Heavy Metal Kids -

The Heavy Metal Kids were an English hard-rock/pop band from London that released a self-titled album on Atlantic in 1974. The following year, they shortened their name to The Kids for a second Atlantic album, Anvil Chorus. In late 1976, the name returned for the RAK release Kitsch.

The Kids’ rhythm section backed French singer–songwriter Nino Ferrer on assorted ’70s-era recordings. Late-period Kids-keyboardist John Sinclair resurfaced in hard-rockers Lion and the ’80s-era lineup of Uriah Heep. Singer Gary Holton acted on TV and stage until his death from an overdose in 1985.

Members: Gary Holton (lead vocals, 1973-77), Danny Peyronel (keyboards, vocals, 1973-75, 2003-present), Mickey Waller (guitar, 1973-76), Ron Thomas (bass, vocals), Keith Boyce (drums), Barry Paul (guitar, vocals, 1976-77), John Sinclair (keyboards, vocals, 1976-77)

Background

The Heavy Metal Kids formed in 1973 when former child actor Gary Holton and teenage Argentine keyboardist Daniel Peyronel teamed with journeyman guitarist Mickey Waller and the rhythm section of Leggs, the backing band of French singer Nino Ferrer.

Gary Holton (b. September 22, 1952, Clapham) performed as a tween with Sadler’s Wells Opera Company. In 1966, he acted opposite Laurence Olivier in a staging of William Congreve’s 1695 Restoration comedy Love For Love. Just prior to the Kids’ formation, Holden spent two years in a touring production of the counter-culture musical Hair.

Daniel Augusto Peyronel (b. November 15, 1953, Buenos Aires) spent his youth between Argentina and England, where he attended public school. He briefly attended New York’s Juilliard performing arts conservatory.

Mickey Waller hailed from Mickey Finn & The Blue Men, a mid-sixties R&B–beat group that recorded multiple mod–freakbeat singles as The Mickey Finn (no relation to the T. Rex percussionist). Waller resurfaced in a post-album lineup of Sam Gopal, the starting vehicle of Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister. Most recently, Waller played on the 1973 Riviera release Nino Ferrer & Leggs along with ex-Ashman Reynolds drummer Keith Boyce and late-period Leaf Hound bassist Ronnie Thomas.

The Heavy Metal Kids took their name from a fictional youth street gang in Nova Express, a 1964 sci-fi novel by postmodern author William S. Burroughs.

Heavy Metal Kids

The Heavy Metal Kids released their self-titled debut album in July 1974 on Atlantic. Guitarist Mickey Waller wrote “Hangin’ On” and “Kind Woman” and co-wrote “Nature of My Game” with singer Gary Holton. The pair wrote “Ain’t It Hard” with bassist Ronnie Thomas, who lone-wrote “Always Plenty of Women” and co-wrote “Rock ‘N’ Roll Man” with one Brian Paul.

Keyboardist Danny Peyronel co-wrote “It’s the Same” with fellow Argentine Ricardo Soulé, the frontman of Vox Dei. Heavy Metal Kids contains two group-written songs: “Run Around Eyes” and the Side One climax “We Gotta Go,” which reprises at the end of Side Two.

A1. “Hangin’ On” (3:05)
A2. “Ain’t It Hard” (3:00)
A3. “It’s the Same” (5:40)
A4. “Run Around Eyes” (2:57)
A5. “We Gotta Go” (4:55)

B1. “Always Plenty of Women” (3:25)
B2. “Nature of My Game” (3:35)
B3. “Kind Woman” (3:35)
B4. “Rock ‘n’ Roll Man” (7:30)
B5. “We Gotta Go (Reprise)” (1:20)

Sessions occurred in Barnes, West London, at Olympic Studios, a converted Edwardian cinema also used for 1974 albums by Barclay James Harvest, Brian Eno, David Bowie, Focus, Judas Priest, Stories, Slade, and Spooky Tooth. The Heavy Metal Kids recorded the album with Dave Harman, the onetime frontman of Sixties popsters Dave Dee, Dozy, Beacky, Mick & Tich.

Heavy Metal Kids was engineered by Phil Chapman, a soundman on Here Come the Warm Jets and concurrent albums by Badfinger and Jack the Lad. This was an early credit for Olympic tape operator John Astley, a subsequent Who soundman (and Pete Townshend‘s then-brother-in-law).

On the back cover, the Heavy Metal Kids posed as alleyway ruffians for Alex Henderson, a subsequent Boxer photographer. The front cover has three-dimensional metallic letters by Joe Petagno III, who illustrated 1973/74 covers for Captain Beyond, Nazareth, Renaissance, Three Man Army, and West Bruce & Laing.

Atlantic lifted “Rock ‘n’ Roll Man” as a single edit (4:55 b/w “Hangin’ On”). The song appeared on the UK Atlantic sampler EP The Best of British along with cuts by the Average White Band and Wally. “It’s the Same” appeared on a promo maxi-single with “Run Around Eyes” and “Nature of My Game.”

Waller departed for Steve Marriott’s Allstars and later played in Phil May’s Fallen Angels. The Kids dropped “Heavy Metal” from their name and hired guitarist Cosmo Verrico.

Anvil Chorus

The Kids released their second album, Anvil Chorus, in July 1975 on Atlantic. It features songs written primarily by bassist Ronnie Thomas (“You Got Me Rollin”’), keyboardist Danny Peyronel (“Hard at the Top,” “The Big Fire”), and singer Gary Holton (“On the Street,” “Situations Outta Control”). Peyronel co-wrote one song (“The Turk (An Wot’E Smoke)”) with guitarist Cosmo and two (“Blue Eyed Boy,” “Old Time Boogie”) with Holton.

The first two songs feature backing vocalists Madeleine Bell and sisters Irene and Doreen Chanter. Side Two contains “Crisis” and “The Cops Are Coming,” both holdovers from Micky Waller’s tenure. “Old Time Boogie” features saxophonist Phil Kenzie, a prior sessionist for Gass, Skin Alley, and Manfred Mann Chapter Three.

The album’s title translates from “Coro di Zingari,” an Act 2, Scene 1 chorus in Ill Trovatore, an 1853 opera by Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi.

A1. “Hard At the Top” (3:46)
A2. “You Got Me Rollin'” (3:54)
A3. “On the Street” (4:03)
A4. “Situations Outta Control” (4:03)
A5. “Blue Eyed Boy” (3:07)

B1. “Old Time Boogie” (3:20)
B2. “The Turk (An Wot’E Smoke)” (4:02)
B3. “Crisis” (3:32)
B4. “The Cops Are Coming” (3:45)
B5. “The Big Fire” (4:36)

Sessions took place at Basing Street Studios, where the Kids recorded the album with producer/engineer Andy Johns, an early Island Records soundman (Free, Traffic, Jethro Tull, Blodwyn Pig) with recent credits behind Jack Bruce, The Rolling Stones, String Driven Thing, and Led Zeppelin‘s double-album Physical Graffiti.

Anvil Chorus was co-engineered by Dave Hutchins, a soundman on the recent Genesis double-album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and titles by Dog Soldier, Fruupp, Gonzalez, Sharks, and Trapeze.

Freelance illustrator David Field created the white-on-red Anvil Chorus cover, designed in the style of a vintage children’s theater programme. Field’s visuals also grace 1974/75 covers for Ramases, Thin Lizzy, Status Quo, Uriah Heep, and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band.

Atlantic lifted “Blue Eyed Boy” as a single with “You Got Me Rollin’,” which also formed the backside of their non-album October single “Ain’t Nothing But a House Party,” a cover of the 1967 Showstoppers hit.

In August, the Heavy Metal Kids played the 1975 Reading Rock Festival, the fifteenth annual event with sets by Dr. Feelgood, Hawkwind, Kokomo, Kursaal Flyers, Snafu, Supertramp, UFO, and Yes. The Kids appeared on Day 3 (Sunday, 8/24), which also featured Babe Ruth, Caravan, Climax Blues Band, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Robin Trower, Soft Machine, and headliners Wishbone Ash.

Peyronel boarded UFO for their 1976 album No Heavy Petting. He later teamed with Argentine guitar legend Pappo in eighties hard rockers Riff. Meanwhile, Cosmo dropped from the scene. Holton, Thomas, and Boyce reinstated the Heavy Metal Kids name with guitarist Barry Paul and keyboardist John Sinclair.

Kitsch

The Heavy Metal Kids released their third album, Kitsch, in October 1976 on RAK. It features two songs by Ronnie Thomas (“She’s No Angel,” “Squalliday Inn”) and two co-written by Gary Holton and John Sinclair (“Chelsea Kids,” “Jackie the Lad”), who separately wrote “Cry for Me” (Holton) and “Overture” (Sinclair). Holton also brought two songs (“Docking In,” “From Heaven to Hell and Back Again”) co-written with outsider Klaus Petersen.

A1. “Overture” (2:41)
A2. “Chelsea Kids” (4:17)
A3. “From Heaven to Hell & Back Again” (4:17)
A4. “Cry For Me” (5:05)

B1. “She’s No Angel” (3:34)
B2. “Jackie the Lad” (2:34)
B3. “Docking In” (3:52)
B4. “Squalliday Inn” (6:17)

Sessions occurred in France at Château du Regard, a Renaissance castle in the Loire Valley. The Heavy Metal Kids recorded the album with veteran music mogul Mickie Most, a Sixties Beat-era soundman (The Animals, Donovan) with recent credits behind RAK labelmates Arrows, Chris Spedding, and Hot Chocolate.

Kitsch was co-engineered by Martin Levant, an earlier Strawbs and Murray Head soundman with credits on 1976/77 jazz-rock albums by Colosseum II, Gary Boyle, Neil Ardley, and Turning Point.

Kitsch features purple-sky valley imagery created by Hipgnosis designers Peter Christopherson and Storm Thorgerson, who first pitched the image to Pink Floyd. The inner-sleeve features purple monochrome group photos by Clive Arrowsmith, whose photography graces 1975/76 sleeves for Chris De Burgh, Gino Vannelli, Gong, Joan Armatrading, Mick Ronson, The Movies, Nutz, and Patrick Moraz.

RAK first issued “She’s No Angel” as a May 1976 single backed with “Hey Little Girl,” a non-album Sinclair/Petersen number. The Heavy Metal Kids mimed “She’s No Angel” for the May 27 broadcast of the BBC music program Top of the Pops, which also featured in-studio numbers by Gladys Knight & The Pips (“Midnight Train to Georgia”), The Real Thing (“You to Me Are Everything”), and The Wurzels (“Combine Harvester”).

“Chelsea Kids” became a June 1977 single (b/w “Jack the Lad”) and reappeared as a September b-side to “Delirious,” a non-album Thomas/Holton number issued as the final Heavy Metal Kids single (under the name H.M.K.).

Post-Heavy Metal Kids

Gary Holton formed a rock duo with Boys/Yobs pianist Casino Steel. They released three albums between 1981 and 1984 on Polydor and scored a No. 1 hit in Steel’s native Norway with “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” originally a 1968 country hit for Kenny Rogers & First Edition.

Keith Boyce joined Bram Tchaikovsky, the namesake spin-off band of Motors guitarist Bram Tchaikovsky.

Ronnie Thomas re-linked with Nino Ferrer in the French singer’s post-Leggs backing band.

Barry Paul joined Made In Japan, an LA-based British–American group that cut a single with producers Rinder & Lewis and played the new wave club band in the 1980 slasher flick New Year’s Evil. He also played in the early eighties lineup of Savoy Brown.

John Sinclair teamed with veteran English singer Gary Farr in the LA-based hard rock band Lion, which cut the 1980 album Running All Night on A&M. He then joined Uriah Heep, which remade “Running All Night With the Lion” on their 1982 comeback album Abominog.

On October 25, 1983, Holton died at age 33 in London from an alcohol/morphine overdose.

Discography: