Reply With QuoteMeek was prolific, just today I was listening to a great record he was associated with - 'My white bicycle' by Tomorrow.
Renowned Death Hag
Murder and Death
Meek was obsessed with the occult and the idea of "the other side". He would set up tape machines in graveyards in a vain attempt to record voices from beyond the grave, in one instance capturing the meows of a cat he claimed was speaking in human tones, asking for help. In particular, he had an obsession with Buddy Holly (claiming the late American rocker had communicated with him in dreams) and other dead rock and roll musicians.
His professional efforts were often hindered by his paranoia (Meek was convinced that Decca Records would put hidden microphones behind his wallpaper in order to steal his ideas), drug use and attacks of rage or depression. Upon receiving an apparently innocent phone call from Phil Spector, Meek immediately accused Spector of stealing his ideas before hanging up angrily.
Meek's homosexuality - illegal in the UK at the time - put him under further pressure; he had been charged with "importuning for immoral purposes" in 1963 and was consequently subjected to blackmail. In January of 1967, police in Tattingstone, Suffolk, discovered a suitcase containing the mutilated body of Bernard Oliver, an alleged rent boy who had previously associated with Meek. According to some accounts, Meek became concerned that he would be implicated in the murder investigation when the Metropolitan police stated that they would be interviewing all known homosexuals in the city.
In the meantime, the hits had dried up and as Meek's financial position became increasingly desperate, his depression deepened. On February 3, 1967, the eighth anniversary of Buddy Holly's death, Meek killed his landlady Violet Shenton and then himself with a single barreled shotgun that he had confiscated from his protegé, former Tornados bassist and solo star Heinz Burt at his Holloway Road home/studio. Meek had flown into a rage and taken the gun from Burt when he informed Meek that he used it while on tour to shoot birds. Meek had kept the gun under his bed, along with some cartridges. As the shotgun had been registered to Burt, he was questioned intensively by police, before being eliminated from their enquiries.
Meek was subsequently buried in plot 99 at Newent Cemetery in Newent, Gloucestershire. His black granite tombstone can be found near the middle of the cemetery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Meek
Meek was prolific, just today I was listening to a great record he was associated with - 'My white bicycle' by Tomorrow.
Renowned Death Hag
Wow, I LOVE the band Tomorrow...I have that track on the Nuggets 60's compilation. They even played a few gigs with Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd and The Soft Machine. Great song!...it's about the White Bicycles in Amsterdam...
Originally Posted by Vladpyre
Last edited by Seagorath; 10-03-2008 at 11:06 AM.
Renowned Death Hag
What a bizarre story! I don't think I've ever heard of him. I love stories like this!
Renowned Death Hag
Another tortured genius. The guy was way ahead of his time. Sad life.
Joe wrote and produced "Telstar" by The Tornadoes. Give it a listen...pretty "out there" for 1962!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAQYxqBxJjQ
Renowned Death Hag
Very ahead of his time. He also made some great preamps, channel strips and EQs. You can buy new versions of his equipment.
http://www.joemeek.com/
Renowned Death Hag
Whoa, I'd never heard of this. Thanks for posting it, Sea. I will file this away in my demented little mind.
Renowned Death Hag
Found a pic of him!
Renowned Death Hag
Renowned Death Hag
I have read his biography...He was apparently very paranoid due to the use of speed, and he believed he was possessed by Aleister Crowley. He was a real nutjob.
Renowned Death Hag
Meek was indeed quite paranoid.
Renowned Death Hag
He probably wasn't the only one possessed by Crowley.
Senior Death Hag
I must thank Seagorath for this thread as it gave me a bit of an epiphany.
One of my favorite bands is a UK outfit called Swing Out Sister. On their 1997 release, "Shapes and Patterns," there is a short instrumental track called 'Joe Meeks Cat.' All these years I thought the brief tune must have been a reference to a feline who hung round the studio at the time the album was recorded.
Now, I know that isn't the case at all. Fascinating...
Death Hag
Longtime fan of SOS. I was on my way to fulfill a decades-old dream of seeing them live for the first time, when that volcano erupted in Iceland and shut down European air travel to the US "indefinitely".SOS cancelled their N. American tour and haven't rescheduled since.
Obviously the unquiet spirit of Joe Meeks at work.
Renowned Death Hag
Never knew that was a Meek's song. Great song!
Cindy
Death Hag
Very Interesting Seagorath - I think I have heard of him but didn't know any background - excellent post.
Renowned Death Hag
Swing Out Sister!
Twilight World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy3MS...eature=related
Breakout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANEx_6mbC2M
Death Hag
Happy Birthday Joe Meek! He would have been 81.
Thank you for this thread Seagorath. Meek was truly innovative-a groundbreaker in terms of music producing.
The coroner left an open verdict with regards to his & Violet Shentons' deaths.
I have my own views about it. I certainly don't think he deliberately killed her.
Trouble was, there was only one witness. However the dead can talk-given the advances now in forensics etc. I would love to see this case reopened.
The book by John Repsch is worth a read to-Joe Meek Telstar Man. The one thing I would like to see are the autopsy reports. It's just that to me. a few things do not add up.
Finally, I can thoroughly recommend Telstar the movie-Con O Neil is brillaint as Meek!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4UAgR_ds2w
Last edited by Alice_Layne; 04-05-2011 at 03:57 PM. Reason: repost link
Renowned Death Hag
still have my 45 of telstar i acquired when i was 9. i know the pain of tragic hipness.
Knowlege Comes With Deaths release
Heaven's on the pillow,it's Silence competes with Hell
"If you don't go to other peoples' funerals,they won't come to yours."-Yogi Berra
Senior Death Hag
There's a good documentary about him called "The Strange Story Of Joe Meek", I downloaded it some years ago but I think it's also available on You Tube.
Death Hag
Fantastic! Sadly , that's a pain my parents have never known!!
Death Hag
Thanks for the heads-up. I will have to go hunting for it. Is that the BBC one? I read there was quite a long doc made about him.
Senior Death Hag
Yeah the one I have is the UK BBC Arena one from 1991. The recently made long one "A Life In The Death Of Joe Meek" I haven't seen yet.
Death Hag
Death Hag
Oh right, thanks. Thats' 2 I'll be hunting for then!
Senior Death Hag
Good luck with obtaining them madam.
Last edited by BillySmartsC; 04-06-2011 at 12:45 PM.
Senior Death Hag
Oh dear, the next time, copy your text to clipboard, as a friendly suggestion
Death Hag
Thanks..Why didn't I think of that?Oh dear, the next time, copy your text to clipboard, as a friendly suggestion
Death Hag
For anyone who dosen't know much about Joe Meek, I thought I'd post this:
***On Feb2 1967, Patrick Pink-Joe Meeks' 19 yr old assistant could see that Meek wasn't right at all. He describes Meek as not speaking all day-only writing notes as he was convinced his studio was bugged.
In the evening, they worked on a recording session-Meek making Pink do the song over & over.
At midnite, Pink went to bed.*******
Now, when Telstar the movie came out in 2010, Pink or Robbie Duke as I believe he is known now-wrote an open letter of complaint to both the producer and the director, Nick Moran. In particular, he didn't like a scene where Pink holds a gun to defend Meek from a fight with Heinz Burt.
Pink/Duke maintains that it never happened...that he didn't know of the gun's existence...he was worried that people would think if he knew about the gun, then he could've prevented what happened in the end.
Odd thing is though that John Repschs' book has a prologue, 4 pages long, directly quoting from recordings of Pink himself. The whole thing is Pink speaking of the last 24 hours of Meeks' life.
In it he speaks of the following ***At some point, Meek goes upstairs and gets the single barelled shotgun that once belonged to his ex lover,Heinz Burt. It was used for bird shooting. Pink says Meek kept the gun under his bed. (so he did know of its existence). Meek told him thata he was taking the gun downstairs. Why? Pink says he thought no more of it!
Unbeknownst to Pink, Meek then called a friend to come round. It was Margaret, Richie Blackmores' wife.
She visited and describes Meek as running around the room, agitated, saying over & over 'Idon't understand it'
Last edited by Alice_Layne; 04-06-2011 at 05:17 PM. Reason: typo
Death Hag
**Margaret then said Meek was also writing things down but then ripping them up. Meek believed that someone would try to hypnotise him..to steal his ideas from his mind...that he had someone evil inside him & that he had an evil spirit living around him...that he was never alone.
Margaret noticed a painting that Meek had painted himself-the lady with the crying eyes-had been defaced. The colours ran..like someone had 'tried to put blood intothe painting' She said Meek repeated a comment he'd often made to her-that she reminded him of Lady Harris, Aleister Crowleys' girlfriend.
Meek asked her to leave-somthing he'd never done before.
The following morning, Pink found that Meek had been up all night, still working on the session.
Meek again wouldn't speak to Pink-only communicated by notes.
Meek then set fire to personal papers etc in a dustbin in the kitchen-as you do!
He then took another painting, and burnt it by holding it aginst an electric fire. Pink says he wanted to call a Dr Crispe but Meek didn't want him to.
Meek then went upstairs to finish Pinks' tape. He returned, gave Pink a note that read 'I'm going now. Goodbye' Again, Pink didn't think anything of this-which I find astonishing!
They had 2 visitors. When Pink went up to tell Meek, he saw Meeks' gun propped up in the control room. Meek wouldnt see the visitors.
Why didn't Pink, who knew these guys, ask them to get help?
Meek then asked to see Violet Shenton, the landlady. Why Pink got her and didn't make up an excuse I don't know.
He told Mrs Shenton that he didn't know why Meek wanted to see her & that Meek was 'in a bad mood again' Talk about understatement!
When Pink heard a bang, he says Mrs Shenton fell into his arms. She had been shot in the back. Pink describes her injuries as lots of holes, smoke coming from them plus blood of course.Poor woman.
He then saw Meek outside the control room, loading up the shotgun then killing himself with it.
This bit I dont get. How did he do that standing up and with nothing to prop the gun up with?
Pink describes Meeks' head as being like a 'burnt match' and lots of blood****
I must apologise for an earlier posting. I incorrectly stated that Meek had had an open verdict recorded by the coroner.
In fact, he directed the jury to find Meek guilty of muder/suicide, despite saying that he didnt understand it.
Repsch feels an open verdict would be fairier as no-one really knows what happened, I whole-heartedly concur.
I feel very sorry for both Mrs Shenton and Joe Meek. A man much tormented by his personal demons and undiagnosed mental illness.
Last edited by Alice_Layne; 04-06-2011 at 05:20 PM. Reason: additions made
Senior Death Hag
Yeah it's a shame he went bonkers. Great details there Alice.
Junior Death Hag
One other Meek-Buddy Holly connection.
In '58, when Buddy toured England (and made a HUGE impression over there, much more than he did over here in the US...including inspiring some young to-be-Beatles that they didn't need to have Elvis' movie star looks to be rock stars), Meek found him backstage at a show. Meek had somehow been psychically warned that Buddy would die in a crash. He tried to warn Buddy, but came across as a madman (which, in fact, he was).
My favorite Meek tune is "Have I the Right?" and maybe the best version I've heard is Alex Chilton and Teenage Fanclub doing it together live, circa '96 or so.
Senior Death Hag
Good post BB. I'm gonna have a look for that HATR cover as I like the Honeycombs original, plus I like Teenage Fanclub. Two TF tunes I really like are "Starsign" and "Radio".
Junior Death Hag
The only copy I have of that song (and the entire concert, which also includes covers of "Telstar," "Waltz Across Texas," and "Wooly Bully," as well as great Chilton tunes like "September Gurls") on my old MP3 player. I'll charge it back up this weekend and rip the show to my computer and get it uploaded for anyone who'd like it.
And Teenage Fanclub playing on SNL back when I was in junior high is the main moment (among a few) that inspired me to sing and play guitar....
Senior Death Hag
Great stuff. Telstar aswell eh. Would love to hear that show.
Death Hag
Hi BB, indeed, Meek did hold a seance and was told the date of Buddys' demise. He also contacted Buddys' record company to pass the message on.
Thing was, Buddy did indeed die on the date Meek was told-exactly one year later!
Death Hag
Thanks, managed to post all that without being logged out!
Junior Death Hag
Here's the Alex Chilton/Teenage Fanclub concert from 1996, including the two Joe Meek numbers:
http://www.mediafire.com/?njzzmmemznz
Junior Death Hag
Yeah, the message said Buddy would die Feb. 3. Not sure when in early '58 that Meek got the message, but Buddy wasn't in England to play until March, so Meek would've been predicting the following Feb. 3, 1959, which was indeed when Buddy died.
Not sure which show Meek tracked him down at. Buddy played a full month's worth of them that March (Feb. had been in Australia, and by the end of March he was back in the States). But that would've been a weird meeting, I bet.
I wonder if that date somehow subconsciously stuck in Buddy's mind, only to pop up as that little plane fought through the snowy Iowa sky and plowed into the ground....
Junior Death Hag
Meek went on to set up his own production company known as RGM Sound Ltd (later Meeksville Sound Ltd) with toy importer, Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks as his financial backer. He operated from his now-legendary home studio which he constructed at 304howlland road a three-floor flat above a leather-goods store.
Renowned Death Hag
Junior Death Hag
Are there recordings of any conversations, speech, talk of the "other side"? Specifically, of him, Buddy Holly, other musicians, artists? Is there more information that can prove or disprove his claims of being able to talk to the "other side"? This is very interesting from my perspective. This guy seemed to much more than depressed; more disturbed than what has been thought before. Even though he dabbled in the occult, I wonder about his state of mentality. Although, depression can make anyone go into a deep hole that is almost impossible to come out of and can really send someone over the deep edge. But still..I wonder...great article!!
Death Hag
I couldnt find any mention of him with the search function so here goes.
Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 Newent, Gloucestershire – 3 February 1967 in London) was a pioneering English record producer and songwriter.
Meek's other notable hit productions include "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O" and "Cumberland Gap" by Lonnie Donegan, "Johnny Remember Me" by John Leyton, "Just Like Eddie" by Heinz, "Angela Jones" by Michael Cox, "Have I the Right?" by The Honeycombs.
His commercial success as a producer was short-lived and Meek gradually sank into debt and depression. On 3 February 1967, using a shotgun owned by musician Heinz Burt, Meek murdered his landlady before shooting himself.
Meek developed an interest in electronics and performance art at a very early age, filling his parents' garden shed with begged and borrowed electronic components, building circuits, radios and what is believed to be the region's first working television. A stint in the Royal Air Force as a radar operator escalated his life-long interest in electronics and outer space. From 1953 he worked for the Midlands Electricity Board. He used the resources of the company to develop his interest in electronics and music production, including acquiring a disc cutter and producing his first record.
Meek went on to set up his own production company known as RGM Sound Ltd (later Meeksville Sound Ltd) with toy importer, Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks as his financial backer. He operated from his now-legendary home studio which he constructed at 304 Holloway Road, Islington, a three-floor flat above a leather-goods store.
(When his landlords, who lived downstairs, felt that the noise was too much, they would indicate so with a broom on the ceiling. Joe would signal his contempt by placing loudspeakers in the stairwell and turning up the volume.)
Meek was obsessed with the occult and the idea of "the other side". He would set up tape machines in graveyards in a vain attempt to record voices from beyond the grave, in one instance capturing the meows of a cat he claimed was speaking in human tones, asking for help. In particular, he had an obsession with Buddy Holly (claiming the late American rocker had communicated with him in dreams) and other dead rock and roll musicians.
His professional efforts were often hindered by his paranoia (Meek was convinced that Decca Records would put hidden microphones behind his wallpaper in order to steal his ideas), drug use and attacks of rage or depression. Upon receiving an apparently innocent phone call from Phil Spector, Meek immediately accused Spector of stealing his ideas before hanging up angrily.
Meek's homosexuality – illegal in the UK at the time – put him under further pressure; he had been convicted of "importuning for immoral purposes" in 1963 and fined £15: he was consequently subject to blackmail.In January 1967, police in Tattingstone, Suffolk, discovered a suitcase containing the mutilated body of Bernard Oliver. According to some accounts, Meek became concerned that he would be implicated in the murder investigation when the Metropolitan Police said they would be interviewing all known homosexual men in the city.
The hits had dried up and Meek's depression deepened as his financial position became increasingly desperate. French composer, Jean Ledrut, accused Joe Meek of plagiarism, claiming that the tune of "Telstar" had been copied from "La Marche d'Austerlitz", a piece from a score Ledrut had written for the 1960 film Austerlitz. This lawsuit meant Meek never received royalties from the record during his lifetime.
On 3 February 1967, the eighth anniversary of Buddy Holly's death, Meek killed his landlady Violet Shenton and then himself with a single barreled shotgun that he had confiscated from his protegé, former Tornados bassist and solo star Heinz Burt at his Holloway Road home/studio. Meek had flown into a rage and taken the gun from Burt when he informed Meek that he used it while on tour to shoot birds. Meek had kept the gun under his bed, along with some cartridges. As the shotgun had been registered to Burt, he was questioned intensively by police, before being eliminated from their enquiries.
Meek was subsequently buried at Cemetery lodge Newent, Gloucestershire. His black granite tombstone can be found near the middle of the cemetery.
He passed up the chance to work with the then unknown David Bowie, The Beatles (the latter he once described as "just another bunch of noise, copying other people's music") and Rod Stewart. John Repsch, in The Legendary Joe Meek recounts that upon hearing Stewart sing, Meek rushed into the studio, put his fingers in his ears and screamed until Stewart had left.
After the death of Joe Meek the thousands of recordings Meek hid at his studio remained unreleased and preserved by Cliff Cooper of The Millionaires. At the time of Joe's death in 1967, Mr. Cooper is said to have purchased all of Joe's recordings for £300. These recordings were called the "Tea Chest Tapes" among fans, as they were stored in a tea chest when Cooper took them out of his apartment. Alan Blackburn, former president of the Joe Meek Appreciation Society, is the only person known to the public who has listened to all these tapes, as he catalogued all of them in the mid-1980s.
Meek used to sit up all night in graveyards (as you do) with recording equipment in the hope of catching on sound the ghostly noises of the dead.
link to the Joe Meek society for more info.
http://www.rhis.co.uk/jmas/
GO FUCK A DUCK
Death Hag
Heres the first part of a BBC Arena doc about him,you can click onto the remaining 8 episodes.
GO FUCK A DUCK
Death Hag
I was introduced to his work in middle 2008 by a kiwi fellow I was friends with while living in Australia. Really like finding out about these unheard of people that come out of personal discovery and not the the commercial umbrella. Hopefully this thread introduces Joe Meek to people that hadn't heard of him in larger social circles prior.
But most like chaos, stopless, cool,
Without a chance, or spar,
Or even a report of land
To justify despair.
-Emily Dickinson
Renowned Death Hag
I think I'd feel a bit sorrier for this chap if he hadn't chosen to also take his hapless landlady along with him. Seems hypocritical--- get all bent up about his pal shooting BIRDS, but DO plug the landlady before you off yourself. Aside from (probably) nagging him about paying the rent, what did she do to deserve that? RIP, Ms. Shenton.
Death Hag
I'm sure she probably did something much worse then just "nagging him about paying the rent" but who knows. You're right about the part where she didn't deserve to get shot though.
But most like chaos, stopless, cool,
Without a chance, or spar,
Or even a report of land
To justify despair.
-Emily Dickinson
Senior Death Hag
Have a look at this page to see incredible pics of Joe from outside and inside the Holloway Road flat.
http://www.bubley.com/joemeek/
Death Hag
There is no point in bumping both of the threads with the same thing. This one should be deleted. The OP tried to use the search function he claimed, and failed. Now it's time to move on and delete this thread.
But most like chaos, stopless, cool,
Without a chance, or spar,
Or even a report of land
To justify despair.
-Emily Dickinson
Death Hag Extraordinaire
We don't delete, we merge.
You don't mess with friggin Dave Coulier click here to mess
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