Ronnie: "There were some funny little things about the four of us coming together that it almost sounds fictional. I think the four of us definitely had it in our destiny, it was no accident."

What with Kenney having a dream with Steve in it the night before he met him and Mac being told by an old mate he should audition for the Small Faces the very night before the boys asked Don Arden to get in touch with him, the Small Faces story certainly has more than a touch of magic about it.

When Mac called into Don Arden's office in Carnaby Street he thought it was for a job as a session man or maybe on one of Arden's lesser-known groups like the Clayton Squares but he didn't mind as long as he was earning some money. When Arden asked him if he would like to join the Small Faces he was thunderstruck. No more so than Steve, Ronnie and Kenney. They knew he was a talented musician but the fact that he was as small as they were blew them away! Mac: "It was like meeting my brothers!" All Steve could do was hug him. For Steve and the others, Mac was the missing part.

Don Arden got Mac to have his hair cut like the rest of the group (Mac was not a mod before the Small Faces) and gave him some money for essential mod wear. That very same evening, Mac "performed" with the Small Faces at the Lyceum Ballroom. There was no need for rehearsal though as the group had to mime to I've Got Mine for a Radio Luxembourg live show - on the radio! As their was no organ part on the track, Mac simply mimed the part with the guitar. The next day Mac set about learning the Small Faces' live act note by note for a gig they had in Swindon the very same day, 3 November. Luckily for the Small Faces, Mac had already played along to Booker T & the MGs' Green Onions LP until he had started to sound like Mr Booker T Jones himself!

• Part 7: The Small Faces move in together.
• Return to part 5