Tom Hartman

Tom Hartman was the leader and singer of The Aerovons, an American rock band established in 1966. After a Capitol Records representative listened to their 1967 demo, the band was offered a recording opportunity in Los Angeles. However, they held out for the chance to record in London, the base of their idols, The Beatles. Their persistence paid off when, in 1968, they received recording offers from both EMI and Decca during their visits to London. The following year, they recorded an album at EMI Studios, which remained unreleased until 2003.

In 1968, during their first visit in London, Tom Hartman and The Aerovons had the opportunity to meet Paul McCartney at the Speakeasy Club.

Capitol pointed the Aerovons in the direction of Roy Featherstone, the Beatles’ A&R man at EMI. With just the “thinnest of leads”, the band set off for London in September 1968, armed with their Beatlesesque demo, World of You.

“Looking back, it was so easy,” says Hartman. “He [Featherstone] just went, ‘You’re from St Louis and you wanna come to record here? That’s great!’ It was like something out of the movies.” EMI courted the band not with huge advances, but with a trip to the Speakeasy – the exclusive nerve centre of celebrity swinging London. Among the guests that night were Diana Ross, Michael Caine… and Paul McCartney.

Even now, at the age of 52, Hartman’s voice quivers at the memory. “It was dark, dinner tables. I walked up to Paul and said, ‘Hi, we’re from the States.’ Our band card said, ‘The Smashing English sound.’ He said, ‘Oh, Smashing English sounds – from America. Can I keep this?’ It was the biggest moment of my life to that point.”

The Aerovons returned to London in March the following year to record at the Abbey Road studio – at the same time as the Beatles were recording the album Abbey Road. “They were forever sneaking off to have their pictures taken with Beatles equipment,” remembers Alan Parsons, who engineered both albums.

From The Guardian, July 16, 2003

Also during that first trip to London, another of the 17-year-old Hartman’s wildest dreams came true when he gained access to the private Speakeasy club, hangout of the stars, where he met Paul McCartney himself. Michael Caine and Diana Ross were also at the club that night, but when he spotted McCartney, Hartman knew it might be his only chance to talk to his hero. “I was being nudged by my bandmates toward Paul, and I walked up to him and said, ‘I’m so sorry, Paul, but we’re from St. Louis. Would you have just a couple of minutes to talk?’ And he leaned back and said, ‘Yeah, sure! Where are you from?’”

When telling these stories, Hartman replicates a spot-on Liverpudlian accent, and he modulates his tone and inflection among the Fab Four with remarkable fidelity. But it was the guitars he wanted to mimic in those days. He recalls, “I was on a mission to find out how the Beatles got their guitar sounds, so I asked Paul if he remembered how they did the guitars on ‘Nowhere Man.’ He said, ‘Yeah, it was a Gretsch with a lot of top put on,’ meaning treble.” McCartney also signed four Aerovons business cards, one for each member, and, according to Hartman, got a kick out of the tag line on the American band’s business cards that advertised “Smashing English Sounds.”

“He was so nice and pleasant and funny,” Hartman remembers. “I still have that card firmly framed on the wall here [at home].”

From After 55 Years, the Aerovons Are Finally the Next Big Thing (riverfronttimes.com), April 18, 2024

A rep from Capitol Records called a couple of weeks showing interest.  But you turned him down in favor of recording at Abbey Road in London.  So the old “bird in the hand” adage didn’t cross your mind?  Pretty bold manoeuvre there for a unsigned band.

Yeah I shudder to think now. But I really wanted to go to England and record where The Beatles did. I felt like there was magic there. I felt like it would seem like home to me for some weird reason. And it did.

The risk paid off as the Capitol guy gave you the name of a Roy Featherstone at EMI in London. And a meeting was set up with Roy, right?

Yes. We got there and played the demo for someone named John something, and he smiled and took us up to Roy’s office. Roy was a warm, wonderful guy and he just loved it. He thought it was great someone from the States wanted to come to record there! “All our groups want to go to America” he laughed.

What was the reaction of everyone that you would be going to England to record?

Stunned. At the end of our last gig, instead of saying “Thanks for coming tonight, next week we’ll be appearing at the such and such club,” I got up and said “Thanks coming….this is our last live show until we return from London, England, where we will be recording for awhile.” Everyone’s eyes got really big.

You flew to London. […] In the meeting with Roy Featherstone, he thinks it’s odd that an American band would travel to England to record since most British bands were trying to make it big in America.  What were your thoughts on that?

It’s the whole grass is greener thing. In reality the studio doesn’t matter as much as the producer and engineer. I didn’t know that then. There WAS certainly magic at EMI, but there was magic wherever The Beatles recorded, they still always sounded like The Beatles. I should have realized that then.

The arrangement was made for you to return home and write as much new material as you could and then return to actually record.  Did the long period of time test your patience or phase the band in any way?

No not at all. We had something BIG to look forward to, and we spent the Winter in the basement writing. Sometimes I think we thought it was SO FAR away that we probably lost focus. But not very much. We pretty much worked every night or every other night, ’til the wee hours of the morning.

Before leaving you got to meet Paul McCartney at a club called The Speakeasy.  Were you guys believing this was happening?

We had heard it was club where celebrities hung out. When we found out he was there we sat and waited and finally saw him. It was the most unreal experience in my life to walk up and speak with him. Just like seeing a spaceship land in your backyard at night. Fortunately he put us at ease. Very funny, relaxed and kind. I said “No one is going to believe this when we get home” and he said “Ah well, but now you’ve got this!” and handed me back the autograph he was signing. It’s still right here on my wall from that night. […]

Tom Hartman – From Tending The Pale Bloom (wordpress.com), August 14, 2011

Can you tell me about your trips to London 1968?

Well they were something. It was an incredible time to be there. Carnaby Street, Swinging London, just amazing. We were hearing music over there we had never heard, seeing things we had only seen on TV, etc. I loved it.

Was this through Capitol and was it your idea? I’ve read that you saw Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney and Michael Caine.

Someone at Capitol who heard our demo of “World of You” gave us the name of a man to see at EMI, because we told him that going to England was our dream. And yes we met Paul and Hendrix at Speakeasy. Later we saw Paul a lot at the studio.

What was it like meeting the Beatles? Did you get to speak much to them?

It’s probably everything you would imagine it to be. Only you are twice as nervous as you even picture yourself being!

The most wonderful thing about meeting them was finding out how down to earth they were. I spoke with Paul and George quite a bit, and George was surprisingly loose and funny. Way different than the kind of stern image he had later on. But it was one of the biggest moments in my life. John even loaned me a guitar cable!  Paul was very polite, and kind of, I don’t know, “regal” to me. I met him first at Speakeasy club in London, then later again a couple of times at the studio. He was also pretty funny. He walked out of the studio one day and saw me sitting on a couch, our eyes met, and he said “Hello.” Next time he came out…he looked…and pointed his finger at us….”Not going to say HELLO this time!” and kept walking. Beatles humor. We were all laughing. […]

Did you get to see the Fab Four play at Abbey Road?

We saw them singing “Old Brown Shoe” and I stood outside Studio 3 while John and Paul recorded “Ballad of John & Yoko.” I heard them working on “Sexy Sadie” on one of the earlier trips there, and I actually got to see them all recording “Yer Blues,” from just about 3 feet away, out in the hallway looking through the glass into the little room where they did that. Pretty stunning.

Which studio did you use and did you get to borrow any instruments?

We mainly used to Studio 2 but “With Her” was done in Studio 3. We used The Beatles electric piano on “She’s Not Dead.” Also borrowed one of their tambourines for a track.

Did you get any insights into their recording techniques/tricks?

Once I played a piano part which I wanted to sound “Beatle-y” and on playback when it didn’t, Geoff Emerick (“Sgt Peppers, Revolver, etc) said… “OK, let’s try it again…but this time play much harder and louder.” It worked. He added compression to the piano and the louder playing triggered the compression so that the piano was more like “Lady Madonna.” So that was the first trick we learned!

You were given great freedom to produce. Who engineered and assisted the sessions?

Alan Parsons was our main assistant, he was brilliant, and still is. I’m fortunate to still be in touch with him. Geoff Emerick and Jeff Jarratt also engineered.

There is clearly a strong Beatles influence but there are rumours that John and Paul heard your tracks and this influenced them! “Across the Universe” and “Resurrection” seem to share a similar sound, as well as “Oh, Darling” compared with “Say Georgia” – is this true?

No that isn’t true. We actually heard that track before recording “Resurrection” and I unfortunately just remembered a bit too much of it when I wrote “Resurrection.” It truly was unintentional, as I only heard their song once, literally. Ah youth! […]

Tom Hartman – From The Strange Brew, 2011

Recording sessions Tom Hartman participated in

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