A SHORT HISTORY OF POWER TRIOS On this date in 1973 I auditioned for Hard Stuff, a power trio spin-off from Atomic Rooster (itself, a spin-off from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown). Following a split, guitarist John Du Cann and drummer Paul Hammond had initially sought to continue as Atomic Rooster until sued by Vincent Crane, Rooster’s founder. So they’d gone for Bullet until threatened with legal action by a Top Thirty US band with the same name and which subsequently formed part of KC and The Sunshine Band. They were also called Daemon and Hard Stuff. That’s four names in the space of 18 months. NOT a good tactic for holding the public’s attention. Had I taken the job I’d have been stepping into the sizeable shoes of Johnny Gustafson, whom I’d seen and been impressed with in 1963 when he was with The Big Three - forget The Beatles, The Big Three was probably Liverpool’s most punchy rock n roll band at the time. Audience also toured Switzerland with Quatermass in 1971 and, recalling Gustafson’s powerful vocals in that rather differently inclined power trio, Hard Stuff had clearly lost a key element. I’m afraid there wasn’t enough left to interest me, so I did my bit politely and without enthusiasm and walked away. As for Johnny, he moved on to Gillan and Roxy Music whilst simultaneously developing a busy session career – including a contribution to “King Brilliant”, my Audience colleague Howard Werths first solo album. There are a number of clips of Hard Stuff on Youtube but none, in all conscience, I’d care to recommend. So here, instead, live at The Cavern in 1963, is a 21 year old Johnny Gustafson with The Big Three - one of the first notable pre-Who power trios (Johnny Kidd’s Pirates being the other)……. https://youtube/watch?v=fRfQ-hm3APs
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 07:02:47 +0000
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