Quartz came out of the British hard rock hotbed of Birmingham to join the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement in thelate '70s. With
alineup that included John Bonham-associate Mike Hopkins and future Black Sabbath keyboardist Geoff Nichols,they were actually founded
underthe name Bandylegs but changed when Jet Records showed interest in the band. They signeda contract with the label and toured with
bothAC/DC and Sabbath before beginning work on their first album. The tour withBlack Sabbath turned out to be quite fruitful, as they gained a
tourmanager (Albert Chapman) and a big fan ...read more
Quartz came out of the British hard rock hotbed of Birmingham to join the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement in thelate '70s. With
alineup that included John Bonham-associate Mike Hopkins and future Black Sabbath keyboardist Geoff Nichols,they were actually founded
underthe name Bandylegs but changed when Jet Records showed interest in the band. They signeda contract with the label and toured with
bothAC/DC and Sabbath before beginning work on their first album. The tour withBlack Sabbath turned out to be quite fruitful, as they gained a
tourmanager (Albert Chapman) and a big fan in Sabbath guitaristTony Iommi. Iommi took over the production duties on their eponymous
debut,drafting Queen's Brian May into the sessions toplay some guitar. The album was important to the emerging scene, and they joined
Diamondheadand Def Leppard in being oneof the first bands to make heavy metal faster and less plodding. Quartz stayed relevant to the genre
for their shorttimetogether, but by 1983 their irreconcilable differences split the band apart. Time has eroded how important the band was to
thegenre at thetime, but fans of that period in heavy metal history know Quartz's place in the scheme of things. « hide
