Rare Photographs from the Black and White Era
Eric Burdon and Herman at the Cromwellian in London c 1965
At the time I was teaching Eric how to drink Scotch and Coke and play a game called “Cardinal Puff”, which he never quite finished.
For the record, I think Eric Burdon was, and still is, one of the top 3 singers form the British Invasion, and we both recorded our hits in the same Kingsway London bank vault.
This rare picture was sent to me by my friend Harold Bronson, one of the original owners of Rhino Records, whom I met many years ago at the Westwood Store where I spent many happy hours adding to my record collection, and discussing music and even trends.
Hello Everyone
Herman and the Hermits at the Cavern in Liverpool 1963
Hello everyone.
It’s me again.
Perhaps you are new to this blog, so I shall explain who I am and what my role is here.
I am Peter Noone also Herman of Herman’s Hermits.
There are impostors out there amongst us, but they know who they are and so do you. There is but one Herman and the word Hermits is plural unlike the word Herman’s which is possessive so I own it, and I don’t share, except with my sisters.
As a teenager I was asked frequently was I a boy or a girl, because I chose to wear my hair longer than the other boys and their friends, so I went to a silly jiu jitsu karate place, where they taught me how to protect myself in close contact, and after learning how to fight, they taught me how to climb trees and run, and that has always been my style of attack.
“Oh look a gang of yobboes!”
Oh look I see a tree with low hanging limbs which I can climb and wait until the lads with the low hanging hands have found another “THE KARATE KID” and kicked his arse. I can wait until 2am before my Dad comes to look for me.
He will probably suggest I get my hair cut to fit in!
I also learned at a very early age, that if you ducked onstage rather than catch a flying empty beer bottle with your face, that you could have a long career as the lead singer of a musical group.
I am only sharing this with you, in case you think I am some sort of guru or all in wrestler, who can help you in any way.
This is not the case. I am not a knight in shining armour. I am only acting like one and trying to make Shelley Fabares like me as much as she likes her husband Lou Adler.
I am a quick learner, but I have a short memory, so sometimes I forget that you cannot ogle someone else’s oxen, so I am constantly eyeing the local forestry commissions charges in case all they have left are saplings. No one wants to climb a sapling.
The original Hermits and I, have recently been helping each other pay for past mistakes and financial shenanigans (which is totally unfair to all the lovely Shenanigan family, as they aren’t the bastards who robbed us, and it has been great fun for me (Herman) to hang out and be creative with original Hermit Keith Hopwood, who is a fine upstanding chap who lives in a real Manor House, in a manner which befits him and his child bride Maria, and we discuss the future again, rather than the past.
Our past was all glory and we spend hours reminiscing about the humble beginnings and riding to “gigs” on bikes and the drums under the stairs of a double decked English bus (Number 23).
Our reminiscences take us to marvellous world-wide adventures and much laughter, and we always close down the restaurant in the wee hours, which is as long as we can hold it.
He reminds me of things I had forgotten and I remember people’s names, and his Mum and Dad, and he remembers mine and we all feel incredibly lucky to have been brought here by them at just the right time in history.
Backstage with Herman winners
I will try to keep this up to date, but it is getting difficult as we have so many concerts, and so many Lifetime Members of the Very Fun Peter Noone Fan Club, and I have so little time between United Airlines connections (joke) so here is a starter.
Me and Michelle Moore in Manson Moshington
Backstage is very luxurious sometimes!
