ABOUT THE CONVERSATION
Bobby Elliott has spent more than six decades behind the drums with The Hollies, but his story begins much closer to home: growing up around Burnley and Nelson, discovering jazz on American radio and building his first drum kit from biscuit tins above his mum’s shop.
In this conversation, Bobby talks about the Lancashire music scene that shaped him, joining The Hollies and recording at Abbey Road, before heading across the Atlantic at the height of the British Invasion. Along the way are encounters with Jimi Hendrix, Gene Krupa, Keith Moon and Joni Mitchell — while Bobby explains why returning home to Roughlee remained an important counterweight to life on the road.
“That was my grounding thing. It was a totally different world. I had the two worlds.”
IN THIS CONVERSATION
01
LEARNING TO PLAY IN LANCASHIRE
Jazz on American radio, a homemade kit built from biscuit tins and sitting in with local musicians around Nelson, Colne and Rawtenstall.
02
FROM THE COAL MINE TO THE HOLLIES
Leaving an engineering apprenticeship for life as a professional drummer — and being told his old job would be waiting for him for two weeks.
03
RECORDING AT ABBEY ROAD
Fast sessions, minimal equipment and persuading an EMI engineer to put a second microphone on the drums — with help from his granny’s old curtains.
04
THE BRITISH INVASION HITS AMERICA
Five shows a day on Broadway, Little Richard and Jimi Hendrix backstage, and seeing jazz heroes including Miles Davis and Gene Krupa at close quarters.
05
HOLLYWOOD, KEITH MOON & JONI MITCHELL
Life on the West Coast, nights at the Whisky a Go Go and being asked by Graham Nash to listen as Joni Mitchell played a newly written song.
06
TWO VERY DIFFERENT WORLDS
From musicians and clubs in London and America to pints back home in Lancashire — and why Bobby was always comfortable moving between the two.
