More Black than Purple

The Ultimate Ritchie Blackmore Magazine established 1996

Raw Glory
The Globe, Brentford

6th July 2007

© Mick Underwood.com

Raw Glory is the latest band by Blackmore's former band mate and ex-Gillan drummer, Mick Underwood. Completing the line-up is former Heavy Metal Kids guitarist Cosmo, and Burn bassist & vocalist Johnny Heywood. Combining a mixture of their own compositions and some well-known covers is a sure fire way of guaranteeing bums on seats for this bluesy, rock outfit. With Underwood having played alongside Free's Paul Rodgers in the short-lived Peace, it was no surprise that 'Fire & Water' and 'Wishing Well' were both performed.

Elsewhere, despite his connections with the Purple family, what many might not know is that Underwood was always more a fan of Zeppelin. As such they closed the show with 'Whole Lotta Love' and 'Rock 'n' Roll'. The former included a terrific solo from Underwood and received the biggest cheer of the night. Cosmo and Heywood also proved their worth, particularly during the bluesier numbers such as Hendrix's 'Little Wing' that saw a nice workout from the guitarist. Elsewhere Heywood shone on the likes of 'In A Broken Dream', a number that perfectly suits his gravel flavoured voice, and in particular with Raw Glory's own composition 'Bad Girl'. It's still early days for the band but if they can produce more material in the vein of the latter I've no doubt their audiences will continue to grow. (JB)
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Created from the partnership of former Gillan band mates, McCoy and Tormé, this gig was a warm up for the bands prestigious spot at the forthcoming Rock and Blues Custom Show in Derbyshire. As such, it was rather bizarre and somewhat insulting that they were supporting a Led Zeppelin tribute band, but it didn’t seem to bother the guys. As they took the stage, there was only a handful inside the hall and McCoy jokingly said, “welcome to the secret performance”.

But as soon as GMT started up, it didn’t take long for the rest of the crowd to filter through from the bar area. Their forty-five minute set didn’t let up for a minute, and this awesome three-piece took no prisoners with their powerhouse performance. John McCoy once wrote a song (ironically about Bernie Tormé) called Heavy Metal Cowboy. If a song was written about GMT, an appropriate title would be Heavy Metal Juggernaut, albeit with the performance of a Formula 1 car.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a band that has excited me this much. GMT might take its cue from such powerhouse trios of the ilk of Cream and Mountain, but if you can imagine the latter with enough performance enhancing anabolic steroids to run the Olympics, you have some idea of the power of GMT. Bernie Tormé and John McCoy might well be the big names in this band, but Robin Guy’s contribution is immense. The former Bruce Dickinson drummer has all the visual appeal of Keith Moon and Mountain’s Corky Laing rolled into one, and his performance was tighter than a nun’s chastity belt. McCoy’s thunderous bass felt like a herd of elephants were roaming through the hall and sat perfectly alongside Guy’s incredible drumming.

With such a solid rhythm section, Bernie Tormé couldn’t fail to impress with his flamboyant Hendrix and Blackmore influenced style and his trusty old Stratocaster saw plenty of use and abuse. Tracks from their excellent ‘Bitter & Twisted’ debut were well received. ‘Cannonball’ is already established as a classic, but ‘Down To Here’ saw Tormé develop this bluesy ballad into an awesome tour de force. The old Gary US Bonds classic ‘New Orleans’ that McCoy and Tormé also had a hit with in Gillan, and the inevitable ‘Smoke On The Water’, which they also managed to breathe new life into, rounded off their all too brief but excellent set.

If there is a better three-piece than GMT currently doing the rounds then my name is Lord Lucan. Fortunately GMT isn’t as elusive as the Belgravian peer and only a total numskull would refrain from catching these crazy guys at one of the many dates they now have lined up for the rest of the year. (JB)

CHECK OUT THE GMT INTERVIEW!

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