Seventh Son - Immortal Hours

 

Seventh Son is a Hard Rock band from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, and they have been delivering Hard Rock to our ears for 40 years, Bri Shaughnessy (lead singer) is the only remaining original member and the driving force behind this band.

Immortal Hours is an excellent compilation of the tracks recorded during the 80's by an underrated band that plays classic hard rock sound, loaded with great guitar riffs and solos and show us the magic of the band’s early years, a lesson of pure Hard ‘n’ Heavy as it has to be, great songwriting that puts a smile on your face.

Tracks 1-3, 5-9, 11-14 were recorded at The Radio Hallam Sessions from 1983-1985. And tracks 4 and 10 are "Man in the Street / Immortal Hours" the iconic single from 1982. There’s a little touch of early Saxon in the structure of some of the songs, with powerful drums and screaming guitars.

Fortunately, the band is still active after 40 years of activity, having released some great records along the way. Brian Shaughnessy wants to hit the stage as soon as possible and guaranteed that there will be a new album very soon.

You can find it at: http://www.seventh-son.co.uk/shop.html

 

Seventh Son - See Emily Play

 

"See Emily Play" it’s an EP recorded by Seventh Son in 2016, and the title track it's a cover from Pink Floyd with dark and psycadelic sounds turned into rock, you can listen to Bri singing in a low range on this song.

"Keeping The Wolf From The Door" has a solid and direct hard rock riff, reminding the old school days, following the classic sound of the band, with a short and effective solo.

"Rebel Angel '16" is a new version of the classic "Rebel Angel" which appeared originally on the 1987 album Dangerous Kiss.

Last but not least we have a great live version of the fast and furious classic "Alive by Night", at the Board Walk Sheffield on may 2008.

Overall, this EP has a great listening and excellent production and shows the band in very good shape.

You can find it at: http://www.seventh-son.co.uk/shop.html

 

 

 

Seventh Son - Living on a Time Bomb

 

Living on a Time Bomb it's the last EP recorded by Seventh Son in 2017, with current lineup, Bri O'Shaughnessy on vocals, Dave Fox on guitars, Rick Gregory on bass and Kev Lee on drums. It starts with the title track, a cool combination of catchy riffs and great melodies in the old school hard rock way.

Stage Crazy was recorded on the Metal to the Moon single session and has a direct heavy riff, this is the broadcast version at Radio Hallam.

The third track show us Seventh Son paying a great tribute to The Beatles turning the song Eleanor Rigby, into heavy rock, recorded live at the SNAFU, Rotherham, England on december 2009.

It ends with an interview to Bri and Rick at Radio Barnsley (in 2000).

A very diverse and solid EP that could be a good advance of what will be the new album.

You can find it at: http://www.seventh-son.co.uk/shop.html

Seventh Son - Spirit World

 

"Spirit World" it's the latest studio album recorded by Seventh Son on 2009, and it has some great songs, as an example we have the title track "Spirit World" that has become one of the classic songs when the band plays live.

"The Last Witch in England" is a true story about a medium called Helen Duncan which was the last woman to be convicted of witchcraft in 1944 and it has an excellent dark doomy vibe.

This album contains a revisited version of the classic Dangerous Kiss (Dangerous Kiss... Revisited) with guest appearance of original guitarist Kev Shaughnessy, with different lyrics at the end of the song.

Speaking of guest appearances, we also have Graham Oliver of Saxon playing a solo on Unfinished Business, another great hard rock tune in evidence on this album.

Overall, this is a great hard rock album from start to finish, great songs like Kiss the Dead, Estranged, House in Darkness or Haunted by the Past that display strong songwriting and very competent musicianship, the band sounds very cohesive, very good quality sound, with an irreproachable rhythmic section and great vocals by Brian Shaughnessy, an excellent frontman than carries this great band for over 40 years.

You can find it at: http://www.seventh-son.co.uk/shop.html

ROD1313 - Dark Clouds

 

Dark Clouds is the new EP by guitarist Miguel Rodrigues, under the name Rod1313.

This is an introspective instrumental EP, consisting of six songs: Witness, Nothing Left, Reflection, A Storm is Coming, Dark Clouds and The Awakening, guitar oriented, combining a wide variety of elements such as Hard Rock, Metal and Prog, with modern approach and with excellent production. 

The songs "Witness" and "Dark Clouds" are based on heavy riffs with great melodies and several rhythm changes and prog elements (specially "Dark Clouds"), being "A Storm is Coming" an acoustic intro to "Dark Clouds".

Nothing Left, takes us through the most melodic paths of Hard Rock and Aor.

Reflection has a more Hard Rock approach with some prog elements.

Closing the album we have "The Awakening", with special guest Luis Justino, ex-Império dos Sentados, playing his keyboards, with beautiful melodies radio oriented.

In short we can say that this EP combine heavy riffs with dark ambient rock and sometimes some prog elements and, of course, excellent guitar solos, being a worthy successor to the previous EP, Gravity.

Will be released on March 5th

You can find it at: www.rodriffs.com

Richard Laws (Tygers of Pan Tang)

 

Richard Laws also known as Rocky, was part of Tygers of Pan Tang since the early beginning in 1978 till 1984 having recorded the first four albums with the band (Wild Cat, Hellbound, Crazy Nights and The Cage). We had a chat with about the early days of Tygers of Pan Tang.

Q. - Hello Richard, how did your interest in heavy metal and hard rock music start?

Rocky – Really, I have always liked guitar music of all types (except classical guitar). The first band I was really into was the Who and then I got into prog rock like Pink Floyd and Can and then eventually Hawkwind which was where I first heard Lemmy play bass which was a life changing experience from which I took up the bass guitar myself.

Q. - What other bands did you play before Tygers of Pan Tang?

Rocky – The Tygers was my first proper band (i.e. that did actual gigs). Before that I was only played in jam sessions with friends.

 

Q. - Regarding for the early days, how did the Tygers got together?

Rocky – I was looking for a band to join or to form a band and one person who was not available gave me Robb Weir’s telephone number and I gave him a call. We didn’t actually start the Tygers for a while and he formed a band with some other people which was called Trick (which was sort of punk) and I was a roadie for them occasionally. Meanwhile I had met Brian who played drums in a friends band and I had played with him at jam sessions. I eventually persuaded Brian and Robb to try playing together with me and it worked straight away. We advertised for a singer and a guy called Mark Butcher was our singer for about 25 gigs and when he left Jess Cox joined. I think we found him through a friend.

Q. - What do you recall from your first UK tour with Magnum? firstly you were the support band, but later on Magnum support Tygers Of Pan Tang.

Rocky – It was a real step up from playing local gigs in Newcastle and we drove around in a small car (with me or Robb driving as we were the only ones who could drive) and stayed in the cheapest hotels we could find and cooked our own food on a gas stove at the gigs because we had no money! We had a lot of fun and enjoyed touring with Magnum when we were the support band. I don’t think they liked it very much when they ended up supporting us. It was really supposed to be a co-headline but we always went on last – even in Magnum’s home town as they didn’t like having to go on after us as by then we were probably a bigger band.

 

Q. - How was it like to play the Reading festival in 82 with Tygers? What do you recall from that day? Did you meet with the other bands from the bill? Have some fun together?

Rocky – We had played Reading in 80 though quite far down the bill. We were quite scared of playing in 82 because we had to go on after Blackfood who were a very good band and a bigger band than us. However it went really well and our agent told us to start playing as soon as Blackfoot stopped so people wouldn’t have a chance to talk about how good they were! We did hang out with some other musicians back stage including Lemmy and also John Sykes who had left the Tygers by then. We got on with John Sykes pretty well considering he had walked out on us!

Q. - How did the idea of recording the cover song "Love Potion No 9" came up? Was this song the last recording with John Sykes?

Rocky – It is an interesting story. We were set to use a producer called Peter Collins who had only done pop music before but wanted to try to produce a rock band and we wanted to try a pop producer. Peter later went on to produce Rush but we were his first rock band. Peter Collins was managed by Pete Waterman who later went on to become a producer himself as part of Stock Aitkin and Waterman doing such artists as Kylie Minogue but at the time he was just a manager. Anyway it was Pete Waterman’s idea to do Love Potion but I don’t think he really knew how it would sound when we played it as it is nothing like the original. In the first recording session with Peter Collins we did two songs – Love Potion and Danger in Paradise which were both on the Cage Album. After this session John Sykes left though I think he liked the recordings.

Q. - How did you feel when John Sykes left to try the vacancy for Ozzy? But he didn't get the job, did he try to return?

Rocky – We were not surprised that John auditioned for Ozzy as I had said to him when Randy Rhodes died that it would be a good gig for him as he was a big Randy fan. We were surprised that he didn’t tell us he was doing it and just disappeared overnight to go and do the audition when we were preparing for a French tour. When he didn’t get the job he did ask if he could come back but we didn’t want him back. He was a brilliant musician but quite hard to work with and it was a bit of a relief when he left!

 

Q. - In 1983 a demo tape was recorded with the songs that should have been the 5th studio record of Tygers Of Pan Tang, why did those recordings never see the light of the day?

Rocky - After the Cage album MCA Records wanted us to do another similar album with a lot of cover versions and (after the success of Love Potion) particularly more rocked up Soul Music covers. We didn’t want to do the album they wanted us to do but they wouldn’t fund the recording of anything else but also wouldn’t let us go to another record company without paying them a lot of money. We were in limbo. I don’t  think any other record companies liked the 5^th album material enough to buy us out of the MCA contract as well as pay for the recordings and eventually I got fed up and left.

Q. - After the first break due to disagreements with MCA Records, the Tygers came back for a new album (The Wreck-Age), were you contacted to be in that line-up at that time?

Rocky – No, I was not contacted. By then I was at University studying law and wouldn’t have been interested in doing it.

Q. - What other bands did you play after Tygers Of Pan Tang? Tell us a bit about it please.

Rocky – When I became a lawyer I worked in a company which mostly represented bands and artists and record companies so there were quite a few music fans and musicians who also worked there. We formed a covers band to play parties and private functions and I played bass though it was almost 10 years since I had played bass in the Tygers. It was just for fun and I never played in any serious bands after the Tygers as by then I had a legal career.

 

Q. - Do you keep an eye to hard rock and heavy metal music nowadays?

Rocky – I still like all guitar music (still don’t like classical!) and I still play guitar. I still listen to metal and might be listening to Devil Driver one minute and John Mayer the next! I can’t say that I try to keep up to date with the music scene especially as I am now retired from being a music lawyer but if I like something I will listen to it.

Q. - Did you follow Tygers Of Pan Tang career recently? Or do you keep an eye in what they're doing these days?

Rocky – Yes, I am in contact with Robb and speak to him occasionally and I went to see them live a couple of years ago when they played in London where I live.

 

Q. - What was it like to start a metal band in the late 70s? Did you realise, that something as big as the NWOBHM was going on around the UK?

Rocky – We didn’t think in terms of starting a metal band just starting a band – we just happened to sound metal (with a bit of punk and prog in the beginning). Newcastle had a very active music scene but not a metal scene though there were a few metal bands around such as Raven. We had no idea there was a growing metal scene in the UK until we saw the article by Geoff Barton in Sounds music paper and thought these bands in London (Iron Maiden) and Sheffield (Def Leppard) are a bit like us. Although we had become one of the most popular bands in Newcastle we had not connected it to any increase in interest in metal generally as there was not a particularly big metal scene where we lived.

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

Rocky – Just to say that it is great that as I am coming up to my 64^th birthday people are still interested in something that I did 40 years ago! It is a real validation of what we tried to and did achieve. So thank you very much for your interest and taking the time to put together these questions. I have enjoyed this very much!

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

Brian Shaughnessy (Seventh Son, Oliver/Dawson Saxon)

 

Seventh Son have been around since 1980, they were born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England and are still active to this day. We had a talk with mainman and lead singer Brian Shaughnessy, who also is the lead singer of Oliver/Dawson / Saxon.

 

Q. - Hello Brian, when did Seventh Son start? Was it in the beginning of 1980? Tell us a bit about the beginning of the band, how did it all start?

Bri - Seventh Son was put together in March 1980. My brother Kev had first formed a band called Aura in 1977 along with another guitarist, a bass player vocalist & drummer and played their first gig upstairs at the YMCA (fun to stay there!) in July 1977. They did quite a few gigs around the area - remember one with another couple of bands on at the Redbrook pub in Barnsley where the band used to also rehearse in an upstairs room there..... also a gig at the hospital social club & at probably Barnsley’s best known rock band venue called 'Changes' where a lot of bands from out of town also played. They did gigs out of town as well & had also done Youth clubs, pubs etc. They went through a couple of drummers then did their final gig as Aura in the main hall at the YMCA with a guy called Roy Whyke standing in on drums for the gig along with another couple of bands on the show as well. It was the last gig as Aura as the other guitarist Tim Nix left to live in York.

 

They got another permanent drummer called Bill Mc Neish into the lineup & now trimmed down to a 3 piece re named 'Misadventure' with my brother Kev on guitar and Bob Beet on bass/vocals. This line up was rock based but a bit more punk in approach as well with faster paced songs. They played in Barnsley, Huddersfield, Leeds etc. did a 'Melody Maker' Rock & Pop contest at Leeds Polytechnic. The bass player then decided to leave to get married so that was the end of Misadventure...My brother wanted to keep a band going and along with remaining drummer Bill recruited a guy called Rob White on bass....they now needed a singer so I asked my brother who were they going to get and he said Me !! so I  was hi jacked into joining the band...the lineup was finalised & formed at the King George Hotel in Barnsley...I had not sung before but was persuaded by my brother to 'Give it a go' after hearing me singing along to records (Vinyl !!) at home.

 

Three months down the line I was stood in front of an audience at the 'Speakeasy' in Wakefield for the first gig by Seventh Son, we did 2 nights at the venue in the same week first one on a Wednesday then a couple of nights later on the Friday...!! Strange....the guy who booked us for our first gig and who ran the venue was a one legged guy called Howard Burnette who was a colourful well known Wakefield character who was also in the entertainment business himself & later became a well known magician simply called 'Burnette'.

Q. - Who were your main influences at the very beginning of the band? 

Bri - I would say more Inspiration than influence as to what we liked at the beginning of the band.... I remember we all liked Free - my brother Kev was a massive Paul Kossof & Ritchie Blackmore fan & we both adored Be Bop Deluxe who were just up the road from Barnsley in Wakefield & one of the reasons we played our first Seventh Son gig in Wakefield. Obviously Saxon were in there as they were from our hometown & had just hit it big...I’d seen them from the early days when they were Coast & SOB, Son of a Bitch. We also liked Thin Lizzy definitely, there was a mix of stuff...I was at Art School at the time and listened to a lot of newer stuff that grew from punk etc Magazine, Joy Division etc. but also loved Bowie, T.Rex, Mott the Hoople, Alex Harvey, Kate Bush, the list is endless, the drummer was a big Hendrix fan & the bass player loved Jack Bruce....it’s all in there..

 

Q. - How was it the Barnsley metal scene? Did you play regularly there or even in the rest of UK?

Bri - Think what you would call a Metal 'scene' at the time in Barnsley was probably centered around a couple of pubs, the No.7 and the Ring O'Bells who would have a Rock 'DJ' on. The Live band thing was kicked off by ourselves & a friends band called ‘Massacred’ who got together to play at the Civic Hall Centenary Rooms in the summer of 1980 which was Seventh Son's Barnsley debut gig!! After that Seventh Son went on to play all over the North & Midlands and in the South of France in 87. Think furthest south in the UK was Loughborough & furthest north Newcastle Upon Tyne...missed out London due to their dodgy beer....!

  

Q. - Did you open for some other bands, or was it headlining shows?

Bri - Yes, we did lots of headlining gigs and quite a few shows opening for other bands, Nazareth at Barnsley Civic Hall, Dr Feelgood at Dingwalls, Sheffield, Witchfynde in Blackpool at the Norbreck Castle Hotel, Limelight at Yarborough, Doncaster, O.D Saxon (before i joined) at Elsecar Heritage, Barnsley, Dogs D'amour at Nottingham Mardi Gras, Demon at Retford Porterhouse, Shy at Sheffield Locarno, Nik Turners Galakticos (from Hawkwind) at Bomfest, Barnsley, Brofest with loads of other N.W.O.B.H.M. bands at Newcastle on Tyne University, Hard Rock Hell, N.W.O.B.H.M. at the O2 Academy, Sheffield and others I can't remember !! All a good mix of bands.

 

Q. - Do you recall the set list you were playing in general during those shows? Did you play some covers too?

Bri - The set list we would play when we started would be:

Alive By Night

Immortal Hours

White Magic

Dark They Were

Hard Nights

See No Reason

Red Procession

Killing Yourself to Live

Burning Bridges

Light in their Eyes

Out in the Cold

(all these are original songs)

Covers I can remember doing were

I'm a Mover & Mr Big by Free, Mistreated by Deep Purple, Rocky Mountain Way by Joe Walsh, Rock n' Roll Man by Tygers of Pan Tang, Grinder by Judas Priest & Wheels of Steel by Saxon. We did 90% of our own material in the set then picked 2 or 3 covers from the list above.

 

Q. - Did the first singles "Man in the Street" and "Metal to the Moon" have airplay on radio stations? How were they received by Seventh Son fans?

Bri - Yes, both of them singles were played on a load of local radio stations, Hallam Rock in Sheffield, Piccadilly radio in Manchester, Radio Aire in Leeds etc.

I remember the Legendary Tommy Vance playing 'Man in the Street' on his Friday Rock Show on Radio One!! Also remember doing interviews with Colin Slade for his Hallam Rock Show in Sheffield, and Mike Alexander for his Rock Show on Radio Aire in Leeds. We also did 3 sessions of recordings for Colin Slades show on Radio Hallam the bulk of which finished up on the 'lmmortal Hours' album. Colin also produced the 'Metal to the Moon' single that we recorded at Fairview in Hull. Both of the singles were well received by the fans who bought the singles either at gigs or by mail order - they finished up making it to various countries all over Europe, South America, U.S.A. & Japan!! I signed a 'Man in the Street' single for a fan in Tokyo, Japan, when I played there with O.D. Saxon in September 2019, incredible!! So we know the single got into lots of different countries.

Q. - Why did you take so long to record the first album "Dangerous Kiss", was it hard to find a record deal?

Bri - Yes, it was hard to get record companies interested - we did the usual thing of sending tapes out to record companies only to receive the usual 'not what we're looking for at this moment in time', 'good luck with future recordings' etc. all the usual bollocks as you know....Power Station in York were interested for a while but nothing came of it but to be fair they did set us up with a publishing deal with a company called Song Management to help us with the 'Metal to the Moon' single - but there were as you know a load of N.W.O.H.B.H.M. bands after deals...not easy. Also financially doing an album was a lot bigger project than doing a single going down the D.I.Y. route...which we headed for but needed to find the cash? In late '86, I think it was, an American label called King Klassic got interested in us & said they would put us an album out if we paid for our studio time then they would pay for the pressing of the album etc. A guy I knew agreed to put some money into us to record the album so we started to look for potential studios where we could record the album.....we checked out a few and decided to go for Music Factory in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, bang in between Sheffield & Barnsley...perfect we thought...but this is where it gets complicated....We started recording the album aiming to finish it in the limited time we had booked...it was a slow process then the studio said we like the material you're doing so why don't you sign with us then you can have unlimited time in which to finish the album then we'll release it or try to get it on to a bigger label.

 

As recording progressed they put out 'Northern Boots' for us on 7inch vinyl which got us loads of press/publicity & Yorkshire TV did an interview with me about the 'Northern Boots' single & the North - South divide that existed at the time (and still does if you get down to it) which was banned from screening at the last minute due to Lee Hazlewood who wrote 'These Boots are Made for Walking' refusing us permission to change the lyrics for our 'Northern Boots' version.our management cocked up with the TV company when asked if we had permission over the lyrics - they should have just said 'Yes' then the interview would have been shown but they got frightened of potential of court cases etc. so wimped out on it. We did a Live video recorded at Barnsley Civic in 1987, then with the album finished a two week tour of the South of France, all was going fine - we had sold some copies of the album on cassette whilst in France but it still wasn't out on vinyl in the UK...they were trying to get it on to a bigger label but we would have been satisfied with them putting it out on the Music Factory label like with the single. A label in Canada was interested who had the band Sword on it & another label in Europe - can't remember now.

 

Music Factory then produced a novelty single called 'Swing the Mood' which used samples of old Glenn Miller, Chubby Checker, Bill Haley etc. put together by an in house bunch of studio engineers & called themselves 'Jive Bunny & the Mastermixes'  - the single hit no 1 in the charts in the UK and was a success in Europe so it was a big payout jackpot for them which they continued with further singles and an album at Christmas...they soon forgot about Seventh Son and the album tracks just gathered dust.

 

Q. - Did Seventh Son disbanded for a while after supporting Nazareth in 1992? Why did that happened?

Bri - The group didn't disband we just went through mega problems with lineup changes and at one point there was only me and the bass player Rick left. The drummer was tempted away from us to do 'cabaret' in local working mens clubs where he could earn more money by playing crap music, our soundman/roadie also went with him, who was the instigator of the deed, he had a thing about drummers..

 

We recruited a new drummer who had quite a lot of experience & was older than us and was committed so off we went gigging again but with limited new material coming through, but doing loads of gigs all over the North one of our busiest times for gigging, we were out every week. Trouble was our guitar player was going off the rails...smashed up his guitar so we bought him another (shouldn't have) and carried on but he eventually burnt out and left Barnsley to move 'darn sarf' as we say in Barnsley, meaning down the South of England... Then believe it or not our drummer had a nervous breakdown so he left the band, a shame for the guy. Recruited another drummer & guitarist, rehearsed for a few months with them then got a gig in Bradford and that's when the guitarist decided he didn't want to play outside of the Barnsley /Sheffield area.we sacked him there & then.another time waster.

 

Next guitarist was a guy from Latvia, great player but short of funds! We did quite a few gigs with him & also one where we added a session guy on keyboards for a Bretton Hall end of term gig at the Unity Hall in Wakefield. He then said he would have to miss a few gigs due to him getting some gigs playing with Boney M !! who had loads of chart hits in the UK but would get a friend of his to stand in on guitar..... this guy is Dave Fox who we kept in the band to this day and told the Latvian guy he could go....another one out of the door !! All of this took up loads of time right up to 2000 when ex Seventh Son guitarist who played on the 'Dangerous Kiss' album Andy Frost came back for a while so we were back to a 5 piece for the first time in years.... there were further changes in the drum & guitar department before we landed on the line up we have today !!! who'd be in a band...eh !! ?

Q. - How did the idea of compiling the early 80's song in "Immortal Hours" came up?

Bri - I think the idea for the 'Immortal Hours' album came initially from Matthias Mader of the Iron Pages label in Germany whom we had worked with on the 'Dangerous Kiss' album and was released on the Iron Pages label. We had recorded 3 sessions for the Radio Hallam station in Sheffield for the 'Hallam Rock Show' hosted by Colin Slade in the early to mid 80's. The tracks were recorded 'live' in the evening at the stations studio while the station was broadcasting & remember that we had to stop recording on the hour every hour so they could read out the news!! So the tracks we did were pretty 'raw' with hardly any overdubs so had a live raunchy feel about them, they had to be done quick - bang bang bang, so we did well to get them done - plenty of rehearsal beforehand. Eventually we had done 3 sessions of material for the station which had only been heard on the 'Hallam Rock Show' itself so Matthias suggested we had enough tracks to put out an album which would be an interesting collection of early material.

 

The sessions were done in 83,84, & 85 and were all produced by Colin Slade which lead to us asking Colin to produce our 'Metal to the Moon' / 'Sound and Fury' single that we recorded at Fairview Studios in Hull in 1984. The album was well received and got great reviews throughout Europe & beyond....

Q. - You've been delivering Heavy Metal for 40 years, how do you feel about that?

Bri - Well yeah 40 years! can't believe it's that amount of time....unreal.....where does it all go ? Like anything else ups & downs that's just how it is....to be exact March 2020 marks 40 years for Seventh Son or did so, but along came Coronavirus which has prevented us from doing a live celebration of the milestone....the last time we played Live in 2020 was in February but we hadn't reached the month of March so that didn't count.....We wanted to do something special & had loads of ideas but looks like it's not going to happen this year which is a shame...weird how we got to March itself to mark 40 years then I remember it coming on the TV and bang !! we were in Lockdown....very strange times, everything on hold.

Q. - And what gives you more strength to keep Seventh Son alive after all these years?

Bri - Mindless Optimism !! ha ha... rather dedication, determination....you've got to love what you're doing to help you get through the minefield of crap that is thrown at you...I still love the buzz & the adrenalin rush it gives you, nothing like doing a great gig to a packed crowd where you're going down great and you've worked them up to that level...It's really a top experience & there's nothing like it.....and with O.D.Saxon I’ve experienced it at the top level as well as all the great gigs over the years with Seventh Son. It's hard work & you have to keep on top of your game to keep going.

Q. - It's been a long while since the last Seventh Son album, are you composing new songs in order to record a new album?

Bri - It might surprise you to know that we have 14 tracks completed for a new album. It was completed a couple of years ago but we've had the usual hassles with labels mainly in the UK over getting it released...it's now looking like a label in Germany could release it on vinyl & CD. Hopefully the pandemic situation won't hold it up again with businesses collapsing etc. (just our luck) we'll have to see.... if all else fails we'll no doubt head down the independently released route.

 

Q. - Do you get a touch of nostalgia when you work on old Seventh Son live songs?

Bri - It can be a bit nostalgic yeah, playing a certain old song can give you a 'flashback' to a certain time or venue or who was in the band at the time. We play a variety of the older stuff from over the years, some songs come and go whilst others are always in the set. Some songs that we've recorded with a certain line up we've not played again after that line up split if you know what I mean, such as 'What More do you Want'? or 'Sister Strange' from the 12-inch vinyl EP.

 

Q. - What's the current line-up of the band? Will we have Seventh Son for a long time?

Bri - The current lineup of Seventh Son is:

Bri Shaughnessy - Vocals.

Dave Fox - Guitar.

Rick Gregory - Bass.

Kev Lee - Drums.

 

Well, Seventh Son have done 40 years now so who knows? Do we get some kind of medal for that! I think we've still got some mileage left in us...there's the new album coming soon and there will be more to come.

 

Q. - Around 2011 you replaced Wardi in Oliver/Dawson Saxon, how did that happen?

Bri - I got a phone call out of the blue from my brother Kev in Australia asking where was I as Graham Oliver was trying to get in touch with me!! Turns out Graham had sent a message to Kev through Facebook to see if he could track me down! I contacted Graham who said they had got rid of their previous singer & said would I like to come and have a go at it? Did the first audition and they asked me to come back again....I went for the second time then after we'd gone through the songs they said how was I fixed for a gig in Austria in about a week’s time !! I said ok and the next thing I know I’m on plane to Germany and landing in Munich !! then it was straight into a mini bus travelling down to Austria for a Harley Davidson festival gig.

 

It went great but it was then straight back into the bus after the gig and a drive back up to Munich to get the first morning flight back to the UK..!!! Those quick turn arounds don't happen too often now and since then I’ve played in just about every country in Europe.... incredible.. With Seventh Son we had supported O.D. at Elsecar Building 21 in Barnsley in June 2011 which was just before I auditioned so they would have seen me performing there. Graham’s son Paul had joined O.D. as the new drummer just before i joined and it turns out that Paul told the band to check me out as I’d known Paul previously when a band he played with supported Seventh Son a few years previous so we knew each other already through the scene and gigging.

Q. - How does it feel to share the stage with legends such as Oliver and Dawson?

Bri - To share the stage with Graham Oliver & Steve Dawson is unbelievable...awesome...come on now these guys are true Metal Legends!! But also they're great blokes & great fun to work with and that's important. When I’m onstage I look to my left and there's Steve 'Dobby' Dawson then look to my right and there's Graham Oliver...I have to pinch myself and think bloody hell these are the guys who did 'Wheels of Steel', 'Strong Arm of the Law', 'Denim & Leather' - classic albums with classic songs, it's a real privilege to be onstage with them and unreal after seeing them as a younger audience member in their early days through the bands Sob to Son of a Bitch then Saxon....watching their climb to 'Making it'....bizzarre...!!

 

Q. - Are there plans for a new Oliver/Dawson Saxon album in the near future?

Bri - Yes, there are some new songs in the pipeline for a new album but before that it looks like there will be an O.D. Saxon Live DVD from a gig we did at the 'Winterstorm' festival in Scotland in 2018 which was a brilliant gig with the a really great audience, so some good stuff to look forward to, but everything held up this year due to the dreaded pandemic.

 

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

Bri - If it puts the spotlight on the N.W.O.B.H.M. then the revival thing is great...It's a great movement that still has obsessive followers up to this day & some writers, promoters etc. who do their best to keep it alive today. Seventh Son have played at the brilliant 'Brofest' in Newcastle on Tyne & Hard Rock Hell in Sheffield to name two and had a great time especially meeting up with followers of the band & the scene, great stuff.... could do with doing some more.

 

Q. - In your opinion what are the main differences between the eighties and the reality of today?

Bri - The main difference I suppose is the old 'Social Media' it has it's good & bad points.... we're still an Underground band really.....still get surprised with people who contact us from all over the place...I appreciate that.....Back in the 80's we'd be going out with a bucket of paste and sticking up posters for gigs, that’s what you had to do to get people there then. It had a different feel then and a lot more of the 'do it yourself' attitude to putting out records etc. which still continues today to some extent especially now record companies are in difficulties...serves em right.

 

In the 80's you were trying to put on as bigger show as you could on a shoestring budget..can remember building our own 'drum riser' cobbling together lights, painting backdrops etc. etc. all great fun...the enthusiasm carried you through.

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

Bri - Between 2014 and 2016 i was also in a Barnsley Goth band called The Danse Society. The band had success in the 80's on the indie scene, appeared on television did headline tours etc. but just didn't hit it as big as they should have and split in the mid-eighties. I'd known their drummer for quite a while and he always said he'd like me to do something with the band. In 2011 he got some of the members back together and recorded an album but this time with a female vocalist as the original singer and also bass player didn't want to be involved in the reformed line up. They released it under the name The Danse Society as 3 ex members were on the album. Things didn't work out though and a split happened with the drummer & keys player going one way and the original guitarist & his girlfriend going the other & a battle ensued for who had rights to the bands name. This was still going on when I joined them in 2014...incredibly similar to the Saxon/OD scenario!! I recorded an album with them called 'Reincarnated' in Leeds (Goth Central!) which received some positive reviews did over 30 gigs with them including 4 in London, Glasgow in Scotland & 2 trips to Italy, Rome & Milan.

 

It was a heavy workload for me at the time working in 3 bands and dates inevitably started to clash...my priorities are with Seventh Son & O.D. Saxon so I couldn't commit to the Danse Society as they wanted so I had to drop out of it. The drummer I know lost the battle to keep the name 'Danse Society' to the guitarist which was very unfortunate as he started the band - unfair....another rock n roll hard luck story. As you can guess the stuff were doing was different to the stuff I usually do but it was a challenge I enjoyed.

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

Thanks for taking the time to talk to me and I wish you and your readers all the best luck for the future.

 

Bri

 

www.seventh-son.co.uk