CLEM CANTTINI, the drummer of the Tornados, will be visiting Reading on Saturday to celebrate the life and work of legendary record producer Joe Meek.
Club Velocity/New Mind promotions have teamed up with Reading Biscuit Factory for the event on Saturday.
Joe was a highly influential music producer, engineer, songwriter, and record label owner that operated mainly during the 1960s.
He was a self-taught electronics whizz, who amazingly produced a string of homemade hit singles in his flat above a leather shop in London.
He pioneered studio tools such as multiple over-dubbing on one-and two-track machines, close miking, direct impact of bass guitars, the compressor, and effects like echo and reverb, as well as sampling.
His biggest hits Have I the Right (Honeycombs), Just Like Eddie (Heinz),Johnny Remember me (John Leyton) and Telstar (The Tornados) – the first number one single in the United States and the UK.
Clem knew Joe well, and worked with everyone from Paul McCartney, Tom Jones Lulu, The Hollies, Roy Orbinson and The Yardbirds.
The evening includes a talk by Alan Wilson from Western Star Recordings.
Over the past two years, he has been digitising The Tea Chest Tapes, a huge part of popular music history. He is the only person to have heard everything on the tapes, and he will share his discoveries.
Afterwards, there will be a showing of Telstar, a film that tells Joe’s story, featuring James Corden, Ralph Little, Tom Burke, Ralf Little, Nigel Harman, Pam Ferris, Mathew Bayton, Justin Hawkins (the Darkness) and Carl Barat (The Libertines).
The film has not been shown in a cinema for years.
Geoff Godard, who lived in Reading wrote many songs for Joe Meek and his acts such as The Tornados, Heinz, John Leyton, and Screaming Lord Sutch.
After his death, at the age of 37 in 1967, thousands of unreleased tapes were discovered. These were labelled the ‘Tea Chest Tapes’, as they were stored in tea chests.
Containing over 4,000 hours of music. Including very early recordings by David Bowie, Gene Vincent, Tom Jones, Billy Fury, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, and Mitch Mitchell.
In September 2020, Cherry Red Records announced they have purchased them, and the first releases are planned for this summer.
The event takes place on Saturday, July 16, from 6.30pm, at the Biscuit Factory in Broad Street Mall. Tickets cost £20, and can be purchased from wegottickets.com
