The Real Reason Bob Klose Quit Pink Floyd
Considering Pink Floyd's generally bleak outlook, one might think that a childhood spent in a tent with a refugee father from Nazi Germany who fought in the Spanish Civil War would serve as the basis of a brilliant backstory for one of its members. And you'd be right. Even though the way Bob Klose recounted these details on his bio never breaks from nonchalance, it sets Klose up as the member whose story would be overshadowed only by Syd Barrett's degeneration and retirement.
However, it was not to be. Rado Robert "Bob" Klose only served as Pink Floyd's original guitarist from September 1964 to mid-1965, as recorded in Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd by Nick Mason, Pink Floyd's drummer. A year and a half later, Pink Floyd released their first album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn to much acclaim.
Decades later, it was confirmed that Bob Klose had played on a couple of early recordings, specifically an early Barrett composition called "Lucy Leave" and a cover of "I'm A King Bee" by Slim Harpo. These, however, were only released in 2015 as a limited edition EP titled 1965: Their First Recordings, which also marked the only time Bob Klose's name appeared in a Rolling Stone article — or any article for that matter — along with the band he helped found.
So what happened?
When early band members leave a group, it's usually to the group's benefit. This case is no different. Continuing with Klose's recollections, the original line-up of Pink Floyd knew each other from school in Cambridgeshire, where Klose's family had "moved to more orthodox housing," and later on in London to study architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic.
As students, they had exams as Nick Mason later expounded upon in an interview to Charlie Kendell, a radio host: "[We] had various people in and out of the band and one particular, very good guitar player Bob Klose. He was really a far better musician than any of the rest of us. But I think he had some exam problems and really felt that he had to apply himself to work, whereas the rest of us were not that conscientious." And with that, he sort of slipped out of Pink Floyd.
Most importantly, though, was that Bob Klose specialized in the blues. So actually, as explained in AllMusic's bio of Bob Klose's tenure, his departure helped form Pink Floyd: "Members of Pink Floyd have said that his departure was one factor in getting them away from the blues and R&B that had been a large part of their early repertoire, and into something more original."
Not that things went poorly for Klose: "However since, through Nick Mason, I met Mary, my wife, I think I had the best of it."