Back in the early 2000s, I ‘curated’ a number of Atomic Rooster (1969-73) expanded album reissues, gathering stray tracks and writing substantial CD booklets – because I was fed up with no-one else researching their tale. Rooster had more than its fair share of members going off the rails and/or taking their own lives. Vincent Crane, the band’s visionary, left the planet in 1988.
It was thus amazing when, a couple of years back, with the blessing of Crane’s widow, Atomic Rooster was reborn, featuring vocalist Peter French (whom I’d interviewed for one of those reissues) and guitarist Steve Bolton.
French sang on my favourite Rooster album ‘In Hearing Of…’ (1971) and remains in my view one of the great (and least-known) rock vocalists. Steve Bolton joined just after the record was made – when Crane sacked co-writer/guitarist John Cann – and the Crane/French/Bolton unit (with drummer Ric Parnell, later noted as ‘the exploding drummer’ in ‘Spinal Tap’) toured for roughly six months, mostly in Europe and the US. Their sole UK show, as far as I recall, was supporting the Who at the Oval cricket ground, London, in Sept 1971. Curiously, Bolton later joined the Who for the first » Continue Reading.