Quartz (metal band)
Encyclopedia
History
Quartz dates back to as early as 1974 when they were known as Bandy Legs. They signed to Jet Records in 1976 and supported Black SabbathBlack Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
and AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
. The band changed their name to Quartz for their 1977 debut album, Quartz. The album was produced by Tony Iommi
Tony Iommi
Anthony Frank "Tony" Iommi is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and its sole continual member through multiple personnel changes.Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in...
and Quartz toured with Black Sabbath to support this release. Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
guitarist Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
handled guitar on "Circles," which also features Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
on backing vocals. This track did not appear on the album but would turn up as the b-side to the "Stoking the Fires of Hell" single.
Quartz toured heavily during this time, playing the Reading Festival three times (1976, 1977 and 1980) and touring in support of some of the larger Hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
bands of the time (Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
, Saxon
Saxon (band)
Saxon are an English heavy metal band, formed in 1976 in Barnsley, Yorkshire. As front-runners of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, they had 8 UK Top 40 albums in the 1980s including 4 UK Top 10 albums. Saxon also had numerous singles in the Top 20 singles chart...
, UFO
UFO (band)
UFO are an English heavy metal and hard rock band, who were formed in 1969. UFO became a transitional group between early hard rock and heavy metal and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal...
and Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
).
Quartz released their second studio album, Stand Up and Fight, in 1980 and their third, Against All Odds, in 1983 before calling it quits. In 1979 Geoff Nicholls
Geoff Nicholls
Geoff Nicholls is a musician and keyboardist, who is best known as the longtime sideman for the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. Nicholls also played in the NWOBHM band Quartz before joining Black Sabbath...
left to join Black Sabbath. He contributed keyboards and songwriting from 1980s Heaven and Hell
Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath album)
Heaven and Hell is the ninth studio album by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in April 1980. This is their first album featuring Ronnie James Dio, and first with producer Martin Birch.-Album information:...
to 2004.
In 2004, doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
band, Orodruin
Orodruin (band)
Orodruin is a Rochester, New York-based doom metal band who play old-school traditional doom. Some of the band's members have also played in the bands Crucifist , Nechrochasm, Cyrus, 137, and Night Conquers Day. Orodruin were a part of the early-2000s revival of Traditional Doom, playing alongside...
covered "Stand Up and Fight" on their album Claw Tower.
Prior to the founding of Quartz, Hopkins had played in Wages of Sin, a shortlived Birmingham band which toured as a backing band for Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
in 1970. After that band's dissolution, two of his bandmates, expatriate Canadians
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Ed and Brian Pilling, returned to Canada and formed the band Fludd
Fludd (band)
Fludd was a Canadian rock band in the 1970s, best known for their 1973 hit "Cousin Mary".The band had its roots in a band called The Pretty Ones, formed by Ed Pilling and Greg Godovitz. The band was briefly part of Toronto's Yorkville scene in the 1960s, but broke up before achieving much...
; Hopkins briefly joined that band in 1972 as a replacement for founding guitarist Mick Walsh, but left by the end of the year after they were dropped from their original record label.
Members
- Mike Taylor - vocals (1974–1982)
- Geoff Bate - vocals (1983)
- Mike Hopkins - guitar
- Geoff NichollsGeoff NichollsGeoff Nicholls is a musician and keyboardist, who is best known as the longtime sideman for the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. Nicholls also played in the NWOBHM band Quartz before joining Black Sabbath...
- guitar/keyboards - Derek Arnold - bass
- Malcolm Cope - drums
Studio albums
- Quartz (Jet RecordsJet RecordsJet Records was a small British record label set up by Don Arden with artists like Electric Light Orchestra , Roy Wood, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Riot and Magnum. The first release on the "Jet Records" label was "No Honestly", a UK top 10 for its singer and writer Lynsey De Paul in November 1974...
1977, rereleased in 1980 and renamed Deleted) - Stand Up and Fight (MCA RecordsMCA RecordsMCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
1980) - Against All Odds (Heavy Metal Records 1983)
Singles
- "Street Fighting Lady" / "Mainline Riders" (Jet RecordsJet RecordsJet Records was a small British record label set up by Don Arden with artists like Electric Light Orchestra , Roy Wood, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Riot and Magnum. The first release on the "Jet Records" label was "No Honestly", a UK top 10 for its singer and writer Lynsey De Paul in November 1974...
1977) - "Stoking Up the Fires of Hell" / "Circles" (MCA RecordsMCA RecordsMCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
1980) - "Satan's Serenade" / "Bloody Fool" / "Roll Over BeethovenRoll Over Beethoven"Roll Over Beethoven" is a 1956 hit single by Chuck Berry originally released on Chess Records, with "Drifting Heart" as the B-side. The lyrics of the song mention rock and roll and the desire for rhythm and blues to replace classical music...
" (live) (Logo RecordsLogo RecordsLogo Records was a British record company formed in the mid-1970s by British record executives Geoff Hannington and Olav Wyper. It was originally funded and part-owned by UK publishing company Marshall Cavendish. In 1977, the company purchased Transatlantic Records which was at that time owned...
1980) - "Nantucket Sleighride" / "Wildfire" (Reddingtons Rare Records 1980)
- "Stand Up and Fight" / "Charlie Snow" (MCA RecordsMCA RecordsMCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
1981) - "Tell Me Why" / "Streetwalker" (Heavy Metal Records 1983)
Live/Compilation
- Live Quartz (Reddingtons Rare Records 1980) - Recorded at Digbeth Civic HallDigbeth InstituteDigbeth Institute is a civic building in Digbeth, Birmingham, England.It is now operated as the hmv Institute, a 2,400 capacity music venue...
, Birmingham, England on the 1st December 1979 - Resurrection (Neat RecordsNeat RecordsNeat Records was a record label based near Newcastle, England. The label was established in 1979 by David Wood, who was the owner of Impulse Studios in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. The establishment of Neat coincided with the arrival at Impulse of Songwriter/Producer Steve Thompson who guided...
1996) - Satan's Serenade (Castle Records 2004)