- 2 days ago
This is the story of Rob Mathew, known as Rob Redhead, a young musician from the northeast of England who joined a heavy metal band in 1985 and spent the next four years checking off all the boxes of rockstar life. Atomkraft was one of the first new bands to emerge post-NWOBHM, and they were at the forefront of the evolving British heavy rock and metal scene. Signed to the same label as the up-and-coming, world-dominating legends Venom, both bands shared the same management company. However, the cozy world of British heavy metal exploded in the mid-1980s with the arrival of American thrash metal bands. Atomkraft had to quickly up their game and adapt to survive, as a faster, more aggressive style than ever before took the metal music world by storm, led by bands like Metallica and Slayer. At just 16 years old, Rob was not only thrown into the deep end of learning, recording albums, and playing to thousands but also had to rapidly adapt his songwriting abilities to this new thrash genre, as did the other band members, to survive and hopefully thrive.
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MusicTranscript
00:00so this is this is it obviously i'm putting down memories i'm putting down memories before
00:08i cannot remember them so this is just really this is just spoken into the smartphone uh i just
00:16listened back to the the first installment of this i don't know what i'll end up calling it
00:21like sort of the aton crafts rob rob's aton craft story or something like that uh i listened back
00:26to the rob and bry thing the first one and uh i noticed there's chickens cooking in the background
00:32anybody who knows me and knows my videos knows that day when i'm in the caravan there's a
00:36chickens cooking outside so i've just so i'm actually starting a smartphone in schleswig-holstein
00:46northern germany here right and uh how's the chickens cooking on the audio so i've locked out the window
00:54here in a van the camper and there's like about 15 chickens wondering about i kind of get away from
01:02clucking chickens uh you know they're just following us all over so anyway now how will i i haven't
01:12written down anything you know well i probably should like you know right right down here like
01:17chapter i can um remember but i mean i think it as things go on in the future uh because it's the
01:26safe there's things that happened that's happened in my life um or or or like people have travels you
01:34know people have interesting things happen in their life so it's you know it's definitely worth
01:38putting them down uh which is what i'll do and as ai comes in with the it's just wizardry the sky's
01:47the limit but i suppose these are just um simple little talkies um just just just once you know
01:57the more a more detailed thing could come in in the future um so where were we in the story
02:06brian warf got signed with with his band war machine and i'm doing the atmancraft thing
02:14so i'm at jed's house jed's the drummer of atmancraft
02:25and then there's tony dolan who's a singer bass player of atmancraft and jed's brother was eric
02:34eric was the manager of venom right so that's how all that works and i'm at jed's house he's showing
02:43us videos of venom and he's telling us about how we're going to be doing an album going on tour
02:49and i'm starting to think well you know this is this is this is great it's like this is exactly
02:54what i'm after you know you know stuff happening i remember jed saying to us he says
03:00do you want what he says what how do you feel about playing like sort of workmen's clubs and pubs pubs
03:09and that i says oh i don't want to do that i says i want to be playing venues mate i want to be playing
03:15crowds you know and he says exactly he says right answer i says you know so you know i was you know
03:24he was letting his you know he was always sort of jed was jed was like you know show you know
03:32wanting to uh you know the rock star thing you know welcome aboard there were definitely
03:40there definitely at that time the beginning 85 when i first met jed and all the venom thing was
03:48blowing up like it was definitely um there'd definitely been stuff happening over the previous
03:53three to four year like you know so he was definitely i was definitely talking to somebody who was
04:00uh in a state of mind where it's like you know that the world is our oyster you know
04:07you got like venom you know um you know slayer supporting venom on on was it i think it was in
04:18the 84 or 83 tour it was a metallica supported venom you know it was it was all happening like you know
04:26um and quite rightfully you know venom never made any money but they got the they've getting the
04:35sort of place in history like you know um undoubtedly you know undoubtedly but that's that's for another
04:42video that like um so we're going to go on tour and uh something i'd forgotten about but me me mom
04:53reminded us of it um a couple of years ago i'd totally forgotten about it but the tour started
05:01with um with all of us the three of us and the three roadies the three roadies were
05:09gordon lugg and jim those were venom's roadies and they were also our roadies as well
05:17right so there was the six of us waiting at a bus stop in newcastle for this coach coming to take us
05:26down to london to get on the tour buses to head off to europe you know on a three week tour three and a
05:35half four week tour of europe supporting exodus and venom right so adam craft and the three roadies
05:44were stood at this bus stop and me apparently me mother was there and me father awesome and me
05:52and we were standing at the queue you know me mother says to us apparently hey
05:58have you got cleaned under have you got clean underpants and um i said well i've got a couple of
06:06pairs and me mother's going i'll go and get you some clean underpants right so you know
06:13this is me it's 16 and all the rest they're all all the all the lads they're all pissed themselves
06:18laughing and me mother comes comes back 10 minutes later with some packets of new underpants so
06:24my mother was just like a school trip you know and in a way it was like you know even for me it was
06:30like a school trip so but like i went away a boy and came back a man i know that much
06:34uh what a fucking eye opener that was um what was it in amsterdam
06:45as we walk around us all the prostitutes and like fucking hell you know in the 1980s
06:51and on the tour bus abaddon tony gans what what you know when we're all on the bus one night
06:58he says uh he says have you have you heard did you see that dame that prostitute with the with the
07:09one eye and i was like oh no no i've never saw that she's apparently she'd wink it off with one eye
07:19i was oh disgusting and it took us like about 15 years later before i realized it was just a joke
07:29you know wink it off wank it off uh he was a funny lad tony like you know you know even though he was
07:40uh he was tony bray he was still he was still at a he still come up with some funny stuff like
07:46and um so we jumped on the tour bus and it's just like it's just like six lads making a making a
07:55fucking racket in it uh and we got down to london and even going to london was like you know just
08:05straight away getting to london it was like amazing you know uh how different it was
08:10uh so if you know i mean and that's it it's the 1980s it's like um i've waited as in pit but rock and
08:23you know and obviously i would have to go into i'd have to give it i'd have to give it some thought
08:30and write down some chapters about you know i kind of just remember off the top of my head yeah
08:37fucking sitting in my camper van in fucking germany like with traffic and booting chickens
08:40uh so you know
08:45we're on the tour bus
08:49there's these two big buses like you know and they were brand new buses like at the time proper
08:56state-of-the-art rock star fucking coaches like you know with like bung beds and uh microwave ovens
09:06i mean nobody who had who had anybody had for microwave ovens like you on your out and tell you
09:12as well television of course that was playing porn films the whole fucking time like you know i
09:18didn't think i'd even seen a fucking porn film i hadn't and that was fucking porn gun the whole
09:23fucking time uh and so these these you know coaches and uh i thought i'll have some of this like
09:34this is great like um and then when we got to europe we got to belgium or something like yeah
09:40abaddon tony gans fucking right you see out you know you're in the you're in the other bus
09:47this is exodus is to a bus you know which i was gutted about you know because i thought we'll get
09:53all this massive tour bus to the three way you know of course it was we were on the bus with the
09:57the three roadies like which was all right you know but um um actually it was anybody there and
10:06then and tony is all abaddon and the bus driver so it was all pretty pretty empty really it was in
10:13that park like and the exodus one the other bus venom what venom tony was the tony bray abaddon
10:23very cleverly uh kept his hand on the purse strings so he was the he was the money collector
10:29he would collect the takings from all the shows uh all the t-shirts the merchant merch stuff you know
10:37you know where the other two jeff and conrad kronos were like staying in hotels you know doing the
10:46rock star thing this is why like i i never i met conrad kronos a couple of times in new records
10:54uh jeff i met a few times as well but it was tony abaddon bray that i got to know the most like
11:02because tony was on the bus with with the whole time on these tours like you know and he was all
11:07he was like very he was close friends with eric uh the manager and eric the manager was the brother
11:12of jed so you know it was abaddon who was like i knew quite a lot like um i remember jed says to
11:21us one day he says you should talk with jeff you should talk with jeff mantis you know he says you
11:25you're quite similar you know you get on with him but you know you know of course like you know if i
11:32was just the baby i wasn't just the baby of fucking atamcraft i was the baby of neat records you
11:37know everybody was just so much older than us they weren't really they weren't old who were just in
11:44the 20s and early 20s you know but you know it was all the whole thing was a bit um you know oh i'm
11:50just you know i'm still just you know i was just still young i was still young in my mind as well
11:57like you know still quite immature for my age so i was just pretending to be an adult like even though
12:03they're probably like a typical young teenager and i don't know what the fuck's going on you know
12:07uh but um the tours big shows there were big shows as well every every sort of night you know i
12:20remember milan and in rome i remember being in italy it's just fucking loads of like venom fans and
12:27you know lovely lasses as well like you know um you know with the t-shirts on and the venom t-shirts
12:35on and uh just just just it was just a wild wild ride of like fucking of course you know we it was venom
12:45who it would that came to see venom it was venom who would lead the you know we were third on the bill
12:51us exodus and venom so uh you know and plus it was the beginning of the american invasion
12:59of the thrash thing so you know a lot of people are coming out to see exodus as well like and
13:05weren't really that fussed about venom like because a lot of them had maybe seen venom the year before
13:09or it was just there was a everything was getting faster and faster the music you see a more extreme
13:15started by venom started by venom but the you know venom was sort of pounding band you know
13:24and what was becoming vogue was faster faster and you know epitomized by sort of you know
13:34dave and borrow with slayer and tony brie abaddon couldn't play like that our drummer jed couldn't
13:42play like that uh you know so whereas jed jed learned to play like that like but it wasn't
13:51venom's thing you know that wasn't what venom were anyway uh so but anyway in that year in 1985
13:58everybody was on top really venom was venom were on top exodus were on top their first time in europe
14:05kicking ass and that was the first tour for us and we were like fucking just happy to be there you
14:10know and um you know you know just just just thrown into the mix and like right this is how it works
14:19you know obviously we with attencraft you know we ended up you know writing faster and thrashier stuff
14:28you know both me and tony dolan because that was what was that was the vogue and what was coming in
14:34so that's what i do um but certainly in that in that in that in that um
14:41i didn't hear i didn't hear heinz cockadoodle do german ones
14:47um so so within that sort of crazy three weeks four weeks whatever it was you know it was
15:00a crazy ride of tour buses you know driving being pissed on the drunk and not drunk on the tour bus
15:11at night uh you know um you're looking out the window at night looking out the window through the
15:20day time seeing all these countries that are you know i'd only ever seen on movies you know
15:24uh you know that's what that's what really impressed me about the whole thing was um
15:30you know i'm looking out the window and it's like you know i'm you know i've grown up watching the
15:37movies the films you know you know the italian job and magnificent men their flying machines
15:43uh monte corlo or bust um you know the pink panther stub peter salas just see i would always be
15:52watching them films but i'm also looking at the background i'm looking at the senior i'm looking
15:57at the houses i'm looking at their cars and it was the same when i went to the states years later
16:02you know it's so it's i was just immense in this and i still i'm still like that now that's why i'm
16:09in germany now yeah i've always been i've always had a um i've always had a real fascination with
16:17um because i've always loved architecture like you know uh i love old buildings and that you know so
16:23um um so i was absorbed in that the shows like through the daytime you know uh i would be um
16:33i would be sort of sat in all the because they're big two two thousand seat of jubbies
16:39and i'd be sort of just sitting playing me guitar practicing you know
16:42one dm i see gary holt gary the the the from exodus it was an it was a nice lad him
16:53like he was a nice lad we said for some reason he said he said one day when dolan was there with
17:00us he says you're the best guitarist on this tour like rub i was oh thanks very much he wasn't
17:06taking a piss like because it wasn't in his nature like you know but i was just obsessed with just
17:10playing all the time so i think rather than what rather than licking a boot i would just pretty
17:15happy sitting on my own in the in the in the empty seats empty seats you know through the daytime
17:21just practicing you know and i think with the gig underneath and that was me thing you know and
17:29what else
17:32i remember also i remember i thought exodus were great full on yeah we sort of knew
17:43the three of us me jed and tony we knew that we're gonna have to sort of get
17:51up with game right because this the we could see the reaction of the crowd like with with exodus like
17:58and we knew what what they'd be like with slayer as well on the first gig at the mark eight club in
18:03london like months earlier a few months earlier we knew that this this this thing this this thrash
18:10thing was the was was coming like it wasn't gonna stop so we knew what we're gonna have to start
18:19to getting up to speed we used to say getting up to speed um but also with the with the exodus
18:29what i noticed as well like there was always a feeling with happencraft you see because um
18:35you know i mean i'm not i'm not not getting in any personals
18:41you know i never really clicked with tony doran like you know um
18:47and i was though jed was all right but there was always just this sort of
18:52it was just a fucking vibe like you know amongst amongst that lot you know
18:59i remember looking at the
19:01exodus
19:04gary hall you know i remember seeing like i remember thinking
19:08they're all fucking mates like you know there's five of them they're all getting on with each other
19:13really well
19:14i thought i want to be in a band like that like you know i want to be in a family
19:18i you know everybody's like fucking everybody like that they're mates you know
19:24i never felt that never felt that like that with happencraft you know
19:28the whole time it wasn't like that's not i mean it's not unusual most bands aren't like
19:35mates like you know there's that there's that energy and that sort of stuff
19:40that makes bands fizzy you know you know and there's you know egos and everything like everything
19:48else so it's it's not it's it's more common than not but i just remember thinking that that you know
19:54that's something i remember thinking just noticing i noticed i would notice the sort of respect like
20:00they're the band half for gary hall you know is the band leader you know and he didn't seem to be
20:06trying too hard he was just he was just seemed to be a nice nice fella you know and um
20:15so that was all happening and that was great and you know you can imagine
20:25the the the the full-on you know the the the music being played and the gigs on the night and um
20:33um you know i heard a bootleg uh last year which i turned turned into a video from uh
20:41artemcraft playing it uh room or milan one of the one of the shows and it's very you can hardly hear
20:51the music yeah you can it's it's rough like it's a rough book bootleg but you can you hear the roar
20:57the crowd so it'll tell you how big the crowd was and uh also i i heard as well which i'd completely
21:05forgotten about was what i'm doing a guitar solo you know and then i remember that i think i'd said
21:11to tony and jed i'm gonna do a guitar solo and they're like okay you know so i don't know where
21:18i got the bottle from to do that like but i'm i remember hearing that i remember then i remember
21:24thinking off shit i i used to hate when that would come around on a night because i i'd be
21:29shitting myself like tony dole would say right rob matthew on guitar and uh i would go into this
21:35guitar solo and i would like do a solo then stop and then they were i'll cheer and then fly about a
21:42bit more and stop and they were i'll cheer it was slightly improvised but there was stuff worked out
21:49as well but um i remember thinking i wish i hadn't i wish i hadn't ever said out like you know because
21:54i've i was i put myself right on the spot it's 16 years old like in front of 2 000 people every night
22:01in these foreign countries but uh when you're young you pull it off you know so it must have looked
22:08hilarious like because you know there have been a load of i mean i was younger sort of younger than
22:15most of the crowd and or at the same age you know i mean in their age i mean you know any sort of the
22:23most of the crowd must have been looking to think who's this this kid on stage
22:27and he's got guitar solo and getting the whole crowd cheering
22:32uh that's fucking funny as fuck that like be amazing if some um video footage or better audio
22:40quality if that sort of stuff comes into existence like like i say i mean i'm sort of rambling and like
22:47i'm so i'm a bit tired here you know and um you know i've got a big day's busking tomorrow like
22:55and um i will go into more detail like in a sort of really professional way with the help of the
23:01eye like as things as things unfold like in the future like uh not in not in there not i'm going
23:08to keep it all nice you know because it just it doesn't need to be nasty you know just keep it all
23:12fucking nice you know because it's it's a good story you know it should be an uplifting story for
23:18people to to watch and observe and with ai it could even be made into movies you know i mean the sky's
23:25a limit like um so how can i round this off you know it's it was it was atamcraft
23:34off on tour with exodus and venom headlining and it was a crazy trip for those few weeks
23:43and uh coming back i went away a boy and came back a man just in time for my sunday dinner
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