He’s the craziest star the pop world has seen for ages. And he’s setting the world on fire! Arthur Brown reveals all to RAVE’s Jeremy Pascall.
Article published in RAVE magazine, September 1968
Eccentric Genius: Arthur Brown Unconventional Journey | YOU’RE not going to believe this but people have sworn to me that it is true. Arthur Brown is a hundred years old! He was born in deep caves under Tintagel Castle in Cornwall. In the last hundred years Arthur has been many things a devil dancer in Haiti, a saddle hand with Buffalo Bill and a Scottish gardener to Queen Victoria.
When a mere seventy-five years old Arthur met a young wizard who was keen to have all the experience that age brings but without having to go to the bother of living through the years and so they did a deal. Arthur swapped his years of experience for the wizard’s youth. Which is a pretty good deal by any standards.
In 1963 Arthur received a message from his father saying that he was to be the Herald Of The New Dawn and to go forth reawakening people’s awareness of the basic life forces like birth and death. He must do this using the most effective means of communication available.
Arthur decided that it was pop music and so he retired to a ruined castle on an isolated island off Ireland and planned his future Now read on . . .
Eccentric Genius: Arthur Brown
In fact, Arthur Brown was born twenty-four years ago. His mother oh, dear, you’re not going to believe this either is a nut analyst. A NUT ANALYST? She analyses nuts, what’s so strange about that? And his father are you ready? is an inventor.
Currently he’s working as a pub pianist you might have guessed. Brown started his career studying law at London University but left after a year. He admits that he and his tutors were not quite on the same wave-length.
When he replied to questions like : “What are the primary qualifications for being a lawyer”, with “Being a human being,” they were not pleased. When accused of making fatuous remarks he responded with the logic of: “Have you ever seen a successful monkey lawyer?”
Being of this thoughtful bent his next step was to invade Reading University to study philosophy. Somehow, Brown lasted the course and emerged with a third class degree. He claims he would have done better had not the group he was playing with been booked to play at several all-night dances the week of his Finals!
One other thing Arthur acquired at Reading was a wife called Jeannette. Having gained so much knowledge Arthur was eager to impart it to a new generation of fresh faced lads and so he took a teaching post at Leyton High School drumming the beauties of English Literature into sixth formers.
Eccentric Genius: Arthur Brown
He lasted there three weeks. He quickly became depressed when he discovered that only two of his charges had ever read a book in their lives! However, the headmaster hadn’t taken a shine to his new teacher and ordered Arthur to get his hair cut.
This he did twice but the headmaster wasn’t satisfied and told him to get his hair cut again or leave. “Which,” Brown exclaims, “was a stupid choice.” He left and went to Paris where he became quite a celebrity, was spotted by Pete Townshend, returned to London and stormed into the Windsor Jazz Festival.
Take your choice. Both stories are reputedly true but I fancy the second might have a shade more credence than the first. Brown’s whole life is a crazy charge at break-neck speed. He decided he wanted to become a singer but didn’t have a voice so he went to a teacher who bent and stretched his vocal chords until they produced the amazing range he exhibits today.
Arthur loves theatricality and creating drama and excitement. He suffers for his art. When he had no money he made his awesome headdress out of a colander with candles stuck into it. When agitated, the hot wax dripped down his face.
Recently, at a photo session, a blob of the molten substance he uses to set himself alight dripped from his mask and welded the foil to the flesh on his face. He still carries the mark. It takes him an hour to prepare his make-up before he goes on stage and people still remember the gallant way in which he fulfilled bookings and leapt around the stage with a broken leg heavily encased in plaster.
Eccentric Genius: Arthur Brown
Quite a feat, but, he explains, “I needed the money!”
Lunch with this Prince of Hell Fire is an experience. Having heard the most horrifying rumours about his wildness and uncivilised behaviour I insisted on being escorted and chose a restaurant noted for its flaming dishes!
Despite his arresting appearance – hair awry, Satanic tash, lean and hungry look, jumble sale hippie clothes – he impressed one as a charming, articulate and quietly lunatic person. But his is the unanswerable logic of the insane childish and beguiling, innocent and un-malicious.
He looks like a character from “The Devil Rides Out” but he talks like a Sunday Night Person. He’ll talk about his approach to his work, the sickness of the American society, the grotesque posturings of pop and then he’ll gabble nonsensically, attempt to put a curse on an inoffensive diner or order a “grilled right toe in a bland nail sauce”.
child-like
His humour is absurd, child-like and plumy. He is very good company, occasionally droll, sometimes uproarious; now sadly serious, now outrageous. Generally placid he’ll suddenly erupt into verbal flight of fantasy to land seconds later squarely sensibly on his own two feet.
He lingered over lunch, bewildered and then beguiled the waitress, talked incessantly and suddenly, abruptly, realised he was disastrously late for an appointment. He left the restaurant like a bat nut of hell; long and loping, hair flying, and paused only to stare horrifically at a couple in a parked car.
As he flew along the street heads turned in disbelief and one could understand why some Americans had fled one of his concerts believing him to be the devil himself! Brown was gone. By the way, he claims to have discovered Einstein’s Theory of Relativity himself. A useless piece of information but store it. One day it might help us to under-stand Arthur Brown’s crazy world. Or perhaps his world is sane and ours is wrong.
More Arthur Brown stories in Intro magazine.
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