In 1970 Sutch was signed to Atlantic who attempted to market him to an uncomprehending U.S. Some people even voted for him.īy the late sixties he had taken to riding around in a horse drawn chariot, his Savages outfitted in togas- “You’ve got to keep up with the times”, he told Nik Cohn. It was in politics that Sutch is best remembered in the U.K., always cutting a striking figure at election time, no publicity ploy beneath was beneath him. He would go on to run for PM in each election up until 1990, the Teenage Party evolving into the Raving Loony Party (in one memorable election he wanted to extend suffrage to animals). The same year Sutch stood for public office for the first time, running for Prime Minister on the Teenage Party whose main platform was lowering the voting age to twelve. In 1963 Sutch attempted to launch his own pirate radio station– Radio Sutch which would feature rock’n’roll records mixed in with such attractions as Mandy Rice-Davis doing dramatic readings from Lady Chatterly’s Lover but a falling out with his manager Reginald Calvert nixed the project (Calvert was later murdered by someone he swindled). His best early sides compiled on a bootleg called The Screaming Lord Sutch Story can be found here. If it was the only record he ever made, he’d have been remembered as a genius. His best was this 1965 re-make of the Johnny Burnette Trio’s first 45 (covering both sides in highly original arrangements that highlight the strengths of his band) Train Kept A Rollin’ b/w Honey Hush (CBS, UK). but some of the b-sides where quite good, original arrangements of rock’n’roll classics.Huey Smith’s Don’t You Just Know It and the Coaster’s I’m A Hog For You (both served as the flip side of Jack the Ripper in different pressings), Bye Bye Baby (flip of Dracula’s Daughter) are all credible, exciting rock’n’roll discs. He cut a string of novelty horror singles, most are fairly unlistenable– Dracula’s Daughter, Monster In Black Tights, She’s Fallen In Love With A Monster, etc. Quite a few future notables passed through Sutch’s group including Ritchie Blackmore (guitar star of Meek produced instrumental combo the Outlaws and later of Deep Purple), Jimmy Page, Keith Moon (briefly), and others. In 1961 he was discovered by Joe Meek who produced Sutch’s first two horror themed singles– Til The Following Night (HMV) and Jack The Ripper (Decca), the group now billed as Screaming Lord Sutch & his Savages. and in Hamburg where he was a good draw at the Star Club. He was soon packing ’em in all over the U.K. In this manner it took a while for audiences to realize he couldn’t sing two bars in the same key. He brought theatrics to rock’n’roll a good decade before Alice Cooper. His main calling card was a stage show inspired by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and old horror movies, that saw Sutch jumping out of a coffin, chasing semi-nude women around the stage with a meat cleaver, even doing a re-enactment of Jack The Ripper murders to illustrate the tune of he same name (see video clip above). Determined to forge a career in rock’n’roll he made his way to the 2i’s coffee bar in Soho, that incubator of all British pre-Beatles R&R talent (see Vince Taylor posting for more on the 2i’s scene) but was rejected and found a gig at a nearby biker joint called the Cannibal Pot, where he was soon fronting his own outfit– The Raving Savages whose original line up featured future session drummer Carlo Little and pianist Nicky Hopkins. He fell in love with rock’n’roll upon hearing Rock Around The Clock in 1956 (he dug Haley because he was the spitting image of his other hero– Winston Churchill). 10, 1940) was not of royal lineage and in fact grew up in the working class area of Kilburn, North London. He was certainly a photogenic little bugger though, no? Despite the claim on Wikipedia that he was “3rd Earl Of Harrow”, David Sutch (b. Hence, a minor fascination with that notable British rock’n’roll character Lord David Sutch aka Screaming Lord Sutch, proof positive that, sometimes, in the world of rock’n’roll having no talent is sometimes just not enough.
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