Allan Atkins - Judas Priest
Everyones heard of Judas Priest, but did you know they formed at the tail-end of the 60s and had a lead vocalist that wasn’t Rob Halford? It’s true and it’s all part of the legend of Allan Atkins! Mr. Atkins participated in a handful of bands such as The Medallions, Bitta Sweet and Jug Blues Band before joining JP as the front man, but once the starts aligned they would remain bright and silver for the next 50 years. It was a pleasure speaking with Allan about his early days and what led up to the birth of one of the most influential rock bands of all time. Enjoy!
When and where were you born? Are you originally from West Bromwich? What was growing up like for you? When did you first begin to fall in love with music and what led to that passion?
I was born in West Bromwich and still live there and grew up in the 60's music boom listening to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and all rest of the bands that were starting out in these crazy times and I so wanted to be a part of it so my Dad bought me a kit of drums to learn on... Pretty soon I teamed up with a local lad who played a mean guitar name Brian 'Bruno' Stapenhill and we recruited a bass and rhythm player and called ourselves 'The Medallions' playing a mix of Beatles and Shadows material and pretty soon we were playing our first gigs.
Allan at the age 16 posing with his old air raid shelter in Marsh Lane while wearing his Beatles jacket, drainpipe trousers and winkle picker shoes... He was a young drummer/vocalist in an early 60's beat group called ''The Medallions” during this period. (Below)
I took on the role of vocals too and we looked really smart in our grey trousers and blazers... This band only lasted a short time before I fired the bass and rhythm players because Bruno and myself wanted to change direction in our music after listening to new bands like 'The Who', The Small Faces and 'The Yardbirds' who were more exciting and Bruno switched over to bass on my advice and we recruited a young guitarist name Albert Hinton and changed our name to 'The Reaction'. There was a local venue called The Adelphi Ballroom where Bruno and myself would watch all the top live acts there like The Who, Pink Floyd and Cream to name a few and it would inspire us to keep moving with the times and progressing in our music...
Our next band would become one of our best in the 60's when I took over the microphone for the first time and became a front man we also became a five piece and in came guitarist Bingy Fieldhouse on guitar and Lossa Farley on drums and we changed our name to 'The Bitta Sweet'. We played on the Plaza circuit with names like David Bowie, Cat Stevens and Long John Baldrey brushing shoulders with Elton John and Rod Stewart and for the first time we played The Adelphi Ballroom ourselves with another young up and coming vocalist name Robert Plant and his group 'The Band of Joy'...
Jug Blues Band prio to forming JP circa: 1968/69.
Sugarstack circa: 1967.
How did Judas Priest initially come about and what led to the decision to start the group in 1969? What did you guys want to achieve that maybe you couldn't in the previous incarnations? As a complete Bob Dylan freak, I found it very fascinating that a song of his inspired the name for the group. What did Dylan mean to you back in those days, or at least that particular tune, being you guys were on the other spectrum of music as him? May I ask how the late John Perry passed away shortly after the band had formed?
Albert left 'The Bitta Sweet' to live in Australia we split up and like always through the 60's Bruno and myself stuck together and moved on to another project and in 1969 we decided to go again… Various bands had a big influence on us namely 'Cream' and 'Deep Purple' and we decided to follow this path and hit the road again with drummer John Partridge and guitarist Johnny Perry and this time we wanted fame more than ever but only a few months into rehearsing we had the tragic news that Johnny had committed suicide... This was a bitter blow, but decided after his funeral that we would carry on just for Johnny and started interviewing new guitarists to take his place.
The Bitta Sweet circa: 1966 taken by the fountain in Birmingham.
One guitarist that came was a young K.K Downing who really looked the part with his good looks and long blond hair but he lacked experience at the time and we decided to choose a kid from Birmingham name Ernie Chataway… Bruno was a really big Bob Dylan fan and was playing one of his albums 'John Wesley Harding' when a song came on called 'The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest' and he thought that's a great name for a band and put it to us the next day and we all agreed on yes lets use that... So 'JUDAS PRIEST' was born.
Cliffs of Cornwall circa: 1969.
Where would you guys rehearse and what was the chemistry like between everyone when first forming the band? When and where was the first JP show? What was that experience like? What did the set list consist of around this time? Can you tell me about writing and recording the demos for tracks 'Good Time Woman' and 'Mind Conception'? You mentioned in our correspondence that your vocals were only recorded on those tracks (above) during your time in JP, correct?
We rehearsed at a place called Holy Joe's in Wednesbury which was an old school opposite a church and ran by Father Husband who collected money from the bands that used it in the several rooms that were available shouting FARES PLEASE. After collecting the fees he would go up the pub on the corner of the street and drink a few beers... Lots of bands used this place to rehearse like Trapeze, Slade and Robert Plant to name a few... We had now joined an agency ran by Alan Eade called Ace Management and he took us into the studio's to record our first demo, a song of mine called 'Good Time Woman' which sounded very catchy which is what Alan wanted and it attracted a few record companies like Decca Records and Immediate Records. One of our first gigs in late '69 was at a youth Club in Friar Park and next was at The George Hotel,Walsall which these record companies came to see us live.
Circa: 1969.
Immediate Records signed us up with a four year contract and we were over the moon and celebrated at Alans house with a few bottles of Champers… 'Immediate' was run by a guy called Andrew Loog Oldham who was once press officer for The Beatles and who discovered The Rolling Stones and they had some really good bands on their books. It was now 1970 and our next gigs was a tour of Scotland but our drummer pulled out so I had to play drums and sing just like the old days but we got through it has the old saying 'The show must go on' We played a set list of songs of which some were mine and others were by bands like FREE, Steppenwolf, Quicksilver and Spirit... On returning home we hired a new drummer Fred Woolley, but never got to play live with him only our agency told us Immediate Records had folded so we were back to the drawing board and then Bruno had this offer from another band to tour Denmark and took it so we split up...
K.K. with the moves!
Circa: 1970.
What were JP shows like between 1969 and 1973 before you departed? Were you more focused on playing live gigs than you were recording music and putting out a record? Where would you guys play and what memories from those particular times still stand out in your mind ?
We played anywhere we could from small clubs to start with in 1970 and in 1972 we played over 150 gigs across the country with the new line up now of K.K Downing on guitar and Ian Hill on bass... By 1973 we were playing Town Halls and theaters and yes we were more concentrating on building up a following than recording and we recorded just one more demo of two of my songs called 'Mind Conception' and 'Holy is the Man'.
The first demo acetate that was recorded in 1971 at Zella Studio's in B'ham.
Brief agent for the band.
First JP demo right after Atkins left the band. The songs are Atkin’s 'Whiskey Woman' and K.K's first song that he wrote called 'Run of the Mill. The name Norman on the cover was Norman Hood who worked for ‘Tramp Entertainments' who had Priest on their books. (Above)
We did have some record companies interested but only small independent labels and so I thought we should wait until the right major label came along. We were now an opening band for many top artists at the time who were on tour like Status Quo, Slade, Spirit, Gary Moore, Budgie and Thin Lizzy to name just a few, I was a big fan of early Thin Lizzy with Eric Bell on guitar and the night we played alongside them at Stafford Hall was a great memory for me. We had now got through three drummers in three years from 1970 to 1973 who were John Ellis, Alan Moore and Chris 'Congo'Campbell.
Circa: 1972/73.
Promo shot of the band circa: 1972.
Is it true that Tony Iommi and Norman Hood recorded the 'Morpheus - Live At Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham, England on April 15th of 1973? What was that night like? You guys opened up for a group called Family, correct? What led to parting from the band that summer in July?
They were both there because they had booked the gig for us and with a tape recorder but I don't really know who recorded it to be honest...? It's only just surfaced after all these years... It was a good gig if I remember and the first time we had played at the Hippodrome Theatre in our home town. I was a big fan of vocalist Roger Chapman was it was great to open up for him and Family…
Circa: 1973. (The band at Stonehenge that same year below)
When you reflect on your time in Judas Priest, what are you most fond of? What are you most proud of and are you still close to some of those guys after all these years?
Working with Judas Priest from '69 to '73 left me with some great memories working with some great people from the musicians to the road crew. It was also a time that I wrote some of my best work which I am proud of and which Judas Priest recorded on their first two albums, songs like Winter, Caviar and Meths, Never Satisfied, Dreamer Deceiver and Victim of Changes… The last one was originally a song called Whiskey Woman and the band added a guitar intro and a slow song at the end written by Rob Halford called Red Light Lady and they then retitled it 'Victim of Changes' and it is a song they still play on this day 50 years later... Yes I'm still good friends with the band and Ian Hill always invites me to his house every new year to celebrate along with one of our old roadies and good friend Trevor Lunn.
Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
Being a musician is a labour of love and not everyone makes it to the top of the tree but it's in your blood and myself I still get that buzz from playing live and creating new songs, so here I am after 55 years in the business and recording yet another new album with guitarist Paul May to be released next year... So look out for the new music from the ATKINS/MAY/PROJECT. Stay safe all.
