We are proud to announce an exclusive interview with John Philpott of the Bugaloos. John lives in France with his wife, and rarely speaks about his past, although he agreed to talk to Rockin’totz in detail!

What kind of music did you listen to as a kid? Did you parents encourage you to play?

As a child, I could not recall listening to much music. I was very energetic, I would be at school, and go out in play. Until my teenage years, I wasn’t that interested in music. My father would play the piano. The songs were very fun to be around and sing along to. In later years, I picked up the drums after seeing Keith Moon and everything changed.

I remember seeing Keith Moon in the early days of The Who. I remember them being one of the loudest bands in England. One concert I went to was in this massive hall filled with people. The sound was so great and I was pretty much deaf two days afterward. It was so fantastic seeing Roger Daltrey, you could almost touch the guy, and he had the habit of swinging his mike right out into the crowd then pulling it back to retrieve it, absolutely amazing.

Keith Moon was always very colorful. I remember the kicking’ drums he had were always so colorful. Remember the song Pictures of Lilly? Yes, that is the one. The drum kit was always different for that one. I eyeballed, in particular, the Premier kit. So after seeing that, I bought my first Premier drum set, but I could never ever be as good as he was. I have a lot of memories of Keith Moon. He lived his life on the edge, it was so sad when he went. I would have loved to have met him. The only link I had with Keith Moon was when I was recording in London. I went to Premier to see if they could lend me a kit. I am the only person to have played the same kit as Keith Moon. I still feel much honored about that, to be linked with Keith Moon in a small way. I literally played drums in my bedroom to records. I was told sometimes to keep the noise down. “Keep it down! Keep it down! Keep it down!”, my parents would say. I got into music more because I wanted to be involve; the fact that I wanted to play drums. I never really considered myself a Rock star; I never really felt the need to be that person. As time I went by I bought some Beatles records and a band called The Thirties. It didn’t inspire me to write, but I wanted to play along to it.

What was the name of your first band?

They were called The Truth. We played a lot of cover songs, basic Rock’n Roll stuff, local gigs in Kent (England), because getting yourself know in London is very difficult. A lot of stars are born out of Kent. Generally, it is a place where a lot of stars go on tour.

Where you acting professionally when you found out about Bugaloos?

At that time, I was doing a lot of local work. I did singing and drumming. I found out in the paper they were looking for four British kids that can actually sing, they held auditions, and it went from there. I got a telegram on my birthday to call a number, and I was on it. There was a huge response for the Courage opening, even people like Phil Collins. One by one, we were asked why we wanted to be a Bugaloo. At the interview, I made them laugh, and the following day I was told I needed to move to London to prepare. It took some preparation before I got to L.A.

Did you have an acting coach?

Yes we did. Her name was Barbra Speaks. We did a lot of preparation to get ready for America.

What was it like landing in L.A.?

It was my first long-haul flight. It was a twelve hours, very long. It was amazing from start to finish. Yeah all four of us were sat together. The flight was very exciting for all of us.The whole thing about touching down in America. I remember when I saw my first palm tree, and the welcoming crowd, the press, all really good and fantastic. It was a total contrast. One of the famous promo shots is us when we got off the plane with coats on because we were not used to the climate.

You guys were created by producers like the Monkees; did you have that kind of similar experience?

The Monkees were huge, a great show, brilliant. We met Davey Jones in America and we used to go see him. When they tried it on their own though, it didn’t happen so much. Going from a production to their own light was difficult for them.

You see, we never really got to do what we wanted to do; go out and play to our fans. We could not actually go out and meet them. I think we never felt like a real band,  it was more of a production; recording and promoting. We were desperate for a tour. We did acting, but the main thing was missing was what the kids wanted; that live, musical performance. Everything was there, it came natural, you could understand Caroline and Wayne were actors, but I and John were the musicians. We worked hard to get where we were. It was a wonderful blend. Where they lacked, we helped them, and where we lacked, they helped us.

TO BE CONTINUED. . .