Killing Floor

Named after the blues standard covered by everyone from Howlin’ Wolf to Mike Bloomfield, Killing Floor was fronted by the much under-appreciated guitarist Mick Clarke.

They appeared on bills with Ten Years After, John Mayall and Taste, and signed to Spark for their impressive self-titled debut LP (1969), and to Penny Farthing for their follow up, Out Of Uranus (1971).

Towards the end of 1969, the frustrations of the music business proved too much and the band split, with various members finding new projects.

The band reunited again – now with Stan Dekker on bass and Rod De’ ath on drums –  and for a while happily worked around the UK.  The frustrations eventually returned and Bill Thorndycraft left, with his place at the mike taken over by ex Juicy Lucy singer Ray Owen.

Unfortunately, not even full-page advertisements in the national music press could prevent poor album sales, and the group called it a day at the end of 1971. Rory Gallagher immediately invited keyboard player Lou Martin and drummer Rod De’ath to join his hot new band.

In June 2005 the band announced that they were ready to perform live once again and have since played several shows around Europe and released a third album, Zero Tolerance (2003).

The band released their fourth album, Rock’n’Roll Gone Mad,  in early 2012.

Bill Thorndycraft
Vocals, harmonica
Mick Clarke
Guitar
Stuart ‘Mac’ McDonald
Bass
Lou Martin
Keyboards
Stan Dekker
Bass
Ray Owen
Vocals
Bazz Smith
Drums
Rod De’ath
Drums