Leaf Hound reviews, music, news

Leaf Hound were one of the dozens of heavy rock bands that evolved during the late-'60s British blues-rock boom. Rhythm guitarist DerekBrooks and his brother, Stuart Brooks, had been in the Black Cat Bones, a South London-based band that at one time featured Free's PaulKossoff. Vocalist Peter French and his cousin, lead guitarist Mick Halls, had been in several London groups: Switch, Erotic Eel, Joe Poe, andthe Brunning Sunflower Blues Band (featuring Bob Brunning). In the latter half of 1970, after the Black Cat Bones' lead guitarist Rod Pricequit (he was heading off to join Foghat), th ...read more

Leaf Hound were one of the dozens of heavy rock bands that evolved during the late-'60s British blues-rock boom. Rhythm guitarist DerekBrooks and his brother, Stuart Brooks, had been in the Black Cat Bones, a South London-based band that at one time featured Free's PaulKossoff. Vocalist Peter French and his cousin, lead guitarist Mick Halls, had been in several London groups: Switch, Erotic Eel, Joe Poe, andthe Brunning Sunflower Blues Band (featuring Bob Brunning). In the latter half of 1970, after the Black Cat Bones' lead guitarist Rod Pricequit (he was heading off to join Foghat), the Brooks brothers formed a new group with Halls and French, drafting in newcomer Keith GeorgeYoung on drums. This new group -- christened Leaf Hound, a name found in an anthology of stories by horror writer Herbert Van Thal --recorded "Barbed Wire Sandwich" for Decca's Nova subsidiary in 1969, and soon were playing shows in England, reportedly blowingheadliners UFO off-stage. A full-length recording contract with Decca Records soon followed, and the band found themselves ensconced inthe Mayfair's Spot Studios, where they recorded Growers of Mushrooms in a mere 11 hours. Meanwhile, the band traveled to Germany, wheretheir album was licensed for release by the Telefunken label. This German-only release actually preceded the official U.K. release on Decca;somewhat surprisingly, it omitted two tracks: the title song and the lead-off track, a blistering "Freelance Fiend." Telefunken also issued asingle, "Drowned My Life in Fear," which was backed with the non-LP track "It's Going to Get Better." Then, in October 1971, Decca finallyreleased the band's debut in their own country, adding back the omitted tracks. However by then, Leaf Hound had already decided to call it aday. French had the most success thereafter. He was briefly in a group called Big Bertha before he joined Atomic Rooster, around the time of1971's In Hearing of Atomic Rooster. He eventually left that band to join the U.S.-based boogie band Cactus (featuring former VanillaFudge members Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice), then returned to the U.K. to join a later lineup of Randy Pie, circa 1977. He also sang inDer Fuhrer, a controversial German rock opera highlighting the futility of war, before finally recording a solo album, 1978's Ducks in Flight,for Polydor Germany with an all-star session crew including ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian Robertson and Kenney Jones (ex-Small Faces).Growers of Mushrooms, long out of print for decades (and commanding a hefty price from collectors, up to as much as 1,300 dollars), wasfinally reissued on CD by Repertoire in 1994 and See for Miles in 1995. « hide

Similar Bands: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Atomic Rooster

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