Bob Klose
Encyclopedia
Rado 'Bob' Klose is an English musician and photographer. He was one of the earliest members of the rock band Pink Floyd
, playing lead guitar
, but left the band before they recorded their first released single, "Arnold Layne
".
(lead guitar
), Richard Wright
(rhythm guitar
), Nick Mason
(drums
), Clive Metcalfe
(bass guitar
), and Keith Noble & Juliette Gale (vocals
), performed rhythm & blues under various names ("Sigma 6", "The Meggadeaths", and the Abdabs variations above) during their run with manager Ken Chapman, who also wrote some early material for the band.
Metcalfe, Noble and Gale left the band (though Gale would go on to marry Richard Wright
in 1969). By the time they left, the line-up included Syd Barrett
(rhythm guitar
and vocals
) and Bob Klose (lead guitar
and vocals
), with Roger Waters
on bass and vocals and Richard Wright on organ
and vocals. This new group used various names, often fluctuating between "Tea Set" and "The Pink Floyd
Sound" (named after two old Carolina bluesmen, Pink Anderson
and Floyd Council
). The word "Sound" was dropped from the band's name, with the definite article disappearing a few years later.
Klose was more focused on his studies than on the band and was more interested in jazz
and blues
than Barrett's psychedelia and pop
, so he left the band sometime around July 1965. Barrett assumed lead guitar
, lead vocals, and the bulk of the songwriting, while Klose went on to become a photographer and print maker.
that his guitar can be heard on the unreleased early acetate single "Lucy Leave/"I'm a King Bee
". In the documentary he also talked about Syd Barrett: "If you had said to a young Syd, ‘Look, this is your bargain in life, you know, you’re going to do this fantastic stuff, but it won’t be forever, it’ll be this short period. There’s the dotted line, are you going to sign for this?’ I suspect, maybe, a lot of people would sign for that, for making their mark."
In 2006 Klose appeared as a guest performer on David Gilmour
's album On an Island
(as mentioned in the credits in the album sleeve).
In 2007 he took part in BBC Radio 2's program “Days in the Life”, which was dedicated to Pink Floyd. In the first part of this show he spoke about early days with Barrett.
He also played on Blue River, a 2008 album by Smith & Mudd, a collaboration between Claremont 56 label owner Paul "Mudd" Murphy and Multi-Instrumentalist / Producer Benjamin James Smith.
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
, playing lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, but left the band before they recorded their first released single, "Arnold Layne
Arnold Layne
David Gilmour, during his solo tour promoting On an Island, unexpectedly added the song to the setlist near the end of the American tour on the 17 April 2006 show at the Oakland Paramount Theatre...
".
Abdabs
"The Abdabs" (also known as "The Screaming Abdabs"), with Roger WatersRoger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
(lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
), Richard Wright
Richard Wright (musician)
Richard William Wright was an English pianist, keyboardist and songwriter, best known for his career with Pink Floyd. Wright's richly textured keyboard layers were a vital ingredient and a distinctive characteristic of Pink Floyd's sound...
(rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
), Nick Mason
Nick Mason
Nicholas Berkeley "Nick" Mason is an English drummer and songwriter, best known for his work with Pink Floyd. He was the only constant member of the band since its formation in 1965...
(drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
), Clive Metcalfe
Clive Metcalfe
Clive Metcalfe is a British musician and artist. A student at Southampton Art College and Chelsea School of Art in the early 1960s, Metcalfe played rhythm, and occasionally bass guitar as a member of the 1965 band The Abdabs with Roger Waters , Richard Wright , Nick Mason , , and...
(bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
), and Keith Noble & Juliette Gale (vocals
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
), performed rhythm & blues under various names ("Sigma 6", "The Meggadeaths", and the Abdabs variations above) during their run with manager Ken Chapman, who also wrote some early material for the band.
Metcalfe, Noble and Gale left the band (though Gale would go on to marry Richard Wright
Richard Wright (musician)
Richard William Wright was an English pianist, keyboardist and songwriter, best known for his career with Pink Floyd. Wright's richly textured keyboard layers were a vital ingredient and a distinctive characteristic of Pink Floyd's sound...
in 1969). By the time they left, the line-up included Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...
(rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
and vocals
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
) and Bob Klose (lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
and vocals
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
), with Roger Waters
Roger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
on bass and vocals and Richard Wright on organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
and vocals. This new group used various names, often fluctuating between "Tea Set" and "The Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
Sound" (named after two old Carolina bluesmen, Pink Anderson
Pink Anderson
"Pink" Anderson was a blues singer and guitarist, born in Laurens, South Carolina.-Life and career:After being raised in Greenville and Spartanburg, South Carolina, he joined Dr...
and Floyd Council
Floyd Council
Floyd Council was an American blues guitarist and singer. He became a well-known practitioner of the Piedmont blues sound from that area, popular throughout the southeastern region of the US in the 1930s....
). The word "Sound" was dropped from the band's name, with the definite article disappearing a few years later.
Klose was more focused on his studies than on the band and was more interested in jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
than Barrett's psychedelia and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, so he left the band sometime around July 1965. Barrett assumed lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, lead vocals, and the bulk of the songwriting, while Klose went on to become a photographer and print maker.
Recent years
Klose confirmed in John Edginton's BBC documentary The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett StoryThe Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story
The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story is a documentary released on DVD on 24 March 2003, produced by Otmoor Productions in 2001 as part of the BBC's Omnibus series and originally called Syd Barrett: Crazy Diamond...
that his guitar can be heard on the unreleased early acetate single "Lucy Leave/"I'm a King Bee
I'm a King Bee
"I'm a King Bee" is a swamp blues song that has been performed and recorded by numerous blues and other artists. In 2008, Slim Harpo's "I'm a King Bee" received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award, which "honor[s] recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance".-Original song:Written and...
". In the documentary he also talked about Syd Barrett: "If you had said to a young Syd, ‘Look, this is your bargain in life, you know, you’re going to do this fantastic stuff, but it won’t be forever, it’ll be this short period. There’s the dotted line, are you going to sign for this?’ I suspect, maybe, a lot of people would sign for that, for making their mark."
In 2006 Klose appeared as a guest performer on David Gilmour
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
's album On an Island
On an Island
On an Island is the third solo album by David Gilmour, best known as vocalist and lead guitarist for Pink Floyd. It was released in the UK on 6 March 2006, Gilmour's 60th birthday, and in the United States the following day. It was Gilmour's first new solo album in 22 years...
(as mentioned in the credits in the album sleeve).
In 2007 he took part in BBC Radio 2's program “Days in the Life”, which was dedicated to Pink Floyd. In the first part of this show he spoke about early days with Barrett.
He also played on Blue River, a 2008 album by Smith & Mudd, a collaboration between Claremont 56 label owner Paul "Mudd" Murphy and Multi-Instrumentalist / Producer Benjamin James Smith.