1969 found four of Britain's most famous rock bands The Who, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin all rehearsing at Hanwell Community Centre.
THE WHO
The Who rehearsing in The Ground Floor Sports Hall
Brian Cady, on his website The Who This Month, records that: "On the 1st, The Who continue rehearsing their new Tommy-centred act at the Community Centre, Westcott Crescent in Hanwell. Other rehearsal dates are the 3rd, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 21st and 23rd. On the 2nd, they go back to the old set, performing at the Pavilion Ballroom in Bournemouth."
Who Tabs shows Pete Townshend rehearsing "Sally Simpson", again in The Ground Floor Sports Hall
DEEP PURPLE
Deep Purple outside the Front Entrance of Hanwell Community Centre (16th June 1969)
It was at Hanwell Community Centre that Deep Purple began their rehearsals and wrote much of their hard rock masterpiece "Deep Purple In Rock".
When the members of Deep Purple were looking for somewhere to set up base in June 1969, Hanwell Community Centre was ideal. It was here that Deep Purple In Rock, was born. "It was always available, it was cheap, and it was close to where we were all living at the time," Ian Paice remembers. "It was the only place we could find where we could make a lot of noise," Roger Glover notes.
After Ian Gillan and Roger Glover were offered a job in Deep Purple, on June 16th 1969 they got a cab to Hanwell Community Centre for their first practice. The Hanwell sessions focussed Purple as Ian Paice recollected: "In a short space of maybe three or four weeks, we found that everything was possible, and it was all contained within ourselves. We didn't have to look outside, and that was really exciting."
The room Deep Purple rented is situated on the ground floor, to the far left of the building as you look at the front, with two rounded sash windows.
The origins of the song "Speed King" went back to Hanwell, as Roger recalls. "Ritchie had mentioned that he liked Hendrix's "Fire". I stood there in the huge echoey gym and apprehensively started playing the first thing that came into my head that would convey a similar feeling. My Fender Precision bass sounded lonely as the sound careered off the dirty, cream painted walls. They all joined in, making it sound great, and a jam ensued which would set the course of the song. It was exhilarating."
During rehearsals in Hanwell on July 15th 1969, the band took a break. Roger Daltry remembers "There had been a lull in the jamming. Someone said "Do you remember that song "Bombay Calling" by It's A Beautiful Day? Jon started playing it for us. We all joined in, we slowed it down, Ian started singing something over it, and it sounded like it could be interesting." This evolved into "Child In Time" with "Hard Lovin' Man" coming from another of the Hanwell jamming sessions.
Thanks to Simon Robinson of The Deep Purple Appreciation Society
More mentions of Hanwell Community Centre can be found in Dave Thompson's "The Deep Purple Story" which can be downloaded.
URIAH HEEP
Another local band called Spice (featuring three survivors from R&B/soul combo The Stalkers - guitarist Mick Box , singer Dave Byron and bassist Paul Newton - plus keyboard player Ken Hensley from The Gods and drummer Nigel Olsson) also used the building to rehearse in, and was quick to borrow one or two ideas they'd heard through the wall. Three months later they became Uriah Heep.
Talking about the song "Gypsy", in a Raw Magazine article in 1989 Mick Box recalls "The funny thing was we wrote it at the Hanwell Community Centre, and Deep Purple were rehearsing in the room next door to us. You can imagine the kind of racket we were both making between us!"
LED ZEPPELIN
The Led Zeppelin Vaults have the following entry for June 1969: "Having just returned from recording "Moby Dick" in New York earlier in June 1969, Led Zeppelin was at Hanwell Community Centre preparing their programme for their fourth British Tour, featuring a set that would concentrate primarily on their own material from the Led Zeppelin I album."
ROCK VENUE
Since the '60s a number of local bands mixed with international rock musicians, drawn to Hanwell to visit the legendary Jim Marshall's shops at 76 and 93 Uxbridge Road selling musical instruments and amplifiers. Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix were all regular visitors.
The Hanwell Community Centre was also a popular music venue. Jerry Lee Lewis is rumoured to have played at the Hanwell Community Centre in 1962, and we know that Procol Harum held a concert here on 17th February 1968 from this advert in Melody Maker.
