Children Of The Revolution


*The Few* is the second name of the band that will later become John's Children (they used to call themselves *Clockwork Onions*). The line up: Andy Ellison - vocals, Martin Sheller - harmonica, Geoff McClelland - guitar, Chris Dawset - bass, Chris Townson - drums. Soon Martin Sheller will decide to leave and Chris Dawset will switch to keyboards, enter John Hewlett.	Their next name is *the Silence*, deliberately inappropriate as they compensate for musical deficiencies by turning the volume up. [L-R] Chris Dawset (soon to quit to continue his studies and eventually become a Professor of Arts at Oxford), John Hewlett, Chris Townson, Andy Ellison and Geoff McClelland. The Big Break for the Silence comes in early 1966 when they sign a contract with Don Arden, the manager of The Small Faces... only to "neutralize us as a threat to the Small Faces".


*Simon Napier Bell*, a 27 year old manager of the Yardbirds, enjoyed his holiday in St. Tropez where he met John Hewlett, "a good looking young boy" who made him promise to come to see the Silence. John and Chris had just been let out of jail on bail. Simon fulfilled his promise and became their manager. "They were delightful people, intelligent, witty and fun to be with. Three of them were even good looking. In fact, the only trouble was that they were lousy musicians. In fact, none of them could play his instrument well enough to be called a musician."	The band's new manager, Simon Napier-Bell suggests that they rename themselves as *John's Children* to protect John Hewlett, the worst musician of them all. Simon also brings a new image - short hair, white suits and gold medallions - and a recording contract with Columbia, the Yardbirds' label.


John's Children's first single, *The Love I Thought I'd Found* (Smashed Blocked for the rest of the world)/Strange Affair, released in October 1966, was actually played by session musicians. Simon claims that he "gave them a few drinks before we started the take, then when they were all drunk I let them play through the number and sent them home. As soon as they had gone, I threw away their take and replaced it with the one by session men".	John's Children buy the *Bluesette*, a club at Leatherhead. The likes of Jimi Hendrix, Tomorrow and Cat Stevens all play there. The club soon "gained a reputation as the haunt of just about every villain in the town".


In the US, the single becomes a top ten hit in California and Florida, and White Whale label wants them to release an album. Simon decides to make a fake "live" album, takes the band to Advision Studios to play ten songs from their set and overdubs the screams from "A Hard Day's Night" soundtrack onto them. Entitled *Orgasm* ("no other word could adequately describe the frenzied hysteria that was worked up to by these four boys"), the album is to be released on March 18, 1967, but censors ban the record. American tour, planned for May, is cancelled too.	After the band's five-week engagement in Paris, John's Children release their second single, *Just What You Want - Just What You'll Get/But She's Mine*. This time, the guys are allowed to play on the B-side, but Simon replaces Geoff's solo, "this horrible scratchy little noise," as Andy puts it, with one by Jeff Beck. When the band learns that Kit Lambert, the manager of the Who, wants to sign John's Children to his new label Track on the condition that they replace Geoff, they sack him.


The band's new guitarist and songwriter, *Marc Bolan* joins them in March. He has never played an electric guitar before - Chris Townson believes that "the band actually got worse when Marc first joined, because all he did was stand there and make this muddy blurge."	Chris Townson: "I used to get the feeling that he wasn't completely at ease with the rest of us, he was quite happy to be with the band but he never wanted to join in anything. He wouldn't even hang around after gigs, which we all though was the most important part... he'd go and sit quietly in a corner and write strings of words on little bits of paper..."


In April, John's Children, famous for their outrageous live shows, go to Germany for a seven day tour with the Who. For them the tour ends just after three dates, when they make a complete riot in Ludwigshaven. The band manages to escape from riot police and a fire brigade but has no chance to resume the tour. Instead they appear on the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, playing as wildly as they can.


In May, a new single, *Desdemona* (written by Marc) backed with *Remember Thomas A-Beckett*, is released on Track label. Simon arranges advertisements in the press and a promo film to accompany the single. The press welcomes the new release but the BBC ban it because of the line "lift up your skirt and fly". Marc re-writes the line but the song never gets the exposure it deserved, even though pirate stations play it to death. About the B-side Simon comments in the press: "We decided to play safe and get right away from sex and drugs, and into a good healthy murder instead. It's about a guy who goes mad and starts playing funerals at the bottom of his garden".	As a follow-up John's Children record a Marc Bolan composition which, he will say later, " was an interesting song as I had it. When I rehearsed it, it didn't really work out. We did one take and it sounded good and it really felt tight but very raw. I thought that was it. I thought "Wow, we got a follow up - it's all over". I felt like it was going to be huge. Something like Zeppelin. It was, like, a lucky take. It was much better than we were. I went home and I heard it the next day, and it was a totally different thing. Simon had overdubbed all these oobee-doo's... And I heard it and I quit the next day. And people were so glad to get rid of me. They said "Ah Marc the f-- prima donna". I said "It's not going to work and I want to split". And I had nowhere to go, but they said "Yeah, great good-bye Marc".


In June, John's Children issue a remix of their previous B-side entitled Come and Play With Me In The Garden coupled with Marc's song Sarah Crazy Child. Their publicity campaign is aimed at proclaiming the band the prophets of Flower Power. To reach this goal, in July Simon published 25,000 posters of John, Andy and Chris with no clothes on except for occasional flowers. An appropriate film is shot to promote the band. It has no effect on the music critics which describe the single as "recorded suspended from crystal balloons".	Another publicity action is painting the house of an elderly couple, arranged by FAB-208 magazine. Simon sends the band on another German tour. After the tour John's Children release their final single, *Go-go Girl/Jagged Time Lapse*, another flop. To make the matters worse, all major concert promoters in England refused to book the band. During a small tour of West Country Village halls John's Children decide that there is no future for them and split.


*John's Hewlett* became a pop manager, working with Gallagher and Lyle, McGuiness Flint, the Jook and the Sparks. *Andy Ellison* continued his musical career with a few solo singles. After a long break, he re-joined forces with Chris Townson in a glam group Jet, which became the base for a punk band Radio Stars. *Simon Napier-Bell's* other big acts were Japan and Wham!	*Marc Bolan*...