What would you change of ELP?

To HELP discussion, some words of Keith Emerson himself:

"Is it true that you and Mitch Mitchell almost formed a new band with Jimi Hendrix?

Back in early 1970, Greg and I — we’d met originally in San Francisco when Greg was in King Crimson and I had the Nice. Back in London, around about early 1970, we were looking for a drummer and it was always my intention to carry on the trio format because I liked the freedom of that. The added attraction of working with Greg was that he wasn’t only a bass player, but a guitarist, so we could really stir things around. So, we were looking for a drummer and Mitch was an obvious choice. Mitch came to Greg’s place and we didn’t actually get to play together, but Mitch, during that conversation, suggested that if he joined Greg and myself that he could possibly persuade Jimi to come in with us. Anyway, for some reason, there was some mention of guns that Mitch brought in, and Greg thought that was a little too much over the top. So, he had second thoughts about working with Mitch because he had, at that time, a couple of heavy guys always with him. Whether or not this was Mitch’s paranoia, I don’t know. Greg didn’t feel comfortable about it, so that kind of fell through.

Did you ever jam with Hendrix?

Yes, I jammed with him on what they called a package tour, back in 68 or 69 — Pink Floyd, the Move, and the Nice. And then later after that package tour, Jimi wanted the Nice to support him at the Marquee Club. So, yeah, we did get to play, but mainly at sound checks. There’s a biography about Jimi written by John McDermott, and when he was interviewing Chas Chandler, he came up with a surprise — a surprise for me, at least — that Jimi was considering using me on Axis: Bold As Love. But it was around Christmas time when the record company wanted to get the record done, and I was off touring, so that never came about.

To be really honest, Jimi was such a powerhouse on his own, and I was young enough and pretentious enough to say, “I want to be heard.” I’m afraid with Jimi, it would have been an interesting competition (laughs). And of course, what happened was after we found Carl Palmer and it was ELP, the media somehow got the story and they knew that Jimi could have been involved, and if he would have been involved, it would have been called HELP. That appealed to media."

To be really honest, Jimi was such a powerhouse on his own, and I was young enough and pretentious enough to say, “I want to be heard.” I’m afraid with Jimi, it would have been an interesting competition (laughs).

1. Would change the band name for Works 2, Love Beach and  In the Hot Seat