The Jimi Hendrix Experience Animals bassist, Chas Chandler, formed a backing band with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell. Mitchell was a seasoned London drummer formerly with Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. Hendrix chose Redding because of his attitude towards music and his hairstyle. Redding had been a guitar player until that time, but played bass in the band. The name "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" was coined by their business manager Michael Jeffery. The first official appearance of "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" (invited by French singer Johnny Hallyday) was at the "Novelty" in Évreux, France, on October 13, 1966. Six days later
Jimi Hendrix associated with the drug culture as Jimi". Hendrix would often become angry and violent when he drank too much alcohol or when he mixed alcohol with drugs. His friend Herbie Worthington explained: "You wouldn't expect somebody with that kind of love to be that violent ... He just couldn't drink ... he simply turned into a bastard". According to journalist and friend Sharon Lawrence, Hendrix "admitted he could not handle hard liquor, which set off a bottled-up anger, a destructive fury he almost never displayed otherwise". In January 1968, the Experience travelled to Sweden for a one-week tour of Europe.