We've written a lot about the Hells Angels here at RideApart, which is usually the precursor to a lot of angry emails, comments, and DMs by active members or wannabes that just can't help themselves try and defend the 1% club moniker. But this story about country western singer superstar Willie Nelson and his harmonica player, Mickey Raphael, is an interesting one about the notorious club.
Nelson is known as one of the most laid-back folks on the planet, even playing up his weed-smoking persona in a host of movies, along with doing some seriously great work for marginalized folks throughout the industry and outside. And that likability draws folks in, including, as it were, a bunch of Hells Angels bikers, at least according to Raphael's account.
See, a long time ago, on the road and not so far away, a group of Hells Angels showed up on the doorstep of Nelson and his crew before a show. And to Raphael's recollection, hung out and then chauffeured Nelson to the venue that night. Oh, to be a fly on that tour bus.
The story comes from an interview Raphael did with the Drifting Cowboy podcast, where Nelson's harmonica player for the last 50 years recalled, "They wanted to meet Willie, and they pulled up, I’m sitting on Willie‘s bus. I think it was outside of San Jose or Santa Clara, California, and we hear this low rumble in the parking lot, and look out and it’s about 10 motorcycles. And there’s a knock on the door, open up the door, and it’s Hells Angels. They say they wanna meet Willie. Willie comes to the door to meet them, and starts talking to them and they chat for a little bit. I guess Willie signed some autographs, and Willie goes, ‘Well boys, I gotta go. I gotta go to the gig.'"
Raphael continued, "And they said, ‘Well come on, we’ll take you.’ So we got off the bus, and I got on the back of one of the guy’s bikes, Willie got on the back of the other, and we rode down the 405 to the venue, about 20 minutes. I had never done anything thing like that before, and this guy was so big I could’ve lit a cigarette sitting behind him, you know, he was blocking the wind so well. It was a big boy… I figured if I’m ever gonna ride a motorcycle, this is the place to do it. This is the time to do it. This is just thunderous noise going down the highway, in formation. It could’ve been 10 F-18s. So anyway, we go to the race track we’re playing, and pull up to the backstage entrance."
Apparently, however, the concert venue's security didn't believe it was Nelson and his crew showing up with the Hells Angels, and Willie had to pull out a credit card to prove he was who the bikers and he were saying he was. I'd probably have been skeptical myself, but wouldn't you have just loved to have listened to whatever these folks got on about back in the day? I would've.
Check out the full podcast above.
