”

“Really!” I said, with a bewildered tone to my voice.

“Just be careful.” he continued.

A feeling of uneasiness remained between us as we shook hands.

As I watched him walk away I felt a huge relief that he was leaving.

Today I realise he wasn’t the arrogant bastard I thought he was at the time; he was just a guy doing his job, but not all of it!

Macero is credited for supervising Leonard Cohen’s live recording at this festival, but the fact is he had already left hours before Cohen went on stage.

I do also appreciate his concern about me being on stage when Hendrix was appearing.

I would like to thank Neville Crozier for his help with these Isle Of Wight posts

Jimi Hendrix – The prophecy fulfils?

The Who – Hells Angels and a Broken Drum Mic

Chicago – The First And Only Time

The Doors – In the Dark About the Bass Player

Isle of Wight – a Beautiful Dream That Became a Monster

A Look At Vic Maile Recording Engineer/Producer & Close Friend

Strange But True: Music Industry Anecdotes