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From The Desk Of Doug Gillard: Bambi Kino In Hamburg (Part 2)

Doug Gillard is known (rightly so) for his guitar wizardry in bands such as Guided By Voices, Cobra Verde, Death Of Samantha and, for the last few years, Nada Surf, but that notoriety sometimes overshadows the fact that he’s an accomplished solo singer/songwriter. With his third LP, Parade On (Nine Mile), Gillard continues to show off his virtuosity—solos like the one on “On Target” are just ridiculous—as well as his knack for catchy, folk-inflected power pop. Gillard will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him. To see more photos corresponding to these entries, go here

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Gillard: To follow up our successful run at the Indra, Bambi Kino was hired by a guy to come over and play a private party as part of his wife’s 60th birthday celebration. Also on this bill was the U.K.’s answer to Sha Na Na: Showaddywaddy. This was held in a structure inside a beautiful public Hamburg park. Astrid Kircherr’s photos of the early Beatles lined the walls, and the mood was light. We played another show at the Indra to make the most of our time again in Hamburg.

Our label, Tapete Records, happens to be based in Hamburg and helped set up the show at the Indra. They ran a contest for a number of fans to win a tour of the now-defunct Beatlemania Museum with us BK guys along for the ride. Our man Basti at Tapete comes along to assist us on this visit and also the shows.

We go to the Beatlemania Museum on the Reeperbahn and take a tour along with contest winners who want to meet us. It’s a great museum with lots of memorabilia: contracts they signed in Hamburg, recording equipment they used here, etc. Unfortunately, the museum had to close down due to lack of tourist volume. Shame.

Gibson Kemp is a drummer who was in a combo with Klaus Voorman early on, and replaced Ringo Starr in Rory Storm And The Hurricanes when Ringo left them to join the Beatles. Gibson remained in Hamburg, marrying Astrid Kirchherr for a while, and in recent years opened a business, Kemp’s English Pub. To be a musician in Hamburg in the ’60s was to have easy access to the greats who toured through there: Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry, etc. Gibson drummed for Chuck Berry on his Just Got Out Of Jail touras well as playing tons of dates in Hamburg in the bands he was in (King Size Taylor, etc.).

He sits down with us after making us bowls of chili on rice and tells us a few Berry and Little Richard stories. At the time, Chuck was “not particularly nice,” and the Little Richard backstage story involved holding the bible with one hand, masturbating with the other and telling Lennon to come over and give him a hand.

Our favorite schnitzel joint is also in St. Pauli: Erika’s Eck. The jagerschnitzel is the thing to get, with mushroom gravy and bratkartoffeln (fried sliced potatoes) underneath.

Back in the states, Bambi Kino likes to play at small Cavern-like clubs in N.Y. such as the Bowery Electric. Once we had a run of “Reeperbahn Nights” there. Every Wednesday for a month, we played as a burlesque troop took turns dancing and stripping onstage. “A Taste Of Honey” was a particularly memorable number, and when Mat Fraser comes out, all bets are off. Look him up. We have played parties in the Hamptons, helped close the legendary Maxwell’s in N.J., and even got asked to play at private New York club the Century Association. We just got our feet wet with the Beatle Fest people, and had a good set a few months back, with Beatle author Mark Lewisohn joining us onstage. We also will record a second album at some point. I want to have us pose with frying pans and call it ‘avin’ a Fry-Up! but I have a feeling that one will be voted way down by the guys.