Walrus (4)

British prog brass rock band active circa 1968 to 1972. Inspired by the music of American bands such as Blood, Sweat And Tears and Chicago (all of whom incorporated horn sections into their ranks), Walrus hailed from the London Area and were the musical brainchild of bass player Steve Hawthorn. The group was a 8-piece with a horn section of Don Richards (trumpet), Roy Voce (enor sax), Bill Hoad (saxophones, clarinet, flute) alongside Roger Harrison (drums), Barry Parfitt (organ and piano), John Scates (guitar) and Noel Greenaway (vocals). Walrus emerged on to the british live music scene in the early months of 1970 with an musical approach harder edge than many other "brass rock" outfits of the day, such as Heaven. Their sound more oriented rock came the attention of Decca Records, which signed the band in June 1970 under imprint of the subsidiary progressive label Deram. Short afterwards they recorded two tracks that was released as single in August 1970. In the meantime the drummer Roger Harrison departed to be replaced by Nick Gabb. In September Walrus recorded the other tracks that was issue on their debut album in December 1970. In January 1971 Deram selected a track which had been omitted from the album to be the A-side of Walrus next single. But, although the band attained a live following, neither their album nor both singles fared well commercially. Walrus went through further line-up changes, with drummer Ian Mosley replacing Nick Gabb, before splitting in 1972. Of all the members of the band, it was Mosley (who ironically had not played on any recordings by the band), who achieved the most success, firsly joining Darryl Way's Wolf before moving on to be an integral member of Steve Hackett's band and finally joining Marillion. Over the years the Walrus album became one of the harder to find Deram albums for collectors. Steve Hawthorn / bass guitar, 12-string guitar (3) John Scates / lead & rhythm guitars Noel Greenaway / vocals Bill Hoad / soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, flute, alto flute, clarinet Roy Voce / tenor saxophone Don Richards / trumpet, celesta Barry Parfitt / piano & organ Roger Harrison / drums, claves, cowbells, tambourine Nick Gabb / drums