Starting out from the streets of Liverpool (the
birthplace of some of England’s finest bands, most notably of course
“The Beatles”) talented guitarist/songwriter Mick Devonport sought
out the best musicians from the city to form a scouse super group to
conquer the world, following in the footsteps of previous Liverpool
bands.
First recruit was powerhouse drummer John Mylett.
John had his own tight distinctive style of drumming, powering the band
along with flexibility using every single space of skin on his mass
array of drums whilst adding thunder to the proceedings with his bass
drum footwork. The Mylett drum solo mid-set was always a wonder to
behold.
There weren’t many bass players who would not be
swamped playing alongside this God of Thunder, but one was found in Mr.
Keith Mullholand, who always played his bass as if he was a lead
guitarist. He used to wear Doc-Marten boots on stage, as he stomped
around so hard on the stage often breaking the wooden planking as his
feet added another dimension to the rhythm section.
Of course there, leading this trio was the mercurial
Mick Devonport, a Jeff Beck admirer, who had practiced so long and hard
that he was a match for his mentor, certainly more consistent, with
great song writing skills. A flamboyant showman with a wonderful sense
of humour.
But a front man still had to be found. Whilst the
three of them were sitting in the local pub watching the telly, the
Cadbury’s crunchie bar advert came on with a raunchy soundtrack and a
terrific vocal over dub. “If only we could find him,” they thought.
A quick phone call later and they found out that the young lad was a
local Liverpool boy playing in the Cavern the very next day in his own
band. That night lead singer David Lloyd was persuaded to break up his
band and front this new quartet, aptly christened “Nutz”.
A residency was set up at the Cavern for the night
time, and during the day they recorded their debut album. It was
released in 1974 and, quite frankly, did not live up to expectations.
Apart from two songs “Joke” and “Round & Round” it was not
truly representative of their stage show. A re-think was in order.
Back to the studios, and this time they put the edge
into the songs. Right from the opening guitar break of 1975’s “Nutz
Too” opener “Natured Intended” you know how hard rock is supposed
to be played. Seven hard rockin Mick Devonport rockers, including the
head bangin “Sinner”, a cover of Pete Pizer’s “Changes Coming”
and three David Lloyd Ballads, including the beautiful “The Love That
You Lost”, with John “Rabbit” Bundrick (later of Free & The
Who) on piano.
“Nutz Too” got to the outer regions of the
British Charts. Then a couple of bad decisions put a spanner in the
works. A tour of America was a disaster as the albums weren’t even out
in the States due to complications with unions over printing rights.
This tour losing them impetuous in the U.K., and sinking the band
heavily into debt. But record company A & M Records stepped in and
put them onto the Black Sabbath European tour of 1976, which gave the
band excellent exposure, but was not a happy tour as by now Black
Sabbath had turned into warring factions and were about too implode.
Again salvation seemed to be on hand as Nutz were
added to the mid-afternoon time slot on Saturday’s Reading Festival,
at the time the major rock event of the year. They went on for their
forty five minutes set at the peak of their powers. When they came off,
the crowd of 95,000 were baying for more. However, the contract said
forty five minutes, no more, or they would be fined. Management for A
& M records were there and told the boys not to go for an encore. In
those circumstances who do you listen too? A suit from the record
company or 95,000 screaming fans? They went back on playing 2 encores
before the plug was pulled on them.
A & M Records were furious. From that moment on
tensions between record company and the band where at breaking point.
The band went back into the studio to record a new album, recruiting
Kenny Newton on keyboards to fill out the sound. “Hard Nutz” was
released in 1977 with very little publicity and the band was sent out on
the road with Welsh trio “Budgie”, label mates on A & M, but
combining Budgies decline, Nutz blowing the headlines off stage every
night, and the advent of the dreaded Punk Rock, it stood no chance.
In 1978 A & M completed their recording contract with Nutz by
releasing “Nutz Live Cutz”, an amazing album of pure raw hard rock
‘n’ roll including a great version of the Nutz anthem “Wall
Banger” clocking in at 12 minutes, plus tracks spanning all three
albums. But with no publicity, A & M holding a contract that would
run another 2 years, no financial support to tour, the album, which
should have been huge, flopped. The moral of the story: don’t upset
the suits. Nutz had to sit out their contract, but this was not the end.
The
old adage goes, that to make a small fortune in Thailand, it is best to
start with a large one! With that in mind, it is not difficult to be
interested in Successful Living in Thailand (ISBN 974-8303-84-5, Asia
Books, published 1996 and reprinted 2004).
Mott’s CD review: From “Nutz” To “Rage”
By
Mott the Dog