The Matadors

The Matadors

The Matadors are a 1960s beat and garage rock group from Praha, Czechoslovakia, active from 1965 to 1969. They form from musicians already known in local bands, including Fontana and Komety, and take their name from an electronic organ called Matador that they use in their early promotional work.

Formation and line-up

The group forms in early 1965. Its core line-up includes Otto Bezloja on bass guitar and as leader, Radim Hladík on lead guitar, Jan Obermayer on organ, and Miroslav “Tony Black” Schwarz on drums. Early vocal duties are shared by Karel Kahovec and Vladimír Mišík, with both later replaced by Viktor Sodoma, who comes from Flamengo. Other members associated with the band include Jiří Matoušek, Hanus Berka and Tony Black, along with Jan Obermayer, Vladimír Mišík, Otto Bezloja, Radim Hladík and Viktor Sodoma.

Style and repertoire

The Matadors play a beat style shaped by rhythm and blues and contemporary British rock. Their live set is made up largely of cover versions by groups such as The Who, The Kinks and The Small Faces. They also sing in both Czech and English.

Recordings and releases

Between 1966 and 1968, Supraphon issues two singles and two EPs by the band, and two further tracks appear on a compilation album. Songs from this period include “Sing A Song Of Sixpence”, “Snad jednou ti dám”, “Malej zvon co mám”, “Don’t Bother Me” and “Old Mother Hubbard”.

The band’s only album is recorded in May and June 1968 with Viktor Sodoma on vocals. It includes instrumental pieces, English-language vocals, original songs and cover versions. The track list includes their own “Hate Everything Except Of Hatter”, “Indolence” and “Get Down From The Tree”, alongside versions of “I Think It’s Gonna Work Out Fine”, Junior Walker’s “Shotgun”, Smokey Robinson’s “My Girl” and Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”, arranged in the style of Them. “Get Down From The Tree” later appears on Rhino’s Nuggets II compilation.

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, while Viktor Sodoma pursues a solo career, later working with Shut Up, also known as the František Ringo Čech Group. Otto Bezloja and Tony Black briefly revive The Matadors with Miloš “Reddy” Vokurka, Jiří Matoušek and Petr Netopil, then move to Munich in late 1968 to work as the house band for a German production of Hair. That line-up later develops into Emergency in the early 1970s. The Matadors reunite in 1991 and make occasional public appearances until 2008. Otto Bezloja dies in 2001.