Excerpts from an
article that appeared in the Danish magazine Vi Unge in
March 1971.
SUCCESS:
that is to be able to change one's shirt three times a day!
Christie got dkk
800 (krone) per day in Denmark before their success. Today
their payment is dkk 10,000, thanks to the success of Yellow
River and San Bernadino.
Once or twice
each year an unknown group appears at No 1 in the English
charts. There can be several reasons why, but one is that
there are a lot of up and coming groups in England.
The members of
Christie had for a long time been closed to success. But
in no time, Christie got a world-wide hit with Yellow
River.
Before Yellow
River, the members of Christie had played for several
years, without any success.
We paid the group
a visit in London, where Christie were doing a recording
at BBC Radio One.
In a pub nearby,
we talked to the leader Jeff Christie, 24, and Vic Elmes
about their past.
"I played
in a nightclub in Leeds together with a group whom I recorded
a few records with," Jeff said.
"We were
close to a breakthrough, but nothing happened and the group
broke up in may 1969.
"At this
point I had already written a lot of tunes, which I had
put down on a tape, and one day I was present at a concert
with The Tremeloes in another nightclub.
"I played
the tape for them, and the were quite fond of Yellow
River. It was their intention to get Yellow
River on an album, and later release it as a single.
But they dropped it.
"After that
the tape laid on Tremeloes manager Brian Longley's table
for a while. Brian rang me, and we put a group together
and recorded Yellow River."
Brian and Jeff got the two other members from the group
The Epics, where Vic Elmes played guitar and Mike Blakley
played the drums.
"The Epics
played several times in Denmark,
our fee was only dkk 800," Vic said.
"We know
every city and girl in this land. We did have a fantastic
time, but we did not get rich.
"The concert
engagements we had in Le Carousel only gave us enough money
to pay for expenses and pocketmoney.
"We made
a couple of records, but nobody noticed."
Yellow
River is very commercial. Is it their future music
style?
"We would
like to get close to this style of music," Jeff said.
"It is commercial
and we do like to play like that, but it is of course hard
to say what we are going to play in nine months time.
"In this
business one has to think in a commercial way. What we are
going to publish on records, is very much what we feel is
going to be a hit.
"We would
not have anything against playing other people's music,
but only if it is good enough.
"When you
have been in the business as long as the members of Christie
have, you know it inside out. Both the good and bad side
of the business."
Has success changed
them considerably?
"I do not
think I have changed much. Ok, now I smoke Benson and Hedges,
and I can afford to drink whisky!" Jeff said.
"And I change
my shirt three times a day," Vic added. With a huge
smile.
Christie has just
been touring in Poland. How was that?
"We only
played for one night, the concert was shot for television,
and showed for 25 million viewers," Jeff said.
"The audience
were great and enthusiastic. But outside the concert hall
it was a bit depressing."
Are they familiar
with the beat music from the west, in the East European
country?
"Yes, but
they are not able to buy the records legally," Jeff
said.
"They buy
it on the black market. Anyway they know us, several had
got pictures of us, and asked for autographs."
These days, Christie
is touring a lot. Everybody wants to see them alive.
Early this year,
Christie was touring South America, where they gave several
concerts in Argentina and Brazil.
There were places
where more than 15,000 people went to their concerts. They
have since been gigging through Europe and ended the tour
in England.
Jeff has managed
to take a short visit to Copenhagen and visit his Danish
girlfriend Connie, and to publicise the group's first CBS
album.
It was sold out
in a few days' time, but now it is available again in the
shops.
