Eddie & the Hot Rods
| Eddie & the Hot Rods | |
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| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Punk , pub rock , rock |
| founding | 1975 |
| Website | www.eddieandthehotrods.com |
| Founding members | |
| Barrie Masters (born May 4, 1956; † October 1, 2019) |
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Guitar until 1980 |
Graeme Douglas (born Jan. 22, 1950 in Rochford, Essex) |
Bass until 1980 / 1996-97 |
Paul Gray (born Aug. 1, 1958) |
Guitar until 1985 |
Dave Higgs (March 21, 1950 - Dec. 21, 2013) |
Drums until 1981 |
Steve Nicol (Steve Nichols) (born Feb. 17, 1957) |
Harmonica until 1976 |
Lew Lewis |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Barrie Masters |
bass |
Dipster |
guitar |
Richard Holgarth |
guitar |
Chris Taylor |
Drums |
Simon Bowley |
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Eddie & the Hot Rods are a British pub and punk rock band from Southend-on-Sea , Essex . The band was formed in 1975 and is still active, intermittently, until 2019. From the original line-up, however, only singer Barrie Masters († autumn 2019) was there continuously.
Band history
Beginnings in Essex
The former amateur boxer Barrie Masters and lyricist Ed Hollis gathered various musicians around him in 1975 and gave concerts with them in the London pub scene . In the beginning there was always a mannequin named Eddie , which was later retained in the band name.
The core of the group, consisting of singer Barrie Masters, drummer Steve Nichols and David Higgs, has played together in Rochford, Essex since 1973. Higgs had previously played with Lee Brilleaux in a band called The Fix , while Masters and Nichols had played in the glam rock band Buckshee .
Later guitarist Pete Wall, bassist Rob Steel and harmonica player Lew Lewis joined them. 15-year-old Paul Gray replaced Steel in late 1975 while Pete Wall left.
The band played like the other pub rock bands of the time, rhythm & blues and rock music , but in faster versions than the originals. They saw their role models in the J. Geils Band , MC5 , the Rolling Stones , Chuck Berry , the Who , the Kinks and American garage bands, which was put together on the Nuggets sampler by Lenny Kaye . Due to their dynamic concerts, the group quickly made a name for themselves in the London club scene.
Ed Hollis, brother of the future Talk Talk singer and guitarist Mark Hollis , became the band's manager and producer and wrote the lyrics for the songs on their first albums. Andy McKay of Roxy Music became aware of the group and gave them a record deal with Island Records .
Success with the record label Iceland
In January 1976 Island Records released the first single, Writing on the Wall , which was no more a success than its successor, a cover version of Wooly Bully , the 1965 hit by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs , produced by Roxy Music's Andy Mackay. From February, the band played, among other things on February 12, 1976 with the Sex Pistols in the opening act, some concerts in the Marquee Club in London, where the Sex Pistols manipulated the PA system of the Marquee and thus sabotaged the performance of the Hot Rods. At this concert Iceland made recordings, some of which were released on the EP Live at the Marquee .
Lew Lewis was released from the group and began a solo career. Graeme Douglas of the Kursaal Flyers joined in spring 1976 as the second guitarist and also wrote his own songs, such as the biggest hit by the group Do Anything You Wanna Do , which was inspired by a Bruce Springsteen song. The EP entered the UK singles charts in September 1976 and reached number 43. In November, the single Teenage Depression followed , which reached number 35. The LP of the same name reached the top 50 of the album charts in December.
1977 saw the climax of Eddie & the Hot Rods' career. Their biggest hit was released under the abbreviated name "The Rods" and Do Anything You Wanna Do hit number 9 on the British Singles Hit Parade in September. The hit ensured that the LP Life on the Line also reached number 27. On September 17, 1977, the group met in the ZDF music program Disco with Do Anything You Wanna Do on.
In 1977 the Hot Rods went on tour through Europe with the Ramones , Talking Heads and Radio Stars as a supporting act . This was followed by a tour of the United States and Canada in 1978, this time doing the opening act for the Ramones and Talking Heads. In the same year Eddie & the Hot Rods performed at the Reading Festival.
Eddie & The Hot Rods tried to repeat the success of Do Anything You Wanna Do with a new album Thriller , but they only partially succeeded commercially. Despite prominent support, u. a. by Linda McCartney , the album only made it into the top 50 and the next singles stayed away from a chart position.
In 1979 the group was featured on the soundtrack of the film Rock 'n' Roll Highschool with the piece Teenage Depression , among others the Ramones, Nick Lowe and Devo.
Separations and reunions
In 1979 Island Records released the band and Ed Hollis stopped working as their manager. Douglas left the band the following year and later worked with The Pink Fairies. Paul Gray joined The Damned in 1980 and then UFO , to later rejoin the group for an album (Gasoline Days) . Tony Cranney came for him as bass player. Due to a lack of sales, the group had to tour more, which also prevented them from working on new material.
In April 1981 the group released the LP Fish and Chips on EMI . Masters kept the group alive for a few more years, after which they all went their own ways. Masters joined the pub rock band Inmates as singer for two albums and Steve Nicol joined the new romantic band One the Juggler .
After these interludes, Masters and Nicol reformed the group again with guitarist Warren Kennedy and bassist Tony Cranney and released a live album for Waterfront Records.
Masters then reformed the group again, with some singles and albums being created in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s
1994 appeared on the Japanese label Creative Man Records Gasoline Days , whose material was primarily written by Paul Gray. To promote the album, Eddie & The Hot Rods toured Germany in 1997 with the line-up of Barrie Masters, Paul Gray, Keyo on guitar and Jess Phillips on drums with the album Gasoline Days . Mick Rogers of Manfred Mann's Earth Band played guitar on the said album, for which Steve Nicol also played drums. After this short-lived reunion, the group was again reduced to Barrie Masters as the only original member, who formed a band consisting mainly of younger musicians.
In October 2006 the album Been There Done That was released on Voiceprint Records in the line-up: Masters, Richard Holgarth - guitar, keyboards, vocals; Chris Taylor - guitar; Dipster - bass, vocals; Simon Bowley - drums, vocals. The album contains a. a cover version of the Steppenwolf song Born to Be Wild , which has been part of the band's live repertoire for years.
Other publications
A photo of the band was on the record cover of the first edition of The Damned LP Damned Damned Damned on Stiff Records "SEEZ1". Stiff's records were then produced and distributed by Island Records. The label indicated the "alleged" error with a sticker. In fact, it was a marketing gag.
Do Anything You Wanna Do , written by Graeme Douglas and Ed Hollis, was covered in the 1980s by Manfred Mann's Earth Band with singer Chris Thompson and in 1991 by Die Toten Hosen in collaboration with Douglas on the album Learning English Lesson One .
Discography
Albums
- 1976: Teenage Depression
- 1977: Life on the Line
- 1979: Thriller
- 1981: Fish and Chips
- 1992: Curse of the Hot Rods
- 1993: Live And Rare
- 1994: BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert
- 1994: Ties that Bind
- 1996: Get Your Balls Off (live)
- 1996: Gasoline Days
- 1997: Doing Anything They Wanna Do
- 1998: Live At The Paradiso
- 2003: Better Late than Never
- 2006: Been There Done That
literature
- Will Birch: No Sleep Till Canvey Island. The Great Pub Rock Revolution . Virgin, London 2000, ISBN 0-7535-0411-1 .
- Mark Perry: Sniffin 'Glue. The Essential Punk Accessory . Sanctuary Publishing, London 2000, ISBN 1-86074-275-0 .
- Donald Clarke (Ed.): The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music . London, 1989/1990. ISBN 0-14-051147-4 , p. 374.
- Frank Laufenberg: Rock & Pop Lexicon 1 . 5th edition. Munich / Düsseldorf 2000, ISBN 3-612-26206-8 , p. 459.
- MC Strong (Ed.): The Great Rock Discography . 3rd Ed. Edinburgh / Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 0-86241-604-3 , pp. 258f.
- J. Buckley, M. Ellingham (Eds.): Rock - The Rough Guide . London 1996, ISBN 1-85828-201-2 , p. 281.
- David Roberts (Ed.): Guinness Book of British Hit Singles . 14th Ed. London 2001, ISBN 0-85112-156-X .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Charts UK
- ↑ Barrie Masters RIP , Louder than War, October 2, 2019
- ↑ "... we were all listening to the J. Geils Band". David Higgs, quoted in Will Birch, p. 207
- ↑ quoted in Will Birch, p. 221f.
- ^ Official website Club Marquee ( Memento of August 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Official homepage Paul Gray ( Memento from April 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive )