Memories of The Bridge House E16 – Chris Thompson
Terry Murphy was (and still is) the owner of The Bridge House in the east end of London. Terry has a book out around Easter this year recalling
his time at The Bridge House where a number of major artists have played over the years. Here are his recollections of Chris Thompson's time playing there with Filty McNasty. Thanks to Terence Murphy To be a top hit record maker in the sixties, battling it out with the Beatles, Stones etc and continuing through until now you have got to be considered,
as an all time great - that is what Manfred Mann is, an all time Great musician and band leader.
I have not seen him for over 10 years, but you can bet he has not changed one little bit. Well like all of us a little older maybe. I met him for the first
time in the 70's at my pub the 'Bridge House' in Canning Town E16, where we put on gigs every night. He became a regular especially when he was
looking for new faces for his band. He discovered Steve Waller. Willie Finlayson, Matt Irvine, Stevie Lange, Dave Edwards, Allan Coates, Robbie
McKintosh and many more who would later play for him. And for this he and I have to thank Chris Thompson.
I was in my office above the pub, when the phone rang. "Hi, this is Manfred Mann's agent Neal Warnock, Chris Thompson the lead vocalist in the
band, would like to play some gigs at the Bridge House". I thought this has got to be a wind up, stars like him do not play pub gigs in the East End of
London. So I went along with it, "Oh yeah, I am a little busy at the moment, can you give me your number, I`ll ring you back, Okay?" Now I am
thinking, could it be true, I had spoken to a Chris Thompson a few weeks ago, he had came down to sing a few songs with a regular band of ours
called 'Screemer', who later changed their name to 'Zaine Griff', who`s real name was Glen Mickleson. Chris had said that he was playing here
soon. Now was this Manfred's vocalist or someone with the same name? So now I ring back, it is Manfred's agent. He tells me that Chris want to
keep his voice in tune, while he is off the road with Manfred (as I am talking I keep thinking great, but I will not be able to pay the fee he wants.) I
said "well he can have every Wednesday, (this was the quietest night of the week), what about his fee?" He said, "I will get Chris to call you sort it
out with him". I thought to my self, 'agents, feeling you out to see how much you will pay'. Anyway Chris rings the next day, I told him how pleased I
was that he wanted to play at our pub. I also told him that we did not charge on the door, so I would not be able to pay very much. He said "that's
okay, I do not want any money." I could not believe it, here is a guy, with 'Blinded By The Light" in the charts, who wants to play for no fee. I was at
this time paying £20.00 a gig, I was expecting him to ask for at least £100.00. He added rather than using rehearsal studios, he would rather pay me
to play a live gig. Now this really did sound like a wind up. But I went along with it.
We made all the arrangements, time of arrival, 2 x 45 minute sets, 15 minutes rest in between the 2 sets. I said "well I will pay for the P.A.", he said
"no I will fetch my own". Remember this was 1977 and a pint of lager would cost you 30 pence, today the average is £2.50, so the 30p is 8 times
dearer now. I said I will give you £30.00 a gig, (£240.00 at today's rate), he said give it to the band, okay Chris. He was probably paying them as well.
The agent, Neal Warnock had said that we could not advertise using Manfred's name, we could use Chris Thompson's name, but only inside the pub.
I was not allowed to say Manfred Mann's lead vocalist. So there was no advertising for the gig, apart from word of mouth.
So for me the big day arrives, I am introduced to Colin Barton, the P.A and sound man who is first to arrive with his crew. I had employed a few
more extra staff, expecting a very busy night. Chris and the band arrived early, set up had a rehearsal and sound check. I open up the pub at 7pm
and waited for the crowds to pour in, no such luck, it was not busy at all. The band Chris had formed (or found), had its own lead singer who
shared the songs with Chris and a lot of the songs were new and being tried out for the first time. They were terrible; it ended up a disaster of a
night. And they did not get any better until 4 weeks later. Chris brought his own friends in and took over all the vocals, we never saw the original
singer again. Chris had got his New Zealand mates Bill Kristian on bass and Mike Walker on keyboards to come over. Ron Telemacque was on
Drums. Within the next 2 weeks the Bridge House was half full and 1 month later almost packed. Geoff Whitehorn would arrive to play guitar and
the duels between him and Chris were great. It was our high noon with guitars. This proved to me that it's not the venues that pull the crowds, it's
the artists. The venue is very important; because the customers check out who is playing, and if they like what they read, they come down to see them.
That's what pubs like the Bridge House did best, Charlie Watts did the same when he played the Bridge House with his band 'Rocket 88', when he
was off the road with the 'Rolling Stones', built the crowd up. As did Paul Jones' 'Blues Band' who also had a old Manfred favourite Tom
McGuinness on guitar. Paul and Tom formed this band after a jam session at the Bridge House. They also played their first gig here with the 'Blues
Band'. New bands like 'Depeche Mode', 'Café Racers' (later 'Dire Straits'), 'Iron Maiden', 'The Look', 'Wasted Yout'h, even Punk bands like 'The Dammed' and 'Cockney Rejects' had to build the audience up.
Within the year Chris Thompson was an all time favourite, bringing other star names in. Stevie Lange joined him on vocals, Huey Lewis was always
there to play harp and sing (Huey would later audition for the Earth Band), as were members of 'The Eagles', 'Doobie Brothers', 'Taj Mahal' and
'Crawler'. It became the place to be. Chris Thompson had opened the door to pub rock and others followed.
The next big surprise was when Colin Barton, came up with the idea of recording the band live, he had spoken to Chris and he would, if I was up for
it, produce the album. I said "rather than record one band lets do a week of bands", so 'Live a Week at the Bridge E16' was born. We recorded 6
bands, Chris who had named his band, 'Filthy McNasty', 'Remus Down Boulevard', Gerry McAvoys Jam (Gerry was Rory Gallaghers bass player
and this band featured another MMEB future member, Steve Waller), 'Jackie Lynton', 'The Roll Ups' and 'The Sprinkler's, who we dropped. They had
won a TV show called 'New Faces', and were too busy to mix the tracks. Chris did a wonderful job producing the album, his recording of 'Filthy
McNasty', represent the only tracks he released under that name, so they are rarities. He later changed their name to 'Night' and they toured America where they had a top 20 hit with 'Hot Summer Nights".
Chris now lives in America, with his son Daniel who has a voice like his fathers, (well he can not be as good as that), he is also a keen Rugby
player. Chris comes to Europe for a few months of the year touring with a band called 'The SAS Band'. We have a link to his web site on ours
Chris Thompson is a not only a great Rock Star, he is a great man. We have kept in touch all this time and this Christmas 2006, he has just sent me a
pile of CD's including his very latest release - Time Line (Rediscovery). He is in New Zealand for the next month visiting his friends and family, he never forgets anyone, a true sign of greatness Best Regards
Terence Murphy (Terry)
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