Matadors

Matadors are a Czech beat group active from 1965 to 1968, best known for combining beat, psychedelic rock and R&B influences. The original line-up forms in early 1965 from Fontana, with members coming from Pra-Be and Komety, and the band takes its name from the electronic organ Matador that it begins using as part of a promotional deal arranged by Fontana’s manager Wilfried Jelinek. For a time, the group performs exclusively in East Germany before expanding its activity elsewhere in 1966.

Line-up

The band includes Otto Bezloja on bass and as leader, Radim Hladík on lead guitar, Jan “Farmer” Obermayer on organ, and Miroslav “Tony Black” Schwarz on drums. Early vocal duties are shared by Karel Kahovec and Vladimír Mišík, with Viktor Sodoma jr. replacing them in late 1966. Otto Bezloja dies in 2001.

Recordings and repertoire

Between 1966 and 1968, Supraphon issues two singles and two EPs by the group, and two further tracks appear on a compilation album. The band’s early original songs are performed by Kahovec and Mišík. With Sodoma on vocals, Matadors record their only album in 1968. The release includes both instrumental pieces and vocal tracks sung in English, alongside self-written material and covers of R&B and rock songs including “I Think It’s Gonna Work Out Fine,” “Shotgun,” “My Girl,” and Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” arranged in the style of Them. Original songs include “Hate Everything Except Of Hatter,” “Indolence” and “Get Down From The Tree,” the last of which appears on Nuggets II.

Later history

The most successful line-up breaks up in summer 1968. Radim Hladík then forms Blue Effect with Vladimír Mišík. Jan Obermayer joins Petr Novák’s George & Beatovens. Viktor Sodoma jr. continues as a solo pop singer and later works with Shut Up, also known as the František Ringo Čech Group. Bezloja and Tony Black briefly revive Matadors with additional musicians, then move to Munich in late 1968 and work there as the house band for a German production of Hair. The core of that later group develops into the German-based progressive rock band Emergency in the early 1970s.

Reunion

Matadors reunite in 1991 and make occasional public appearances until 2008. Radim Hladík is regarded as one of the most inventive Czechoslovak rock guitarists of his time and is often described as the “Czech Eric Clapton.”