Beermat reveals Jimi Hendrix thought up album name down the pub in Brussels
Compelling new evidence has surfaced to suggest that rock singer songwriter and master guitarist Jimi Hendrix conceived the name of his first album “Are You Experienced” in the legendary Le Coq pub near Beurs (Bourse) in Brussels.
“Are You Experienced” was released in 1967. VRT’s Korneel De Clercq has tracked down a beermat on which Hendrix wrote the name of his debut album in café Le Coq in Brussels weeks before it was released.
Korneel spoke with veteran Belgian rock journalist Jean-Noël Coghe, who spent several days on tour with Hendrix when he was only 20. They visited venues in Paris, the North of France and Mouscron (Hainault – Belgium). In Brussels Hendrix frequented café Le Coq in the Ortsstraat in the City of Brussels, where a Leopold, a long-lost lager, was his favourite tipple.
One day Coghe collected Hendrix from the boozer to take him to TV studios. The musician was jotting something down on a beermat that the future journalist pocketed without giving it a second thought.
Only later did Coghe discover that the beermat in his pocket bore the name of Hendrix’s first album written in psychedelic letters. The album was released a month after the visit to Le Coq. Was this a coincidence? Coghe doesn’t believe so. He thinks Hendrix conceived the name of the album down the Brussels pub and to this day cherishes the beermat.
