Gary James' Interview With The Producer Of Rolling Stone: Life And Death Of Brian Jones
Danny Garcia



This year (2020) a new film has been released with a new look at Brian Jones. Titled Rolling Stone: Life And Death Of Brian Jones, it's produced by Danny Garcia. And so, we spoke with Danny Garcia about his film.

Q - Danny, what kind of reaction are you getting with this film of yours? Has anyone come forward with new information for you?

A - No, not really. The reaction is like all of my documentaries' reaction. Some people like it. Some people hate it. You know how it is. Music fans are very passionate. They feel they own part of their idols. So, once you start messing around with their ideas of what their idol was like, there's bound to be people who are not happy with you and people who love what you do. So, it is what it is.

Q - The real mystery of Brian Jones is how such a strong, positive guy in the beginning could have ended up dying so young. Who would have benefited from Brian out of The Stones?

A - I mean, the band couldn't have gone on the way it was with Brian not co-operating. Brian completely out his head on Mandrax and alcohol. He was drinking a lot. Mandrax just left him like a vegetable. He lost his interest in the band. There was just not one thing. Losing Anita to Keith. The the drug busts and the prosecution. He was paranoid to start with, so that didn't help, and then the Mandrax just didn't work for him. It left him like a vegetable. He seemed to be like 2,000 light years from home where he can hardly open his eyes. He looks like he's on smack, but he never did smack. It was Mandrax mixed with his alcohol. The Stones benefited from it 'cause they took off on their '69 tour, which was the most successful tour up until that date. Obviously Mick and Keith wrote great songs. So they were going to continue with or without Brian. The Stones did benefit and basically the establishment because they used Brian's death to their advantage just so they had a poster boy so they could tell the population, "Look what happens when you do drugs."

Q - I'm not familiar with Mandrax. What would that have done for or done to Brian?

A - It was a prescribed drug. It would leave you completely sedated. It's a highly addictive sedative drug. Mixed with alcohol it's just a terrible thing. For Brian, who had to be very much awake to record all those different instruments, it wasn't working for him. Obviously Mick and Keith lost their patience.

Q - Where was the money coming from for Brian to live on Crotchford Farm? Was Brian living off royalties from record sales?

A - Up until '68 he was part of the band, up until '69 really. When he moved into Crotchford Farm in '68 he was part of the Stones' machine. They had a bit of money back then. Not a lot. They weren't living large, but Mick, Keith, they were all buying their estates and Bill Wyman also. The money obviously came from the Stones' organization. It was an expensive buy, but it wasn't that crazy expensive, Crotchford Farm for that time. In '69 when he leaves the band, that would've changed. Once he was out of the band, that would've changed the panorama for him in terms of economics. He was meant to get a hundred grand payoff and then twenty grand a year as long as the band remained together. Let's not forget he started the band. The band wasn't started by Mick or Keith. He started the band.

Q - I point that very fact out to everybody I speak with about The Rolling Stones. I always say, Brian Jones was and will always be The Rolling Stones.

A - The Stones for the last fifty years have been selling the story that the band started in Dartford when Mick and Keith meet up at the station and Mick's got all the Chuck Berry records. But that's not the way the band started. That starts with Little Boy Blue And The Blue Boys, which was their band with Dick Taylor. If they hadn't met Brian at the Ealing Club in '62 and Brian invited Mick to sing with him, this wouldn't have happened. Obviously Mick brought in his band which was Keith and Dick Taylor. Alexis Korner told Brian not to take the three of them. He said just take one of them. I guess so Brian would keep control of the band. It would've been the Brian Jones Band. It wasn't called The Rolling Stones.

Q - Where did Brian hear about Frank Thorogood? Who told him he should hire Frank Thorogood?

A - Tom Keylock probably. Thorogood had been doing some work at Redlands, which apparently wasn't very good. Obviously Tom, being very good friends with Frank Thorogood, said to Brian, "I've got the perfect builder for you," meaning Frank. Brian, being the careless type of persona he was, said, "Sure. Fine. Bring him over."

Q - According to a Rolling Stone article on the death of Brian Jones titled Jones' Death Shrouded In Mystery (August 9th, 1969), pathologist Angus Sommerville ruled that Jones died as a result of "Drowning by immersion in fresh water associated with severe liver dysfunction caused by fatty degeneration and ingestion of alcohol and drugs." The article goes on to say, "There were traces of pep pills, sleeping tablets and alcohol in his bloodstream according to the pathologist." Now, I almost know what you're going to say, "fresh water?" He was found at the bottom of his swimming pool. Is it possible that no chlorine had been added to the pool?

A - Well, I'm not that knowledgeable about swimming pools in 1969 and whether or not they used chemicals with water. I would think so. But there was this trough in the garden and according to the neighbor they put his head in the trough. That's how he drowned. It's possible he was drowned in the trough and then thrown in the swimming pool to disguise the accident. Frank was really mad at Brian because he had sacked him that day and Frank claimed there was this money owed to him and his builder crew. So there was a little party that got out of control and apparently Frank and Brian were fighting throughout the day and his death apparently occurs at 9:30 PM on the 2nd (of July, 1969). He didn't die on the 3rd (of July, 1969) as printed on his tombstone. But it took them a few hours to call the ambulance just so they could get their story together. There were more people at Crotchford Farm when the police arrived. You have to remember the first copper was a young cop, but he was doing his job, finding out what happened. And when the top brass showed up, they say, "We'll take it from here," and that's when the cover-up starts.

Q - I interviewed Prince Stash Klossowski De Rola earlier this year (2020) and he told me Brian was, "Subject to seizures, which I never witnessed, but other people have where you had to turn him on his side. There are two or three reliable witnesses to Brian suddenly blacking out." I'd never heard or read that before. Is it possible then that Brian had a seizure in his swimming pool and that's what caused his death?

A - Well, it's a possibility. I doubt it, knowing what we know now, but it is a possibility. Bill Wyman talks about his asthma attacks and he could have had an asthma attack. But that swimming pool wasn't very deep. You could walk out basically. So it just doesn't make much sense. We'll never know exactly, but knowing what we know about the case and knowing what happened to the taxi driver a couple of weeks later, I doubt it very much.

Q - You believe that Frank Thorogood had some involvement with Brian's death?

A - I totally believe that, yeah.

Q - Why wasn't he arrested?

A - He actually was arrested that night and they let him go. He had these Mandrax pills or amphetamine pills that they found on him and he was keeping them so Brian wouldn't pick them up. He had an injury to his hand which is why he was taken to the hospital that same morning, the morning after it occurred. So, it's very suspicious to me that he had an injury. If you put together all the facts, something dodgy went down that night at Crotchford Farm. And for the neighbor to say that he was drowned in this trough and heard all these cars screeching and leaving Crotchford in a rush, it's very, very suspicious.

Q - And I guess this case will never be reopened?

A - The same cover-up that was put in place in '69 still functions today. That's why the files are sealed for seventy-five years. It was clearly a cover-up coming from the top of the government so they would use Brian's death as an advertisement against (the use of) drugs basically.

See Amazon.com for Rolling Stone: Life And Death Of Brian Jones

© Gary James. All rights reserved.

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