I got a treat for you all today. I’ve had the pleasure of being able to interview Bing Kinsey! He’s a friend and former producer of The Flames and he was kind enough to answer my questions. For history on The Flames, look at these articles:
http://www.thekinseyreport.com/the%20flames.htm
https://www.mollenkramer.nl/flames/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flames
Beryl Parkey: What were the personalities of the band members?
Bing Kinsey: Rather difficult. I haven’t seen Blondie since the early 70s, and really had very little to do with the group when he joined. Steve always had a confidence about him. He was very affable and generous to a fault. Money didn’t mean much to him as long as he could keep going. Brother was rather shy, and probably lacked a bit of confidence, but was a jovial figure among his close friends. He was a bit sensitive and shared some of his feelings with me. Can’t say much about Ricky because he was rather young and quiet. I know he has grown in confidence. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly. I have only seen him twice in the last 20 years, but used to correspond with him on behalf of his mother. Again with Baby, I didn’t have much to do with the group during his time with them as I was running my own record company, TMO.
BP: Sources list The Flames as having formed in 1963 and Ricky joining in 1964. Your website contradicts that. What year did the band form and when did Ricky join?
BK: The Flames were formed in 1963. I’m relatively sure that their first public performance was in 1963, as that was my last year at College. George Fabre never performed with the group at a public event. He withdrew from the group before their first gig, and Ricky then replaced him. I can recall incidents leading to their first gig.
Ricky was an asthmatic and developed breathing problems during the day and there was fear that they might have had to forego that first gig, or perform as a trio without a drummer. Old man Fataar spent time comforting and cajoling Ricky, and by the evening he was feeling much better. (I presume that nerves got to the 9-year old).
BP: Very enlightening. If Ricky was 9, then the year would’ve had to have been 1961 or 1962 as he was born in 1952.
BK: You’re right. It must have been 1962. I’ve just checked through some documents and note that I Wrote Maniac in 1962. Eugene Champion was with the group for over a year, and, if my memory serves me correctly, played during their first entry in the Big Band contest in 1963. Of course, they took some time to get recognised.
BP: Were early members George Faber [sic] or Eugene Champion on any of the band’s records? If so, which ones?
BK: Unfortunately Eugene didn’t get to appear on any of the recordings. The Flames were keen to be a full-time band and Eugene had to decide whether to continue with them or complete his apprenticeship. He chose the latter.
While Steve did most of the singing, Eugene sang some solo items and he and Brother dueted on Baby My Heart and another song whose title I can’t remember at the moment. I’ve checked with Edries Fredericks and he confirms that he joined in 1963.
BP: Did Edries Fredericks leave the group in 1966 or 1967?
BK: Edries left the group in March 1966. I recorded him later that year.
BP: How did the group find Baby Duval?
BK: Baby was with a group called The Scoot. He was a talented artist coming from a musically talented family. He went on to become a member of a few other groups including The Savoys.
BP: Different sources list Edries Fredericks or Baby Duval or Blondie Chaplin as featuring on the group’s second album, That’s Enough (1967) and 1966 and 1967 singles. Who appeared on what songs?
BK: Edries had left by the time That’s Enough was recorded, so it featured Baby Duval. I’ll check through the tracks to identify the lead singer on each track.
BP: “For Your Precious Love” is on That’s Enough and Soulfire. Why was it included on two albums?
BK: Although it was Edries who found the song by Oscar Tony Jnr, the version on That’s Enough features Baby singing, while the Soulfire version, which was the hit version released also on a single features Steve’s monologue and Blondie singing.
BP: On the Una Valli record, Soul Meeting, The Flames are credited on six of the twelve songs. The other six are performed by The Peanut Butter Conspiracy. Did The Flames play on any of the PBC songs?
BK: I don’t think they backed any other artist on recordings, but I’m not sure if they feature on the PBC recordings
BP: Did The Flames back any artists ever other than Uva Valli on that one album?
BK: Not that I am aware of.
BP: Who wrote “Useless Illusions”, “Wishes”, and “Solitude”?
BK: There’s confusion about Useless Illusions, but it is credited to Ricky. I’ve no idea who wrote the other two.
Editor’s note: Bas Mollenkramer theorized that Steve wrote the three tracks.
BP: There’s an alternate version of “You Just Keep Me Hanging On” on YouTube. Are there alternate versions of other songs? I’ve heard there might be an alternate version of “Purple Haze”.
BK: Not that I’m aware of. Graham Beggs has tapes of live recordings made at the Alfresco in May or June 1967, but we’ve been unable to track him down or get information about these. He apparently was satisfied with the recordings and that is why he produced the studio album Burning Soul.
BP: Are there any lost recordings from the group that you have and could they be released? Such as “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Misery”, a film of the group playing “Restless”, or anything else?
BK: The tapes of I Saw Her Standing There and Misery were lost/destroyed early in the piece. Boys and Claudette were found by Rob Allingham while searching through old tapes at Gallos. Really lucky here because all the other masters of Flames material were destroyed during a fire in the late 70s. I seem to recall a grainy video of Restless performed at a club in London, but, for the life of me, can’t remember who had it. It might have been Steve. There are rumoured to be some videos of shows that they did in the States in the 70s.
BP: Do you have any unreleased photos that could be released, such as a high quality version of the cover for Ummm! Ummm! Oh Yeah!!!?
BK: No I don’t.
BP: Other than the two songs on the Kinsey Report, are there more recordings of the 2000 or 2011 reunion concerts?
BK: When Steve visited Australia in 2004, he brought a videotape of the concert, as well as a mini-disc of the audio. I had the tape digitised. Part of the audio was inaudible on the tape. I sent the MP4 file and audio to Bas Mollenkramer who then patch the missing audio into the video and did some enhancing. So I do have the whole show, but only extracted those two tracks. Steve wasn’t too keen on releasing too much as he was hoping to produce a DVD for sale. I might extract more and upload onto the website
BP: It would be cool to watch/hear the 2000 concert and any other rarities.
BP: Who was the bassist for those reunions?
BK: I can’t remember his name. He was once a member of Bryan Ferry’s Roxy Music.
BP: Attached are Roxy Music’s bass players. Do you recognize who The Flames’ reunion bassist is?
BK: Not sure but it might have been John Porter
BP: Who sang vocal on each record?
BK: This list is fairly accurate.
Flames Records.pdf (Contents of pdf listed below)
BP: What were the recording dates for the records and who were the producers?
BK: Art Heatlie is credited as producer of the early material, but in reality production was basically left to sound engineer Dave Erbstoesser.
During the recording of the first lp, Dave and I spend most of the time in the control room with Art making a few appearances. He played piano on White Cliffs of Dover and he and I did the handclapping on Love’s Made a Fool of You and 8 Days a Week. Graham Beggs produced the later stuff.
The Filme Diary 