 ETER NOONE was absent from the pop scene recently for four months. He was living in America and playing the title role of the stringless puppet in a forthcoming film of "Pinocchio". "I'm back with the group as Herman again, it's been the same group for the last four years. In the early days we had a lot of personnel changes, because the great trouble with Liverpool and Manchester groups is in finding musicians who can restrain themselves from punching heads whenever they get in an argument."The man who has kept Herman's Hermits together is our record producer Mickie Most. He's stopped some of my wilder ideas, like wanting to make a jazz or country and western LP. I came back from one holiday a fervent hippy, wanting to make a big, psychedelic sounds. Mickie just laughed. He knows how to handle us, makes jokes and gets a good atmosphere going in the studio. "For a couple of years I was very unhappy with the way things were going for Herman's Hermits. I used to get away on holiday every chance I could, I'd brood and wonder why we couldn't do things like the Beatles. But then maybe I will when I'm 27 or so. Right now I'm still a youngster of 20, still learning." But Peter's biggest difficulty at present is to convince people that he has grown up and that he can act. "I'm still thought of as the cheeky kid type I was when Herman's Hermits had the first hit. But I'm a five foot eleven inches boy-man now and I'm a good actor, even if I say so myself. "When I was 12, I wasn't a good actor. I was scared and embarrassed but I have learnt so much from watching the greats in action. "Unfortunately, it's very difficult, when you're successful in one thing, to persuade people to let you try something else. I went with my manager to see some BBC executives to ask if I could have an acting job in something like a play of the week. They only seemed vaguely interested, so I'm having a copy of 'Pinocchio' sent over and they can judge for themselves. I don't want to do happy parts, though. That would be like playing Herman. I'd sooner be a murderer, which might make viewers sit up. As Herman I look pretty dumb, that's why my image is so likeable, so easy to take." Peter doesn't want to move away from Herman's Hermits, he's very happy with their current run of hitmaking, naturally, but he does crave to be something more than a groupie. "There's still a feeling in the business that |
 groupies are shady characters, the sort of guys you meet in motorway cafes, sitting around being too noisy and wearing dirty clothes. I remember about a year ago we appeared on a BBC-2 show starring Rita Pavone. She had a beautiful dressing room and we were stuck away in something like D41, all of us in one room. That gives you an idea of the sort of treatment groups get. The group wasn't even seen on the show, they were just heard accompanying me doing a little dance with Rita Pavone. "The whole publicity thing about groups in Britain is like the Hollywood glamour stuff of the 1930s - nobody seriously believes it. "In America, when we appear on television, they treat us like God's children. The star - Dean Martin, say, or Danny Kaye - comes along to the dressing room to say hello and make us feel welcome. That way, they get the best out of us." In October, Herman's Hermits undertake a new venture, - their first tour of American colleges. "They're the hardest people to entertain, they're not the screaming type. And they're not likely to want to sit through a string of old Hermits' hits. Think we might do a sort of thesis of music from the beginnings of rock and roll right up to The Beatles." Though he is rich ("especially for a 20-year-old") Peter is keen to make a whole lot more money. Most of my money is tied up in trust. I can't get at it till 1971, which is just as well. One day I'd like to become a film producer and for that I'm likely to need millions." |