In a 1998 interview with Nicky Gebhart, Mitch Mitchell remembered jamming with Hendrix in an audition session of sorts. The trio, sculpted by Chandler, reminded him of Cream, which featured Eric Clapton on guitar, with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker forming the rhythm section. “I came out with some facetious comment like, ‘So, you want me to try to play like Ginger Baker or something?’ Hendrix just goes, ‘Oh, yeah, whatever you want, man.'”
Mitchell immediately resonated with Hendrix’s famously nonchalant demeanour. “It was like a feeling of freedom,” he reflected. “I don’t know if it’s a spiritual awakening. It was just a situation where I’d gone, ‘Hey, you’ve never worked in a three-piece band in your life, ever, and there is something with this player that is very, very special.'”
Continuing, Mitchell remembered that Chandler and Hendrix had received applications from several other London-based drummers. “London’s not that large a place, and in those days, there weren’t that many drummers about,” he added. “A lot of my peers, colleagues – call them what you will – they’d gone for the job. Aynsley Dunbar and Mickey Waller had gone and knew about this guy, and they wanted the job, basically. That’s what surprised me because I didn’t hear about it.”
During Mitchell’s first audition session, a keyboard player was present in a four-piece set-up; at the second, the Experience power trio gelled for the first time; and in the third, Mitchell received his official offer. “I think I actually asked Chas, the manager, ‘What’s on offer? What’s the deal here?'” Mitchell recalled. “Well, look. We’ve got nothing apart from a chance,” Chandler replied.
Source: Jordan Potter / Far Out
At the time, Mitchell was just 19 years old. Chandler offered him just “two weeks’ work” to begin with, and since he was “inspired” by Hendrix’s guitar ability, he said he’d “give it a crack.” At first, the band had to get by on psychedelic rock covers, including the future fan favourite ‘Hey Joe’. “We had no songs when we first started,” Mitchell recalled. However, the band began to scrape a few original tracks together for a debut album.
Photo: the legendary Gered Mankowitz
