McKenna Mendelson Mainline

How did you both feel about moving to England being the youngest musicians in the band?

Tony: For me, an adventure. I arrived Dec. 26th after the other members were there already. It was the first time I had ever spent Christmas away from my family and Christmas is a big deal in my family. Goes for a week. Quite a deal for a young Italian kid.

Mike H: McKenna was 22 at the time, and Mendelson 24. At 20 years old, I had the blind, arrogant confidence of the very young, so it wasn’t much of an issue for me.

Interestingly, your first gig in Europe was in the Netherlands at the Flights to Lowlands Paradise 2 concert in Utrecht. What do you remember about this gig?

Tony: We replaced Hendrix’ slot. It was said that he had sprained his ankle getting on a plane in N.Y. The gig was at a huge ‘cow palace’ type place with a dirt floor. Perfect for the ground grazing hippies of the time.

Mike H: Jimi Hendrix and the boys were supposed to be the headliners, and Mitch Mitchell had shown up at Gatwick to board the chartered DC3. Word came that Jimi was still in New York and would not be playing. As complete unknowns in the U.K., we were pretty much cold-shouldered by the other musicians, other than some hashish on the plane (but we, of course, didn’t inhale). We experienced great hospitality but incredibly awful food at someone’s home in Rotterdam. Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason came to the chartered bus door when we arrived at the concert site in Utrecht, but we had no idea who he was. Although our set was at 3:00 in the morning, it was to a packed house because we had somehow wound up with Hendrix’s time slot! The crowd’s silence when we were introduced as “MaKEEbah MENdelsin MEN-LEN!!!” morphed into deafening cheers after we played the first tune (McKenna has been known in the band as “McKeebah” to this day). On the opposite stage, the Pretty Things rudely made noise while we were trying to play; we and the audience ignored them. Later, part of the wing was knocked off the plane as we waited to board for the flight “home”. After an ad hoc repair, we flew over the Channel at what seemed to be no more than 25 feet above the water. The musician-passengers gave the pilot a round of the applause when we landed safely at Gatwick.

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You gigged quite extensively across England during the first six months of 1969. What sort of response did you receive from audiences?

Tony: Most of the times they went nuts…in a good way of course. There were a few duds too.

Mike H: It depended on the gig.  At some we were ignored; at others, the crowd went berserk. Some gigs were simply more suitable for what we had to offer than were others.

One of your biggest gigs in England was at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm on 27 April with White Trash, Third Ear and others.

Tony: It was a good one but not the biggest.

Mike H: I suppose that it was big in that it was a “name” gig. I was almost late for the gig, arriving no more than about a half hour before out set was to begin. Joe Mendelson was almost as furious at my lateness as he was at my nonchalance about it. We did go over well, perhaps in part because I rewarded a heckler by taking off my Fender® bass, laying it on the stage, then turning around, dropping my trousers, and mooning the fellow. The rest of the audience loved it.

You also played at the Marquee on 29 May with Howlin’ Wolf and The John Dummer Blues Band. That must have been quite a gig?