The original band line-up featured lead vocalist and guitarist Steve Marriott from The Small Faces, vocalist and guitarist Peter Frampton from The Herd, former Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley and a 17-year-old drummer, Jerry Shirley, from The Apostolic Intervention.
The song, a Steve Marriott composition released in 1972, bemoans being arrested for possession of small quantities of illegal drugs, including cocaine; Durban poison, a potent strain of marijuana, and Red Lebanese and Black Nepalese, two types of hashish. “New Castle Brown” is often mistaken as a reference to Newcastle Brown Ale but actually refers to heroin also known as “Brown” or “Smack”. The song refers to Borstal – “some seeds and dust, and you got Borstal”- referring to Borstal Prison and its borstal ilk – any manner of a British juvenile gaol (British for jail). (Most lyrics listings get this wrong, and say “buzzed on” or “bust on”.) Marriott has said that inspiration for the title came from a Humphrey Bogart/James Cagney movie he saw on TV, where Bogart plays a prisoner who gets sent to “30 days in the hole.” Marriott may have been referring to the 1938 movie Angels With Dirty Faces, although that line is never uttered in the film. It’s also possible that the film was Somebody Up There Likes Me, a 1956 movie where Paul Newman is threatened with the “30 days in the hole.”
Pie guitarist Clem Clempson (who had replaced the original guitarist Peter Frampton) has said it is one of the tracks he would most like his career to be remembered by. But the predominant group personality shown through by the song is Marriott’s; so much so that for example when years later Clempson was asked about efforts to reform the group without Marriott, he simply declaimed, “It’s a waste of time.”
Their first major hit was “I Don’t Need No Doctor”, a 1966 R&B song, on their album “Performance Rockin’ the Fillmore” released in 1971.
Steve Marriott joined the newly formed Humble Pie after he left The Small Faces, who were founded in 1965 by members Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, and Jimmy Winston, although by 1966 Winston was replaced by Ian McLagan as the band’s keyboardist.
While they were well known in England, they became noted in the U.S. with the release of two songs in particular: “Tin Soldier” and “Itchycoo Park”. “Tin Soldier” was originally written by Marriott for British soul singer P.P. Arnold but decided to keep it for his own. Here’s a television version by The Small Faces with her:
Steve’s unmistakable vocals had the hint of their other hit “Itchycoo Park” released in 1967.
The song was one of the first pop singles to use flanging, an effect that can be heard in the bridge section after each chorus. Most sources credit the use of the effect to Olympic Studios engineer George Chkiantz who showed it to the Small Faces regular engineer Glyn Johns; he in turn demonstrated it to the group, who were always on the lookout for innovative production sounds, and they readily agreed to its use on the single.
After a long career and a hard life of fame, drugs, and alcohol abuse (which he partially recovered from), at about 6:30 am on 20 April 1991, a passing motorist saw the roof of Marriott’s cottage ablaze and called the fire brigade. It was reported that four fire engines were needed to put out the fire. Steve was found deceased in the bedroom.
In September 2007 Marriott, along with the other members of the Small Faces and manager Don Arden, were honoured with a plaque unveiled in Carnaby Street.
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(Quote): “In September 2007 Marriott, along with the other members of the Small Faces and manager Don Arden, were honoured with a plaque unveiled in Carnaby Street.”
…A rather sad footnote considering how badly Arden had financially exploited the Small Faces (and many other bands), depriving them of thousands of pounds of royalties…
Thanks for featuring this song…a pleasantly raw, dirty classic. The first iteration of Humble Pie–when Marriott, Frampton and Shirley were trading off vocals**–is always worth checking out as well.
**such as on here: https://invidio.us/watch?v=WAZlf_9ObLg
Unfortunately, managers ripping off bands seems to be a common part of, especially, bands in the earlier days of rock. Later bands started retaining high-priced lawyers before ever signing anything but still stories abound of mismanagement and theft.
Arden was certainly a typical sleaze, In 1976 a court ruled that Arden still owed the Small Faces £12,000 in unpaid royalties. He agreed to pay in monthly instalments, but disappeared after making just one payment. Marriott had a number of people who screwed him over the years. Late in 1978, the Inland Revenue informed Marriott that he still owed £100,000 in back tax from his Humble Pie days; he thought manager Dee Anthony had made all the necessary payments. O’Leary, Marriott’s manager, advised him to leave Britain or go to prison. He sold the house in Golders Green and moved to California. Marriott formed a new band called The Firm, with Jim Leverton and (most notably) former Mountain guitarist Leslie West. But after Leverton had to leave the US due to visa problems, and disputes over potential royalties, the band broke up. Marriott was by now completely broke and forced to collect empty glass bottles to redeem them for small change.
Another notable example was Badfingers Pete Ham and Tom Evans. Their manager, Stan Polley, was a stupendously corrupt individual that played a part in both of theirs suicides. Over Badfingers career he stole massive amounts of their money. With a current album suddenly withdrawn and their follow-up rejected, Badfinger spent the early months of 1975 trying to figure out how to proceed under the unclear legal situation. Their March 1975 salary cheques did not clear, and the April cheques never arrived. Panic set in, especially for Ham, who had recently bought a £30,000 house in Woking, Surrey, and whose girlfriend was expecting a child. According to Jackson, the band tried to continue without Polley’s involvement by contacting booking agents and prospective managers throughout London, but they were routinely declined because of their restrictive contracts with Polley and impending legal actions. Ham reportedly tried on many occasions to contact Polley by telephone during the early months of 1975, but was never able to reach him.
After this and numerous other instances of Polley screwing them over, on the night of 23 April 1975, Ham received a phone call from the United States, telling him that all his money had disappeared. Later that night he met Tom Evans and they went to The White Hart Pub in Surrey together, where Ham drank ten whiskies. Evans drove him home at three o’clock on the morning of 24 April 1975. Ham hanged himself in his garage studio in Woking later that morning. His suicide note—addressed to his girlfriend, Anne Herriot, and her son, Blair—blamed Polley for much of his despair and inability to cope with his disappointments in life. The note read: “Anne, I love you. Blair, I love you. I will not be allowed to love and trust everybody. This is better. Pete. P.S. Stan Polley is a soulless bastard. I will take him with me”.
On the night of 18 November 1983, Tom Evans and Molland had an extensive and heated argument on the telephone regarding past Badfinger income still in escrow from the Apple era. Following this argument, Evans hanged himself in the garden at his home in Richmond, England on the morning of 19 November 1983.
And these are just two stories. The list gets quite long.