Atomic Rooster
@ atomic-rooster.com
Early Days And "Fire" And Atomic Ro-o-oster
Born In Reading On 21/5/43, Vincent's Formal Music Training Was At Trinity College Of Music, London . He Studied There For Three Years And Gained His Ltcl And Gtcl. His Early Bands Were J.C. & The Machine (With Phil Kinnora, Ray Dussel, John Mcvee And Bob Downes) And The Jazz And Poetry Group The Word Engine (Founded By Paul A. Green, With Red Reece, Phil Seaman, Pete Brown, John Surman And Bob Downes. His First Professional Gig Was At The Marquee Club, London, In 1963 As The Vincent Crane Band.
In 1966, He Joined Up With Arthur Brown And Formed The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown And By 1967 They Were Playing Gigs Such As The Ufo Club, Tottenham Court Road; The Alexandra Palace 'Love In'; The Reading Festival And The Montrose Festival. During 1968 They Were Out On Their 1st American Tour And The "Fire" Single And "Fire" Album Topped The Usa Charts. The Single Was No.1 In England & Europe, And The Album Top 5 . The Band Headlined At That Year's Reading Festival. In 1969 They Returned To America Playing Fillmore East And Madison Square Garden. By The End Of The Year And After A 3rd Usa Tour Problems Had Set In. Vincent Lived In New York For Three Months And Finally Returned To England With Carl Palmer On Friday The 13th. During 1970 They Formed Atomic Rooster As Decided In New York, And The Band's First Gig Was Headlining At The Lyceum, London, With Deep Purple As Support. The 1st Atomic Rooster Single Was "Friday The 13th", C/W "Banstead" And The 1st Album "Atomic Ro-O-Oster".
In 1971 John Ducann Joined Atomic Rooster And Added Guitar To The American Version Of "Atomic Ro-O-Oster". Carl Palmer Left To Join Elp And Paul Hammond Joined Rooster As Drummer. This Year Saw The Band's 1st Hit Single "Tomorrow Night",/C/W "Play The Game" And Their 1st Top 10 Album "Death Walks Behind You", Followed By A 2nd Hit Single "Devil's Answer",C/W "Play The Game". The Band Also Played The Reading Festival.(During This Year, Vincent Also Guested On Piano For The Self Titled "Rory Gallagher" Album Released On Polydor.)
In 1972 Pete French Joined The Band On Vocals And They Played The Oval With The Who Headlining. A 3rd Album Was Released, "In Hearing Of.." With Cover Design By Roger Dean. This Was The Year Of Atomic Rooster's 1st Usa Tour, Playing The Troubadour, La And Fillmore East, Ny. John Ducann And Paul Hammond Left The Band To Form Hard Stuff With Johnny Gustaveston And Ric Parnell & Steve Bolton Joined. Pete French Left To Join Cactus With Carl Minnaplice, Replaced In Rooster By Chris Farlowe .The Band Then Went On To Release Their 4th Album "Made In England" And The 1st Compilation Was Released, "Atomic Rooster Assortment". The 2nd Tour Took In The La Amphitheatre, The Texas 'Rose Bowl' And The Dusseldorf 'Rock Festival' With Deep Purple And Free. A 3rd Single Was Released "Stand By Me, C/W "Breathless". In 1974 The 5th Atomic Rooster Album Was Released "Nice & Greasy" And A 2nd Compilation "Home To Roost". The Band Left Gaff Management And Toured Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland & Portugal. In 1975 After A Tour Of Belgium, France, Italy And Spain, Vincent Stopped Touring And Took Atomic Rooster Of The Road For An Unspecified Period......
The Missing Years
Vincent Divorced His First Wife, Pat, In 1976 And Remarried In 1977. With Atomic Rooster Off The Road, Vincent's Talents Diversified. He Did The Music For Paul A Green's "Ritual Of The Stifling Air" For Radio 3. Influenced By His Second Wife, Jean, He Worked On "Dracula" At The Shaftesbury Theatre, The Ghost Train" At The Old Vic, The "Old Country At The Queen's, "Stevie" At The Vaudeville, Rolls Hyphen Royce" At The Shaftesbury Theatre. He Was Musical Advisor To The Royal Court's Children's Theatre Festival, And Vocal Coach For A South London Children's Festival. He Was Musical Director For "Rain Dog" Stomu Yamashta's Red Buddha Theatre Company And Renewed The Jazz/Poetry Gigs With Paul A Green.
In 1978, Vincent Met Up With Arthur Brown Again And They Began Writing Together And Performing. By 1979, They Had Material Together For A New Album "Faster Than The Speed Of Light" Which Was Recorded In Germany At Klaus Schult's Studio. He Also Recorded With Klaus On The "Dune" Album And With Arthur And Klaus On "Wahnfried". A Classic Moment Of That Time Was A Party Thrown By The German Record Company When Vincent And Arthur Performed A Classic Rendition Of Frankie Vaughan's "Green Door", Dressed In Top Hat And Tails!!
Together again and then not...
1980 Saw The Reform Of Atomic Rooster And Vincent Working Again With John Ducann. Finally An Emi Deal, A Secret Warm Up Tour, And The Release Of A New Album "Atomic Rooster" And A Single "Do You Know Who's Looking For You" Preston Heyman Did The Honours On Drums, But By The Time Of The 1981 3 Month Tour Of The Uk, Paul Hammond Was Back On Drums. This Year, Saw The Release Of The 1st Two Atomic Rooster 12" Singles, "Play It Again" C/W "Start To Live"/"Devil's Answer" (Live) And "End Of The Day" C/W "Living Underground"/"Tomorrow Night" (Live) The Band Played The Reading Festival With John Mysteriously Awol, Big John Mccoy Stepped In On Bass. John Had Decided To Retire Again, And Subsequent Tours Of Germany And Italy Were With Bernie Torme On Guitar.
1983 Saw A New Style Of Atomic Rooster Album "Headline News" With A 12" Single "Land Of Freedom" (Extended Version C/W Carnival), Featuring Guitarists, Dave Gilmour Of The Pink Floyd,Bernie Torme And John Mizarolli. Bernie Subsequently Toured With The Band To Germany And Italy And An Album Of Their Live Gigs Has Just Been Released. March 6th 2000, Atomic Rooster "Live In Germany '83"
In 1984, Vincent Disbanded Atomic Rooster And Went On To Make "A Case For The Blues" As Katmandu With Peter Green, Ray Dorset & Jeff Whittaker.The Following Year He Joined "Dexy's Midnight Runners" Playing Piano For The "Don't Stand Me Down" Album. They Toured In The Uk And France, Releasing Two Singles "This Is What She's Like" From The Album And A Second Single, The Theme Song To The Tv Series "Brush Strokes".
Final Days
In 1987 Dexy's Was Disbanded And Vincent Intended To Reform Atomic Rooster.
Due To Ill Health, A Planned German Tour Was Cancelled, And, Sadly, Vincent Died On 14th February 1989, Saint Valentine's Day.
Since That Time, Paul Hammond Too Has Died.
Of The "Death Walks Behind You" Line-Up Of Atomic Rooster, Only John Ducann Remains. =>>>>>>>>>>>
@ Wiki
Atomic Rooster were an English progressive rock band, formed by ex-Crazy World of Arthur Brown members, Vincent Crane and Carl Palmer in 1969. Their only hit singles came in 1971 with "Tomorrow Night" (a UK Number 11), and "The Devil's Answer" (UK Number 4).
History
In 1970, Atomic Rooster (at that time consisting of Crane, Palmer and Nick Graham) released their self-titled debut album.
Between Palmer's departure (to be one third of Emerson, Lake & Palmer), and the recording of a second album, guitarist John Cann (also credited as John Du Cann) joined them, giving a whole new dimension to the music with his distinctive guitar attack. Death Walks Behind You featured Paul Hammond on drums, and this album yielded "Tomorrow Night".
Having found success on the UK Singles Chart, the band was augmented with singer Peter French for their third effort on vinyl, In Hearing of Atomic Rooster. It showed the band at full throttle. The import version included the hit single "The Devil's Answer", although this was strangely missing from the original UK release. After this album, Cann, Hammond and French left the band. French went to join Cactus, while John Du Cann and Paul Hammond teamed up with ex-Quatermass bass player John Gustafson and founded Hard Stuff.
Crane put the band together one more time, recruiting 1960s British R&B singer and ex-Colosseum vocalist Chris Farlowe. Along with old friends John Goodsall, then known as "Johnny Mandala", and Rick Parnell (who is the son of orchestra leader Jack Parnell, and composed material on the last album, plus came up with the piano riff on "Tomorrow Night") they released Made in England.
They managed to release one more album, Nice 'n' Greasy, but the sound was somewhat diluted, although the tracks "Voodoo in You" and "Take One Toke" reminded their fans of past glories. It proved to be their last record in the 1970s.
The band ceased to exist until the early 1980s, when Crane and Du Cann teamed up once again, going through a series of drummers. During the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, they almost had some presence in the charts with "Lose Your Mind" and a re-make of "Tomorrow Night".
After this stint, Crane went on to join Dexy's Midnight Runners in the mid 1980s, and also recorded A Case For The Blues as part of Katmandu, a one-off project with Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac and Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry. Crane died on 14 February 1989 in Reading. Hammond died of a drug overdose in 1992.
Du Cann recently licensed the release of the only existing tapes of Atomic Rooster that featured Crane, Palmer and himself: some BBC Radio 1 sessions recorded by John Peel in 1970 and 1971. =>>>>>>>>>>>
Atomic Rooster were formed during summer 1969,when Vincent Crane and Carl Palmer broke away from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and returned to England, the date of return being Friday 13th. Having broken away from CWOAB with the idea to form their own band, Atomic Rooster, (the name of the band being taken from a member of the U.S. band Rhinoceros who whilst undertaking a "spiritual quest" emerged with a personae which he named as the Atomic Rooster, a name which obviously struck a chord with Carl and Vincent). Interestingly enough 1969 was the year of the Rooster, in the Chinese calendar. Nick Graham was recruited for bass, vocals and flute and the band undertook live work. The first LP, Atomic RoOoster, was recorded during December 69 and January 70 and released during February 70, along with the single, Friday 13th. During mid-March 70,Vincent decided to add a guitarist to the band and John Cann was recruited into the Rooster ranks from his band Andromeda. However as John joined, Nick departed leaving Rooster without a vocalist or bassist. Vincent now played the bass lines on his Hammond Organ by a combination of left hand and foot pedals, whilst John doubled up as vocalist as well as assisting bass lines by emphasising the lower range on his guitar. The band resumed gigging until the end of June 70 when Carl announced his departure to ELP. Ric Parnell helped out on drums, completing the outstanding gigs, until August 70 when a young 18 year old, Paul Hammond, was recruited to fill the drum vacancy. The second LP, Death Walks Behind You, was recorded and released in September 70 and the single, Tomorrow Night, was released, eventually charting in the UK at No.12 in January 71.The band continued touring and in June 71 Pete French was added to the band as vocalist for the recording of the third LP, In Hearing Of, released in July 71. Prior to this a third single, Devil's Answer, was released, reaching No 2 in the UK, in June 71. During the recording of In Hearing Of, it became clear that the band were yet again moving in a different musical direction, away from the harder and heavier-edged Death Walks Behind You, and by August both John and Paul had left to form Daemon.
In August 71,Vincent, along with vocalist Pete French recruited drummer, Ric Parnell, and on guitar, Mancunian born Steve Bolton.This line up toured, including an appearance at the Oval on September 9th, a benefit gig arranged by The Who. By the end of the year, vocalist Pete French departed and was replaced by Chris Farlowe and a fourth LP, Made In England, was recorded and released along with the single, Stand By Me. The band had moved to a more funkier/soul musical direction by now. The end of 72 saw the departure of Steve Bolton and his replacement was John Goodsall, under the name of Johnny Mandala.This line up toured and recorded a fifth LP, Nice N Greasy, in 73. A single from the LP was also released, Save Me, a reworking of Friday 13th. .During 74 this line up came to an end and any gigs outstanding were completed by Vincent along with members of the band, Sam Apple Pie, the last gig being in February 75, a benefit gig for the RSPCA. At this point Vincent called time on Atomic Rooster and moved onto other things.
1979, post punk,and the arrival of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, with members of these new bands citing, as an influence, Atomic Rooster.Vincent and John (by now using his full name - John Du Cann) got together, talked about it, did some research and Rooster were back!!!.1980 saw the recording of an LP, on EMI, on the drums being the highly rated session drummer, Preston Heyman.A couple of "test the water" gigs were undertaken, to great acclaim, and dates were set for a tour. Preston was invited and undertook the drum duties, whilst the LP was released in September 80, following the single, Do You Know Who's Looking For You?(June 80).However Preston's prior session and touring commitments caught up with him and by the time of the gig at the Marquee, 23rd October 1980 Paul Hammond was once again behind the drum kit. Touring continued but EMI pulled the plug on the band, fortunately Polydor picked up the band for two singles, during 81, Play It Again (25th September 81) and End Of The Day (Feb 82). During the recording of these two singles reworked versions of Tomorrow Night and Devil's Answer were also recorded (Big John McCoy adding bass) Record label problems(again) led to the departure of John Du Cann prior to the recording of the sixth LP, Headline News, in late 82, the guitar parts were recorded by Dave (Pink Floyd) Gilmour, John Mizarolli and Bernie Torme.Tour dates in Italy and Germany were undertaken with Bernie on guitar and the odd UK dates were with John Mizarolli.Vincent had also taken on the vocals not only for the LP, Headline News, but also for live work. Headline News was released in June 83, following the single, Land Of Freedom, in May 83. Vincent called time on Atomic Rooster, again and in 85 assisted Dexy's Midnight Runners by playing piano on their LP, Don't Stand Me Down. Vincent and John were talking about making the Rooster crow again into the 90's, but Vincent's poor health intervened and, sadly, Vincent passed away on Feb14th,1989. Paul Hammond also sadly passed away, an accidental death, in 1992. Of the band that recorded Death Walks Behind You, only John Du Cann remains with us.. =>>>>>>>>>>>
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