Sledgehammer

Among the initial bands to take advantage of the preliminary burst appealing accorded the brand new Wave of Uk ROCK, Berkshire, England’s aptly named Sledgehammer were formed in 1978 by vocalist/guitarist Mike Cooke, bassist Terry Pearce, and drummer Ken Revell. Having acquired the good lot of money of playing their initial gig to get Motörhead, Sledgehammer quickly documented their now renowned eponymous debut one and released it through their very own Slammer imprint. Then they obtained wider distribution via Valiant Information, and noticed it contained in 1980’s watershed Steel for Muthas compilation on top of that. Although not also all that large in retrospect, “Sledgehammer” suit right along with the NWOBHM’s full of energy, rough-as-you-want-it mentality, and immediately struck a chord with supporters. Another hot monitor, “Fantasia,” made an appearance on the almost as important Brute Drive collection, and, after credit scoring a slot for the reason that year’s Reading Festival (starting a costs also offering NWOBHM upstarts the Tygers of Skillet Tang and Def Leppard), the hard-working Sledgehammer released just one more self-financed one, “Surviving in Dreams,” before placing their places on a complete record. But Sledgehammer didn’t capitalize upon this early acclaim, waffling on and on within the studio room before finally launching the Blood on the Hands long-player in 1983 (where period John Jay acquired replaced primary bassist Terry Pearce) — and having to remember it because of alleged problems with defective artwork. Mausoleum Information reissued the record within a gatefold sleeve in 1984 and matched it using a four-track 12″ so that they can entice customers, but apart from several enthusiastic followers in mainland European countries, many of these just demonstrated their indifference for another period. In 1984 emerged the discharge of the last-ditch-effort picture-disc EP which was formed — that is right — just like a sledgehammer, but no such gimmicks could switch the tide for Sledgehammer right now and, despite periodic one-off concerts along with a rarely seen last solitary in 1988, the jig was essentially up.