Quartz are a British heavy metal band.

Origins

Quartz dates back to 1974 when they were known as Bandy Legs.
/ref> Prior to the founding of Quartz, Hopkins had played in Wages of Sin, a short-lived Birmingham band which toured as a backing band for

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later in ...

in 1970. After that band's dissolution, two of his bandmates, expatriate

Canadians Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Ed and Brian Pilling, returned to Canada and formed the band Fludd; Hopkins briefly joined that band in 1972 as a replacement for founding guitarist Mick Walsh, but left by the end of the year after they were dropped from their original record label.

Touring and recording

Bandy Legs signed to Jet Records in 1976, and supported

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

and

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

. The band changed their name to Quartz for their 1977 debut album, ''Quartz''. The album was produced by

Tony Iommi Anthony Frank Iommi () (born 19 February 1948) is a British musician. He co-founded the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader and primary composer and sole continuous member for nearly five decades. I ...

and Quartz toured with Black Sabbath to support this release.

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

guitarist

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...

offered to do his "Queen" style editing of the song "Circles," but after several attempts he admitted that he thought the original version was still better; which also featured

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

on backing vocals, but his contribution was cut from the final mix by Iommi. This track did not appear on the album, but was released as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to the "Stoking the Fires of Hell" single, and as a bonus track when the ''Stand Up & Fight'' album was later reissued on CD in 2004 by Majestic Rock. Quartz toured during this time, playing the

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

three times (1977, 1978 and 1980) and touring in support of some of the larger

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 ...

bands:

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

, Gillan and Rush. In 1979,

Geoff Nicholls Geoffrey James Nicholls (29 February 1944 – 28 January 2017) was a British guitarist and keyboardist, and longtime member of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath until 2004. Nicholls also played in the NWOBHM band Quartz before joining Black Sa ...

left to join Black Sabbath. He contributed keyboards and songwriting to that band from 1980's '' Heaven and Hell'' to 2004. Quartz released their second studio album, ''Stand Up and Fight'', in 1980 and their third, ''Against All Odds'', in 1983 before disbanding in 1984.

Post dissolution

In 2004,

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

band, Orodruin covered "Stand Up and Fight" on their album ''Claw Tower''. Quartz reformed in 2011 playing a reunion gig on 16 December 2011 at The Asylum in Birmingham, England. The line up consisted of Geoff Nicholls, Mike Hopkins, Derek Arnold, Malcolm Cope and former vocalist David Garner. The band's original lead singer, Mike "Taffy" Taylor, died on 27 September 2016. Geoff Nicholls died at the age of 68, from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

, on 28 January 2017.

Members

*Mike "Taffy" Taylor - vocals (1974–1982, died 2016) *Geoff Bate - vocals (1983-1984) *David Garner - vocals (1982-1983 and 2011–present) *Mick Hopkins - guitar (1974 to present) *

- guitar/keyboards (1974–1979 and 2011–2017, died 2017) *Derek Arnold - bass (1974-1982 and 2011 to present) *Malcolm Cope - drums (1974-1984 and 2011 to present) *Steve McLoughlin - bass (1982 to 1984)

Discography

Studio albums

*''Quartz'' (

Jet Records Jet Records was a British record label started by Don Arden in 1974, featuring musicians such as Lynsey de Paul, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Roy Wood, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Alan Price, Adrian Gurvitz, Riot and Magnum. History Th ...

1977, re-released in 1980 and renamed ''Deleted'') *''Stand Up and Fight'' (

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

, 1980) *''Against All Odds'' (Heavy Metal Records, 1983) *''Fear No Evil'' (High Roller Records, 2016) *''On the Edge of No Tomorow'' (HNE Recordings Ltd, 2022)

Singles

*"Street Fighting Lady" / "Mainline Riders" (

, 1977) *"Satan's Serenade" / "Bloody Fool" / "

Roll Over Beethoven "Roll Over Beethoven" is a 1956 hit song written by Chuck Berry, originally released on Chess Records single, with "Drifting Heart" as the B-side. The lyrics of the song mention rock and roll and the desire for rhythm and blues to replace clas ...

" (live) (

Logo Records Logo Records was a British record company formed in the mid-1970s by British record executives Geoff Hannington and Olav Wyper. It was originally funded and part-owned by UK publishing company Marshall Cavendish. In 1977, the company purchased ...

, 1980) *" Nantucket Sleighride" / "Wildfire" (Reddingtons Rare Records, 1980) *"Stand Up and Fight" / "Charlie Snow" (

, 1980) *"Stoking Up the Fires of Hell" / "Circles" (

. 1980) *"Tell Me Why" / "Streetwalker" (Heavy Metal Records, 1983)

Live and compilation albums

*''Live Quartz'' (Reddingtons Rare Records, 1980) - ''Recorded at Digbeth Civic Hall, Birmingham, England on 1 December 1979'' *''Resurrection'' (

Neat Records Neat Records was a British independent record label based near Newcastle, England. The label was established in 1979 by David Wood, who was the owner of Impulse Studios in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. A key figure in the establishment of t ...

, 1996) - ''live compilation, recorded 1976-1979'' *''Satan's Serenade'' (

Castle Records A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

, 2004) - ''live and studio tracks'' *''Live and Revisited'' (Self released, 2013) - ''live EP'' *''Too Hot to Handle'' (Skol Records, 2015) - ''Studio sessions 1981-1982''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quartz (metal band) English heavy metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups disestablished in 1983 Musical groups reestablished in 2011 Musical quintets Jet Records artists MCA Records artists New Wave of British Heavy Metal musical groups Musical groups from Birmingham, West Midlands