Black Widow

Black Widow were a rock band that formed in Leicester, England in September 1969. The band were mostly known for its early use of satanic and occult imagery in their music and stage act. The band were often confused with the better-known heavy metal band Black Sabbath, but the bands were only superficially similar.^{[citation needed]}

History

The band originally formed in 1966 as Pesky Gee! with Kay Garrett (lead vocals), Kip Trevor (lead vocals, guitar and harmonica), Chris Dredge (guitar), Bob Bond (bass guitar), Clive Box (drums and piano), Jess "Zoot" Taylor (organ), Clive Jones (saxophone and flute).^[1] Jim Gannon (guitar, vocals and vibes), replaced Dredge in Spring 1969. The band split in September 1969.

The band released one album for Pye Records as Pesky Gee!, 1969's Exclamation Mark, before Garrett left the band. The remaining band members continued on as Black Widow and released their debut album Sacrifice in 1970.^[1] Perhaps better known than their music was the band's use of occult references in their music and their live performances, which were made more controversial with the mock sacrifice of a nude woman.^{[citation needed]} These acts at time were very shocking but now a common use in the underground music scene, black metal.^{[citation needed]} The band attracted further controversy by consulting infamous witch Alex Sanders for advice.^{[citation needed]}

Controversy aside, Sacrifice reached #32 on the UK Albums Chart.^[2][3] The band also performed at the Whitsun Festival at Plumpton, UK,^[4] and at The Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. By 1971, the band had moved away from its darker occult imagery in an effort to gain a wider audience, which was unsuccessful.^{[citation needed]} Having replaced Bond and Box with Geoff Griffith and Romeo Challenger, Black Widow released the self-titled Black Widow album in 1971 and Black Widow III in 1972 (by which time Gannon had left, replaced by John Culley) to general disinterest before being dropped by CBS Records. The band recorded an album, Black Widow IV, later in 1972 without a recording contract. It was not released then due to the band breaking up, shortly after replacing lead vocalist Kip Trevor, with another singer known as Rick "E" (born Frank Karuba; formerly of 'Plum Nelly').

The album was finally released in 1997 on the Mystic Records label. In 1999 the original recordings of their debut album, made before Garrett left the band, were released as Return to the Sabbat.^[5] In 2000 Black Widow Records (an Italian label) released King of the Witches: Black Widow Tribute featuring bands such as Death SS and Church of Misery as well as tracks featuring original members Kip Trevor and Clive Jones. In 2003 Sanctuary Records released an Anthology 2xCD.

In 2007 Mystic Records released an unreleased concert film Demons Of The Night Gather To See Black Widow - Live as a DVD. The film included Black Widow's entire Sacrifice album show from 1970. The interest towards Black Widow has been growing and because of that Clive Jones and Geoff Griffith have been working on new Black Widow music.^{[citation needed]} Paolo "Apollo" Negri from an Italian hard rock band Wicked Minds has agreed to join the project on keyboards. The forthcoming Black Widow album has a working title Sleeping With Demons.^[6]Tony Martin will be featured on the album as a guest vocalist.^[7]

Black Widow's most popular song Come to the Sabbat has been covered by many bands including Timberjack (Top 10 hit in New Zealand in 1971), Bewitched, Death SS and Propagandhi.

Personnel details

• Kay Garrett (born 5 April 1949, Leicester, Leicestershire).
• Kip Trevor (born 12 November 1946, Littlemore, Oxfordshire).
• Jim Gannon (born James Gannon, 1947, Leicester, Leicestershire).
• Bob Bond (born Robert Bond, 2 October 1940, Brighton, Sussex).
• Clive Box (born in 1946, Leicester, Leicestershire).
• Jess "Zoot" Taylor (born 10 November 1948, Leicester).
• Clive Jones (born 28 May 1949, Leicester, Leicestershire).
• Geoff Griffiths (born Geoffrey Griffiths, 4 April 1948, Leicester, Leicestershire).
• Romeo Challenger (born 18 May 1950, Antigua, West Indies).

Discography

Albums

• Exclamation Mark LP (1969) as Pesky Gee! (Pye Records)
• Sacrifice LP (1970 CBS Records)
• Black Widow LP (1971 CBS Records)
• III LP (1972 CBS Records)

Albums after the break-up

• IV CD (1997 Mystic Records), recorded in 1972
• Return To The Sabbat CD (1998 Mystic Records)
• Demons Of The Night Gather To See Black Widow - Live CD/DVD (2008 Mystic Records)

Singles

• "Come to the Sabbat" b/w "Way to Power" (1970 CBS Records)
• "Wish You Would" b/w "Accident" (1971 CBS Records)

Reissue / compilation

• Return to the Sabbat CD (2001 Black Widow Records)
• Come to the Sabbat - Anthology Double album CD (2003 Sanctuary Records)

References

External links

• The Black Widow Abode
• Interview on the Leicester Bands website
• Interview on Marmalade Skies website