Quatermass was formed in London, England in 1969. If you’ve never heard of that band that’s understandable, as they weren’t around for very long and have very much remained a cult band. For a couple of years they made an interesting mix of early progressive rock, psychedelia, and the traditional brand of hard rock that rose to popularity in the early 1970s.
The band consisted of John Gustafson (bass/vocals – later known from Roxy Music and Ian Gillan Band), Pete Robinson (keyboards/piano – later with Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Bryan Ferry and Eric Clapton), and Mick Underwood (drums).
Underwood in particular has played with an incredible amount of well-known musicians. He started out in The Outlaws with guitar player Ritchie Blackmore (later Deep Purple), moved on to Episode Six containing Ian Gillan and Roger Glover (both later Deep Purple). He played alongside Peter Frampton in The Herd and toured with Johnny Cash. Foolishly, he later turned down an early offer from manager Peter Grant to join “a new band based around Jimmy Page from the New Yardbirds.” As we know, John Bonham would become Led Zeppelin’s drummer instead.
After Quatermass, he formed the short-lived band Peace with Paul Rodgers, played in Graham Bonnet’s band, and later played with Ian Gillan’s solo band until Gillan joined Black Sabbath in 1983. He’s always been working and there are just too many projects to mention!
One interesting aspect of this band was their decision to not have a guitar player in their line-up. This certainly gave them a unique sound, but at the same time, it no doubt hurt them. The late 60s/early 70s was the start of the era of the guitar hero, with Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Iommi and Jimmy Page leading the charge.
Still, nobody could say that Quatermass weren’t accomplished musicians. After several showcase gigs they were signed by George Martin’s Air Studios company, and they recorded their self-titled debut album at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios in March and April 1970. Quatermass was released on EMI’s progressive rock label Harvest Records in May the same year.
Everything seemed to go the band’s way, but the band struggled to get attention and never ‘made it.’ Competition was certainly stiff, as their album was released at a time when several legendary bands launched classic albums. Perhaps the Quatermass album wasn’t equipped to compete with the Deep Purples, Led Zeppelins and Black Sabbaths of the world – in the same month as The Beatles released their final album Let It Be no less.
Their mix of keyboards/bass-based progressive psychedelia was certainly at odds with what was going on at the time, and they were no doubt also hurt by the fact that they never had a bona fide rock star frontman/personality to grab people’s attention or get the headlines in the press. As accomplished as they were as musicians, they were quiet chaps who were used to having frontmen or star players in just about every other band they would be in who took care of that publicity stuff.
The album seemed to be well received by those who heard it, and they played good shows, but at the end of the day the band never became more than a footnote in rock history. Their only active years were between 1969-1971, as they disbanded after an American tour plagued with issues.
All band members were quick to move on. Underwood would start working with Paul Rodgers and Ian Gillan. Gustafson formed the band Hard Stuff. Robinson became a very successful session musician and soundtrack composer.
The one album released by the classic line-up has long been an underground favourite amongst fans of music from this period, in particular after a well-known cover version of one of the tracks appeared in 1975.
Their most well-known song is without question Black Sheep of the Family – thanks to Ritchie Blackmore! The song has ended up being important in rock history as it actually was the catalyst for Blackmore leaving Deep Purple in 1975. Blackmore had become such a big fan of the song that he insisted Deep Purple should record it. When the rest of the band declined, Blackmore later borrowed musicians from the band Elf (including an up-and-coming Ronnie James Dio on vocals) to record the song as a solo single. As we now know, this went so well that they kept recording material to make up a full album. That was the start of Blackmore’s new band Rainbow, and the rest is history. Their version of the song can be found on their debut album Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow from 1975.
Other Quatermass tunes worth a listen includes Make Up Your Mind. The vocals are very melodic and the band hits a really cool groove to go along with them, which is exactly the kind of stuff that could have given them at least a minor hit or become a song that people would remember/latch on to. Except… it is over eight minutes long.
One Blind Mice is one of their single-only tracks, which can be seen performed in this less-than-ideal quality clip from German TV in 1971. There are unfortunately not too many good quality live clips circulating with Quatermass, but even those in lesser quality will reveal the intensity in their performance.
I leave you with Up On the Ground, which shows that Quatermass managed to whirl up a mighty rock groove when they wanted to – even without the aid of a guitar.
Along with a few singles containing non-album tracks, that album would be their entire recorded work – at least until a follow-up of sorts (named Quatermass II) appeared with the new album Long Road in 1997!
Drummer Underwood is the only member from the early days, although Gustafson contributed two songs. Otherwise, Nick Simper (Deep Purple) joined on bass, Gary Davis and Bart Foley on guitars, and Don Airy on keyboards.
The album should not be seen as the second Quatermass album, but as a new album made in the spirit of the original band. Or is it? Some people were particularly appalled that guitar players were added to the line-up! The shock! The horror! I do enjoy it, but in any case, this album should be mentioned here if only to point out that this project is very much its own entity and has nothing to do with the original band and their releases.
The 1970 album has recently been reissued on CD in a great digipack with bonus tracks, which also includes a DVD with documentary material and video clips.
The Quatermass album will likely never become the centerpiece of anyone’s record collection, but if you’re a fan of rock music from the formative late 60s/early 70s, you may – like me – find it an interesting and worthwhile addition.
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