SEE UPDATE BELOW So someone mentioned Keith and the "Blade" in another (unrelated) thread and it reminded me of something I read recently about Keith showing the "Blade" to a music exec who showed up during the SW sessions and offered them some advice on improving "Mixed Emotions" ! Apparently this anecdote was in Keith's "Life" but I didn't remember it and no names were given there, see below.

Anyway I've been searching high and low for this interview (with Kimsey or an engineer or a musician ?) and the exec's name (that was familiar) and have come up empty handed, anyone with a better memory ? Thanks !

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“Some bigwig figure in the music business, invited by Mick, came to Montserrat to discuss some contract to do touring. He obviously fancied himself for his producing abilities, because we’re standing in the studio area, playing back “Mixed Emotions,” which was going to be the first single. And Keith is standing there with his guitar on and Mick’s there and we’re listening to it. The song finishes, and the guy says, ‘Keith, great song, man, but I tell you, I think if you arranged it a little bit different it would be so much better. So Keith went to his doctor’s bag and pulled out a knife and threw it, and it landed right between the bloke’s legs, boinggg. It was really like William Tell, it was great. Keith says, listen sonny, I was writing songs before you were a glint in your father’s dick. Don’t you tell me how to write songs. And he walked out. It was fantastic. I’ll never forget it.”

From [dontforgetthesongs365.wordpress.com]

UPDATE : Ta-daaaa found the answer here [youtu.be] So it was indeed a Kimsey interview for "Just For The Record" and the music executive who offered advice to Keith was Peter Mensch.

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Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 2021-06-02 17:55 by gotdablouse.

“I think we cut that in Montserrat, an island that no longer exists. That smoldering heap of volcanic eruptions. And we were the last guys to cut there. That was the last record anybody cut there. It’s what happens when you work with The Stones. They got a hurricane and then it erupted. It was a pretty island once."

"an island that no longer exists", right...like Bill often said about Keith's stories : "never let the truth get in the way of a good story" ;-)

As for who gave more details on the "knife incident" and the name of that exec...I'm still racking my brain !

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Imagine what would have happened had he missed? Anyway, if anyone throws a knife at me I would report it to the police (at the very least).

Yeah the story I'm trying to locate was a bit different if I remember well, he had apparently just dropped the knife straight on the floor, not actually thrown it !

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The guy should have pulled a knife to prevent them
from releasing ME as a single.

LIFE is full of fairytales.

I dont care who it is that threw a knife at me. I would of beat the crap out of him.

Frankly, I'm not impressed by Keith's boasts about what a badass he is.

It's easy for a rich guy to talk tough when he's backed up by big bodyguards.

Even worse than this knife story was when he was quoted in Musician magazine about wanting to slit Mick's throat.


Sad Sad Sad.

Its easy to talk tough on the internet; lets see you do it to Keef's face. Ain't gonna happen for a number of reasons. Those big bodyguards you imagine are only one of many reasons.

If he threw the knife between the guys legs, thats where he meant to throw it. People handy with a knife do not just throw it around without reason and purpose and when they do it pretty much lands where they aim it. Dude was lucky he didnt pull his gun and try a real william tell move on him.

Thats totally beside the point that the guy probably would have improved that mess had Keef or Mick listened to him. There is no where to go but up.

jb



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-05-31 22:11 by jbwelda.

By the way the guy could be easily right: I love Mixed Emotions but the Chris Kimsey 12" mix (back then and still now) is freshier, more energetic and simply better than the album cut.

[www.youtube.com]

I wonder if this happened around the same time Charlie punched a drunken Mick out the window into a canal in Amsterdam?

Personally, I don't think Keith can throw a knife. You need practice in order to do that. Or sheer luck...

>Personally, I don't think Keith can throw a knife. You need practice in order to do that.


he has had plenty of time to practice. Ten years of playing, forty years of waiting around. I would not put my bet on him missing what he aims for.

jb

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jbwelda


If he threw the knife between the guys legs, thats where he meant to throw it. People handy with a knife do not just throw it around without reason and purpose and when they do it pretty much lands where they aim it.

jb

Same with tomahawks: [www.youtube.com]

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gotdablouse
"an island that no longer exists", right...like Bill often said about Keith's stories : "never let the truth get in the way of a good story" ;-)
As for who gave more details on the "knife incident" and the name of that exec...I'm still racking my brain !

Not to state the obvious but Montserrat still exists (verified this by seeing it in the distance during a trip to Antigua a few years ago) but George Martin's Air Studios I think is long gone.

Right, that's the point I was making ;-) Here's a great write-up on what happened to the studios after two major natural catastrophes : [www.messynessychic.com]

So the quest continues, I suppose finding the name of the music exec who gave that advice to Keith would help find that article/interview I read recently, bit of a chicken and egg thing I suppose !

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Duked
By the way the guy could be easily right: I love Mixed Emotions but the Chris Kimsey 12" mix (back then and still now) is freshier, more energetic and simply better than the album cut.

[www.youtube.com]

Agreed! The 12” is awesome, way improved!

The knife story I like is when Keith was being interviewed sometime in the mid-70's in Europe, I believe, and the interviewer had heard a rumour that Keith had done so much coke that he literally burned out his nostrils and had a fake nose installed, so the guy somehow leaned over to touch Keith's nose to see if it was real or not, and Keith jumped back and pulled a knife on the guy. The reporter responded by (falsely) saying he was swatting at a fly on Keith.

Keith (glaring, with knife in hand): "Ain't no fly on me, mate".

Possibly true. Funny, though.

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MisterO
I wonder if this happened around the same time Charlie punched a drunken Mick out the window into a canal in Amsterdam?

That was in Paris during the Undercover sessions.

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DGA35

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MisterO
I wonder if this happened around the same time Charlie punched a drunken Mick out the window into a canal in Amsterdam?

That was in Paris during the Undercover sessions.

Not really : [iorr.org] ;-)

Ok so I've made a bit of progress, it's not Barry Sage (worked with Kimsey on SG and TY) whose YT interview I saw recently on YT and thought that maybe he had told that story, if anyone's interested here's the link [youtu.be]

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Keith is a great artist but trying to make him a tough guy with a knife is laughable.When has he ever got into a fist fight with anyone? He’d probably have trouble with Elton John.When has anyone ever challenged him to a fight and Keith complied? This stuff about him pulling knives on people is ridiculous

Ta-daaaa [youtu.be]

So it was indeed a Kimsey interview for "Just For The Record" and the music executive who offered advice to Keith was Peter Mensch.

Looks like Keith's story was correct this time...maybe because James Fox (or an assistant) who helped him write "Life" watched "Just For The Record" ;-)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-06-01 03:09 by gotdablouse.

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Taylor1
Keith is a great artist but trying to make him a tough guy with a knife is laughable.When has he ever got into a fist fight with anyone? He’d probably have trouble with Elton John.When has anyone ever challenged him to a fight and Keith complied? This stuff about him pulling knives on people is ridiculous

In my neck of the woods, them are fighting words....



_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

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Taylor1
Keith is a great artist but trying to make him a tough guy with a knife is laughable.When has he ever got into a fist fight with anyone? He’d probably have trouble with Elton John.When has anyone ever challenged him to a fight and Keith complied? This stuff about him pulling knives on people is ridiculous

Well Taylor1, you missed out on Keith' magnificant swing with his guitar when an overexited fan managed to get on stage to "go after Mick". Don't mess with Keith!


I'm a GHOST living in a ghost town

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jbwelda
>Personally, I don't think Keith can throw a knife. You need practice in order to do that.


he has had plenty of time to practice. Ten years of playing, forty years of waiting around. I would not put my bet on him missing what he aims for.

jb

Yep. And he has these precise flipping ways of getting his guitar pick at the spot he wants it to.
During the second 1995 Nijmegen concert I was taken away by two huge security guys and was guided backstage where I had to leave my camera and film behind (got the camera back and the end of the concert, not the films though ) and then was allowed back into the front area. Once reunited with my family and friends Keith started to play Happy. At the end of the song he looked my way and threw his pick which landed right in front of me (I was only some 4 - 5 meters from the stage). After some searching into the dark in front of my feet I found it and showed it to my daughter while looking at Keith. His wide grin to me said it all. He must have noticed I was taken away by those security giants

By the way, I had made several great close-up shots (Olympus OM-2 with zoom) from Mick with his Voodoo hat but they never saw the light ...

I'm a GHOST living in a ghost town

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MisterO
I wonder if this happened around the same time Charlie punched a drunken Mick out the window into a canal in Amsterdam?

Something undoubtedly happened at the Amstel Hotel. However, Charlie never punched Mick "out the window into a canal". At that location, anything thrown out of a hotel room window would need to fly a rough 15 metres forward to reach the canal at all.

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dead.flowers

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MisterO
I wonder if this happened around the same time Charlie punched a drunken Mick out the window into a canal in Amsterdam?

Something undoubtedly happened at the Amstel Hotel. However, Charlie never punched Mick "out the window into a canal". At that location, anything thrown out of a hotel room window would need to fly a rough 15 metres forward to reach the canal at all.

I believe Mick fell on a table, and that Keith used his usual "picturesque" language to describe what happened

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dead.flowers

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MisterO
I wonder if this happened around the same time Charlie punched a drunken Mick out the window into a canal in Amsterdam?

Something undoubtedly happened at the Amstel Hotel. However, Charlie never punched Mick "out the window into a canal".

Methinks the "where's my f'cking drummer???" incident happened around 1984. I guess the band was on a financial meeting to make sure their special fiscal status was to be renewed (hence the Dutch location).

1984 or so was around the time Charlie hit an all-time low... so it's very likely Mr Watts was in an "altered" state of mind. Hence its rather hot reaction to a petty joke made by Mick.

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georgie48

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Taylor1
Keith is a great artist but trying to make him a tough guy with a knife is laughable.When has he ever got into a fist fight with anyone? He’d probably have trouble with Elton John.When has anyone ever challenged him to a fight and Keith complied? This stuff about him pulling knives on people is ridiculous

Well Taylor1, you missed out on Keith' magnificant swing with his guitar when an overexited fan managed to get on stage to "go after Mick". Don't mess with Keith!

keef guitar incident

Keith was known to point is gun too, supposedly when he was sleeping late and a show was about to start, everyone was afraid to be the one to wake him, knowing the risk of Keith pulling out the gun under his pillow. They would send in his son Marlon to wake him, knowing he wouldn't do that to his own kid.

As for Taylor1 stating when was Keith known to pull his knife, in Ronnie's own autobiography, he states that Keith once held a knife to Ronnie's throat.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-06-01 15:40 by LeonidP.

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Hairball

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Taylor1
Keith is a great artist but trying to make him a tough guy with a knife is laughable.When has he ever got into a fist fight with anyone? He’d probably have trouble with Elton John.When has anyone ever challenged him to a fight and Keith complied? This stuff about him pulling knives on people is ridiculous

In my neck of the woods, them are fighting words....

Though he looks fitter than Mick, the expression on his face says "Jim from Taxi".