PETER EDMONDS Interview

LIFETIMES

Me,Them & The Road PETER EDMONDS Production manager and director of SSE Audio Group, Peter Edmonds waxes lyrical about how his days with the newly-formed Queen led to one of the most colourful careers in live music.

Interview & portrait photography

by Mark Cunningham

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Above: Peter & Wendy Edmonds, pictured in 1974.

Throughout February and March this year, an exhibition at Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, Whitechapel entitled Stormtroopers In Stilettos celebrated the 40th anniversary of rock icons Queen.

Organised by Island Records, rare photography, vintage artwork and memorabilia told the story of how the band came together, how they discovered the talents of turbo-charged frontman Freddie Mercury and then set out on the road to world stardom.

As well as bringing together Queen fans from all around the globe, it served to reunite guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor with a number of their key accomplices from those formative times.

One of whom was Peter Edmonds.

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A renowned production manager who today is a director of the SSE Audio Group, Edmonds’ association with the band dates back to the mid-1960s when he befriended May and Tim Staffell at Hampton Grammar School. Along with fellow pupils, May and bassist Staffell formed their first band, 1984.

“They were fun days,” remembers Edmonds. “I would help them out with setting up their gear and it was really exciting when we played support to Jimi Hendrix [in 1967] who had become an instant star. I’ll never forget it... Jimi trod on my foot!”

After four years, 1984 and came to an end and its members enrolled at different colleges around London. Whilst May studied astronomy at Imperial College in South Kensington and Staffell was at Ealing Art

College (with a certain Freddie Bulsara), Edmonds headed to Greenwich Polytechnic to study environmental economics.

It was during this period in 1968 that May edged a little closer to his musical vision with the formation of Smile, with Staffell on bass and vocals. Roger Taylor, then a medical student, joined as drummer. Smile made their live début at Imperial College on October 26 1968 as support to The Pink Floyd.

Says Edmonds: “We all remained great friends and I believed in them so much that I chopped in my MG to buy a Thames van so I could drive them to gigs and just generally help them out. It was very casual and, of course, I had no idea that loading up the van would turn into a career.

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“I believed in them so much that I chopped in my MG to buy a Thames van so that I could drive them to gigs”

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Above, from top: 1984, Brian May’s first band (May far right); Smile (L-R May, Tim Staffell & Roger Taylor) in 1969 and assorted promotional material; memorabilia from Queen’s first three years, and a Mercury outfit made by Wendy Edmonds.

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“They were all very good musicians and were starting to write some good songs, mostly penned

by Tim. They also looked good and you could tell that Brian was developing an interesting guitar style. It was mostly Brian’s connections that led to the band securing as many gigs as they did.”

Things began to change when Freddie Bulsara became a regular supporter of the band. “We knew him quite well. He would often stay over that the flat in Ferry Road, Barnes that I shared with Brian, Roger and Tim. He’d been in other outfits and was a colourful character from the start. You couldn’t miss him. Whenever he entered a room he immediately grabbed the attention and he was very free with his advice for Smile.

“Fred and Roger set up a little stall in Kensington Market, selling artwork and clothes for about a year, and gradually Fred got more involved with us.”

Although briefly signed to Mercury Records, Smile came to a natural crossroads in April 1970 when Staffell quit and Bulsara’s then current band, Sour Milk Sea, broke up. It was Bulsara who urged Smile to continue... with himself as the new frontman.

As soon as he joined, the band changed its name to Queen and completed its line-up in February 1971 when bassist John Deacon replaced Mike Grose. There would, of course, be one further name change — Bulsara would now be known as Freddie Mercury.

“That’s when it all shifted up a gear,” says Edmonds, whose then wife-to-be, Wendy de Smet, also played a big part in the band’s early presentation.

“Wendy was a student at the London College of Fashion. She and Freddie became close friends because of their shared love of fashion, and she made clothes for his market stall. But when Queen started, Wendy’s involvement grew when Freddie asked her to make his stage outfits. In fact, some of them were joint efforts with Fred adding an extra touch by sewing on sequins.

“In those days, Lycra was a new fabric and Freddie was very keen on using it. He and Wendy sourced this fabric and she made him the famous outfits with the ‘Mercury Wings’ as well as three black numbers.”

TAKING SHAPE During 1972, Queen’s trademark sound began to take shape when Trident Studios’ owners Norman & Barry Sheffield were allowed the band to use ‘dead’ time to record. Producer Roy Thomas Baker and engineer Mike Stone encouraged Brian May to experiment by multitracking guitar harmonies to create an orchestral flavour.

Similarly, lush layering of vocals pointed the way towards an almost operatic feel that would become increasing apparent with each album.

Edmonds witnessed this evolution first-hand: “My role with Queen was merely an extension of what I’d been doing with 1984 and Smile. At the early shows with Queen around Cornwall and London colleges, I’d look after the band’s backline, their sound and everything else really because I was the only other person around.

“As things became busier, another student friend, John Harris, came onboard to specifically handle sound.but I needed to complete my college course and so I drifted away for a while. I returned when I joined Liveware, a sound reinforcement company run by the Sheffield brothers from Trident [who managed the band], and we did the sound for Queen’s tours.

“We used RSE PA speakers in a bin and horn configuration. They were made in Dorset and covered in grey carpet. RSE also manufactured mixing consoles which we used, and it was actually good quality for the time — a leap forward from the WEM Audiomaster that had been the previous default mixer.

“There was no monitoring on stage at first. The band were simply relying on what they heard from the backline and anything bouncing back to them in the room! We did put a couple of wedges down at the front later on but it was extremely basic with no dedicated desk.”

Liveware lasted for around five years, during which time Edmonds mixed the sound for Queen’s support slots on Mott The Hoople’s 1972 tour (the inspiration behind the line ‘Down in the city just Hoople and me’ from ‘Now I’m Here’) and on the band’s first headlining tour in 1973.

Was there any frustration on May’s part that it was impossible to recreate his multi-layered guitar parts live on stage? “I suppose so but Brian

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Above: The Edmonds couple with (far right) former business partner Simon Friend during Paul McCartney & Wings’ 1973 Red Rose Speedway tour; Mike Oldfield — the man who put the ‘field’ in Field Services. Centre: The official poster for Edmonds’ last full tour with Queen.

did a very good job of compensating for it by customising a Maestro Echoplex tape delay machine by extending the tape loop, which elongated the repeats.

“Brian was always very inventive like that and it goes back to when he and his dad made his original Red Special guitar, right down to the pick-ups.”

Edmonds continued as the band’s road manager and sound technician until their seminal third album, Sheer Heart Attack and hit single, ‘Killer Queen’ both made No.2 in the UK charts. World domination was just one year away.

Although his ties with Queen never faltered, it wasn’t until their final live shows with Mercury in 1986, on their Magic tour, that he worked directly with them once again.

“I’d been a site manager for a while by then and I was asked to advance the production for their shows at Maine Road Stadium in Manchester, the Estadio Municipal in Marbella and the final date at Knebworth.

They were working with Gerry Stickells, Trip Khalaf and Clair Brothers and it was wonderful to see them perform at the top of their game.

“It’s very sad to think that it was the last time they’d ever play live because of Freddie’s illness and tragic death in 1991. He was such a lovely guy and his passing was so upsetting.”

SPREAD YOUR WINGS Just as Edmonds’ first chapter with Queen was coming to a close, he began working with a number of other artists including Paul McCartney & Wings for whom he was part of the crew (along with FOH engineer Ian Horne) on their Red Rose Speedway tour.

Shortly after, he became involved with High Life Productions, a company run by Smokie manager, Bill Hurley, which furnished the sound and lighting needs of the band as well as other clients.

This relationship was to run for four years

until he left the company in 1981. Almost immediately, High Life went into receivership.

“I ended up looking after its equipment on behalf of the Receiver, mainly because there were still some bands who had been expecting to rent it for their tours.

“The opportunity to buy the inventory came up and I asked Yan Stile and Chris Redburn, who had been driving trucks for High Life, if they wanted to start up a new rental business based on this old stock. As a result of this, Canegreen was born in 1983, with Chris staying on until 1987.”

Initially trading in both sound and lighting, Canegreen eventually focused on sound and started out with a PA system co-designed by Simon Johnston (now with d&b audiotechnik) and AIR Studios’ Richard Barry, and co-owned

by Barclay James Harvest.

This was later sold back to BJH, funding Canegreen’s first investment in Meyer Sound equipment in 1985 — four MSL-3 loudspeakers, along with a 22-channel Midas Pro 40 console.

In 1987, Canegreen purchased its first exclusive base in Tottenham — a lucrative decision as it would later turn out because 21 years later, local football team Spurs

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LIFETIMES announced its decision to move from its White Hart Lane location to a new stadium development that would be built on the PA firm’s territory.

Edmonds and Yan Stile already had plans to relocate within the M25 region but the promise of a handsome reward from Spurs combined with the company’s merger with SSE Audio Group in August 2008 led to an even brighter conclusion.

Last September, SSE’s London business and the Canegreen element came together under one roof when they moved into a 6,000ft2 site in industrial Park Royal, north-west London.

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SERVICING OLDFIELD Somewhere in between leaving High Life in 1981 and the birth of Canegreen, Edmonds was kept busy with the formation of another business that would see him through to the present day.

Field Services was born in 1981 as a vehicle for Mike Oldfield’s touring career. “The ‘field’ in Oldfield gave it the name,” informs Edmonds.

“Mike didn’t have a manager; he lived like a recluse down in the Cotswolds but after we toured together for the first time in 1979, he decided he wanted to do more.

“He had recently immersed himself in the Exegesis self-development programme and come out of his shell. In 1981, Mike had just enjoyed a hit album with QE2 and was raring to go, so as production manager, I put a big show together for him with a big band and a choir, and we hit the road that March for five months solid.

“I was running Field Services from office space at Britannia Row [as well as the fledgling Canegreen] and it felt like the centre of the universe because Mark Fisher and Jonathan Park were based there, Pink Floyd had the studio and the warehouse full of their immense sound and lighting kit with Robbie Williams and Bryan Grant looking after the rental side.”

After the Oldfield ’81 tour, Edmonds began to extend the hand of experience to a wide range of artists, starting with George Benson who took an in-the-round show around the arena circuit. “His revolving stage broke so I had to put 24 Stage Miracles guys on it to manually turn the thing!” he laughs.

Tours and one-offs with Stevie Wonder, Chris de Burgh, David Bowie, Phil Collins, Genesis, Randy Crawford, Michael Jackson, The Beach Boys, Barry Manilow, Billy Ocean, Rush, Barry White, Luther Vandross., Donna Summer and Prince would follow, several of which saw Edmonds in a site management role.

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in 1989 when he looked after Pink Floyd’s free concert in Venice — an event clouded by protests by those who feared that the city’s foundations might be damaged by loud sound.

Edmonds recalls: “The stage was built on a big barge over three weeks and placed in the middle of the lagoon in order to prevent the effects of resonance that might put the buildings in St. Mark’s Square at risk. The mix position was on an oil rig platform!

“We had a very good guy from the local council who acted as the liaison. I don’t the city were that keen on the show but Floyd’s manager Steve O’Rourke wanted to push this through.

“After the show I fell off the barge and tore my hand apart. “But they’ve got a great hospital in Venice. They stitched me together very nicely!”

KNEBWORTH ’90 Edmonds had worked with Mike Oldfield and Meat Loaf at major Knebworth events in the past, but it was a completely different scale of involvement when he was asked to be the production director of the all-star NordoffRobbins Silver Clef Award Winners Concert in those hallowed grounds on June 30 1990.

Starring Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Dire Straits, Eric Clapton, Cliff Richard & The Shadows, Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, Elton John, Genesis, Status Quo and Tears For Fears, this was arguably the strongest line-up of any UK concert since Live Aid. “It was a fantastic day of one brilliant performance after another,” he smiles. “Andrew Miller organised the event on behalf of NordoffRobbins and it was a tall order to put it all together. Having said that, all the artists were very supportive especially once they saw we were looking after the production to a high standard.

“I had Mark Fisher and Jonathan Park to do the design, Britannia Row did the PA and LSD as they then were did the lighting. We used a rotating stage with three sections — one for set-up, one for the performing band and the other for striking.

“Knebworth is quite distinctive as a green field site. The Cobbold family who own it are great to work with, very encouraging people.

And I had the pleasure of working there again in 1996 with Oasis when I site managed their two concerts in the park for MCP and SJM when we had 125,000 people each day.

“They were also great shows but, as ever at Knebworth, the recurring problem is the A1, the main road leading to the site, which can clog up and be a real problem for incoming traffic. It’s

Above (from top): Edmonds’ clients have included Phil Collins, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd (in Venice), Knebworth 1990 and Net Aid at Wembley Stadium, 1999, whose bill featured David Bowie.

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47 Above: The Elvis Presley In Concert show; Edmonds with the Elvis show’s producer, Stig Edgren and principal crew Greg Hamm (LD) and Dave Zammitt (FOH engineer). Below: Fender’s 50th anniversary Strat Pack concert at Wembley Arena in 2004 was another of Edmonds’ high profile events and he continues to work on Stevie Wonder’s tours.

even worse for people driving home who have to endure a painfully long wait to get out of the car park.”

RESURRECTING THE KING Since 1999, Edmonds (as PM) has worked with producer Stig Edgren of L.A.-based SEG Events to create put the Elvis Presley In Concert show on the road around the world. The production reunites former Elvis band mates live on stage, including guitarist James Burton and conductor Joe Guercio, with a large screen video projections of the late, great King of Rock’n’Roll.

SEG Events’ team edited together film of Elvis’ finest concerts of the early ’70s and removed virtually all sound from the footage except for Elvis’ vocal (which includes song introductions). The on-stage band and orchestra play live in sync to the playback vocal, and the result is quite astonishing especially for firsttimers.

“If you think about it,” says Edmonds, “a lot of people spend most of their time at a gig looking at the I-Mag on the screens, so it doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to believe you’re at a real Elvis concert.

“I’ve worked with Stig since 1983 when we did Barry Manilow at Blenheim Palace and he’s a very good friend. We’ll be doing another European tour of the Elvis show next year so it’s still as popular as ever.”

EVOLUTION Over the 40 years of Edmonds’ activity in the live world, he has seen it grow from its loose, informal beginnings to the accountant/lawyer-driven machine that it is today.

“Technology-wise,” he says, “the line array has made such a phenomenal difference to the way audiences enjoy shows, and digital mixing consoles have obviously been revolutionary.

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“It’s kept me from doing a proper job all my life!”

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“Similarly the introduction of the Vari*Lite, through Genesis, just took concerts to a completely new level. I worked on the very first UK concert that used V*Ls and was knocked out by what I was seeing.

“But they were very unreliable in the beginning.

You had to take a back-up unit for every one you used, which meant you’d be carrying huge amounts of gear.

“Unfortunately, tour routing can still sometimes be as hellish as it was in the ’70s. A two-day journey from Helsinki to Madrid comes to mind!”

There will also, of course, be anecdotes about life on the bus and Edmonds doesn’t disappoint. “I was on a Stevie Wonder tour and on the way to Paris we stopped for a break. Unbeknownst to me, when we set off again, our rigger Andy Bacon hadn’t returned to the bus. He’d been left stranded without any shoes or socks or any form of ID. It was ages before we realised he wasn’t in his bunk.

“We later discovered that the police had arrested him for vagrancy and they called his mother.

Eventually the police got him to Paris just in time. The only way he knew which venue we were playing was by spotting a Redburn truck. Pure luck!”

WINDING DOWN Edmonds is now at the stage in life where he is gradually easing his way out of the rental company world.

“We’ve successfully made that transition between Canegreen and SSE,” he notes, “and the move to Park Royal has worked out very well for all concerned.

“But I can see that I’ll carry on with Field Services for as long as there are certain acts out there who want to tour. Most of them are mature artists but I’ve recently been working with The Wanted and Beyonce.

“It’s in my blood, there’s no denying that, and it’s kept me from doing a proper job all my life.”

Photos: Mark Cunningham, Mick Rock, Louise Stickland, courtesy of Peter Edmonds & SSE Audio Group. www.field-services.co.uk www.sseaudiogroup.com INPUT 09/2011

Above: Peter Edmonds today, and with the current SSE board of directors — Yan Stile, Emma Barwell, John Penn, Spencer Beard and Heather Penn.