- 1 year ago
- #atomkraftband
- #heavymetal
This is the story of Rob Mathew, known as Rob Redhead, a young musician from the northeast of England who joined a heavy metal band in 1985 and spent the next four years checking off all the boxes of rockstar life. Atomkraft was one of the first new bands to emerge post-NWOBHM, and they were at the forefront of the evolving British heavy rock and metal scene. Signed to the same label as the up-and-coming, world-dominating legends Venom, both bands shared the same management company. However, the cozy world of British heavy metal exploded in the mid-1980s with the arrival of American thrash metal bands. Atomkraft had to quickly up their game and adapt to survive, as a faster, more aggressive style than ever before took the metal music world by storm, led by bands like Metallica and Slayer. At just 16 years old, Rob was not only thrown into the deep end of learning, recording albums, and playing to thousands but also had to rapidly adapt his songwriting abilities to this new thrash genre, as did the other band members, to survive and hopefully thrive.
#atomkraftband #heavymetal
#atomkraftband #heavymetal
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MusicTranscript
00:00So as I'm speaking, I think the voice may be getting a little bit mitty-mouse here, and I'm not sure.
00:07I think it does because I'm actually lying on the bed here, and I'm, you know,
00:13I think it's because, you know, you get a bit of sort of, you know, pressed, you know, body or something down on you.
00:19You know, I think just when you lie flat, you sound a little bit mitty-mouse.
00:23But I want to be in the relaxed position where I'm reciting all of these memories.
00:27I don't want to be sat up, and I can just concentrate a bit more.
00:31I'm just staring upwards.
00:36Tony Dolan is back in a band, says Jed Cook, on the phone, or in person, whatever it was.
00:44Right.
00:46So my first, I'm first, the first thing I'm saying is like, well, why?
00:51You know, we sound great.
00:54I says, well, what's happening, what's happening with, what about Darren, the bass player?
01:01He says, well, he's out now.
01:04I says, he's out.
01:05He says, he's a great bass player, why is he out?
01:07And, you know, and, well, he just is, you know, and, obviously, I don't know how deeply I was trying to find out what was going on, but I wouldn't have got told anyway.
01:20I think all I can assume after all these years is that, without going into too much, like, because everybody else, everybody else knows, everybody knows a crack.
01:37Like, so, I think by the, when, when, on the end of the 85 sort of tour, with Exodus and Venom, we didn't have any pocket money one night.
01:52We're supposed to get paid by Eric, you know, like, some money, you know, each day.
01:58And that would pay for your food and a few beers.
02:01And, at one time, we didn't.
02:04And, er, we had, we had any, we had any money for a day or two.
02:11And, er, which is, you know, it's pretty bad, like, you know.
02:14Er, you know, you don't go on tour and, you know, you've got to eat.
02:18Basically, you've got to eat.
02:20Er, it's called the, is it the rider?
02:25Er, I mean, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're getting,
02:28the venues were put on food sandwiches and all that sort of.
02:30Maybe Eric just thought, well, we can just live off the sandwiches, you know, from the venue, you know.
02:34We'd never need to be having any money.
02:36But this particularly railed up Tony Dolan.
02:39Because, you know, at the end of the day, I mean, Tony Dolan is, you know, Jed and Eric and Abaddon.
02:45They're all of sort of, they're all that sort of 20s, early 20s.
02:48You know, they're all the sort of same age group.
02:50We've been that lot, but young guys, like, you know, it's like, you know,
02:55it's like the big lads in the sixth form, isn't it?
02:57You know, it's like a different world up there, you know.
03:00And, I mean, I'm not putting myself down like I was, as if I'm just some daft kid walking about.
03:05Because, no, but, I mean, I just wouldn't be told about a lot of stuff, you know.
03:09Well, he doesn't need a nah, does he?
03:11You know, he doesn't need a nah.
03:13Well, he doesn't need any money.
03:14He's only going to go and get fucking pissed up against a wall.
03:17Well, you know, whatever was going on.
03:19But, you know, I was definitely, I would be definitely getting a feeling, you know,
03:26that after the initial join of Art and Craft, you know, in sort of 86,
03:31I'm starting to get the feeling, like, I don't think I'm getting any respect here.
03:36Like, you know, really, like, there's something feeling a bit off.
03:39Like, you know, I've got any ego about this.
03:44I've never had any sort of ego about my abilities out like that,
03:47because it's just God's godly gift, you know.
03:52I mean, when you get these gifts, you know, you don't really take it as an ego thing,
03:55because it just came easy to you, you know.
03:57Like, music came easy to us, so.
04:00But I just felt like I'm writing songs on that, and, well, I'm sort of querying down
04:04if I'm where the money is.
04:06Like, is there any money?
04:06Am I getting any money out of, like, this is the second album.
04:11Is there any money coming in?
04:13Am I getting any money whatsoever?
04:17So this was happening more with Tony Dolan at the end of 85.
04:22So that's, how I'd judge it is because, you know,
04:29I think Tony Dolan's always had the ability as well to managerial sort of skills as well.
04:44You know, so he, you know,
04:46so he would have a sharper eye on our management team, you know, watching them, you know.
04:58Whereas I would be just sort of, obviously, you know, just concentrating on the songs and the music,
05:03and, you know, that's not my thing, you know.
05:06I'm just a creative person.
05:07And I've always just sort of been, like, I've got no managerial sort of skills at all like that at all.
05:13I'm just, like, 100% creative, you know, which is very typical of creative people, actually, you know.
05:22That's why creative people spend a lifetime in fucking poverty, you know.
05:26You know, you get too much creativity from God, and you don't get much else, like, which is okay, you know.
05:38It doesn't bother me at all.
05:41There's ways and means of making money, you know, and you just get on with it, you know.
05:45So that's happened.
05:48He hasn't, there's been, I don't know what the politics, I don't know if there was money,
05:52I don't know what happened, but it's definitely down to the money.
05:55Tony Dolan's left, and through 86, you know, I mean, there's a couple of occasions where Tony Dolan,
06:13I did bump into Tony Dolan in Newcastle, and he was being a bit of a clever shite, like,
06:20and in the Mayfair as well once, well, you know, because that's his nature.
06:25You know, kind of bullying, you know, intimidating.
06:30That was his nature, you know.
06:33Of course, he's probably a lovely person now.
06:34So, you know, in the nature of him, he's not going to take any bullshit either from anybody, you know, so money wasn't coming in.
06:48He's left the band.
06:51So I think behind the scenes, he's maybe threatened.
06:54And it's his band, he came up with a name, and he's just getting on the right side of everybody.
07:03He's had a second thought, and he's thought, I'm going to come back and get back in with him, you know.
07:06Because when Jay Gantz, Tony's back in a band, and I was disappointed by that, because I thought the band was doing fine musically without them.
07:20I just did not have a clue why we weren't doing gigs and what the hell was going on.
07:26You know, compared to 1985, 86, it was a fucking disaster, really.
07:36And I would have, you would have to, I would hand that to Tony Dolan, that he gets stuff done.
07:44And I don't know if it's his managerial sort of thing, his ability, certainly, you know, that sort of obsession with wanting to be a famous guy, a famous person.
07:58So you'd be wanting to make friends with everybody, you know, putting on a good face to everybody, you know, self-promotion, and all this sort of, you know, nicey-nice sort of stuff to climb up the greasy pool of fame and fortune.
08:20Well, you know, all of those aren't necessarily any negative if you're in a band with somebody like that, because if they want to get to the top, it's going to pull you up as well, because you're sort of, if you're, like, focused just on the music, man, you know, that's kind of neat.
08:40You've got, you know, you've got to have people, whether it's a manager or somebody in a band who is prepared to sort of, you know, be more organisational, you know.
08:53So that was probably where the bit of the to-and-fro, the pulling to-and-fro is coming from between the cook camp of managerial team and Tony Dolan.
09:04So Tony Dolan's back to the band. Right, well, okay, then, let's get on with it, you know.
09:14Straight away at the rehearsals, I noticed straight away, and I didn't really click on at the time, although I did notice, but it didn't click on why.
09:23Tony's got a brand new bass guitar. He's got a brand new amp and speaker, and he's always got a shitload of cigarettes on him.
09:32So they've obviously pulled a deal, you know, and because that's what I've just remembered there as well.
09:45Tony Dolan, when he left, or when he bumped into us or something in Newcastle or something, I can remember him saying,
09:54come to London with me, you know, we need to go out to London, and I didn't.
09:58I didn't go to London. I said, no, I'm staying up here, you know. It's the Art and Craft, man.
10:05Oh, this was before he announced he was going to leave. I think he might have been serious.
10:10However, we'll go down to London, and we'll continue with Art and Craft down there, and for me, it just seemed just ridiculous, you know.
10:18And I didn't. So I don't think he ever forgave us for that, like, you know, that I didn't drop everything and just fucking head down to London to seek fame and fortune.
10:30So when he was back in a band, he was definitely, he sort of, he was isolated, really, is what he was like.
10:42But, you know, he would try his best to make sure he wasn't with everybody, you know, each time, you know.
10:50He was always all, he was always all over somebody like Arash, you know, the best mate for a few, for a couple of months, and then he'd be onto somebody else.
11:01But that was just his nature. That's just the way he is, isn't it?
11:04But for all his problems, Tony Dolan,
11:09Because, like I say, I've always said, I found it, I found it to be a fucking nightmare.
11:20But for all his problems, you know,
11:24You know, he couldn't have been that bad, because I was in a band with him for all those years, you know.
11:30So, but it was hard work.
11:32Like, and, you do get stuff done when you're in a band with somebody like that, because they're not just sitting, writing songs all the time, and, you know, being creative, man, they're like,
11:45They're maybe doing some managerial tasks as well, finding gigs.
11:51And promotion.
11:53So he's back in a band, he's got a new bass, new amp and all that, and we're rehearsing in this rehearsal space in Newcastle.
12:02And, you know, that's the thing I always remember, that I'm craft, like, right?
12:10Through, from the start to the end, it all sounded massive.
12:15Like, as soon as we all plugged in and started, the fucking sound was massive, like.
12:21That's, that's a really good sign of any, of any sort of, that's a sign of professional sort of standard musicians, like, you know, when it's, or the chemistry as well.
12:31It's just, it's just instantly big as soon as you start, you know?
12:34So that, that again was there, that again was there.
12:38And we started writing and recording new songs for what was going to be, in that year, 1987.
12:45There was going to be an album come out called Conductors of Noise.
12:53So Conductors of Noise was to be the album, and there was to be a tour.
12:58Now, Tony Dolan back in a band, it was like switching a light pattern.
13:02So now there was like, it was like somebody had, like, injected, like, a lightning bolt into Eric Cook, and now he's doing his job.
13:13You know, now there's two hours happening again.
13:15And festival do's, and we're done, like, Eindhoven Festival.
13:19So, you know, you know, Testament were playing on that show as well.
13:25Striper, there was about 20 odd bands, we were up there.
13:30And, you know, there's 15,000, 20,000 people.
13:34And big, was it any sunny?
13:35No, it wasn't sunny, was it?
13:38But that was, that was funny, that show.
13:40That was the show that I got rid of my gas mask.
13:47I had a gas mask that I had for part of Stage Gear, and I'd put in it studs, you know, stud of gas mask, you know.
13:59It's Mad Max, isn't it?
14:00And on that show, I was just getting sick of this thing clanking around on me, sort of, around me waist, you know.
14:11So I thought, I'm just going to throw this, like.
14:13So we finished a song, and I pulled the gas mask off.
14:20Of course, it's elasticated.
14:22It goes around your head.
14:23So I thought, I'm going to throw it in the crowd.
14:25So I started to throw it, spin it round and round, right.
14:28And I let it go, and I catapulted off.
14:31Well, I thought it would just go, like, about five rows into the crowd, and they would jump up and grab it, you know.
14:36But it actually just went, and went, and went, and went, until I couldn't see it.
14:41It just, like, just kept on going.
14:43So I always have this sort of funny image of, like, you know, a couple of Germans, a couple of Dutch, you know,
14:52at the sort of burger bar right at the back, and all of a sudden, one of them gets clouted on the side of the heat
14:56with this fucking studded gas mask, you know, because it just went and went, like.
15:02Well, that's what happened to the gas mask.
15:05But that throughout, of 87, who was that with again?
15:10Who was that with again?
15:12Mate, was it Nasty Savage?
15:13Oh, what were they called again?
15:16Anyway, there was lots of, lots of touring, full-on, great, oh, the Hammersmith Odeon,
15:22we played the Hammersmith Odeon, that was full-on by the BBC crew, that was, the video all came out of that.
15:30It was all happening.
15:31I mean, it was happening, there's more happening that year than they did in the 1985, you know.
15:36And I'm thinking, well, you know, Tony Dolan's back in a band, but fucking hell, there's stuff happening, like.
15:42So, I don't know what, what all that was about.
15:44Was, was Tony doing more managerial stuff than Eric?
15:51You know, I literally don't know, you know.
15:54Was the sort of, what was the thing about in 1986?
16:00Well, I don't know, I'm just guessing, you know.
16:02I would just be guessing.
16:03But, anyway, 87 was full-on, and, you know, there's ups and downs, fights, and crying sessions, and, you know,
16:16drunken stupas, and, you know, fucking intimidations, and fun, and love, and humour, and, you know, party times.
16:28It all happened.
16:29It was all happening in 87.
16:30And, you know, I think, I think I'd probably put 1987 as a bigger sort of rock star year than 85, really.
16:45It's just a shame about 86.
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