Steve Peregrin Took (1949–1980) was a British musician.
Early life and Tyrannosaurus Rex
Took was born Stephen Ross Porter on 28 July, 1949 in Eltham, South London. He took his name from the hobbit Peregrin Took in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. At the age of seventeen he was recruited as drummer for the electric band Marc Bolan was forming in response to his departure from John’s Children , Took outlived a gig disaster, departure of other sidemen and repossession of equipment. Marc and Steve formed an economy version of the band, busking in subways on acoustic guitar and bongos. As an ersatz flower-power unit, Tyrannosaurus Rex proceeded onto the club and stage circuit and thence into the record shops, where they clocked up three albums and two top 40 hits.
The duo finagled their way into the very heart of the underground, manipulating and seducing the stoned (and frankly gullible) audiences with a synthesised veneer of mysticism and elfin sagacity, which pushed all the right buttons.
It was Took’s arrangements which were instrumental in transforming Bolan’s music from the straightforward rock ‘n roll it had once been (and would again be one day) into an 'exotic' brew of musical influences. Took was Bolan’s translator, turning his words into audio signals to trigger off mental pictures in a tripped-out audience.
In Tyrannosaurus Rex, Steve Took contributed backing vocals, drums, pixiephone, bongos, African drums, kazoo, pixiephone; Chinese gong and in later stages some bass guitar.
While still in Tyrannosaurus Rex Bolan refused to let the duo perform any of Took’s songs so he took two of them to Twink. Subsequently, the songs were included on his seminal album Think Pink. He also worked with David Bowie and appears on a BBC Bowie album.
The Pink Fairies
After being sacked by Bolan Took formed the Pink Fairies (mark 1) with newly ex-Deviant Mick Farren and Twink. They evolved out of the drinking club of the same name by Took, Syd Barrett, the Pretty Things, the Deviants etc in 1969. However, this didn’t last that long as Twink and the other Deviants formed a new band called the Pink Fairies (mark 2) which were greeted with applause before they even played a note due to the reputation of the name gained by the Took/Farren/Twink incarnation. Took appears prominently on Mick Farren’s first solo album Mona the Carnivorous Circus released in 1970.
Shagrat
Larry (or "Lazza") Wallis and Tim Taylor, guitarist and bassist with 60s underground band the Entire Sioux Nation, were headhunted by Mick Farren and Steve Took in February 1970. A month later, Farren dropped out leaving Tookie as outright bandleader for the first time in his career. Took, Wallis and Taylor added drummer Phil Lenoir and became Shagrat. Together they recorded three tracks at Strawberry Studios and played live at Phun City. After the rhythm section dropped out, Steve and Lazza continued with drummer Dave Bidwell. The three rehearsed with various bass players and later formed an acoustic three-piece (as well as a six-piece social gang with their three girlfriends, of whom Lazza is sole survivor). Wallis would later join the Pinks transforming the band, leading them on the classic Kings Of Oblivion LP. Later in 1975/6 Wallis and Took once again worked together.
Took played support slots for Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies as well as jamming as third drummer, even once deputising on bass guitar for the Pinks. Took worked with a number of Hawkwind members during his lifetime, most notably Robert Calvert and Nik Turner. While still with Bolan Took recorded a session with Syd Barrett and it appears likely that Barrett is on the recordings done in Mayfair by Took and friends in 1972. Farren recalls that Took would “drag a bemused Syd Barrett along” to events in Ladbroke Grove in the late 1960’s .
Steve Took's Horns
Steve Took's Horns was not just another of Steve Took's many projects in his gloriously ill-fated (and too often overlooked) solo career, it was also the first band together of Trevor Thoms and Ermanno Ghisio- Erba, or as Inner City Unit (ICU) fans would know them, Judge Trev and Dino Ferari.
The group recorded a session of three brilliant studio tracks in November '77 before going on to perform a gig on 18th June 1978 at the Roundhouse, as part of "Nik Turner's Bohemian Love-In"
Took felt the gig had gone badly, and the years of being dismissed as a ‘drugged-up loser’ by various people particularly those in the Bolan fraternity took their toll. So for Steve himself, it was a depressing enough experience for him to pull the plug on the band shortly after they came offstage.
However the potency and talent within the band had made too much of an impression on those close to Steve Took's Horns for the story to end there. A fresh carcass will always lure scavengers and sure enough, Nik Turner, having first drafted Ermanno/Dino into Sphynx for a live festival LP recorded that August, went on in 1979 to incorporate the Trev/Dino partnership into the new Inner City Unit.
Took guested with ICU a number of times the last one being (as far as we know to date) on 16th June 1980. Steve Took died aged thirty one on October 27th 1980 when he choked on a cocktail cherry at his home in Ladbroke Grove.
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Last updated: 05-07-2005 05:58:41
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
