Quatermass were a British

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, active between 1969 and 1971. A related band, Quatermass II was active in the mid-1990s.

Career

The trio consisted of

bass player A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low bra ...

and

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

John Gustafson,

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instru ...

J. Peter Robinson and

Mick Underwood Michael John Underwood (5 September 1945 – 28 July 2024) was an English drummer. He first played drums at the age of 14 and was a professional musician by the time he left school. Underwood collaborated with a number of notable musicians an ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

. Underwood had previously played with

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English lead guitarist. He was a founding member and the guitarist of Deep Purple, one of the pioneering bands of hard rock. After leaving Deep Purple in 1975, Blackmore formed the band Rainbow ...

in the Outlaws, while Gustafson had been a member of Cass and the Casanovas, the Big Three, the Seniors, and

the Merseybeats The Merseybeats (sometimes written as the Mersey Beats) are an English band that emerged from the Liverpool Merseybeat scene in the early 1960s, performing at the Cavern Club along with the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and other similar ...

. Underwood later became drummer with

Episode Six Episode Six, Episode 6 or Episode VI may refer to: Film * ''Return of the Jedi'' also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'', a 1983 film Music * Episode Six (band), a British band Television episodes * Episode 6 (All of Us Are ...

, and was joined by Gustafson after

Roger Glover Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as a member of the hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and Roll ...

and

Ian Gillan Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is an English singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice. Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...

left to join

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

. The band took its name from Professor Bernard Quatermass, a fictional scientist who had been the hero of three

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

serials produced by

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

in the 1950s, and were signed to

Harvest Records Harvest Records is a British-American record label belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI in 1969. History Harvest Records was created by EMI in 1969 to market progressive rock music, and to compete with Philips' Vertigo ...

. The group formed as a

power trio A power trio is a rock band format having a lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit, leaving out a dedicated vocalist or an additional rhythm guitar or keyboard instrument that are often used in other rock music bands that are quart ...

, with the

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

as the main instrument. Their first and only album sold itself through "...compactness, wealth of ideas, forceful lead vocals and complicated arrangements, enriched by pianist Robinson's tasteful use of classical strings, which are on display along with spacious keyboard passages at their height in the mold of

The Nice The Nice were an English progressive rock band active in the late 1960s. They blended rock, jazz and classical music. Keyboardist Keith Emerson, bassist Lee Jackson (bassist), Lee Jackson, guitarist David O'List, and drummer Ian Hague ori ...

."Graf, Christian "Rock Musik Lexikon" (Taurus Press, Hamburg) One track, "Laughin' Tackle", includes 16 violins, 6 violas, 6 cellos, and 3 double basses, arranged by Robinson, and a drum solo by Underwood. Underwood remained in close contact with Blackmore, and visited Deep Purple in the studio while they were recording '' In Rock''. The group split in early 1971. Gustafson formed a new band, Hard Stuff (Bullet) with ex-members of

Atomic Rooster Atomic Rooster are a British rock band originally formed by members of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, organist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer. Their history is defined by two periods: the early-mid-1970s and the early 1980s. The band ...

. The band's song "Black Sheep of the Family", a cover of Fat Mattress, was the first track to be recorded by

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

, having been rejected for the

album '' Stormbringer''. ;Quatermass II In 1994, Underwood, and founding Deep Purple member

Nick Simper Nicholas John Simper (born 3 November 1945) is an English bass guitarist, who was a co-founding member of Deep Purple and Warhorse. In the 1960s, he began his professional career in bands such as Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, The Flower Pot M ...

joined in a project titled Quatermass II. Gustafson contributed two songs on their album, ''Long Road'' (1997), which also involved Gary Davis and Bart Foley on guitars, with

Don Airey Donald Smith Airey (born 21 June 1948) is an English musician. He came to prominence as the keyboardist of the rock band Rainbow during 1979–1982. He has been the keyboardist of Deep Purple, the band from which Rainbow was a spinoff, since 2 ...

on keyboards.

Band members

Quatermass

– drums, percussion (1969–1971; died 2024) * John Gustafson – bass, lead vocals (1969–1971; died 2014) * J. Peter Robinson – keyboards (1969–1971)

Quatermass II

*Mick Underwood – drums, percussion (1994–1999) *

– bass (1994–1999) *Peter Taylor – lead vocals (1994) *

Bernie Tormé Bernie Tormé (born Bernard Joseph Tormey; 18 March 1952 – 17 March 2019) was an Irish rock guitarist, songwriter, record label and recording studio owner. Tormé is best known for his work with Gillan, as well as his brief stint with Ozzy Os ...

– guitars (1994; died 2019) *

– keyboards (1994–1999) *Gary Davis – lead guitars (1994–1999) *Bart Foley – rhythm guitars, lead vocals (1994–1999)

Timeline

Discography

Albums

*''

Quatermass Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist originally created by writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the British E ...

'' (1970) *''Quatermass II: Long Road'' (1997)

Singles

*"Black Sheep of the Family" / "Good Lord Knows" (1970) *"One Blind Mice" / "Punting" (1971) *"Gemini" / "Black Sheep of the Family" (1971)

References

Citations Sources *

External links

Fan site
* {{Authority control Harvest Records artists Musical groups established in 1969 Musical groups disestablished in 1971 Musical groups reestablished in 1994 Musical groups disestablished in 1999 English progressive rock groups Rock music groups from London 1969 establishments in England 1999 disestablishments in England