current_members years_active label article_title background genre origin name
mark miller griffiths dave jenkins alan greed roger swallow steve 1968 -- 1969 philips records harsh reality
 group_or_band progressive rock stevenage , hertfordshire , england harsh reality
harsh reality

harsh reality are a little-known , proto-prog band formed in stevenage , hertfordshire in 1968 out of the remnants of the freightliner blues band -lrb- formerly the revolution -rrb- .
the band consisted of mark griffiths and dave jenkins on guitars , alan greed on lead vocals and organ , roger swallow on drums , and steve miller on bass and backing vocals .
they released a single for philips records in 1968 -lrb- `` tobacco ash sunday '' / `` how do you feel '' -rrb- before releasing their only album , `` heaven and hell '' , also on philips in 1969 .
a final single followed soon after , before the band split in 1969 .
their `` heaven and hell '' lp is now a highly-sought rarity , selling for hundreds of pounds between eager collectors .
for this reason , harsh reality is somewhat famous/infamous in collecting circles .
though seen as part of the proto-progressive rock era , their work represented a marriage between the sounds of procol harum , traffic and early deep purple .
following the band 's demise , roger swallow played with principal edwards magic theatre , matthews southern comfort , plainsong , albion country band , and al stewart ; before moving to california and establishing himself as an electronic musician , songwriter and entrepreneur .
alan greed went on to work with ray russell on the `` rock workshop '' albums , and as a session singer .
greed later fronted the jazz/progressive outfit , the running man .
a self-titled album was released in the uk on the neon record label in 1972 .
mark griffiths has worked with matthews southern comfort , jonathan kelly , al stewart , david essex , the everly brothers , and cliff richard & the shadows .
the rest of the band also went into session work .
the song `` tobacco ash sunday '' was covered by paul weller for aol sessions .
`` heaven and hell '' will be reissued officially for the first time on cd by esoteric recordings on 26 september 2011 , with four bonus tracks and a 16-page booklet containing a lengthy interview with the band .
