The Gun were a late 1960s British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

guitar trio who had a single British Top Ten hit, "Race with the Devil" and recorded two albums before disbanding. The band included brothers Paul Gurvitz and

Adrian Gurvitz Adrian Israel Gurvitz (; born 26 June 1949) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. His prolific songwriting ability has gained him hits with Eddie Money's No. 1 ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock hit " The Love in Your Eyes" a ...

History

Evolving from the Ilford-based band,

The Knack The Knack was an American power pop band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1978 by Doug Fieger (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Berton Averre (lead guitar, backing vocals), Prescott Niles (bass) and Bruce Gary (drums). Spearheaded by the succes ...

, which included guitarist/vocalist Paul Gurvitz (born Paul Anthony Gurvitz, 6 July 1944,

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

(although he was known by the surname Curtis until the early 1970s), his brother

and drummer Louie Farrell, the trio changed their name in early 1968 to ''The Gun''. The full Knack lineup had been Paul Curtis (Gurvitz) on guitar and vocals, Louie Farrell (born Brian John Farrell, 8 December 1947,

Goodmayes Goodmayes is an area in Ilford, in East London, England. It is a ward of the London Borough of Redbridge, eleven miles north-east of Charing Cross, and forms part of both the Romford and Ilford post towns. Historically part of Essex, it was part ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

) (who had joined The Knack in mid 1966) on drums, Gearie Kenworthy on bass guitar (born 17 October 1946), Tim Mycroft playing organ (born 1949,

Purewell Purewell is an suburb of Christchurch, Dorset. The area is south of Burton, east of Christchurch Town Centre, west of Somerford and north of Stanpit. History Purewell is part of the Anglican parish of Christchurch Priory. To provide a plac ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

died 1 January 2010), and for a short while,

Jon Anderson Jon Anderson (born John Roy Anderson, 25 October 1944) is a British, and latterly American, singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the former lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassis ...

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

. The Knack had regularly performed at the

UFO Club The UFO Club ( ') was a short-lived UK underground, British counter-culture nightclub in London in the 1960s. The club was established by Joe Boyd and John Hopkins (political activist), John "Hoppy" Hopkins. It featured light shows, poetry r ...

, supporting bands such as

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

Arthur Brown Arthur Brown may refer to: Entertainment * Arthur William Brown (1881–1966), Canadian commercial artist * H. Arthur Brown (1906–1992), American orchestral conductor * Arthur Brown (musician) (born 1942), English rock singer * Arthur Brown, ...

and Tomorrow. Recording sessions at

Olympic Studios Olympic Studios was a British independent recording studio based on Church Road, Barnes, Church Road, Barnes, London, Barnes, London. It is best known for its recordings of many artists throughout the late 1960s to the first decade of the 21st ...

produced the unreleased single "Lights on the Wall", while in November 1967 they recorded for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

alternative music radio programme ''Top Gear'' and twice played on air. In early 1968, the band changed its line-up to a trio, with Paul Curtis (Gurvitz) on bass, Louie Farrell on drums and Adrian Curtis (Gurvitz) on guitar. After being signed to CBS Records in early 1968, the band scored a hit with the opening track from their eponymous album (1968), "Race with the Devil". Issued as a single in October 1968, it reached the top 10 in the UK Singles Chart, number 35 on the Australian Singles Chart and number 1 in many UK territories in March 1969.

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

quoted the song's riff during his song "Machine Gun" at the

Isle of Wight Festival The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970. Th ...

in 1970, as did

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, economic, legal, environmental, political, religious, scientific or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the curren ...

on their song "

Forty Five Hundred Times "Forty Five Hundred Times" is a song by British rock band Status Quo. It is the final track on their 1973 album '' Hello!'', almost ten minutes long and regularly performed live. The group's frontmen, Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt, have said it ...

" during a stage show at

Apollo Theatre The Apollo Theatre is a listed building, Grade II listed West End theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.

in Glasgow in 1976. "Race with the Devil" has been

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...

((1977) on the 2001 remastered CD version of ''

Sin After Sin ''Sin After Sin'' is the third studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 8 April 1977 by Columbia Records, and on 22 April in the UK, by CBS Records. Produced by Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover, it was the band's majo ...

''),

Black Oak Arkansas Black Oak Arkansas is an American Southern rock band named after the band's hometown of Black Oak, Arkansas. The band reached the height of its fame in the 1970s, charting ten albums. Their style is notable for multiple guitar players and ...

(on their 1977 album ''Race with the Devil''),

Girlschool Girlschool are a British rock band that formed in the new wave of British heavy metal scene in 1978. Frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead, they are the longest-running all-female rock band, still active after more than 40 ...

(on their 1980 album ''

Demolition Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction (building), deconstruction, which inv ...

''), and Church of Misery (on their 1996 demo, released as a split album with

Acrimony Acrimony may refer to: * a feeling of hatred * Acrimony (band), a rock band * ''Acrimony'' (film), a 2018 film See also * Agrimony ''Agrimonia'' (from the Greek ), commonly known as agrimony, is a genus of 12–15 species of perennial pla ...

, and on their full-length LP ''Vol. 1''). Their debut album's cover is noteworthy as it was the first by Roger Dean (credited as "W. Roger Dean" on the back of the sleeve).

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

described it as having a "distinctive psych-flavoured

proto-metal Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

" sound. Their second album, ''Gunsight'' included "cover design + photos" by

Hipgnosis Hipgnosis were an English art design group, based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, Def Leppard, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black S ...

and was released in 1969. Despite releasing a number of other singles, and an attempt by their record label to identify them with the underground counter-culture, the band had no further hits.

Aftermath

After a short time working separately, the Gurvitz brothers formed

Three Man Army Three Man Army was a British hard rock band active in the first half of the 1970s. History The group was formed by Adrian Gurvitz and Paul Gurvitz, formerly of the Gun. Following that band's dissolution, Adrian played with Buddy Miles and P ...

in 1971 and recorded three albums. Between 1974 and 1976, Three Man Army became the

Baker Gurvitz Army Baker Gurvitz Army were an English Rock Music, rock group. Their Baker Gurvitz Army (album), self-titled debut album featured a blend of hard rock laced with Ginger Baker's jazz- and Afrobeat-influenced drumming. The lengthy "Mad Jack" was th ...

with

Ginger Baker Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and Music of Africa, Africa ...

, the former drummer for

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

, in the line-up. The trio recorded three albums: ''Baker Gurvitz Army'', ''Elysian Encounter'' and ''Hearts on Fire''. During the same period, the Gurvitz brothers recorded two albums under the name The Graeme Edge Band, with drummer

Graeme Edge Graeme Charles Edge (30 March 1941 – 11 November 2021) was an English musician, songwriter and poet, best known as the co-founder and drummer of the English band the Moody Blues. In addition to his work with the Moody Blues, Edge worked as th ...

The Moody Blues The Moody Blues were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in May 1964. The band initially consisted of Graeme Edge (drums), Denny Laine (guitar/vocals), Mike Pinder (keyboards/vocals), Ray Thomas (multi-instrumentalist/vocals) and Clint W ...

: ''Kick Off Your Muddy Boots'' and ''Paradise Ballroom''. It was not a touring band, and also featured Baker. Paul Gurvitz latterly toured as the Paul Gurvitz and the New Army.

Discography

* Gun – March 1969 * Gunsight – December 1969

References

External links

Paulgurvitz.comGun
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gun English rock music groups English hard rock musical groups English acid rock music groups Proto-metal groups English progressive rock groups English psychedelic rock music groups English musical trios Musical groups established in 1967 Musical groups established in 1970 CBS Records artists