А вот фрагмент биографии Мика Андервуда, связанный с этой группой (с его официального сайта
http://www.mickunderwood.com/bio.htm :
A little further along the way, Mick met up with an Australian singer-guitarist called Ross Stagg. Mick thought that Stagg had "some good songs, and some pretty wild ideas!" as well as a female manager with excellent connections. They cast around for some more players and soon came up with "a fine bass player in Joe Reed and a total loony in Noel Scott on keys." The band Strapps was about to bravely venture forth, just as the UK was embracing one of its most extreme musical periods yet - punk!
Strapps went into a period of prolonged rehearsal before eventually being signed up to E.M.I.'s Harvest label, and subsequently recorded their first album at Ian Gillan's Kingsway Recorders studio. The Episode Six / Deep Purple connections didn't stop there either, for it was none other than Roger Glover occupying the producer's chair, resulting in the release of the band's eponymous debut album in 1976.
All went according to plan, and the band were soon out on the road touring the album and single. Unfortunately, the band's marketing strategy didn't go down equally well with everyone - publicity photographs taken with a topless model raised the ire of some radical feminists. The women subsequently fronted up at some of their university gigs and made things pretty uncomfortable for the band.
Despite this minor blaze of negative publicity, they were given the support slot on labelmate Deep Purple's final tour of the UK, gaining invaluable exposure with their target audience, though it was not the happiest of times for the headliners, and would prove to be the swansong of the once mighty Purple.
In contrast, the tour had gone well for Strapps, and they soon hit the recording studios again, this time with a double bonus - as well as utilising the talents of one of Mick's favourite producers, Chris Kimsey, the sessions also took place in Island's Basing Street studios, one of Mick's favoured haunts. The end result was the band's second album, "Secret Damage". The cover photography was still high gloss and somewhat glammy, but apart from one tiny image hidden on the inner sleeve, the subject matter consisted of less contentious material than their previous release, namely only the band members themselves.
The band continued to do well, playing lots of gigs and receiving a reasonable amount of promotion. In particular, Japan took quite a shine to them, with Ross coming back from a promotional tour utterly bowled over by the reception he'd received. This loyalty and enthusiasm was proven even years later, when Mick was touring Japan with Gillan, as he recalls being asked to sign "shed loads" of Strapps albums!
Out of the blue, Mick received a call from Ian Gillan, wanting to know if Strapps were interested in taking the support slot on the UK tour of the Ian Gillan Band, with a line-up which included Mick's old mate from Quatermass, John Gustafson, on bass and backing vocals. Were they what?! It was very quickly agreed, and turned out to be a highly enjoyable time for all, playing medium-sized venues, and for most of the tour Mick travelled along with Ian, Ian's then partner Zöe and keyboardist Colin Towns.
Strapps' straight-forward rock generally went down very well, whereas IGB's jazz-fusion approach led to some confusion amongst the punters. Mick sometimes took the opportunity to view the show from within the audience after playing his own set, and "really picked up this bewildered vibe. The fans just couldn't connect with the music, however well it was played."
Disappointingly, Strapps' success on stage did not translate into sales. Unable to sell sufficient records to appease their record company, they were dropped from the roster. Thankfully, however, the Far East had not forgotten the band, and they were able to strike up a new, smaller deal for distribution in Japan only. A third album, "Prisoner Of Your Love", was recorded at The Manor, with another of Mick's favourite producers at the helm, Pip Williams. For the fourth and what was ultimately to be the band's final album, "Ball Of Fire", the sessions took place once again at Kingsway Recorders.
As Mick reflected, in a different era, probably even a mere few years later, the band could have been much bigger than they were, rather than fighting an uphill battle during the turbulent and ultimately short-lived reign of punk. It was photographer Mick Rock who came up with the raunchy visual image for the cover of Strapps' debut album, and would repeat the formula for two of their subsequent three albums.
Rock had liberally interpreted the lyrics to the track "Dreaming" and come up with an image based on a panel from an S&M comic, one which undoubtedly keeps the album rated as highly collectable to this day.
While Strapps were at Kingsway Recorders putting the finishing touches to "Ball Of Fire", studio owner Ian Gillan called Mick to ask a favour, wanting to use a couple of hours of their studio time to lay down a vocal with his new band Gillan. Curious, Mick listened in on the session. The track, he thought, was okay, though the lyrics were a tad over the top! He didn't think much more about it until a few weeks later, when Ian called him up to say that there were to be some personnel changes in the band, and would Mick be interested in taking over the drum seat?
