Atomic Rooster

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steveledzep

That brought back memories.  I saw them a couple of times in Chester, very early seventies (1971?).  They were promoting Death Walks Behind You with Tomorrow Night as the single.  John Cann was the guitarist, Vincent Crane was conspicuous on keyboard with his hair following his constant forward and backward movement.  I don't recall who the drummer was.  My only recollection of Chris Farlowe was with Colosseum at the time.  Thanks for posting.

DiscoStu

Paradise Lost covered 'Death Walks Behind You' on their 'As I Die' EP. I've never actually heard the original.

stratman3142

I saw Atomic Rooster with John Du Cann on guitar at Hanley Town Hall in the seventies. I've never seen a guitarist break so many strings on a gig, but he had a load of guitars on stage to pick from. Chris Farlow wasn't with them and I never knew he was once in the band until now.

Vincent Crane was a great and was also part of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. I can still remember that distinctive long hair and backwards and forward motion. The drummer in the clip is fantastic.

I was in a band that played Tomorrow Night by Atomic Rooster at uni.

Thanks for posting.

RandallFlagg

Back in the late 80s, me and the lads I was in a band with somehow ended up going round to see John Du Cann at his house in the wilds of Norfolk, from memory it was in the Castle Acre/West Acre area but I may be wrong, it was a long time ago.

I didn't know who he was at the time, just thought he was some old weirdo hippy/rocker, the singer in our band said he played in Atomic Rooster but I had never heard of them.

The house was quite big, an old farmhouse type and one of the downstairs rooms was filled with gear, including lots of guitars in cases, all I remember was seeing was an old Vox AC30 and some guitars. I ended up playing an old Telecaster through the AC30 and John Du Cann plugged in another Tele into the same amp with me and we jammed some 12 bar blues while he solo'd somewhat manically over the top. I came away thinking he was a little bit bit scary! 

His gear was sold at auction when he died and among the listings was an old 60s AC30 and 60's Tele...I guess I had played them without even knowing what I was had in my hands!

scrumhalf

John Du Cann was party to one of the most ridiculous cons ever foisted on the British public.

Back in the late 70s, before he was famous, Gary Numan did the vocals for a song in a Lee Cooper jeans advert, "Don't Be A Dummy". It was a decent song and it was released as a single. But there was no sign of Numan when the song was played on Top Of The Pops. Instead there was John Du Cann, growling the vocals in a very un-Numan-like way. "That's not the version from the advert" said pretty much everyone. "No, you're wrong," said the record company "it's exactly the same version and you've got cloth ears."

Atomic Rooster were, however, a fine band. 

monquixote

RandallFlagg said:

Back in the late 80s, me and the lads I was in a band with somehow ended up going round to see John Du Cann at his house in the wilds of Norfolk, from memory it was in the Castle Acre/West Acre area but I may be wrong, it was a long time ago.

I didn't know who he was at the time, just thought he was some old weirdo hippy/rocker, the singer in our band said he played in Atomic Rooster but I had never heard of them.

The house was quite big, an old farmhouse type and one of the downstairs rooms was filled with gear, including lots of guitars in cases, all I remember was seeing was an old Vox AC30 and some guitars. I ended up playing an old Telecaster through the AC30 and John Du Cann plugged in another Tele into the same amp with me and we jammed some 12 bar blues while he solo'd somewhat manically over the top. I came away thinking he was a little bit bit scary! 

His gear was sold at auction when he died and among the listings was an old 60s AC30 and 60's Tele...I guess I had played them without even knowing what I was had in my hands!

That Tele then ended up in my local guitar shop. I played it, was a nice guitar.

RandallFlagg

When I met John he was wearing an army surplus green shirt and looked a bit scary, reminded me of Jaz Coleman from Killing Joke.

Kittyfrisk

scrumhalf said:

John Du Cann was party to one of the most ridiculous cons ever foisted on the British public.

Back in the late 70s, before he was famous, Gary Numan did the vocals for a song in a Lee Cooper jeans advert, "Don't Be A Dummy". It was a decent song and it was released as a single. But there was no sign of Numan when the song was played on Top Of The Pops. Instead there was John Du Cann, growling the vocals in a very un-Numan-like way. "That's not the version from the advert" said pretty much everyone. "No, you're wrong," said the record company "it's exactly the same version and you've got cloth ears."

Atomic Rooster were, however, a fine band. 

I remember the advert well, I believe Gary was between Tubeway Army & just being Gary Numan.
Atomic Rooster were a great band indeed.

 

scrumhalf

Bloody hell, that takes me back! 

more

  Arthur Brown was a regular at the Round House .I liked all the  theatrics . Large  rubber objects lit with strobe lights . I saw Atomic Rooster at  the Lyceum with Vincent  Crane and Carl Palmer .  Palmer left not long after that, to become part of posably the most pretentious   band , ever .  Emerson lake and Palmer . A lot of the old bands , or the odd members still alive , are going  back on the road , Man  are planing a tour in 2021 .  Arthur Brown lives in Brighton, and was, until the lock down, still preforming   in the local venues .  

tweedphan

We lost our drummer when Paul Hammond left Farm to join Atomic Rooster, replacing Carl Palmer who had joined ELP. Our drummer joined Farm. Such is life. 

Nitefly

Wasn't Drachen Theaker the original drummer in Atomic Rooster?  Or was he in Crazy World of Arthur Brown?  It was definitely one of them...