20 Arundel Gardens is a 2 bedroom terraced house of which in 1957 Joe Meek rented the ground floor flat . According to sources, had you have visited at the time you could have been forgiven for thinking you had stumbled on the lair of a mad scientist! Reel to Reel tape machines, Echo units and microphones filled every square inch of the tiny one bedroom flat with a sea of cables carpeting the floors.
Meeks tenure at Arundel was cut short when he held a record release party for his September 1957 produced track " Sizzling Hot" by JImmy MIller ( Jimmy kept in touch with meek and often attended Joe's 304 seience evenings). The event got a little out of hand as a reported 150 guests attended. Meek apparently was given marching orders soon afterwards.
Dave adams noted the elusive "Black Box" to have first been present at Arundel Gardens, perhaps borrowed by Meek after its uses on his sessions during the day at Lansdowne. Adams recalled the Box having been through various transformations and springs, " The only time i saw inside of it i was just a kid who didn't know my AC from my DC, but the spring itself was wired at both ends"
Adrian Kerridge notes Joe to have carried these " Black Boxes" around in cases taped-up. Adrian explained there were in fact several Black Box units, one of which originated from an old HMV fan heater used to heat up the offices at Lansdowne. Joe got hold of a broken one and made a spring echo unit using transducers.
Copyright © 2024 joemeeksociety.co.uk - All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy