Chorbo
Chorbo is a heavy metal band from England. Their music is heavily imbued with sword-and-sorcery themes: muscle-bound warrior heroes, medieval weaponry, perseverance in battle and the ongoing war against dark forces.
Early years and genesis
Chorbo traces its origins to Chibwich, a Liverpool bar band active during the early 1970s. The group was fronted by vocalist Graham Hatman and lead guitarist Don Frumpton; the identities of its remaining members have reportedly been lost to time and brain damage.
Hatman and Frumpton left Chibwich following a period of creative disagreement. Shortly thereafter, a night of heavy drinking brought the pair to Newcastle upon Tyne, where they passed out on the front steps of a motel occupied by Gerald “Luciano” Hartwig, formerly the bassist for the Krautrock band KATHARGO. Upon leaving the motel, Hartwig tripped over the unconscious musicians and revived them with a garden hose. The three subsequently began discussing music and found that their respective styles were naturally compatible. Plans were soon made to revive Chibwich with Hartwig as its bassist.
By this time, however, Chibwich’s remaining members had recruited replacements for Hatman and Frumpton and continued performing under the original name. The resulting dispute over ownership of the name was eventually settled through a violent confrontation involving broken bottles, cricket bats, the destruction of a drum kit, and the burning of a gardening shed. The precise sequence of events—and whether the settlement possessed any legal validity—remains unclear.
Having parted ways with KATHARGO in 1973, Hartwig was readily available to join the new group. He proposed combining the names of the musicians’ former bands: Chibwich and KATHARGO. The resulting contraction, Chorbo, was adopted as the band’s name, marking the beginning of its subsequent career.
The “Scouser Sound” era and stylistic shift
Chorbo’s early material centered on the “Scouser Sound,” a hybrid of hard rock and emerging dance-music styles that would later coalesce into disco, and whose visual stylings included sweat bands, track suits, and excessive gold jewelry. The band was reportedly “only playing this style because that’s what sold at the time”, but all of the members knew the Scouser Sound was over when they included a disco whistle on the song Throb Machine.
Late singer Graham Hatman picked up a worn mass market paperback anthology of Conan the Barbarian stories in 1978 and had a new vision. The band quickly retooled their image and changed direction to a New Wave of British Heavy Metal sound with sword-and-sorcery themed lyrics and visual stylings.
Golden era
In April of 1978, Graham Hatman got kicked out of his flat for non payment of rent. He crashed at Mick Frumpton's house (brother of guitarist Don Frumpton) and wrote what would become the lyrics for Night on Skull Mountain over an intense weekend of drinking. Needing a new living situation, he decided to abscond to his mother's English country cottage. The band followed, and within a span of a week they had fully arranged the songs that would become Night on Skull Mountain. The band was able to negotiate discounted studio time at Flatley Hall in West Bromwich and recorded the album soon after.
Unsuccessful follow-ups
While Chorbo's Conquest tour of the US and UK to support Night on Skull Mountain was a measured success, fans demanded more. However, due to pressures of touring, Graham Hatman's worsening alcoholism, and creative tensions within the band, it took until 1980 to record and release their follow-up album Keep the Wolves at Bay.
Keep the Wolves at Bay
Rod Aylesworth, the band's keyboardist, wrote a greater portion of this album. As a student of Scandinavian studies, he insisted on more Norse-inspired theming for the songs and concept art—this can be seen on the album cover as a lone rider (a warrior actually named "Chorbo" in the canon established roughly by liner notes) standing against the wolf Fenrir, a being in Norse mythology that is destined to consume the world during ragnarök.
Despite the ambition behind the album, it was almost universally panned by critics. While Aylesworth characterized the album as "ahead of its time", heavy metal fans of the day received the album poorly. It ultimately sold less than a hundred thousand copies but today is considered a fan favorite.
Graham Hatman's troubled final years
Comeback
Discography
| Cover | Album | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
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Self-titled | 1974 | Arguably the zenith of the "Scouser Sound". Includes a disco whistle on the song Throb Machine, much to the manager Ian's chagrin. |
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Night on Skull Mountain | 1978 | Sold almost a million copies in the United States and prompted the kickoff of their Conquest tour. |
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Keep the Wolves at Bay | 1980 | Sophomore effort with Chorbo's new heavy metal sound. Although highly anticipated by many heavy metal fans, this album sold fewer than a hundred thousand copies in the United States. Of this album, David St. Hubbins of Spın̈al Tap said the following:
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Axe Rampage/Rampage | 1981 | The final album of Chorbo's "Golden age". Confusingly, there is a UK-only version released with an all-black cover and the name changed to simply Rampage, which was hastily prepared and printed in response to a court order forbidding the band from attempting to capitalize off of Graham Hatman's actual drunken axe rampage inside a discount store in Burton-upon-Trent. The band considers this album an epitaph to Hatman who died in 1982. |
Trivia
Work with Rick James
Chorbo once shared a photo studio with Rick James. While Chorbo was in the studio shooting their album cover for the single Warlock Nights, James had booked an adjacent studio to shoot the album cover for the album “Throwin’ Down”, but shortly after arrival one of James’ entourage had his Jheri-curl catch fire, requiring the studio to be fumigated. Chorbo welcomed James with open arms and James ended up with a barbarian-themed album cover.
Definition of "Chorbo"
"Chorbo" also means "summer romance" in Iberian Spanish. The operator of Chorbo's Facebook page, Don Frumpton, released a statement:
One of our fans in Spain told us that Chorbo in Spanish means “summer fling”. Well let me tell you what it means in the UK: no compromises heavy metal that is true to its roots even after 45 years.