On This Day 29/11/1982 Budgie

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On this day, 29 November 1982, Welsh rockers Budgie played Cardiff University on their Deliver Us From Evil tour.

Deliver Us from Evil was Budgie's tenth album, released in October 1982 on RCA Records, and according to Burke Shelley its theme "attacks the power structures of East and West and the balance of terror"; it also "refers to all kinds of evil, not just The Bomb and war, but the main theme calls for world peace". One reviewer suggested that the album's lyrics were influenced by Shelley becoming a born-again Christian.

According to Steve Williams, "the concept of the album came about as an accident. We didn't write 'Bored With Russia'. Don (Smith) brought that over from America and that started the ball rolling. We played it a few times and it started the whole concept". The song was written by producer Beau Hill, erroneously credited as Bo Hill, and demoed up with his late-1970s outfit Airborne. It was finally issued on the band's 2003 archives release The Dig.

Reception of the album was mixed, due to a more commercially oriented sound than previous releases. It has been described as either "a complete musical shipwreck" or "a collection which not only sounds fantastic but bristles with great songs and exquisite often Who-like arrangements". Their commercial appeal has been justified as a "conscious effort to broaden their horizons" in order to attend "a market more attuned to melody than mere muscle". The album release was followed with a UK tour from late October to December 1982

On This Day 02/03/1969 Budgie

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On this day, 2 March 1969, Welsh rock band Budgie played St Peter’s Scout Hall, Cardiff.

Formed in 1967 in Cardiff, Wales under the name Hills Contemporary Grass. Their original line-up consisted of Burke Shelley on vocals and bass, Tony Bourge on guitar and vocals, and Ray Phillips on drums.

After performing several gigs in 1968, the band changed their name to Budgie the following year and recorded their first demo.

The band had initially considered going under the name "Six Ton Budgie", but decided the shorter single word variant was preferable.

Burke Shelley has said that the band's name came from the fact that he, "loved the idea of playing noisy, heavy rock, but calling ourselves after something diametrically opposed to that".

They are described by author Garry Sharpe-Young as one of the earliest heavy metal bands and a seminal influence to many acts of that scene, with fast, heavy rock (an influence on the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) and acts such as Metallica being played as early as 1971.

The band has been noted as "among the heaviest metal of its day."

On this day 24/07/1976 Status Quo

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On this day, 24 July 1976, rock band Status Quo played Cardiff Castle, headlining a package that included Strawbs, Curved Air, Hawkwind and Welsh rock band Budgie, compered by DJ John Peel.

The concert was part of the group’s Blue For You tour, promoting their Blue For You Album. The band had played two concerts at the City’s Capitol Theatre earlier in the year before returning for their prestigious Cardiff Castle gig.

Blue for You was their ninth studio album and was released in March 1976, and was the band’s last album until 1980's Just Supposin' that they produced themselves, which resulted in subsequent albums having a noticeably lighter, more pop oriented sound.

Rick Parfitt's "Rain", the first single from the album, reached No. 7 in the UK charts after its release in February 1976. Its B-side was the non-album track "You Lost the Love", written by Francis Rossi and Bob Young.

The album was released the following month. It entered the British album chart at No. 1 and stayed there for three weeks, making it one of their most successful long players.

Link to interview - https://youtu.be/rGFTR-1LCMc

On this day Budgie 24/6/1980

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On this day, 24 June 1980, Welsh rockers Budgie, played Cardiff’s Top Rank on their If Swallowed, Do Not Induce Vomiting Tour.

Budgie formed in 1967 in Cardiff, Wales under the name Hills Contemporary Grass. Their original line-up consisted of Burke Shelley on vocals and bass, Tony Bourge on guitar and vocals, and Ray Phillips on drums.

After performing several gigs in 1968, the band changed their name to Budgie the following year and recorded their first demo.

The band had initially considered going under the name "Six Ton Budgie", but decided the shorter single word variant was preferable.

Burke Shelley has said that the band's name came from the fact that he, "loved the idea of playing noisy, heavy rock, but calling ourselves after something diametrically opposed to that".

Budgie's music was described in the All-Music Guide as a cross between Rush and Black Sabbath.

Burke Shelley's vocals have been compared to Geddy Lee due to his similar approach of high-pitched banshee wails (coincidentally, Shelley and Lee are also the bass players in their respective power-trio bands).

Although Budgie remained fairly obscure during their early career, many future stars of hard rock/metal have cited them as an important influence and covered their songs, including Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Van Halen, Melvins,Queens of the Stone Age, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden.

Budgie were about to release their eighth studio album in October 1980 on Active Records, a sublabel of RCA Records (which was the distributor of A&M Records — Budgie's previous label — at the time).

This is the first album without original guitarist Tony Bourge, who left the band in 1978 after the album Impeckable.

On this day 8/6/72 Budgie

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On this day, 8 June 1972, Welsh rockers Budgie played Barry Memorial Hall on their Squawk tour.
Budgie formed in 1967 in Cardiff, Wales under the name Hills Contemporary Grass.

Their original line-up consisted of Burke Shelley on vocals and bass, Tony Bourge on guitar and vocals, and Ray Phillips on drums.

After performing several gigs in 1968, the band changed their name to Budgie the following year and recorded their first demo.

The band had initially considered going under the name "Six Ton Budgie", but decided the shorter single word variant was preferable.

Burke Shelley has said that the band's name came from the fact that he, "loved the idea of playing noisy, heavy rock, but calling ourselves after something diametrically opposed to that".

Squawk was the group’s second album recorded at Rockfield Studios, Monmouth.

Many future stars of hard rock/metal have cited them as an important influence and covered their songs, including Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Van Halen, Melvins, Queens of the Stone Age, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden.

On This Day Special 22/4/1971 Budgie

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On this day, 22 April 1971, Welsh rock band Budgie played St Illtyd’s College, Cardiff, supporting Leicester based prog rock band Spring.

The turning point in Spring's fortunes happened after the gig in Cardiff, when the band's van broke down somewhere in the Welsh countryside, coincidentally very near where producer/engineer Kingsley Ward had recently set up Rockfield Studios.

Ward would later marvel at the "coincidence of meeting a group with a broken down truck in your own home town when you have previously spent months traipsing around the country in search of talent".

He was particularly intrigued by the fact that they owned a mellotron, and "invited them down the following week for an audition with my brother Charles and myself", the outcome of which was "good enough for us to want to be involved with them".

Several demo sessions followed. The band was rehearsing at Rockfield when producer Gus Dudgeon (of David Bowie and Elton John fame) dropped by to check the studio out, heard them play, and expressed interest in producing them.

A few months later, sessions took place at both Rockfield and London's Trident Studios, and the resulting album was released on the RCA/Neon label in 1971.

In spite of supporting Velvet Underground on a UK tour, plus Keith Christmas and The Sutherland Brothers on various dates, the band broke up in 1972 following aborted attempts at recording a second album.

Two previously unreleased songs from these sessions (featuring new bassist Peter Decindis) appeared on The Laser's Edge's 1992 CD reissue of the album, along with "Fool's Gold" from the first album sessions.

Moran later worked as sound engineer at Rockfield Studios, notably for Van der Graaf Generator and Robert Plant; he died in early 2011.

Martinez became an in-demand session guitarist, working with the likes of Alkatraz, Michael Chapman, Gypsy, Tim Rose and Robert Plant.

He also wrote Cliff Richard's 1982 hit "The Only Way Out". Pick Withers later became the drummer for Dire Straits, playing on their first four records.

Kips Brown became a session musician, playing with Andy Fairweather Low and others, and was in a later band called Wellington.

Adrian Moloney returned to the Midlands, where he worked alongside several well-known artists and groups. A solo career as a jobbing musician and minor impresario took him all over the Midlands, and also to Tenerife for several summer seasons. He was working right up to his death in 2010.

Pat Moran became a notable record producer and worked with Lou Gramm, Robert Plant, Iggy Pop, Edie Brickell, and the new Bohemians, as well as many others.