| The Flying Hat Band | |
|---|---|
| Genres | Hard rock |
| Years active | 1971–1974 |
| Labels | Vertigo |
The Flying Hat Band were an early 1970s Birmingham, England hard rock act that, alongside Judas Priest, ranked as the Midlands' favourites to succeed.[1] Despite not having released an album, the band proved a successful club act and eventually went on to support Deep Purple on one of their European tours.
The band folded in April 1974 following Glenn Tipton's departure to become the second guitarist in Judas Priest, who at the time had just signed their first record deal with Gull Records. Peter "Mars" Cowling joined Canadian rocker Pat Travers in 1975, and was part of Travers' band for several years. Trevor Foster joined folk rock group The Albion Band and Little Johnny England.
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Originally a quartet called Merlin, the band went through numerous line-up changes before what would become its core formed:
Signed to Vertigo, in 1973 the trio recorded a studio album which was never released as the label deemed the music had too much in common with Black Sabbath. Glenn Tipton is said to be in possession of the master tape, but it is unclear whether any material from it will eventually surface.
In 1992, small German label SPM International mysteriously released a split CD entitled "Buried Together", featuring progressive rock band Antrobus alongside four Flying Hat Band demo tracks, dated back to 1973.
Those tracks are:
Drummer Steve Palmer is the brother of Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake & Palmer).