Trev Robinson (Satan, Notre Dame)

Trev Robinson was "Satan" lead singer on their first recordings, the 81 demo tape, and the single "Kiss of Death" from 82. A short passage that left its mark.

Q. - Hello Trev! When did you join "Satan"? Were you friends before forming the band? Tell us a bit about the early days.

Trev - I joined Satan sometime in 1981. I'm around 4 years older than Steve and Russ, and they first came to my attention when I worked in a Camera shop in Newcastle, and was a keen amateur photographer. This was back in the day when you could take a professional camera to gigs and get some pretty good shots. A colleague was asked to go to a local gig to take some photos, and he asked me along as he knew I'd like the music. The band was Satan.I was blown away by the music, and the fact that Steve wore a Dracula cape on stage!

At the time I had been in a few bands including a Christian rock band called Kadesh, during a brief flirtation with religion. Guess you could say that didn't last long!

I had also sang and played guitar in Cecil Splinge and the Inflatable He Men! More of them later.

Anyway not long after seeing Satan for the first time, I saw an advert "SATAN REQUIRE VOCALS" with Steves phone number. 

I called him up, auditioned (Paranoid and Born to be Wild I think), and was asked to join that night. 

Commenced learning their set immediately. We had some great songs then, The Warlock, The Ritual, and Buried Alive spring to mind, as well as the tracks that appeared on the early demos.

I was concentrating on getting to grips with the bands existing songs, but I always wrote lyrics, and one night at our practice room Russ spotted a set of lyrics of mine called Oppression. He grabbed them and took them away, and the next night as I remember turned up with the music all in place for it. That was probably the most exciting time in the band at that point, realising we could write together. Oppression was immediately in the set and was followed by other new songs with my lyrics. Trial By Fire, The Rock, Alone In The Dock.

We were gigging a fair bit at that time, then it was decided that we were ready to record a demo, so we started concentrating on really honing the 4 song that would end up on our demo tape. I was delighted that Oppression was included. 

Q. - Who were your principal influences at that time?

Trev - I guess my influences around then would be Ronnie James Dio, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, as well as my all-time love Deep Purple, among others.

The NWOBHM was kind of in full swing, although we didn't really see ourselves as part of that at the time.

Q. - Why did you choose "Kiss of Death" for first single? Was there any special reason? Did the single have air play on radio stations, at that time?

Trev - During the recording of the demo we were offered the chance to have 2 songs included on the Guardian records compilation Roxcalibur. We jumped at the chance, which was only made available to any bands who could come up with the required fee, and decided on Oppression and The Executioner as the 2 tracks. I think we'd already decided that KOD and Heads Will Roll would be our single, though my memories are a bit hazy about that.

The main thing that came from recording the demo at Guardian was that we started getting gigs a little further afield than Newcastle, supporting or co headlining with other bands who'd recorded there, and been featured on the album. Bands like Black Rose and Brands Hatch.

We also did start getting a few plays on local radio, and I remember Russ and Myself doing an interview on Metro radio with Alan Robson, during which he played Oppression, another proud moment for me.

Q. - Why did you leave the band back in 82?

Trev - I didn't leave Satan, I was fired. It was becoming clear that Andy was heading for the exit, and Steve and myself attended a gig by a band called Beef Torpedo, featuring a good friend of mine on keyboards (the aforementioned Cecil Splinge). The drummer in Beef torpedo was Ian McCormick, who stood out to us and to my eternal shame I was instrumental in poaching him to replace Andy.

We did a few gigs with Ian in the band, and I began to sense that I was being left out of things like Interviews, or just general stuff. Also songs started being written without my involvement. Things came to a head at a gig in Newcastle. The lighting guy that night was Louie Taylor, and it turned out that after the gig a deal was done for him to replace me as singer. And that was it, apart from I'd just contributed 50% of the pressing cost of the Kiss Of Death single, so great timing. To be fair my singing had been suffering for a while, and it turned out that recording my vocals for the demo immediately after a bout of glandular fever maybe hadn't done me any favours, but what do you know at that age. 

Q. - Are there any special gig memories that you recall better?

Trev - Particularly memorable gigs? Mingles at Whitley Bay just after Randy Rhodes tragic death, and dedicating The Rock to his memory, and going down a storm every time we played there.

My First gig at a pub called The Lonsdale in Newcastle, and headlining the Crypt in Middlesborough, after a gig there supporting Black Rose, when it was deemed that our pyro set the fire alarms off so the building had to be evacuated mid set. Mysteriously the all clear was given just in time for Black rose to play. 

Q. - Do you miss those times when you were the lead singer for "Satan"?

Trev – I guess I do miss those days now, especially when I see the band back after all these years, It was amazing singing with them again at  Brofest, I only wish all those fans had been around in 1982! It's great that the NWOBHM is having a revival, just wish I could have played more of a part in it, but it's not all down to being fired from Satan, there were a lot of other circumstances that came into play as well.

Q. - Did you remain friends after you leave the band?

Trev - Obviously I was furious at being ripped off like that, but there was nothing I could do. In more recent times I've seen interviews where the single was described by the guys as a remarkably good investment as it was where their career took off, true except it wasn't their investment!

I had a life after Satan most notably in Notre Dame, but within a year of being fired from the band both my parents passed away, and it took a long time to get back on track, by which time I guess I'd missed the boat.

Q. - Did you follow their career all over the years (Satan, Blind Fury or Pariah)? What are your thoughts on how they reached so high?

Trev - To be honest I didn't follow the bands career, although I was aware of Court in The Act, where I do at least get an acknowledgement if not an actual credit for my lyrics.

By the time I was in Notre Dame (86/87) they'd been through various name changes and singers and I pretty much lost touch.

After Notre Dame split I more or less quit the business altogether, and went through a few more personal issues, some self-inflicted, some not!

Q. - Did you try to go on as singer in any other band, after Satan?

Trev - After my removal from Satan, nothing musical happened for a while. I can't actually remember when in 1982 I was fired. I know it was straight after the Bierkeller gig, which I have an audio copy of and frankly my vocals were awful. Later in that year my father passed away, and I had to step up and take some responsibility. Time to get a "proper job"!

After a while I started replying to singer wanted ads, looking back it should have been me placing the ads, forming my own band and building on the work I'd done in Satan. After all, I had recorded 4 songs and had them all issued on vinyl. However, my confidence had taken a huge knock and I needed to find out if I could even do this anymore.

Replying to ads got me nowhere, then out of the blue, by word of mouth I was recommended to a local band, unnamed and just starting out. We got along well, so I joined, and we rehearsed. And rehearsed, and not much more. I wrote songs with the guitarist, John Crozier, and over the course of 2 spells with John and various bass players and drummers, I think we managed 1 gig, which consisted of entirely covers - Lizzy, MSG, UFO, Dio - the usual suspects.

During 1983 my mother passed away ( a year after my dad) I still had a full time job, and in 84 I got married and the band eventually fizzled out.

But - I had been bitten by the bug and carried on singing in various bands. I failed an audition for a band called Renegade, whose manager told me I would be better suited to one of his other bands - Je Ne Sais Crois. This was a more positive step in the right direction - nearly all original stuff, great musicians and gigs. However it fell apart when the bass player moved away with his job and the other two guys formed a local covers band called The Force.

Although I was still working I carried on singing wherever I could and ended up in a club band doing mostly rock covers among some truly hideous pop songs!

Again things didn't last but as this was breaking up I answered 2 advert for  bands  looking for a vocalist. One was called Southern Silhouette - The other turned out to be Notre Dame.

They were both good bands, and I had a choice to make - nowadays you'd do both, but back then it wasn't the done thing. I practised with both bands for a few weeks, before deciding on Notre Dame. 

Q. - There's not much information about "Notre Dame", what can you tell us about your days in this band?

Trev - Notre Dame had a keyboard player! One Jan Thompson (now Jan Robinson - she married my brother!) The music in Notre Dame was far removed from Satan, but so was the stuff that Satan were playing. Also, during my time in Notre Dame, Satan changed singers lie spinal tap killed off drummers, and went through various name changes - Blind Fury and Pariah among others. I would occasionally cross paths with Steve and Russ, but to be fair relations were a bit strained, and I was enjoying being in a band where for a while everyone seemed to be pulling together. I would list Notre Dame's influences as Dio, Magnum, Iron Maiden, a smattering of Marillion, and even a touch (too much!) of AC/DC. Writing partnerships developed, with me contributing lyrics to compositions by Jan and our guitarist Geoff Dawson, who is sadly no longer with us (RIP). As time went on Jan and myself would write individually, lyrics and music, and collaborations would still happen, so everyone got a chance to be heard. The covers we did were an eclectic bunch - AC DC, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, (this was 1985-87!) I think we even chucked some Quo in. Everything took second place to our own songs, which we really believed in and I still feel proud of. We did a couple of demos, and gigged a lot.

High spots were a gig at Wallsend Arts centre, with an amazing stage set and a slot supporting the Tygers of Pan Tang at The Riverside. It would not be an exaggeration to say we blew them off stage, which felt like justice being done as their ex  bass player had turned down an offer to join Je ne Sais Crois, whic led to the demise of that band. A mixing desk copy of that gig is in my possession.

Thee seeds of Notre Dames demise were sown when a local DJ / producer called Jeff Brown offered us a slot on a local TV show (can't remember the name, sorry) We were working towards this, a date was given to us, and we cancelled other work in order to do this, only for Mr Brown to turn out to be a bullshitter of the highest order, in fact it wasn't even his decision to offer the gig in the first place. Add to that a knock back from Neat Records because they "didn't like the singer", and things get said that can't be un-said, and again I was out on my arse! Jan jumped ship as well, and the others.... apart from Geoff I have no idea, and frankly don't care. I quit the business for good at that point, and Jan carried on for a while, she was in a band called Pulse who I really rated, but in the long run.... enter real life, proper jobs, families. We had a good run, and gave it our best shot at the time.

As a footnote, Geoff Dawson and I worked together in the 90's for about a year, writing together, in a band called Wasteland. Featuring yours truly on guitar. Didn't last long and the only good thing to come from it was a lifelong friendship with a guy called Steve Armstrong, the BEST drummer I have ever worked with and a true friend. 

In closing  - someone once asked me what’s the best and worst things about being in a band?

My Reply - the best thing is the other people in the band. The worst thing is the other people in the band. 

Q. - And what about the heavy metal scene in general, is there any band that you still like, or that you like to see live?

Trev - I still obsessively love rock and metal music, still love Purple, I thought it was very sad that the Sabbath reunion didn't include Bill Ward, and these days the bands I mostly listen to are Temperance Movement, Sons Of Apollo, Ayreon,  Black Country Communion - the list goes on.

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

Trev - I was reunited with the guys in Satan a few years ago when the demos were re-released, and I still regard them as my brothers.

If the call ever did come to get on stage with them again, try and stop me.

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