I used to live in Joe Meek's House

Рет қаралды 6,977

3 жыл бұрын

When I was at University, I used to live in Joe Meek's bedroom at 304 Holloway Road, London... at first, without having any idea.
At this place, Joe Meek recorded #1 worldwide hit records in his own studio, while his landlady downstairs would interrupt the takes for making too much noise... while Joe became famous in his lifetime, his tale does not end well, finally shooting his landlady fatally, before turning the gun on himself. All of this happened in a London where being gay in was still illegal and while he was struggling with money, prescription drugs, the ever changing nature of the music industry, and other psychological problems too.
I decided to make this movie as it's a pretty unbelievable story, and I hope Joe Meek's life and work will not be forgotten. I found using this that I am not good at reading a script, so it's pretty off the cuff, although edited heavily, of course.
If I have got a few factual things wrong, I would be happy to be corrected in the comments.
Made with an iPhone 8 and MacBook Pro in my own tiny house in Koenji, Tokyo, before having my own mini-breakdown and moving out. I might redo this with a better camera, and more experience, given the opportunity.
I'm not sure who Buzzer365 is, but I got the inside footage of 304 Holloway Road from his channel. He seems to be a big Joe Meek fan too.
Thanks for watching.
LINKS
Joe Meek Tea Chest Tapes Video by Cherry Red:
• Joe Meek’s Tea Chest T...
Geoff and Jay go up the A1:
• Geoff and Jay go up th...
Fidel Villeneuve (me) interviewed about living at 304 Holloway Road by Dazed
www.dazeddigital.com/music/ar...
A copy of The Telstar movie about Joe Meek is also on KZbin (for now), but I don't know if I should link to that or not, or if it's supposed to be there.
OTHER FIDEL 500 LINKS:
linktr.ee/Fidel500
#joemeek #304hollowayroad #telstar

Пікірлер: 82

@richardduddy2120 3 жыл бұрын

Nicely done. I'd say the flat was more dingey than eerie when you were there, but memorable. As far as my memory is concerned, you're associated with Joe Meek's, Holloway Road bars and Japan.

@richardduddy2120 3 жыл бұрын

..and the tuuuunnneeesss!

@Fidel_Villeneuve 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, it was very dark and also strangely cold as you got in the door. I forgot to mention when the kitchen/control room caught fire too.

@Fidel_Villeneuve 3 жыл бұрын

The dinginess was probably more down to student me living there though...

@harrypalmer3481 10 ай бұрын

Excellent job. This is a very nice & apt homage to Joe Meek. I also feel a little bit linked to Mr. Meek, I live about one minute’s walk from the Holloway Road & have looked up at 304 many times. I’ve also played music with older musician friends who know/knew & have played with some of Joe Meek's pool of musicians. I've been lucky enough to be introduced by them to Clem Cattini & Chas Hodges, & others on occasions, at places like The 100 Club, Oxford Street, several years ago now. My muscician friends also knew the late David, Screaming Lord Sutch & I got to play in a band with them at a couple of his birthday parties. He had a ton of stories, including about times with Joe Meek but unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to chat with him at length. He was friendly & warm but also strangely very shy. That's probably not strange at all, completely to be expected! Sadly David, Screaming Lord Sutch also took his own life. With your amusingly entertaining & informative (BBC would approve) video here, you are helping keep some of the great stories of people & music alive. I thank & salute you! 🤘

@Fidel_Villeneuve 10 ай бұрын

Wow, thanks for the comment and for watching the video! Glad what I did, entertained. Sadly, I don't think I've ever met anyone who recorded at the house. Perhaps the closest I got was seeing Screaming Lord Sutch on Record Breakers once, haha!

@harrypalmer3481 10 ай бұрын

@@Fidel_Villeneuve - … but living at 304 Holloway Rd & researching & making a Fab video, that’s no insignificant thing! Record breakers - Roy Castle & the McWhirter brothers, there are some fascinating people & stories too! I think Clem Cattini is still going, Richie Blackmore of course, & a few others too, you might still meet one or more of the relevant musicians yet! I was out this evening/last night for a meet up & drinks, quite a lot of drinks, with my friends who knew David, Screaming Lord, Sutch, & who played with &/or knew/know some of the Joe Meek associated musicians, if I find out any more relevant Joe Meek related stories I’ll report back. Best to you.

@citizen1163 Ай бұрын

I walk past the flat regularly. Almost unimaginable how he recorded those successful songs from the landing & small rooms. Tragic that he's almost ignored. Thanks for remembering X

@Fidel_Villeneuve Ай бұрын

Thanks for watching too, and I quite agree! It's a shame there aren't any modern documentaries about him, unless I've got that wrong? Not sure if it was you who subscribed but welcome. My other content is completely different though!

@davidpease2240 9 ай бұрын

I think you have done an excellent job on this video. I have seen the movie Telstar looked into the music of Jo meek and I. Have I50 songs from iTunes regarding his work he has found a fan bit late in life. I am disappointed that he had his Demons to deal with but as far as the work that he has done, I would not say he was the first considering Les Paul and Mary Ford was doing this earlier than Jo was les Paul also created sound effects with his music by speeding up the guitar over dubs echoes and so forth jo Also had that idea and took it a bit further using all instruments not just one. took it to the next level Phil spectre also worked in the same way, so they all need to be recognised musically I am sorry he took his landlady’s life, but you also must understand she was a lot older and did not understand what Jo was trying to create a simple set of headphones may have helped if he was overdubbing from one recording to the next. The only problem he would have is when he would mike anything up. Rest in peace you tried your best.

@Fidel_Villeneuve 9 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching the video and thanks for the comment! I just tried to make a video that might hopefully get people to check out Joe Meek for themselves. He really was a one off.

@nickmoloney9820 2 ай бұрын

The Clapton sound bite earned a subscription from me.

@Fidel_Villeneuve 2 ай бұрын

Thanks, that's made my day! I'll sub back!

@MyOwnWayMusic Жыл бұрын

Thanks for making this video/film about Joe Meek. Very interesting and entertaining too..

@Fidel_Villeneuve Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@Fidel_Villeneuve Жыл бұрын

Hope you can go on a Joe Meek journey of your own!

@user-vh6cw2mj8y 9 ай бұрын

I enjoyed your video a lot. Thanks!

@Fidel_Villeneuve 9 ай бұрын

No, thanks for watching! Can't say all my other stuff is or will be about Joe Meek, but I try and play some of his music once a year at least to keep the flame going.

@fsheller5869 4 ай бұрын

Nice job. Im a huge fan of Joe Meek.

@Fidel_Villeneuve 4 ай бұрын

Thanks, not all my stuff is about Joe Meek, but hopefully you might like something else on the channel, and thanks for watching!

@Soulmodulation 2 күн бұрын

Didn't he believe the spirit of Buddy Holly was in the building? That might have given you the eery feeling 😅

@Fidel_Villeneuve Күн бұрын

I can't remember the exact story, but Joe supposedly did some sort of seance which led him to believe that Buddy Holly was going to die on February 3rd, so he went and told him when he was on tour in the UK in 1958. Buddy laughed it off at the time, although spookily Buddy died on February 3rd 1959. If that weren't enough, Joe killed himself on February 3rd 1967 as well.

@davidwilcox153 Ай бұрын

It was actually a shotgun that Heinz Burt left behind after moving out that Meek used.

@Fidel_Villeneuve Ай бұрын

Thanks for the comment and for watching. Wasn’t there something about a boat with Heinz as well?

@vicesquadpunk 6 ай бұрын

As a work of entertainment and escapism filled with pathos the TELSTAR film is wonderful, Con O'Neils portrayal of JM is top notch. It’s not an accurate representation of the times but the film will hopefully introduce future generations to Joe's unique audio creations ❤️🙂

@Fidel_Villeneuve 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching and for the comment! I also hope young people will learn more about the music Joe recorded, there's nothing quite like it. I liked the movie, although I wonder if anyone will watch it now as Kevin Spacey is in it.

@keironhiggspoet 4 ай бұрын

he geniuely produced some excellent records, my faves been "johnny remember me", "jack the ripper" "just like eddy" and the afromented telestar. i definitely agree with the spector similarity a few comments below. the picture if a truly tortured genius.

@Fidel_Villeneuve 4 ай бұрын

His story is a real one off, and the records he worked on sound like nobody else.

@felixinizan4027 Жыл бұрын

'Have you ever wanted to scream at Rod Stewart to STOP' hahahahaha. Great video by the way ! Even though he never recorded the Beatles. He only turned down the decca audition tape Brian Epstein sent to pretty much every producer in London. Made me want to watch your videos for sure.

@Fidel_Villeneuve Жыл бұрын

Hi there, thanks for the comment! Joe Meek did supposedly record a demo of The Beatles at 304 Holloway Road, but then recorded over it. I guess tape was expensive back then and nobody had heard of them... I hope to make some more documentary style videos in the future as well as the radio show, feel free to subscribe to see when the next one comes out! And thanks for watching!

@IanP1963 3 ай бұрын

I think Tom Jones was auditioned there but he didn't like him either 😅

@creamofcardstv 3 ай бұрын

Yeah, I love wandering down the autobiographical rabbit hole of these self destructive flawed geniuses, like Syd Barret and Joe Meek from the comfort of my armchair.

@Fidel_Villeneuve 3 ай бұрын

It's a bit different if your armchair is in his house though... having said that we were students and I don't think we had an armchair back then, haha.

@creamofcardstv 3 ай бұрын

@@Fidel_VilleneuveYeah, it's a bit of a walk from Japan to Charing :)

@Fidel_Villeneuve 3 ай бұрын

@@creamofcardstv Aren't they both zone 6 on the tube map?

@joshcoxmusic 6 ай бұрын

Amazing video. So interesting.

@Fidel_Villeneuve 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching and for the comment! He was certainly a bit of a one off, and it was pretty mad I ended up at 304 for a few months

@AndyMangele Жыл бұрын

Excellent presentation! 👍

@Fidel_Villeneuve Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching! I hope if you aren't a fan, you'll try and listen to some of his music some time.

@AndyMangele Жыл бұрын

@@Fidel_Villeneuve I'm actually quite familiar with the history, but I watched your video anyway because of the way you presented and edited it!

@tyronerodgers 3 жыл бұрын

Interesting vid!

@Fidel_Villeneuve 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it

@tyronerodgers 3 жыл бұрын

@@Fidel_Villeneuve Funnily enough in the 80s when I was at primary school, my mum gave me her old 45 rpm singles from the 60s. Telstar was one but also The Honeycombs "Have I The Right" which I never knew he also produced until reading up about after watching your vid! Kudos! You should do more vids like this. Nice editing! Oh yeh. Big Jay Foreman fan and (dare I say it) a bit of Geoff Marshall follower lol

@Fidel_Villeneuve 3 жыл бұрын

@@tyronerodgers Cheers man, I'll make more for sure... but too many ideas! Yeah, it's a small world... the guy who played Joe Meek in the Telstar movie was on Japanese TV this week in Inspector Morse!

@TheMerseySound1 Жыл бұрын

7:07 the first British record to go No.1 in America was ‘Stranger on the Shore’ by Acker Bilk. The Tornados were next with the distinction of being the first British band to reach US No.1

@Fidel_Villeneuve Жыл бұрын

Gosh, thanks for the heads up.

@justinrowe3346 2 жыл бұрын

Nice story 👍

@DavidS94938 Ай бұрын

The song Just Like Joe Meek’s Blues has interesting lyrics about him

@Fidel_Villeneuve Ай бұрын

Thanks, I'll check it out! And thanks for the watch too. Didn't Wreckless Eric have a song about Joe Meek too?

@pmtoner9852 Жыл бұрын

What a great video

@Fidel_Villeneuve Жыл бұрын

Thanks! It a pretty weird story for me to have lived there, but I hope some other people can learn about Joe from the video. He's the real story.

@cadmantheaviator Жыл бұрын

Why are you doing a Harry Hill impersonation?

@Fidel_Villeneuve Жыл бұрын

I’ve got a bit more hair than Harry Hill, for the moment... But yeah… it’s taking longer and longer to wash my face. Flannels aren’t lasting as long they used to.

@drtonyhaworth5711 Жыл бұрын

All joes recording gear was sold by the receiver after Joe was declared bankrupt while awaiting the French court about Telstar the claim made by the alleged writer in France was lies and Joe had by then killed himself and lost everything and the whole of joes royalties and equipment went to mr pink , who never got it it was a total fuck up…. A genius he was sadly left to die by the record labels who hated him jealously wanting his talent … And thank god the tapes were saved ………

@Fidel_Villeneuve Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info, it's a very sad story that Joe never got the money from his work in his lifetime, and thanks for watching!

@Buzzer365 4 ай бұрын

Joe Meek was working on recordings and actually recorded Patrick Pink right up until the night before he died, he had all his equipment, it was not sold until after his death.

@simonkormendy849 5 ай бұрын

Personally, I think, far from being a musical moron, Joe Meek actually had good melodic sense, it's just that the establishment did not understand things from his point of view.

@Fidel_Villeneuve 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for the comment, and thanks for watching! He was clearly very smart in many ways, he built some of his own equipment and his records have a really different feel to almost anyone else's. I can also see how he might have been very difficult to be in band with some of his ideas though, too!

@PAULLONDEN 10 ай бұрын

Apart from that highly irritating drum box behind your narrating ......very well done ! 👍🙂

@Fidel_Villeneuve 10 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@leonconnelly5303 Жыл бұрын

Very nice video. Joe really should be regarded on the same level as Phil Spector. True innovators of recorded music doing things that no one else had thought of and no one else has truly replicated. Obviously both men’s legacies are deeply complicated they both clearly suffered from mental health problems, though Phil caused a lot more pain to the people around him during his life then Joe did. Joe seemed like a relatively decent person who tragically descended into paranoia and it eventually ended up in horror. It means any assessment of his life and work will always have to deal with it the music cannot stand on its own at least for most people. I agree about the film Telstar I think it’s rather exploitative and making out that Heinz and others around Joe were in a sexual relationship with him when there’s no actual proof of this is wrong. Didn’t know Telstar was Margaret Thatchers favorite song well at least she was right about one thing.

@Fidel_Villeneuve Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. Joe Meek was a true one off and how he got the sound and feel on some of some of those records is unreal. It wasn't a nice place to live, but I'm glad that it happened because it got me interested in such an amazing life story. My hope is that maybe others can go on their own Joe Meek adventure if they see the video.

@drtonyhaworth5711 Жыл бұрын

RIP Joe ….

@user-ws8xn1sw7c 8 ай бұрын

Another pioneer from this era was Lionel Bart.❤❤❤❤❤

@Fidel_Villeneuve 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for the message, I just found a documentary about this guy, will check it out later!

@GarryWood-zv3uf 5 ай бұрын

I bought all the tornadoes records, telstar being the first

@Fidel_Villeneuve 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching and for the comment! I have a vague memory of someone else at my uni rmeeting Clem Cattini in a North London pub... he must have had some amazing stories to tell!

@rrrob 3 жыл бұрын

Joe Meek definitely would have loved Kashpoint

@Fidel_Villeneuve 3 жыл бұрын

I think he would have gone pop drum and bass, but who knows!

@IanP1963 3 ай бұрын

Was it haunted?

@Fidel_Villeneuve 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching and for the question Ian, to answer... I'm not sure! The front stairs from the road and the hallway leading up to the flats were always so weirdly cold, despite it being so hot in Summer and there being no window for ventilation. There were some scratching sounds at night in the walls sometimes, but I think it was just mice. However, Sachiko (from the bands No Cars and Umez, sadly no longer with us) said she visited another guy in a different part of the building to record on a four track, and she got some weird stuff on the tape that she never recorded come up. I don't remember that happening to me, but perhaps minidiscs don't record these things so well.

@Buzzer365 Жыл бұрын

Yup, liked the way he did things.

@Buzzer365 6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the mention in the notes regarding the footage I took inside 304 at about 13 mins in.

@bassinblue 2 жыл бұрын

Joe did everything right and everything wrong. He had serious connections, but when parted ways with the industry, burned every single bridge?? That doesn't sound logical. He could have partnered up with a few producers including George Martin and all put money to build their own studio somewhere no one would complain. Also, building a studio in your own place?? It can work today, but certainly not then. As a producer, I do appreciate what he has done, but his genius is better expressed and undertaken by other producers who were influenced by him. That being said, yes, he was homosexual and that was illegal then, so I certainly can see why he was always angry and shouty. The frustration of all of those things got to him. I also understand why he isn't remembered nor really known, including the plaque not being English heritage. The guy was a murderer and shot and killed an innocent woman while she was clearly walking away! Which simply can't be overlooked nor forgiven. Ironic how Phil Spector went the same route. The guy was full of potential but let his demons overtake him and win. I don't need to study Joe, I can simply do that with George Martin and learn a million things, which I can apply today to the music I produce. All in all fantastic video keep it going!

@Fidel_Villeneuve 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, he's a difficult guy to do a video about! From what I can tell, a lot of the people he worked with and got their breaks with him don't always have nice things to say. On the other hand, it's quite an incredible story and mad that I ended up living there for a few months, and even madder that he made hit records while his landlady was banging the ceiling for him to keep it down. Thanks for watching and the comment! Keep following the channel just in case I end up living in someone else's famous house again (fingers crossed that doesn't happen).

@bassinblue 2 жыл бұрын

@@Fidel_Villeneuve I can totally see why it would be difficult. His practices were also very strange, where he'd dictate the direction of a song for musicians, when the whole point of a producer/sound engineer is to listen to the artist(s) and help them develop what they're looking for. The back and forth creativity between the musicians and producer makes for a very successful and lucrative combination. But clearly he didn't see that. It btw super cool you lived in that place. I'd personally have left the same week I find out a murder occurred there. Keep it up mate, you're doing great!

@Fidel_Villeneuve 3 жыл бұрын

200 views, thanks! ありがとう！