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Before Speed Queen, there was Black Rats, which formed near Mulhouse in 1974. The rodents cut their teeth all over the region, before stepping up a gear with the arrival of vocalist Stevie in 77. Her fiery temperament and powerful, melodic voice, combined with the guitars of Agnain Martin and Joe Montemagny, the bass of Terry Smajda and the chops of Bernard InchSpeedyInch Reichstadt, quickly landed the band two opening slots for Scorpions in Mulhouse and Strasbourg in December '77. They renamed themselves Speed Queen and signed in early 78 to the Crypto tag, whose catalog included Little Bob Story, Ganafoul and Océan. During '78 and '79, the quintet lived on the road, playing one headlining gig after another, and opening for Little Bob Story at the end of '78, and Motörhead in May and June '79, playing eight dates across France at a time when the infernal trio had just released Overkill. On the strength of this baptism of fire, Speed Queen locked themselves away for a few days in October and November at the famous Château d'Hérouville, near Paris, to record their eponymous debut album It was released in early 1980, but the band was very disappointed with the sound of this opus, despite the quality of the studio, the budget allocated by Crypto not allowing them to spend enough time on it and thus to Polish these eight very good tracks. While they celebrated their studio by playing nothing less than the legendary Hammersmith Odeon in London on December 16, 1979, opening for Motörhead and Saxon, at the invitation of Lemmy himself, Speed Queen struggled to find dates to promote their record. But feeling that his tag was no longer up to the task, he decided to part company. This frustrating period lasted until early 1982, when the skies finally cleared for Speed Queen, who headed for London to give birth to his second album. Not without a change of musician in the proces
