Quartz: Back in the Band

 

Are Quartz a NWOBHM band? Well, if Rage (formelly Nutz) are than Quartz are, too. As they note they were too old for NWOBHM and started playing waaay before musicians from Iron Maiden, Angel Witch, Gaskin (you name it) picked up an instrument. But by the late 70's and early 80's they definitely had turned into heavier music and contributed to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. This interview was done in 2021 by a good friend of mine for Russian printed magazine "Stay Heavy". Now, when Quartz are ready to release their new album "On the Edge of No Tomorrow", here is an appetizer for you! This is very first appearance of the interview in the Web and in English. Answers were supplied by Mick Hopkins (MH), Derek Arnold (DA) and Malcolm Cope (MC).

Let's get back straight to where it all started. How did you first get interested in listening and playing rock music and how did Mike, Derek and Mick end up in The Lemon Tree?

MH: Well obviously it was a great time back then with this new music called Rock ‘n’ Roll and icons like Buddy Holly and Elvis bursting onto the scene. Then came the Beatles and youngsters everywhere were picking up instruments and forming bands hoping to follow in their footsteps.

DA: I first heard Taffy (Mike Taylor) singing in a small social club in between acts and thought he’s got a great voice for a youngster. Mick (Mike Hopkins) was already a well-established professional musician who was well known on the local Birmingham scene playing in bands with Roy Wood (Gerry Levine and the Avengers), Bev Bevan (The Diplomats) and John Bonham (Nicky James Movement) to name but a few and he joined the band after Terry Meredith left. I formed The Lemon Tree in 1967 and we had two single releases in 1968 on Parlophone Records which were “Wiliam Chaulker’s Time Machine/I Can Touch A Rainbow” and “It’s So Nice To Come Home/Come On Girl”. The band appeared on Top of the Pops and performed “William Chaulker’s” which was penned by Ace Kefford and produced by Andy Fairweather Low and Trevor Burton. The second Lemon Tree line-up featured Mike Taylor (vocals), Mick Hopkins (guitar), Derek Arnold (bass), Gary Wortley (organ) and Keith Smart (drums). Keith left to play in The Uglys, Balls, Young Blood and then later Wizzard and Gary also left the fold so in came Malcolm and Bob Daffurn. Finally when Taffy left Derry Ryan joined us and the band transmogrified into Copperfield. There is an excellent website which charts the numerous Brum Beat bands that can be found at www.brumbeat.net if anyone is interested in that music and that scene back then.

It’s mind blowing to think that you’ve started playing together during the late ‘60s and still keep on rockin’ these days, more than 50 years after! Can you tell us more about Copperfield and the early days of your collaboration?

MC: Back then bands generally only lasted a few weeks or months at best as the music scene was so fluid and still developing. I remember everyone would meet up at “Alex’s Pie Stand” in the centre of Birmingham after they had played and travelled back from their gigs and it was where we would hang out and discuss instruments and the latest equipment. It was here that many of these new alliances were first made and ideas formed became reality. Copperfield released two singles during 1969 namely “I’ll Hold Out My Hand/Far Away Love” and “Any Old Time (You’re Lonely and Sad)/I’m No Good For Her”.

As I know, during the time between the break-up of Copperfield and the formation of Bandy Legs, you were involved in different musical projects in the Midlands scene, including working with Jimmy Helms, Way of Life and Idle Race. Could you tell us more about them?

The Lemon Tree

MH: Yes you are partly correct. I was in the Way of Life (1966) that featured John Bonham on drums and we had previously played together in The Nicky James Movement. After that I was in the Wages Of Sin (1967) which featured brothers Brian and Ed Pilling. We would go on to back the singer Cat Stevens for a short while under the name of Yellow Rainbow and were renamed Zeus by Cat Stevens. Then came my time in The Lemon Tree and Copperfield. In 1970 I joined the Idle Race along with Dave Walker as replacements for Jeff Lynne who had left the band to join The Move. Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood moved on to work on a project that would eventually evolve into the supergroup ELO. Following that I went to Canada to work and rejoined the Piling Brothers in a band known as Fludd. After about a year or so I decided to return to the UK and that’s when I formed Bandy Legs in 1973. It was actually Bandy Legs who provided the backing musicians for Jimmy Helms as we were both managed by Wilf Pine so it made good business sense at the time for both artistes.

There’s not much information about Bandy Legs aside from the fact that you’ve released 3 singles. Can you tell us more about those days?

DA: The band was formed in late1973 when Geoff Nicholls (ex-Bollweevils, World of Oz and Johnny Neal & The Starliners) joined us (i.e. Taffy, Malc, Mick and me). In fact Geoff’s first live gig performance with us was on New Year’s Eve 1973 if I remember correctly. The band released three singles over a two year period. Firstly “Ride Ride/Don’t Play Games” on WWA Records in 1974, followed by “Silver Screen Queen/Lonely Girl” on Pye Records in 1975 and then ”Bet You Can’t Dance/Circles” on Jet Records in 1976.

“Circles”, the b-side from your last single as Bandy Legs, was later re-recorded by Quartz. Have you reused any other songs from the Bandy Legs period later in your career?

MC: Yes there are a couple songs that we used in our live set and that have been recorded on the “Live Quartz” album that were originally Bandy Legs songs and they are “Belinda” and “Count Dracula”. Both have been much developed and are a lot heavier than the original versions though. We also did some cover versions of songs such as “Jailbait”, “Gonna Have A Good Time Tonight”, “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Nantucket Sleighride”.

I’ve read that you've changed your name to Quartz and wrote new songs that turned out to be your self-titled album right after you received the invitation to join them on their tour. Is that true? Which were the circumstances behind the writing process of the first albums?

MH: Yes, I believe you are referring to the Black Sabbath connection here aren’t you? We toured with Sabbath during 1975/76 on the British leg of their Sabotage Tour as Bandy Legs. Tony was already a good friend through mutual acquaintances and following the tour offered to produce our debut studio album. Watching Sabbath perform on stage night after night just further reinforced the musical direction that we were already travelling in. Ronnie Fowler at Jet Records suggested the name Quartz and we thought that it fitted perfectly for the band as it’s a hard rock. Our songs draw mostly from personal experiences, everyday life which reflected the world around with some departures to the realms of fantasy and delving into the occult on occasions.

During 1976—1977 you did tours with such rock legends as AC/DC and Black Sabbath. Could you tell us more about how you got this opportunity and share some memories from these tours?

DA: Obviously coming from Birmingham, being signed with Jet Records a major label at the time, plus having Tony Iommi as our producer this opened a few doors for us with regards to support slots on British and European tours. It also helped that we were all very well established musicians that could back this up with a killer live set. I have very fond memories of touring with AC/DC and in particular playing in Copenhagen with them. It was sad that Bon Scott passed away just a few years later … sadly taken far too soon.

Quartz's first album was one of the very few albums produced by Tony Iommi. How did you maintain friendship with him and what kind of directions he gave you when you were at the studio?

MC: Tony would help us immensely in the studio and also help us with arranging the songs but then would be away touring with Sabbath for a few months or have other commitments. On his return he would come back into the studio and listen to what he had done previously and try to pick things back up from there. This would mean that our debut album possibly sounds too polished and over engineered compared to the raw live energetic in your face experience at a Quartz gig. Tony was very knowledgeable in the studio often suggesting why don’t you try this or try that. He also would come out regularly to watch us perform live. Tony really went the extra mile for us and with us for which we were, and still are, very grateful and thankful for. He was extremely generous with all his input and the amount of time and effort he spent on us.

There's a lot of speculation about Brian May and Ozzy Osbourne's involvement, as well as Tony Iommi's adding some guitar harmonies, during the recording process for your self-titled album, and I've read a lot of different versions over the years. Can you clarify what involvement they actually had and on which songs?

MH: This has already been covered in many previous interviews we have given over the years. OK here goes again… Brian May offered to do a Queen-esque type remix of “Circles” for us but upon completion Brian admitted that he thought the original version still sounded better. Ozzy did sing backing vocals on this track but Tony had his voice so low down in the final mix you can’t really tell or hear him singing. Tony and I played guitar harmonies together on “Mainline Riders” and Tony also played the flute on “Sugar Rain” but due to record contracts, in force back then, we were not allowed to say this at the time and for many years afterwards.

Some of your earlier songs including “Mainline Riders” and “Charlie Snow” are centered around some extreme topics. Were they based on any kind of direct or indirect experiences or you rather felt that these lyrics will fit heavier, darker songs?

MC: Obviously some of the tracks are based on our own real life experiences and what was happening around us at that time. Drugs and alcohol were quite prevalent and readily available back then but I’m not going to really confirm or deny anything here. Although Geoff had no experience he foolishly dabbled in black magic trying to find the answers (with no success) but that enabled him to write the lyrics to the songs “Devil’s Brew”, “Satan’s Serenade” and later “Scream at the Devil”.

There was an interval of three years between your first two albums, which was a very big gap back in the 70’s and the 80’s. Why did it take so much time and what were your activities during 1978—1979?

MH: Well a lot was happening back then especially musically for sure. Punk Rock had come and gone in a heartbeat almost. The big record companies were dropping most of their bands from their rosters including many well established bands for financial reasons and to sign new bands. Geoff leaving in the summer of 1979 set us back a bit and delayed what we had planned to do.

Were you upset, when Geoff left Quartz?

DA: No not really, especially as initially, it was only supposed to be for a few weeks. In fact we encouraged him to go for it as it was an amazing opportunity for him. We kept in touch regularly and decided to forge on as a four piece outfit which gave us a much tighter rawer sound. Through these tough times we gigged constantly whereas many of our cohorts fell by the wayside and disbanded.

You released “Live Quartz” in 1980. Releasing a live album after only one studio LP is quite uncommon, how did you end up with that decision?

MC: We formed a business partnership with Danny Reddington from Reddingtons’ Rare Records who was a good friend of ours and was well into the band at the time. The idea behind the partnership was to self-promote the band through gigs and any profits made could be reinvested in the band to arrange further gigs. Eventually this would lead us to be in a position to self-finance the release of vinyl products that could be sold in Danny’s shop. This model worked well and we released “Nantucket Sleighride/Wildfire” as a single closely followed by the “Live Quartz” LP which was recorded at Digbeth Civic Hall in Birmingham on 1st December 1979. Next to follow closely on was the 12 inch EP of “Satan’s Serenade/Bloody Fool/Roll Over Beethoven Live extended version”. These releases caused somewhat of a splash at the time and the Live album and the 12 inch EP were both picked up on licence by Logo Records (who were a subsidiary company of RCA Records).

“Stand Up And Fight” turned out even much heavier than the self-titled album. What influenced the decision to crank up the hardness even further?

MH: As a four piece we naturally developed a rawer, heavier sound. After Geoff left myself and Derek took on more of the songwriting responsibilities. We were under a very tight time constraint to deliver an album after being signed to MCA in the summer of 1980. We had a few songs in the can already but I can vividly remember Dek and I in our hotel room whilst on tour with Rush writing and composing songs to try complete the album and to meet the agreed deadlines. We also needed to get into the studio to record the songs for the album with producer Derek Lawrence in between the tour slots.

By 1979—1980 New Wave Of British Heavy Metal exploded and the UK was all Heavy Metal again after a few years of punk domination. Did it help you to get more recognition?

MC: It’s not really something we, or many bands, were actually aware of at the time to be honest. I am told that because our debut album was released in 1977 we are “too old” to be included as a NWOBHM band. We just went out, picked up our instruments and played. We had some success on a small independent label that brought us back to the attention of the mainstream labels again. Some people say we were forerunners of the NWOBHM movement but does it really matter or is there a need to pigeon hole the band or other bands?

You did 2 tours in 1980 opening for Rush and Gillan. Can you share some of your experiences from these tours playing in city halls throughout the UK?

DA: It was great to play with bands of this calibre and pedigree and to play in some of the bigger venues around the country in front of lots of fans. Most of the fans were there to see the headline act but I’m sure we converted some of them into Quartz fans with our live performances on tour. We also appeared at the Reading Festival which was our third appearance (1976, 1977 and 1980) and closed out the year supporting UFO on their European Tour. Not too bad, Eh???

Mike and Derek left soon after the release of “Stand Up and Fight”. Did they leave because of the ill-fated partnership with MCA or for other reasons?

MH: Yes it was a combination of this and several other factors I think. Taffy wanted to do his Big Roll Band thing as a project he had on the back burner for sometime now (rock ‘n’ roll music with a horns/brass section) and Dek had a young family which he had to provide for so needed to be in regular paid work at this stage of his life.

The 2015 “Too Hot to Handle” compilation includes a lot of recordings made with David Garner, who replaced Mike in 1981. Were these recordings originally supposed to be released as an album, or were you rather at the demo stage at that point?

MC: These tracks were actually destined for (and were mostly used in slightly different forms on) the “Against All Odds” LP but then David left prior to the signing of the deal with Heavy Metal Records. Fortunately though we found Geoff Bate quite quickly who came on board and was a good fit for us both vocal wise and musically songwriting wise. It was easy to work with him and he fulfilled what we needed as a band in both the short term and the long term. We are still in touch with him today in fact and he is collaborating with us on our new studio album at the moment.

I've read one interview with Don Airey, in which he stated that he was involved with Quartz at some point. I never saw any confirmations on it, so I highly doubt it. Can you confirm or refute it?

DA: Don Airey played keyboards on “Devil’s Brew” and not a lot of people know that.

“Against All Odds” was finally released in 1983 with Geoff Bate on vocals. In one interview Malcolm said that you wanted this record to sound more commercial, because you were losing money at that point and wanted to boost sales. Did you attempt to write more commercial songs or rather merely polished the songs that you’ve already had?

MC: It was really a combination of things. With the new band members i.e. David Garner, Steve McLoughlin and then Geoff Bate the sound of the band was different and each brought their own merits to the mix. America was a developing market and we wanted to try and break the band over there if we could. The “Against All Odds” album is not as heavy/hard rock based as “Stand Up and Fight” was with possibly a AOR feel to it but there are still some killer tracks on there that even today are fans favourites.

Have you played any shows in support of “Against All Odds” or did you do any attempts to write new music before calling it a day?

MH: Yes we played a handful of shows with both David Garner and then Geoff Bate mainly in smaller venues and mostly local gigs. The set also would include tracks from the first album and Stand Up & Fight that would lend themselves to or be suited for playing live.by a four piece band.

While some sources claim that you’ve disbanded because of growing musical differences between the band members, the others say that it happened because of the commercial failure of “Against All Odds”. What was the real reason for the disbandment?

MC: I personally had become disillusioned with the music scene at that time and needed a break from the struggle to reassess things both musically and personally. Obviously with the numerous line-up changes in a relatively short period of time I think that things had possibly run their course and it was the right time to bow out. We did however all keep in regular touch and kept our hand in musically with small side projects on the go.

There was a 28-year gap between Quartz’s breakup and reunion. Were you involved in any musical project during those years, together or separately?

MC: Yes as briefly mentioned above Dek and Bob Daffurn (ex-Copperfield) were writing new songs and I would add drums and Mick would add guitars as required. Taffy had his Big Roll Band for a while then he ran pubs that would have live bands on. Geoff was obviously in and out of Sabbath as either a full member or part member which lasted for nearly twenty four years. Geoff Bate and Steve McLoughlin carried on separately in different bands and Dave Garner was off doing something too,

Some of the Quartz’s albums were reissued in the 90s and the 00s, and, as I’ve read, you received no money from these reissues. Did you try to take any legal actions and do you know the person or the party behind this scam?

DA: Sadly we didn’t find out about this until well after the fact. It probably would have cost us more money to pursue than we could have recouped. Anyway isn’t copying said to be the sincerest form of flattery? We were never destined or going to be millionaires in this business anyway.

Your reunion was a big event for all fans of classic metal over the world. How have you ended up reuniting and who came up with the initial idea?

MH: We attended a charity benefit concert in honour of a friend of ours who had passed away. Gary Chapman from Cryer who was performing on the stage said “Come on, lads, if we can do this, surely you can!?” and that sort of sowed the seed of an idea. We rehearsed for a while and then did a one off charity gig performance the following year at The Asylum in Birmingham (16.12.2011) with Cryer. Our line-up boasted four of the five original founder members and David Garner took over lead vocals (from Taffy Taylor just as he had done back in 1981). The show was such a stonking success and we were so well received that we felt that the time was now right and we decided to reform fully in 2012 for one last hurrah.

Mike Taylor was the only musician from the original line-up, who didn't participate in your reunion. Were there any attempts to bring him back to the band?

DA: Yes we did contact Taffy and initially he was up for it. However as time progressed, with him now residing in Weymouth, the distances involved made rehearsals just too impractical. He did though give us his full blessing to contact David Garner which we did. Shortly afterwards Taffy sadly started to suffer with ill health issues which would have curtailed his involvement anyway.

You’ve played many festivals since the reunion happened, what were your biggest impressions from these fests?

MH: The festivals are so well organised and run and everyone makes you so welcome it’s a pleasure to be asked and to be involved at this stage of our lives and careers.

MC: It’s a bonus for us really and who would have thought we would be going to play gigs and festivals in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden at our age.

DA: The crowds down the front are all going wild and are mostly young guys and girls who know all the words to our songs. It makes you feel yes it was all worth it and you feel proud and honoured to be a part of it again however small.

“Fear No Evil” was your first album in 33 years. How natural did it feel, doing songwriting and recording in the studio together again after all these years?

MH: It felt like we had never been away really and it felt good and it felt right .. like unfinished business to me. I loved working with Geoff again and he is/was a prolific talented songwriter and that’s why Tony wanted him on board with Sabbath. The rest of the band contributed ideas and things came very quickly. It was just a matter of getting to grips with the new technology and finding the funds to progress the project that held us back slightly initially.

Mike Taylor and Geoff Nicholls, unfortunately, left us a few years ago. While we remember them for their music, we do not know much about them as people. Can you share some memories or stories that will show us their personal sides?

MC: Both were very big characters in their own rights but would afford you your own space in the band. Taffy was very funny and was a terrific front man for the band. He knew how to work the crowd and whip them up into a frenzy at our live gigs.

DA: I miss them both dearly it was like losing a couple of limbs to me with them passing so near to each other in time and passing so quickly once they fell ill …. shocking really.

MH: I’d known them both for the best part of fifty years. Geoff was well like a brother to me and it was very painful to see how he suffered especially towards the end. He had a wicked dry sense of humour and I still chuckle at some of the things he said to me.

“Fear No Evil” was a great comeback album, which was highly received by the fans. Are you planning to make a follow up?

MH: Yes we have been working on the follow up album for a while now. It is near completion and just needs some tweaking and remixing plus we have to find someone who would be interested and willing to put it out to general release. The album is a tribute to Geoff Nicholl’s memory and life and will feature him on a few tracks singing lead vocals, playing guitar and playing keyboards.

And for the last question, do you have any words for your fans?

DA: It’ been a pleasure to chat with you and to reminisce and put the record straight.

MH: Thank you for the interest in and support of the band. It’s really humbling to know that we have fans both old and new all around the world. Hope to get to meet you in person once things get back to normal and gigging and festivals resume… Until then Stay Safe and Stay Well.

Visit Quartz on Facebook. 

Interview: Alexander Zhoglichev