MY TOMMY BOLIN STORY
George Matzkov

I live in the most isolated city in the world, Perth, Western Australia. In 1973, I was 13 years old. My much older (by 9 years) musician brother would occasionally let me stay at his home on the couch. We would listen to records for hours, and because he was a lead guitarist, he would point out all the great solos in his album collection. I was already listening to Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Robin Trower, Bowie, etc, so I was always keen to hear new music, especially lead guitar solos. He was pulling out Uriah Heep, Yes, Allman Brothers Band and other bands I had never heard of.

One day, I remember he played some James Gang. It was Straight Shooter, and he kept playing it over and over, and he kept telling me how good it was. I sat there for the first time disagreeing with him, saying it was the worst album he had ever played me, but he kept trying to convince me. On another sleepover, some weeks later, he told me he just got the latest James Gang album called Bang. I thought to myself, oh no, here we go again. From the moment the needle hit the record at the start of Standing In The Rain, my ears pricked up, and then the solo. Holy Cow! I shouted over the loudness of the music. Play It Again! And we did many times over and over. I grabbed the cover and looked it over and over, and looked at the guitarist’s name, Tommy Bolin. I told my brother that’s not the same guy on Straight Shooter, he just said he must be their new player. We eventually got through the whole album a few times and couldn’t believe how good this Tommy guy was.

The only time I ever heard the album was when I was at my brother’s home, so in 1974, I went to seek out record stores to buy it myself, but with no luck. Some dude told me I’d probably have a better chance at one of the only two import stores in the city. I took the train and went straight to the letter “J” in the Rock section in this inscense-smoke-filled import record store. Damn It! No BANG! As I am flipping through, I see a cover that my brother didn’t have - James Gang Miami. What’s this, I thought to myself? It must be their second album, as the logo was in the same style as James Gang Rides Again. I put it back in the rack and went to the counter. Do you have the latest James Gang album I asked? The hippy dude said it’s out there in the rack. I said it’s not there, so he went over and came back with MIAMI. I was confused. He said, Hey kid, this just came out and is their latest release. I looked it over again. No names on the back, just song titles. The Australian issue was a gatefold, and the album was in a plastic sleeve. I asked the dude if I could pull it out and look inside to see who the guitarist was. No problem, kid. Same lineup as BANG!. I didn’t know whether to buy it or not. Was it going to be any good? I didn’t know you could ask the dude to play it before I bought it. What the hell, I took a chance and it came home with me. Straight to my bedroom and straight onto the turntable. It took me a few listens to understand the slightly bluesier sound, but eventually that album got heavy rotation in my incense-filled bedroom. Yeah, I grabbed some incense that day as well, inspired by the smoky import record store - Cherry Blossom - I can still smell it to this day.

My records on heavy rotation in 1974/1975 were: Deep Purple (Made In Japan, Machine Head, Burn and Stormbringer), Robin Trower (Bridge Of Sighs), Pink Floyd (Darkside), David Bowie (Alladin Sane, Pinups) ZZ Top (Fandango) - I played those more than most of my 200 records at the time but real heavy on Deep Purple and Bowie.

Sometime in 1975, I read in my fave music paper called RAM that Blackmore had quit Deep Purple and that it was the end of the band. I was a bit pissed that I never got to see them live, they only played one festival on the otherside of the country in 1975. Some months later, while I was record shopping at my local record store, the dude at the counter knew I was a Deep Purple fan and said, Have you got the new Purple album and he pulled out Come Taste The Band. What the hell is this? I didn’t read anywhere that they did one last album. Oh well, I gotta have it and took it home without even looking at the back cover or the inside gatefold. It was Deep Purple, and that’s all that mattered to me.

Onto the turntable, lit my incense and laid back on my bed and played it hrough - fucking awesome. The first song Coming Home was just awesome, but something was very familiar, but odd at the same time. I had never heard Ritchie Blackmore play guitar like he did on this album. After about the fourth play-through, I started to look at and read the album jacket - What the fuck? Tommy Bolin is their new guitarist? I had no idea. After about another 100 playthroughs, I could hear Tommy’s style that I heard on those two James Gang albums. Come Taste The Band didn’t leave my turntable for the longest time, and Tommy became my #1 fave guitarist from then on.

During this time, my brother came to visit and asked if I had heard Tommy Bolin’s Teaser album? What album? I asked. Tommy Bolin, he’s got a solo album out, he said. First chance I could, I took the train to the import store and grabbed a copy. I couldn’t believe my ears. That album hardly left my turntable either, or side by side with Come Taste The Band.

Come October 1975, I read in the local newspaper gig guide that Deep Purple would be touring Australia in November/December. Wait what? I promptly bought a ticket - no way was I missing this. The date for the show was on Monday, December 1st, at the W.A.C.A. sports ground. This venue was an outdoor venue, which meant tickets had no allocated seating and you could sit/stand on the grass or sit in the stands further back. Awesome, I could get there early and down the front and get in a good position to watch my fave band.

A couple of weeks or maybe even one week before the date, they changed venue to the Perth Entertainment Centre. This was an indoor venue with acapacity of 8000 seats. There goes my chance of getting down front, as it was all seating right up to the front of the stage. To this day, I can’t find out why they did that, and all I have ever heard is the weather. December is in the middle of the Australian summer and is hot as fuck and the concert was at night so it couldn’t have been about being too hot.

I arrive at the venue, and it’s busy as hell. I lined up to go inside, and upon entering, I was shown where to go or where my seat was. To my disappointment, I was climbing higher and higher to the last seats in the last row but left of the stage, I was almost sitting with God. I was pissed, but I had a plan. The support band was playing, and I decided to go to the foyer until they finished. The lights came up a little when they finished, and I went back inside to the same side but only halfway up. An usher asked where I was going, and I said up there to my seat. He said, What seat? There are no allocated seats, you can sit anywhere. WHAT!? I sat down in the nearest chair near the stairs and looked down at the crowd that was sitting in front of the stage. I kept thinking how I was going to get in there, it was jammed.

The lights came down and I suddenly thought to myself... Run and jump over the barrier. I was gone, down the stairs, running past ushers to the nearest corner of the barrier and stage left. As I jumped over, I felt an usher grab my leg, but I managed to free myself, and I fell onto the ground on the other side. I pushed myself through the crowd until I got in far enough that they couldn’t find me. The lights were still down and the band hadn’t started yet, so they wouldn’t have been able to see where I was anyway. I ended up between Jon and Glenn and front row. Nothing between me and them but the foldback monitors. FUCK YEAH! They started, and I was grinning from ear to ear.

I was so excited that I don’t even remember what song they opened with. The only bad thing was that Tommy was on the other side of me, and it was very jammed; there was no way I could get over there. I was stuck where I was. Eventually, as the show progressed, Tommy started making his way around the stage, and on many occasions, he was standing right in front of me. There he was, my guitar hero, right there in arm’s reach. During one song, he was right on the edge of the stage, and I reached up and touched his shoe. I had a small shitty 110 camera and took some photos, albeit they are rough, they show where I was standing and how close I was.

Some of the crowd didn’t seem to like Tommy as there were occasional shouts of ‘Bring back Ritchie’ and shit like that between songs. I reacted with a few shouts of my own to the crowd such as ‘Shut The Fuck Up Tommy Rules’. Tommy ended up on my side quite a bit, maybe he heard me? I know one thing for sure: every time he was in front of me playing a solo, my mouth was open, jaw dropped. He looked me right in the eye quite a few times, I think he could tell I was a fan - who knows. He came over again for another solo, looked at me and threw a guitar pick. I caught that thing instantly, and I still have it to this day. (Pick is pictured above)

The concert ended, and as people were leaving, I stayed back but moved to the middle of the stage. Not sure why, I guess I was hoping to see Tommy again. Some 20 minutes later, Ian Paice appears at his drum kit as was doing something to it. A few people were waiting around with me, maybe 10. I called him over a couple of times, and eventually he made his way over to us. I asked him if Tommy was out back and if he could come out for a chat. He said he didn’t know but would have a look. He then went back to his kit, grabbed a few things and went backstage. He came back and said Tommy had left the venue already. I was disappointed, but was very happy that Ian had a chat with me, he was my fave drummer after all.

One funny thing I found out later and didn’t read in the change of venue advert: It stated ‘Unreserved Seating’. I could have gone earlier and chosen to sit anywhere, and I didn’t have to do what I did. Oh well, I was only 15 years old.

Some years later, I heard various stories that after the concert, Tommy went to a nightclub called Gobbles (It was just over the road from the venue) and was seen passed out in the band room. I’ve heard some other stories that I won’t write about, as I’m still trying to find out if the stories are true. He was definitely at Gobbles.

Years later, in 1978, I was in Melbourne (the other side of the country to me) visiting another brother. Before I left to come home, he handed me a stack of records he didn’t want anymore. The Faces (Ooh La La), Emitt Rhodes (Emitt Rhodes), Emerson, Lake and Palmer (Debut), Billy Cobham (Spectrum) and many more. When I finally got to play Spectrum and again without looking at the cover, my mind was blown. Who the hell was playing guitar on this, especially the opening track, Quadrant 4? Who else but Tommy.

From that day, I set a goal to track down as many Tommy Bolin releases or records he played on - it wasn’t easy with no internet and living in an isolated city.

While flipping through my fave music rag, RAM, I read a review on Private Eyes, his new album. News travels slowly down under. I didn’t even know he was working on one, but boy, was I happy that he did. Straight to the import store and straight back home. What a masterpiece. I loved it more than Teaser and played it more than Teaser back then. I couldn’t get enough of his music and was looking forward to more music from Tommy in the coming years.

Of course, that wasn’t to be, as I read the small headline in RAM that Tommy was dead. I was devastated, to say the least. I could only imagine what he would have released, but thank god for all the bootlegs and unreleased tapes that have surfaced since - a total goldmine.

Every year on Tommy’s birthday and the day of his passing, it’s Tommy Bolin Day in my home. I named one of my sons Tommy, and my daughter is named Alexis - Yeah, I’m afan.

Gone too soon but never forgotten.

George Matzkov

I have done many things over my 65 years, but have been running a small independent book publishing business for the past 25 years

www.highvoltagepublishing.com