Always plenty of women...

"Heavy Metal Kids" were formed in London in 1973 and came to public awareness in 1974 conveying a strong cockney image. With Ronnie Thomas on bass, Keith Boyce on drums, keyboards by Danny Peyronel, Mickey Waller playing guitar and Gary Holton on vocals, Heavy Metal Kids were never ground breakers in the music industry, but they played no-nonsense and straightforward rock music.

Discovered by former "Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich" frontman Dave Dee, the Kids were signed by Atlantic Records and went immediately into the studio to record their debut album, Heavy Metal Kids. It was well received, but did little, a fate which many observers put down to the conflicting signals sent out by the band's name. A loyal live following began to form and London's "Speakeasy" club booked them to be their regular house band. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1974 and the 45 "Ain't Nothing But a House Party" followed shortly after. The band toured America under the band name "The Kids" and a year later released "Anvil Chorus" under the same name. Read a Classic Rock review of Anvil Chorus here.

Heading out for their first American tour in early 1975, the group dropped the Heavy Metal from their name, and gigged as the Kids alone. Recorded with new guitarist Cosmo replacing Waller, Anvil Chorus, their sophomore album, also appeared under this abbreviated name. It fared no better than its predecessor and, following a US tour with Alice Cooper, the Kids parted company with Atlantic towards the end of the year.

Read a live review from the 1975 tour here.

On a tour of Scandinavia the band had a competition to see how many girls each member of the group could sleep with. Gary won the £500 prize money bedding 26 girls in 28 nights. He claimed that he would sleep with a girl-a-night whilst he was on a tour, and lost count after the 3000 mark! The constant touring schedule during Gary's time with Heavy Metal Kids was about to take its toll. In the space of just one year they played 300 live gigs and traveled an average 1000 miles a day. Going from one gig to another all day, every day, Gary quickly began to hit the drink and at one stage was drinking a bottle of brandy a day. Gary recalled: "I was into booze in a big way, what else do you do in a van going from one gig to another? I was into drugs too, but almost by accident. What happens is that one morning you're knackered, so someone gives you something and you feel great all day. Next day you need it again, only you need more. That year we had been doing a gig a night and I was taking things to wake me up, taking things to make me sleep and boozing until dawn every day. Somebody looked at me across a hotel room and said "You look a bit queer". Next thing I knew I was staring at a hospital ceiling and I had been dead for two minutes. They only got my heart to work by punching me in the chest. My whole chest was one big bruise". Tragedy also struck in 1977 when Gary's girlfriend at the time, Tracey Boyle, died in his arms aged just 19 after choking on her own vomit after an alcoholic binge.

Gary's showmanship wasn't lost on Alice Cooper who booked HMK to open for him during a tour of the States. During one show Gary's antics caused him to fall off stage and break his leg, but he carried on with the tour and played the remainder with his leg in plaster. Danny Peyronel concedes that Gary's presence overshadowed the bands music. " It detracted from the fact that we were an exciting rock'n'roll band. Gary went so far over the top that his outrageous behaviour was all you could see. It was a drag, but you couldn't really complain because that's what the Heavy Metal Kids were all about."

The Kids signed with producer Mickie Most's RAK label, but before work could begin on their next album, Holton was loudly sacked from the lineup amid a storm of drink and drug related headlines. The Kids sacked Gary after a gig in Madrid, Spain. By then he no longer attended rehearsals and the band felt he was dragging them down. The band broke into Gary's hotel room and found him naked and comatose in bed with a bottle of brandy in his hand. Keith Boyce recalled: "We covered his dick with some Uriah Heep stickers, wound toilet paper around his head and put some ladies' silver stiletto's on him. Then we carried him on the mattress down in the lift and left him in the lobby on a big round table." Discovered by hotel chambermaids the following morning, Holton was arrested. The Kids didn't actually tell him he was no longer their singer, but Gary got took the hint.

The remaining members planned to continue on without him, this however, came to naught and three months later, in late 1977, Holton rejoined the band for a handful of live shows and the long-delayed third album, "Kitsch". Further personnel changes included the departures of Peyronel and Cosmo, to be replaced by John Sinclair (keyboards) and Barry Paul, guitarist on the group's original demos two years earlier. Success at last seemed to be within their grasp and the single
		"She's No Angel" secured them an appearance on Top Of The Pops. Without warning Gary decided to form his own band. "That really fucked us off" recalls Ronnie Thomas "Gary had been a good mate, but he was doing more drugs than ever and becoming obnoxious. He'd asked me to be best man at his wedding but he was turning into a nasty little bastard. On stage it all went out the window; he'd just sing whatever song came into his head."

After a gig on the Isle of Man - the proceeds from which were squandered by Gary in a casino - Keith Boyce decided that enough was enough. Ronnie Thomas soon followed suit, but both were persuaded to play one final show at the club where it all began; The Speakeasy. Ronnie Thomas remembers: "As Gary was getting ready to go on, he was wearing white cowboy boots, no trousers and a pink posing pouch. Across his chest he had two bullet belts. Gary was then attempting to load a Smith & Wesson revolver and bullets were scattered all over the floor."

In the front row of the gig was Johnny Rotten, who loudly and theatrically pronounced "Boring, boring" to anyone within earshot. But the Kids had already made an impression on the Sex Pistols' frontman which was proved when he passed on his approval in more private circumstances one night in the Roebuck pub in the Kings Road. A hush had descended as Gary and Rotten spotted each other in the snooker room. Ronnie Thomas recalls "Gary was holding court with me and a group of others by the fireplace when the atmosphere suddenly changed. Rotten had walked into the room with two big bouncers - he always had to be protected because he was an obnoxious little cunt. There was this deathly silence when finally Rotten undid this huge gold safety pin and put it on Gary's lapel. He then patted Gary's cheek and said "You've been ripped off Holton, How does it feel?""

Even though Danny Peyronel had been forced to quit the band that he loved, he still feels that he and the Heavy Metal Kids were cheated, to use a famous turn of phrase. "What happened to the Pistols in 1977 should've been us. We were one of the first bands to have the term "Punk Rock" used to describe us." Older, wiser, and over twenty-five years later, the Heavy Metal Kids have been back in the studio and out on the road with their new album "Hit The Right Button". Original members Peyronel, Thomas and Boyce have been joined by new members Marco Baruso and Marco Guarnerio. Catch them in a town near you.... the tea-break is over.

HMK live videos

Many thanks to Lars Reynold for this huge excerpt of the Kids live

Many thanks to Uriah Heep fan Bernie for this excellent snapshot of the Kids live

Heavy Metal Kids - Live at the BBC 4th August 1977

Thanks to a heads up from Myke Crombleholme, The Heavy Metal Kids' session at the BBC is now available to download from www.amazon.co.uk.

After the Kids...

Heavy Metal Kids disbanded shortly after "Kitsch" was released, but Gary was keen to keep on making music, and turned down the chance to front AC/DC when frontman Bon Scot sadly passed away. Gary's chance to continue to make music was with his friend Stein Groven. Gary had met Stein, better known as Casino Steel, in 1974 whilst Stein was playing with "The Hollywood Brats". They walked in the same musical circles and also shared Laurie O'Leary as their manager. They instantly bonded and began drinking together on a regular basis. It was there the idea of "Holton and Steel" was born.

Originally calling themselves "Lip Service" Gary and Stein began on the live London club circuit, regularly playing the famous "Dingwalls" club. Stein suggested to Gary that to concentrate on their music career it would be better for them to leave the bright lights of London altogether and to record material in Stein's native Norway. Stein's plan worked and "Holton/Steel" drew massive crowds to their live gigs and the duo released the albums: "Holton/Steel part 1" "Holton/Steel part 2" "Third Edition" "Number 4" and "We Did It Our Way". The real breakthrough came with their punk-country version of "Ruby (Don't take your love to town)" and several singles including "Listen" "No Reply" and Runaway" were also released. "Holton/Steel part 1" took two years to release, as record companies turned a blind eye to their project. Eventually, the debut album was released and sold a creditable 127,000 copies in Norway alone. A CD compilation album of the most popular songs was released by Stein in 1995 under the name "Ruby" as a tribute to Gary.

Read an interview with Casino Steel here.

Everywhere you go...

During the early 1980's, Gary wrote and performed the theme tune to the cult kids' TV series "Murphy's Mob".

Never let it fade away...

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