Krakatoa
by Roger Adams

Krakatoa was originally a very funk-influenced band formed by me when I quit a Brighton band called Rusty Butler, which was I suppose a "heavy progressive rock" style band featuring myself, Dave Poxon on bass, Dave Greenfield ( later of the Stranglers) on keyboards, Neil Whittaker on drums and Tony Savva on vocals. The original idea was to play it in by touring in Germany etc. then to make a record or two.

The inspiration to quit Rusty Butler was meeting a local art student called Maggie Ryder, who not only had a beautiful jazz voice reminiscent of Sarah Vaughan, but was also a highly talented pianist. She had absolutely zero experience of being in a band, but I felt it could work.

Together with my best buddy Graeme Lamb, a songwriter who had been working on the material for Rusty Butler, we began the usual process of finding the right musicians. Funk was the keyword-our favourites at the time were Rufus, Stevie Wonder and the Isley Brothers. We eventually settled on the line-up of Maggie, myself, bassist Dave Poxon who was available as Rusty Butler folded soon after I quit, and drummer "Andy" Anderson, a black guy who later went on to play with Steve Hillage and The Cure, and who provided some genuine funk "feel" in the rhythm section. Poxon was not much of a funk bass player at first, but was a very tight and disciplined player and coped well with the new grooves required. His business acumen was also very helpful in getting the band working and noticed, although his reluctance to relinquish control to much-needed external management later proved to be a bit of an issue. Demos were duly recorded with producer and publisher Donny Marchand, an American living in London, and a deal with Polydor was proposed. Drummer Andy didn't like the deal , threw a wobbler and quit. He was replaced by Neil Whittaker ,again from the old Rusty Butler line-up, who had even more trouble with the funk grooves required, and he left after a short while. Regrettably he took his own life shortly afterwards and was replaced by a superb Welsh drummer called Pete Stroud, a pupil of the great Henry Spinetti.

Meanwhile, Donny Marchand, who had taken over as Krakatoa's manager by this time, hatched a plot to take Maggie Ryder away from the perceived problems of the band and a solo deal was negotiated with the record company, who ,one presumes, were erroneously informed that all the band's direction and sound were coming from the Girl Singer, and a better result would be achieved in the USA using session players. A quick comparison between Maggie's disastrous Polydor solo album, and even very rough live recordings of the band Krakatoa at the time, prove the foolishness of the move, but nevertheless ,Maggie took the irrevocable step and headed for Stardom and The Movies. Not. Actually, she has achieved success as a session singer, and has co-written songs , for some highly noteworthy people since leaving Krakatoa, but fame and publicity have eluded her far more than they did while she was in the band. Very odd!

Meanwhile, Krakatoa looked for a new singer and keyboard player and, after a lengthy search and a few false starts, came up with a Brighton-based 19 year old German keyboardist called Hans Zimmer, who, as luck would have it, had just inherited a sizeable fortune and converted his newly-purchased house in Withdean on the edge of Brighton into a studio of sorts. Vocals were handled at first by a girl called Elana Harris,who was introduced to the band by Dave Greenfield, Rusty Butler's keyboard player now a member of some punk outfit called The Stranglers.

Pete Stroud had had his beloved Gretsch drums stolen while staying in London, and had decided to go back to Wales to work so he could buy a new kit. Thirty drummers were subsequently auditioned, and the job went to another Brighton player, Nigel Glockler. After a few gigs at home and abroad and a near-fatal motorway accident which almost wiped out the whole band,( except Hans ,who was still deciding whether to join, and had yet to start gigging with us,) it was decided that a whole new direction was needed, and a male singer was deemed more suitable. The job was offered to Terry Bennett of Welsh band Sassafras, who were not functioning at the time. Krakatoa had met Terry when the two bands had played the Lyceum in London together, and he was also often to be found at the house in Cardiff of Krakatoa's booking agent, Dave Betteridge as Terry was going out with singer Zenda Jacks, who also had a room there.

The group shot shows (left to right) Nigel Glockler, Hans Zimmer, Roger Adams, Dave Poxon and sound man Bill Brown

This, then ,was the band that recorded their demo at Spaceward Studio in Cambridge: Myself, Dave Poxon, Nigel Glockler, Terry Bennett and Hans Zimmer. The demo secured a production deal with Robin Black's company, Salamander ,which was based at Jethro Tull's Maison Rouge studio where Robin was studio manager and Tull's engineer. Most subsequent recording was done there. The thing that stopped Krakatoa from hitting the Big Time was simple politics. The obvious route for the band as proteges of the Tull organization would have been an album for Chrysalis Records. Unfortunately, Terry Bennett's previous band ,Sassafras, had been signed to Chrysalis and had cost the company a lot of money. This, combined with Bennett's larger than life persona, of which the record company powers- that- be had apparently decided that enough was most definitely enough, meant that ,with Bennett as front man, the Chrysalis option was closed. Other deals were sought but punk was hitting big by this time and bands incapable of playing a note were in demand. Experienced bands with talent were being sidelined as record companies sought younger acts they could control and manipulate.

Eventually, after one final, glorious 30-date tour and a few abortive attempts to write a Hit Single, Hans Zimmer, who to his credit had been turning down offers from other bands, not least of which was Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (because, as I heard him tell the staff at Mountain Management when we were hawking our demos around, Krakatoa was a better band) finally succumbed to his true love , studio work. He announced he wanted to stop playing gigs with bands and concentrate on his electronic music. Ironically, almost immediately he was involved with a hit record, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles (Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes )and finally got his face on Top of the Pops.

The remaining members of Krakatoa called it a day. Poxon went into PA hire and management, and signed an unknown band from the north of England called Saxon. Glockler went freelance for a while before joining Toyah- he co-wrote several of her best-known hits- and eventually, when Saxon's drummer quit ,Poxon asked him to step in on drums, and Nigel Glockler became Saxon's best known drummer. Terry went back to Sassafras, and still appears with them now and then. He lives in Spain.

Hans Zimmer went into film music working with Stanley Myers at Lillie Yard studio. He is now almost certainly the richest and most successful composer in Hollywood - see www.hans-zimmer.com - and doesn't talk to the likes of us. I still play guitar wherever and whenever I can. For several years I was the lead guitarist of a London band called Amazon, and more recently I have been in a blues band called Desperate Dan, and been fortunate enough to have been featured on the Paul Jones radio show and played with some great musicians, for example Dave Mattacks, who gigged with us for a while before moving to the USA. Recently, Nigel Glockler and I, who are still close friends, recorded some pieces in his studio for TV broadcast purposes, and several are being used.

I still remember with affection our stay in Cambridge while recording at Spaceward. I like to think things could easily have been different, and that the pieces we recorded there are a true reflection of what should have been a great band, Krakatoa.

Roger Adams, 9/12/04

Roger Adams of Krakatoa