Clint Boon: Cool as Farfisa
Written by Andy Taylor on Thursday, 03 September 2009
Back in the late 1980s playing keyboard was the bum job in a band. You got to stand at the back of the stage holding down the odd note (usually to trigger a sample which the drummer would pretend to be playing) and occasionally flick your wet-look gel-soaked hair around a bit. The Top of the Pops cameraman would all but ignore you, preferring to concentrate on the backing singers who never actually sang on the record in the first place. Who'd want to be a keyboard player? Actually, me. There were a couple of reasons for this, both of them from Manchester - one was Rob Collins of the Charlatans (sadly no longer with us) who kept a fairly low profile but played a mean Hammond organ. For me though, it was the mushroom-haired, loud-shirted Clint Boon of the Inspiral Carpets who's stage presence screamed out "I AM NOT JUST A KEYBOARD PLAYER, I AM A POP STAR!". Yes, keyboard playing was cool again. And what a keyboard - a great big proper organ with three different colours of keys, loads of big switches and a lead sound that could kill a guitar at 50 paces.
Over the years, Clint Boon has remained faithful to his Farfisa Compact Duo both with the recently-reformed Inspirals and his own Clint Boon Experience. Now a presenter for XFM Manchester, club DJ, children's TV music writer and tea party host, I caught up with the leader of the Boon Army on his way to pick up some crockery...
Hi Clint- are you in the Boon Army Mini?
No I’m actually in the Boon Army people carrier! Me and my wife do these massive rock’n’roll tea parties in Oldham so I have to go and retrieve a load of gear from there.
I was wondering how you’d fit your Farfisa into a Mini…
The Mini I’ve got now is a Clubman so you could probably do it. The Farfisa was built in the 60s and they’re designed so they’ll fit in the boot of most cars. It’s a Compact Duo which is misleading- you’d imagine they’d be pocket sized wouldn’t you?
OK, let’s go back a bit. It’s the 1980s and everyone’s into digital keyboards and sampling then you arrive with this ancient Farfisa: what were you thinking?
I thought what I think now; I’m really into authenticity, the past and real things. These tea parties that me and the wife do, they’re phenomenal and unique because nobody’s doing anything like it. I use a Dansette record player and old vinyl and she makes all the cakes – its real table cloths and china and all that
Sounds like a very English thing
It’s an English thing that England doesn’t do any more, you know what I mean? When the Inspirals started it was the same sort of thing really, I liked the idea of having an old electric organ.
Where did you get it from? Did you buy it knowing what it sounded like, or did you only find out after getting hold of it?
To be honest, I was looking for a Vox Continental originally
Ah, that’s what I play
They were very popular with a lot of 60s bands. I saw one advertised in the back of Melody Maker, I phoned the guy up, it was probably 1984. He’d sold the Vox but he said "I’ve got another one here that’s similar it’s called a Farfisa Compact Duo". He described it to me and told me something about the history of who used to use them. I remember him saying "If you get Ummagumma by Pink Floyd there’s a picture where they’ve got all the gear laid out on a runway and you’ll see it on there, it’s exactly the same". I then went to check my Pink Floyd records and listened to the early stuff and you can hear it all over the f**king place, it’s brilliant…
This guy said "I’ve got one here that’s immaculate and I want 100 quid for it". He was down south and I was in Manchester and at the time I was in a furniture company and we had a Polish guy who used to deliver furniture all over the country in a wagon so I said to him "give this guy in London 100 quid when you’re down there and he’ll give you a machine". Anyway he came back and he undid the shutter on the back of the truck and the Farfisa was laid down on the floor of the truck tied down with luggage straps and I thought "f**king hell, this is amazing". Not a scratch on it and all the original vinyl colours and that. It changed my life… that moment was why the Inspirals happened.
They cost a fortune now; I tried to buy one on eBay a while back and gave up at £500. I blame you…
Yeah, it’s partly my fault. Thing is, the one I use for the Inspirals it’s still in great condition but it’s not mint anymore. I’d love to buy a mint one and just keep it in the house and not gig it.
How many have you got?
I’ve got three; two that are functioning. One was on the road a lot with the Inspirals and it still works but it’s battered. The one that’s the best nick that I use most is the one that Oasis just borrowed. It’s the original one that I used with the Inspirals in the old days. I’ve got another one that I just take parts off if I need any circuit boards or anything. Then I’ve got a box of bits.
Is it like owning a vintage car, where you have to be a bit of a mechanic to own one?
A lot of it is mechanical but the electric side I’m not good on. I can’t even solder, me. I have people who I go to if I need anything like that doing. You have to remember a lot of it is just wood, metal and bakelite. A lot of it is just unscrewing it and putting it back together. The little white plastic lifters for the harmonics, it’s very mechanical and you can see where it needs to be put back. I’ve learned how to tune it over the years and that’s a bit of an art. Have you ever tuned your Vox?
Yeah, but I’ve heard the Farfisa’s more of a nightmare
In the Vox isn’t it just one thing to tune the lot?
There’s one potentiometer to turn for each note in the octave so you turn one and it tunes all the F#s or whatever.
Ah. I’ve got a Vox Continental and it’s never needed tuning. But the Farfisa – here’s a trainspotter thing for you- each tuning screw is made of graphite and it’s sealed in wax so to tune it what you have to do is put a soldering iron near it so the wax goes soft then put a screwdriver in it to tune it then the wax dries and tightens it into place. But over the years the wax becomes more brittle so it’s pretty ineffective now so I have to tune it quite a lot. And the graphite screws are starting to break so it’s a bit of a skill tuning it. Here’s an interesting thing: because the Farfisa’s an Italian machine and in the 60s, I don’t know if it’s still the case, but to tune to an A it’s 440Hz in Britain and in Italy it’s 442. (See here) I started using both mine in the 1980s and I didn’t know how to tune them or enough about music to realise that they were slightly out of tune with each other. When we recorded the first Inspirals Plane Crash EP in Rochdale in 1986/7 on "Keep The Circle Around" I couldn’t decide which organ to play on it, so I recorded the same part on each organ and put them both into stereo – the Vox and the Farfisa- and I could never really figure out why it sounded really drone-y and f**king weird and it’s because they’re tuned to 2 different frequencies.
Do you like the effect you got with it?
For a few moments I f**kin hated it and thought I’d really messed up but when I listen to it now it sounds like someone’s got their finger on the record it sounds even older and quainter – the naivety of it’s really beautiful. So I love it now.
If you’re playing on stage and the Farfisa breaks, have you got a Plan B?
It’s never broken down during a gig, but I’ve always got a spare one at the side of the stage, so if I need it, it takes us 2 minutes to get it in place.
What do you play it through? Do you use an amp or put it through the PA?
I don’t use anything authentic- I’ve got some sort of noise gate, a compressor, a fuzz box, a 1980s Carlsboro analogue delay unit and a little Ibanez distortion pedal which I use for certain solos and they all add to the vibe of it, especially the analogue delay. In terms of amplification it just goes through a big Carlsboro power amp and 2 wedges behind me and then from my rack we take a DI out to the PA. I don’t use any authentic valve amps or anything like that.
That probably just asking for it…
A bit too far, yeah. A lot of it is designed for the convenience to travel . The rack I’ve got is nice and compact and I can plug it into any PA system in the world and do me gig.
For the uninitiated, how would you describe the sound of the Compact Duo?
A lot of people describe it as "Clint Boon’s Hammond organ sound" and I find that quite bizarre, it doesn’t sound anything like one. I think it’s got more in common with the Vox Continental , that’s a bit more Hammond-y… softer. I think the Farfisa’s more like an electric guitar, this really shrill high-pitched electric noise.
Can you get much variation from it? There’s a certain sound I’d associate with you
In the studio you can. If you listen to what Pink Floyd did with it, they used sounds like that delicate oboe sound on "Julia Dream" which was the Farfisa. I realised that in a live environment you can’t really do that and in the Inspirals you can’t get that across. I use 1 or 2 settings and that’s pretty much an "all stops" sound. With the Inspirals, we wrote songs with the Farfisa as the lead instrument. Graham the guitarist played rhythm and I played lead lines.
Did you find that limiting the sounds you use makes you concentrate harder on what you actually play?
Yeah, definitely. There was a period when I started using Ensoniq DFX synthesizers that sit on top of the Farfisa. They’re typical mid-80s workstations and they never really caught on as industry standard or state of the art, where the Yamahas and Korgs did. I use still use the Ensoniq, it’s a classic vintage instrument and I and I have the same dilemma there of collecting them and finding people to repair them. Because the sounds in it are so specific to what the Inspirals did, like the piano sounds and others on the later records, I’m pretty faithful to keeping that. I still use the Ensoniq when we go out on the road.
On the Clint Boon Experience stuff you get a bit more experimental with more analogue-y sounds. Have you never been tempted to buy a big Moog or something?
Yeah, I would be in time. I’ve got other classic synths but again I wouldn’t gig with them. I tell you what I picked up recently that’s a fascinating bit of kit, it’s an organ that Keith Emerson used to… no, not him… Jean Jacques…
From the Stranglers?
No, not him, hang on, big French geezer…
Jean Michel Jarre?
Jean Michel Jarre! He had a big electric organ just before synths came out, I’ve forgotten the name of it, four letters… (IT TURNS OUT TO BE AN ELKA X705). He had mirrors on it, like scooter mirrors and I’ve got exactly the same organ, someone gave it to me recently. When I picked it up, I realised it was exactly the same instrument – not just the same model but the actual same one-that I’d borrowed off somebody in the 80s to record something with the Inspirals. I wanted some slightly different sounds to the Farfisa and borrowed this f**king massive amazing organ and I’ve got it now in my cellar! I’ve not used it yet though, when I get my studio up and running in the next few months I’m going to get that plugged in and start using it.
When I did a Google for Farfisa Compact, the two names that kept coming up were Clint Boon and Rick Wright – you’re a Floyd fan then?
They were a brilliant advertisment for the Farfisa. What we did in the Inspirals was a way of using it in the garage band environment, but Pink Floyd really explored the sounds
Did you feel Rick Wright was a bit of a traitor trading up to a Hammond when he could afford it?
No, I don’t think like that, me. I’m always a bit disheartened when you go to see a band live that you think has a great keyboard sound then you realise they’re just using digital keyboards, but you’ve got to be realistic. Some of these kids can’t afford to take a Hammond out on the road.
I must admit, I’ve got Nord Stage which is fine but you feel weird standing behind a tiny keyboard. Everyone can see your legs...
Yeah if you from our generation and mentality then that’s true but if you’re from the Wombat’s generation and the Klaxons then you don’t mind standing behind a little stand but they’re missing an opportunity because they don’t look sexy.
But try persuading a guitar player to carry your Hammond when a little digital keyboard makes the same sound as far as he can tell!
It’s not right, is it?
Something I really want to know about the Farfisa: what the hell’s a knee-operated multitone booster?
I don’t use mine really because it makes you look like you’ve got an itchy arse... you sit down and move your right knee left to right, it has the effect of a wah-wah pedal almost. But what is it does is sweeps through the filter range. If you’re playing a moody instrumental piece and want to just boost it up a bit, it gives you a bit more expression. So again, something that Pink Floyd would have used that I’ve hardly ever used. We did a cover of "Pounding" by Doves in 2003 and I think I might have used it then, but normally I wouldn’t use it at all, you’re just waving from left to right and it doesn’t look good.
I think your playing style really suits the sound of the Farfisa. Can you play piano?
You know what, to say that I’m well known as a keyboard player and my name comes up on Google with Rick Wright (laughs)... I’m a shit player, I never started out to be a keyboard player I’ve never tried developing my technique.
There’s a difference between lack of technical ability and being a good player though.
I’m from the punk generation, my style of playing is simplistic, easy to remember and easy to copy but at the end of the day it suits the kind of music we play as a garage band. I intend to do another garage band soon and it’ll be very much based around those simple keyboard lines again.
Has your Farfisa appeared on any other records?
Yeah. In the early days I did... not session work as such, but guest work with bands like Inca Babies and the Waltones with Mark Collins who’s now in the Charlatans, helping those guys out with keyboard parts. But the big stuff is the last Oasis album. My Farfisa’s on Shock of the Lightning, the organ that drones all the way through it, just 2 or 3 chords.
Is that actually you playing it?
No, I didn’t play it, I just sent it down, Noel borrowed it. I’m not sure if it was Noel who played it, I’ve not found out yet, but the fact that it’s on the main single from the album is quite an accolade.
Do you ever do any session work?
I don’t now, I get asked to do it as a guest but because I’m not a great player I can only do it if they want my particular style. Most people who have asked me to do stuff know what they’re going to get anyway , there are a couple of local bands that have asked me, just good local bands that I think are f**king great that I’ve said yeah I’ll do a little bit for you.
Has the Clint Boon Experience disintegrated? Yeah, the thing with that band was it was brilliant and I loved doing it, it was so experimental and unbridled – I think it’s my best work. The opera singer we had is very successful now- Alfie Boe, he’s on all the talk shows, what they call girl talk... I did another album, do you know who Engie Benjy is?
I do, I’ve got kids… (It’s an animated children’s TV programme by Manchester-based Cosgrove Hall)
I did the song but I also did an album of 15 songs all about Engie Benjy and his world and all that, but it’s on a shelf at Granada TV so I’m hoping at some point soon I can get that out, buy it back off them. I think that’s the best work I’ve ever done because it’s written for kids but knowing that the grown ups would like it too.
At this point, the discussion descends into a dissection of children's records - fascinating for the parties concerned, but not something to subject readers of this website to - and our hero departs to present his radio show. I'd like to thank the unbelievably patient and helpful Clint Boon for his time.
Find out more
Mrs Boon's Cakes and Tea Party on Facebook
Combo Organ Heaven: Farfisa - click the link down the page for Compacts
Videos
Yes, I know he doesn't appear to be playing a Compact Duo in either of these, but he's hardly going to throw a REAL Compact into a lake now, is he..?
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