Dave Holland (drummer)

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

Dave Holland
Born	5 April 1948 (1948-04-05) (age 63) Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England
Genres	Pop, heavy metal, hard rock, funk
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Drums
Years active	1965–2004
Associated acts	The Liberators, Pinkerton's Assorted Colours, Finders Keepers, Trapeze, Glenn Hughes, Justin Hayward, Judas Priest, The Screaming Jets, Al Atkins, Tony Iommi

Dave Holland (born David Holland, 5 April 1948, Wolverhampton, West Midlands) is an English rock drummer, best remembered from his stint with Judas Priest between 1979 and 1989. He served time in prison for attempted rape of a 17-year-old boy.^[1] A jury found Holland guilty of one charge of attempted rape and five counts of indecent assault of a teenage boy taking drum lessons at Holland's house.^[2] Holland however, maintains he is innocent and that the relationship with his pupil was not sexual.^[3]

Early life

At the age of six Holland began piano lessons, but soon developed a "mania for the drums" in his own words and begged 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 band titled The Drumbeats, and selling furniture and carpets.

As a youngster, Holland listened to 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.

Career

Early bands

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 education. 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), peaked at #8 in the UK Singles Chart.

Finders Keepers

Holland stayed with the band until August 1968, when he joined Finders Keepers, a pop cover outfit. However, Holland continued studio session work. He did not play 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 Mel Galley (guitar) and Glenn Hughes (bass), recorded several singles, with some of the songs now available on various compilations. Soon afterwards the threesome joined forces with vocalist and winds player John Jones and multi-instrumentalist Terry Rowley of The Montanas fame to form a quintet called Trapeze (the band name was Terry Rowley's idea).

Trapeze

Trapeze appeared in the British TV show Colour Me Pop and soon was swamped 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.

Trapeze were gaining momentum at the time, especially in the southern United States, but lost a major contributor as Glenn Hughes decided to leave the band and join Deep Purple for the recording of their Burn album.

Galley and Holland 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 1978 Trapeze recorded their last studio LP, Hold On.

Earlier on, both Galley and Holland lent a hand in the recording of Glenn Hughes' first solo album, Play Me Out, offering a unique blend of psychedelic jazz funk. Holland was assisted by Mark Nauseef on percussion.

In 1979 and 1980, Holland recorded some drum parts for Justin Hayward's solo albums, Songwriter and Night Flight.

Judas Priest

Holland left Trapeze and joined Judas Priest in August 1979. He played drums on many of Judas Priest's platinum albums, such as British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders of the Faith, Turbo, and Ram It Down.

During the 1980s, Holland also collaborated with guitarist Robin George, as part of his band Life and on George's solo project, Dangerous Music.

In 1989, personal problems (health and family issues) and musical differences forced Holland to leave Judas Priest. He was replaced by original Saints Or Sinners drummer Scott Travis, who had also previously played in the band Racer X.

Later career

Throughout the 1990s besides touring with briefly reformed Trapeze and filling in for various bands like The Screaming Jets during their European tours,^[4] 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 did not originally play on. Judas Priest with Atkins at the helm had supported Trapeze in 1971.

Imprisonment

In 2004, Holland was found guilty of attempted rape and several indecent assaults against a mentally ill 17-year-old male to whom he had been giving drum lessons.^[1] In an interview during the criminal proceedings, Holland revealed that he is bisexual.^[5] He was sentenced to eight years in prison. Due to this, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi chose to replace Holland's drum parts on The 1996 DEP Sessions because he did not want a convicted sex offender appearing on his album.^[6] He is scheduled for release in 2012.

In late 2006, Holland, who has steadfastly maintained his innocence, revealed that he is in the process of writing a tell-all autobiography. Writing to Judas Priest biographer Neil Daniels from prison, Holland stated "I was convicted of a crime that I didn't commit, and like so many others in similar situations to the one in which I find myself, an offence that never even existed in the first place...".^[7]

Discography

With The Liberators

• One single, released 1965

With Finders Keepers

• "Sadie, The Cleaning Lady" (single)

With Trapeze

• Trapeze (1970)
• Medusa (1970)
• You Are the Music...We're Just the Band (1972)
• The Final Swing (1974)
• Hot Wire (1974)
• Live At The Boat Club (1975)
• Trapeze (1976)
• Hold On a.k.a. Running (1978/1979)
• Welcome to the Real World (1993)
• High Flyers: The Best of Trapeze (1996)
• Way Back to the Bone (1998)
• On the Highwire (2003)

With Glenn Hughes

• Play Me Out (1977)

With Justin Hayward

• Songwriter (1977)
• Night Flight (1980)

With Judas Priest

• British Steel (1980)
• Point of Entry (1981)
• Screaming for Vengeance (1982)
• Defenders of the Faith (1984)
• Turbo (1986)
• Priest...Live! (1987)
• Ram It Down (1988)
• Metal Works '73-'93 (1993)
• The Best of Judas Priest: Living After Midnight (1996)
• Metalogy (2004)
• The Essential Judas Priest (2006)

Bibliography

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

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "News - Former Priest Member Convicted". Knac.com. http://www.knac.com/article.asp?ArticleID=2755. Retrieved 2011-10-18. 
2. ^ "For The Record: Quick News On Courtney Love, Avril Lavigne, Jewel, Garbage, Dave Grohl, Rooney, Metallica & More". MTV News. 2004-02-13. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1485100/20040217/love_courtney.jhtml. Retrieved 2009-02-28. 
3. ^ "Detailed item". Francesfarmersrevenge.com. 2002-12-14. http://www.francesfarmersrevenge.com/stuff/archive/oldnews2/judas.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-18. 
4. ^ The Screaming Jets bio at the band's official site
5. ^ "Former JUDAS PRIEST Drummer DAVE HOLLAND: 'I Am Bisexual'". BlabberMouth. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=18275. 
6. ^ "TONY IOMMI Erases Sex Offender From 'DEP Sessions'". BlabberMouth. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=31134. 
7. ^ 2007 Article from Blabbermouth.net Retrieved 12-22-2010.

Persondata
Name	Holland, Dave
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Date of birth	5 April 1948
Place of birth
Date of death
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