Why Alan White Hung Up When John Lennon Called

When Alan White was a fledgling teen drummer in England, some relations informed him that “someday you may be taking part in with the Beatles.”

He laughed, in accordance with reminiscence. However then their comment grew to become prophetic.

White — the longtime Sure drummer who died Thursday at dwelling in Seattle on the age of 72 — by no means truly performed with the Beatles however did document and carry out with two of them, John Lennon and George Harrison. And it was Lennon who vaulted White into a global highlight.

White had simply performed a gig together with his band Griffin on the Rasputin membership in London on Sept. 11, 1969, with Lennon and his spouse Yoko Ono within the viewers, discreetly sitting in the direction of the again. The following day Lennon was approached by organizers of the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, a competition happening Sept. 13 at Varsity Stadium, to fly over and carry out. He agreed.

After which he realized he needed to put collectively a band.

He referred to as some mates — Eric Clapton to play guitar, longtime Beatles good friend Klaus Voorman, who had designed the quilt for band’s Revolver album, to play bass. White, in the meantime, had made sufficient of an impression on the Rasputin gig for Lennon to right away consider the 20-year-old drummer to spherical issues out.

Unbelievable? Certainly — and White didn’t consider it on the time. “I hung up on him,” White, who was cooking dinner for a few of his bandmates on the home they shared, informed UCR some years in the past, remembering the telephone name. “I assumed somebody was taking part in a prank. John Lennon’s not going to name me” — a lot much less suggest taking part in a gig the following day, throughout the Atlantic, with a bunch that had by no means performed collectively earlier than.

Lennon satisfied White it was certainly him on a subsequent telephone name, and that the proposition was real. “What was I going to say? No, to a Beatle? I do not assume so,” recalled White, who needed to bail out of gig Griffin had scheduled for a similar evening. The following morning a limo picked the drummer up and took him to Heathrow airport the place, regardless of Lennon’s final minute reservations, the troupe — dubbed the Plastic Ono Band — boarded a Boeing 707 and rehearsed throughout the flight. White used the airplane seat for a package as they labored up some communal favorites similar to Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Sneakers,” Barrett Sturdy’s “Cash (That is What I Need)” and Larry Williams’ “Dizzy, Miss Lizzy,” which had all been a part of the Beatles repertoire.

Watch John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band (feat. Alan White) Performing on the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival Competition in 1969

“It was all a bit chaotic, and surreal,” White mentioned with amusing. “I am sitting there taking part in with a Beatle, and Eric, these very well-known individuals. I suppose as a result of I used to be so younger and perhaps slightly headstrong, it did not happen to me to be nervous. We simply form of hammered out the songs on the airplane and bought prepared for the gig.”

Voorman informed UCR that he felt for the younger drummer. “I imply, there’s poor Alan White. He did not know what instrument he’d be taking part in, what sort of drum package they’d have on stage. It was, how can I say, scary in a approach…It was enjoyable to play, sure, however we performed fallacious notes and performed the fallacious issues in songs. However all collectively it was enjoyable.”

As documented on the album Dwell Peace in Toronto, launched three months later, the efficiency was tentative however competent, pushed by a way of occasion greater than musical acumen. The troupe additionally performed the Beatles’ “Yer Blues” and Lennon’s solo singles “Give Peace a Likelihood” and “Chilly Turkey,” after which much less satisfyingly — at the least so far as the Toronto viewers was involved — Ono’s comparatively avant garde “Do not Fear Kyoko” and “John John (Let’s Hope For Peace).”

“I felt like we had been taking part in fairly good,” White mentioned, “nevertheless it grew to become a bit unusual when Yoko crawled right into a bag with a microphone and began making…noises. I wasn’t positive what to do, however Eric and Klaus had been like, ‘Play! Maintain taking part in!’ and we bought via it.”

The advert hoc efficiency was White’s entree to the Lennon/Ono universe, and for the following couple of years he performed on the one “Prompt Karma!” (piano in addition to drums) and the Think about album — together with the title monitor, “Gimme Some Reality” and “Jealous Man.” White additionally performed a “Dwell Jam” with Lennon at a UNICEF charity live performance Dec. 15, 1969 at London’s Lyceum Ballroom, which got here out on aspect three of 1972’s Some Time in New York Metropolis.

Watch John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band (feat. Alan White) Performing ‘Prompt Karma!’

With Harrison, in the meantime, White was a part of the corps that performed on All Issues Should Go and in addition to 1971’s The Radha Krsna Temple, an album of Hindu devotional songs produced by Harrison and launched on the Beatles’ Apple Data label.

“Working with these guys was nice,” mentioned White, who changed Invoice Bruford in Sure throughout the summer season of 1972. “On one hand, sure, they had been the Beatles. However — and once more, perhaps as a result of I used to be so younger and brash — I felt like I might play with them. They by no means made me really feel like they had been above me or something like that, and I by no means felt that approach myself. And I am very proud to have been on these information.”