Thursday, Mar. 18, 2010

In search of the lost Mellotron

Local man rescues piece of rock history

By Paul Grimshaw - For Weekly Surge

Days of Future Passed

Many folks have never heard of the Mellotron, including many modern musicians, as manufacturing of the cantankerous instrument was halted for awhile and the number of working machines dwindled, but like so many other pop culture artifacts, it has gained new life in the digital age.

A cult of Mellotron has developed on the Web, a new digital version of the original keyboard was introduced recently, an independent filmmaker has given the funky keyboard the documentary treatment, and vintage gear collectors salivate over getting their hands on a 'tron.

"The Mellotron is still one of the most sought-after pieces of vintage musical gear on the market," according to Frank Samagaio, author of "The Mellotron Book."

But how did Myrtle Beach's Frech wind up babysitting a Mellotron from The Moody Blues' collection?

"It's kind of a funny story how I ended up as the caretaker of the Mellotron," said Frech, owner of Mental Case, a Myrtle Beach-based road case manufacturer whose clients include a who's who of rock 'n' roll, including Journey, Alice Cooper, Poison, Eagles, Eddie Van Halen, Michael Anthony and The Moody Blues. "I was delivering cases to Poison in Greenville [and I met] Mark Hogue, one of the most powerful guys in the [tour production] business. He has worked with The Moody Blues for years. I ended up getting him as a client and we built a bunch of cases for the last Moody Blues tour."

But what about the mythical Mellotron?

Remember "Nights in White Satin - The Trip" at now-defunct Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach?

"He [Hogue] called me last year and said they had loaned a bunch of Moody Blues memorabilia to the Hard Rock Park, and that they wanted it back before it ended up in a pawn shop. He sent some release papers and I set it all up thinking I was going to pick up a few guitars or something," said Frech. "When I got there some guy at the park started wheeling this giant thing out of a closet - it was the Mellotron. All the stuff was piled up like junk. The guitars weren't even in cases. It blew my mind."

Frech built a new road case for the Mellotron and will ship it to the band toward the end of its current tour, which makes a stopover Saturday at North Charleston Performing Arts Center, but is not routed for a Myrtle Beach-area gig.

Using banks of audiotape to recreate pre-recorded sounds (one of the world's first sampling keyboards), the Mellotron would fail at inspiring at-home musicians (it was far too problematic and expensive), but it would captivate the imaginations of rock and pop producers and musicians, who loved its unique flavors. The unwieldy, break-down prone instrument was used to create the haunting, other worldly strings and sounds heard on many of the Beatles' later recordings including "The White Album," "The Magical Mystery Tour," and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," though it was The Moody Blues' groundbreaking release "Days of Future Passed" that deserve credit for introducing the world to these sounds, and many believe that the very Mellotron used in making these recordings was right here under our noses on display at Hard Rock Park.

Long Distance Voyager

In the fall of 2006, Hard Rock Park was making big news. Gibson guitars, Led Zeppelin and The Moody Blues were all on board with very public endorsements and rides themed in their honor. Three members of The Moody Blues - Graeme Edge, Justin Hayward and John Lodge - came to town for a meet-and-greet and PR shindig to announce the future opening of the "Nights in White Satin"-themed attraction, a somewhat controversial slow, dark ride featuring an homage to the very psychedelic sights and sounds of the early drug culture, all set to the band's Mellotron-laden tune of the same name. The Moodies sent the Mellotron to Hard Rock Park with high hopes for an enduring showcase in honor of the band's biggest song. Little did they know that the park and the fate of their beloved instruments were on such shaky ground. Without a local rescue, the Mellotron and the band's guitars may have ended up in the garbage heap.

Frech eventually moved the instruments to a safe, secure location, and awaited further instructions. "I got a call from Mark. He asked me 'Did you get the Mellotron?' and 'did I know the story behind it?'" Hogue told Frech that the BBC once owned it, and that George Martin, The Beatles' famed producer, borrowed the instrument, possibly for a session in which "Strawberry Fields Forever" was recorded, along with other Beatles tracks. John Lennon also owned an early Mellotron. Tracing individual instruments to specific recording sessions is tricky at best and often impossible, but the credible evidence from credible witnesses point to this particular instrument as a highly likely candidate. Further investigation proves the timing is right with "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Nights in White Satin," and "(Tuesday) Forever Afternoon" all having been recorded in London in 1966-1967 with 1967 release dates. This model, an MK-II, would have been the model available in 1966-67. Hogue also told Frech that the Moodies used this specific Mellotron live, and in the studio, during those early, heady days during the birth of progressive rock, but is this just another old relic of the past?

The Present

Mellotron fans are scattered across the globe, and include locals Rob Gainer and Trey McManus. The pair was once part of Myrtle Beach based Brit-pop outfit, The Drag, who had a major label release on Island Records ("Satellites Beaming Back at You") in the late 1990s. Gainer was the Drag's co-manager and audio engineer, and McManus was the band's guitarist and keyboardist. "We could never afford one for ourselves," said Gainer, of the Mellotron, "but we really loved the sounds and wanted them in the studio. Trey was a huge Mellotron nut."

Countless Mellotron devotees fill the blogosphere with anecdotal Mellotron tales, detailed histories of the fight between the two companies that developed the instrument, and lists, ad nauseam, of bands and recordings using the machine or its samples. Many fans go as far as to equate the importance of the Mellotron with the electric guitar to the evolution of pop, rock and even hip-hop music.

Producers in the 1990s and into the new millennium have revived Mellotron samples for modern recordings. U2, Radiohead, Blur and Linkin Park, to name a few (see accompanying sidebar on pg. 16), all have used Mellotron samples. But it was in the '60s and '70s when the Mellotron reigned supreme, as the first viable road-worthy (almost), self-contained symphony, playable by one person. Not only could the Mellotron be used in live performance, though it was notoriously prone to breakdowns, it quickly became a favorite in the studio, and groups such as Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Genesis and The Moody Blues all used this new keyboard to great effect - even Lynyrd Skynyrd used the instrument, and it's clearly heard on the band's classics "Free Bird" and "Tuesday's Gone."

Though modern rockers still use the sounds, its success can be traced to one Moody in particular, Mike Pinder.

No longer with The Moody Blues, Pinder was the band's founder, keyboardist, songwriting partner, and resident Mellotron expert. He almost single-handedly brought the instrument world fame, and spent 18 months as an employee of Streetly Electronics where the first Mellotrons were made. The Moodies now use a digital keyboard to recreate the Mellotron's unique tones, as do most groups who use the samples, and though Pinder and the British-based Mellotron get all the credit, it was actually an American who started it all.

On the Threshold of a Dream

Sampling - a staple of pop music today - taking bits and pieces of previously recorded songs and sounds, can be traced to the Melltron.

The instrument that became known as the Mellotron was actually invented in the U.S. by Harry Chamberlin in the 1950s. It wasn't until Chamberlin's envoy to England, sent to ask Streetly Electronics about manufacturing matched tape heads for the Chamberlin, that the instrument would gain its sea legs, and catch the ears of the right producers. In effect, some would argue, the Bradley family of Streetly Electronics unfairly took the Chamberlin, re-worked it, and profited from the American invention. Legal issues would plague the companies on both sides of the Atlantic, many of which are documented in "Mellodrama," a movie by director Dianna Dillworth, in which she traces the Mellotron's history and features interviews with Rick Neilson (Cheap Trick), Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys), Pinder and other movers and shakers in the music biz.

All of the Chamberlin's original sounds (most were transferred to the Mellotron) were played by members of the Lawrence Welk Orchestra in the 1950s. Welk once considered becoming an investor in the Chamberlin, but declined when the Chamberlin family refused to name the instrument "The Welk." Some music historians and sound engineers have claimed that the Chamberlin's original sounds were "truer," and it was only because of the Mellotron's lo-fi electronics, cheaper tape heads, and inferior pre-amps that the accidental warble-y music would take off, in effect creating a never before heard sound.

Other than this granddaddy of all Mellotrons in Frech's secret hideaway, you'd be hard-pressed to find another in town. Andy Owings Music, Star Music - nobody has one. They're rare, only a few thousand were ever made during the instrument's heyday, and most of them fell apart. They came in several models over the seven or eight years of its heaviest production. Most common were the giant, highly polished wood-finished models; then came the sexier stark white models, and leaner tabletop models.

A revamped Streetly Electronics is offering a newer, modified and more portable version, the M4000 ($5,000) in an attempt to re-introduce the mechanical analog sampler, but the digital age has rendered the effort mostly futile. Virtually all modern digital keyboards can play a readily available patch of original (and inexpensive) Mellotron samples, and gone are the problems of the original, which was both its blessing and its curse. The wow and flutter, tape hiss and warble, is what creates the unique Mellotron sound, and although new samples are good, they're not exactly like the original - and precious few working originals exist.

In Search of the Lost Chord

The Mellotron of old would match multiple tape heads (up to 70) with a corresponding key, like that of a standard keyboard. Banks of switches allowed the user to move between strings, horns, voices, and even drums. Contrary to popular belief, the Mellotron did not use endless tape loops, but rather an eight-second linear three-quarter-inch audiotape that would simply stop playing if you depressed the key for longer than eight seconds. Using springs and gravity, the mechanism of the Mellotron would quickly rewind the tape to the beginning every time the key was released - that is if it worked properly. The dusty Mellotron in Frech's care is missing parts and its tapes look to be in bad shape. Frech believes the instrument hasn't worked in many years, probably many decades, but for fear of damaging the original tapes, he has not tried to get it up-and-running.

"That [instrument] has had a checkered history," laughed Edge, Moody Blues' drummer, songwriter and resident poet. Edge, a spry 69-year-old, spoke to Weekly Surge on March 9 from a hotel room in Florida just before checking out to make another stop on the band's 2010 North American tour. Through a hearty pirate's laugh and thick English accent, Edge spoke about the Mellotron and the band he's been a part of for more than 40 years. When asked if he knew about the abandoned Mellotron that was part of the Hard Rock Park's display he chuckled again "[That Mellotron] was a non-working relic when [it was new] and we used it on the road," he laughed. "We quickly became experts in repairs. But it was worth it when it worked because it was the first time anybody could get that sound [in concert]."

That sound included banks of prerecorded choirs, reed instruments, strings and horns, all part of the orchestral sound for which The Moody Blues are known. The sound would prove so popular that the greatest rock bands in history, including Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones craved its haunting, slightly off-pitch tones.

After falling out of favor as the original back-to-basics wave of punk rock took over the genre in the late '70s and more-easily portable synthesizers took hold in the '80s, the Mellotron began to gain steam again with the alternative rock movement of the '90s.

"I'm sure the Mellotron was intended to be used as a substitute for strings, winds and other instruments," said singer/songwriter/pianist Ben Folds, who was recently in town performing at the House of Blues. Folds took time away from the studio where he's finishing up work on a new album, to comment on the Mellotron. "In the end, I think most people [used] it because it sounds haunting and unique. At this point most of the members of the ensembles that recorded the Mellotron loops are likely dead. With the Mellotron you can play dead people."

The Mellotron's sound was considered dated and old-fashioned by the end of the 1970s, and the problematic mechanics, lack of repair facilities, and high price would spell doom for the instrument. Streetly Electronics still restores older instruments, sells the newer ones, and is at the epicenter of the Mellotronic world. But Streetly faced problems early on. In 1965 its Mellotrons would have cost the equivalent of $25,000. By comparison, as of press time, online auction site eBay has a non-working model in poor condition with a starting bid of $2,000.

Question of Balance

Unlike many modern acts, whose songs vary only slightly from one another, The Moody Blues material runs the gamut from quiet, meditative acoustic songs to full on up-tempo electric guitar-driven rock 'n' roll pieces - the one common element for many of the band's classics? The Mellotron.

Since the departure of Mellotron master Pinder, the band has toured heavily with live symphonies, as was the case in its 2008 show at Hard Rock Park, where the Long Bay Symphony performed flawless accompaniment to the band's classics. But Edge seems to prefer playing without the sometimes cumbersome, limiting symphonies - sounds that can easily be handled by the Melltron (or its digital cousin).

It's not easy to combine rock 'n' roll with an orchestra. "They're two entirely different animals," said Edge referring to the very different concert experiences. "Those guys [symphony conductors] work off the dots, so you have to play the arrangement."

But with or without a symphony (Saturday's show in North Charleston will be sans orchestra), you'll always still hear the Mellotron at a Moodies show. "It's sampled now [digitally synthesized]," said Edge, "but it's still that reedy sound."

But is the instrument in Frech's care the instrument of legend? We'd like to think so, and evidence points in that direction. We snuck a peak at the Mellotron and found its identifying information on a metal tab, attached to the back: Mellotronics Limited, London (model) MK-II, serial # 233. So all you "CSI"-inspired super-sleuths should take a stab at placing this Mellotron at Abbey Road Studios, or in London, circa 1966. Let us know how you make out. As you dig out your parents' old vinyl, or peruse your favorite rock tunes on an iPod, keep an ear tuned for the slightly out-of-tune, steam-punk keyboard that started it all, and consider how close it once was to home.