Paddy Corea - Demon Fuzz
Paddy Corea has been occupied many musical realms in his music career that spans over 50 years. He’s played sax with bands such as Pan Invaders, Mood Indigo, Blue Rivers and of course DEMON FUZZ. Corea was kind enough to do an interview and at what better time as we celebrate the 51st anniversary of the band’s most legendary LP “AFREAKA!” Sit back and take a trip around the sun. Enjoy!
Young Island circa: 1956.
An early illustration by Paddy circa: 1959.
I will be 80 yrs old come JAN 1st 2022. (NEW YEARS day) born in a tiny nation called ST VINCENT and the GRENADINES in the WEST INDIES .. It’s just 100 miles west of BARBADOS. I HAVE NO FORMAL MUSICAL TRAINING Am completely self taught. As a kid I messed around with GUITAR, PIANO and QUATRO. I got into playing the STEEL DRUMS at about 13 thanks to SAMUEL (SPARROW) DUNCAN... He taught me to play and to even build the instrument. Within 3 years me and my little STEEL-DRUM BAND (PAN INVADERS) were challenging all the big guns of ST VINCENT and beating them..
Pan Invaders circa: 1960.
After GRAMMAR SCHOOL my dad posted me off to ENGLAND (July 1960) I picked up my musical skills there and ran with it. I bought an old Lignatone BARITONE SAX and started learning.. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.. The FIRST real band I played with was a local (Stoke Newington London) band ICKFORD TOMAZ and his LATIN AMERICAN JAZZ BAND. Quite a name for some simple musicians. We were a 2 for 1 band. Many of us played the steel-drums also. (see photo) Because of the VARIETY of music and genres we played that was a huge learning experience.
I then moved on to MOOD INDIGO thanks to DEL PARAMOR. The band was just formed (late 1965 and DEL saw me playing in a PUB and thought my style would compliment his.. He played TENOR and CLARINET. He was absolutely right. MOOD INDIGO had NO GUITAR at a time when every band in England had 2... MOOD INDIGO was doing JAZZ ROCK long before BLOOD SWEAT and TEARS and long before CHICAGO but our music was strongly BLUES ORIENTED. Another giant experience for me. DAVID ESSEX was the SINGER and sometimes DRUMMER. We had to change drummers because of unreliability. With MOOD INDIGO I got my first experience in a recording studio. WE recorded 5 or 6 tracks for DECCA (in West Hampstead) but those tracks were never issued. It is said we were NOT POP oriented enough and they were looking for TOP 40 material..
Mood Indigo circa: 1966.
Paddy in London circa: 1966.
I left MOOD INDIGO and joined BLUE RIVERS and the MAROONS.,,,This band worked quite a lot but got small money.. This is where I realized that RACE and COLOR played a stifling game even in the music business. We did one recording I played on 2 tracks and did some of the arrangements BLUE BEAT in my SOUL EMI Records SX 6192 Still available.,,,,I left BLUE RIVERS to join the SKATELITES (NOT the original Jamaican band) We did a knock of of the ORIGINAL BAND (name spelled different) The money was adequate and definitely better than all the other bands I had worked with. I even played with the ORIGINAL SKATELITES when they came on tour. I was the second TENOR to ROLAND ALPHONSO (their other Tenor (Tommy McCook) didn’t get a visa to enter UK because he had a conviction for WEED in Jamaica). By this time BLUE RIVERS and the MAROONS had gone off to AFRICA. Circa 1969. Sent there by their AGENT/MANAGER the great ZIGGY JACKSON.
The Skatelites circa: 1967.
ZIGGY JACKSON was an impresario par excellence. He had his own recording company MELLODISC and he specialised in WEST INDIAN music. LORD KITCHENER one of the greatest calypso singers recorded for him when he came to ENGLAND on the now famous WINDRUSH 1948.,,,One of the musicians on LORD KIOTCHENERS recordings is a mentor of mine from ST VINCENT and the GRENADINES.. The magnificent SHAKE KEANE (one of the greatest JAZZ trumpeter/flugelhorn players on that side of the pond. He was also a POET of world renown. ZIGGY called me up and with his slick talk persuaded me to join BLUE RIVERS in AFRICA (MOROCCO) because as he said they wanted a wailing soloist.. I spent about 6 months in MOROCCO and came back to England via SPAIN and FRANCE and gigged all the way thru those countries until we got back to LONDON. A fascinating experience and an educating one too. Some of the places we spent time, ALICANTE, TORREMOLINOS, BENIDORM, SAN FELIEU DE GUIXALS, BARCELONA, (all in Spain) and PERIGEAN, AVIGNON, MONTPELLIER, ST TROPEZ, LYON, PARIS all in FRANCE.
BR & TM at the Hilton Hotel in London circa: 1966.
BR & TM at The Marquee Club in Soho, London circa: 1968.
DEMON FUZZ
Born about the end of 1969.. The name DEMON FUZZ is entirely mine. We made a short list of names that suited our mindset then and DEMON FUZZ was the overwhelming pick. The IDEA of and for DEMON FUZZ had its GENESIS in MOROCCO. We were exposed to a different kind of musical scale and it titivated us. This is where I learnt the SUFI ARABIC MUSICAL SCALE. Very different to the WESTERN EUROPEAN SOL FA musical scale.,,,,We were also listening to people like ORNETTE COLEMAN, COLTRANE, JOHN HANDY, OLIVER NELSON, CHICK COREA (no relation) ROLAND KIRK, INDO JAZZ FUSIONS (Shake Keane and Joe Harriott Colabbo). This was like the new UNIVERSITY of NEW MUSIC. When we got back to ENGLAND I quit BUE RIVERS and some of the guys left with me with the express purpose to FORGE a new kind of band with a new kind of music.. We struggled for a few months with our ideas, and little by little we constructed what we had in our heads. A full collaborative effort…
Demon Fuzz circa: 1970.
We started writing our own music and delicately picking specific other tracks that we decided FIT OUR IDEAS. (like SANTANAS BLACK MAGIC WOMAN and PERSUASION, DIANA ROSS' SET ME FREE WHY DON’T YOU BABE, ELECTRIC FLAG' FIND YOURSELF ANOTHER COUNTRY). Also I went thru many singers (hired and fired) until I met SELWYN (SMOKEY) ADAMS. SMOKEY was like another horn in the band not just a voice. One of our biggest exposures came at the HOLLYWOOD (England) MUSIC FESTIVAL(Englands Woodstock) We opened up the FESTIVAL Some English bands on the bill were, TITUS GROAN, TRADER HORNE, MUNGO JERRY, WILDMOUTH, MIKE COOPER and a few others The international big guns were , JOSE FELICIANO, GRATEFUL DEAD, TRAFFIC with Stevie Winwood and his brother MUFF), GINGER BAKERS AIR-FORCE, BLACK SABBATH, SCREAMING LORD SUTCH,FAMILY, COLOSSEUM and a few others.
Hollywood Music Fest feat. Demon Fuzz circa: 1970.
RED BUS ARTIST AGENCY
(Elliott Cohen and Elis Elias and Barry Murray) were our agents and also the PRODUCERS of the HOLLYWOOD MUSIC FESTIVAL.. I had known ELLIOTT since his university days (London University) we knew each other back in STOKE NEWINGTON where we both used to live).. Apart from the HOLLYWOOD MUSIC FESTIVAL the only thing RED BUS did as far as promotion was a series of PENNY CONCERTS. We (and the other bands ) only got expenses for these gigs..
DAWN RECORDS
Was a subsidiary of PYE INTERNATIONAL an electronics company with strong ties to the BRITISH MILITARY.,,,The DAWN STUDIOS were in MARBLE ARCH just behind SELFRIDGES DEPT STORE.. We did the AFREAKA recording in 2 nights. We were very rehearsed and tight so there wasn’t much to correct in the studio.. My then girlfriend SANDRA KARNOLD from MARINETTE WISCONSIN was in the studio with us and was blown away by SMOKEYS version of AH PUT A SPELL ON YOU.. We have 2 versions of this song. The technical staff at DAWN were superb, BARRY MURRAY isn’t much of a producer. We were not happy with the final product and even before the master tape was cut we expressed this. I would NOT have dampened down the bands sound, I would have boosted the BASS by 30% more, I would have double tracked the horn section. Between BROOMS (the late CLARENCE CROSDALE, and I) we played about 6 horns.. RED BUS AGENCY stole the up front money that we should have gotten from DAWN.
Dawn Records promo photo of the band.
DEMON FUZZ sparked an intense interest in a new sound a new kind of music. Several bands (mainly black bands) sprung up after us with their attempts to forge a new sound. CYMANDE, PROTOPLASM, OSIBISA, NOIR, and a few others ..Some were even more successful than us. The universities loved our brand of music and may of our gigs came via them. There are several clubs I must give thanks and mention to because they allowed us to jam our music with little or no attempt to restrict us. The CUE CLUB (run by the legendary Count SUCKLE) in PADDINGTON LONDON, the BAMBOO CLUB in BRISTOL owned by TONY BULLIMORE and his wife, TWISTED WHEEL in MANCHESTER, ARAWAK in HUDDERSFIELD, the INTERNATIONAL CLUB in FRANCIS TOWN LEEDS, the FLAMINGO, BAG O NAILS, BLAISES, KLOOKS KLEEK, SPEAKEASY, MARQUEE, CARIB CONTINENTAL, HAMMERSMITH PALAIS all in L;ONDON. THANK YOU BIG TIME..
Afreka was distributed and released on the 11th of September in 1970 in the United States by Janus Records. It was a Billboard "4-STAR" selection in June 1971.
ROOTS and OFFSHOOTS
I left the band and gigged around with several bands in early 1972 (CARL DOUGLAS and the BIG STAMPEDE, FREDDIE MACK EXTRAVAGANZA to name 2) Before I left we went into a studio in ISLINGTON LONDON and laid down ROOTS, this was some of the music we played in the clubs along with AFREAKA tracks. As you know in the clubs people come to dance and eat and drink and boy to meet girl and girl to meet boy etc so serious music ain’t for that environment. So we interspersed our AFREAKA with ROOTS music. I brought the masters with me to America. I released ROOTS and OFFSHOOTS on my label PACO here in NEW YORK.
In 1976, after Demon Fuzz dissolved, their second album, Roots and Offshoots, was self-published under Paddy’s very own label, Paco Media.
I did a few sessions on other peoples records and mid JULY 1972 I left ENGLAND for USA (NEW YORK). I played with several local bands in New York but settled down with the NIGHT BLUES for about 18 months. I got into RECORD RETAIL MANAGEMENT by this time. I managed the biggest record retail in TIMES SQUARE (RECORD HAVEN STORE) right where the BALL drops on new years eve night. Then I managed RECORD HOLE opposite the APOLLO on 125th St HARLEM for MAL LOCUS who had 3 stores and a wholesale record place in the HARLEM area. It is said that MAL is the younger brother to FRANK LOCUS Americas most wanted BLACK GANGSTER in those days.
Self Portrait by Paddy drawn in Harlem, NY circa: 1975.
Paddy working on his art in Brooklyn, NY circa: 1977.
In 1976 I was invited by my old (ST VINCENT) friend FRANKIE McKINTOSH to bring my horns down to a studio on 52nd St. where he was producing an LP for BECKET the calypso singer called DISCO CALYPSO with a now famous track MARIJUANA. Several tracks were used in the movie THE DEEP. It’s on CASABLANCA. While all this was going on I had gone back to the steel-drums. Played at carnival time in TRINIDAD, ST VINCENT (every year) ANTIGUA early 90s NEW YORK, BOSTON, BALTIMORE, OPA LOCKA Florida, and several other places.,,I got out of music retail after STEREO STOP on 59th St. but stayed in retail management with CVS DRUG STORES. In 1979 I got into data processing and after several major companies I ended up with ADP as a computer manager. I retired from there.
MEMORIES
My finest memories are the countries I visited as a musician I have been ALL over EUROPE and parts of North AFRICA USA CANADA, been to MEXICO several times, back to MOROCCO, INDIA, EGYPT, every WEST INDIAN ISLAND except JAMAICA. Specific music memories, AH PUT A SPELL ON YOU in the recording studio. POWERFUL even now. Playing the LYCEUM and the ROYAL ALBERT HALL, the CAVERN (Liverpool) HOLLYWOOD MUSIC FESTIVAL, PHUN CITY FESTIVAL, and all the musicians I have met along the way. Guys like the late BROTHER JAMES (Fitzoy James) FUZZY SAMUELS, CONRAD and REGINALD ISIDORE, BYRON LYE-FOOK, RONNIE JONES, SHAKE KEANE, WENDELL RICHARDSON, LITTLE JESUS, the mighty RICO (Rodriguez,, the Trombonist who gave me the courage to improvise), SPARTACUS, EDDIE GRANT, the mighty SPARROW, FRANKIE McKINTOSH, PHIL SEAMAN, GINGER BAKER, GEORGIE FAME, TERRY EDMUNDS, DEL PARAMOR, DAVID ESSEX, FREDDIE MACK, WILSON PICKETT, PATTIE LABELLE, CARL DOUGLAS, JACKIE EDWARDS (gave me my first real pro gig with his band) ROD STEWART, BLUE RIVERS, TAN TAN, ROLAND ALPHONSO, JACKIE MITTO, LESTER STERLING, JUNIOR HANSON KERR (the Wailers), LONG JOHN BALDRY, SONNY STITT, MONGO SANTAMARIA, ZIGGY JACKSON, MONGEZI FEZA, and so many more I might have forgotten over time.
ITS BEEN A RICH RIDE AND I ENJOYED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. I hope I haven’t left out anything. Also I built the FIRST COMPLETE STEEL-BAND in ENGLAND (circa 1963 Highway Combe).
“You can only be RIDDEN if your BACK is BENT
in order to have a friend
you've got to be a friend…”
-pax et justicia et amor
Dakota Brown
