Whitechapel 1888, is the new video of the band Dreamcatcher. This music belongs to the album "The Road So Far", released about one year ago and is based on the myth of Jack The Ripper, but in this case not in the streets of London but "À Paris".
Linda Kelsey-Foster is a rock keyboardist who in recent years has worked with Airrace and Reuben Archer's Personal Sin, having started her career playing with Heavy Water and Dogwatch. Here's a little interview about the bands she went through.
Q. - Hello Linda, tell us a
little bit about your beginnings in rock'n'roll music, who were your main
influences, what lead you to be a keyboard player?
Linda - My grandfather was an amazing pianist and accordionist and I loved to hear him play. He played by ear. So, I started studying classical piano at a very young age and completed all my exams. However, when I hit 16, I started listening to pop and rock records – early Zep, Purple, Floyd etc – and when I turned 18, I got the opportunity to start messing around in rock bands and the love of listening and playing rock music escalated from there.
Q. - Before joining
"Dogwatch" you were part of "Heavy Water", what memories do
you keep from the "Heavy Water" days?
Linda - The singer was a guy called Danny Morgan – who later formed a business partnership with Simon Napier Bell of Nomis Studios in London. Danny had quite a few contacts in those early days and gigs were easy to come by – we toured consistently in and around London.
Q. - Are there any recordings
from the "Heavy Water"?
Linda - Sadly not. The band disbanded before we got a record deal. But I think I have a cassette of a live show somewhere.
Q. - And what about
"Dogwatch", how and when did it all start?
Linda - I answered an ad in Melody Maker for a keyboard player. Dogwatch was a kind of early Genesis concept type of band and I loved Genesis– each song had a story and the singer Roy Weard was well known for his many stage outfits and changed almost ever song and was very visual; acting out the sing as well as singing.
Q. - Did you play regularly in
the UK back then? Did you share stage with other well-known bands?
Linda - In Dogwatch we had a residency every Sunday at the Ruskin Arms at East Ham – where Iron Maiden used to also play (they had their gear stolen once and we lent them our backline). We also played frequently at the Bridge House in Canning Town where we also recorded our live album – Penfriend – using Ronnie Lane’s mobile unit. We started – as every band did – by playing on a Monday night at the Bridge House and if a band continued to increase their following, you’d eventually get the coveted Saturday night spot. Which we did! The guy who ran that venue – Terry Murphy - wrote a book about the venue and its got some amazing history of some of the name bands he put on there, who then grew and went on to much bigger venues. Its a great read. We supported Nutz at the Round House but mainly we did our own shows – not support slots.
Q. - Do you remember how did the
name Dogwatch came up?
Linda – No.
Q. - How did the idea of recording
"Penfriends" came up?
Linda - We did a showcase at the Music Machine in Camden and as a result, were offered a record deal by Bridge House Records.
Q. - Are there any other
recordings by "Dogwatch" besides the live album? Did you record any
demos too?
Linda - No.
Q. - What do you think that
lacked to "Dogwatch" to have a successful career?
Linda - Wrong time, wrong place, friction amongst band members – the usual stuff.
Q. - Did you stay in touch with
each-others all over the years?
Linda - On the odd occasion. I still speak to Tony Morley and Roy Weard. I was very friendly with Roger Glynn – who I always thought was such a gifted guitarist – and we all did a bit of a reunion gig at Roy Weard’s book launch in 2015. Sadly, Roger died a few years back of lunch cancer.
Q. - What memories do you keep
from those days in Dogwatch?
Linda - Very fond memories. I listen back to some of the material and its pretty complex. We played consistently and had a great following. My best memory was Valentines Day where we play the Ruskin Arms and some of the fans presented me with a Valentines Day card which they had all signed – it was about 6 feet tall!
Q. - What other bands did you
play after "Dogwatch"? Tell us a bit about it please.
Linda - I then joined a northern melodic rock band called Presence. The 2 main songwriters and drivers of the band were Mark Parkin and Gavin Lewis. John Trelawney (formerly of Dogwatch) was managing them with his colleague Mike Stockdale. Presence had just won the Radio Hallam rock contest and had got a publishing deal with DJM. John and Mike had set up a private showcase for them for at Terminal Studios and had invited me down to get my feedback. They had no keyboard player at the time. Presence were picking up some good traction and then got the Gary Glitter support slot for all the Christmas university shows. They decided they needed a keyboard player and asked me to join. The rest is history. We toured in France with Wishbone Ash and again, did a number of other shows across the UK including twice at the Marquee in Wardour Street. But again, band politics got in the way and the band dissolved in the late 80’s. Such a shame – the material was brilliant.
Q. - How did you end up join
Airrace on keyboards?
Linda - After Presence, I kind of fell out of love with playing. I wanted to buy a house so needed a mortgage and to do that, I needed a career. Stupid really. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I never kept up my playing – didn’t touch a keyboard for several years, and my skills started to wane. Laurie Mansworth used to come and watch Dogwatch and loved watching Roger Glynn play. And through Facebook, he contacted me. He had been successfully managing his sone’s band The Treatment for several years, but Laurie is an immense talent as a songwriter and guitarist, and after having toured the world with More and Airrace, I think he was getting itchy feet and missed playing. He had written some new material and asked me to become involved. We started off doing a project called Ludovic Potts but especially at the time, it was almost impossible to launch a new unknown band on to the circuit – things had become so competitive by then; many venues had closed down and there was no money really to be had. Laurie had always felt that Airrace was unfinished business so he decided to re-launch the band and also got Rocky Newton (ex Schenker/ Lionheart) in on bass to work with his son DHani Mansworth \nd singer Adam Payne. We started rehearsing in earnest I had an incredibly busy job at the time and was flying round the world, rushing home from the airport, driving to band rehearsals at the weekend as well as rehearsing on my own in the evenings at home where possible. I was knackered – but I loved it! The Airrace material stretched me and Laurie was a very tough taskmaster and demanded perfection.
Q. - What memories do you keep
from the Untold Stories recording times?
Linda - All the driving I had to do, to rehearse and record! But it was all incredibly exciting and we had amazing fun at the same time.
Q. - Being you living in Spain,
is it difficult for you to stay active with Airrace for rehearsals and shows?
Linda - Just before Covid, we had decided to disband Airrace – or at least put it on the back burner for a couple of years to enable Laurie to continue with his other commitments and we had our final show booked in London, which was going to a really special show at which Keith Murrell, the previous singer, would also have shared the stage with us. But Covid ruined that and we had cancelled the show twice. So, there are no immediate plans to do anything – but I would never say never! Living in Spain especially with flights and also technology, make it very easy to continue to be a member of a predominantly UK based band. I know many band members who lived elsewhere in Europe and still manage to rehearse, record and tour with their UK band members.
Q. - Are there any plans to
record a new album with Airrace?
Linda - No.
Q. - Before recording with Airrace
you were part of Reuben Archer' s Personal Sin - Petrolhead, how did that
happen?
Linda - I had known Rueben for many years and he had already done one Personal Sin album, using well know musicians to guest on it. Again – as a project – Reuben asked me if I would come down and help with the new album. I joined the band and we did a few shows – again, great fun and I really enjoyed it.
Q. - Do you know if Reuben
Archer' s Personal Sin project will continue?
Linda - Rueben has a blues band that he has pulled together right now, so there are no more plans for Personal Sin at this time.
Q. - How do you want to end up
this interview? Anything more you want to say?
Linda - When I look back at my music career, I’ve had an amazing time – met some wonderful people both fans and fellow musicians – played some brilliant over the years and I miss it like crazy! One of my best friends is Tracey Lamb from Girlschool who also lives in Spain. We are talking about an all girl project band which we will probably call Snow Queen. We hope to pull something together later next year as Tracey is crazy busy right now, playing all the Covid cancelled and rebooked shows across Europe with Girlschool. So, I have no intention of hanging up my hats just yet!
Thank you for your time, and wish
you all the best for the future!
Gary Aubert was the bass player for Jersey band Legend, they were active during the first half of the 80s, and came back in 2002 recording two more albums, Still Screaming (in 2003) and The Dark Place (in 2013), here's a chat with Gary, about this great band:
Q. - Hello Gary! When did you
join Legend? How did it happen? Tell us a little bit about the early days.
Gary - Hi Paulo, I was playing in
a covers band (Parasite) with Marco Morosino (Guitarist on Legends 1st
album), Neil Haworth (Bass guitar on the demo tape extras on ‘Anthology’ CD and
Rhythm guitar on The Dark Place) and Gavin Bartlett on drums. One night in June
1980, after practice with Parasite, we went down to Hilgrove Hall in Gorey (an
old, spooky church building that we continued to use with Legend), to see
Neil’s brother Peters band, a 3-piece band known as Doctor Morbius, with Peter
Haworth on guitar and vocals, Julian Wakeham on bass and Dave Whitely on drums.
My jaw hit the floor, I’d never heard such a professional sounding, awesomely loud
band in Jersey before! Within a few weeks, Pete was in touch to see if I’d like
to try out for his new band and though extremely nervous, I jumped at the
chance. After a few weeks Julian decided to leave the band (he was playing
rhythm guitar then) and Marco was offered the job as second guitarist. This
band was formed purely to headline a heavy metal concert in November ’80 at The
Royal hotel. The name Legend was decided upon sometime in August, with Pete
designing our logo of unique text and the cloaked hands wielding a mace.
We gelled very quickly and
started writing new songs straight away, all we needed was a vocalist. After
trying out several singers, it was when Mike Lezala (a folk singer/guitarist
who knew very little of rock music) came to us, that we knew he was so right
for the band. A few weeks later in early August an up-and-coming band (Saxon)
played in Jersey at Fort Regent for 2 nights, after seeing that gig, I knew
exactly that I was in the right band at the right time.
We played our 1st gig in November ‘80, playing our own songs and the audience loved our music, this was the reason we decided to record our 1st LP in February ’81. Funnily enough, we played ‘747- Strangers in the night’ as an encore but were told our music was much more appreciated. We never played any other cover songs after that.
Q. - Who would you cite as your
major influences at that time?
Gary - My main influence, from an early age was The Sweet. I loved their singles in the charts and when I bought the records and played the ‘B’ sides I loved how heavy and hard rocking a band they really were. Gradually I got to know Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Deep Purple and all the other great music of the rock genre.
Q. - How about shows? How was the
heavy metal scene in Jersey? Did you play regularly back then? Or was it hard
for a heavy metal band to be booked in the area at that time?
Gary - There really weren’t many opportunities for heavy metal bands in Jersey and as our island is only 45 square miles, you would always be playing to more or less the same audience every time. Because of this, we tried to leave around a 3-month gap between gigs, to allow us time to write more songs and our fans looked forward to these irregular gigs. We always organised our own gigs at hotels or clubs that could also allow under 18’s to attend.
Gary - We did feel outside of the movement, though were humbled to regularly see our songs or albums in the independent charts of Kerrang/Sounds etc. and Tommy Vance gave us a couple of plays on the Friday rock show. If only we could have had the opportunity to gig for a couple of weeks in the UK, things may have been quite different. It was a massive shock with the dawn of the internet, to realise our albums had travelled all over the world and fans used to write to us quite regularly. We have a verified photo of a cassette tape that had been recorded and traded by none other than Lars Ulrich!!!!
Q. - However, you were the
opening act for Thin Lizzy on their 81 UK tour, tell us a bit about this tour,
and how important was it for Legend?
Gary - Playing on the same stage as Thin Lizzy was an absolute honour, this was only our 4th gig and I was only just 18, it all seemed quite unreal. I’m sure we played well as everyone in the audience (2,500) enjoyed us. The only downside was that Lizzy’s road crew had cut the wires to our flash bombs and didn’t let us use the monitors at the front of the stage, so we were hearing a crazy mix of our own amplifiers and the music returning from the back of the hall a second or so later. It was great to meet Phil Lynott after the show, he really was one of the good guys.
Q. - Did you try to find a record
deal before editing both albums "Legend" and "Death in the
Nursery" by yourselves?
Gary - We never tried for a record deal, we funded our 1st album between the 5 of us and we managed to get enough back to fund some more copies of the 1st album and a little towards us recording Death in the Nursery. It was probably a good thing that we had total control with our band. Obviously, Death in the Nursery was quite different to the 1st album as we had lost Marco to University, and we decided to keep going with just one guitarist, so our music took a slightly different direction, with shorter, snappier songs.
Q. - Why did you leave
"Legend" back in 83?
Gary - I left Legend in February ‘83 when I damaged my spine in an accident at work. I was in massive pain for the next 5 months and sadly it’s always been there to some degree ever since. There was a gig lined up for March ’83 as support for Bernie Torme in Jersey. I taught Neil Haworth all the bass parts so Legend could play this gig.
Q. - After the split, did you
stay in touch with each other over the years? Were you involved in some other
musical projects?
Gary - Sadly, we did lose touch for a while, though we have always remained very close friends. A year or so later I joined another band over here called Ruff Justice. The songs we played were covers and we were very popular over here.
Q. - I think Pete Haworth was the
driving force in Legend, it's been almost two years since his passing, do you
think Legend will ever play live again someday?
Gary - Yes, Pete was definitely the driving force of the band. He was such a talent, with his song writing, musically and lyrically, and many of his lyrics are still true in this current time. He is greatly missed, and I doubt we will ever play live again without Pete.
Q. - It's been 9 years since the
edition of "The Dark Place", were you happy with the release of this
album and what it achieved so far?
Gary - We were all extremely happy with The Dark Place. It was recorded over 5 weekends at Gilbert O'Sullivan's studio in Jersey. I know from mine and Pete’s point of view, we probably spent half of our time laughing and I have some really great memories. I know, as we posted all the CD’s that they were being sent all over the world and that it was well received by our loyal fans.
Q. - Any special memories from
playing Keep It True back in 2013?
Gary - Keep it True was an amazing experience for us. We flew Jersey to Gatwick, Gatwick to Frankfurt and then drove down to the festival, with our own music blasting out of the van’s cd player for 90 km. The hotel we stayed in was mostly occupied by other bands also playing at the festival and in the first evening we went for a few drinks in the nearest town. The people we met in Germany were so friendly and the bars all seemed happy to play rock music, I’d love to go back sometime. The festival itself is so well organised by Ollie and Tarek and we loved every minute of our hour on stage. The fans there are the nicest people you could ever wish to meet. We were again humbled by the number of fans who queued to meet with us after we had played. It was also amazing to meet up with guys we had spoken with over the internet for the first time.
Q. - And what do you think about
all the N.W.O.B.H.M. movement, and the repercussion it had around the world?
Gary - It was and still is an incredible period of time that I’ll always be proud to have been a part of. There were just so many great bands around at the time, many deserving to have been given record deals, my personal favourites being Trespass and Demon.
Q. - Do you still try to keep the
eighties metal spirit alive?
Gary - I’m still 18 years old in my head (even though my body tells me otherwise). I am currently recording with my new band Dark Matter. We play a type of progressive rock/doom which has quite a unique sound, just as Legend were unique sounding. The band consists of 2 other friends I was in contact with in different parts of the UK. Dave Gilbert is the founder of the band and is also the vocalist, rhythm guitarist, keyboard player, drummer and producer of the band and Alex Perry, an incredible guitar player, who also still performs and records with his original NWOBHM band Mythra. Our new album ‘The Rectory’ should be available to buy from November ’22. I always take time to answer any questions from anyone, anywhere in the world about Legend. It is surprising just how many people still get in contact.
Gary - Thank you for the opportunity to recall all the wonderful times I spent with Legend, it really was a great band to be a part of.
Thank you for your time, and wish
you all the best for the future!
Burner, previously known as The Savage Dogs, were formed in 1980, in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England. They recorded some demo tapes in the early days that were released on vinyl in the 2000's. We had a chat with drummer Steve Peach and guitarist Andy Richards to know more about them.
Q. - Hello guys, when did Burner
start? Was it in the beginning of 1980? Tell us a bit about the beginning of
the band and how did it all start.
Andy - Steve and I have known
each other since we were kids. He had a drum kit and I got an electric guitar
and an amp for my 16th birthday and it just grew from there. This was around
1980-81. We were originally called The Savage Dogs after an early song we had
written.
Dave Price joined on bass (who
played on the first Savage killer demo). Steve had been doing Vocals in the
beginning and eventually Andy Rotherham joined on vocals. The name Burner came
about just before we did a gig. A friend called Malc who had helped us out on
bass now again said something like "Look lads... the name of the band
Savage Dogs is S***! How about......BURNER? And that was that!
Steve - Burner started around
1980 but we had been using the name ‘Savage Dogs’ as a garage band since about
1978. The early line up was Andy Richards, Dave Price (bass) and me. I was
doing lead vocals at this point until we got Andy Rotherham. We had already
changed the name to Burner before Andy joined. We recorded in bedrooms, garages
and rehearsal rooms on a basic cassette recorder and the quality was very poor.
Q. Who were your main influences
at the very beginning of the band?
Andy - I suppose it was a lot of
big heavy rock bands of the early seventies. Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Judas
Priest etc. Kiss were a big-big influence.... I wanted to be Ace Frehley!!!
Also, all the bands that started
with the NWOBHM scene such as Iron Maiden, Saxon, Def Leppard etc.
Steve - We we’re into KISS, Judas Priest (obviously a big influence on Andy’s vocals), AC/DC and Black Sabbath. There was an abundance of great music during this period being the start of the NWOBHM explosion too.
Q. - What about gigs, did you
play all over the UK or was it hard for a heavy metal band to be booked at that
time?
Andy - We only played locally
really... Pubs and village halls etc. Anybody who'd have us really! We had
numerous different line-ups’ in a short space of time. Andy, Steve and I stayed
the course though.
Steve - We stayed local in the Midlands playing Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. We got gigs reasonably easy due to the music around at the time being metal and breaking through and having success like Iron Maiden, Saxon, AC/DC etc.
Q. - At this time did you play
some covers too, or was it only your own songs?
Andy - From memory ... In the early
days it was just original stuff. Then we started doing a few covers also. We
became a 5 piece for a while and did all covers. Then when we went back to a 4
piece prior to the second demo Hammer of the gods and Kev Pipes joined on bass
we started to write more original material.
Steve - We mixed covers in with original material playing Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Saxon, Black Sabbath. Judas Priest material.
Q. - You recorded "Savage
Killer" and "Lay Down Your Arms" as a demo tape back in 82, did
you sell the demo at shows, sent it to labels?
Andy - Don't think we sold any of
the demos at gigs... Back then you when you did a demo at a recording studio
you just got cassette recording copy and maybe the reel-to-reel master tape if
you paid extra.... but most folk would not of had anything to play it on.
Having them put on vinyl which happened many years later would have been a pipe
dream cus of the cost etc.
Steve - We did sell a number of copies on cassettes but mainly away from gigs because we didn’t have a stand at gigs. People that bought it thought it was great at the time and I am eternally grateful to Malc MacMillan for having belief in the material for his first release on Zerlinda Records. Preserved forever on vinyl!
Q. - I believe that the quality
of both the music and the production on your demos were high enough to get a
major deal. Did you try to approach a record deal at that time?
Andy - No not to my knowledge.
Steve - We had an offer from
Ebony Records to put ‘Savage Killer’ on a compilation that they were putting
together but it meant us partly financing it. I think that it was about £200.
We were all earning low wages at the time and decided not to bother. I was only
earning around £60 per week back then and we all thought that it was too
expensive.
To be perfectly honest we just
loved gigging locally and although we dreamt of the big time, we didn’t really
believe that we would ever get there so didn’t really commit to trying 100%.
Q. - When did "Burner"
split up exactly? What happened that lead to the split?
Andy - Think we split up sometime
in 1985. Think Kev Pipes called it a day and Andy Rotherham not long after. The
band had just run it's course, I guess.
Steve - We played our last gig in December 1984. Andy Rotherham quit soon after the ‘Hammer of the Gods’ demo and that was it really. He got married and had a family and did don’t want to continue. We couldn’t find a suitable replacement so called it a day as far as ‘Burner’ was concerned.
Q. - In your opinion, were the
90's hard times for heavy metal bands?
Andy - Not really... But I think
music in general started to splinter into niche markets. The thrash metal scene
during the early nineties was not for me I'm afraid.
Steve - We live very close to the ‘Castle Donington’ (Monsters of Rock and now Download festival) and every year (1980 to present day) 100,000 metal fans descend on it so I don’t believe that ‘metal’ has ever had a hard time.really. There is always a healthy mix of bands coming through.
Q. - And what made you feel like
reuniting Burner again back in 2005? Some kind of unfinished business?
Andy - It really came about via
Steve. He will be able to explain better than me....
Basically, a guy who had a small
record label got to hear the old demo's and thought they were great. He offered
to put them onto vinyl for free etc.
And there was a big interest in
them. Which eventually led to us getting back together and recording
Resurrection.
Steve - I was introduced to the
world of the internet by my wife in the early 2000’s. I searched NWOBHM and
contacted Malc MacMillan who wrote an Encyclopaedia on the subject. He gave me
his telephone number and we chatted for a while. I sent him an old demo
cassette with another Leicestershire NWOBHM band ‘Chrome Molly’ on from 1983
that he was interested in hearing. He asked if I had been in a band and said to
copy the ‘Burner’ demo onto the other side of the tape. He contacted me via
email to ask if we would be interested in letting him release the ‘Burner’ demo
on vinyl. I spoke to the other guys and we were unanimous in going ahead with
his offer. So within a couple of months, I had 25 copies of the single sent to
me and it felt and sounded fantastic. Then of course I sent him the ‘Hammer of
the Gods’ demo and he released that one too. He then asked if we would be
interested in getting the band back together and recording an album. Andy
Richards and me have always lived close to one another and never lost touch but
we didn’t know where Andy Rotherham was. It turned out that he had moved
literally 5 miles away. After a bit of persuasion, he decided to do it. We
spent a number of months writing and arranging songs and recording in various
locations and rehearsal rooms until we had everything down then mixed it and
sent it to High Roller Records in Germany. It certainly felt like unfinished business
which is why we added in tracks from the 80’s (Long Lost Friend and Man or
Machine) so that music could get to a wider audience.
Q. - Was it like a dream come
true to see "Savage Killer" and "Hammer of the Gods"
released as singles, after so many years?
Andy - Yes it was amazing to have
them after all these years put onto vinyl and sell like they have!
Steve - Definitely. I went to a festival a few years ago and there was a record fair there. I flicked through the singles and found ‘Hammer of the Gods’. My mate said “This guy here was the drummer on that” and he got me to sign it. That was a great feeling!
Q. - It's been over 10 years
since the edition of "Resurrection", what do you feel about it?
Andy - Prior to doing this I had
not listened to Resurrection for a while....
But have had it on in the car a
lot since!! When we started it I suddenly had all these riffs and ideas flowing
through my head ... Something which I had not had for a long long time particularly
regards Rock music. It was quite cool as a 40 something year old trying to play
like an 18-year-old!
Steve - I wish that we had more time to do it as Andy Richards was moving house and getting married soon after and it felt a bit rushed. But it was true of us at the time we had fun doing it. If I could go back there are some things that I would play differently but no major regrets.
Q. – What’s the current status of
Burner? Are you working on new music, or thinking about a new album?
Andy - Nothing really in the pipe
line... But as the saying goes..."Never say never!"
What do you reckon lads?? One
more for the road???
Steve - No we are finished now. I’m 60 next year (God that sounds old!) and Burner is a proud part of my past but it’s done. I still play in a covers band and will continue while I feel fit enough to.
Q. - In your opinion what are the
main differences between the eighties and the reality of today? Do you keep an
eye on the metal scene over the years?
Andy - Sorry to say I don’t
really keep an eye on the current scene.
This is just my opinion... But
everything that can be done guitar wise has already been done.... Occasionally
tune into say Planet rock and hear the new stuff they play.... Bit to me it's
all very average now. Cheers.
Steve - Today’s bands don’t have
the quality of material that came out in the 70’s and 80’s. Everything has
already been done and it’s hard to do anything original.
I still go to concerts and festivals so I still see old and new bands. I saw Judas Priest at Bloodstock. Festival last year and loved it. For me the 70’s and 80’s will always be the best decades for music in general and especially heavy rock and metal. I don’t get too involved in many new bands nowadays as I still play the old bands from that great time period.
Q. - Anything more you want to
say, to end up this interview?
Steve - Thank you for your interest in Burner and feel free to use this interview as you please.
Thank you for your time, and wish
you all the best for the future!
Contraband's origins date back to 1978, when they came up in Crowland, Lincolnshire. The band recorded a 2-track demo tape in 1980, being their only recording. We had a chat with Phil Whiting, vocalist and bassist and guitarist Colin Holland, to know a little bit more about this obscure band.
Q. – Hello! Tell
us a little bit about your beginnings in the rock’n’roll world, who were your
main influences, what led you to be a guitarist?
CH : My early
influences where Jimi Hendrix , and Tony Mcphee from the Groundhogs plus Mel
Galley from Trapeze. I played in a band with my brother Alan on drums with
another school mate called Junkman, we did mainly Groundhogs, Bowie and T Rex
stuff, did a few local gigs. Phil and I were school mates and in the same class
at school, we always had a common interest in rock music and bands
PW: I played trumpet from an early age, but really started to get into rock in a big way about age 14-15. A school friend had already bought a guitar, so I bought a bass, and it all took off from there really. Early rock influences were Alice Cooper and Bowie, but once I started playing bass I was soon influenced by John Entwistle, Chris Squire, and Pete ‘Mars’ Cowling of The Pat Travers Band; and largely by Geddy Lee, Glenn Hughes and James Dewar for their bass & vocals work.
Q. – Tell us a
bit about Contraband, how did it all start? Who were the first members of the
band?
PW: Colin was
the guitarist in a band called Junk Man soon after we left school, and I went
to see them play at our old school one time and was blown away with excitement,
and I knew that I just had to play with him. We had a long chat after the gig
and were soon hatching plans to form what became Contraband.
Initially
Contraband were a 4-piece: Colin Holland (guitar), Phil Whiting (bass, later
& vocals), Colin’s brother Alan Holland (drums), and Kevin ‘Miv’ Richards
(vocals)
Miv only did one or maybe a couple of gigs with the band before we became the 3-piece that was (and always will be) Contraband.
Q. – In the
early days, did you start writing your own songs or were you most concentrated
on covers?
PW: In the real early days we did Hendrix and Cream covers etc, but these were soon taken over by the likes of Rush, Trapeze, Pat Travers & Robin Trower who were the key influences for us as a band.
Q. – The first
demo tape came out in 1980, how did that happen? Did it have airplay on radio
stations, at that time?
CH: As Phil
says, the demo was recorded with the help of the local music shop guy, and was
produced by a brilliant producer/ engineer called Derick Tomkins of Beck
studios in Wellingborough UK, that's why it sounds so huge!
We recorded the
backing tracks pretty much live, with Phill adding the vocal afterwards
PW: We used to
hang out in the music shop in our local town of Crowland. The guy who worked in
there liked what we were doing and persuaded us to go and get a demo cut.
We had some airplay on local FM station Hereward Radio, and was interviewed for their rock show.
Q. – Did you
try to approach a record deal after release of this demo? Did you send a tape
to record companies?
PW: No, we did discuss it but somehow never got around to it. By that point we were all fully trained trades people, and we didn’t ‘know’ anyone in the music industry, and I guess at the time we couldn’t figure how we were going to find a way in and maybe lacked a little ‘belief’ in ourselves in that respect - We did have a manager for a short time, just after the recording of the demo, but he wasn’t on our wavelength and simply not part of our ‘gang’ so he was soon ousted, never to be replaced.
Q. – Are there
some other Contraband recordings besides this demo?
PW: Beggars Child and Warrior King were the only ones that we had recorded in any sort of professional way. We occasionally recorded rehearsals on a couple on Unidyne B’s in our echoey rehearsal hall, and latterly on a little Fostex 4-Track, but nothing good enough to put out unfortunately. We did write and play out enough songs though to have made an album.
Q. – Did you
share the stage with some other well-known bands over the years?
PW: No. There was talk of us supporting Motörhead at one of their gigs at West Runton Pavillion* one time, but it never came to fruition. (*Anyone remember that great little venue? Now long gone unfortunately, but loads of pretty well known bands played there.)
Q.- Were you
part of some other musical projects besides Contraband?
CH After
Contraband I took time away and had a family, my son took up the drums, and I
rodied for him and his band, untill joining a band called Big Grin and playing
the pub circuit locally, we recorded a 6 track cd to flog at our gigs, now I
play in a blues rock band called Crowbone playing the local festivals etc
PW: Since Contraband I’ve played in and still do play, in a number of AOR/prog type covers bands; and I was part of a rock/funk originals band called Xen in the late 90’s/early 2000’s.
Q. – Have you
ever thought about compiling this demo tape and maybe some other recordings on
cd?
PW: No, not
until we were approached recently. It never occurred that anyone would be
interested! But we stand by what we did, and we did sell quite a few tape
demo’s at our gigs at the time. They must be pretty rare now though, I’m not
sure that even we have one!! Laughs.
Q.- Did you
keep in touch with the other former members over the years?
PW: Yes, we’ve
never lost touch, and all remain really good friends. We recently had a get
together with our old roadies and had a right old laugh about the old days in
the band.
Yes, we are all still in touch, the drummer Alan is my brother, and I see Phill quite a bit at the local gigs we play, very often on the same bill!
Q. – Is there a
funny moment that you can share with us?
PW: Far too
many to repeat here as we were generally having a riot! Laughs. But just a
couple that spring to mind are:
One of our
roadies Steve was heavily into pyrotechnics, and we did one show where he said
“I’ve set some stuff up in front of the drum riser. When you go on, there’s
going to be a flash at either end, then a red flare working towards the middle,
then a bigger flash in the middle when it gets there.” We struck up our first
number and ‘boom’, the whole lot went up in one massive bang and set light to
the drum riser. People were running left, right & centre for fire
extinguishers. Fair play to us, we kept on playing around all the mayhem, but
the highlight of the show was pretty early that night!!
We had a really powerful strobe light that was actually an old WWII aircraft landing light! At rehearsal one night we were checking how it looked during Alan’s drum solo. Afterwards Colin said to Alan to come out front so that he could see how it looked, and did a little drum solo himself. Following that Alan took up Colins guitar and said “Now I’ll show you what you look like” and proceeded to go absolutely mental, leaping around all over the place and ended up breaking Col’s jack plug off inside the guitar – Col wasn’t amused!
Q. – And having
you been a 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?
PW: I’m not sure that we ever properly considered that we were part of the NWOBHM, but obviously we were. I guess we thought of it as part of the progression of heavy rock and metal bands through from the 70’s, as we never really identified with all of the punk movement as their attitude was completely different to ours, and they weren’t heavy enough!
Q. – In your
opinion what are the main differences between the eighties and the reality of
today?
PW: Technology, Technology, Technology. Today you can write and record at home to a fantastic quality that simply wasn’t available in our heyday, and you can get your music out into the world via a myriad of routes without having or needing access to the large record companies (although it obviously helps!!)
Q. – Do you
keep an eye to hard rock and heavy metal music nowadays?
PW: To a
certain extent. My son Sam Warren is the bass player in heavy/avant/prog bands
Thumpermonkey, Guapo, The Holy Family, so most of the heavy music that I listen
to is from bands in the Zeuhl type genre.
CH : Yes My eldest son Michael still plays in a couple of bands, his main band Stringfinger released an album a while ago , plus I have a vast Vinyl collection , so I am always on the lookout for interesting stuff.
Q. – How do you
want to end up this interview? Anything more you want to say?
PW: Of all the
bands that I’ve played in over the years, Contraband are the only one that was
better than the sum of its parts.
Contraband never
got ourselves a record contract, became a big band, or played outside of our
Peterborough/South Lincolnshire area, but we did things our way.
We were always
heavy rock fans, and saw all of the biggest heavy rock bands in the world at
the time, some of them many times, and we lived and breathed it. So, when we
played, whether it be a gig or the rehearsal room, we meant it, and played
every single song like it was going to be our last, and our audiences loved
that attitude in us.
From a very
early stage, we never really played the pub circuits like most bands of our
ilk. We always aimed to put on gigs like those top bands that we went to see,
so for 2-3 years or more we always hired a hall (bigger and bigger over the
years), hired a bar, hired some bouncers, got some other band to support us or
hired a heavy rock disco, did all of the promoting and sold all of the tickets,
put on a show, and played our asses off at the gigs. Obviously, all of this
took organisation and effort so we only played once every few months, but we
didn’t care because all of the gigs were always packed, we had a great
following, and everyone had a great time. Obviously, all of this effort took
its toll in the end as all we really wanted to do was play, but it was great
while it lasted, and even after all of these years there aren’t too many bands
who can say that they did that.
CH as Phill
says, what we did years ago still resonates now, one of our tracks Beggars
Child had over 600 views on youtube! We are very proud of what we did, you only
get that type of band comradery once, we played all over, and had a great time,
people still ask about the band now,
I played a club
in Peterborough a couple of years ago now, I senced this bloke watching me all
evening, after the gig he came up to me an said, " you played in
Contraband didn't you? We used to come to your gigs all the time !! That was
great, after all these years, still remembered
Paul Armfield was the lead singer for many bands during the 80's. Renegade, Red, Ryder, White Heat and Déjà Vu, with whom record some demo tapes that were compiled by High Roller Records in recent years.
Q. - Hello Paul, tell us a little
bit about your beginnings in the rock'n'roll world, who were your main
influences, what lead you to be a rock singer?
Paul - In 1969, I was listening
to Deep Purple. And I like Ian Gillan as singer.
So, I started to sing and play guitar 🎸. I was 14 years old. In one year, I joined a band called Liquid Gas and we play some big gigs. In 1970 l joined a band called Vena Cava and we also have some great gigs too.
Q. - Tell us a bit about the
origins of Renegade, how did it all start?
Paul - In 1975 I joined a band called Cive and we were active for a long while, then in 1979 I joined a new band called Renegade. They were looking for a singer, I answered to the ad and I was chosen to sing in the band. We write all our own song's, Lonely Road, Last Thought, Lock The Door and The Last Warrior.
Q. - The single "Lonely Road
/ Last Thought" came out in 1980, how did that happen?
Paul - We write the songs altogether. We had a record company called White Witch Records. We recorded on records. No CDs at the time.
Q. - Later on you got some real
trouble with your manager that lead to the break of Renegade, can you tell us
happen?
Paul - The manager of the record company went off with our money, he's name was Gary Abbott. He went off with some other bands money too, he went off to Belgium with all the money.
Q. - Did you get support from the
media back then? Radio, magazines, fanzines?
Paul - Yes Renegade was on the radio station and in the newspapers. And after that we broke up, Renegade was active from 1979 to 1981.
Q. - For a brief period, you were
in Ryder, what can you tell us about this unknown band? Did you record any
demos with Ryder?
Paul - In 1981 I joined the rock band called Ryder. We played some big gigs and done one demo tape.
Q. - When did you join Red? Were
you a founding member?
Paul - In 1982, I was asked to sing 3 songs with a rock band called Red. Fathers Son, Time To Go and Red. Very good songs. They asked me to join the band but I said no because I was going to join another rock band called White Heat.
Q. - There was a demo tape
recorded in 1982, what memories do you keep from this band?
Paul - The guitar player in Red was called Raul Grenas. A great guitar player, he is now in a band called Luzbul, in Mexico, and they are doing really good there. Red done a demo with 3 songs and after became ME262.
Q. - Next step you joined White
Heat, how did that happen?
Paul - I was in White Heat and
recorded 2 songs with them, on a demo tape in 1983, Hide to hell and Missing
You.
We played lots of big gigs in Holland, one of them with Uriah Heep. Played the Brixton Academy, good days. White Heat was looking for a singer so I got the job. I was in White Heat from 1983 to 1987.
Q. - Deja Vu was formed in 1987,
tell us a bit about it please.
Paul - I joined Deja Vu in 1987 and stayed until 1991. We played lots of big gigs in London and was good band. l left the band because I have to look after my two children and take care of them. The band finished when I left.
Q. – How did the idea to compile
Renegade and Red came up?
Paul - The idea came up because 2019 High Roller records run me and said they were interested in both bands and do a compilation and I said yeah that’s fine and they did the cd. John Tucker wrote the liner notes.
Q. - Do you keep in touch with
the other former members of Renegade, Ryder, Red, White Heat or "Déjà
Vu"?
Paul - The only members of Renegade that I keep in touch is the guitar player, the other ones I don’t know what happened to them, I keep in touch with the guitarist Steve Welsh. Red, I still speak with Raul he is a guitar player in Mexico and I speak with him in Facebook, all the other ones disappeared I don’t know where they gone. White Heat, High Roller Records did a compilation of the band, but I don’t keep in touch with the former members of the band, I don’t know where they are now. Deja Vu, I keep in touch with the guitarist, he lives in Berlin, the other ones I don’t keep in touch.
Q.- What was it like to start a
metal band in the late 70s? Did you realize, that something as big as the
NWOBHM was going on around the UK?
Paul - I didn’t knew about the NWOBHM at that time, the first time I’ve heard about it I had no idea of it and I was surprised. I start reading about it and I understood that I was part of the History, so that’s good for me.
Q. - Are you still active in rock
music these days? Do you still have any band?
Paul - I would like to bring back the band Déjà Vu, that's what I'll try to do in the future and record the songs we wrote.
Q. - Do you keep an eye to hard
rock and heavy metal music nowadays?
Paul - I still listen to Deep Purple, it’s one of my all-time favorite bands. I listen mostly to older bands, I don’t like new bands. Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Scorpions, I think there were better musicians back in the day than actually.
Q. - How do you want to end up
this interview? Anything more you want to say?
Paul – Nice to talk to you, cheers.
Thank you for your time, and wish
you all the best for the future!
Formed in Paris in 2001, Dreamcatcher are a French heavy metal band known for blending classic metal influences with powerful storytelling...
