Crushed Butler

Crushed Butler formed in 1969 with a line-up of Jesse Hector (guitar, lead vocals, songwriter), Alan Butler (bass guitar) and Darryl Read (drums, backing vocals, songwriter).[1] In 1967 Jesse Hector's (ex Jesse Hector And The Rock 'N' Roll Trio, The Cravats, and The Clique) original group, The Way Of Life broke up which lead to Hector forming the late mod group entitled The Mod Section in 1968. Around the same time in 1967, Darryl Read formed his first group The Orange Illusion with future Silverhead frontman, Michael Des Barres. Both Read and Des Barres were working actors who formed the band on campus at the Corona Theatre School (formerly Corona Academy) the same drama school which they both attended. Some months later after the Corona Academy Acting Director forces Darryl and Michael to disband The Orange Illusion, Read is asked by BBC Radio 1 & Radio Caroline host and disc jockey, Emperor Rosko to assemble a new band for his brother.

Darryl Read comes up with the name Crushed Butler unlike any of the other thirty band names he jots down, including (unused at the time) the band moniker, The Clash, which he deemed too corny! The band moniker chosen is an anagram of sorts: Alan's surname, Butler, Darryl's initials, D.R. end the words, and Ray Hector's ("Ray", the first name that Jesse was known by at this time) first and last name initials, R.H. are also imbedded. As well as SHED, named after The Chelsea Shed Boys (now known as The Chelsea Headhunters), who are a notorious English football hooligan firm linked to the London football club Chelsea.

Crushed Butler boasted a striking, heavily idiosyncratic, futuristic visual style. They dressed in hand-cut, slash neck, blood red T-shirts and straight legged, drainpipe, blue or black Levi's trousers with studded belts slung low on the hip. Jesse Hector had short cropped on top hair with massive mutton chops. Hector styled his hair with a skinhead at the back, mod on top, rockabilly sideburns, and a parting in the middle. Alan Butler had a crop cut centre parting hairdo and large sideburns. Darryl Read had a lion's shag of dark hair and continually sported a black leather vintage motorbike jacket, with a blue/white hooped T-shirt and Cuban heels. Altogether their image resembled bovver boys and they looked liked The Clash several years before The Clash formed, and Hector's voice sounded like John Lydon of Sex Pistols only in 1969. Overall the fully formed and modern image of Crushed Butler predated the British punk rock visual aesthetic of 1976 by seven years earlier.

They initially played cover versions of other band's songs such as Move It by Cliff Richard, Son of A Baker by Small Faces, and Keep On Chooglin by Creedence Clearwater Revival before writing and developing their own "fast, heavy, loud" highly aggressive yet innovative original material.[1] Crushed Butler's energetic and exhilarating live performances blew many a name top act off the stage with their unique brand of hooligan rock. Including Slade (who refused to go on after being upstaged by Crushed Butler), Mott the Hoople, UFO, Atomic Rooster, Third World War (band) Climax Blues Band, Freedom (band), Kevin Ayers, Osibisa, The Alan Bown Set (aka The Alan Bown!), and Balls (Birmingham "supergroup" featuring Trevor Burton from The Move and Denny Laine from The Moody Blues).

Crushed Butler played many gigs from the Lyceum to the Guildford Civic - they were futuristic, ahead of their time, and a group to be reckoned with. Graham Breslau, an East End of London market worker was the band's first manager/impresario with boxing trainer Gerald Horgan as co-manager and helping book live engagements. Tony Gohill a friend of the group takes the bombsite photos in Kilburn circa late 1969 (on his Kodak Instamatic 120 camera) of Jesse, Darryl, and Alan, which were used as publicity promo photos for the band.

The band auditioned and recorded for several record labels including a self financed demo to shop to potential interested record labels at Regent Sounds Studio, Denmark Street, London ("It's My Life" & "Let It Ring" aka "Waiting For You" recorded & produced by Neil Sedgwick in October 1969), first audition for EMI Records Ltd. at E.M.I. Demo Studios, E.M.I. House, Manchester Square, London ("Love Is All Around Me" & "Factory Grime" recorded & produced by Roger Ferris in January 1970), second audition for DJM Records aka Dick James Music at D.J.M. Recording Studios, West End, London (two songs recorded & produced by Harold Champagne in March 1970 that remain missing and unreleased as of 2021), and third audition for Decca Records at Decca Recording Studios, West Hampstead, London (four songs recorded & produced by Graham Breslau & Crushed Butler April 1970, including "My Son's Alive" & "Love Fighter" along with two additional songs of which still remain missing and unreleased as of 2021), but none of these 10 songs failed to secure a record deal for the group.

For their 1970 session at EMI Demo Studios, Manchester Square, London, they were only allowed to record their own "Factory Grime" original song after recording producer Roger Ferris' choice, "Love Is All Around Me", written by Roger Ferris and Gloria Macari. Roger Ferris saw the group's potential but failed to convince the heads of EMI to sign the band, who seven years later signed the Sex Pistols.[2][3]

Alan Butler played bass only on the first recording session at Regent Sound Studio in October 1969 before moving to become the groups driver/roadie. Stan Aldous (bassist from the progressive rock band, Aardvark(band)) appeared on the EMI recording session and played a few of the bands earliest gigs. After the EMI session, Stan Aldous gave his two weeks notice of his walking papers so an ad was placed in Melody Maker for a new bassist. Stuart McDonald (formerly with Krayon Angels and Killing Floor) was quickly drafted in as replacement bassist for a few live gigs only but was not able to commit to the band. Gerald Horgan found Barry Mitchell, who after his stint with Crushed Butler would serve as second bass player with Queen from August 1970 to January 1971, playing thirteen gigs with the band Queen.[4] Barry Mitchell was the same size as the rest of the band, his hair was startling blonde and spikey, not dissimilar to Paul Simonon of The Clash. He played a Gibson SG bass, creating a raw but powerful rhythm section with Darryl Read.

In autumn 1970, the band changed their name to Tiger, and the line-up also changed to include Arthur Anderson. Darryl Read specifically enlisted Arthur Anderson in the band because of his Glaswegian thug abilities, and also because he impressed the band with his aggressive bass style. Anderson cut his hair off and looked like a droog from A Clockwork Orange one year before the film was released in the UK. A friend of Darryl Read, David Palmer (Read and Palmer who both attended Corona Film School together) takes new black and white band photos for the group in late 1970, again in Kilburn, near Jesse Hector's mother's council house, as Hector wields bricks, Darryl sports braces, and Arthur sports Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars sneakers. As Tiger they were managed by Neil Christian of The Crusaders as the bands second manager. Neil Christian knew Dave Siddle at the new De Lane Lea studios in Wembley and got Tiger some free studio time as guinea pigs testing the new studio equipment. Tiger recorded five songs at De Lane Lea Studio in October 1970 that remain missing and unreleased as of 2021.

As the new year approaches Alan Butler returns to the band on bass guitar for the departed Anderson. In January 1971, the band record the first version of "High School Dropout" at a demo studio in Tooting. In March 1971, a second version of "High School Dropout" is recorded at Marquee Studios with Tony Taverner engineering the session. However, they still were unable to secure a record deal and the band split up in late spring 1971 when Read took up a job as a songwriter at Track Records.[1]

In summer 1971, Jesse Hector forms new band Helter Skelter with Gary Anderson on drums who previously played in the band Albert Monk. With Vic Allen drafted in on bass, Helter Skelter record three songs at Regent Sound Studio in Denmark Street (the first studio Crushed Butler recorded at back in October 1969). The three songs recorded include "I Need You", "Goodbye Baby", and "I Live In Style In Maida Vale". David Kassner, son of President Records owner David Kassner, produces the session. The session was deemed too aggressive for public consumption at the time in late 1971. However, a Helter Skelter single was released posthumously on President Records subsidiary, Sticky Records, six years later in 1977. Upon the departure of Vic Allen, Alan Butler joined Helter Skelter and the band played many gigs between 1972 and 1973. With a name change (suggested by Darryl Read) inspired by the song "Hammersmith Guerilla" by the political proto punk band, Third World War (who were the second British proto punk band after Crushed Butler), Hector and Butler went on to form The Hammersmith Gorillas in 1973, later to be shortened to The Gorillas in early 1976.

After his stint as drummer, backing vocalist, an co-songwriter in Crushed Butler, Darryl Read was employed by Chris Stamp at Track Records as a professional songwriter working with John "Speedy" Keen from Thunderclap Newman. Thunderclap Newman had a number one British hit three years earlier with Something In The Air. In early 1972, Read also formed a songwriting collaboration with Terry Stamp and Jim Avery from Third World War and a new group, "Stamp, Read 'n' Avery" was briefly touted but did not come to fruition. However, Darryl and Terry recorded Terry's song "Razor City" at Regent Sounds Studio in late 1972. Subsequently, the "Razor City" demo helped Stamp get a solo deal with A&M Records. In 1973, Read joined a new group named "Dizzy" (featuring Steve Forest, ex guitarist from glam band Silverhead) and in 1975, he formed "The Darryl Read Group". The Darryl Read Group (with Steve Forest on lead guitar and Charlie Harty on bass) recorded demos in 1975 and 1976 that lead to a publishing deal with Kenny Barker of Chappell & Co. (now known as Warner Chappell Music). On completion of recording the batch of demos Barker and Read proceeded to play them for Nick Mobbs at EMI Records, however were unsuccessful in securing a record deal. Later Read pursued a solo career, as well as working as an actor. Read's works included four albums Book Of The Dead (1989) and Beat Existentialist (1991) both with Terry Stamp from Third World War, Freshly Dug (1999) with and Bleeding Paradise (2007) both recorded with Ray Manzarek from The Doors. Read's last studio album was "All The Ghost's Of Rock 'N' Roll (2010) [5] Darryl Read was killed in a motorcycle accident in June 2013 in Thailand.

Crushed Butler's recordings were eventually posthumously released in 1998 by Dig The Fuzz Records on the Crushed Butler Uncrushed compilation album.[1]

• Crushed Butler at AllMusic