May Blitz came into being late in 1969, when Terry Poole (bass) and Keith Baker (drums), both previously with blues-rock band Bakerloo, joined forces with Canadian guitarist / vocalist Jamie Black.

The two instigators didn’t hang around long, with Baker moving on initially for a spell with Supertramp, before contributing to the ‘Salisbury‘ album as drummer for Uriah Heep.

Undeterred, Black carried on, retaining the band name and recruiting bassist Reid Hudson and ex-Jeff Beck Band drummer, Tony Newman. They quickly built a following and were signed to the prestigious Vertigo label for whom they recorded their debut album in 1970.

As you can hear, there was still a heavy blues sound to their repertoire, with Newman’s drumming being what attracted my attention to the band initially.

Their follow-up album, ‘The 2nd of May‘ some nine months later, included the chugging, riff-laden ‘For Mad Men Only‘ featured at the beginning of this post. They produced a formidable sound which is likely why they played so often with Black Sabbath around this time. However, such is the fickleness of the music industry, the album was bit of a commercial bomber, and May Blitz were subsequently dropped by their label.

Jamie Black and Reid Hudson returned home to Canada, while Tony Newman joined Adrian and Paul Gurvitz in Three Man Army. He would later play with David Bowie‘s band around the ‘Diamond Dogs‘ era, as well as joining up with Mick Ronson, T.Rex and Whitesnake.

MAY BLITZ

Tony Newman – Drums
Jamie Black – Guitar / Vocals
Reid Hudson – Bass / Vocals
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Keith Baker – Drums
Terry Poole – Bass

TITLE	FORMAT	YEAR	LABEL	NOTES
May Blitz	LP	1970	Vertigo
The 2nd of May	LP	1971	Vertigo