Altamont: A Festival of Remembrance

THE place for your Sisters-related comments, questions and snippets of Sisters information. For those who do not know, The Sisters of Mercy are a rock'n'roll band. And a pop band. And an industrial groove machine. Or so they say. They make records. Lots of records, apparently. But not in your galaxy. They play concerts. Lots of concerts, actually. But you still cannot see them. So what's it all about, Alfie? This is one of the few tightly-moderated forums on Heartland, so please keep on-topic. All off-topic posts will either be moved or deleted. Chairman Bux is the editor and the editor's decision is final. Danke.
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Quiff Boy
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interesting article in today's independent about the rolling stones' fated 'altamont speedway' gig in 1969 where hells angels were employed as security and went mental and fans died :urff:

http://is.gd/5a1fu

Image

the psychological fall-out from that gig stuck with the stones for years, and is credited by some as signalling the end of 60s (counter) culture :|

there's a dvd documentary available of it too, called "gimme shelter" ( http://is.gd/5a1H8 ) - i've got it and it's pretty grim viewing tbh

eldritch pays homage to this legendary gig in the original by-line of the sisters' 1985 royal albert hall gig:

Wake
Altamont: A Festival of Remembrance

later changed to

Wake
Choruses from Under the Rock

von also stole the idea of using bikers as roadies/security from there... i'm not sure if they ever really did use bikers, but i remember reading an old interview where he said they had done at some stage... that could just have been more of his posturing to wind up the music press however :roll: :lol:

anyways, i thought the article (& the book it mentions) might be of interest 8)
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Silver_Owl
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Quiff Boy wrote:...von also stole the idea of using bikers as roadies/security from there...
Wasn't that Lemmy's idea? I assumed they were part of his entourage.

Interesting article though and an interesting cultural milestone.
And yes - the documentary is not pleasant viewing is it? :urff:
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Quiff Boy
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Hom_Corleone wrote:
Quiff Boy wrote:...von also stole the idea of using bikers as roadies/security from there...
Wasn't that Lemmy's idea? I assumed they were part of his entourage.
you might be right actually... a few of my mates are part of motorhead's crew when they play manchester, and one of them went round the uk and europe with them roadying (sp?) a couple of years ago. they all like to consider themselves hard-living rock-and-roll motherf*ckers :lol:

so lemmy nicked the idea from the stones, and then von nicked it from lemmy? :lol:
Last edited by Quiff Boy on 02 Dec 2009, 15:23, edited 1 time in total.
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Silver_Owl
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Quiff Boy wrote:
Hom_Corleone wrote:
Quiff Boy wrote:...von also stole the idea of using bikers as roadies/security from there...
Wasn't that Lemmy's idea? I assumed they were part of his entourage.
you might be right actually...

so lemmy nicked the idea from the stones, and then von nicked it from lemmy? :lol:
Well, he probably suggested it to him. Reports have it he was backstage dishing out the white lines. :wink:
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moses
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I have a copy of this

Image


which gives a good account of Altamont
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
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radiojamaica
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Gimme shelter is worth a view for the Tina Turner footage alone!
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http://www.vamp.org/zines/egozine-3.html
INT: I know I have to get going, she's telling me to get running. There's just one thing I want to know, there's another quote here I took from your press release. "The Sisters writhe in the legends of Altamont..." well they meant Altamont as in Altamont Speedway the Rolling Stones, when they played early seventies San Francisco, Altamont Speedway right?

AE: One of the reasons Gimme Shelter is so important. We changed the words around in Gimme Shelter. The original was about how love's just a kiss away and war is just a shot away. We turned it around. Altamont's very important. If there's a part of history where rock music stopped for a second and we began. If there's a point were the seeds of what we do were sown, it's probably Altamont, cus it encapsulated everything wonderful at the time. The good things and the bad things, and a lot of both. It's when the trip turned sour and it's when the best music was.

INT: It was slightly dangerous at that time. Really, for a few minutes there.

AE: For one guy especially. But it encapsulates so much, Altamont.
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sam1
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I have a copy of decembers issue of Record Collector which has a 9 page article on Altamont and talks to some of the people that were there........any one who wants it can pm me and I'll sent it to them
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sam1
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copy going to Being645
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Quiff Boy wrote: i'm not sure if they ever really did use bikers, but i remember reading an old interview where he said they had done at some stage... that could just have been more of his posturing to wind up the music press however
the sisters did use bikers as security for a time. the "wide receivers" credited at the end of the wake video are "boyd steamison for merciful release" and " the asfield mofos "; the ashfield mofos were a motorcycle club.
i know this for a fact because one of them is a very good friend of mine, as previously mentioned "here".
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Big Si
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Quiff Boy wrote:interesting article in today's independent about the rolling stones' fated 'altamont speedway' gig in 1969 where hells angels were employed as security and went mental and fans died :urff:

http://is.gd/5a1fu

Image

the psychological fall-out from that gig stuck with the stones for years, and is credited by some as signalling the end of 60s (counter) culture :|

there's a dvd documentary available of it too, called "gimme shelter" ( http://is.gd/5a1H8 ) - i've got it and it's pretty grim viewing tbh

eldritch pays homage to this legendary gig in the original by-line of the sisters' 1985 royal albert hall gig:

Wake
Altamont: A Festival of Remembrance

later changed to

Wake
Choruses from Under the Rock

von also stole the idea of using bikers as roadies/security from there... i'm not sure if they ever really did use bikers, but i remember reading an old interview where he said they had done at some stage... that could just have been more of his posturing to wind up the music press however :roll: :lol:

anyways, i thought the article (& the book it mentions) might be of interest 8)
:notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:

I've got an ok (well in fact a "Get Bent!" according to James Blast) quality audience recording I found a few years back.

There's a few clips on youtube including The Jefferson Airplane vs The Hells Angels incident :wink:

Image

And an online copy of the DVD :innocent:

There was a fairly extensive feature in The Sunday Times Magazine about Meredith Hunter a few years back, which first piqued my interest and has left me fascinated with the festival ever since. When I was growing up popular culture only ever mentioned Woodstock and to a lesser extent Monterey, there was little or no mention of Altamont. I'd never seen anything in print or anything shown on TV as to what exactly happened, just that people got beat up by Hells Angels and someone died during Sympathy For The Devil (actually Under My Thumb). Meredith's mom was also interviewed in the feature and I remember she wasn't too complimentary about The Stones (***EDIT - found it!***).
road_kill wrote:http://www.vamp.org/zines/egozine-3.html
INT: I know I have to get going, she's telling me to get running. There's just one thing I want to know, there's another quote here I took from your press release. "The Sisters writhe in the legends of Altamont..." well they meant Altamont as in Altamont Speedway the Rolling Stones, when they played early seventies San Francisco, Altamont Speedway right?

AE: One of the reasons Gimme Shelter is so important. We changed the words around in Gimme Shelter. The original was about how love's just a kiss away and war is just a shot away. We turned it around. Altamont's very important. If there's a part of history where rock music stopped for a second and we began. If there's a point were the seeds of what we do were sown, it's probably Altamont, cus it encapsulated everything wonderful at the time. The good things and the bad things, and a lot of both. It's when the trip turned sour and it's when the best music was.

INT: It was slightly dangerous at that time. Really, for a few minutes there.

AE: For one guy especially. But it encapsulates so much, Altamont.
That's the often quoted Interview I remember from :von: about Altamont. 8)
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According to an interview with Sonny Barger,the Stones wanted dark and dark they got......chilling to say the least.
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moses
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Using 'bikers' for security I imagine is a great deal different to using 'Hells Angels' for the same purpose. Hence the relative difference between the outcome of Altamont and Wake: 'The greatest era in the history of mankind' ends in death versus The Sisters with Lemmy & his entourage retire to Dingwalls for a few more beers then go home to bed.

Hells Angels - Hunter Thompson had them pinned.
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity
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Silver_Owl
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eastmidswhizzkid wrote:
Quiff Boy wrote: i'm not sure if they ever really did use bikers, but i remember reading an old interview where he said they had done at some stage... that could just have been more of his posturing to wind up the music press however
the sisters did use bikers as security for a time. the "wide receivers" credited at the end of the wake video are "boyd steamison for merciful release" and " the asfield mofos "; the ashfield mofos were a motorcycle club.
i know this for a fact because one of them is a very good friend of mine, as previously mentioned "here".
What a memory I must have. :wink:
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moses wrote:Using 'bikers' for security I imagine is a great deal different to using 'Hells Angels' for the same purpose. Hence the relative difference between the outcome of Altamont and Wake: 'The greatest era in the history of mankind' ends in death versus The Sisters with Lemmy & his entourage retire to Dingwalls for a few more beers then go home to bed.
Simply glorious.
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Was AE friends with Lemmy? I can't really see it myself.
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Silver_Owl
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Gollum's Cock wrote:Was AE friends with Lemmy? I can't really see it myself.
Yes.
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Hom_Corleone wrote:
Gollum's Cock wrote:Was AE friends with Lemmy? I can't really see it myself.
Yes.
Indeed.

The oft-quoted story is that Lemmy was backstage at the Royal Albert Hall gig in 1985 (the gig released on video as "Wake") and it was he who persuaded AE to perform the 2nd encore - persuasion was presumably needed due to AE's broken ribs.

Rumours that the "persuasion" probably took the form of a couple of lines of something fast are purely speculative. ;)
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lazarus corporation wrote:
Hom_Corleone wrote:
Gollum's Cock wrote:Was AE friends with Lemmy? I can't really see it myself.
Yes.
Indeed.

The oft-quoted story is that Lemmy was backstage at the Royal Albert Hall gig in 1985 (the gig released on video as "Wake") and it was he who persuaded AE to perform the 2nd encore - persuasion was presumably needed due to AE's broken ribs.

Rumours that the "persuasion" probably took the form of a couple of lines of something fast are purely speculative. ;)
Hey, whatever works... right?! :wink:
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GC
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lazarus corporation wrote:
Hom_Corleone wrote:
Gollum's Cock wrote:Was AE friends with Lemmy? I can't really see it myself.
Yes.
Indeed.

The oft-quoted story is that Lemmy was backstage at the Royal Albert Hall gig in 1985 (the gig released on video as "Wake") and it was he who persuaded AE to perform the 2nd encore - persuasion was presumably needed due to AE's broken ribs.

Rumours that the "persuasion" probably took the form of a couple of lines of something fast are purely speculative. ;)
Lemmy might have just been taking the p*ss "Go on get back out there. The crowd love you"
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H. Blackrose
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Excuse me, given that AE has repeatedly made it clear that Motörhead are a huge influence on the Sisters, exactly why do you think it weird that he and Lemmy might get on with each other?
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Gollum's Cock wrote:Lemmy might have just been taking the p*ss "Go on get back out there. The crowd love you"
I'll go with that version with a big BUT! - there is absolutely no mention of Mr. E in "White Line Fever"
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H. Blackrose wrote:Excuse me, given that AE has repeatedly made it clear that Motörhead are a huge influence on the Sisters, exactly why do you think it weird that he and Lemmy might get on with each other?
The Sisters have had a huge influence on my life, that does n't mean I could necessarily be friends with AE or vice versa.
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James Blast wrote:
Gollum's Cock wrote:Lemmy might have just been taking the p*ss "Go on get back out there. The crowd love you"
I'll go with that version with a big BUT! - there is absolutely no mention of Mr. E in "White Line Fever"
That's what I was thinking.
s**t book by the way, only interesting fact was that Lemmy was brought up in Benllech (Anglesey). That's where I was born, small world...
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There was a very nice Hell's Angel employed to look after The Smuphs when they supported The m*****n at The Shep Bush Empire last year.

Wasn't McCoy knocking around with some too?
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