The band was started in the summer of 1969 in the town of Dumfries, Scotland, by founder member Alex Wilson who recruited Jimmy Ronnie (guitar) and Ian McDougall (drums). They were joined by singer Mike Waller in November 1969. Wilson, the group's bass guitarist, had decided to form a band after seeing Led Zeppelin in concert in June 1969. Wilson and McDougall's attendance at Black Sabbath's performance at Dumfries in November 1969 (which Wilson recorded, representing Sabbath's earliest live recording), convinced them to not only cover Sabbath's first album and single live, but to consciously construct their sound around them. The band had originally performed covers by blues rock artists such as Free, Johnny Winter, Ten Years After, and Taste but soon began writing and performing original compositions. The band's name (Iron Claw) was eventually chosen by Wilson in March 1970 from a lyric from King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man".
Taste is a great band. Rory Gallagher! One of the guitar greats!