Glimpses with Jim McCarty

Jim McCarty is the original drummer for The Yardbirds, afterwards going on to many musical projects including but not limited to: Together, Renaissance, Box of Frogs and his own solo work.

Here Jim tells about his early-'70s jazz-rock-fusion band Shoot ('The Neon Life' is phenomenal), mystical New Age projects: Stairway & Pilgrim, and the unreleased obscurity that is the film "Schizom".

Can you tell me in-depth about the recording process and completion of the soundtrack for the film "Schizom"? I read it was a very limited release for the 2012 distribution of the soundtrack on Easy Action, apparently there are only 300 copies? You recorded with Kay Garner I believe?

Yes. It was just an idea, we had a management company in London and they were approached by these guys that were doing a small budget documentary, it was sort of a semi-documentary, and they wanted some music for it. I don’t know why they chose us, I don’t know whether they wanted some Renaissance music or Yardbirds, but we put a few songs together for them and we recorded in a London studio and we used various session musicians. Kay Garner sang on one song. [‘High Mountain Sequence’]. We did see the film but I don’t know if it ever came out properly.

'High Mountain Theme (Demo)' featured on the soundtrack for "Schizom" and Keith Relf's compilation album, "All The Falling Angels" [video]

↳ The cover features a person ski-ing, was it about that?

Yes, it was ski-ing and sort of mountain climbing, mountaineering, up in the wilds. In Switzerland I think it was. 

We liked doing it [the project] ‘cause we could watch the movie and do the music at the same time. It was like quite good fun, we’d never done that before. I think it was the sort of film that didn’t fit anywhere, didn’t really go on to the cinemas. It was like a very small budget thing, and didn’t go on TV either. It's a shame in a way.

Front CD cover for Schizom.

After the dissolution of the Yardbirds, you formed Together, an acoustic duo with Keith Relf. What was that endeavour like? 

Well it was sort of very similar, I think. We were under contract to EMI still after we split, Keith and I were writing songs and were happy to record some things, we went into Abbey Road and played with some nice session musicians - people like Nicky Hopkins and John Mark, who played guitar and Tony Meehan the old Shadows drummer was involved ‘cause he was doing string arrangements for us. That was quite good fun but it never really made much of an impact on people and after that it was suggested that we got a band together and we called it Renaissance.

Promotional media of Together. © George Walker.

Jim’s note of the picture: ‘Oh yes I’ve seen this one before, it’s quite good isn’t it?’

How was your time in Shoot? The album cover is very interesting. I love the experimental sound on this record.

Funny enough, that’s all coming into the show I’m doing, [“History of Renaissance” with Annie Haslam]. That was after we left Renaissance and I just wanted to do some songs that I’ve written and sing them and form a little band. I met Dave Green, who was the guitar player and we got on well together, we were writing stuff, doing stuff together. He seemed very good and we were interested in a lot of American groups: Crosby, Stills & Nash and Seals & Crofts - those sort of vocal harmony groups so we did a lot of the songs in that sort of nature. It was good fun, we only did the one album [laughs], it didn’t do too well.

Shoot. L-R: Craig Collinge, Bill Russell, Dave Green and Jim McCarty. © Gered Mankowitz.

↳ People are missing out!

Yeah, well it’s just been re-released in the States on a label called T.L.A.K [Think Like A Key Music] and it's on CD.

Is there a chance you'll do an England tour sometime?

Yeah, we’d love to actually. It’s just getting the right sort of dates or the right tour together. Yeah I think it'd be really good fun. We’d been doing for the last Yardbirds tour, I was talking through the history with back projection and playing the music as it came up, which was quite good fun. One of the other guys was playing drums a bit, so that was very helpful, I didn’t have to keep going back to the drums all the time.

How did you compose the drumming for tracks on the Yardbirds' albums? Did you come up with a sequence and then apply it to a song? Or did you listen to the song and then figure out what you wanted to add?

Jim is shown in ‘Beat Instrumental’ magazine’s Portrait Gallery, October 1965 edition, with his Ludwig drum kit on ‘Ready, Steady, Go!’ at Wembley Studios, London. 1965. © Beat Instrumental.

I think something like ‘Shapes Of Things’, we all came up with different bits of it [laughs]. We started off with a bass riff that we found on a jazz record and then we built up this sort of chord progression. I think my idea was doing the middle-eight section, the “come tomorrow” section. Then Keith and Paul did the lyrics. I think Keith did the main tune, but it came out well. I sort of put ideas into the pot from the beginning on a lot of songs. I think I wrote a lot of the lyrics on ‘Over, Under, Sideways, Down’ and the tune, that was sort of down to me.

Regarding your book, ‘Nobody Told Me’, what was it like writing a book and such an in-depth one about your life and musical career?

Well it was very enjoyable really because I was working with a great writer, Dave [Thompson], who wrote the book and he’s a real rock writer, and it was very easy. We used to have lots of sessions together and talking about it. He was good fun and we got on very well.

Front cover of ‘Nobody Told Me!’. © Trevor Heath. 1965.

How did the mystical music project ‘Stairway’, with fellow Renaissance/Illusion member Louis Cennamo come about?

Oh yeah [laughs], we lost touch for a long time and we met up and we were both interested in healing and meditation, all that stuff; the alternative world. We used to go to meetings in a big church in London and they always had alternative events on. Just in the West End, quite near Piccadilly. St. James’ church it was called. They had regular alternative talks on there. People were talking about all sorts of alternative subjects, I think we met up there. Louis and I were just chatting, we were saying it’d be nice to do some of that sort of music. We were introduced to these people who were local to where I lived in Twickenham and they were called ‘New World Cassettes’, at the time and they just did cassettes [laughs]. It was quite funny and then they upgraded to CDs. They did really well and seem to have a really good market selling the music in all these alternative little shops that sold candles and incense and all that sort of thing [laughs]. Well, as you know we did a few albums, but it was fun because we weren’t on our usual instruments. Louis was playing acoustic guitar instead of bass, and I was messing around on the keyboards, rather than drumming, singing a bit as well. It was fun to do it and people seemed to like it.

Stairway in Kew Gardens, London. Late 1980s. © Louis Cennamo.

Stairway in Kew Gardens, London. Late 1980s. © Louis Cennamo.

Could you talk a little about Pilgrim with Carmen Wilcox?

Carmen was one of the directors of ‘New World Music’ [label on which the Pilgrim albums were released] it became. She was a bit of a poet and I was quite friendly with her, we used to talk a lot. One day she said: ‘I’d like to do a record of my poetry. Is it possible you could put music to it?’. So I said: ‘Well I’ll have a go.’, and read some of her poems and put some songs together and we went from there. It was good fun to do and it came out quite nicely. John Richardson was another drummer and a lovely singer and he was a friend of Carmen’s as well, and he was involved in Pilgrim. We got a nice female singer as well, it became a sort of slightly Gothic idea as well and we did that ‘Gothic Dream’ [album] which was all based on the Gothic poets: Lord Byron and all those Victorian poets; Tennyson. I enjoyed that more ‘cause it was quite stylised.

Inside cover of Pilgrim’s CD album, “Search For The Dreamchild”. © Jim McCarty.

"Dream Within a Dream" by Pilgrim [video]

Lastly, I'm doing my dissertation on music from 1963 to 1969. What was it like being around London during the R&B boom?

It was very exciting. There were a lot of really good bands and there were a lot of great places to play, it's not quite the same anymore. We heard that [rhythm and blues] music coming over from America, all about the same time. We called it ‘R ‘n’ B’ but it was actually blues coming from mainly Chicago. People like Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Slim Harpo, Howlin’ Wolf, all these people. Suddenly we heard them all at once. We also used to go and see The Stones, of course they played all that stuff. At the time I’d never heard anything quite like it, it was like ‘What is this incredible music?’. It had sort of passion and excitement, and we really wanted to play it. Most of the bands were doing that, most of the bands we knew: The Pretty Things, The Kinks, The Animals. It was great.

Thank you very much Jim for your time.

(Interview conducted 23rd October 2025)

In Conversation with Mark "Twig" Greenberg of Richard & The Young Lions

First of all, I’ve got to say a huge thank you to Twig, for being so welcoming and making me feel at ease for my first ever interview!

Richard & The Young Lions, known in the earlier days as 'The Emeralds' and 'The Original Kounts' were a garage band from Newark, New Jersey, active during the American garage rock craze of the mid-’60s. They scored a no. 1 hit with the single “Open Up Your Door”. The song got so much airplay, that people thought the band was actually from Detroit, as the song was number one in the charts there. “Open Up Your Door” starts with a fuzzy electric guitar intro and piano - that Coldplay arguably took inspiration from on their track, “Clocks” - before the drums bang out and a catchy organ comes into play. Richard then exclaims, “Left you at eight, came back at nine.” Before Richard cries out how he’s not yet finished being with his girl, shouting a chorus of “I wanna love you some more”, then finally stretching: “Come on now and open up your door.” 

It’s obvious to see how it became such a hit, from dancing to it in clubs, to aspiring garage bands doing their own covers, you just want to sing along and groove.

The band released three singles (“Open Up Your Door”/“Once Upon Your Smile”, “Nasty”/“Lost And Found” and “You Can Make It”/“To Have And To Hold”) before being practically shelved by their label in favour of other artists, like The Four Seasons.

If circumstances were kinder, perhaps we could’ve gotten a full length album back in 1967, but at least we have the gems ‘Vol.1’ and ‘Vol.2’ to appreciate, 51 years later.

How did you come to join Richard & The Young Lions?

We [Twig and Lou Vlahakes, the guitarist] found out that Richard & The Young Lions needed a couple new people. Right before the record was released, we went to a restaurant in New Jersey called ‘Don’s Drive-In’, Richard Tepp went there to meet us and that’s where we did the deal. We couldn’t wait to join. We [Twig and Lou Vlahakes] were in bands together since we were teenagers. Early teenagers. So we just got together. We were on a TV show, I think just about two weeks after that. Yeah, it was quick.

Richard Tepp drove up from Newark where he lived, to meet with us and get it together. We fell in love with Richard, he had such a great personality. We never saw long hair like that, ever. Just him. 

We started rehearsing at my house in Livingston, New Jersey. Right next to the garage. It was right next to the living room downstairs and that’s where we rehearsed.

Promotional image for Richard & The Young Lions. L-R: Richard Tepp, Bob Freedman, Lou Vlahakes, Mark “Twig” Greenberg and Fred Randall. 1966.

Why did Norm Cohen (the original drummer) leave the band?

No idea. I know they wanted me in, because we had a band that was really good - not professional, but we were good players.

What bands influenced Richard & The Young Lions’ music?

British groups. Up and down. We loved Procol Harum. We loved The Beatles. We loved The Rolling Stones and we rehearsed in Livingston, New Jersey and it was right next to the garage, in the living room downstairs. We were big Yardbirds fans and when ‘Open Up Your Door’ was #1 in Detroit, our local record company guy, who helped us, booked us to open up for The Yardbirds, and I will never forget, Keith Relf, may he rest in peace, was such a nice guy. He invited us right onto The Yardbirds [tour] bus to hang out, meet everybody. 

Newspaper clipping of Richard & The Young Lions set to perform with the English blues-rock group, The Yardbirds, at Fifth Dimension in Miami, Florida. 27th December 1966.

©The Ann Arbor News.

So about after we performed with The Yardbirds, it might’ve been like three weeks later, I was vacationing in Miami and they were performing. So I said ‘I’m not gonna miss The Yardbirds.’ I went to the show, and when they were setting up, right before the performance, I was about five rows from the stage. Keith Relf saw me and he said ‘I know you! Come along with me.’ and he invited me right backstage. It was a pleasure. He was such a great guy, may he rest in peace. And so was Chris Dreja and Jimmy Page, who had famous words. When we first met [laughs], in Michigan, I was introduced to Jimmy Page and he said very famous words to me. He said: ‘Do me a favour, get me a coke.’ That was the big deal! Our first meeting, he asked me for a soda.

In fact, I have one thing I talk about. I don’t talk about it much, but it’s a question. Do you know anyone who can say what I’m about to say? ‘What is it?’ I went to a Jimi Hendrix recording session. I knew Jimi, and I sat down next to Eddie Kramer, his producer, who I flew to London with. I knew him and I waved to Jimi, Jimi waved right back. 

↳ That’s amazing.

Yeah. Several times, I was in the same room as Jimi. Several! He used to jam at a club called ‘The Scene’, which is on West 46 Street, in Manhattan.

©: Mind Smoke Records.

It’s no longer in existence, but oh my god, it was an amazing place. In fact, namedropping, one night I was at Madison Square Garden for a reuniting of Cream. I was with Steve Van Zandt and we were hanging out and we went to a party at Madison Square Garden after the show, in a tiny room, and I walked up to Roger Waters and I got right in his face and said: ‘I saw you at ‘The Scene’ with a hundred people there!’ He started laughing and he shook my hand and I saw him last week! And he said: ‘I remember you!’ Funny, yeah.

©: Mind Smoke Records.

What happened to the band and its members after the limited release of the single, “You Can Make It”?

Well, quite frankly, Richard & The Young Lions were managed by a group of managers in the city. Now, all you’ve got to do is put these three names together and you’ll figure out why things didn’t work out for Richard & The Young Lions. The other two acts they had were Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, and The Four Seasons. Two huge bands! And us.

↳ I’m guessing that they put all the time into the other two?

Yes, good guess, but that’s true. [laughs]

↳ Did they call you in to say, ‘It’s over’?

We were stressed out. And I was the first one to leave. I think the whole thing together, or initially, was about six months. The fact that it's 2025 and I’m still talking about it, with you, shows how the band’s got legs. It's a miracle. From 1966 to 2025? That’s unbelievable!

↳ Amazing music never dies.

Yup, it’s true. And Steve Van Zandt once said to me, famous words: ‘If you’re a rock and roll star once, you stay a rock and roll star forever.’ And I gotta tell you, he is absolutely right. That’s how I get treated in a lot of places [laughs].

Mark on the first-left. Lou Vlahakes, Larry Smith and Joe Lafarra.

©: Lou Vlahakes.

↳ Do you get recognised a lot?

A decent amount. The last time I was in a club downtown, a friend of mine, who’s the player of the rock n’ roll songs, the classics, played ‘Open Up Your Door’ and the people that were there were all dancing and singing. They’d come up to me and give me [a high] five and hugged me and everything. It was great. It felt like the way it still feels.

↳ Do you ever get tired of being recognised? Or do you love it every time?

I do. Every time. It means a lot. That night, I was in a restaurant and they played ‘Open Up Your Door’ when I walked in. So, that was dinner, and later, it was played at a club! It was some night! And it’s like three weeks ago. Amazing.

Did Richard & The Young Lions have a residency at a club?

They were really performances. I remember one night, we did a couple of shows, nights with The Zombies. Richard Tepp and myself got to sit in an empty room with The Zombies performing. We were right in front of the stage, and Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent, oh my god, it was heaven.

↳ Did you get to meet them afterwards?

Yes. They were there for a rehearsal. It was in Greenwich Village. It was fun. I remember I had to leave the village at about two o’clock in the morning. I couldn’t get a cab, there was just no way and finally I saw a bus and I just got on it so I could get home. I was saying to myself: ‘That’s some rock and roll star you are. On the bus going home.’ After the show [laughs]. 

I remember Steve Van Zandt put me in charge of welcoming The Pretty Things to the show. I got to meet them all, especially Phil May, may he rest in peace.

Did the band tour? And did the band perform at schools and clubs?

That’s a good question. It wasn’t long ‘till we started to get noticed. We did a show in Manhattan, like two weeks later!

Larry Smith (left), Twig (right). 1969, possibly a New Years Eve party at Twig’s house in Livingston, New Jersey. © Lou Vlahakes.

Twig’s note about the picture: That’s me, and that’s Larry Smith. He was a part-time member. That is me playing guitar and that is my house in Livingston, New Jersey and that outfit, it’s a pink shirt with blue pants and a blue vest, and great hair on me, I must admit! [laughs]. That’s some picture. It looks like a New Year’s Eve party. He’s my best friend since fifth grade, in fact he called me yesterday. 

Just so you know I’m wearing ALL British clothes in that picture, I had ‘Mr. Freedom’ clothes - that was the store. I went to a couple of stores in Detroit and they brought in British clothes, cause that was the thing to have. And so I got it. It was donated to their favourite rockstar - me [laughs].

Twig at the same party, 1969. © Mark Greenberg.

What was it like being on Robin Seymour’s ‘Swingin’ Time’?

It was right across the Canada border. It was a great show, and we did that show with my friend Bob Seeger and his band.

↳ Bob Seger & The Last Heard?

Yeah. And what’s amazing, ‘Open Up Your Door’ was #1 in Detroit. We did the show and he was with us, he called us: ‘Please come see the band! Come see the band.’ And we ended up driving to Saginaw where we saw Bob Seeger & The Last Heard performing at a cocktail lounge in a bowling alley! How’s that!

Bob Seeger doing ‘East Side Story’ that was so great. I remember that TV show and he was with us [on Swingin’ Time]. We did that show with the harmonica player, Paul Butterfield and his blues band. It was very cool, and I was friendly with Elvin Bishop from that show. 

Did you ever get the chance to go on Dick Clark’s American ‘Bandstand’?

No. But ? & The Mysterians did, and Question Mark, the singer, me and him have been close friends since 1966. And on my telephone, ‘Q’ is right there. If I hit the ‘Q’, it’ll call him.

↳ How did you both meet?

On ‘Swingin’ Time’. We did it together.

↳ Was he very eccentric? From what I’ve seen he seems like quite an eccentric guy.

Yes. He’s off the wall. But he’s got a great personality and his memories and everything are right there.

Richard & The Young Lions with female fans. L-R: Lou Vlahakes, Fred Randall, Twig, Bob Freedman and Richard Tepp.

Twig’s note: That’s a famous picture. The girls were groupies in the good ol’ days. Look at Richard’s hair, nobody had hair that long at that time. Richard Tepp was one of the funniest guys I knew in my life. Hanging out with him was always fun. We would always laugh. Richard drove 2 ½ hours each way [for the albums recorded in the 2000's].

In 1966 through to 1967, only three singles were released. “Open Up Your Door”/“Once Upon Your Smile”, “Nasty”/“Lost And Found” and “You Can Make It”/“To Have And To Hold”.

[‘You Can Make It’] that should’ve been a hit. That was a great song. A perfect follow up for ‘Open Up Your Door’. Just… Phillips Records, when you have The Four Seasons and Mitch Ryder, you know, you get put behind. It’s just a fact. We could’ve been a big band. But in 1966 it didn’t happen, sad but true. I have nothing to regret. The fact that we’re in 2025 still talking about that band, is a miracle by itself.

When was ‘Vol.1’ and two recorded?

In the early 2000’s. It was great, I came up with songs, and the band was absolutely ready. Usually, in the old days, you could write something and the band would say, ‘Eh, I don’t like that. That’s not for us.’ These guys went right to the songs, right into them.

How did you all get together for the two albums?

We got together at Fred Randall’s, so much fun.

↳ So did someone call another person up and say: ‘I want to do an album.’ How did it work?

Just like that. ‘Meet you on Sunday at noon.’ Richard had quite a drive to get there, but he was there right on schedule, every time. So I went out every Sunday, or if I was off from work during the week and I had tracks to do, I’d just hop on a bus and go out to Montclair, New Jersey. It was beautiful, very nice and a lot of fun.

Another promotional image for the band. L-R: Bob Freedman, Lou Vlahakes, Richard Tepp, Twig and Fred Randall. 1966.

Twig’s note: Fred Randall, the legendary bass player. Fred Randall made the band’s albums happen.

Why did it take over a decade for Vol.1 to be released? As the tracks were recorded in early 2000's?

Because Richard Tepp, after he did both albums, passed away of leukaemia. Like ten days after. I still miss him.

And it really- it blew Steve Van Zandt’s mind. He put it on the back burner until he was ready. Then one day he was ready and Fred Randall, the bass player and myself went to his studio downtown and we went over every song, and it was remixed. It came out great in our opinion. Steve loved it also and we were very happy. The albums were limited release and they both sold out. And they’re still played on the radio!

Are there any unreleased tracks or demos lying around?

No. Both albums, ‘Vol.1’ and two, we did all the songs [in Fred Randall’s house]. Fred Randall built a recording studio in the basement, where we did both albums. 

Richard & The Young Lions with a radio DJ. L-R: Fred Randall, Richard Tepp, DJ, Twig, Lou Vlahakes and Bob Freedman.

Twig’s note: That’s a DJ on the radio. I look good in that picture.

What other bands were doing music around New Jersey during the time of Richard & The Young Lions?

Not many that I can think of. Very few people knew we were from New Jersey, they thought we were actually from Detroit. Detroit was far advanced in the music they were playing.

Is the band still active? I know Richard Tepp passed in 2004.

We did a couple of shows together. But [just] a couple. Now, we’re all retired.

Is there a chance of a few more shows?

It’s over. Just memories.

What was it like filming the documentary: ‘Out of Our Dens: The Richard and the Young Lions Story’? 

Oh I love that movie. James Hannon, he’s a great guy. I’ll never forget, we had an opening of that movie downtown, and there were so many people there that people were sitting in the aisles to watch the movie, because all the chairs were taken. It was great, the movie we loved. Pat St. John, the announcer was and IS still, a top dee-jay on the radio. He volunteered, he was a huge Young Lions fan, and a neighbor. So he was at rehearsals almost every time. So we’d love to have him as the broadcaster and he did the whole movie.

Do you have a favourite memory or memories of your time in the band?

We got to perform with bands that were just starting out or got to see. We did a show in Detroit, we got to see in a tiny club The Blues Magoos, when they were starting out. I’m still friends with Peppie Castro.

I’ll tell you something really amazing, did you ever hear the band, Terry Knight & The Pack? Here’s the thing. Terry was a radio show host, who was way [more] advanced than us. He was playing British stuff all over the place. Nobody else was. ‘Open Up Your Door’ went to #1 and when we were in town, he invited us to see his band Terry Knight & The Pack. After the show we went backstage to talk to Terry, and said: ‘Twig, I’m leaving the band. I’m going to try and manage them. They’re going out on their own’. I said: ‘Oh great! What are you going to call them?’ He said: ‘The name of the band is going to be Grand Funk Railroad.’ That’s who they were, a backup band of kids when I met them. 

There were some great bands. One band that stands out: Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, they were phenomenal. And we saw The Left Banke, (No way!) what a band, what a band. (Author's Note: I’m a massive Left Banke fan, hell the name of my blog and archive account is after one of their songs!)

↳ Did you get to talk with them?

Yes! They were talented. That’s the way it goes. [Michael Brown, the band's pianist and composer] was very ill the last time I saw him. His family, his kids were there, and he died a couple of weeks later. What a talent. Way ahead of his time.

They were a phenomenal band, in fact I saw a copy band do a Left Banke show and it was phenomenal. It was phenomenal. It was Mike Fornatale, who was in our band at the end. He did the show, he sang all the songs. Singing exactly like the lead singer [Steve Martin Caro], and it was tremendous. They had horns, violin players with the band. It was just unbelievable. There were two original members there, Tom Finn and George Cameron. It was a show of a lifetime. The band, it was their job to imitate The Left Banke and man oh man did they do that. I saw them downtown [in New York], twice. They were tremendous.

Miscellaneous

I asked Twig about ever seeing The Bee Gees: I saw The Bee Gees at least three times. In fact, what’s really crazy, I was in an apartment’s lobby, not paying attention. Three guys got on [the elevator]. I picked my head up, it was THE Bee Gees! They were coming into the building to meet with their producer. I saw them perform in New Jersey, when they were ice-cold, and they were incredible at their shows! Incredible. I saw The Bee Gees the first time they performed in the United States, it was in Queens, New York and I was there.

Twig also told me he saw The Beatles four times live and they were supported by Barry & The Remains and the bass player, Vern Miller, went to the same high school as him. How cool is that!

Thanks again to Twig.

Richard & The Young Lions performing "Open Up Your Door" on Swingin' Time [video]

(Interviews conducted 9^th October 2025 & 16^th October 2025).