Stretch (aka The Fake Fleetwood Mac)
 

I was listening to Stretch's "Why Did You Do It" today (supposedly about Mick Fleetwood's failure to join the fake Fleetwood Mac tour).

It got me wondering, do any bootlegs exist of the fake FM performing as Fleetwood Mac? I've never heard of any, but was wondering if anyone else had?

Just listening to the Stretch album Elastique, I have no idea how they could ever have been passed off as Fleetwood Mac...

Keep in mind that they were playing under the notion that Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie would be rejoining the band. The bassist looked a bit like John McVie and Elmer Gantry looked a bit like Bob Welch. The visual, especially if Mick and Christine had returned, would've been there.

However, it wouldn't have been too hard to believe, considering in like six years they went from Shake Your Moneymaker to Hypnotized.

Check out the video

A search on the net doesn't dig up many photos of the band, but I found these two

http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/p...sn/Stretch.jpg

http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/p...n/Stretch2.jpg

I can see your point Steve about Elmer Gantry (Dave Terry) looking like Bob Welch...I guess it wouldn't have been hard to pass them off for appearances, but as soon as they opened their mouths it might not have worked - Bob Welch is pretty distinctive vocally.

The drummer was, I believe, Jeff Rich who had a long career with Status Quo in the 80's/90's.

That song is a great tune, by the way.

Yes but Craig Collinge was the drummer for the band when they were posing as "the new Fleetwood Mac".

John

Didn't know that.

Who was that keyboard player who was interviewed as part of the Mac's BBC 'Rock Family Tree's' show??

Dave Wilkinson, he was also in Chicken Shack for a short while too.

John

Did the fake Mac perform Fleetwood Mac songs during their brief tour? Or their oown material? I guess they played mac songs since they supposedly were under the impression that some of the other mac members werre about to join them down the road.

Anyone here that eyewitnessed this tour?

I had tickets for a Fleetwood Mac/Deep Purple show in Long Beach, but a local DJ somehow had gotten wind of the deception and kept announcing over the air that anyone who had tickets to demand a refund...so, I did. That was going to have been my first Fleetwood Mac concert...but, now I wish I would've gone anyway, just for the historical value.

Peter Green's pal, Nigel Watson played with Stretch for a while, too; but well after the Fake Mac debacle.

The bass player went on to play in the band ROSS that was signed to RSO records and opened for Eric Clapton on most of his 1974 "comeback" tour. They were pretty good.

I had never seen these photos. Thank you!

From Music News
http://www.music-news.com/showreview...nReviewID=7840


Those of a certain age will remember Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera who produced a stunning rock/psych album in the late '60's. Elmer Gantry then went off and surfaced on what was supposed to be the new incarnation of Fleetwood Mac before Mick Fleetwood disowned the project and put together his own new Fleetwood Mac without Gantry. Gantry then got together with Kirby Gregory, late of Curved Air, and formed Stretch who are themselves famous for their 1975 hit 'Why Did You Do It?' - a direct attack on Fleetwood but also one of the funkiest songs ever to have been released by a white band and featuring Gantry's growl at its best.

Here he is with Chicken Shack. I had it on VHS but fortunately managed to convert to digital to upload to youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCdc1S82LMs

Check out I'd Rather Go Blind as well, it's pretty good:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl0k4oyBN4o

Cheers,
Wouter

I recently found out through Facebook that the fake FM had a show up in these parts. I don't remember if it was cancelled or actually happened...

Matt

MATT it actually HAPPENED! You're right, Stretch is back and they played at the Borderline London, UK on Jan 28 2012. It's our second gig in the last 35 years, Elmer Gantry was joking - and yes Stretch cannot be compared with FM, different music maybe but it was interesting - as an encore they played a Peter Green song - Stop Messin Round:



They also played Showbiz Blues by P.G. - awesome Saturday night!

and for those who wants to know more about the bogus FM band - all their CDs are still available (www.repertoirerecords.com) and they issued a new one in late 2011 - Unfinished Business - right after 35 years and Stretch is still a great LIVE band!

cheers
Juergen

Why Did You Do It? See how they sound today! This funky hit of Stretch is not typical for Stretch, they play(ed) a kind of Blues Rock. But Why Did You Do It? launched a bit their career in the 70s. And the song was written by guitarist Kirby (Graham Gregory) and accused Mick Fleetwood, for what he did in the early 70s. I guess the third person was Cliff Davis.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why Did You Do It

I've been thinking 'bout what you have done to me
The damage is much deeper than you'll ever see
Hit me like a hammer to my head
I wonder were you pushed or were you led?

Chorus:
Why did you do it? Why did you do that thing to me?
Why did you do it? Why did you do that thing to me?
The only one who knows the truth,
Man it's him me and you.

My friends they listen to the things I say
They listen and they hear more everyday
But I know they never understand it
Because it was no accident you planned it.

Chorus:
Why did you do it? Why did you do that thing to me?
Why did you do it? Why did you do that thing to me?
The only one who knows the truth,
Man it's him me and you.

(spoken: one, two)
(instrumental)
I've been thinking 'bout what you have done to me
The damage is much deeper than you'll ever see
Hit me like a hammer to my head
I wonder were you pushed or were you led?

Why did you do it? Why did you do that thing to me?
Why did you do it? Why did you do that thing to me?

The only one who knows the truth,
Man it's him me and you.

[Rolling Stone looks back 40 years to its February 28, 1974 issue]

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...-cher-20140301

2. Fake Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac's manager put a version of the band on the road without any actual members of Fleetwood Mac (who were then Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Bob Welch, and Bob Weston; Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined at the end of the year). "Basically what it boils down to is the manager flipped his lid," Welch said. "He can put four dogs barking on a leash and call it Fleetwood Mac."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...#ixzz2ukBLDZek
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

I always suspected the "third" person in the song was not Clifford but God. He's basically saying there is only one person who knows the truth and then to bring a third person in would completely contradict the previous line.

So in my eyes it should be:

The only one who knows the truth,
Man it's Him, me and you.

(with the obvious capitalisation for the religious)

I do know it's hard to find much information on the subject on the internet, and I've not yet found any vids or audio of the fake Mac on YouTube...

---

They really ain't half bad...

They still do a smattering of Fleetwood Mac tunes in their set...

I still wonder if any of 'em were in-the-know, or if they were completely victims of the management endeavor that was a hoax of the band when all was said and done...

I certainly don't hold any animus toward them for the debacle, Fleetwood Mac had enough bizarre history that this part of it fits right in...

Elmer Gantry/Dave Terry played had ties to the Strawbs (which originally featured the amazing Sandy Denny) and the Alan Parsons Group (Eye of the Sky). Those guys weren't slouches, and I suspect they got into a situation that quickly escalated out of their control. I actually believe they thought Mick and Christine were coming back at some point.

I hate to give Cliff an ounce of credit, but at least he didn't put any of the ex-Mac in that band, as he easily could have. Imagine if he had gotten Danny, Walker, Weston, and Brunning on board for that tour. That could have quickly become an issue for Mick, John, Christine, and Welch. That it was a band of musicians that had nothing to do with Fleetwood Mac really helped the real Fleetwood Mac's cause.

Damn you Clifford, why didn't you think of this? :lol:

LOL! Well, Brunning probably wouldn't have done it due to his teaching career, Walker and Weston might've (if Dave got sober & if Weston knew how much the affair was going to affect his career) but of course real roll of the dice on Danny at that point as we don't even know why Hungry Fighter split up after one gig (which could've been a deal breaker depending if there were issues between Danny & DW, if not for drinking or mental health issues). Having said this, Hungry Fighter hadn't even been formed yet at that point so who knows. Anyway, this does make for fun what if games. :)

John

Well, he did THIS with Murray "One Night In Bangkok" Head.



WGAF, you ask?

Well, basically The Who , minus Pete, but with Jimmy McCulloch (McCartney & Wings) did...

If I could ever go to my grave saying that I influenced The Who, then mission accomplished!

Does anybody know more about Hungry Fighter?
What was the line-up apart from Kirwan and Weston? Andy Silvester???
Is there any info regarding setlist for that one gig?
Any photos? Gig posters? Or live recording circulating?

Oh yeah I love what he did with Murray and I suppose that ended up being the closest to other success he ended up getting, I just can't shake Weston's quote in Rock Family Trees when he confessed that his affair with Jenny was "the most expensive affair I've ever had of my life, cost me a career that did".

John

Yeah, Silvester on bass, Paul Raymond on keys & Mac Poole (friend of DW's from Birmingham) on drums. There seems to be some write ups on line claiming Dave Bidwell was the drummer but Poole is who DW spoke of when asked about Hungry Fighter on his Penguin Q&A here. Doesn't appear Weston was part of this. The one gig was at the University of Surrey at Guilford. Highly doubt a boot of this show exists but who knows. Couldn't find anything on the set list but it'd sure make sense if they played some assemblance of Look Around You.

John

Did that gig ever actually happen? I know the universities are different but that perhaps is only Dave's confused memory?

http://dmme.net/interviews/dwalker.html

Interviewer: - There was some accident before the HUNGRY FIGHTER’s only gig. What happened?

Dave Walker: "The road crew who were helping HUNGRY FIGHTER were working the night before our gig at London University with another band. On the way home from that gig, they were involved in a serious road accident in which our roadie, John Knowles, was badly injured, and the equipment we were to use was, by and large, destroyed. We did not play, as the headline band would not loan us any of their gear."

Thanks wetcamelfood and chriskisn. :)
At least that's some info about this obscure band.
I have a vague memory of reading someplace that they rehearsed Danny's "Odds And Ends" (maybe it was Andy Silvester who said it).
No one can really tell, but I think they could have been interesting..... :)

Wow, you know, this is what I hate about interviews. You can't go by current ones because they are plugging their product and just say how great the new album is etc. then older ones, they conflict each other. Oh well, guess this one will always be an enigma. :)

John

What kind of music did Hungry Fighter play. I had never heard of this band so every mention really astonishes me.
:wavey:

Going out on a limb, but blues rock boogie. I mean, there was Danny, Walker, and a couple of guys from Chicken Shack.

There's a song called "Look Around You" on Danny's solo album "Midnight In San Juan" (a couple of years after Hungry Fighter). This song was written by Dave Walker. It could have orginated from the Hungry Fighter project... :shrug:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN6M5hWU_5U

Especially as we know that during that period Dave was so drunk most of the time he probably didn't recall much at all.

It is like that interview when he was asked why that Dave Walker solo album from the late 70's never ended up being released, and he said "Drugs" or something similar.

You know, slight off topic (hell very off topic we've drifted from Stretch to Hungry Fighter) but when sometimes when I hear The Doors I think that the sound that Dave should have been doing, he had the voice, and he could have done it better. If things had worked out with FM, or if he had stayed with Savoy Brown perhaps he would have been a household name now rather than just gigging in Montana bars.

Yeah, certainly LA Woman and their more blues type stuff. I guess Riders On The Storm has the Donovan's Brain psych-rock kind of thing going on too which may have appealed to Dave. I'll never understand why The Doors didn't just have Full Circle and Other Voices be instrumental albums. I guess they thought of the band in a much different way though (if Howard Werth was going to be Morrison's replacement, instead of DW I mean).

John

He could have done a great cover of BTO's "Let It Roll"

Is there any chance that Mick could have been in on the fake FM episode after all? I'd always taken his version of events as gospel. However, I'm increasingly starting to feel that perhaps not everything he says should be taken at face value- bit of a schemer, old Mick. Any thoughts?

Haha, interesting thought! ;)
But if that was the case, why wouldn't poor Clifford Davis (who has turned out to be Mr.Bad Manager) have said anything about it...?

Well, I don't know much about the long, drawn out legal case but perhaps his silence was part of the settlement.
The ex-Stretch members still seem to believe Mick was due to join up with them at some point on that tour.