Warhorse (British band)
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Warhorse was a band formed by former Deep Purple bassist Nick Simper.He had left Deep Purple in 1969 and joined Marsha Hunt's backup band. Not long after, Nick Simper replaced her backing band with Ged Peck on guitar,and Mac Poole on drums. While this was going on, Simper would play in an extracurricular band along with Ged and Mac, with singer Ashley Holt. When Hunt became pregnant, the band stopped touring and Simper re-organized the group as Warhorse. Holt became the bands singer, and they would bring keyboardist Rick Wakeman onboard,but proved unreliable,and when the first demo was recorded in April 1970, he was replaced by Frank Wilson.
Warhorse finally found itself ,and was signed to Vertigo and released their debut album Warhorse in November 1970.The band would begin to tour,but made little progress.The band also saw very low promotion ,and the albm failed to chart.A single, 'St.Louis' was also released, which also failed to chart.By 1971, Ged Peck had made his exit, and was replaced by Pete Parks of Black August, a band who had been sharing Warhorse's rehearsal room.
The band was forced to rush the recording of their next album.In June 1972 ,their next album Red Sea was released ,but it saw little label promotion, and soon after its release, Warhorse were dropped from the label.Around the same time Mac Poole decided to leave Warhorse, for Gong.
The band decided to carry on, and they replaced Mac with Barney James.They would eventualy bring in more funk and soule elements into their music.Around this time, Rick Wakeman would borrowed Holt and James for his solo album Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Despite the fact that a new record contract for Warhorse was in the offing, both men decided to throw their lot in permanenty with Wakeman, and in June 1974 Nick Simper decided to bring the band to a close.
The Warhorse musicians have since played together on occasions, including 1985 and 2005, latterly for drummer Mac Poole's 60th birthday.
Member history
| Marcha Hunt Band (1969-1970) |
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| Warhorse (1970) |
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| Warhorse (1970-1971) |
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| Warhorse (1971-1972) |
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| Warhorse (1972-1974) |
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