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Cool thread…
The first time I ever heard a Mellotron waslistening to the Moody Blues in the 1960’s at my friend’s house.His mom was pretty cool and she loved the Moody’s, so that is what welistened to. I had no idea that I was listening to a tron, and there were fewpopular groups back then with such an orchestral sound…
Then it was the Beatles’ StrawberryFields. I thought it was just another George Martin sonic re-creation offlutes. Then it was the Rolling Stones’ 2000 Light Years from Home. Istarted to recognize the similar sound…
Then my life changed. August 1969…As a 14-year-old I was sitting in the mud on a rainy Friday night at the WestPalm Beach Festival. After a series of amazing sets by Vanilla Fudge, JanisJoplin, and Sweetwater, and a few dozen joints… I heard the most magicalsound I have ever heard… King Crimson had taken the stage and opened withCourt of the Crimson King. (This was one week before the famous Crimsonperformance recorded at the Fillmore West.)
Well, I swore I saw a symphony orchestraon stage with them, but I was wrong. What I saw was Ian McDonald playing alarge wooden organ, but what type of organ makes that sound? I had no idea. He evenhad a reverb unit on top of the Mark II that he smashed on the top of his tronduring Mars… I was completely blown away!
To my (and the other 50,000+ people in attendance)pleasure, Crimson played all three days of the festival. Among the many starswho performed there (Rolling Stones, Canned Heat, Vanilla Fudge, Sweetwater,Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Johnny and Edgar Winters, Grand FunkRailroad, and many more), Crimson was the star of the festival, and I was aninstant fan.
Who would imagine that only a couple ofweeks later this amazing band would split up? But I was one of the lucky fewwho saw these guys play, and three days in a row! I consider myself veryfortunate. And it changed my musical direction.
I did my research and found a lot of informationabout the Mellotron, but it was impossible to get one in the states. And evenif they were available, good luck trying to afford one. I was performing with aHammond C3, Clavinet, and Wurlie… No way could I afford a tron.
A few years later the Model 400 wasintroduced and became available in the US . But that was way out of myprice range. I did have a schoolmate who bought one and I played it at hishouse. What an unruly beast. But it was strangely magical… and I lovedit. He was doing some sessions and could not make one. I replaced him and playedhis Mellotron. A few days later I was called onto the carpet from my union, TheAmerican Federation of Musicians. Uh oh…
It was pretty funny going before a “jury”of old Miami Beach musicians lecturing this long-haired hack keyboardist that my playing aMellotron was putting musicians out of work. So they fined me $100 and I continuedplaying…
In the 80’s I saw an ad for a SM400in a Miami paper. I went to the guy’s house and saw the most beat-up tron I had everseen. There were tapes unraveled all over the place and the keyboard was allmessed up. He wanted $500 for it and I turned it down. On my way to my car he said“$100”! Well, I was a dumb kid… and turned him downagain.
Fast forward 30 years… Call mecrazy, but I found this list and my tron lust returned. One day I received anemail from this guy in Texas who said that he heard I was looking for one for my collection. He saidthat it lived its life in a Dallas recording studio and that he owned it for only a few years. He wanted $2000 forit. The pictures he sent displayed a very nice tron in very good condition. Ifigured $2000 is not bad and even if I had to spend another $1500 for new tapesand a motor upgrade, why not?
I purchased it and he shipped it to mefrom East Texas . A few days after he shippedit a chicken truck pulls up to my house with a crated Mellotron inside. Afteruncrating it I opened up the back and discovered the upgraded motor controller.The tapes looked very clean. I plugged it in and it played beautifully!Amazing.
One of the first things I did was sampleit onto my Motif ES so that I could play its wonderful sounds live at my gigs. Youcan hear samples from this tron at my website www.vintagekeyboardsounds.com .
My tron sits in my studio protected fromall danger… I play it occasionally, and its voice sends me back to mydays as a 14-year-old musician hearing something that would change my musical destiny…