King Kurt

King Kurt was a 1980s psychobilly rock band from the UK.

Career

They formed in 1981 with Jef Harvey on vocals, replaced by "Smeg" (Gary Cayton) after their "Zulu Beat" 7in single, and before the Stiff Records contract; Paul ("Thwack") Laventhol, and John Reddington on guitars; Rory Lyons on drums; Bert Boustead on bass guitar, plus schoolboy "Maggot" on saxophone. Originally known as "Rockin' Kurt & The Sour Krauts" before settling for "King Kurt".

They had a few minor hit singles that featured in the UK Singles and UK Indie Charts, such as "Zulu Beat", "Mack The Knife" and "Banana Banana", along with their Top Forty hit - "Destination Zululand ".

During 1988 the band effectively split, though between 1992 and 1996 the group featuring three of the original members were performing as a live act. John Reddington, on the other hand, is now a solicitor with the London office of Jones Day

pecials

In the early 80s, King Kurt were known for their stage performance in which eggs and bags of flour were thrown around and buckets of wallpaper paste dumped into the audience. They also had a wheel which a fan was strapped to and force fed beer or cider, then spun round until he vomited.

Discography

ingles

Albums

Compilation

* "Live & Rockin"' (1989)
* "Destination Demoland" (1990)
* "Poor Man's Dream" (compilation) (1994)
* "Alcoholic Rat" (2001)
* "Live and Unreleased"

ource

* Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-190-X

ee also

*List of psychobilly bands

External links

* [http://www.alcoholic-rats.com/000_new_king_kurt_front_page.html King Kurt official site]
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:oat67ur0h0j0~T1 King Kurt biography] at Allmusic website
* [http://www.jonesday.com/jreddington/ John Reddington's Jones Day profile]