Steampacket Steampacket Steampacket (sometimes shown as Steam Packet) were a British blues band formed in 1965 by Long John Baldry with Rod Stewart, Julie Driscoll, and organist Brian Auger. A musical revue rather than a single group, Steampacket was formed in 1965 by Long John Baldry after the break-up of his previous group the Hoochie Coochie Men. It included Rod Stewart who had been with Baldry in the Hoochie Coochie Men, vocalist Julie Driscoll, organist Brian Auger and guitarist Vic Briggs. They were managed by Giorgio Gomelsky, who had previously been involved with the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds. Steampacket played
The Rolling Stones with the line "the Rolling truck Stones thing just outside, making our music there". Following the release of "Sticky Fingers", the Rolling Stones left England after receiving advice from their financial manager Prince Rupert Loewenstein. He recommended they go into tax exile before the start of the next financial year. The band had learned, despite being assured that their taxes were taken care of, they had not been paid for seven years and the UK government was owed a relative fortune. The Stones moved to the South of France, where Richards rented the Villa Nellcôte and sublet rooms to band