Hard Stuff were an English

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

group which included

John Du Cann John William Cann (2 June 1946 – 21 September 2011), later known by his stage name John Du Cann, was an English guitarist primarily known through his work in the 1970s band Atomic Rooster. Life and career His early bands included the Wilt ...

and Paul Hammond, formerly of

Atomic Rooster Atomic Rooster are a British rock band originally formed by members of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, organist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer. Throughout their history, keyboardist Vincent Crane was the only constant member and wrote ...

. Also in the line-up were vocalist Harry 'Al' Shaw, formerly of Curiosity Shoppe and latterly Export, and John Gustafson, formerly of

Quatermass Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the Brit ...

. Du Cann and Hammond had left Atomic Rooster due to disagreements with

Vincent Crane Vincent Rodney Cheesman (21 May 194314 February 1989), known professionally as Vincent Crane, was an English keyboardist, best known as the organist for the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster. Crane co-wrote "Fire", the 1968 hit sing ...

over the increasingly bluesy, soulful direction in which he wanted to take that band. Consequently, compared with Atomic Rooster's more progressive leanings, Hard Stuff were based more heavily on aggressive guitar. Originally, Du Cann, Hammond and Shaw had formed a band provisionally entitled Daemon, with the intention of eventually touring and recording under the name Atomic Rooster. Gustafson was invited to join them on that basis, but after finding out that Crane retained the rights to the Atomic Rooster name, the quartet decided to continue anyway, but under the name Bullet instead. After recording about half an album's worth of material together, Shaw was dismissed from the lineup and was not replaced with another frontman, his tracks being re-recorded and vocals for remaining tracks being handled by Du Cann and Gustafson, both of whom had served as lead vocalists in their prior bands. Prior to the release of their debut album, they were prompted to change their name yet again, this time to Hard Stuff, due to a legal threat from a US band also called

Bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. Bullets are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax. Bullets are made in various shapes and co ...

. Hard Stuff toured across Europe, particularly in Germany and Italy, often as support to Deep Purple and Uriah Heep. Their career was curtailed by a car crash in which Du Cann and Hammond were badly injured. Although the release of a second album went ahead, the band were soon to fold. Harry 'Al' Shaw eventually resurfaced in the early 1980s with Liverpool-based

NWOBHM The new wave of British heavy metal (commonly abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that started in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Journalist Geoff Barton coined the term i ...

band Export.

Bullet/Hard Stuff discography (all on Purple Records)

*"Hobo" / "Sinister Minister" (as Bullet, 1971) *"Jay Time" / "The Orchestrator" (1972) *''

Bulletproof Bulletproofing is the process of making an object capable of stopping a bullet or similar high velocity projectiles (e.g. shrapnel). The term bullet resistance is often preferred because few, if any, practical materials provide complete protectio ...

'' (1972) *"Inside Your Life" / "(It's) How You Do It" (1972) *'' Bolex Dementia'' (1973) ;Archival releases *Bullet: ''The Entrance to Hell'' (

Angel Air Angel Airlines, trading as Angel Air, was an airline based in Bangkok, Thailand, which was operational between 1998 and 2003. Destinations Over the years, Angel Airlines flew to the following destinations: Thailand * Bangkok — Don Mueang In ...

) (these recordings were previously unofficially released under the invented band name ''Daemon'') These recordings feature Harry Shaw on lead vocals, who left Bullet before they renamed to Hard Stuff.

References

Purple Records 1971-1978, Neil Priddey

External links

*
John Gustafson interview

Review: ''The Entrance to Hell''
{{Authority control English rock music groups English hard rock musical groups Musical groups established in 1971