O'halloran & Wright - the roadies
Don't Do THAT!
Cliff Wright, one of Marc's roadies talks with Mickey O'Halloran, Marc's Main-Man roadie, with questions by Mike Torry
MT: Cliff, when did you start with Marc?
I started in 1975. I'd left school and didn't know what to do, but I was into music, into The Who and I had a friend who knew the manager of T.Rex, Tony Howard. Marc was about to go on tour and I got the job as a 'gofer' - go for this, go for that
Do you remember the first time you met Marc?
Yeah, he kept trying to get me to say his name in a high voice! It seemed to go on for about half an hour, I'm sure it wasn't... everybody was cracking up. He said, "If you want to be my pal, everybody calls me 'Bole'." So I went “O.K. Bole” and he went "No, it's got to be (high pitch) Bole", so I went (high pitch) "Bole" and that was that!
I remember that I got the sack the first night! I went into the dressing room and was handed this imitation tiger-skin body suit and it was ringing wet... I was an angry young man at the time, 18 I think, and I went "I ain't messin' around with no poofs clothes!” threw a number and got 'tin-tacked' (sacked). I got talking to you and you said "don't do that son, do this..." So my image of rock 'n' roll went straight out the window, I thought it was all limousines, ladies... well, there were limousines but it was Marc driving away in them, we were in the back of the truck. So the thing that I got into doing was the guitars, which I happened to play a bit. It was great. I got sacked three times... do you remember when I wanted to throw the accountant through the window at 69 New Bond Street because he wouldn't up-us to £30 a week?
But it was a great situation. I was kept on a retainer, so even while you were ill I was paid and kept on, which was great for me. I used to run Marc around in the mini and pick people up, take Gloria to TV shows. He was good, he would say "I'm not using the car tonight, you can take it"... which was great
As a person he was as good as gold. Now I'm older... I'm older now than he was when he died, I can see that he was a bit of a desperate case because his career was on the slide when I started working for him. Then he was on his way back up and the worst happened
Were you ever a T.Rex fan?
No, I was a Who fan. I had the good fortune to meet Keith Moon one night, that was brilliant and the misfortune to meet Pete Townshend, who pinched my girlfriend's arse and made her cry. But I became friendly with his roadie, Alan Rogan. I learnt to play guitar because of Townshend and Clapton.... I used to play along to Clapton's records
Herbie on a Marc show
It was great, I did some good tours - France, Sweden where Herbie (Flowers) kicked me off the stage... it was a festival, a one-off gig and Herbie was wearing these, well they were the equivalent to Hob Nail boots, playing in his magical fashion. Marc had tangled his guitar lead up and I went out the front to sort it and the next thing I know is that I feel the weight of Herbie’s boot up me bum and I went off the stage, he was larking about as he always was. Herbie, Miller Anderson, The Man (Marc), Dino Dines, Tony Newman
But I was fortunate to work with Marc and Mickey here, and to learn the trade. I remember little Steve (roadie) said to me - "you'll be able to lift one of these one day" - and I thought 'flash basterd', he was picking-up a 4 x 12 speaker cabinet, amp, mains lead, guitar, guitar lead - and off he went! Nowadays if you’re the likes of Adamski... plug in a few toys and off you go.
MT: What about the Marc shows?
Yeah, that was an unbelievable year, 1977. The year that Marc died, my dad died and then you went...
O’H: What do you mean? I'm still here!
Cliff: No, I mean what happened to you. I felt as if my banister had gone.. I didn't know which way to go - you'd suffered a massive stroke and were very resilient and came through it. We were gutted, we were both close to tears at one occasion when it happened - we were actually in make-up, Marc was doing his make-up and we didn't know if you were going to live or die and it was horrendous. An Earth shattering blow to one and all because it was a close family by then. You'd been with Marc since the word 'go' and we'd all been sacked and fired and re-hired so many times... re- hired down to you
I was phoning the hospital almost all the time but Marc wouldn't go to the hospital, he was weird... he never went when Alphie (O'Leary - Marc's chauffeur and companion) was in. Hospitals have a funny effect on people
O'H: I heard from his mother and father that he didn't want to see me until I was better, which was nice
Cliff: When I came to see you I didn't recognise you, you'd had your head shaved
O'H: I was after a part in Ian Gillan’s band! (Reference to Gillan’s Bass Guitarist John McCoy)
Cliff: Well, when Mickey's accident happened we were all sort of left in the lurch because Tony (Howard) had just done a deal with Granada TV for a series of 6 shows and what Marc was going to do was have guest bands on that he chose, and it was great... true to form he actually got all the young bands on - he had Generation X, The Jam and all those sort of bands. Fond memories of that show
Once he decided that he wanted to look punk, so he got a T-shirt that he had and he asked me to cut it up, which I did, and he said "get a pint glass, put it in it, fill it with water, I want it to look wet"... so I did that. Then he finished a number, introduced the next band and came over so he could put this shirt on and he came up to me and was going to kiss me! Well fortunately I was taller and I was trying to duck 'n' dive and he was running around with his tongue hanging out... he was always hugging us - and I pulled away and he got me right on the gregory (peck = neck). I had this ringing wet T-shirt in one hand, his soaking jacket in the other and I was thinking 'what do I do, shall I knock him out, should I laugh or cry...' and I just said "here you are Marc, here's your T-shirt"
I ended up working for David Bowie for one day, that was interesting. Heroes had just come out and Herbie, a great bass player and Peter Dines, the keyboard player and David recorded it for the show up at Granada. Marc didn't actually get to play on it because he had got drunk... he was pretty miffed about that
The show they recorded was the last of the series... they played some rock 'n' roll number and the band were playing away in the background and Marc went to put his foot out, perhaps on the monitor, and went straight off the front of the stage. That was his last appearance on TV I believe
MT: How did you hear about Marc's accident?
I was phoned by Tony Howard, at first he thought it was someone else who'd died because I used to drive the mini... it's 7 O'clock in the morning and he tells me Marc was dead. I said I'd go down and make sure the house was alright because I could imagine that the fans would try and get whatever they could
So I got to the house, there's nobody there, locked all the doors and barred and chained them all up and then around 9 O'clock there's banging at the door. So I open the door - I've got it on the chain, and there's this big guy standing there... it's Richard, Gloria's brother, and he see's this skinny little punk and he's about to break down the door and I'm going "hold on, I'm Marc's roadie..."
I opened it up, he came in and proceeded to pour his heart out to me because he was following the car Marc and Gloria were in they went over the bridge, he thought everything was sweet and then it was all over...
M.O’H: That was it for a lot of us. I was still in hospital and the guy opposite me said "have you heard the news? Your Guvner's dead". Can you imagine it, I've just come out of a major brain operation... I was still out of it. A couple of weeks or a few days later, I can't remember, I had a letter from the office saying - 'That's it... finished'
MT: Memories of the last tour?
Cliff: The Damned - they were brilliant! We used to have to cover T.Rex's back-line with dustbin liners, had to gaffer (tape) over the amps, keyboards, everything, because the punters would be gobbing at The Damned. That was the 'in' thing to do at the time
That was a shrewd move by Marc... I mean they were glad to be on the tour, but it was good for him because it brought him into the limelight with the kids... they would come for The Damned and stay for the T.Rex show
I remember West Runton Pavillion with The Damned, that's where Rat Scabies caught fire! They used to have this roadie called 'The Prof.' and they sent him out to get some more lighter fuel for the show, but he didn't because it was the last night of the tour... he gave Rat an old one that he'd gaffered up. Rat had squirted the stuff over the symbols, the drums, everything and set fire to it and kept on playing. But the tin had split and poured over Rats arms and he was going up in flames, he was playing away going "I've gotta get off!” trying to finish the song real quick. He dived off to the dressing room and put his arms in this little sink and was screaming "I'll kill him” - The Prof. got severely bashed after that!!
I recall Marc did an interview with Sally James and he told her that I Love To Boogie was recorded in L.A., it was really Stamford Hill, Decibel Studios... that was an interesting little conversation, pulling the wool over her eyes
O'H: Marc used to brag and we backed him up
Cliff: Well, he paid the wages... and it was all part of the hype – the baloney that goes with the macaroni
Memories... I remember that Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac was around for awhile. Marc had a green Fender Jaguar guitar, which was great and a huge collection of platform shoes, including a green pair and Peter Green was walking around in a parker (a green army coat) and Marc gave him this green Fender Jaguar guitar and the green glitter boots and said "Go out and do it Peter..". Peter was an amazing guitarist that was having a bad time and Marc tried to help him and put him back on his feet *
Marc was a good guitarist - don't know about lead... Herbie always used to say he was a good guitarist. As for writing, he used to just produce songs on a cassette and go "That's how it goes, learn it, add what you want but that's how the song goes" and they'd play it and they'd do it. They were a great band, Herbie, Dino and Miller - I don't know if they would've had more involvement in the writing if they'd stayed together, having got that first album together out of the way
Cliff Wright went on to work with, among others, Tears For Fears, Midge Ure, Thompson Twins, Heavy Metal Kids and The Psychedelic Furs
