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A quick tour of HOM taken in winter 2013

A fascinating glimpse of the House of Magic with Simon and family on NHK TV presented by Stuart Adams

Simon Drake performing to 'Abracadabra' by Steve Miller on Top of the Pops back in the day. An excellent version of his Dancing Cane. 

Simon Drake performing 'Impaled' on series 1 of  The Secret Cabaret

Simon Drake. The guillotine from his Secret Cabaret TV series. Episode 1, Series 1. 

A very rare TV interview with Simon Drake. Promotion for The Secret Cabaret on Jonathan Ross. 

Simon Drake's Secret Cabaret. Series 2. One of the goriest effects Simon performed on Secret Cabaret, deadly surgery during his own Vertical Sawing. The initial idea came from a dream Simon had but credit must also go to the wonderful Mr Jim Steinmeyer for helping materialise this nightmarish dream, which also came in very handy in later years during therapy sessions. Simon's father was a doctor and surgeon, enough said! Suffice to say he no longer performs this routine.

Simon invited Iron Maiden to take part in a special for American TV, 'Raising Hell'. This marked his retirement from TV having been disappointed by too many, "nonsensical, cheap creative decisions by some TV producers. EG the overdubbing of lame library rock music over most of the pieces which had taken 9 laborious months to rehearse." According to the interview this is taken from there was indeed a silver lining to this cloud as he went on to build his own venue, The House of Magic where at last he could have the deserved creative control. The venue continues to be successful for over 25 years.

Peter Bardens' pop video with Simon Drake,  'Gold' shot in 1988(!) in the Mojave desert, from the "Speed of Light" album . Simon's look in this video paved the way for Simon's later work as the Mad Max character in his two Secret Cabaret TV series.

Simon Drake's Silhouette Routine from The Secret Cabaret

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