Quatermass were a British

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, active between 1969 and 1971. A related band, Quatermass II, was active in the mid-1990s.

Career

The trio consisted of bass player and

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

John Gustafson, keyboardist

J. Peter Robinson John Peter Robinson (born 16 September 1945) is an English composer, musician, and arranger known for his film and television scores. Early years and pop music career He studied piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music and enjoy ...

and Mick Underwood on

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

. Underwood had previously played with Ritchie Blackmore in the Outlaws, while Gustafson had been a member of Cass and the Casanovas, the Big Three, the Seniors, and

the Merseybeats The Merseybeats (also related vocal duo The Merseys) are an English beat band that emerged from the Liverpool Merseybeat scene in the early 1960s, performing at the Cavern Club along with the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and other simila ...

. Underwood later became drummer with

Episode Six Episode Six were an English rock band formed in Harrow, London in 1965. The band did not have commercial success in the UK, releasing nine singles that all failed to chart, but they did find minor success in Beirut at the time. Group members Ia ...

, and was joined by Gustafson after Roger Glover (and Ian Gillan) left to join

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

. The band took its name from Professor Bernard Quatermass, a fictional scientist who had been the hero of three

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

serials produced by

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

in the 1950s, and were signed to Harvest Records. The group formed as a

power trio A power trio is a rock and roll band format having a lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit (drums and cymbals), leaving out a second rhythm guitar or keyboard instrument that are often used in other rock music bands that are quartet ...

with

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

as the main instrument. Their first and only album sold itself through "...compactness, wealth of ideas, forceful lead vocals and complicated arrangements, enriched by pianist Robinson's tasteful use of classical strings which are on display along with spacious keyboard passages at their height in the mold of The Nice."Graf, Christian "Rock Musik Lexikon" (Taurus Press, Hamburg) One track, "Laughin' Tackle", includes 16 violins, 6 violas, 6 cellos, and 3 double bass, arranged by Robinson, and a drum solo by Underwood. Underwood remained in close contact with Blackmore, and visited Deep Purple in the studio while they were recording '' In Rock''. The group split in early 1971. Gustafson formed a new band,

Hard Stuff Hard Stuff were an English hard rock group which included John Du Cann and Paul Hammond, formerly of Atomic Rooster. Also in the line-up were vocalist Harry 'Al' Shaw, formerly of Curiosity Shoppe and latterly Export, and John Gustafson, fo ...

(Bullet) with ex-members 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 ...

. The band's song "Black Sheep of the Family", a cover of Chris Farlowe, was the first track to be recorded by Rainbow, having been rejected for the

album '' Stormbringer''. ;Quatermass II In 1994, Underwood, and founding Deep Purple member Nick Simper joined in a project titled Quatermass II. Gustafson contributed two songs on their album, ''Long Road'' (1997), which also involved Gary Davis and Bart Foley on guitars, with

Don Airey Donald Smith Airey (born 21 June 1948) is an English musician who has been the keyboardist in the rock band Deep Purple since 2002, after the retirement of Jon Lord. He has had a long and productive career, playing with such acts as Gary Moore ...

on keyboards.

Band members

Quatermass

* Mick Underwood – drums, percussion (1969–1971) * John Gustafson – bass, lead vocals (1969–1971) *

– keyboards (1969–1971)

Quatermass II

*Mick Underwood – drums, percussion (1994–1999) * Nick Simper – bass (1994–1999) *Peter Taylor – lead vocals (1994) * Bernie Tormé – guitars (1994) *

– keyboards (1994–1999) *Gary Davis – lead guitars (1994–1999) *Bart Foley – rhythm guitars, lead vocals (1994–1999)

Timeline

Discography

Albums

*''

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 ...

'' (1970) *''Quatermass II: Long Road'' (1997)

Singles

*"Black Sheep of the Family" / "Good Lord Knows" (1970) *"One Blind Mice" / "Punting" (1971) *"Gemini" / "Black Sheep of the Family" (1971)

References

Citations Sources *

External links

Fan site
{{Authority control Harvest Records artists Musical groups established in 1969 English progressive rock groups Musical groups from London