Badfinger - The Iveys and Apple

The Iveys and Apple

The Iveys formed in 1961 in Swansea, from The Panthers, whose line-up comprised "Ham" (lead guitar) (b. Peter William Ham, 27 April 1947, Townhill, Swansea, d. 23 April 1975), "Griffiths" (bass guitar) (b. Ronald Llewellyn Griffiths, 2 October 1946, Swansea), David Owen "Dai" Jenkins (guitar) (b. 30 October 1945, Swansea), and Roy Anderson (drums). Playing under various names including The Black Velvets and the Wild Ones, by 1964 they settled on The Iveys, after a street in Swansea called Ivey Place. In March 1965, drummer "Gibbins" (b. Michael George Gibbins, 12 March 1949, Swansea, d. 4 October 2005) joined The Iveys. The group secured concerts around Swansea area, opening for prominent British groups such as the Spencer Davis Group, The Who, The Moody Blues and The Yardbirds.

By June 1966, Bill Collins (the father of actor Lewis Collins) had started to manage the group. In December 1966 the entire group moved into Collins' home at 7 Park Avenue, Golders Green, London, sharing space with an act called The Mojos. The house was terminally overcrowded, so the only place to find any privacy was in a room equipped with a two-track recording machine.

The group performed a wide range of cover tunes on the London circuit, from Motown, blues, soul to Top 40, psychedelic pop, and Beatles' hits, which garnered interest from record labels. Ray Davies of The Kinks auditioned to produce them, recording three of their songs at a 4-track demo studio in London's Old Kent Road on 15 January 1967: "Taxi" and "Sausage And Eggs", songs by Ham; and Griffiths', "I Believe In You Girl". On 8 December 1966, Collins and the group signed a five-year contract giving Collins a 20% share of net receipts, the same as the individual group members, but only after managerial expenses had been deducted. Collins said at the time, "Look, I can't promise you lads anything, except blood, sweat and tears". The group performed occasional concerts backing David Garrick, while performing as The Iveys across the United Kingdom throughout the rest of the decade.

In 1967, Jenkins was asked to leave the group, and was replaced by Liverpudlian guitarist Evans, of Them Calderstones (b. Thomas Evans Jr., 5 June 1947, Liverpool, d. 19 November 1983). Jenkins' departure was remembered by Griffiths as being "politely asked if he would step down", as Jenkins seemed more interested in girls than the music.

After Collins' invitation, Mal Evans (a roadie/assistant to the Beatles) saw them playing at the Marquee Club, London, on 25 January 1968, with Apple Records' A&R head, Peter Asher. Evans consistently pushed their demo tapes to every Beatle until he gained approval from all four to sign the group. The demos were accomplished using a mono "sound-on-sound" tape recorder: two individual tracks bouncing each overdub on top of the last. Mal Evans' support ultimately led to their signing with Apple on 23 July 1968 – the first non-Beatle recording artists on the label. Each of The Iveys' members was also signed to Apple Corps' publishing contracts.

The group's first single, "Maybe Tomorrow", was released worldwide on 15 November 1968. It reached the Top Ten in several European countries and Japan, but only number 67 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and failed to chart in the UK. The United States manager of Apple Records, Ken Mansfield, ordered 400,000 copies of the single—considered to be a bold move at the time in the music business—and pushed for automatic airplay and reviews from newspapers, which he secured. Nevertheless, Mansfield remembered the problems: "We had a great group. We had a great record. We were missing just one thing ... the ability to go out and pick up people, and convince them to put their money on the counter". A second Tom Evans composition, "Storm in a Teacup", was included on an Apple EP promoting Wall's Ice Cream, along with songs by Apple artists such as James Taylor, Mary Hopkin and Jackie Lomax. The chart success of "Maybe Tomorrow" in Europe and Japan led to a follow-up single release in those markets in July 1969: Griffiths' "Dear Angie". An LP entitled Maybe Tomorrow was released only in Italy, Germany and Japan. This was thought to be the work of Apple Corps' president, Allen Klein, as an Apple Corps' press officer, Tony Bramwell, remembered: "He was saying, 'We're not going to issue any more records until I sort out this mess' ."

Griffiths was interviewed for the Disc & Music Echo magazine, complaining about the group's handling by Apple: "We do feel a bit neglected. We keep writing songs for a new single and submitting them to Apple, but they keep sending them back, saying they’re not good enough”. McCartney read the interview and offered the song "Come And Get It" to the group, which he had written for the soundtrack of The Magic Christian. Before the recording on Saturday, 2 August 1969, Griffiths remembered the whole group being so excited they couldn't sleep. Producing the track in under one hour, McCartney made sure that they copied his own demo note-for-note: "They were a young band ... they said, 'We want to do it a bit different, wanna get our own thing in'. I said 'No, this has gotta be exactly like this, 'cos this is the hit'." He produced the group's original compositions of "Carry On Till Tomorrow" (commissioned as the main title theme for the film) and "Rock of All Ages", with all three tracks appearing in the movie and its soundtrack album. As Griffiths was ill midway during these sessions, Evans played bass on "Rock of All Ages".

Griffiths left the group in October 1969, as the sole married occupant of the communal group's home, and raising a child, who was born in December 1968. His responsibilities created friction, mainly between Griffiths' wife, Evans, and manager Collins. Griffiths later said: "Tommy created the bad blood. He'd convinced the others that not one of the boys anymore". Drummer Gibbins remembered that he wasn't even consulted about the decision: "I was considered a nothinghead at that point. I wasn't even worth conversing with".