New - Released digitally on 20th September 2022 and now available on Spotify, Itunes, Amazon etc.
Private Movie, featuring Alvin Lee on lead guitar.
The Flying Pigs was a three piece Rock Band which played around Pub Rock venues in London during the late seventies and eighties.
The band featured cult guitarist Mickey Jones from the legendary
Welsh band Man, ex-Alvin Lee bass player
Mick Hawksworth and myself, Phil Little, veteran of the
London pub circuit and Live Music Campaigner, on drums.
In 1981 Mick Hawksworth managed to get a day's recording in Alvin Lee's private studio which was attached to his home in Buckinghamshire. We rushed through five songs and while Micky was overdubbing the lead guitar, Mick and I went to the pub with Alvin's long time roadie, John. When we returned Micky had finished and Alvin had chipped in on Private Movie. Micky said, " Alvin came in and asked how it was going and I said, 'I can't think of anything to play on this, why don't you have a go'". To which, Alvin dashed off the blistering lead guitar you hear in one take. Private Movie is made available with the kind permission of Alvin's daughter, Jasmine, and the the good help of drummer Tom Compton who played with Alvin and Mick in Ten Years Later, before going on to join Johnny Winter for fourteen years.
The Flying Pigs Live CD
Track Listing
What In The World (Micky Jones) 5.04 - The Two Brewers 1980
This Time Round (Mick Hawksworth) 7.42 - The Two Brewers 1980
Jet Laggin’ (Micky Jones) - The Two Brewers 1980…..
and Breakin’ Up (Micky Jones) 13.52 - The Two Brewers 1980
Where Is The Song (Mick Hawksworth) 5.38 - The Royal Standard 1986
Back Together Again (Micky Jones) 5.44 - The Royal Standard 1986
Talk About A Mornin’ (Buzzy Linhart) 7.55 - The Royal Standard 1986
Livin’ In The Real World (Mick Hawksworth) 6.01 - The Royal Standard 1986
Psycho (Mick Hawksworth) 5.14 - The Royal Standard 1986
Breakin’ Up (Micky Jones) 5.40 - The Royal Standard 1986
Assylum (Micky Jones) 4.51 - The Royal Standard 1986
The Two Brewers
By 1981 The Flying Pigs were the house band at The Two Brewers in Clapham
Common and we had some memorable gigs there. For a short period we were blessed
with the amiable and affordable services of Peter Griffiths who brought his
large PA and mixed us. The recordings were taken straight from the desk and
on this occasion Peter was Psychedelically excited. You can hear this in the
mix of Breakin’ Up.
The recording of This Time Round was made the week before the other tracks
and Peter went to town experimenting with Pyrotechnics. Whatever he set off
filled the pub with choking smoke and onstage I couldn’t see Mick Hawksworth
who was five feet away. We had to stop playing for five minutes and open all
the doors and windows in the pub until the air cleared.
The guitar solo features an early monophonic Roland synthesizer which belonged
to Mick Hawksworth. It was incredibly difficult to control when used with
a guitar audio
feed. However, Micky found a way and played some amazing solos.
There were occasions when it played up though and this is one.
In those days Wales were quite dominant in Rugby Union, but on the day of
the gig England had beaten them and this was the background for the remarks
before Breakin’ Up.
Micky Jones was the most easy-going laid back guy I have ever met and Mick
Hawksworth was completely bonkers so every event was like a Circus back then,
you never knew what was coming next and we had so many laughs.
When we recorded the drum tracks for Assylum and Last Birthday Party Peter
brought along loads of microphones and as he was bent over unpacking them
Mick Hawksworth appeared with a Starting Pistol and fired it next to his behind.
It was as loud as a real gun and I’ve never seen anyone jump so fast.
Come to think of it, that was the last time I saw Peter.
The Royal Standard
In 1983 Man reformed to play the Reading Festival and that signaled the end
of the first phase of the Flying Pigs. However, by 1986 things had calmed
down somewhat and Micky had moved to Gloucestershire. Mick Hawksworth arranged
a one-off gig in Hastings and it was so much fun that we started doing mini-tours
of the London area lasting about eight days.
One of the first gigs was at The Black Horse in Walthamstow supporting Steve
Marriot and we had his dedicated crowd in full attendance. Micky played and
sang the set with real passion and won the crowd over handsomely. Mick Hawksworth
owned a beat-up Cassette player/recorder with built-in mics and I would occasionally
persuade him to bring it to the gig so we could record it. On this occasion,
I placed the cassette recorder near the mixing desk and Keith Nelson, who
was the promoter and sound engineer, agreed to keep an eye on it. As the pub
filled up there were people stood around the desk and some conversation can
be heard on the recordings. It is amusing, however, when they are trying to
work out who is playing what in the breakdown of Livin’ In The Real
World.
Their analysis might have been confused by the fact Mick Hawksworth also had
bass pedals and Micky was playing his solo through the Rolannd Synth.
The Flying Pigs played support to Steve Marriot several more times at The
Royal Standard and we became good friends. On one occasion, while we were
playing, I spotted Steve at the side of the stage watching Micky and afterward
I asked him, “Why didn’t you get up for a blow with us ?”
and he replied “Because you never f*****n’ asked me !”.
Phil Little 2020
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Hello
Right then - you can see from the photos the state my eyes were in forty years ago and I won't go into the rest, so please excuse the basic design of the website, errors, broken links and waffle. 'It is what it is' as the theatricals like to say. I believe it will be a bit more useful for me to spend the time trying to find some more audio tracks to include .
We just released The Flying Pigs CD which is taken from impromptu casette recordings that I snaffled up all those years ago. The quality is not studio and their significant interest might be limited to Micky Jones fans. If you want to hear Micky really let go in a three piece then this might be your thing. Here is one of the tracks on the Flying Pigs LIve CD.
In the Autumn of 1979 Mick Hawksworth approached me about forming a band and
I was quite flattered because he was well known in the South London circle of
musicians and had played with Alvin Lee. Mick had also played with Andromeda
who I had heard on John Peel's Top Gear in app. 1970. They were really spacy,
moreso than Pink Floyd in a way, and I really liked them. Andromeda recorded
an album on which Mick wrote a lot of the material but I have never been able
to find it anywhere. Mick also recorded an album with a group called Fuzzy Duck,
on which he wrote several songs.. I don't recall knowing of them, but theirs
is now one of the most valuable progressive vinyl albums available in the collectors
market and Fuzzy Duck enjoy something of a cult status.
Mick and myself held some unproductive auditions although it nearly clicked
with a guy called Mike King and an ex-Manfred Mann's Earth Band guitarist, Dave
Flett. They were both funny guys and very good players but Mike King was hilarious,
a complete nutter. I remember the climax ending of one song we played and on
the last big note he swung the arm of the guitar up. He was a big guy and the
head of the guitar went through the false ceiling. He pulled the guitar out
minus a machine-head. Hawksworth and myself fell about laughing and were unable
to continue playing.
Then Mick Hawksworth suggested phoning ex-Man guitarist Mickey Jones who had
been playing in London pubs with his own three-piece called Manipulator. Mickey
came down to the pokey eight-track studio just up the road from Mick’s
flat in East Dulwich and the three of us clicked instantly. We started rehearsing
in my cellar at home and within a couple of weeks we were playing in a few different
pubs in South London. The Clock in Brixton and The Old Cherry Tree in East Dulwich and The George Canning in Brixton come to mind.
An early gig at The George Canning 1979
Sometimes Steve Waller (another ex-Manfred Mann guitarist
with the voice of a Righteous Brother) would join us and the pub would be packed
to see Waller and Mickey Jones playing together. Two fabulous singers, both
lead guitarists with major original progressive bands of the seventies. One Sunday afternoon we were playin at The Cricketers in The Oval and Steve Waller was playing with us but arrived during the second number. I remember vividly, he just got on stage plugged his amplifer and guitar in and with out even tunin up added the most beautiful bit of slide accompaniment which lifted the whole pub up about two feet. Writing this and recovering the memories reminds me how fortunate I was to play with such great musicians and beautiful people as Mickey, Mick and Steve.
Very early on we recorded two or three tracks at the small studio near to Mick’s
house and these appear on The Flying Pigs CD, although they werte only ever intended to be quick deoms to get some gigs in.
We were keen to get into a quality Studio and see what we could do.
Mick knew Pete Ker who had produced The Motors’ “Airport”
hit single and was a co-founder of the now legendary Pathway Studios. He had expressed an interest in producing us and Mick had inveigled
a day in Alvin Lee’s private studio on his farm in Buckinghamshire. We
put down the backings for five or six tracks and Mick Hawksworth and I went
to the pub with Alvin’s roadies. When we returned a bit later Alvin had
put an intro and Lead Guitar solo on one of Mick’s tracks, “Private
Movie”. Mickey said, “He came into the studio and I didn’t
have any ideas what to do on the track so I asked him if he fancied playing
the lead guitar and he plugged in and played it straight away.”
The story goes that Pete Ker took the finished tapes to the States and almost
had a deal with a Major Record Company there when, at the last minute, some
sequence of events or other conspired to dash the plans.
These times were difficult for Rock and Blues bands on the London Pub circuit.
Punk/New Wave/Romantics had really established itself and many venues were switching to New Wave
music in order to attract the youth.
The Flying Pigs played a few Tuesdays at a big pub in Clapham Common called
The Two Brewers. We were pulling a crowd and within a year we were a regular
Saturday night band at The Brewers. That was until a now well known Radio DJ
gradually took over the venue and concentrated on Punk and new Wave bands. He
turned us down for a gig, when a year earlier we had been the pub’s main
draw.
Although all the big pubs were going New Wave, Mick Hawksworth knew his way
around and there was always two or three gigs a week in the smaller pubs which
would still be full because a lot of people always showed anywhere Micky played.
Also, a lot of the other musicians in South London would come to Flying Pigs
gigs and jam sessions were the norm with musicians like Steve Waller, Steve
Smith and Brendan Hoban joining in. For a while Mick Hawksworth ran a Tuesday
night Jam at The Mitre ( later The Tunnel) in Greenwich under the name Corporal
Henshaws, among other things,and both Mickey and myself played in that at various
times. Other guitarists like Brian Garibaldi and Jimmy Roach were often up with
us. It was a great community spirit between the musicians in the area at the
time.
I suppose the biggest gig we did was The Stonehenge Festival in 1983 or 1984,
to about 11,000 people. Unfortunately it ended in a bit of a disappointment
when the guy who introduced us walked off the stage dragging Mickey’s
Echoplex unit with him. Certain delay effects were built into our sound and
routine and it didn’t sound the same. Micky is a trooper though and played
a brilliant set.
The Flying Pigs worked less after Man reformed and Mickey moved to the West
Country. From 1986/7 Mickey used to travel to London and The Flying Pigs did
mini tours of London playing at places like Walthamstow’s The Royal Standard,
The Plough in Stockwell, The Half Moon in Herne Hill, The Cartoon in Croydon,
The Mitre in Greenwich and occasional gigs in Hastings and The South.
At the Royal Standard we often played with Steve Marriott whom we became great
friends with. He used to watch Mickey play from the side of the stage. He told
me a story about once having to pull Jimi Hendrix off his girlfriend at a party
in his flat. A lovely man and one of the best soul singers ever from the UK.
The last time I saw him he was watching us and when we came off I said “Why
didn’t you get up and do a number with us?”, “You never f*****g
asked me did you?” was his reply.I am sure he would have loved to get
up and have a blow with Mickey and I suppose we thought he'd never have got
up if we had asked him.
In 1990 I moved away from London to the South Coast and Mick Hawksworth evolved
a different line up of The Flying Pigs. Both Man with Mickey and The Flying Pigs with Mick came to play gigs in Hastings that I arranged under our event banner "Liaison".
I am very pleased that the recordings we made so long ago are being made available
and not going to waste. We thought that they stood up for themselves and it
is good that people will be able to hear them at long last.
R.I.P. Mickey Jones
Phil Little
10th March 2010
It has been some months since Mick Hawksworth's funeral on 17th February 2017 and it has been a long haul, let's say. I would ring up Mick late at night on an almost monthly basis for years, especially after Mickey died when we would re-call his great talents and what times we had playing with him. Now there's nobody to ring up and I miss these guys like you would miss your head. They were such brilliant people as many people testified on their sad passing.
Love
Phil
20th May 2017
Every year Mickey Jones' son, George, organises a Memorial Benefit fo Mickey at Christmas time. The first one was in 2010, the year that Mickey died and George Jones and Richie Galloni from Son Of Man joined Mick Hawksworth and myself to open the second night of first Mickey Jones Memorial Gig (Available on DVD) as The Flying Pigs. Mick and I hadn't played the numbers for twenty five years and George and Richie had to learn them as well as a heap of other songs and despite that they managed to turn out an electrifying performance of Mickey's song Back Together Again. George has kindly given permission to share it, here .
The Recording Sessions available as The Flying Pigs CD
session 1 Dulwich - Recorded in a budget Eight track studio near to Mick Hawksworth's home. We did this session within the first few weeks of getting together since we needed some kind of tape to get gigs. It was the same place we auditioned and first played with Mickey.
Jet Laggin' by Mickey Jones
On The Street by Mick Hawksworth
session 2 Alvin Lee's - All done in a day at Alvin's luxury Sixteen track studio on his farm in Buckinghamshire. Pete Ker (Pathway Studios) produced and mixed. Alvin Lee plays lead guitar on Private Movie.
Back Together Again by Mickey Jones
Breaking Up by Mickey Jones
Psycho by Mick Hawksworth
What In The World by Mickey Jones
Private Movie by Mick Hawksworth
session 3 Drums Recorded in Mick Hawkworth's bedroom and the rest at Pete Ker's (Pathway Studios) on a different day. Pete Griffiths loaned loads of mikes for the drum tracks and while he was bending over to get them out Mick let off a starting pistol behind him. Pete jumped about ten feet. Fine way to treat a sound engineer. Assylum by Mickey Jones
Last Birthday Party by Mickey Jones
Against The Crowd by Mick Hawksworth
The Flying Pigs studio album will be re-released on Light From Darkness Records with bonus tracks of previously unreleased studio versions of some of Micky's best songs. (Phil Little March 2020)
Here are some links to webpages featuring Mickey Jones,
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