’24 Flowers A Day’ c/w ‘The Japanese Bollock Tree’Released 12th October 1966. Decca F148694.
Jimmy Parrott (guitar, vcls), Harry ‘Guv’ Welchman (bass), Crombie Thistle (drums, percussion), Chair ‘Sad Face’ Kray (organ), Baps McGovern (saxophone)
Originally a typical mod band (their singles ‘Reversed Into A Van’ and ‘Where’s Me Pills?!?!?!?’ were favourites in ‘Tinkles’ club in Hersham), The Frown underwent a radical change of style in late ’66 after the whole band discovered the joys of sniffing dry-cleaning fluid.
Says Harry ‘Guv’ Welchman today: “We were all desperate to blow our minds to fragments like all the other bands, but we simply couldn’t find any drugs in Godalming, where we were all from. This meant we had to make do with dangerous solvents and the like. I believe we were the first group to inhale rat poison and lick sandpaper. In fact, Crombie Thistle nearly OD’d at his mother’s house when combining rat poison inhalation with bleach pessaries.
Welchman confirms other members of the band also used dangerous substances. “Jimmy Parrott did varnish...varnish and rust remover combined, with a side order of nail polish. This was on top of the dry cleaning stuff. But the gear Jimmy really swore by was butane and petrol mixed up together and sniffed from an old handbag. That really did it for Jimmy. One of his girlfriends died after eating a toilet block covered in penetrating oil”.
‘24 Flowers A Day’ was written by Parrott after a marathon Airfix glue session, a substance which he inhaled from a large carrier bag which no-one was allowed to touch. Parrot was known to scream if anyone came near it. In an interview about the song with Guys & Chicks magazine in January 1967, Parrot claimed: “Suddenly I knew the answer to everything and formed a new structure for the universe and stars within. This, and other things are reflected in the lyrics of our new waxing, when it will be released”.
At this point, the single had already been out for over three months, a fact which Parrott seemed blissfully unaware of. For those of you who are interested, the first verse of ’24 Flowers A Day’ ran as follows:
’24 Flowers a day, seven leeks in a week
Three hundred and sixty-five smiles in a year
A dog with a gigantic beak’
The single was a surprise number one only two weeks after its release. “We bribed all the pirate DJs with hopes of money’”, says Welchman. “That record was all that the hovercraft pirate station Radio Crispian ever played and, man, we all listened to it all day, hearing our own record. It was great! We cracked open the Winchester of carbon tetrachloride that night, I can tell you!”
A follow-up single, ‘Drop a Love Bomb on My Head’, fared less well and the band soon split up. They reformed in 1972, and then split up again. They reformed once more in 1983, but split up two weeks later. “Those reformations were Jimmy’s idea”, says Welchman. “He thought it was still 1966, basically. Time sort of stood still for him and although, say, seventeen years had passed, for him it was only two hours. I’m not really sure how it worked. You’d have to ask Jimmy, but he’s been asleep since ’97”.
Sax player Baps McGovern later joined The Buxom Wenches, while organist Chair ‘Sad Face’ Kray changed his name to Robin Kray and went on to become a renowned character actor, usually playing ageing, predatory homosexuals. “That sad face of his really paid dividends”, says Welchman.
Originally a typical mod band (their singles ‘Reversed Into A Van’ and ‘Where’s Me Pills?!?!?!?’ were favourites in ‘Tinkles’ club in Hersham), The Frown underwent a radical change of style in late ’66 after the whole band discovered the joys of sniffing dry-cleaning fluid.
Says Harry ‘Guv’ Welchman today: “We were all desperate to blow our minds to fragments like all the other bands, but we simply couldn’t find any drugs in Godalming, where we were all from. This meant we had to make do with dangerous solvents and the like. I believe we were the first group to inhale rat poison and lick sandpaper. In fact, Crombie Thistle nearly OD’d at his mother’s house when combining rat poison inhalation with bleach pessaries.
Welchman confirms other members of the band also used dangerous substances. “Jimmy Parrott did varnish...varnish and rust remover combined, with a side order of nail polish. This was on top of the dry cleaning stuff. But the gear Jimmy really swore by was butane and petrol mixed up together and sniffed from an old handbag. That really did it for Jimmy. One of his girlfriends died after eating a toilet block covered in penetrating oil”.
‘24 Flowers A Day’ was written by Parrott after a marathon Airfix glue session, a substance which he inhaled from a large carrier bag which no-one was allowed to touch. Parrot was known to scream if anyone came near it. In an interview about the song with Guys & Chicks magazine in January 1967, Parrot claimed: “Suddenly I knew the answer to everything and formed a new structure for the universe and stars within. This, and other things are reflected in the lyrics of our new waxing, when it will be released”.
At this point, the single had already been out for over three months, a fact which Parrott seemed blissfully unaware of. For those of you who are interested, the first verse of ’24 Flowers A Day’ ran as follows:
’24 Flowers a day, seven leeks in a week
Three hundred and sixty-five smiles in a year
A dog with a gigantic beak’
The single was a surprise number one only two weeks after its release. “We bribed all the pirate DJs with hopes of money’”, says Welchman. “That record was all that the hovercraft pirate station Radio Crispian ever played and, man, we all listened to it all day, hearing our own record. It was great! We cracked open the Winchester of carbon tetrachloride that night, I can tell you!”
A follow-up single, ‘Drop a Love Bomb on My Head’, fared less well and the band soon split up. They reformed in 1972, and then split up again. They reformed once more in 1983, but split up two weeks later. “Those reformations were Jimmy’s idea”, says Welchman. “He thought it was still 1966, basically. Time sort of stood still for him and although, say, seventeen years had passed, for him it was only two hours. I’m not really sure how it worked. You’d have to ask Jimmy, but he’s been asleep since ’97”.
Sax player Baps McGovern later joined The Buxom Wenches, while organist Chair ‘Sad Face’ Kray changed his name to Robin Kray and went on to become a renowned character actor, usually playing ageing, predatory homosexuals. “That sad face of his really paid dividends”, says Welchman.
I notice that The Frown followed up their excellent single '24 Flowers A Day' with a waxing entitled 'Drop A Love Bomb On My Head'. Is this the same song that was the b-side of 'Memories Of Gauguin' by Terry Quick's Baroque 'n' Roll, released in July 1967? Perhaps it is a different song with the same title! Any info gratefully received!
ReplyDeleteI think I saw one of The Buxom Wenches in Fenwicks the other day. I followed her for a while to ask for her autograph, but just before I was able to lunge at her a man in a clip-on tie asked me to leave the store.
ReplyDeleteI think it was pure coincidence. I've listened to both and there doesn't appear to be any similarity, though both feature the gravy-flavoured backing vocals of sultry Sixties singing trio, Black Honeypot.
ReplyDelete