QUATERMASS III
Sci-fi fans whose evening down the boozer led to stranger things…
GIVEN THE PEDIGREE of former World Of Twist guitarist and Earl Brutus mainstay Gordon King, The Dials’ keyboardist Andy Taylor and sci-fi buff Neil Williams, it should come as little surprise that Quatermass III started life in the pub.
“Neil had gone to the toilet and Andy said,‘I think he’d be a really good frontman’,” recalls King. “We’d never heard him sing or anything like that. And I thought, yeah, he would be, wouldn’t he?”
“The three of us used to go to loads of gigs together,” Taylor explains.“And then it was that kind of idea of, let’s get a band together. Gordon can play guitar, and I’ll play a keyboard and Neil can sing. And we had no idea whether or not Neil could actually sing, but he seemed like the sort of person that might be able to.”
Adds Neil Williams,“I just went around to Andy’s garage and him and Gordon were noodling away and coming up with some beautiful sounds. I sat crouched in the corner, getting more and more pissed with a big notepad jotting down lyrics. And we kind of got into a routine of knocking out a song every time we met and ended up patting each other on the back at the end of each night in the pub afterwards.”
Producer Ben Thackeray was soon added to the line-up as bassist, as was drummer Richie Harwood.
“Ben’s great,” enthuses King. “He’s a brilliant engineer who’s done some work with Nick Cave and other people.”
“Ben is the most patient man in the world,” continues Taylor.“To give you an idea of how patient
Ben is, he worked with My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin
Shields as his guitar tech for over a year. They were listening to guitars for 12 months to find the right guitar and they never did.”
And what of Quatermass III’s beautiful sounds?
“Well, it’s a combination of krautrock and glam rock,” ventures Taylor.
“I think there’s also a lot of Roxy Music in there,” muses King.“But there’s also maybe a bit of the Fall.”
They’re not wrong. As evidenced by Found Footage and Super Star, which make up their debut single, a sense of unease and insistent melodies are palpable throughout, as is a mood of sci-fi menace.
“That’s me,” says Williams. “I come from a film editing background. So we’ve all got a love of old films like First Men On The Moon and Robinson Crusoe On Mars and obviously, the Quatermass films as well had a massive influence. When they’re off watching their Genesis tribute bands, I’m at home watching 1930s and 40s sci-fi films.”
So what’s next?
“I’d like to put a record out,” says King. “We’ve got an LP, which we wrote and it’s been ready for a year, and then Covid slowed it up.”
“And our gigs have been so well received,” chips in Williams.
Kings nods in agreement: “We want to put a real spectacle on.”
Beer, sci-fi and music – it’s most certainly an intoxicating cocktail. So who’s getting them in then?
“NEIL HAD GONE TO THE TOILET AND ANDY SAID, ‘I THINK HE’D BE A REALLY GOOD FRONTMAN.’”