Pesky Gee!

Once consigned to a minor mention in the annals of 1960s rock, the Leicester, England group Pesky Gee! owes its lingering recognition less to its own recordings than to the fact that it later morphed into the provocatively occult Black Widow. The band’s moniker came from a track already in the set of another act from the same area; Pesky Gee! had begun life as a soul ensemble, yet relentless live work gradually steered the sound toward exploratory, progressive rock. By 1968 the lineup featured Kay Garrett on lead vocals, Kip Trevor handling vocals, guitar, and harmonica, Chris Dredge on guitar, Clive Jones on saxophone and flute, Alan Hornsby on brass, Bob Bond on bass, and Clive Box on drums; the group had also secured a contract with Pye Records. Their debut single, a version of Vanilla Fudge’s “Where Is My Mind,” appeared in March 1969 and made no commercial impression, prompting Dredge and Hornsby to depart. Guitarist Jim Gannon and keyboardist Jess “Zoot” Taylor stepped in, and the revised roster committed the aptly named album Exclamation Mark to tape during one four-hour overnight session. Released in June of that year, the LP fared no better than the single, and Pye promptly ended the relationship. Sensing that the current configuration had exhausted its possibilities while noting the public’s rising curiosity about black magic and the occult, the musicians chose to adopt the starkly theatrical identity of Black Widow.