Dave Holland (drummer)

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This article is about Dave Holland, the rock drummer. For other people with this name, see Dave Holland (disambiguation).

David (Dave) Holland (born on April 5, 1948 in Northampton, Northamptonshire) is an English rock drummer, best remembered from his stint with Judas Priest.

[edit] Biography

At the age of six David began taking piano lessons, but soon developed a "mania for the drums", in his own words, and plagued his parents to let him have a set. After his first appearance as a stand-in for a local band, Holland realised he wanted to be a musician. When he was 14 years old, he supplemented his pocket money by playing with another local pop band aptly titled The Drumbeats and selling furniture and carpets.

As a youngster, Holland listened to a lot of traditional jazz. He cited his first rock influence as Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. Later, he became interested in funk music in the vein of Booker T & the MG's, blues rock of Free and progressive/psychedelic music of Traffic.

Having moved to Rugby, Holland joined The Liberators (not the same band that L.A. Guns singer Phil Lewis was once in), and continued playing with them after he left school. The Liberators soon evolved into Pinkerton's Assorted Colours, a folk pop band that put autoharp to good use, taking after The Loving Spoonful. In 1966 a single 'Mirror Mirror' (released 15 January 1966 on Decca, produced by future The Moody Blues producer Tony Clarke) charted at #8 in the UK. Holland stayed with the band until August 1968, when he joined Finders Keepers, a pop cover outfit. However, Holland continued doing studio session work and coincidentally played on a 1969 #5 hit single "Smile a Little Smile for Me" released by the band that used to be Pinkerton's Assorted Colours under the name of The Flying Machine.

Finders Keepers, who were soon joined by Melville Galley (guitar) and Glenn Hughes (bass), recorded several singles, some of the songs available on various compilations these days. Soon afterwards the threesome joined forces with vocalist and winds player John Jones and multiinstrumentalist Terry Rowley of The Montanas fame to form a quintet called Trapeze (the band name was Terry Rowley's idea).

The band appeared in a British TV show Colour Me Pop and soon was swapped with offers of recording contracts, including one from The Beatles' Apple. Trapeze however settled for the newly formed Threshold label, belonging to The Moody Blues members. The band would soon open for The Moodies and other well-known acts. On Threshold, the band released three records, the debut as a quintet and the rest as a power trio.

Holland's experience as a session player helped him forge an instantly identifiable style, its eminent assets being power, taste and precision. Indeed, Holland's timekeeping earned him a nick name of "Mr Time" from his bandmates. His playing was the rock-solid foundation that allowed Galley and Hughes to experiment with melodic and riff structures.

Trapeze were really huge at the time in the Southern USA, and were just about to break big when Deep Purple offered the frontman Glenn Hughes a business deal he could not refuse.

Galley and Holland didn't give up and carried on, having added a bass player and a second guitarist. Holland and Galley also toured as part of John Lodge/Justin Hayward (of The Moody Blues fame) band The Blue Jays.

In 1976 Trapeze recorded their last studio LP Hold On in 1979. It was a well rounded recording, although the funk influence was almost gone.

Earlier on, both Mel and Dave lent a hand in the recording of Glenn Hughes' first solo album, Play Me Out, offering a unique blend of psychedelic jazz funk. Again Holland proved there's no genre boundaries to his playing and delivered a strong performance throughout the LP, assisted by Mark Nauseef on percussion.

1979 and 1980 saw Holland record some drum parts for Justin Hayward's solo albums, Songwriter and Night Flight. In 1979 Dave finally made a tough decision to leave Trapeze and join Judas Priest, a British metal band who were quickly gaining in popularity, while Trapeze was unable to achieve considerable commercial success after Glenn Hughes left in 1973.

Judas Priest were looking for a drummer who had a capability of being as intense live as in the studio, and Dave fit perfectly.

Joining the band in August 1979 and having played drums on genre-defining platinum albums such as British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders of the Faith, Turbo, and Ram It Down Holland witnessed the peak in popularity and commercial success for the Birmingham heavy rock institution.

During the 80s, Holland also collaborated with guitarist Robin George, as part of his band Life and on George's solo project titled Dangerous Music.

In 1989, personal problems (health and family issues) and musical differences forced Dave to leave Judas Priest. He was replaced by skinbasher Scott Travis, whose newer style featured crisp, fast playing and more complex rhythms featuring extensive use of double kick drums. Travis quickly earned a place in the hearts of metalheads; in comparison, Dave's simpler style seems arguably antiquated.

Throughout the 90s besides touring with briefly reformed Trapeze and filling in for various bands like The Screaming Jets during their European tours, David Holland gave drum clinics and private lessons, managed and produced bands, and played on various recordings of his former mates. In 1996, he participated in sessions that involved Glenn Hughes, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath fame, and keyboardist Don Airey. In 1998, a collaboration with Al Atkins, Judas Priest's original singer, was released, featuring a few covers of early Priest songs that Holland didn't originally play on. Bearing in mind that all the musicians mentioned hail from Midlands, it's no wonder they knew each other from way back; Judas Priest with Atkins at the helm actually supported Trapeze in 1971.

In 2004 Dave was going to complete his long-promised solo effort with the help of musicians like Hughes, Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues and members of Judas Priest. He was also to be featured on a Galley brothers project Phenomena IV and on the official release of the Hughes/Iommi sessions. However, none of this took place. A trial which took place in January and February that year seems to have put an end to Holland's career. The drummer was one of those accused of attempting to sexually abuse a student of his. The co-defendant, another student of Holland's, was cleared of all charges while David Holland was found guilty of attempted rape and several indecent assaults and sentenced to 8 years in prison.

During the trial, David Holland was forced to come out as bisexual. It might have surprised some of the fans and friends alike, as Holland was always a highly private type of person, albeit there had been rumours of him being homosexual.

[edit] References

Personal recollections of Bob Ketchum
Steve Gett, 'Metal Mania' (1984)
Judas Priest Tourbooks
Press archive @ GHPG.net Fan Forum
Phenomena Official Site

Members
Trapeze
Mel Galley • Glenn Hughes • Dave Holland
John Jones • Terry Rowley • Pete MacKie • Rob Kendrick • Pete Goalby • Pete Wright • Steve Bray • Mervyn Spence • Richard Bailey • Geoff Downes • Craig Erickson
Discography
Studio albums: - Trapeze • Medusa • You Are the Music...We're Just the Band • Hot Wire • Trapeze • Hold On •
Live album: - Live At The Boat Club • Live in Texas: Dead Armadillos • Welcome to the Real World - live 1992 • Way Back to the Bone • On the Highwire
Compilation albums: - The Final Swing • High Flyers: The Best of Trapeze • Way Back to the Bone • On the Highwire