Strife formed in 1971 and were gigging regularly by the end of that year. In February 1972, they recorded a live album at Wall City Club at Quaintways, Chester. It was never released. When an album finally emerged in 1975, it contained the most popular numbers from their stage act. They went on to record a second album Back To Thunder in 1978.
The history of STRIFE began in 1969, when three young musicians first got together: Paul Ellson (drums), Peter Trotman (guitar) and Peter Hobbs (bass). As the number of concerts increased, their own material was formed, the new vocalist-bass guitarist Gordon Rowley (Gordon Rowley), who replaced Hobbs, was very successful in activating the creative growth of the team. About a year in the group played keyboardist Graham Keane (Graham Kin), but he soon chose to part with the group.
The line-up changes continued with the addition of second guitarist John Reid of THE KLUBBS to STRIFE. With him, the musicians recorded their first demo, but Trotman left the small band, instead of which, on the recommendation of Reid, he was free vocalist Paddy Breen (Paddy Breen), who had also sung in THE KLUBBS before. But it seems that the fate of the warrior in the trio format was destined for the beginning group, since Brin did not stay in it for a long time either. In 1972, Reid was back racing, so the well-known Peter Torman filled in for a while.
STRIFE often met in the clubs of his native Liverpool, and often misfortune happened to Gordon Rowley, which almost became fatal for him – right during the concert he got under voltage and received a strong electric shock. Fortunately, during the observation, it turned out that in the literal sense, the doctor felt the salvation of the unfortunate musician. Soon the line-up of Illson-Reid-Rowley became combat-ready again and Edwin Starr saw their performance during a concert in Liverpool’s Mardi Gray club. STRIFE made a strong impression on Edwin, who was known as a musical soul performer, and he suggested that the musicians take the demo to suit his mood. With “Magic Of The Dawn” demos active, STRIFE went to Los Angeles in 1973. In captivity, they met Mel Evans (Mai Evans), who worked at Apple and was at one time the road manager of THE BEATLES.
Mel was full of creative ideas and at that time worked on solo projects by John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Our heroes also participate in some of his ideas. According to legend, around the same time, Evans works, almost persuaded the former “Beatles” to make up and start together again. But not destiny…
A STRIFE continued their journey to fame, again with the help of Edwin Starr, with people who happened to meet in captivity. Edwin knocked out the musicians for the second time without difficulty. He became a demo tape, and Dean Punished (R. Dean Taylor) was the producer of these records, which were produced in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In the meantime, the group returned to their homeland, but soon they again went into a plane crash. Here STRIFE already demands fame and excellent reputation of the band. It is for this reason that they received an offer from the William Morris Agency (William Morris Agency), offices that recently lost their main stars. GRAND FUNK RAILWAY. Moreover, STRIFE, like the famous Americans, wrote in the “power-trio” format. However, the English hard rockers refused the lucrative offer and went back to England. In a sense, they were lucky, since it was the performance of STRIFE that was a coincidence that took place in the famous Liverpool Cavern Club – it was close to being closed, the building, in the location of the legendary demolition institution …
In 1974 STRIFE finally signed with Chrysalis Records and in 1975 their debut album Rush was released. Following the release of the record, the band went on tour with the BAKER GURVITZ ARMY. The musicians very impulsively “lit up” at the meeting during their performances and after this tour, rumors spread that other stars did not invite STRIFE to invite them to warm up. On the one hand, it’s good that the people so actively welcomed the band’s performances, but on the other hand, the musicians lost some of the proposals for organizing large tours. Moreover, the group had no professional management, and the musicians themselves were in charge of STRIFE’s affairs.
To all the problems of our heroes, one more thing was added – “Chrysalis” has serious financial problems, and the company did not pay almost any attention to the musicians, but it was in no hurry to break the contract. It turned out to be some kind of a vicious circle, which we meet to break, there were continuous “live” performances, good concerts of the group’s ability to stay afloat, thanks to the fans. At the same time, another attempt was made to expand the line-up, this time the guitarist’s follower was Vic Pappaleo. But the fourth was still superfluous, and Vic unexpectedly broke away.
Driven by the problems of their record company, STRIFE could not release new material, since under the terms of the contract they had to work only with Chrysalis, and they, in turn, seemed to have completely forgotten about the existence of their wards. As a result, the musicians, together with agent Paul King (Paul King), created their own company Outlaw Records, which released the EP “School” in 1977.
Luckily, STRIFE soon got rid of Chrysalis’s painful tutelage and signed a new contract with EMI. First of all, the new guardians re-released “School”, slightly changing the order of the songs on the second side of the record. However, in terms of popularity, nothing changed – STRIFE still had to be content with the role of headliners in albeit legendary, but still quite small clubs, like London’s Marquee. What’s more, the list of bands that refused to play with STRIFE was growing day by day: PROCOL HARUM, JUDAS PRIEST, AVERAGE WHITE BAND and SLADE…
Unfortunately, all these events did not have the best effect on the climate within the group. Paul Illson, who founded the team eight years ago, broke down first. He left
from STRIFE at the very beginning of 1977, and the new drummer was David Williams (David Williams), a former Illson roadie and who knew the band’s material perfectly. In this composition, the musicians recorded the second full-length album “Back To Thunder”, which was released in 1978 on the label “Gull Records”.
Unfortunately, by this point the musical mood had changed radically, hard rock was in deep underground, and many promoters turned their backs on bands like STRIFE. After holding on for some time almost on bare enthusiasm, the group broke up. The official reason for the breakup was Gordon Rowley’s illness. After that, STRIFE reconvened in the early 80s for a short reunion tour, which was quite successful in the wake of the resurgence of interest in heavy rock. Unfortunately, no material was recorded then. But in 2006, Timeline Records released the CD “Rockin' The Boat” with live recordings of the classic line-up of the group.