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Get Behind Fanny Podcast

Godmothers of Women Who Rock

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Get Behind Fanny: Episode 20

It’s Interview Time! This week we have our first interview! Linda Wolf, friend and photographer for the band back in 1969/1970 joins us with some fantastic insights to the early days of Fanny and life at Fanny Hill. We feature Fanny’s version of “Badge” at Linda’s request!

Hosts Alice, Kristen, and Byron are joined by Jean and June Millington via pre-recorded interviews.

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52 comments

  1. Linda Wolf will always wear a Badge of honor with Fanny.

    June sleeping with her guitar is quite the revelation. I’m sure it prevented her from getting strung out.

    Perhaps fittingly my Fannyversary will be in June.

    1. Hi Aaron,

      Thanks for joining on us on another audio adventure! So glad you enjoyed it! As for your Fannyversary, you’ll have to remind us as we get closer to June so as to honor your month!

      Cheers,
      Kristen

    2. Aaron,
      Yes, I see what you did there……..good one. I’m glad you’re enjoying, and we’ll be looking to wish you a Happy Fannyversary in June!
      Best,
      Alice

    3. A great interview, and boy it sounds like great times back then… The girls were great, and really established themselves among the very best groups around at the time! I’m a real fan of Linda’s, and have a copy of Cocker Power on the coffee table… Love the stories Ladies??❣️

  2. My Fannyversary would be Sept ’71, seeing them on Sonny and Cher and just couldn’t believe my eyes and ears, “girls can play rock and roll?!?!?!” woohoo

    1. I believe a lot of us “classic” Fanny fans discovered them when “Charity Ball” was released. So September of 1971 will be a popular Fanny-versary.

    2. Hi Elizabeth,
      You’re dating yourself! Not to worry, your secret is safe! I’ll happily share my birthday month with your Fannyversary!
      Best,
      Alice

  3. Another fantastic podcast with the added dimension of an “interview”! Linda Wolf’s enthusiasm and joy at retelling the stories of the early days was lovely to hear and gives us a picture of those halcyon days at “Fanny Hill” in ‘69/‘70.
    And I can’t thank you enough for the “Fannyversary” shout out! You *know* how I’ll be celebrating this weekend!

    Love, light and peace to all Fanny Fans and UFOS! ❤️?❤️

    1. Love, light, and peace to you, your beautiful family, and, yes, all the UFOS and Fanny fans! ❤️?❤️

    2. Love, light and peace indeed. We need them all in these turbulent times. Thank you Nigel and Kristen.

      Welsh Dave

      1. Hi Dave,

        We sure do all need love, light, and peace in these turbulent times. It’s so long overdue.

        Thank *you* for continuing to listen and for sharing your insights with us. I’ll look into the switch of the lyrics to “Badge” for you.

        Cheers,
        Kristen

      2. No worries, Dave! For me, Fanny have been the finest musical discovery in YEARS! A positive and exciting Alice of real music!
        Best wishes and let’s hope we all experience better times soon! ??

    3. Hi Nigel,
      Yes, celebrate that Fannyversary as only you (AND Andie and Lauren) can! Halcyon days, indeed!
      Best to you!
      Alice

      1. Hi Alice! We will have the albums cranked and I am so grateful I found you guys!!! It’s been the highlight of the oddest year I’ve ever known… I can’t thank you enough for your hard work and generosity.
        Best wishes and love, always!

  4. Until this podcast I thought i couldn’t love you folks (purely platonically) any more – but I was wrong! Fanny Hill the house sounds like a fantastic ongoing student party, which I guess it was in a way. No wonder Fanny was such a hit with university and college audiences; you were kindred spirits for sure, sharing a big house on subsistence income and living on a hippy diet. Oh, but the creativity that emerged… I think there could be a Young Ones type comedy series based on it! LOL. I trust June trimmed her string ends carefully.

    My Fannyversary/epiFanny is some time in the Autumn of 71, with that rehearsal and gig at Birmingham Uni. I’m sure Kristen can pin it down to the day. It never occurred to me that women rockers were unusual; we in the UK had already experienced the Liverbirds and many female solo artists. It was just good that this excellent band was all female for a change.The quality of the music was what attracted me – and you were nice to look at into the bargain (blush)…

    About the Fanny version of “Badge”: do I hear “*she’s* married to Mabel? Also, in the last verse you substituted “who” for “that”, which of course is a grammatical improvement, and sang “wait for the cue” instead of “in the queue”. Was the latter done mainly for the American audience, unfamiliar with “queue”, or was there some other reason? The lyric still makes perfect sense.

    So much Fanny lore, so entertainingly presented. Keep it up! Living from one podcast to the next….

    Welsh Dave

    1. Hi again, Dave!

      I’m going to let you remind me closer to August abour your Fannyversary, so that we can mention you. Mark your calendar! 😉

      Kristen

      2. Hi Dave!

        No need to mark your calendar, because I got a Fannyversary calendar and put you down. I’m still trying to work on the exact time/month, and I’ll keep you posted.

        Cheers,
        Kristen

    2. Hi Dave,
      Yes, you do hear “she’s married to Mabel,” and the substituted “who” for “that,” and “wait for the queue ” (we did know what it meant) instead of “in the queue,” but there are no hidden meanings other than we liked the way those words sounded……OR, we didn’t hear the lyrics correctly. Your choice. I don’t think any of us remember exactly the why.
      Best,
      Alice

      1. Yup, I thought “our kid” being “she” was a sly hint, and I love it. Only 40-odd years ahead of your time there! Grins…

        One can wait in a queue for a cue, too. I had an American pen pal in the 60s, and she was mystified when I mentioned a queue. That was when I realised we were two nations separated by a common language, lol.

        Do I have to make a choice? I like both explanations. 🙂

        Cheers,
        Dave.

        1. George Harrison co-wrote “Badge”, and it shows; “our kid” is an affectionate Scouse and Merseyside expression for or to any younger person, not necessarily related.

  5. What a Fannytastic podcast!Very nice to hear about life at Fanny Hill.Fanny’s version of Badge is kickass.Hands down better than EC’s.Keep it up…

    1. Thanks, Guy,
      We’ll do our best to keep it up…….(NO, Alice, don’t go there!)
      Glad you’re enjoying!
      Alice

  6. Oh my good god and goddess, I can’t believe I’m hearing what I’m hearing. I recently “rediscovered” Fanny on youtube after abandoning rock n roll after the Beatles broke up. What I’m hearing is uneffing believable and so Hall of Fame worthy! I’ve played acoustic folk guitar most of my life, but have always been a fan of classic rock and roll. Well, anyway, I’m hoping the group gets inducted, and that the documentary on them truly happens. Thanks for all your inspiration. Rock on! (I’m 77 years young.)

    1. Hi Babsie,
      Thank you for your kind words. We older rockers must stick together, right?
      Best,
      Alice

      1. **** yes! Makes me wanna take up the electric guitar (again) now that I can bar a few chords. I’ve got a facebook page that will chart the road to your HOF and documentary success. Best of luck, once more.

  8. On BADGE June stayed entirely true to Clapton’s lead style. Beautiful. No one has before or since covered BADGE like FANNY.
    More pictures, more better…more subjects for Steve to play “artist” with.

  9. May 1972 is my Fannyversary; that’s when I heard “Ain’t That Peculiar” on the radio. My friend Jim bought the “Fanny Hill” album and we listened to it. I bought my own copy of the album the following weekend. Although I enjoyed the entire record, my favorite songs on the album were (and still are) “Hey Bulldog,” “Blind Alley,” the country flavored “Sound and the Fury” and “Ain’t That Peculiar.” But I digress… this Fanny podcast is my favorite as of now. Thanks for the stories and fun!

    1. Hi Bob,
      Your favorites are a good selection! AND, I’m so glad to hear you’re enjoying the podcast. We put a lot of work into it, and it is a nice reward to hear/read y’all’s comments!
      Best,
      Alice

  10. Another great episode! Some random thoughts….

    1) My Golden Fanniversary will be this August!

    2) It blows me away to once again realize that Nickey came in and overdubbed her keyboard parts to an existing track! Once again, they seem like such an intrinsic, core part of the song, like they were there from the very beginning!

    3) It is also mindboggling to think that June was playing lead guitar less than a year here! (That can pretty much be said about all the tracks on Fanny, but it’s REALLY mindblowing in regard to “Badge!”).

    4) Fanny REALLY was the start of the rest of my life as well!

    5) No question about it…..”Badge” is DEFINITELY in my Top 3!!

    1. Hey, Jef,

      1) Please remind me closer to August so I give you a Fannyversary shoutout, okay?

      2) Nickey did NOT overdub the keyboards on “Badge.” She only did overdubs on songs we’d pretty much finished. “Badge” was not one of them.

      3) June pretty much copied Clapton’s guitar solo, which I think was highly respectful of her. No need to come up with something totally off track, right?

      4) What can I say. I have earlier memories in my life, but Fanny really was the beginning for me as well!

      5) “Badge” has always been in my top 3 also!

      Thanks for chiming in, my friend!
      Alice

      1. Hi Jef,

        I’ve started a calendar with all the Fannyversaries, so I put your down for August.

        So glad you liked the episode!

        Cheers,
        Kristen

  11. Such a raw, rockin’ almost heavy metal version of ‘badge’ – really grungey guitars – I enjoyed this on YouTube the other month and hadn’t seen/heard it before! ‘young and dumb’ is awesome and heavy too, absolutely love it, everyone looks/sounds so cool (out-rockin’ Clapton I think and reminds me of the raw heavy vibes of Iggy Pop and The Stooges!) – I’m gutted I wasn’t around to see Fanny live (my 1st Fannyversary being this coming may!). Is there any more live ‘french’ footage/recordings from this time? It would be cool to put out a 45 with these tracks! Interested to hear about how everybody lived/worked together during the whole creative process, having a good time – would love to experience that. But did everyone share washing up duty? – that’s the one thing that always causes arguments when living with lots of other people! LOL!
    Great episode. Many thanks?

    1. Totally agree, Brian. Badge is one of my favorite. Also i would like to know if there are more available of the French recordings. Although it could have been (59 years old) never heard of Fanny since a few years ago when I discovered the Beat Club videos. Probably never visited the Netherlands?

      1. Yo, John Doe!
        No, we never got to play in the Netherlands. The closest we got was our tour of Germany with Slade. Glad you found us!
        Best,
        Alice

    2. Brian,
      We’ve been putting out feelers and requests from every source we can think of to find more of that footage. Thus far, no luck, but I’m no giving up. What a treasure that would be!
      Washing up was mostly Jean and me. Maybe Linda helped. I know my sister, Evelyn, did washing up. June? Not so much.
      Best,
      Alice

    3. Hi Brian!

      I’ve marked your Fannyversary down in May, so we’ll give you a shout out then. Thanks for your cool music/songwriting insights! So, far there isn’t any more of the “French footage,” but we’re optimistic something will show down the line. As for everyone sharing washing up duty at Fanny Hill, I’ll let Alice answer that one. However, I’m pretty sure the washing up duty was shared. So glad you enjoyed the episode!

      Cheers,
      Kristen

  12. …actually, I say “grungey”, but this was many years before the grunge sound of the early 90’s – bands like Mudhoney adopting the kind of guitar sound Fanny are playing on this french version of ‘badge’ – again – way ahead!

    1. Thank you so much, Eric! Even though I was a kid when Fanny Hill was around, I remember it vividly, and it was very, very special.

      Cheers,
      Kristen

  16. Thanks very much to Dr. K. for the advice on Facebook. I´m so grateful to the three of you, Alice, Byron, Kristen for doing this interview with Linda. And for the family spirit one can find in Fanny, it´s not common at all to find such a caring connection between fans and the band. Fanny Hill just went virtual in the new century :).

    I really enjoyed to listen to the background of the photographs and to hear from Linda Wolf herself. “Badge” is such a clever choice and actually one of the first Fanny songs I listened to.

    I understand why Kristen says that she is feeling blessed for her education. The way it should be, normal.

    As far as I understood, Fanny Hill couldn´t have been further away from the cliché of the period, art colonies, etc. First of all, it was an innovative supportive community of artists with an eye for the essential. That´s probably why I´m so attracted by the philosophy IMA. The world really needs this kind of institution where people, especially women, can gather naturally to define their own standards and become their own role model.

    It really resonated when June talked about not being a girlfriend kind of person while clearly being a philantropist, it´s dismantling another female stereotype on what makes a female connection. And as Jean and Linda observed, how natural it all felt and fitted.

    And how amazed was I when I noticed once again how hard they worked by themselves, the concentration and committment it took. Talent just being the base.

    Fanny was in so many ways far ahead of their time.

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