Budgie’s first three albums

This app tells the story of the early days of the influential Welsh rockers, from 1967 to 1973 – by way of text, images, audio interview clips and previously unreleased music tracks.

The app contains nearly 300 images, including photos on stage, off-stage and in the studio (many of which you won't have seen before), gig flyers, ticket stubs, songwriting contracts, royalty statements, MCA promotional flyers, press clippings and more.

The app includes lots of interview material from Ray Phillips, Burke Shelley and Tony Bourge. There are photos and comments from photographer Fin Costello, and comments from Windsor Walby – who funded Budgie's trip to London in 1970 to record a demo.

The app includes two hours of audio clips of interviews with Ray Phillips, plus an exclusive new, heavy instrumental number (MyGrain) from Tony Bourge, and a 1974 number (Start Of A New Day) from Woman (Ray Phillips' first post-Budgie band).

“I did MyGrain in one take on the guitar as a three-piece band might play it live, to try and capture the feel,” Tony says. “There is a hillside near Cardiff called the Wenallt, and I always wanted to set up a 100,000-watt PA and play this kind of music to the population at about six in the morning!”

Budgie made a sizable – but often overlooked – contribution to the evolution of heavy rock and metal. Against the odds, the little band from Wales helped to define and shape a new genre.

The original line-up of Burke Shelley, Tony Bourge and Ray Phillips made three albums in three years at Rockfield Studios – a converted farmhouse in rolling countryside near Monmouth in South Wales.

A self-titled debut in 1971 was followed by Squawk in 1972 and Never Turn Your Back On A Friend in 1973 – the latter album houses Breadfan, widely hailed as a precursor of thrash metal.

The three albums were made on shoestring budgets, yet punched above their weights to influence heavyweight bands to come – Megadeth, Metallica and Soundgarden, to name three.

Budgie, of course, continued to record and tour long after those first three, formative eggs had hatched – spreading their wings, particularly in North America.

But Budgie’s first three albums and the Shelley/Bourge/Phillips line-up that played on them are held in high regard by many a fan.

Read on and listen up. I hope that this app about Budgie’s formative years does justice to a story well worth telling and hearing!