Interview for Classic Bands

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Ed Freeman was roadie / road manager for The Beatles and The Remains during the 1966 US Tour.

Q: Ed, were you a Road Manager or a roadie on this Beatles tour?

A: Well, in those days there wasn’t that much of a difference. So, I was actually a roadie. I was handling the equipment, but I was also in effect road managing The Remains. The Beatles actually had a Road Manager, Neil Aspinall, and a roadie who was Mal Evans. But very often in those days it was the same thing.

Q: Wasn’t Bob Bonis The Beatles tour manager?

A: I have to say I was like the lowest person on the totem pole on that whole tour, so I don’t even know if there was a tour manager. I wouldn’t even have had any cause to speak to him. I was a very small fish in a very big pond.

Q: You were a musician, correct?

A: I was a musician. I was a Folk singer in Boston at the time when Barry (Tashian) and The Remains were a band in Boston.

Q: So, when this opportunity came up to be a roadie for The Beatles and The Remains…

A: For Barry really. There were only three roadies on the tour for five acts. So, everybody did everybody’s job. We didn’t make any distinctions. I set up The Beatles equipment. Mal Evans set up The Remains equipment. Everybody shared the total burden. So there wasn’t a distinction. I guess I set up the drums more than Mal, but I took care of The Beatles’ guitars and I tuned them. It was very shared work.

Q: Being a musician, did you view this work as a come down or did you view it as a once in a lifetime opportunity?

A: Well, it was both things. I had just a few months before finally when “Rubber Soul” came out I went from being “Who are these ass holes in England?”, ’cause I was totally not interested in Rock ‘n’ Roll and then “Rubber Soul” came out and I converted to being their biggest fan in one record. In a way, when I went on the tour it was very exciting because I was a huge fan. As the same time, I used to be a big fish in a small pond. In Boston I was a Folk singer and everybody knew me and then all of a sudden I was the smallest fish in the biggest pond on the tour, but also after the tour I came back to Boston and I said this place is small potatoes and I went to New York. I immediately moved to New York after the tour. I ended up putting my own band together. I ended up getting signed to Capitol Records and then I ended up being a producer. Three weeks with The Beatles really sort of kick started my whole next chapter of my career. So, I’m very grateful for that.

Q: Did you ever talk to any of The Beatles?

A: Oh, yeah. Sure. Just casually. I think a lot of us, even Barry initially, and many of the people in other groups, were trying to be sort of be cool and not, “Can I touch the end of your garment?” We were being a little bit standoffish and The Beatles kept sending Neil and Mal out in front of the airplane when we were flying places, saying “You’re welcome to come back and talk if you want.” They were a little bit lonely I think. Barry got to be friends with George. At one point I remember sitting in a hotel room with Barry and George talking and playing guitars.

Q: So, you flew on the same plane as The Beatles did?

A: Oh, sure.

Q: Someone told me you couldn’t just invade the space of The Beatles on the plane. If they wanted to speak with you they would let you know.

A: They did. Maybe they weren’t quite so outgoing to the support crew, but they certainly were to The Remains, the band. I think Barry and George got along really well. I had a very kind of strange rapport with George. Very strange. When you’re on the stage like that you can’t see anything. All the lights are on you. The audience is dark. You can’t see anything. All you can hear is just screaming. And so I would stand in front of the stage, like two feet in front of the stage and George would just stare at me for the entire set. We’d just literally stare at each other for seventeen concerts in a row, or however many concerts it was. It was just that’s kind of a strange connection. We never spoke about it and I think a couple of years later I ran into him in an elevator in New York and we just stared at each other again for ten floors or however many floors we were going up together, and never spoke a word. We just stared at each other for the ten floors and then I walked out and that was it. (laughs)

Q: I don’t understand. What was he looking for?

A: On stage I think he was looking for a human connection. On stage it’s a weird experience. If it’s at night, you can’t see a damn thing.

Q: Were John and Paul looking at you too?

A: No. Not at all. Maybe they had each other and George was out on the side a little bit. So, he wanted somebody to connect to. My sense is that he just wanted a human connection and we had that. Somehow we had this strange rapport. But we never spoke about it. Not one word, ever.

Q: Did you ever speak with John, Paul and Ringo?

A: Yeah, a little bit. “How’s it going?” Nothing memorable. Just casual.

Q: What was their attitude like on that last tour? Did they ever give you a reason to believe this was the last tour they would ever be on?

A: No clue about that. As a matter of fact, my one regret of the tour was the last night in San Francisco we were packing up the drums and I finished packing up The Beatles’ drums and I looked on the floor and that drum head, The Beatles, was lying on the floor. I thought Christ’s sake. I don’t want to unpack the whole God damn kit and stick it in there. I thought I could just take that home as a souvenir, but then I thought they have other tours, other concerts and they’re going to need it. So I unpacked the whole drum kit and stuck it in there. I should’ve kept it. (laughs) They never used it again. John had just made that “We’re more popular than Jesus,” remark and there was a bomb scare in Atlanta and I think he was a little edgier. He was a little bit guarded, but George was totally friendly. When we got to Boston, Barry and I said, “Why don’t you come over?” We both lived in Boston. I think he was going to come to my place to hang out for the afternoon and he literally couldn’t get out of the hotel because the hotel was surrounded by screaming teenagers. So he couldn’t do it. But he was very, very outgoing and totally just a regular guy just stuck in this crazy world. Ringo was sort of that way too. I think he was more amused by it than George was. George was like, “We never asked for this! What is this shit?” Paul was sort of neutral. I don’t have any sense of what his attitude was.

Q: Did you ever run into Brian Epstein?

A: Quite a bit, yeah. Again, he was at the top of the totem pole and I was at the bottom of the totem pole. The only time I would ever have to talk to him was “Do you want this over here or over there?” kind of questions.

Q: Would he bark orders?

A: He was very nice, but he was the boss, so he didn’t have to bark. He was the big dog. He didn’t have to bark.

Q: Since you’re a photographer, did you take any photos of the tour?

A: I think I took; there are twelve pictures on a roll and I think I took ten. The reason I didn’t take more was because film was $1.75 a roll and then I had to develop it all myself. In those days I just didn’t take pictures willy-nilly. I took a couple. I think it was a total of ten. Some of those are with Getty Images now. I think there are some pictures of The Remains and a few of The Beatles on stage. I didn’t want to look like a fan, so I didn’t take any snapshots.

Q: Did they have any tour photographers with them or that was something that came along later in Rock ‘n’ Roll?

A: Not really, no. I think there were people occasionally who took pictures. I didn’t really know much about stage photography. I took these pictures and they were okay, but I wasn’t that much into it and I don’t remember any other photographers.

Q: I am surprised that you haven’t written anything about your time on that tour, but according to Ron Howard’s film, of which you were a part, you can’t remember anything.

A: I remember stuff, but what I remember is often not very noteworthy. I just remember waking up in the morning and going into the place and schlepping equipment and setting up the drums, tuning up the guitars, putting the guitars back, unpacking the drums, packing the drums, putting it back into the van. It was hard physical labor for three weeks. Barry and the band got to be what they should be doing, which was Rock ‘n’ Roll stars, and I was doing drudge work. There’s just not a whole lot to say about that. […]

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