Chrome Molly

Formed in Leicester, England, in 1984, the hard rock/thrash quartet began with vocalist Steve Hawkins and guitarist John Antcliffe. Bassist Nick Wastell and drummer Chris Green completed the lineup, and the group committed its first recordings to tape the next year on the debut album You Can’t Have It All, a solid set of mid-paced rockers. Mark Godfrey supplanted Green behind the kit while Tim Read assumed lead-guitar duties from Antcliffe ahead of the third album, Angst. A larger recording budget accompanied the project after IRS signed the band, and the track listing featured a strong reading of Squeeze’s “Take Me I’m Yours” alongside otherwise familiar material. Second guitarist Andrew Barrott, formerly of Baby Tuckoo, joined in time for the band to open Alice Cooper’s 1988 UK dates, among them a show at Wembley Arena. Hawkins’s habit of tucking a cordless microphone inside his cycling shorts helped cement Chrome Molly’s potent live identity, yet the stunt failed to lift record sales and prompted an abrupt release from the label. Undeterred, the musicians continued composing and later landed a deal with Music For Nations, resulting in the 1990 release Slaphead, which again met with lukewarm press despite a noticeable rise in songwriting craft.