Budgie

Budgie, a three member Welsh band formed in 1967 under the names Hills Contemporary Grass and Six Ton Budgie. They are widely considered as one of the first heavy metal bands, among the heaviest metal of its day. After performing several gigs in 1968, the band changed their name to Budgie. Burke Shelley has said that the band's name came from the fact that he, loved the idea of playing noisy, heavy rock, but calling ourselves after something diametrically opposed to that".

Their original line-up consisted of Burke Shelley on vocals and bass, Tony Bourge on guitar and vocals, and Ray Phillips on drums. Ray Philips left the band before the fourth album and was replaced by Pete Boot. In late 1974, the band were joined by drummer Steve Williams for the album Bandolier, for live shows promoting this album and the follow-up album, the band were augmented by Welsh guitarist Myf Isaac, but both Bourge and Isaac left mid 1978 and were replaced by ex Trapeze guitarist Robert Kendrick. In late 1978, having been dropped by A&M and with no new recording contract, this line up floundered, and after 12 months Kendrick was replaced by "Big" John Thomas in late 1979. This line up recorded two albums.

Budgie built a particular following in Poland, where they played as the first heavy metal band behind the Iron Curtain, in 1982. Also notable was their tour support of Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz Tour.

the group has had very little commercial success in America but, they have enjoyed a strong fan following in Texas. Receiveing radio airplay on KMAC/KISS radio in San Antonio in the 1970s.

The band reformed using various drummers for one-off gigs in 1995, 1996 for outdoor festivals 'La Budgie ticket stub

Semana Alegre' in San Antonio, Texas. They toured in 2002-6, mostly in the United Kingdom, the NYC/NJ area, Dallas, and with a few shows in Europe including the Sweden Rock Festival and a return to post-Communist Poland. In 1999 the band reunited in Letchworth and officially reformed.

In 2006 Budgie undertook a thirty five date United Kingdom tour and released a new album. In 2007 they played dates in Sweden and Poland. On 4 July 2007 Lees announced his departure from the band to concentrate on his teaching and solo career. Following the departure of Lees, Dio lead guitarist and songwriter Craig Goldy offered his services while Ronnie James Dio was completing commitments with Heaven & Hell on their World Tour.

In February 2008 Craig Goldy accompanied Budgie on their first tour of Australia and has continued playing with Budgie as 'guest guitarist' for all of their shows.

Budgie's November 2010 tour of Eastern Europe had to be cancelled as Shelley was hospitalised on 9 November in Wejherowo, Poland, with a 6 cm aortic aneurism. After surgery, he returned to Britain for recovery, but no decision of the future of the band has been made.

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Budgie Links
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♪♫ Official website ♪♫ Budgie@ MySpace ♪♫
♪♫ Budgie @Allmusic ♪♫ Budgie @BBC Wales ♪♫ Budgie Fan Site
♪♫ Wikipedia/Budgie♪♫ Budgie @George Starostin's Reviews
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Budgie Discography

NOTE : Some or all of these original albums may have been reissued on CDs. The reissued CDs usually contain bonus tracks.

The BBR&R discography section uses information from various sources, including the band's own web site (if they have a web site). Other sources include, Discogs, Answers.com, Wikipedia, progarchives & sometimes other sites.
Even with all these sources an accurate discography for many bands is hard to put together. We try hard, but the accuracy of this discography section is not guaranteed, sorry man.

Studio albums
*mouse-over album title to view album details

Released 1971 Budgie	Released 1972 Squawk	Released 1973 Never Turn Your Back on a Friend	Released 1974 In for the Kill!	Released 1975 Bandolier	Released 1976 If I Were Brittania I'd Waive the Rules
Released 1978 Impeckable	Released 1980 Power Supply	Released 1981 Nightflight	Released 1982 Deliver Us from Evil	Released 2006 You're All Living In Cuckooland