Opal Butterfly

Opal Butterfly was an English psychedelic rock group from Oxfordshire, which was active between 1968 and 1970. Although the band itself did not gain widespread success, the musicians did go on to conduct successful musical careers. The band included Simon King (drums) and, for a short time, Lemmy, who later joined Hawkwind. Further members were Robert "Robbie" Milne (lead guitar), Allan Love (lead vocals), Richard Bardey (bass guitar) and Tommy Doherty (rhythm guitar). The band released three official singles in the heavy psychedelic rock style before disbanding.[1]

Opal Butterfly
Also known asThe Cardboard Heaven
OriginOxfordshire, England
Genres
Years active1968–1970
LabelsCBS
Polydor

History

Before becoming Opal Butterfly, the group was known as Cardboard Heaven. It was formed in 1967 in Oxfordshire. The original line-up consisted of Roger Warner (bass guitar) Robbie Milne (lead guitar), 17-year-old Simon King (drums), Alan Cobb (keyboards) with vocals shared by Stuart Thornhill and Denny Sutcliffe. Locally, the band performed at clubs and dance halls with a repertoire of R&B and blues standards. Even though the group attracted a considerable following, King left to form Opal Butterfly.[2]

Opal Butterfly

Later in the year, King formed his new band and recruited Milne on guitar. The remaining line-up were associates of the two and included Allan Love (vocals) Richard Bardey (bass guitar) and Tom Doherty (guitar), Regarding the name, Doherty said, "Butterfly by itself was a bit dull, so we thought of something more colourful".[2]

The group began recording demos and received the interest of CBS Records. These included cover versions of "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" and "Wind Up Toys", both tracks by The Electric Prunes.[3]

In 1968, the band released its first official recording, "Beautiful Beige"/"Speak Up", which was described as a solid piece of harmonial psychedelic pop, but made no impactful gains. The group's most notable recordings came in 1969 with an organ-backed cover version/remake of The Who composition "Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand" with the B-side being "My Gration Or?". Despite radio play, the single only gained them local support and the band revamped its line-up and changed labels to Polydor. Most notably, the band acquired Lemmy Kilmister, who met the band at a shop called The Chelsea Drug Store in the King's Road, Chelsea. He started a friendship with King who then asked him to join, which lasted until the group's decision to kick him a few months later.[4] With the new label, the new line-up released a single, "Groupie Girl"/"The Gigging Song". For this final effort, the band returned to its roots as the songs were more blues influenced in nature. However, the single caused a slight uproar when the cover showed a nude woman and radio stations refused to play it. Throughout 1969 and into 1970, the band had a tour in Britain for sets of 90 minutes. The band in the Derek Ford film, Groupie Girl (1970), as Sweaty Betty.[5] Lemmy did not contribute to any recordings or the film.[6] One last line-up change did not affect the band's fortunes and it broke up in 1970. Kilmister and King co-operated once again in Hawkwind.

Milne formed another Opal Butterfly line-up with replacement musicians (, namely Ray Owen (vocals) David O'List (guitar), Stan Decker (bass guitar) and Mike Burchett (drums)) but this only lasted a short while. Doherty and King formed their own version of Opal Butterfly and were not too pleased with Milne forming his own version, so in 1969 Milne joined the New Look Soul Band which later became Fine China.

Discography

References
  1. Steve Litchfield. "Opal Butterfly". Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  2. "Opal Butterfly". Marmalade Skies. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  3. "Opal Butterfly - Biography". AllMusic.
  4. Kilmister, Lemmy (8 June 2012). White Line: An Autobiography of Lemmy. p. 66. ISBN 9781471112713. Retrieved 26 February 2015 – via Google Books.
  5. "Groupie Girl (1970)". British Film Institute. 2 July 2015. Archived from the original on 30 January 2009. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  6. Steve Litchfield. "Simon King and Hawkwind". Retrieved 29 December 2015.
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