The Jimi Hendrix Experience (The Experience): Band Biography

The Jimi Hendrix Experience is a cult band that has contributed to the history of rock. The band gained recognition from heavy music fans thanks to their guitar sound and innovative ideas.

The History of The Jimi Hendrix Experience

The history of the rock band began with the usual acquaintance of Jimi Hendrix with Chas Chandler. This momentous event took place in 1966.

Chandler was part of The Animals at the time. Chandler heard about Hendrix from Linda Keith (Keith Richards' girlfriend).

The girl knew about Chandler's plans. The young man wanted to leave touring and realize himself as a producer. Linda spoke about the fact that there is one musician in Greenwich Village who could become part of his project.

Chandler and Linda attended a Hendrix concert at Cafe Wha?. Hendrix played the blues, accompanied by a drummer and bass player. The musician did not sing, because he did not consider himself a brilliant singer.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience (The Experience): Band Biography

Forming a group

According to Chandler's memoirs, the musician made a good impression on him, and he had a plan in his head to create a future rock band. Chandler hired Mike Jeffery, then the manager of The Animals, as his assistant.

Chandler met the musician and then invited Hendrix to move to England, but he began to have doubts. Only after Hendrix learned that the move would get to know Eric Clapton did he give a positive answer.

In September 1966, Hendrix moved to England. There he settled in one of the best hotels Hyde Park Towers. Hendrix and Chandler set about searching for musicians.

Chandler knew that former The Animals vocalist Eric Burdon was planning to form a new lineup (he advertised for an audition for Eric Burdon & The New Animals), from which he planned to find candidates for the Jimi Hendrix band. Noel Redding was soon found.

When Redding finally moved to the London area, Burdon had already found a suitable guitarist, so when Chandler asked Redding to audition, he accepted. The audition went off without a hitch.

At the end of the day, Jimi Hendrix and Noel Redding went to a nightclub where they had a long talk about music. Hendrix invited Redding to play in a new team. He agreed and rehearsals continued the next day.

The talented John Mitchell, who is known to the general public as Mitch, sat down on the drums. Mitch Mitchell already had experience in various teams. On his account there was work in the groups Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, Riot Squad, The Tornadoes.

At the time of enrollment in the new team, Mitch had just left the composition of Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. Thus, the composition was formed already in 1966.

There were no problems with the recruitment of musicians for the new band, and we had to work hard on the name. Options for how to name the rock band were discussed for a very long time.

Group name history

The name The Experience came from manager Mike Jeffery. Hendrix was not enthusiastic about the offer, but later accepted.

On October 11, 1966, the musicians signed a contract. Interestingly, the soloists of the rock group did not study the nuances of the contract, but simply put their signatures. After a while, they regretted their inattention.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience on stage

In October 1966, the debut of a new musical group took place in the Olympia Concert Hall. The soloists rehearsed the number for only three days, but this did not affect the quality of the performance.

It is noteworthy that at the time of the performance in the concert hall, the group did not have their own material.

The guys found a way out by performing songs: Hey Joe, Wild Thing, Have Mercy, Land of 1000 Dances and Everybody Needs Somebody to Love, which were then popular.

And the musicians did not like to rehearse. The soloists of the rock band said that it was all reminiscent of forced labor. The guys liked to perform on stage much more.

Mitch Mitchell missed rehearsals or was late for them. This situation continued until Chandler fined him a month's wages.

Enterprising Chandler took care of the image of the musicians. Stage costumes were designed especially for the soloists.

In addition, the skin color of Jimi Hendrix attracted attention. Interestingly, the other two musicians were white. There was no other band like it on stage.

The first disagreements arose in the group. Not one of the legendary trio did not want to take on the responsibility of the singer. Hendrix occasionally took on the role of vocalist. It is noteworthy that he agreed to sing only in the USA. Most likely, this is due to the color of his skin.

It so happened that it was Hendrix who became the main vocalist of the band. His voice was special, it combined cold confidence with nervous intonations. Often the singer even switched to recitative.

The manager of The Who once heard Hendrix perform at the Scotch of St. James.

The performance made a strong impression on the young man, and he invited the guys to record their debut single at the Track Records recording studio.

However, the guys agreed that they would record their debut collection at the Polydor studio, and when Track started working in March 1967, they would turn to Polydor for help.

Hard work on debut single Stone Free

When the musicians returned from France, where they "warmed up" the audience at the Johnny Hallyday concert, they went to De Lane Lea Studios. It was in this place that the first work on the debut single Hey Joe was carried out.

However, neither the musicians nor Chandler were enthusiastic about the work. In the days that followed, Chandler took Hendrix to various recording studios to get a quality sound.

In addition, it was necessary to record the composition for the second side of the single. Hendrix wanted to cover the Land of 1000 Dances track. However, Chandler was against the vocalist's plans and insisted on recording his own work.

As a result of this, the first song composed by Hendrix for the group, Stone Free, appeared.

The first months of the existence of the new team were difficult. The money was running out. The guys did not receive offers to perform, they were in despair.

Chandler sold five guitars to pay for an appointment at the Bag of Nails club. In this institution gathered "the right people."

Phillip Hayward (owner of several nightclubs) invited Hendrix to join the backing band for the New Animals after the band's performance and promised him a modest salary.

Success and recognition were not far off. After a performance at the Croydon club, fame fell upon the legendary rock band. The band finally got a job.

In 1966, the musicians presented the single Hey Joe. It was not played on the radio, but this did not reduce interest in the rock band. At this time, The Jimi Hendrix Experience was at its peak.

Peak popularity of The Jimi Hendrix Experience

The musical composition Hey Joe became a real hit. This meant that the doors to any nightclub and concert hall were open for a rock band.

About the band's frontman Hendrix began to write in the press. It was a signal that the musicians were on the right track.

The brightest performance of the group took place at the Blaises nightclub. The main audience of the institution is writers, musicians, agents and managers. During the performance of the legendary trio, the club was overcrowded.

The following day, the Melody Maker featured articles about the band. The article talked about the fact that Hendrix played several chords with his teeth. The single Hey Joe, meanwhile, occupied a leading position in the country's music charts.

Soon the musicians went to the recording studio to record the new single Purple Haze, which was released on March 17th. A week later, he took 4th position in the local music charts.

In 1967 The Jimi Hendrix Experience went on tour with The Walker Brothers, Engelbert Humperdinck and Cat Stevens.

The tour went very well. Despite the fact that the groups played "different music", the stage was filled with a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, which attracted the audience very much.

“Hide and seek” of the team from fans

During this period of time, The Jimi Hendrix Experience became a real star. Musicians even had to hide from their fans. Soloists were less likely to leave their apartments during the daytime.

Chandler was jubilant. He arranged several concerts a day. Finally, he had wads of money in his hands. Meanwhile, the musicians were tired of the concerts, very often they could be seen in a frenzy.

They relieved nervous tension with the help of strong alcohol and drugs.

In 1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience added their first debut album, Are You Experienced, to their discography.

The band's debut album is a kind of mix of blues, rock and roll, rock and psychedelia. The album caused delight both among music critics and fans of the band.

Tour and new album

In 1967, the group gave a performance at the popular rock theater Saville, which was located in London.

The concert, which was supposed to take place at the end of August, was canceled due to the death of Brian Epstein. Hendrix still performed there, but on October 8, along with Arthur Brown and Eire Apparent.

In November of the same 1967, the band toured the UK with Pink Floyd, The Move, The Nice, Amen Corner. As always, the band's performances were held on a grand scale.

Around the same time, the musicians began to collect material for a new album. In 1967, the band expanded their discography with Axis: Bold As Love. The compilation was released in the UK.

In their interview, the musicians admitted that the recording of this collection was difficult for them. Chandler joined the creative process in every possible way. He wanted to have full control over the recording of the compilation, which made it very difficult for the rest of the band.

At the same time, the relationship between Redding and Hendrix began to deteriorate. Noel didn't want to record the same part over and over again. Jimi, on the contrary, wanted to bring the compositions to perfection.

Despite tensions within the band, Axis: Bold As Love was #5 on the US charts. It was another hit in the top ten.

Jimi Scandal

In January 1968, The Jimi Hendrix Experience went on a short tour. There was some minor controversy here. In one of the hotel rooms, Jimi was detained by the police for disturbing the order in a public place.

The fact is that the musician drank too much, having come to his hotel room, he began to break everything. At 6 o'clock in the morning, one of the neighbors called the police and the musician was detained.

Later, Chandler had to pay a significant amount of the fine in order for Jimi to go free.

Performing artists on the same stage with Jim Morrison

In winter, The Jimi Hendrix Experience went on a tour of the United States of America. The musicians managed to perform on the same stage with Jim Morrison.

The tour ended in the spring of 1967. Redding and Mitchell returned to London, while Hendrix remained in America.

In April, a record called Smash Hits was released in the UK. The collection took a “modest” 4th position. In the United States of America, the collection was released only in 1969. In the American charts, the album took an honorable 6th position.

In April 1968, the musicians began recording their third studio album, Electric Lady land. For some reason, the recording of the collection was constantly "dragged out", it was released only in the fall.

The recording of the collection was deliberately interrupted by Chandler, who organized concerts for the wards. Hendrix added fuel to the fire by trying to bring the tracks to perfection. More than one day could be recorded over one composition.

In addition, Jimi wanted to diversify the sound with studio effects. The relationship between Chandler and Redding was again tense. As a result, Chandler made a difficult decision for himself - he retired from the group.

Now everything was in the "hands" of Hendrix. At that time, Redding was tired of recording the album, and even dared not to come to the recording studio at the agreed time.

Despite the fact that the recording of the collection was accompanied by many problems, the result exceeded all expectations. A few weeks after the recording of the record, the album took the top of the country's music charts. He received gold status.

Music lovers and music critics highly appreciated the work of the band. After the release of the album, Hendrix became a cult face, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience became the most sought-after band in the world. IN

In Britain, the success of the collection was slightly less. In the country, the disc took only the 5th position. In honor of the release of the third album, the musicians went on a big tour.

If we take into account the breaks between performances, then for about a year the group was on the road.

Breakup of The Jimi Hendrix Experience

The busy tour schedule had a positive effect on the financial situation of the band, but at the same time the musicians were tired and nervous. There was a strong conflict.

The team stopped delighting fans with new songs. Nobody spoke about the release of a new album. In the autumn of 1968, rumors began to circulate that the cult team was going to lose ground.

The musicians planned to do solo projects, but twice a year Hendrix, Redding and Mitchell united under the name The Experience to play concerts. All soloists supported this proposal.

In 1968, when they recorded the album Electric Lady land, Redding had already become the leader of the Fat Mattress musical group.

The new group included his friends, and part-time musicians of the band Living Kind: vocalist Neil Landon, guitarist Jim Leverton, and drummer Eric Dillon. Redding took the position of soul guitarist.

The union of artists for a joint tour of Europe

In 1969, former members of The Jimi Hendrix Experience joined forces to tour Europe. However, now the relationship between the musicians was even more tense.

The soloists of the group tried to intersect only on stage. Outside, everyone had their own dressing room, no friendly conversations, no contact.

Hendrix admitted in one of his interviews that he no longer enjoys playing on stage, where he just stands and plays the guitar - there were no rituals that he performed before.

Noel straightened his naturally curly hair to avoid being compared to Hendrix. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was playing on stage, but the atmosphere wasn't the same anymore. This was felt not only by the musicians themselves, but also by the fans.

The last performance of the legendary band took place on June 29, 1969 at the Denver Music Festival, which began without much adventure.

During the performance, lively "fans" tried to get onto the stage to their idols. It all ended with the police having to use tear gas. But the wind blew not in the direction of ardent fans, but on the stage where the group performed.

The soloists did not immediately understand what was happening, but when the mucous membrane of the eye was affected, they tried to leave the stage. The musicians failed to leave the stage, as it was surrounded by a dense wall of people.

One of the workers managed to drive the car right up to the stage, and the musicians quickly left the festival.

This was the last performance of the legendary rock band. Hendrickson admitted that it was one of the worst days of his life.

An angry army of fans escorted the musicians' van straight to the hotel. The soloists of the group have not yet experienced such fear.

Interesting facts about The Jimi Hendrix Experience

According to Hendrickson, Mitch Mitchell got a place in the group by accident. The fact is that Danbury also claimed the place of the musician. Then Jimi and Chandler tossed a coin. According to the results of the draw, Mitch was in the team.
The rock band's scheduled performance at the Monterey Festival sparked a dispute between Hendrix and Pete Townshend of The Who. Musicians also performed at the festival. Everyone wanted to come out at the end: both Hendrix and Townsend were planning "shock finishes". A coin was tossed and The Who lost.
When the band performed on the program Lulu, which was also live, Hendrix dedicated the number to Cream and played the song until the end of the show.
It is known that in the family of Jimi Hendrix there were Negro, Irish and Native American roots. Therefore, it is not surprising where he got such a skin color from.
Keith Lambert, with whom the soloists once wanted to sign a contract, was so impressed with Hendrix's performance in Scotch of St. James, who wrote the text of the contract with Chandler on a glass of beer.

Critics about the music of The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Despite the recognition and popularity of the rock band, not everyone liked the compositions of the musicians. Many did not accept the appearance of the team.

Many criticized Jimi's appearance and behavior on stage. Ginger Baker gave this assessment: “I saw that Jimi is a talented musician.

At the beginning of his creative career, he made a really favorable impression on me. But later, when he fell to his knees, he began to play with his teeth ... such “things” were obviously not for me.

Hendrix was also criticized by black people. They believed that the musician perverts rock and roll. But every legendary band has fans and detractors.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience (The Experience): Band Biography