Kenney Jones, one- time drummer of The Small Faces, The
Faces and The Who, last week returned to his east end roots and performed at the
Wanstead Tap, where he discussed his autobiography, Let The Good Times Roll,
with rock journalist Paolo Hewitt, in one of the Tap's great book
collaborations with the Newham Bookshop. A most enjoyable evening, it was, too.
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| Above - the book. Below - the signing |
Kenney was born in Stepney, a couple of months after the NHS
was established, and has come a long way since. His career as a rock musician, had
Mod written through it, in much the same way as seaside rock has the name
of the resort through it.
He now owns a Surrey polo club, hob-nobbing with the likes
of Prince Charles on the pitch, and has swapped the Lambrettas for the Lambourghinis.
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| Kenney playing polo with his new mate Prince Charles at his Hurtwood Park polo club, in Surrey |
His story - as told in his book, and elsewhere - is a
fascinating one and owes some huge debts to Forest Gate. What follows is a
recollection of some of those, and a consideration of his life and times in
music and beyond.
Kenney - the second "e" was added to distinguish
him from other entertainers with similar names in the 60's - is a self
described "Stepney Herbert", who was gripped by music in his early
teens, and ventured over to Forest Gate:
Local dance clubs offered another
opportunity to hear great music. At weekends we would queue for venues such as
the Lotus in Forest Gate (ed: Kenny Johnson's venue - see footnote) , which initially,
played dance records before it began hosting bands.
While in the area, he came across the J60 Music Bar at 445
High Street North, Manor Park - long gone (see photo below, today). It was, in
Jones' words "an Aladdin's cave" and was there he bought his first
drum kit, aged 13.
He soon met Stan Lane, who introduced him to his brother,
the later bassist, Ronnie, and in no time Kenney was dragging his drums from Stepney to
Ronnie's house, at 385 Romford Road to practice, as they began to put a band together.
Kenney links up with Ronnie Lane and starts jamming at his house,
385 Romford Road
It wasn't long before the pair of them were back at the J60
to get a guitar for Ronnie (as he had switched from lead to bass) and ended up
jamming in the shop with the Saturday boy, who turned out to be Steve Marriott
- to the annoyance of the owner, who soon sacked Marriott for selling the bass
to Lane at a cut price.
Ronnie and Kenney meet Steve Marriott (above), the Saturday boy at the J60 Music Bar (recent photo of its later reincarnation), 445 High Street North - and The Small Faces are born
Marriott had been brought up about half way between the J60 and
Ronnie Lane's house, at 308 Strone Road.
His dad, among other things, had a shell fish stall outside the Ruskin Arms -
also on High Street North. The emerging musical trio linked up with the son of
the pub's landlord - Jimmy Winston (aka Longwith) - who joined in, on
keyboards, but more importantly offered practice space at the back room of the
pub for the boys.
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| Left - 308 Strone Road, where Marriott was brought up, right The Ruskin Arms, where the Small Faces began practising seriously |
The band gradually emerged and called themselves The Small
Faces, because - well, they were all small - around 5'5" each. Winston was
soon dropped and replaced by Ian McLagan - and the band took off, locally
around 1965.
The opening of the Upper Cut club, on Woodgrange Road was a
big occasion for Kenney Jones, both personally and professionally. He tells the
story in the book:
My introduction to session work
came about as a direct result of meeting Jan Osborne on 21 December 1966,
following The Who's performance at the opening night of heavyweight boxer Billy
Walker's The Upper Cut Club in Forest Gate, East London. My cousin, Roy, and I
attended the gig, after which we met up back stage with Adrienne Posta and her
friend Jan.
Jan later became his wife, for about a decade, and they had
two children. Her father, Tony, also had a significant influence on the young
Kenney. He was a prominent band leader of the day and taught Kenney how to read
music, which became an intro for the young drummer to session music. He played
this in parallel with his time with the bands. It extended his talents, repertoire and contacts greatly - and made
not a little money on the side for him.
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| Small Faces - Kenney Jones in front, with the big checks - just the way he liked it! |
The Small Faces were by now making a considerable name for
themselves locally and nationally and made a big impact on the Upper Cut within
a couple of weeks of it opening - and on a second occasion during the club's
year long existence (see press cuttings for the story).
Above - adverts for the Small Faces gigs at the Upper Cut, 6 January 1967 and 8 July, the same year. Below Stratford Express coverage of their gigs
The autobiography, itself, is Kenney's own slant on the
familiar rock star tale of sex, drugs
and rock and roll, complete with the touring excesses of scandalous bad boy
behaviour. All the staple elements are
there: bands breaking up over "musical differences", bands being
ripped off by devious managers/agents/promoters, and the double standards of
rockers who toured and played away, but who objected to their WAGS staying at home
and playing away.
Kenney Jones performed for the three of the biggest bands of
the 60's and 70's - The Small Faces, The Faces and The Who and has lived to
tell the tale.
Familiar themes recur in his story. His attitude to money - let's call it careful. His relationship with lead singers (Marriott, Stewart and Daltry) - let's call it feisty. And his attitude to authority - let's call it challenging. Perhaps they are connected and help define the man.
Familiar themes recur in his story. His attitude to money - let's call it careful. His relationship with lead singers (Marriott, Stewart and Daltry) - let's call it feisty. And his attitude to authority - let's call it challenging. Perhaps they are connected and help define the man.
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| Kenney - far right, with The Faces |
He has looked after himself. As his book tells us, and he
probably had cause to remind many, he was a distant relation of the Kary twins. He is also a survivor, probably because his excesses were less extreme than many
of his contemporaries.
So, he has outlived the other members of the Small Faces (Steve Marriott died aged 44 in 1991, Ronnie Lane aged 51 in 1997 and Ian McLagan aged 69 in 2014).
So, he has outlived the other members of the Small Faces (Steve Marriott died aged 44 in 1991, Ronnie Lane aged 51 in 1997 and Ian McLagan aged 69 in 2014).
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| Kenney in The Who, second right and keeping close tabs on Roger Daltrey |
He has also survived life as a drummer, an instrument notorious for the
self-destruction of its musicians. Keith Moon, of The Who, died aged 32 in 1978 - to be replaced by
Jones. John Bonham of Led Zepplin also died aged 32, in 1980. Cozy Powell of the
Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow and Black Sabbath survived until 1998, when he died,
aged 51 and Mitch Mitchell who played with the Jimi Hendrix Experience and with Georgie Fame went, aged 62 in 2008.
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| A Faces reunion in 1993, as a fund raiser for Ronnie Lane (with stick, in centre) suffering from MS |
Kenney Jones' survivor capacity extends beyond the music
industry. He is a prostate cancer survivor and a keen supporter of charities
associated with it.
He has enjoyed the good life outside of music, too. A
helicopter and a fleet of smart cars is never far away from his Surrey polo
club, which he admits is proving a drain on his £20m net worth. This, of
course, enables him to mix within circles undreamed of in his Stepney roots. But he has never deserted or
disowned them, and was happy to reminisce about his early life and times, at the Tap.
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| A recent photo, with ex Faces Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart at a fund raiser for Protate Cancer research, at Kenney Jones' Guildford polo club |
So - a most enjoyable night was had at the 75 people lucky enough
to be there (tickets sold out within 2 hours) on an occasion put on by the
great local double act of Newham Bookshop and the Wanstead Tap - the
entertainment highlight of E7 - now.
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| Kenney (right), a man at ease talking about his East End roots to journalist Paolo Hewitt, at the Wanstead Tap in July 2018 |
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| Kenney - left - having a drink after his E7 show at the Tap |
Footnotes:
1. Let The Good Times Roll, by Kenney Jones is published by
Blink Publishing and retails at £20. Copies (some signed) can be obtained from
Newham Bookshop - tel: , 745-747 Barking Road, or via their website: www.newhambooks.co.uk
2. Readers of this article may be interested in the
following articles on this site, featuring themes mentioned in it:
Billy Walker recalls the Upper Cut club
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