WHEREARETHEYNOW?: COSMO (HEAVY METAL KIDS)

From page 16 of Classic Rock Magazine April 2004



Cover of April 2004 issue.
Liked this article? Bookmark it and save it for later.
Click here to add it to your favourites.

Noticed an error? Help us improve the Classic Rock Archive by reporting any articles that seem have errors.
Please click here to report it.

THE FLAMBOYANT COSMO WAS THE guitarist with the Heavy Metal Kids, and was with the band for five years before resigning in 1976. Ironically, he’d been fired three years earlier in curious circumstances, only to be called back.

“We were on stage, and one of Mickey Waller’s guitar solos was terribly out of tune and went on so long that I looked at my watch and leaned against a pillar,” Cosmo laughs now. “Unfortunately our manager saw me and fired me. A few months later I got reinstated. Ironically, at that time I’d been rehearsing with Thin Lizzy, but decided to return to the Kids. In hindsight I should’ve gone with Lizzy.” Cosmo was unhappy with some of the criticisms (in Classic Rock’s December issue) of his virtuoso style by the band’s keyboard player Danny Peyronel. Perhaps tellingly, Cosmo had been responsible for Peyronel’s removal from the band in 1976.

“Danny obviously thought the Kids were a piano-oriented band, but at the time we were being compared to Led Zeppelin,” he claims. “I’ve never spoken to Danny since the day he left. I didn’t realise after all these years that he was so upset. If I had known that, I would have apologised to him. I loved that band.” Following his departure, Cosmo worked with Andy Fraser (Free), and turned down the opportunity to work with Motörhead before retiring from music temporarily. However, in recent years he has produced and played with The Jordanaires, as well as performing with London-based band The Flyovers.

Despite the death of frontman Gary Holton in 1985, the Heavy Metal Kids reunited recently and released the album ‘Hit The Right Button’. They also play three UK shows this month (see On The Road).

Cosmo is far from impressed: “I remember what Danny’s voice was like, so I shudder to think what the album sounds like unless he has dramatically improved,” he says. “How anyone can even think of the Heavy Metal Kids without Gary is ridiculous. It’s like the Alex Harvey Band without Alex, or Lizzy without Phil Lynott. If it wasn’t so ridiculous I would have done it myself.” Reach him at: www.theflyovers.co.uk

WHO’S DOING WHAT, WHERE THEY’RE DOING...
VIEW FROM






Privacy | Terms and Conditions | Contact Us | Contributors