#phil bates

(most of these are from after his death so they're quite bittersweet, but still very sweet <3 )

Bev Bevan:

"He was such a bundle of energy, totally irrepressible. Kelly was the life and soul of the party, the practical joker in the band. He was the type of character who was always joking around and could light up a room whenever he arrived... "I remember being on the road with Kelly back in the 70s. It was a great time to be out there and he kept us entertained. He used to have an endless supply of bad jokes. He was always on the go, couldn’t sit still, and even when he did he would be playing with a Rubik’s cube or something like that. Kelly was a real gentle soul as well – he wouldn’t harm a fly."

Louis Clark:

"I have so many memories, like closing many bars with him in hotels all over the world having solved the world's problems, his silly jokes, which I found funny for their sheer silliness, sitting next to him on planes in the early 80's with the constant clicking of his Rubik's cube. "I'll always remember around the same time period while in L.A. recording Kelly's first solo album, him climbing from room to room over our balconies at least 20 stories up. "I also remember more recently when my watch strap broke and the local repair shop said it would have to be sent to the manufacturer. I gave it to Kelly and he fixed it in three minutes. He was "Mr. Fix It" and the "Gadget Man". "Kelly always made time for everyone, us the band, anyone in trouble and his fans who he genuinely loved talking with."

Mik Kaminski:

"We were like brothers. We would call each other anytime we needed to. He was always there for me. Even though he’s gone, I keep expecting him to phone me up at any minute...Kelly had loads of birds. Whenever I rang him up it was like calling Regent’s Park Zoo!"

Mik Kaminski again, in interview with Martin Kinch:

Martin: "Are there any certain songs that you perform when you, uh, think about him more than others?" Mik: "Um...well, all of them, really, because Kelly had his [unintelligible] little piece he'd do in the middle of a song, he'd...he'd walk over and...you know, he had quite a [laughs] comical edge about him when he was performing and you can always see him coming over and doing his bits even though he's not there, so...they're all pretty much...you know, there's a bit of Kelly in all of them."

Melvyn Gale, in an interview:

KJS: Finally ... what is your #1 favourite ELO song and why? Mel: Got to be Midnight Blue, because it reminds me of Kelly.

Parthenon Huxley, of ELO Part II and The Orchestra:

"In late 1998 I walked into a large, well worn rehearsal room in Birmingham, England for my audition with ELO Part II. I wasn't sure who everyone was, but immediately Kelly Groucutt positioned himself directly in front of me, tilted his head upwards and said, 'You're TOO TALL!' We laughed. Leave it to Kelly to be the icebreaker... "Fans of ELO Part II and now The Orchestra will attest that Kelly was always available after a gig for an autograph, a photo, a cigarette, a drink, whatever was happening at the moment. Hours after a performance the last thing fans heard in the parking lot was usually a tour manager shouting, 'Kelly! The bus is leaving!' He gave the fans every spare minute he had... "Kelly was a tinkerer, a gadgets freak, a student of puns, an expert Country & Western singer, a walking encyclopedia of music history (song title, artist, year released), a loving Dad, a smoker, a drinker, a traveller (China, Cuba, Chile...hmmm...never noticed how much he liked "C" countries), a joke teller, a tireless chatterbug, a generous friend, a lyrics freak, a willing accomplice."

Phil Bates, from ELO Part II and The Orchestra:

Phil Bates wickelt die Fans um den Finger

Was Jeff Lynne anfasste, wurde ein Hit. Die Musik des E.L.O.-Gründers hat sich in die Gehörgänge ganzer Generationen gegraben. Und deshalb war es kein Wunder, dass 25-Jährige ausgelassen neben über 60-Jährigen tanzten, als Gitarrist und Sänger Phil Bates die schönsten Songs des „Electric Light Orchestras“ ins Capitol Mannheim brachte. Lynne selbst ist nach wie vor selbst auch aktiv.

Bates hat…

¿Cuál es la razón por la que se permite que Phil Bates siga promocionándose en la cartelería que presenta sus conciertos con el nombre de ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA, incluso utilizando el logo original de ELO y aún cuando su promotor le recomienda corregir este error? Quizá son ya muchas las veces que lo ha hecho y no ha recibido nigún requerimiento por parte de los abogados de JEFF LYNNE… pero, si…