Pushin' Too Hard: Recollections from Former Seeds Drummer Carl Belknap

In anticipation of our world premiere of a new definitive documentary on The Seeds, "Pushin' Too Hard", frequent Egyptian Theatre-goer Carl Belknap talked to us about the year he spent as the punk pioneering band's drummer. Here are his recollections in his own words: 

When I first heard The Beatles on the radio, I knew I had to be in a band. It became an obsession. Not being able to carry a tune & not knowing an A from an E, I decided to become a drummer. In 1963, at age 15, I taught myself to play the drums. One year later, I was a founding member of The Eliminators surf band. We changed our name to Glass in 1965 & in the next few years, opened for The Box Tops, The Standells and Booker T & The MGs.

Richard France, whom I had known from my high school days, had become The Seeds road manager. He invited me to come to a couple of their recording sessions in Hollywood. In early 1968, at about the time Glass was sort of dissolving, Rick [Andridge] left The Seeds. Richard, knowing that I could play most of The Seeds’ songs, arranged for me to have an audition at Sky’s [Saxon] house in Malibu.

He lived in the Big Rock area, in a house overlooking the ocean. As I walked down the very long driveway, I saw the garage door was open. The first thing I noticed was Rick’s drums with The Seeds on the bass drum head. Then I saw Sky, Daryl [Hooper] & Jan [Savage] waiting for me. It was then that it set in that I was about to audition for what had been my favorite band for the past two years.

Carl & Jan Savage after a Seeds show in 2003

After exchanging pleasantries, I was asked if I knew a particular song, the name I can’t recall. So we played it, discussed other songs, then played a couple more. Fortunately I had performed all three with Glass, so I knew my parts. Sky, Jan & Daryl held a pow wow and a couple of minutes later asked if I would like to join the band. We immediately began rehearsing and going over some new material.

When we took breaks for lunch, we were always recognized as soon as we entered the restaurant. It didn't take long for the buzz to fill the room. Our rehearsals always drew a crowd, mostly neighbors. But on one occasion, I saw someone who looked familiar walking down the driveway. As he got closer I could see it was Mike Love from The Beach Boys, the very same Beach Boys that I saw perform at my church on New Year’s Eve 1961. It was my first concert.

It wasn’t until several rehearsals later that I was told we had a gig coming up at Melodyland, which at the time was across the street from Disneyland. A limo was scheduled to pick us up for the gig. Somehow, I didn’t feel comfortable riding with the band in a limo because there had been nothing I had contributed to merit such luxury. So I picked up my girlfriend, Esther (now my wife of 43 years) & drove myself to the venue.

We never rehearsed a set list, so I didn’t know what songs we would do or how long we would play. I recall that in the dressing room, Sky said we were opening with "Tripmaker" followed by "Mr. Farmer". I asked if we could reverse their order, because Glass frequently opened with Mr. Farmer. 

I had no idea until we left the dressing room that the venue was in the round. We walked down an aisle through the audience. It was my first gig with The Seeds & they told me to lead the way. I couldn’t have been more nervous. When I got to the stage, I saw the speaker cabinets were laying on their backs, so everyone in the audience could hear. I played my heart out that night & the 30 plus minute set was over in what seemed like an instant.

Carl & Sky Saxon after a show in 2003

Afterwards, I was asked for autographs, sticks & my phone number. When I said I wouldn't give out my number, they asked me for Sky’s. They didn't get that one either, at least not from me.

I hadn't given any thought as to whether I would be paid, I was so honored to be asked to join The Seeds. After the show, Daryl handed me a check signed by both him & Jan. Stupidly, I cashed the check without first photo copying it for posterity.

A few weeks passed & I was told The Seeds were going on a tour on the West Coast & they wanted to keep me as their drummer. In the excitement of being in the band, all thoughts of the Vietnam War unconsciously had been set aside. Being told we were going to go on tour made me stop & think that at age 20, I was the perfect age to be drafted & sent overseas. Sky said not to worry, that their lawyers would get me out of it. After giving it a lot of thought, I decided the only way to guarantee avoid being drafted was to return to college. One of the most difficult things I've ever done was to tell Sky I had to bow out.

A few months later, while driving along the Pacific Coast Highway, I stopped at Sky’s house to find The Seeds rehearsing. I noticed they were a 5 piece band, using two guitarists. When the rehearsal was over, Jan told me he was leaving the band. He didn't say why and I didn't ask.

I next saw Sky in the early 2000s at a couple of Seeds shows in Hollywood. When I went back stage at one of them, Sky said “I remember you. Weren't you the one who left the band to go to college?” I saw both Sky & Jan perform at a show in 2003. There had been a rumor going around for some time that Jan had been in the L.A.P.D. In talking with him after the show, I had to ask if it were true. He laughed & said no.

      Carl & Daryl Hooper at Sky Saxon's memorial in 2003

I contacted Sky about a year before his passing to say I had come across a recording of The Seeds show at Melodyland. It sounded as though it had been recorded by someone in the audience. Sky was very excited and wanted Global Recording Artists to spruce up the sound and have it officially released on a CD. Unfortunately, he passed away before that could happen.

I was one of just three drummers, from a multitude of drummers Sky had in his various bands over the years, to perform with what was called “The Seeds” at his memorial in July 2009 at Echoplex in L.A. Daryl, whom I hadn’t seen since 1968, was on keyboards. I sang back up vocals on "Pushin’ Too Hard" with Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins and took over the drumming duties on "Evil Hoodoo" and the final song of the night, "No Escape". Karl Anderson told me he recorded the show for both a CD & DVD release. My fingers are still crossed but they’re getting tired.                

Glass reformed in 1999 and we performed fairly frequently. I retired from drumming in 2012 after we opened to a packed house for Dick Dale at Brixton South Bay. It was quite appropriate, because the first 45 that I owned was "Let’s Go Trippin’" by Dick Dale and Glass had begun as a surf band. 

-Carl Belknap 

Pushin' Too Hard will be having its world premiere at the Egyptian Theatre (6712 Hollywood Blvd, 90028) on Saturday, August 16th at 7:30 pm. We'll be joined by special guests including Neil Norman, producer Alec Palao and Seeds members Daryl Hooper and Jan Savage! 

For more information on the event, click here [x]  

Buy tickets at Fandango [x] 

Guest Blog Post: Thoughts on A Streetcar Named Desire and The Books “Brando’s Smile” and “Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait” By Intern Lola

By Lola, French intern

Legendary director Elia Kazan’s  A Streetcar Named Desire screened at the Egyptian Theatre on the 16^th of July.

I saw this masterpiece for the first time when I was 18. I was looking for a movie to watch, so I Googled “100 movies you need to see before you die” and I decided to  randomly choose A Streetcar Named Desire. Not that randomly, actually. At that age, I only knew Marlon Brando for his performance in The Godfather and Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind. I’d never seen a movie before with young Marlon Brando and I wanted to see what Vivien Leigh was able to do after her incredible performance in Fleming’s movie, rewarded by the Best Actress Oscar. I got a high school degree in Literature, so I heard a lot about the 1947 play written by Tennessee Williams during my classes.

Today, a lot of things made me want to see A Streetcar Named Desire one more time. First, it’s the 10^th anniversary of Marlon Brando’s death, and it was a golden opportunity to see one of his best performances on the big screen. Marlon Brando remains one of the most important actors because of the way he had to get into roles. He was one of the first actors of his generation to apply Stanislavski’s techniques, which let the actors explore their own feelings and use their life experiences to play characters. Method acting results in very real performances, and this is why I’d wanted to watch Brando’s performance in this movie one more time. Knowing what I know now, it’s been interesting to better understand Brando’s powerful and deep performance in this movie and to see it in a different way. This time, I paid attention for more things in the movie than I did the first time.

A couple days ago I entered Skylight Books, a great bookstore in Los Feliz Village, and there was a book displayed on a shelf: “Marlon Brando’s Smile: His Life, Thought and Work,” written by Boston University English teacher Suzan L. Mizruchi, who painted an informative portrait of the Legend.

In it she explained how Marlon Brando used his past experiences to get into the roles he played all his life, and how he liked to observe people to understand better human behaviors.

Wednesday’s screening of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Egyptian Theatre was introduced by writer Suzan L. Mizruchi herself, whose book I’d been so excited to discover. If Marlon Brando used his own feelings and experiences to play the scary but very virile Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar, I‘m fascinated to understand to what extent his personal life and feelings influenced his other performances in masterpieces such as The Godfather or Apocalypse Now. His animal performance was incredible to see on the big screen. “Heyyyy Stellaaaaaaa”!

But that’s not all! This movie also confirms Vivien Leigh’s talent after seeing her in the 1939 Best Picture Oscar Winner Gone with the Wind. Vivien Leigh carries the movie. I was very moved by her performance in Streetcar. She is both fragile and strong, trying to struggle with her old fears. Her performance as Blanche Dubois is so real.

Today, Hollywood has advanced in the representation of women in film. In many films, producers and directors give women very strong roles. They save the world, they fight for causes and they can be real heroes, and real people. This hasn’t always been the case, so it’s interesting to see older films that focus on complex female characters. In this movie, we can see the weaknesses and the strengths of a woman and this is what I found very moving. At the time this movie was made, Vivien Leigh was struggling with a mental illness, as Leigh’s biographer Kendra Bean explained us. She said that Vivien Leigh didn’t let her problems overwhelm her. She kept going and making movies.

A Streetcar Named Desire is the kind of movie driven by its actors. I was very excited to hear from two writers who have led research about these two screen icons.

Kendra Bean spoke alongside Brando’s biographer Suzan L. Mizruchi to talk about her book, Vivien Leigh: An Intimate Portrait. She is the only writer who has researched Vivien Leigh’s relationship with Laurence Olivier and about her medical state. After having watched Gone with the Wind, Bean was very moved by the character of Scarlett O’Hara, so she started to read many books about Vivien Leigh.

The introduction by the two authors was so interesting. They both had access to all kinds of resources that previous writers focusing on Brando and Leigh didn’t tell.

Kendra Bean explained that she had access to Laurence Olivier’s files and was the first writer who looked for Vivien Leigh’s life moments in Olivier’s biography. She was married to him for 20 years. Laurence Olivier saved everything from his life so thanks to Kendra Bean’s work we can see how difficult Vivien Leigh’s illness was for her, but also for people around her. I also learned that Vivien Leigh was more appreciated in America than in England. In England, she did theatre. Her small voice didn’t reach the back of the gallery and in film, it does not matter. The moderator said that we admire her for her 2 Oscar-winning roles but most American people don’t know much of the rest of her work. Now, I really want to see her whole filmography!

I was impressed by what Susan Mizruchi told during the introduction. She had access to Marlon Brando’s library. Indeed, Brando read around 4000 books in his library in his house on Mulholland Drive. He mostly had science and psychology books. Mizruchi found out that Brando was somebody with very spiritual conversations. She found a Ruth Thomas book (one of Brando’s favorite authors) in which he’d scribbled many comments like “Oh come on!”, “How do you know that?”. She also had access to Brando’s personal scripts. Mizruchi said that there were two writers who Brando considered behind him: Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams. So what we discover is that Brando used to rewrite his lines in movies. That’s why Elia Kazan was one of his favorite directors because he encouraged him to improvise. We didn’t know before Mizruchi’s work that Brando rewrote some of the best lines in The Godfather and now, we can explore that.

What is amazing is that she read everything Marlon Brando read. She has worked on this book for 6 years.

The moderator said he suspected that Marlon Brando did not win an Oscar for his performance in A Streetcar Named Desire because it’s not his film but Vivien Leigh’s film. For him, Elia Kazan wanted to make sure that the sympathy in the film was toward Blanche. But for Susan Mizruchi, Brando did not win this Oscar because he did not behave in Hollywood. He was from the beginning a rebel and an iconoclast.

I recommend Susan Mizruchi’s and Kendra Bean’s books on these fascinating figures because they show that no one is black and white.

“No one is holy evil and holy good,” -Tennessee Williams

Guest Blog Post: Gordon Willis Tribute: Manhattan/Annie Hall Double Feature By Intern Miyako

I always cry at the beginning of Manhattan.

This would be a slightly more impressive opener if I was a tough-as-nails, streetwise, spunky type who never cries. In this case, it would be the pure cinematic beauty of George Gershwin’s swelling symphony, Gordon Willis’ beautiful black & white cinematography and Woody Allen’s witty yet sentimental writing coming together for full nostalgic effect that would break my typically impenetrably, tough urban demeanor and reduce me shockingly to tears. Unfortunately, I am the crying type, so of course the beauty of black and white New York, messy and harsh and crushing but still beautiful, gets to me.

That being said, it is a really, really great scene. And it’s one of quite a few reasons I’ll be at the Aero Theatre this Friday, despite the fact that I’ve seen Manhattan and it’s double bill partner Annie Hall countless times.

Another reason is that I can spend (and have spent) a happy amount of time reading from the Annie Hall IMDB quotes page, alternately laughing and getting a little misty-eyed (told you I was the crying type). My simply writing “it’s so funny” hardly does anybody justice, so take a moment and watch a bit of it:

This could be written off as personal bias- I grew up on these movies and loved them then and grew up to be a slightly neurotic, fast-talking, half-Jewish Humanities major who would, naturally, love them. This sort of thing is right up my alley. But it would be hard to do so because my own good opinion of these movies is backed by prominent critics, 4 Oscars and 7 nominations between them, Golden Globes and BAFTAS,  spots on AFI top lists, consistent spots on most other lists of Best Films and certainly Best Comedies or Romantic Comedies, and legions of fans.

But perhaps the main reason I’m going this Friday is because I’m dragging along a guest, because I want everybody I know to see my favorite movies and because there’s no better way to get somebody to sit down and watch your favorites than to get them to a movie theater, where it’s dark and cold, and a little bit magical if you’re a sap like me, and where it’s frowned upon to fall asleep or leave for longer than an urgent bathroom break.

So bring a friend and come out to the Aero tomorrow! Or bring yourself if you’ve never seen these movies, because there’s nothing like watching a great movie, but there’s really nothing like watching a great movie on a big screen, where the sun doesn’t glint off the TV screen and you can’t hear cars over the dialogue. And by all means, come if you’re like me and you’ve seen it a million times, but it’s just too good to pass up. It’ll be an excellent, laugh-filled Friday night and if that doesn’t convince you, think of the bragging rights. We can deny our self-promotional instincts as much as we like, but the satisfaction of a sleekly filtered Instagram picture and telling people we saw a Woody Allen double feature at the Aero Theatre, fancily placed “r” and all, is a wonderful way to kick off the weekend. And if you do Instagram, don’t forget to tag us!

-Miyako, Intern 

Friday, July 18th, 2014 - 7:30pm

Aero Theatre

1328 Montana Avenue 

Santa Monica, CA, 90403

For more information on the screening, click here: