Denny Seiwell and Denny Laine go to Scotland for the first rehearsal of Paul’s new band

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Around May / June 1971, Paul and Linda McCartney were at their farm in Scotland. Paul started forming the idea of creating a new band, asking Linda if she would be part of it.

Sometime in June 1971, Paul McCartney called Denny Seiwell and Hugh McCracken, the players who participated in the recording of the album “RAM“, and invited them and their wives for some holidays in Scotland. Denny accepted Paul’s offer to join his new band, but Hugh refused.

In mid-July, Paul contacted Denny Laine and asked him to come and join the band as well.

On July 14, Paul called Denny and Monique Seiwell to invite them for a second stay in Scotland.

McCartney set up a little office in New York. And I heard through the secretary, who was Linda’s friend, I think her name was Diane Brooks – it was up on Central Park West – she said: “Paul wants you back, I guess he’s moving forward with the band”. So I said, “Yeah, let’s go”. […]

Denny Seiwell – Interview with Maccazine – Volume 47, Issue 1 – The birth of Wings

[Paul] said ‘Come on down to Scotland. We’ll start rehearsing again and this time we’ll put the band together. I’ve got a guy, his name is Denny Laine. And I asked: ‘Who’s going to play keyboards?’ And he said: ‘Linda is playing the keyboards. I’ll teach her what she has to know.’ I was a little uneasy, because she didn’t know how to play the piano. […]

Denny Seiwell – Interview with Maccazine – Volume 47, Issue 1 – The birth of Wings

Paul said: “Don’t worry, I can teach her the parts and I can double track any parts that are tricky that she can’t play, but I can make her into what we need to play with some simpler piano parts, and I just want her in the band.” I believed in him that much at the time I said, “Well, this is going to be possible”.

Denny Seiwell – Interview with Maccazine – Volume 47, Issue 1 – The birth of Wings

Paul had said when he was putting this university tour together that ‘We’ll just have Linda play keyboards for a while.’ Well, I thought that was a novel idea; I hadn’t known she played the piano. As it turned out, she had little knowledge of the keyboard, and Paul would just teach her her parts. And she would just try and stay with us.

Denny Seiwell – From “Linda McCartney: A Portrait” by Danny Field, 2000

Linda was absolutely his support mechanism. There was a lot of ugly stuff going on in the background about the Beatles just then, and he really wanted her around. Paul and Linda would talk about it among themselves, but never in front of the group. That was “the other band,” and now we’re here. And he wanted her not just around, but in the band, onstage.

Denny Seiwell – From “Linda McCartney: A Portrait” by Danny Field, 2000

On July 19, Denny and Monique Seiwell flew from New York to Scotland. They met with Denny Laine for the first time at the Glasgow airport.

I got the call [from Paul] and went up to Scotland via Birmingham, where I called in to spend a day or so with my family. Denny [Seiwell] met me at Glasgow airport, and then we caught a plane to Campbelltown, which is the nearest airport to Paul’s home. We don’t go that route now; Paul always uses a private plane from a hire company and we can fly direct from London to Campbeltown in little more than half an hour.

That night Denny drove me up to Paul’s farm and we sat around there, talking and drinking, discussing ideas for the band, and then recalling the old days. Back in those days, musicians like the Beatles and the Moody Blues used to go down to the clubs in the evening not to rave it up, but to relax. After working, we’d go down to the clubs like the Ad Lib just to relax; that was all it was to us. And of course, in those days we all used to know each other, all working in the same business, so there was a lot to talk about.

I’d been travelling that day for 16 or 17 hours, so I just fell asleep and Paul and Denny carried me off to bed, tucked me up, and gave me a goodnight kiss. I’d been shattered by the journey.

Denny Laine – From interview in 1971

Paul, Linda and the two Dennys spent the three next days rehearsing in a small barn, equipped with a four-track machine and named Rude Studios.

Back in Scotland, I had a four-track recording studio installed at the farm, which we called Rude Studio, so I was able to demo and experiment and make bits and pieces of music. Eventually, when we started to put a band together, we could rehearse there.

Paul McCartney – From “Wingspan: Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run“, 2002

Last updated on May 2, 2022