Quartz

snakes&ladders

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QUARTZ came out of the British hard rock hotbed of Birmingham to join the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement in the late '70s. With a lineup that included John Bonham-associate Mike Hopkins and future Black Sabbath keyboardist Geoff Nichols, they were actually founded under the name Bandylegs but changed when Jet Records showed interest in the band. They signed a contract with the label and toured with both AC/DC and Sabbath before beginning work on their first album. The tour with Black Sabbath turned out to be quite fruitful, as they gained a tour manager (Albert Chapman) and a big fan in Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi. Iommi took over the production duties on their eponymous debut, drafting Queen's Brian May into the sessions to play some guitar. The album was important to the emerging scene, and they joined Diamondhead and Def Leppard in being one of the first bands to make heavy metal faster and less plodding. Quartz stayed relevant to the genre for their short time together, but by 1983 their irreconcilable differences split the band apart. Time has eroded how important the band was to the genre at the time, but fans of that period in heavy metal history know Quartz's place in the scheme of things.

quartz.jpg

By blackglove at 2009-12-20
 

LG

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I knew there were some more gems from that era, I have Diamondhead's best album and some other obscure bands, but I never heard of Quartz until now.

Thanks S&L.:grinthumb
 

LG

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^^I have the debut album S&L, now it's a matter of getting the time to play it...lol.
 

LOU/REALM

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I loved QUARTZ ! they were a bit unfashionable at the time....geuss they never had Def leppards looks and by the time they had the excellent " stand up and fight " album out the music press slated it. They didnt have much luck and seemed to change record labels who never did them any favours. Classic tracks " Street fighting lady" ,"Mainline rider" " back in the band"...and they even did a nifty version of Mountains "Nantucket sleighride "
 

LOU/REALM

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i found this classic...still sounding good after all these years:grinthumb

 

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LOU/REALM

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A Great band and one of my faves from the NWOBHM era. You-tube videos dont do them much favours as some of the sound quality on certain essential QUARTZ tracks are poor.[ GRRR :mad ]....nevertheless heres a few corkers....love them IOMMI style riffs !!! :cheers2:grinthumb

 

LOU/REALM

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......The rumours are true ! NWOBHM heroes QUARTZ have reformed !
Now with new vocalist David Garner, who does a fair job. QUARTZ are back !!

 

LOU/REALM

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Another heavy belter of a track from QUARTZ .Im quite excited by their comeback....hopefully they might get to the recording studio

Count Dracula

 

LOU/REALM

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I would love to see this old classic NWOBHM band added to the Hard Rock Hell Festival line up...heres an oldie from QUARTZ the cover of MOUNTAINs "Nantucket Sleighride" which I own on 7 inch single

 

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