Strapps : Prisoner of Your Love

Strapps

 was a British

 hard rock group

 formed in 1975. 

The band was popular 

for the straightforward 

rock songs

and for the raunchy

 visual image

 created by

 photographer 

Mick Rock. 

Strapps 

toured with

 Deep Purple 

and 

The Ian Gillan Band, 

and have

 recorded 

four albums

Biography

Strapps came to being 

when drummer 

Mick Underwood

 met up with an 

Australian

 singer-guitarist

 Ross Stagg. 

The line-up

 was completed by 

bassist 

Joe Reed 

and

 keyboard player 

Noel Scott.

The band went into 

a period of prolonged 

rehearsal before 

eventually being signed

 up to EMI's 

Harvest label, 

and subsequently 

recorded their

 first album

 at Ian Gillan's 

Kingsway Recorders

 studio in London, 

which was 

produced by

 Roger Glover. 

Glover also got the band

 a TV show performance 

at Supersonic, 

 March,26th 1977.

Strapps 

were soon out 

on the road 

touring the album. 

Unfortunately, 

the band's marketing strategy 

did not go down equally

 well with everyone

 publicity photographs

 for their eponymous album 

with a topless model

 raised the ire

 of some radical feminists. 

The women subsequently

 fronted up at 

some of their 

university gigs

 and made things 

pretty uncomfortable

 for the band.

 Despite this minor blaze 

of negative publicity,

 they were given

 the support slot

 on labelmate

 Deep Purple's final tour

 in the UK

 and Japan,

 gaining

 invaluable exposure

 with their 

target audience.

The band soon hit

 the recording studios again,

 this time Island's 

Basing Street studios, 

and with producer 

Chris Kimsey 

at the helm. 

Secret Damage 

continued the 

already 

popular music formula. 

The cover photography

 for the album 

was still high gloss 

and somewhat glammy,

 but apart from one 

tiny image hidden

 on the inner sleeve, 

the subject matter

 consisted of

 less contentious material 

than their previous release, 

namely only

 the band members themselves.

In 1977, 

Strapps 

took the support slot 

on the UK tour 

of the Ian Gillan Band. 

The band's success on stage, 

especially in Japan,

 did not translate into sales. 

Unable to sell 

sufficient records 

to appease their 

record company,

 they were dropped

 from the roster. 

However,

 the Far East 

had not forgotten the band, a

nd they were able

 to strike up a new,

 smaller deal 

for distribution in

 Japan only. 

A third album, 

Prisoner Of Your Love, 

was recorded at

 The Manor, 

with Pip Williams 

at the helm. 

For the fourth 

and what was

 ultimately to be the 

band's final album, 

Ball Of Fire,

 the sessions took place 

once again at 

Kingsway Recorders. 

By then

1979.

Discography

Studio albums

• Strapps (1976)
• Secret Damage (1977)
• Prisoner of Your Love (1978)
• Ball of Fire (1979)

Live albums

• Live at the Rainbow 1977 (2008)

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