Hollywood Brats

Apart from singer Andrew Matheson (who came over from Canada in 1971 to form a band) there was ES Brady (Guitar) Wayne Manor (Bass) Casino Steel (Piano), Louis Sparks (drums). While the Dolls built a scene around the Mercer Arts Centre and Max's and were getting publicity The Brats had no chance building anything similar in the UK.

Andrew Matheson. The Brats were always being booed offstage - sometimes even beaten up by all these people who only ever wanted to hear Barry White or Billy Paul. They never wanted fast rock 'n' roll music...We went round every record company, even the small ones and all they kept saying was that rock 'n' roll music was dead and that that kind of raunchy music would never come back.*

Though aware of the Dolls, the Brats didn't set out to copy them though bands had obvious similarities, visually and sonically. All the songs were written by Matheson and Steel, bar their cover of 'Then He Kissed Me'. In those days a man singing lyrics like those were outrageous.

With no takers The Brats signed the worst possible record deal and recorded an album in 1973. The LP was produced by Matheson and featured only one slow song, 'Drowning Sorrows'. which is a like the Stones doing 'Love In Vain'. The rest of the album was fast rockers. Also on the album was the pre punk classic 'Sick On You.' 

Amazon review. This is the way British Glam should have been headed. Comparisons with the Dolls are fair enough but these tracks stand up on their own and sound suitably trashy and melodic. Anyone who enjoys the trashing punky glam that the Dolls, Hanoi Rocks and others play will love this ... with an especially British tinge.

With little media interest and their record company refusing to release anything the band split acrimoniously but not before Steel and Matheson stole the tapes and which finally saw the light of the day in Scandinavia in 1975.

The Hollywood Brats were ahead of the time. Meanwhile in London 1975 a band called the London SS was like the Brats, struggling to get something going.

 Click to hear clip of 'Sick On You'