Eliot Stein Interviews Peter Noone best known from Herman’s Hermits ©Eliot Stein Q: Peter, does it still excite you to think about the year 1964? A: Oh yes...an incredible year. I left school that year. I had a hit record! A: My father negotiated one year off for me to get out of school to travel for A: the record..and I never went back! A: By September of 1964 I was hanging out with The Beatles and the Stones! Q: You were 15 at the time? A: Yeah. I lived in Manchester. Q: Was there really a band HERMAN'S HERMITS? A: Yes... A: There was a road band...and then in 1965 we would use other musicians A: on our records--people like Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones A: It wasn't that the Hermits were bad players...it’s just that they were very A: talented...and because we toured so much...we needed others A: to help on the recordings. Q: Was the road band the Heartbeats? A: The HEARTBEATS was in 1961 and 1962... A: THE HEARTBEATS became Herman's Hermits... A: It was Pete Novack and The HEARTBEATS and I was Pete! Q: Why the name change? A: We needed what we thought was a hipper name!... A: We were watching the Bullwinkle show and we thought it was A: “Herman and Mr. Peabody"... A: Somebody suggested that we looked like "bloody Hermits" so we took the A: Herman and the Hermits and put it together! Q: Are you 5' 6"? A: No ...I am 5 foot 11 inches.. You are thinking of Davy Jones!!! Q: Peter, you were a bigger hit in the U.S. than England. Why do you think that was so? A: That's not true... A: We had many more hits in England... A: I think Rolling Stone wrote that and they got it ALL WRONG... (NOTE FROM ELIOT: All comparisons of British and U.S. Top 40 Charts 1964-1967 show that the group had many, many more U.S. Hits and much more successful U.S. albums) Q: “Henry the 8th”... there is a story behind that... Was it an accidental hit? A: It was purely accidental... A: We decided we needed an English Music Hall kind of song... A: My grandfather used to sing it at parties when he got drunk... A: I made up "second verse same as the first"... A: there were actually NUMEROUS verses to this song! Q: Were you surprised at how Americans reacted to it? A: No...I knew they would like it!... A: I was 16 at the time and I liked it! Q: I've always liked the song "East West"...any thoughts on it? A: Very interesting... A: The first "on the road again" type-song... A: The second song that was putting down being a rock and roll band... A: But it didn't do well. Q: How come we can't find your movie "Hold On" on video? A: I bought all the copies so nobody could see it. A: It was made in the Presley genre...let's try and make a movie in 10 days. A: Well..we only shot 9 days and that's why there is no ending. A: Same producers and writers as the Elvis movies! Q:As long as we're on movies...how about "When the Boys Meet the Girls?" A: YIKKKES!!! A: Another Elvis-type production... A: The same story as "Hold On" except Connie Francis was A: my love interest! A: Every shot in the movie is done in profile because I had a wisdom tooth A: making my face too big on one side!... Q: Did you enjoy making films? A:Loved making them. A: Thousands of kids were hanging outside of the studio. A:They thought we were the next Cary Grant! Q:Why didn't you go on tour with the Monkees in '86 with the rest of the Herman's Hermits? A: They didn't ask me. A: I left the band in 1972...and they were the Hermits for a while... A: and then they renamed themselves Herman's Hermits... A: It isn't the Herman's Hermits without me...just as it wouldn't be A: the Stones without Jagger! Q: Any unreleased stuff that can now come out? A: Alan Klein owns the masters to the original hits. A: Some great BBC stuff!... A: It will eventually come out! Q: What are your favorite Hermit's songs? A: "I'm Into Something Good"..."Kind of a Hush"..and the work I did A: in a band called the Tremblers in the 80's. A: In a live show I do Hermits songs and other people's songs! Q: How did you get that unique sound on "Mrs. Brown" ?? Is that a guitar? A: It was a Gretsch Country Gentleman...with a damper on it...under the A: pickup... you turn it on and you get that sound! Q:I guess you liked doing the concert on the mall in Washington in May? A: A fantastic concert!... A: It was a family audience aged 3-63!!! A: It's nice to play for 100,000 people! A: I hope we will return!