Sam lives in Australia not too far from my house I believe. Here is a recent interview which he did down here:

Sam Cutler - Life on the Road with the Rolling Stones
Sam Cutler has been involved in the music industry since the '60s, working with some of the biggest bands and the biggest shows in music history.

The Rolling Stones hired Cutler to be the tour manger for their 1969 tour of USA, which infamously ended at the concert held at the Altamont Speedway in California. The tour, and the events surrounding the death of concert-goer Meredith Hunter was the subject of documentary movie Gimme Shelter.


As Tears Go By - Altamont

YourGigs (YG): You are touring as part of the special screenings of Gimme Shelter, is the movie still hard for you to watch?

Sam Cutler (SC): It is a bit. It's quite painful, not as painful as the guy who got murdered, it's a heavy film, it's good to watch it, it's very necessary, it keeps you on the straight and narrow, it reminds you that it's a fine line between something being a success and failure is a very thin line.

YG: Do you remember how you were feeling on the day?

SC: Petrified, frightened, annoyed, all those things.

YG: Are there any big misconceptions that you would like to clear up about the day?

SC: There's a few, the site was the wrong site, it was freezing cold, in the middle of the desert, there were a whole lot of reasons why it turned out to be a nightmare. I mean, I didn't choose the site, the stage was the wrong size, I didn't choose the stage, a lot of the things that went wrong were due to the people who made those decisions not having a clue what they were doing.


It's Only Rock 'n' Roll - views on the music industry

YG: What are your thoughts on how the music industry has changed since your time with the Stones?

SC:How the world has changed since my time with the Stones! The music industry has become a business, when I first started in the music business it was sort of an escape mechanism to get out of boring England. In the '50s and '60s England was a bit and depressing and now it's just a massive industry, it's huge, second only to the armament industry. People tend to forget that at the time the Stones started they were young, they were kids, there were no TVs in England, people had radio obviously, but kids had no computers, no DVDs, no CDs, it's hard for kids to realise that... the Stones have been around a long time!

YG: Do you think the integrity of the music has suffered because of it?

SC: I think the Stones have always had a certain kind of blues integrity. But the music business, I think it does some atrocious things, there's still some good music out there but most of it is absolute rubbish, isn't it? I think the music business is divided between what people call pop which is mindless fodder for the masses, and then there's still some artists with integrity out there that are operating with integrity and trying to make something meaningful. But they are mainly in the independent sector. Mainstream music is just very, very boring.

YG: The sheer scale of the concerts you put on - do you think it could ever happen again?

SC: I have my doubts, security issues now, concerns when you put too many people in the one place. One of the shows I did had over 700,000 people at it ... I can't imagine having that many people physically attend an event ever happening again. People today are isolated, it's much more likely that you'd have a show with 1 billion people watching it, but they'd all be watching at home on their laptops and TV screens.

YG: When you were planning these concerts did you ever have an inkling of how many people would show up?

SC: You get a pretty shrewd idea. If the Rolling Stones sell tickets for tours and things, they have a good idea of how many tickets they will sell... even just based on the last shows. If you put three of the hottest bands in the United States at that time together on a bill you can confidently expect a lot of people to come.


In Another Land - Touring America with the Stones

On the USA tour Cutler was involved with in 1969, the Stones went from playing small- to medium-sized clubs and venues into large theatres and stadiums with the help of bigger and better amplification.

YG: Did you think music loses a bit of its connection when venues get so large?

SC: Yes, it's definitely a different thing playing a big football stadium compared to playing in a 600-seat club, but the Stones have always gone back to playing in the small places, they love to do that. There's definitely a difference in the energy and the vibe, you do lose something when you go up to those massive sizes. But when so many people want to see you, you don't have much choice. They are really great in a small venue, they are still a great band.

YG: Could you imagine what would become of the Rolling Stones?

SC: Well when I was involved with them, I even named them the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world, I mean they are a huge band. Back in 1969, the Rolling Stones had been at the top of their game for a few years, the are just a phenomenon, they are a massive band.

YG: Are you surprised they have lasted so long and are still touring?

SC: No, I find that quite interesting and fun really, but what else can they do really? That's what the Rolling Stones do, they play music, so why should they stop? It's a new area for them, no-one knows how long they will go on for. I guess they will keep going as long as the world gives them millions of dollars to do it.


YG: What would a typical day being tour manager for the Stones involve?

SC: There wasn't really a typical day as such, it's a 24/7 situation, I never used to sleep more than two or three hours, a night. I was very busy, constantly getting girls out of rooms that shouldn't have been there, being mobbed by girls, security issues that surround all that, it was a constant trip. Keeping the band safe and secure, stopping people from stealing their clothes, it was a nightmare trying to hold onto clothes, I never had any clothes. People would come to hotels and wherever we were staying and everything would just get nicked as souvenirs; that was a bit odd. I would be constantly having to go out and buy socks and underwear for people.

YG: Did you get much time to actually enjoy the music?

SC: Yeah, sure, but work is work, even with the Rolling Stones in that role as tour manger, all you are thinking about is work. In retrospect, you can think of it as a pleasure, but whilst it's happening, it's work.


Time Is On My Side - Cutler post-Altamont

YG: Have you only ever worked with bands you love?

SC: Absolutely, my whole music business life has been based on working with things I love or think are far-out. If you want a job where you are working with stuff you don't love go and get a job in the government or go be a civil servant or something. I've always done things based on the fact I really love it, it keeps you young.

YG: Can you pick out a few of your favourite musical highlights you've witnessed?

SC: Seeing the Stones rehearsing when we stayed at Steve Stills house in LA, we lived in that for a few weeks and seeing them just in the wine cellar in the basement, all playing together, that was pretty amazing. The Band were fantastic, used to watch them play and rehearse, amazing group, The Allman Brothers were too. I remember when Pink Floyd first started, I mean they were friends, they were students in London, they were all going to be architects and then music intervened. But they were dreadful man, but it didn't matter - everybody loved it, but those were the days when you could get away with being dreadful.

YG: Did you ever feel at the time that some of the concerts and music were going to be so historically significant or is it just hindsight and the passing of time that has seen that occur?

SC: Yeah I think so, I sit and think 'oh I wish I recorded that or kept that or whatever.' I mean I've got nothing from those days, except Keith Richards bought me a guitar, bless him, which I've had since then. With the benefit of hindsight they were historic times.

YG: Was there ever just one moment where you thought that was something pretty special happening?

SC: Well that was Altamont, that was pretty special, I knew that would be pretty special, and go into rock history for all the wrong reasons. But similarly Watkins Glen in New York had 720,000 people at it, that was very special, we knew that would be special. I did a pretty special concert in Hyde Park that had half-a-million people at it in the centre of London. So you get a picture of things and realise that hey, this is going to enter the history of the music industry as a very special thing.

YG: Do you think at the time the bands were seeking to be part of a movement and trying to bring about some sort of cultural change? Or just play and other things happen because of it?

SC: Yeah the latter, I mean what can bands do? They are only bands they aren't going to change the world necessarily, they may want the world to change because they are human beings obviously, and have feelings and stuff, but by and large, what can musicians do? They play and keep people happy, they never really set out to change the world with their music. The Stones viewed the movements with a mixture of bemusement and contempt.

YG: Do you notice any real differences between playing in England and taking the band to America?

SC: Huge differences, for a start the Americans are all nuts. America is an armed society; violence is always lurking just beneath the surface, whereas England in those days was a much more placid place. People in America are slightly more hysterical about things, the English they just take it in, it was considered very uncool to go over the top and get wild about people, they were all laidback and cool about things, but Americans, they are much more silly.

YG: You are now living in Australia, what is your impression of the Australian industry compared to what you have seen?

SC: Well I like it, there's some fabulous music in Australia. There's some great music coming out, usually in the independent sector. I'm managing a girl who's a fabulous singer, independent artist, she's just been short-listed for the Australian music Prize, she's a very special singer. I see lots of people playing around clubs in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, I see lots of stuff and I like it, I'm proud to be an Aussie. The music scene here is small and intimate and there are a lot of good things happening.

Thanks, terraplane, interesting!

Great to hear the old buffer opening up. I met him when he was working with a band called Weapon Of Peace in about 84. I asked him about the Stones but he didn't want to talk much. I felt that he wanted to save his thoughts for a book, but that never happened. Nice man though.

They showed Gimme Shelter at the theatres in Sydney a few months ago. Apparently, he came out and spoke about his experiences and then introduced the film.

I may have remembered this wrong, but Nick Mason of the Pink Floyd recalled that 'Ron Geesin' was pulled out of a hedge and introduced to the Pink Floyd by Sam Cutler - Ron then collaborated on the 1970 AHM Lp, as well as The Body sountrack with Roger Waters.

Thanks!!

Thanks, nice read

please let those 69 rehearsals surface one day on cd!!!!!!!!!

not the most insightful answers--if you bring together the 3 hottest young bands in America, you can expect a big crowd, gee thanks a lot--but a slightly different perspective on the Stones... thanks.

Chip Monck is in Melbourne, Owsley is in Queensland I believe, we've got the cream of the old guard down here folks