Starting out from the streets
of Liverpool (the birth place 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 songwriting 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 crunchy 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 were 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. So Nutz had to
sit out their contract, but this was not
the end......
....to be continued next
week
Pawed by Mott The Dog
Remastered by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
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