Makin' the Scene

Season 1, Episode 3: On London music clubs in the 1960s

IT’S BEEN A busy month over here in Guy Stevens music world—and it only gets busier in April when I start a self-directed course on writing a first teleplay pilot through the Sundance Institute, just to get some guidance now that the original pilot script’s “beat sheet” veered away from one A story to a combo A/B story.

That’s not a problem. It’s an opportunity.

Meanwhile I’ve been reading music history books and scouring the internet for background material. Earlier in March stumbled across a wonderful blog post on early 1960s London music club by a musician from Leicester, UK, Kenny Wilson. I reached out to Kenny, who agreed to a half-hour Zoom interview a couple weeks ago.

You can listen to a snippet of our chat on the B(e)Sides podcast, but the following is a complete transcript of that interview (edited for length and clarity).

Enjoy!

Kenny Wilson on 1960s London Music Clubs

Mike Maupin: My buddy Simon and I are doing a podcast, and I was so happy to run into your blog—with all that wonderful, just wonderful, backstory on Soho in the ’60s. So if we had to pick three venues, which three would you pick?

Kenny Wilson: Well, I think—you're looking at the late ’60s. Obviously, the Marquee would be an important one, the Marquee Club, I would say. That’s an essential. And in ’68, ’69, definitely the Middle Earth Club. Have you heard of the Middle Earth Club? It was it was in a sort of railway, circular—called the Roundhouse. And it was like a big railway building, and it was a really important club in the late ’60s. I think it all boils down to those reasons. But that’s where Pink Floyd and various other important figures at the time used to perform. So, yeah, I’d definitely pick that.

MM: That was in Covent Garden, right?