Originally published in NME, 9 July 1965

The Yardbirds were in no mood for pulling punches when I called on them in their dressing room at the Ready, Steady, Go! studios in Wembley Park. Keith Relf expressed the desire that they should be “the first group to tell the truth” and that he was tired of “watered down interviews which said nothing.”

Ready, Steady, Go! itself has been the subject of a great deal of controversy recently. What do you think of the show?

Chris Dreja: The show is cutting its own throat. It’s nowhere near as good as it used to be.

Keith Relf: Let’s be honest—the whole show is in shambles. You’ve got one guy running around the studio flapping his arms and shouting and no control.

The best of the pop shows is Top of the Pops, where everyone is very friendly and they make it a happy show. The best sound is produced by Discs-A-Go-Go. Their sound engineer is the finest in the country in my opinion.

Sam Smith: The greatest criticism would be that they are unable to produce as good a sound as on the record itself. It has too many difficulties.

Jeff Beck: I don’t see the show can do anything more than it is. I think a great deal of the appeal lies in the fact the people will watch just to see if you make mistakes “live.”

What I would like to see is a show that would spotlight one group for half an hour and vary the numbers. Let us show what we really can do, not just give us time to play our latest disc.

Jim Page: It’s sick.

Do you feel that the criticism of Cathy McGowan and Patrick Kerr is justified?

Keith: They ask for it and they’ve got to take the knocks. The kids will follow anyone for a while, but once they are successful they often want a change.

Sam: It’s not for us to say. I don’t like to see the girls rushing around trying to copy Cathy, because I prefer originality, but it is part of Cathy’s job to set trends and fashions. That’s why she is there. She does it well.

A number of pop stars, including Jagger, Dave Berry, and Paul Jones, have opted for short hair, and the groups seem to be taking on new images. Are you doing the same?

Sam: As you can see I have just had my hair cut quite short! Mainly because I became tired of people pointing me out in bars and on buses as a member of a group. I don’t want to stand out as a group member. I never grew my hair long intentionally. I just didn’t have it cut, if you see what I mean.

Keith: My hair is long simply because it doesn’t suit me short. I’ve always worn it this length, even before I joined the group.

Chris: We don’t want a contrived image. If there is one it will appear naturally.