Black Widow (band)
Encyclopedia
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 compared with the better-known Heavy metal
band Black Sabbath
, but the bands were only superficially similar.
), 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
). 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. 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. These acts at time were very shocking but now a common use in the underground music scene, black metal
. The band attracted further controversy by consulting infamous witch Alex Sanders
for advice.
Controversy aside, Sacrifice reached #32 on the UK Albums Chart
. The band also performed at the Whitsun Festival at Plumpton
, UK
, 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. 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. 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 started to work on new Black Widow music. Paolo "Apollo" Negri from an Italian hard rock band Wicked Minds agreed to join the project on keyboards. The latest Black Widow studio album has a title Sleeping With Demons. Tony Martin
is featured on the album as a guest vocalist on the song Hail Satan.
Black Widow's most popular song Come to the Sabbat has been covered by many bands and artists including Timberjack (Top 10 hit in New Zealand in 1971), Jon the Postman, Bewitched
, Death SS
and Propagandhi
.
Clive Jones of Black Widow together with Mark Pollard & Kevin Brooks wrote an Abba tribute song "Hey You Ring Me Tonigt" recorded by the Swedish band The Airwaves and released 2008 on their 3 tracker CD with the same name (Riverside Records Bonnier Amigo Distribution).
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
that formed in Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in September 1969. The band were mostly known for its early use of satanic
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
and occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
imagery in their music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and stage act. The band were often compared with the better-known Heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
, but the bands were only superficially similar.
History
The band originally formed in 1966 as Pesky Gee! with Kay Garrett (lead vocalsSinging
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
), Kip Trevor (lead vocals, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
), Chris Dredge (guitar), Bob Bond (bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
), Clive Box (drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
), Jess "Zoot" Taylor (organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
), Clive Jones (saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
and flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
). Jim Gannon (guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vocals and vibes
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
), replaced Dredge in Spring 1969. The band split in September 1969.
The band released one album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
for Pye Records
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
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. 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. These acts at time were very shocking but now a common use in the underground music scene, black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
. The band attracted further controversy by consulting infamous witch Alex Sanders
Alex Sanders (Wiccan)
Alex Sanders , born Orrell Alexander Carter, was an English occultist and High Priest in the Neopagan religion of Wicca, responsible for founding the tradition of Alexandrian Wicca during the 1960s. He was a figure who often appeared in tabloid newspapers...
for advice.
Controversy aside, Sacrifice reached #32 on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
. The band also performed at the Whitsun Festival at Plumpton
Plumpton, East Sussex
Plumpton is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is located five miles north-west of Lewes. The parish includes the small village of Plumpton and the larger village of Plumpton Green to the north where most of the community and services are based...
, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, 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. Having replaced Bond and Box with Geoff Griffith and Romeo Challenger
Romeo Challenger
Romeo Challenger is a Caribbean-born, British-based musician.Challenger was born in St Johns, Antigua, West Indies. Since 1973 he has been the drummer in the rock and roll band Showaddywaddy...
, 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
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
. The band recorded an album, Black Widow IV, later in 1972 without a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
. 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
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
of their debut album, made before Garrett left the band, were released as Return to the Sabbat. In 2000 Black Widow Records (an Italian label) released King of the Witches: Black Widow Tribute featuring bands such as Death SS
Death SS
Death SS is an Italian heavy metal band.-Biography:Death SS was formed in 1977 by Steve Sylvester. The band combined elements of horror and heavy metal to become a pioneer in horror metal and gothic metal, as well as doom metal and black metal. Death SS were one of the first...
and Church of Misery
Church of Misery
is a doom metal band from Tokyo, Japan. Church of Misery's style melds early-era Black Sabbath style doom with psychedelic rock.-History:Most songs by Church of Misery are about serial killers and mass murderers...
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 started to work on new Black Widow music. Paolo "Apollo" Negri from an Italian hard rock band Wicked Minds agreed to join the project on keyboards. The latest Black Widow studio album has a title Sleeping With Demons. Tony Martin
Tony Martin (rock singer)
Anthony Martin Harford , better known by his stage name Tony Martin, is a heavy metal vocalist best known for his work with Black Sabbath from 1987 to 1991 and again from 1993 to 1997. Martin was the band's second longest serving vocalist after Ozzy Osbourne...
is featured on the album as a guest vocalist on the song Hail Satan.
Black Widow's most popular song Come to the Sabbat has been covered by many bands and artists including Timberjack (Top 10 hit in New Zealand in 1971), Jon the Postman, Bewitched
Bewitched (Swedish band)
Bewitched is a Swedish retro thrash band with black metal elements. The Devil's most favorite band mission began in 1995, when Vargher and Blackheim decided that something drastic had to be done.They hooked up with Samantha and Darrin, and entered...
, Death SS
Death SS
Death SS is an Italian heavy metal band.-Biography:Death SS was formed in 1977 by Steve Sylvester. The band combined elements of horror and heavy metal to become a pioneer in horror metal and gothic metal, as well as doom metal and black metal. Death SS were one of the first...
and Propagandhi
Propagandhi
Propagandhi is a Canadian punk band formed in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in 1986 by Chris Hannah and Jord Samolesky. The band is currently located in Winnipeg, Manitoba....
.
Clive Jones of Black Widow together with Mark Pollard & Kevin Brooks wrote an Abba tribute song "Hey You Ring Me Tonigt" recorded by the Swedish band The Airwaves and released 2008 on their 3 tracker CD with the same name (Riverside Records Bonnier Amigo Distribution).
Personnel details
- Kay Garrett (born 5 April 1949, LeicesterLeicesterLeicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, LeicestershireLeicestershireLeicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
). - Kip Trevor (born Christopher J Trevor, 12 November 1946, LittlemoreLittlemoreLittlemore is a district of Oxford, England. It has a parish council that also represents parts of Rose Hill. It is about southeast of the city centre of Oxford, between Rose Hill, Blackbird Leys, Cowley, and Sandford-on-Thames.-History:...
, OxfordshireOxfordshireOxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
). - Jim Gannon (born James Gannon, 1947, LeicesterLeicesterLeicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, Leicestershire). - Bob Bond (born Robert Bond, 2 October 1940, BrightonBrightonBrighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
, SussexSussexSussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
). - Clive Box (born in 1946, Leicester, Leicestershire).
- Jess "Zoot" Taylor (born 10 November 1948, Leicester, Leicestershire).
- Clive Jones (born Clive Alan Jones, 28 May 1949, Leicester, Leicestershire).
- Geoff Griffiths (born Geoffrey Griffiths, 4 April 1948, Leicester, Leicestershire).
- Romeo Challenger (born 18 May 1950, AntiguaAntiguaAntigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
, West Indies). - John Culley (born in 1946, Leicester, Leicestershire).
Albums
- Return to the Sabbat LP (1969)
- Exclamation Mark LP (1969) as Pesky Gee! (Pye RecordsPye RecordsPye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
) - SacrificeSacrifice (Black Widow album)Sacrifice is the debut album by Black Widow. It features the band's best known song "Come to the Sabbat".- Track listing :# "In Ancient Days" 7:40 # "Way to Power" 3:58 # "Come to the Sabbat" 4:56...
LP (1970 CBS RecordsCBS RecordsCBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
) - Black WidowBlack Widow (album)Black Widow is an eponymous album released in 1971 by British occult-based hard rock band Black Widow. It was issued in 1971 on CBS Records and was produced by Patrick Meehan Jr....
LP (1971 CBS Records) - III LP (1972 CBS Records)
- IV LP (1973 CBS Records)
- Sleeping With Demons CD (2011 Smack Management)
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/DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
(2008 Mystic Records)
Singles
- "Come to the Sabbat" b/w "Way to Power" (1970 CBS RecordsCBS RecordsCBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
) - "Wish You Would" b/w "Accident" (1971 CBS Records)
Reissue / compilation
- Return to the Sabbat CDCompact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
(2001 Black Widow Records) - Come to the Sabbat - Anthology Double albumDouble albumA double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
CD (2003 Sanctuary Records)