History
The Newcastle's Atomkraft was formed in 1979 as an early speed metal
band and released a 1983 demo entitled Total Metal before splitting.
The
band, called Moral Fibre at this point, was actually the brainchild of
Tony Dolan and drummer Paul Spillet who remained with the group until
1984. Earlier the name had changed to Atomkraft after guitarist Chris
Taylor had brought badges from Germany with the slogan 'Atomkraft No
Danke.' Atomkraft is German for 'nuclear power.' Chris Taylor though is
quickly replaced by Steve White. A demo called Demon is recorded in
1981. The band played shows and entered Impulse Studio with producer
Tony Nichols again. The result was the Total Metal demo.
Tony Dolan took off to Canada though at the end of 1983. The line-up
had
suffered the loss of Steve White and things were uncertain for the
band.
Even though Tony was joined by Paul in Canada and he had also formed a
band there he soon decided to return to England. Upon return, the new
line-up recorded the Pour The Metal In demo, got a deal with Neat
Records and even opened for
Slayer. The new line-up featured Ged Wolfe who was introduced to Dolan
by Cronos of Venom. Wolfe was the brother of Venom's manager and
formerly of Tyson Dog. The new line-up also featured the sixteen-year
old guitarist Rob Matthews.
In order to support the debut, the band did several shows including
ones
with Venom and Exodus. After some internal problems including one over
management, Dolan was out and replaced by Swift on vocals. The band
recorded the Queen Of Death EP in 1986. This EP featured the new
line-up
(including D.C. Rage), but also had Tony Dolan on several songs
originally from the Your Mentor EP.
An EP called Conductors Of Noise was next. Dolan had returned at the
request of the remaining members. They cancelled a 1987 tour of the UK.
The band toured Europe with Nuclear Assault and Agent Steel,
participated at the Dynamo and got D.C. back in the band.
A 1988 tour with Nasty Savage saw Dolan on guitars. With a cancelled
album entitled Atomised behind them and Swift leaving the fold, Dolan
took off to Venom (Atomkraft
had opened for Venom in the early days) whom he had always admired.
Venom's first shows with Venom were actually undertaken using the Son
Of
Satan name. The band, apparently, wanted to break in the new line-up
first. In the meanwhile,Swift had gone on to become a professional
Dolan resurrected Atomkraft in 2002 and promised an anthology and new
material for 2004. Dolan would perform on Mantas' 2004 solo album, but
would soon reform Atomkraft after being ousted from Mantas. A
forthcoming album was called Head Smashed In (I Couldn't Give a Fuck).
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