The Onyx or OnyxPete Frame ''Pete Frame's Rockin' Around Britain: Rock'n'roll Landmarks'' 0711969736 1999 "WADEBRIDGE Home of psychedelic group Onyx, who recorded for Pye." were a

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

band formed in

Wadebridge Wadebridge (; kw, Ponswad) is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town straddles the River Camel upstream from Padstow.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 ''Newquay & Bodmin'' The permanent populat ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England in 1965. Out of the ashes of Rick & The Hayseeds the band came to be known as The Onyx Set, named after an Onyx ring owned by original band member Mike Black-Borow. After various changes in the line-up they shortened their name to The Onyx and the classic line-up was formed. The band members were: guitarist Alan Hodge, who had previously played with various local bands such as The Buccaneers and The Fabulous Jaguars, vocalist Tony Priest, bassist Dick Bland, keyboard player Steve Cotton and drummer Roger Dell. The band evolved from doing cover versions of popular contemporary

Beat boom Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music genre that developed, particularly in and around Liverpool, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from American rock and roll, rhythm and blues, skiffle ...

bands in its early days to

Psychedelia Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic ...

. It was known for its intricate five part

harmonies In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

. During the late 1960s they were a popular live attraction, focusing most of their gigging activity in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

, as well as touring throughout the UK and making trips to Germany. They also featured on numerous Radio One sessions, resulting in the band being one of the most played bands on BBC Radio at the time. They also featured heavily on radio stations in Europe. They released a total of seven singles, one of which was released under the pseudonym. Salamander. Oddly, it had been hoped that a change in the band's name would help distance them from their BBC Radio One work and increase record sales. Most of the A sides of the singles were written by

Guy Fletcher Guy Edward Fletcher (born 24 May 1960) is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known for his position as one of the two Keyboard instrument, keyboard players in the rock band Dire Straits from 1984 until the group's dissolution, and his subs ...

and Doug Flett with the B sides credited to the members of the band. They are also credited as the writers on the single. "Climb That Tree", which was recorded by

The She Trinity The She Trinity was a Canadian/British pop group of the 1960s. The band was assembled as an all-female group who played their own instruments, a rarity in the period. The original members, Robyn Yorke, Shelley Gillespie and Sue Kirby, were Canad ...

in 1970, in addition to writing "I'm Going Down" for Mike Raynor & Sky. Hodge left the band in late 1970 to get married and return to Cornwall, leaving just prior to the release of "Our House". The band continued as The Onyx with a new guitarist, Bernie Lee from Paper Blitz Tissue and Orange Bicycle, releasing one final single "The Next Stop Is Mine". Under the guidance of

Jerry Lordan Jerry Lordan (born Jeremiah Patrick Lordan, 30 April 1934 – 24 July 1995) was an English songwriter, composer and singer. He achieved 3 hit singles on the UK Singles Chart before focusing purely on songwriting. Amongst his songwriting c ...

, the band emerge shortly afterwards as Vineyard releasing two singles on Decca and Deram. Original drummer Dell left the band to be replaced by

Herman Rarebell Herman Rarebell (born 18 November 1949 as Hermann Josef Erbel) is a German musician, best known as the drummer for the hard rock band Scorpions from 1977 to 1995, during which time he played on eight studio albums. Aside from playing drums, Rare ...

(later of

Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

). Vineyard recorded a number of tracks for a possible LP release, but with poor singles sales these tracks remained unreleased. The band finally called it a day in 1975. Bland went on to work with Joe Brown,

Shakin' Stevens Michael Barratt (born 4 March 1948), known professionally as Shakin' Stevens, is a Welsh singer and songwriter. He was the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s. His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, althoug ...

and

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

The band featured on the Bam Caruso's Rubble collection in the early 1980s, as well as numerous other compilations. In 2009, Wooden Hill released a collection of previously unreleased studio demos recorded in late 1967 titled ''Kaleidoscope of Colours - The Onyx Demo Sessions 1967''.

Discography

*"You've Gotta Be with Me" / "It's All Put On" (Pye 7N 17477) 1968 *"My Son John" / "Step by Step" (Pye 7N 17622) 1968 *"Tamaris Khan" / "So Sad Inside" (Pye 7N 17668) 1968 *"Time Off" / "Movin' In" (CBS 4635) 1969 *"Crystal Ball" / "Billy" (CBS 5102) 1970 (as Salamander) *"Our House" / "Air" (Parlophone R 5888) 1971 *"The Next Stop Is Mine" / "What's That You Say" (Parlophone R 5906) 1971 Previously unreleased demo sessions *''Kaleidoscope of Colours - The Onyx Demo Sessions 1967'' (Wooden Hill WH 027CD) 2009 As Vineyard *"Ghost Train (Here It Come Again)" / "Unicorns and Minotaurs" (Decca F 13518) 1974 *"Charlemaine" / "Myla" (Deram DM 420) 1974

References

External links

The official Onyx websiteThe official Al Hodge website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Onyx, The English psychedelic rock music groups Musical groups established in 1966 Musical groups disestablished in 1971 Pye Records artists Parlophone artists 1966 establishments in England Musicians from Cornwall