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couldn't do that. So I did eventually. I tried it, but I kind of wore shades for about a year. It's
through doing that that I met people. I met this guy called Dave Rose. He used to play harmonica
as well as guitar and

‘‘Pigmeat’ Pete Smith a tambourine on his
foot, and he was
playing Irish stuff as
well as old blues. So I

got together with him
playing and I think
the first gig was with
him. He had a
washboard at home,
so he said, why don't
you play washboard
guitar because I was
already a percussion
player? That’s how it
began: a guitar, a
tambourine on his
foot, and a
Pigmeat Pete Smith washboard. Dave had
the guitar, and we
were away. And later on, I met this guy called Pigmeat Pete Smith, do you remember him?

BiTS: Yes, I certainly do.

EL: Later on, after meeting Dave, I met Pete. I was busking down Leicester Square, and I came

along and there was this guy, a courier, on his push bike, standing there watching Pete playing.
I was thinking “He’s pretty good”. The guy with the bike said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah”. After he

stopped playing, I said, “Do you mind if I join you? I just got kicked out of the underground by
the police or whoever it was, and I came up to Leicester Square. Do you mind me joining in?”

He said, “Yeah, sure, course”.

Let's say my relationship with Pete Smith flourished from there. There was me and Pete and
Tyrone and then we got Tony Hilton, you remember him?

BiTS: Yes.

EL: Left-handed double bass player. Used to play with
Howlin’ Wolf or James Hunter back in the day. We got him
on bass and then finally we got Jim Sherman on drums. The
band developed from there.

BiTS: I gather you actually managed to fund a record by
making collections when you were busking. Is that right?

EL: My first actual album was called “Homeboy Blues” with
me, Pete and Tyrone. We recorded it at Pete’s house. We
recorded it so we could sell it busking. It was a tape [chuckles].

BiTS: Okay.