Just heard he died a couple of days ago. Mainly will be remembered as one of the Yardbirds as guitarist and then bass player. I always thought of him as the quiet one. He got involved in potography for a while too. Got involved with a later version of the Yardbirds but had to quit about 12 years ago for health reasons. Apparently, Jimmy Page offered him membership of his new band as bass player back in the day.
Chris Dreja 79
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I used to frequent the Station Tavern in Latimer Road, in the shadow of the ill-fated Grenfell Tower ( where I lived briefly) in the late 80s and 90s where they had live music, usually of a blues bent, every night. We used to go there after our five a side – a bad move due to empty stomachs and sped up metabolisms. Whatever night of the week it was, there used to be for a long stretch, a version of the Yardbirds playing. I must’ve seen them around 20 times I’d say. I used to recognise the odd tune and was aware that they had been a band of note back in the 60s but as a hardcore indie kid, they didn’t really register on my radar. I think Chris Dreja was involved in that line-up. I wished I’d paid more attention now so I could contribute to this thread in more constructive manner.
I really like the Yardbirds, but effortlessly the least interesting thing about them is they had Clapton yadda yadda in their line up. The most interesting thing is they had Keith Relf, Jim McCarty and Chris Dreja, although I’ll cut Jeff Beck a bit of slack.
The 4-cd ‘Live at the BBC’ is superb, especially the earlier stuff.
Indeed – a recent 2 CD compilation is stuffed full of great toons
(not just For Your Love, Heart Full of Souls, and some others).
I had a Yardbirds comp at school and my first band did “Heart full of soul”. Our singer transcribed the lyrics – due to Relf’s odd singing accent for the next 18 months we sang “Sitting hard and lonely.,”
Sorry to hear that. Every band needs a “quiet one”. For a while, my answer to the standard question (Beatles or Stones?) was Yardbirds. I preferred them after Clapton left and they turned into an English version of stripy-trousered psyche/garage rock, rather than the most blueswailin’…
And photography – I gather that Dreja’s first commission was the band photo on the back cover of the first Led Zep LP.
I agree on the Yardbirds evolution – though Clapton was brilliant they were too sloppy to be a good blues band. Limitations which were not a problem with psych pop!