Heavy Metal Kids

One of the most spectacular, if sadly neglected, British bands of the mid-'70s, the Heavy Metal Kids straddled the eras of glam and punk with such effortless ease that neither genre has ever seemed entirely comfortable with them. Not for the Kids the succession of compilations and tributes with which the CD age has gifted so many of their peers; not for the Kids the awed accolades of a generation of future stars, raised on their high energy rock and dazzling visual flash. But for anybody who is in on the secret, the three albums which the Heavy Metal Kids unleashed between 1974-1977 represent the missing link in the story of Brit-pop, the bridge which links the Small Faces to Oasis, the Action to the Jam, and any other two points you care to mention. As an accomplished child actor, vocalist Gary Holton first came to attention as a protégé of the Sadlers Well Opera Company during the early '60s and also played the Artful Dodger in an acclaimed production of Charles Dickens' Oliver. From there, he moved on to regular performances with the Old Vic Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company, before joining the touring company of Hair in 1972, aged 17. It was during this period that he began making the contacts which would lead him to form the Heavy Metal Kids two years later, with Mickey Waller (guitar, and no relation to the Jeff Beck/Rod Stewart drummer of the same name), Argentinean-born Danny Peyronel (keyboards), Ronnie Thomas (bass, vocals), and Keith Boyce (drums). The group's name, incidentally, was taken from William Burroughs -- naively or otherwise, the band members never dreamed people might draw other, musical, conclusions from it. Fronted by Holton's raucous Cockney accent and visually steeped in the paraphernalia of his theatrical upbringing, the...