Valhalla

Based in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England, Valhalla got some notoriety with the edition of the single "Lightning in the Sky" in 1980, now reissued by Skol Records on CD. We had a chat with Steve Bee about these reissue and about the early days of Valhalla.

Q. - Hello Steve! Tell us a bit about the beginning of Valhalla, how did it all start? How did you get in touch with the other members?

Steve – Hi Paulo, thanks for inviting me to do an interview!

OK, so I was in a couple of bands with Leg Hopkins and Chris Stretton between 1977-1979. Firstly RHS, from 1977 up to early 1979, when the singer (Garry Roost) left to go to drama college.

Then my brother; Tim Bee, joined us on guitar and vocals in early 1979 and we changed the band name to Wildcat and did a few gigs, but there were a lot of musical differences in the band. Leg, Chris and myself were more rock influenced, whereas the guitarist was more into funk!

I think it was late 1979 when Chris, Leg and myself decided we would form a heavier band along the lines of two guitarists, bass, drums and vocals.

We went to see a local band: Aardwolf, play at Stoke Golding Liberal Club and we got chatting to the guitarist; Mark Evans and asked him to join the band we were forming.

We knew Mark knew guitarist Joe Davidson, so asked him to invite Joe to join on rhythm guitar. Joe had never played in a band before, although he was very good.

So by late 1979 / early 1980, the band were formed and started rehearsing at a church hall in Earl Shilton, Leicestershire. Initially we learned a few covers such as Doctor Doctor by UFO and 747 (Strangers In The Night) by Saxon and started writing our own material.

We had quite a few mates who used to come to rehearsals and one of them; Mutt Minard started writing lyrics for us. There was a Norse mythology theme going on and I think that’s where the name Valhalla came from.

Q. - For how long were Valhalla active? And who would you cite as your major influences at the time?

Steve – We weren’t active for very long at all, about a year and a half in total.

Influences? Well Mark was really into Michael Schenker, I admired lots of drummers, for example; Carl Palmer, John Bonham, Phil Collins, Terry Bozzio, Bill Bruford, Alan White, Neil Peart etc. I listened to a lot of progressive rock as well as heavy rock back then.

Q. - Did you play regularly in the UK back then or was it hard for a heavy metal band to be booked at that time?

Steve – We played a few times, probably once every two or three months. We never ‘toured’ and all the gigs we did were pretty local as in, within 25km radius of Hinckley. There were a few venues that had rock bands on, but quite often you had to organise them yourself.

Q. - How was like the Leicestershire metal scene back in the day? Was it a united scene? What were your relations with other local bands?

Steve – We knew some local bands would come to see us at our gigs, as word got round that we were not bad!

We had three different local bands support us at the Regent Club gigs in Hinckley, but I wouldn’t say we hung out with other bands per se, but we knew individual members of other groups who were old mates.

Q. - After the single, did you try to approach a label, to record an LP? Were you close to a record deal?

Steve – Before I answer this question, let me backtrack and tell you how the single came about: at the first Regent Club gig in Hinckley, which we organised ourselves, i.e. printed posters and tickets, booked the venue and sorted everything. We had a local disco to play rock music at the gig in between bands etc. We knew the DJ as he was an old mate, but he didn’t actually own the disco equipment.

That gig at the Regent Club was a massive success, I think we had 350 people in there and the owner of the disco noticed this. Being a would-be local entrepreneur, he asked us if we would like to record a single, which he would finance.

So we got to do the recording at a studio in Windsor, however, the financer was very tight with the money and didn’t want to spend a lot on studio time. The production wasn’t great, but we couldn’t spend more time on it. The 2” master tape was hired for the recording, but got wiped afterwards.

The single was pressed privately and we were going to have a picture sleeve, but that was scrapped as it was going to cost £0.05 per single extra! I think there were only 300 copies pressed, so that’s why it’s so hard to find.

The singles were sold locally at record shops and at gigs. We didn’t really push the record as we were not happy with the production on it.

So in answer to your question, no we didn’t approach a label at that time.

Q. - Did Valhalla get support in the media from the legendary BBC dj Tommy Vance, or from Neal Kay in the Soundhouse?

Steve – No, as previously mentioned, the record was only sold locally and not pushed. We did get a feature in the local newspaper: ‘The Hinckley Times’, that did a review of the single and I think we got a paragraph in the ‘Leicester Mercury’ and maybe the Nuneaton paper.

Q. - Later on, a three song demo tape were recorded, at "Q-Studios", with a different singer, what do you recall from these recordings?

Steve – Before I answer this question, let me backtrack on how this came about. After the single was released and was selling in the local record shops, one of the owners; Mike Walker, became our manager. We thought he may have a lot of connections in the music business!!?? Anyway, he decided that Leg should move off lead vocals and switch to keyboards (which he played in RHS and Wildcat). Mike Walker then presented us with a lead singer/guitarist named Sid Palmer.

So we then rehearsed as a six-piece band, with Sid learning the old songs and then writing new songs. We were now rehearsing in some stables on a farm in Cadeby, Leicestershire as we had been ‘”evicted” from the church hall due to complaints about noise!

We recorded three demo tracks at Q-Studios in Queniborough, Leicestershire. The studio was in a business unit behind a petrol station. The studio engineer’s father owned the petrol station and business units, so was quite wealthy and basically he financed the studio for his son.

I think our manager financed the studio time, but again it was limited. There are one or two little mistakes on the tracks, but nothing glaring.

These three songs feature Leg on keyboards and backing vocals, with Paul Palmer on lead vocals and some guitar. The songs themselves sound quite different to Lightning In The Sky / These Sunday Nights as Paul Palmer was probably more influenced by David Coverdale, also the lyrics were penned by him as well, I think.

Q. - What do you think that went wrong at that time, so that Valhalla did not have continuity? When did you split exactly and for what reasons?

Steve – Following the recording of the demo-tape, our manager decided to fire Joe, as he said three guitarists is too many. That left the original four of us gutted.

We carried on rehearsing and doing a few gigs, but the original fun atmosphere had gone and there were a lot of disagreements in the band, especially with the singer, so in the end he left and we decided to call it a day.

I think, if we had remained the original five-piece with Leg on vocals and Joe on rhythm, we would have been together for a lot longer.

Q. - Did you keep in touch with the other former members all over the years?

Steve – I keep in touch with all of them occasionally, that’s the beauty of email and Facebook etc. I see Leg and Mark occasionally. Chris lives in Portugal, so I’ve not seen him for a while.

Q. - What other bands did you play after Valhalla? Tell us a bit about it please.

Steve – Mark asked me to join Wikkyd Vikker after Valhalla’s demise, but I turned it down for some reason. I played in a band called FX in Coventry, which was more of a crossover prog band, the lead singer; Steve Mills joined ‘Tubilah Dog’ after.

Then I teamed up with Joe again in the ‘Piranha Brothers Blues Band’ and played with them for about 28 years, although Joe left after about three years because of a hearing problem.

Q. - How does it feel to see the single "lightning in the sky" released once again, this time by Skol Records? Makes you feel that this single has stood the test of time?

Steve – Over the last few years, I have been truly amazed by the dedication of certain people towards NWOBHM. I have been contacted completely out of the blue by NWOBHM fanatics from all over the world asking me “are you the Steve Bee that was in Valhalla?” and I’m thinking “how the hell do they know that?”. But obviously, with the internet, information is more readily available.

So, because of the enthusiasm of NWOBHM by a certain Italian guy named Mario (you know who I mean!), he asked me if I would like to have Lightning In The Sky rereleased as a CD single? So I contacted the others and they agreed. So Mario then put me in touch with Bart Gabriel at Skol Records and we did a deal.

Bart did a great job and it felt quite special to see the single rereleased 36 years after the original single was recorded. What makes it extra special is the fact that we were able to use the original artwork for the CD single that wasn’t used on the original vinyl release.

Q. - Have you ever thought about doing a compilation on cd with the single and demos recorded by Valhalla in the early days?

Steve – Yes, watch this space!

Q. - Having you been part of it, what do you think about all the N.W.O.B.H.M. movement, and the repercussion it had around the world? How did you live those days?

Steve – To be honest, at the time when Valhalla were around, we didn’t class ourselves as NWOBHM as that term didn’t exist or it was only just starting to be used. We just labelled ourselves as a metal band. As in the previous answer, I am gobsmacked at the interest NWOBHM has these days. Especially when you look at what collectors are paying for original vinyl releases. Not only that, you have guys out there who are intent on finding out every last detail about bands from that era which just shows the enthusiasm.

Q. - And what do you think of this recent revival of the N.W.O.B.H.M., and all these bands reforming?

Steve – If they can still do it, then why not! I keep getting asked if Valhalla will reform, but I don’t think that will ever happen!

Q. - So what are you doing these days? Do you still play in any band?

Steve - I had to give up playing drums three years ago because of hearing problems. I miss playing, but not the setting up and carrying my kit in and out of venues.

Q. - Are you still a heavy metal fan these days?

Steve – Surprisingly, I’ve never been a massive metal fan. Sure in the seventies and early eighties, when I was in my teens and early twenties, I used to go to loads of gigs, especially at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and have seen Iron Maiden as a support group, Motörhead, AC/DC, Saxon and loads of others of that ilk. But my true musical taste is Frank Zappa and progressive rock and as I’ve got older, it’s pretty much all I listen to.

Q. - Anything more you want to say, to end up this interview?

Steve – If you’ve seen the movie ‘Spinal Tap’, then a lot of that can be related to Valhalla!

Thank you for your time, and wish you all the best for the future!

Steve – Cheers! Thank you.