• Thanks to Jim Wilson for this lost information...

    I'm listening to a tape of Trapeze on the BBC from 1973. It contains an interesting nugget of info I had forgotten. The announcer tells how Glenn will be changing to rhythm guitar and that they are auditioning bass players. (there was a conga player on stage at this gig) "They will become an expanded 5-piece Trapeze", he said.

    ......imagine that!

  • Maybe this was mention elsewhere on the site but I read more details about Trapeze adding a new bass player as Glenn moved to rhythm guitar.

    On Page 76 of the booklet in the Deep Purple Listen Learn Read On boxset I read this blurb.

    In late March 1973 Trapeze decided to bring in a bass player, 21 year old Peter Mackie, giving Glenn more freedom to concentrate on singing, as well as playing rhythm guitar. "We auditioned over a hundred musicians and the person we chose comes from Wolverhampton!" He fitted in immediately", Hughes enthused at the time. "We're really looking forward to getting the new line-up under way." They were also planning to cut their fourth album in Memphis. Mackie made his debut at the Ilkeston Regency on March 30th 1973.

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  • I posted this a few years ago about a five piece trapze - reproduced below for my vaity's sake !

    :bouncer:

    "The year would be 1974, I would be about 14 years old. The Civic
    Hall in Wolverhampton was the local place to see top bands from all over
    the world. Being young and rather impressionable I had been banned by my
    parents from travelling to Birmingham, some 12 miles away, by train to
    savour the delights of rock n roll so the local venue had to do. I was
    far too young to gain entrance to licensed premises (ie night clubs that
    sold booze and stayed open until 2.00am) so any band I wished to see
    live had to play at the Civic or I wouldn't get (or be allowed) to see
    them.
    I was a major Trapeze fan, and was at the time singularly
    unimpressed by the "new" Deep Purple's "Burn" album, seeing it at that
    time as a waste of not only Deep Purple's massive talents - but also
    those of Glenn Hughes. For this reason I had made no attempt to get
    tickets to see Purple as they passed through my hometown in 1974.
    "Hot Wire" was the album Trapeze were promoting on that tour -they'd
    bounced back since Glenn Hughes' departure with the recruitment of two
    additional band members, Peter Wright on bass and Rob Kendrick on
    guitar. The latter coming in to allow Mel Galley the luxury of
    delivering lead vocals himself. Honorary "Trapezers" like Terry Rowley
    and local newspaper writer John Ogden leant their assistance in the
    recording process as usual as did some well known and unknown (to me at
    least) session performers. Chris Mercer went on from this album, and no
    doubt others, to record with some of the biggest names in rock music -
    Bryan Ferry notably.
    The album itself was full of real enthusiasm and some genuinely
    great songs, but the spark was missing - that spark being the
    extraordinary vocals of young Glenn Hughes.It was a slightly different
    sound to the band with the rockier moments being rockier, and the
    funkiest moment, the brilliant "Feel It Inside" being the funkiest tune
    Trapeze had released to date. To digress a moment, I had always wondered
    what this would've sounded like had Glenn Hughes sung it instead of the
    limited if enthusiastic and soulful Mel Galley. An Friday evening in the
    late 1990s gave me the answer. At the Robin Hood in Brierly Hill a four
    piece Trapeze (Hughes, Galley, Holland and Erickson) with John Ogden
    playing congas tore that song apart - truly magnificent!
    Anyway back to the gig - me and a few similarly young and
    enthusiastic kids were up at the front of the stage waiting for Trapeze
    to play. They opened their set with "Back Street Love" which as on the
    album they followed with "Take It On Down The Road" Memory here lets me
    down, for I have no idea what songs they played until they got to "Way
    Back To The Bone." As Mel Galley played the "der der duh duh" guitar
    riff - he was also making those same gestures that David St Hubbins made
    to Nigel Tufnel in the immortal "This Is Spinal Tap" movie. You know the
    one, a calling to someone to join them on-stage.
    From stage right (as we mere mortals in the audience watched) strode
    Glenn Hughes! The cheer was deafening. The band ripped through "Way
    Back" "Medusa" "Black Cloud" (I think) "Jury" (dead sure!) The band were
    absolutely brilliant and whenever I've seen remarks attributed to Glenn
    Hughes saying he'd never sung in a band without a bass ( ie circa Black
    Sabbath time) I always think back to that glorious night at
    Wolverhampton Civic Hall in 1974 and wonder - am I the only one who
    remembers that night??
    Well am I?? Does Glenn Hughes???
    Does anyone besides me and my pals who periodically salute the finest
    Trapeze line up, Hughes, Galley, Holland, Kendrick and Wright. I know
    cos I was there!!

    Dr Denbow"

    :bow:

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