Zeb Dragon is another underrated
and obscure bands from the N.W.O.B.H.M. scene, Cult Metal Classics Records has
just compiled their material on cd. We had a talk with Ben Brierley about the
band's early days.
Q. - Hello Ben, tell us a bit
about the origins of Zeb Dragon, how and when did it all start? Who were the
first members of the band?
Ben - Zeb Dragon were formed by a
group of friends early 1982 In Stratford – Upon- Avon, Warwickshire UK. All the
band members met at Stratford-Upon-Avon high school with the very first line up
consisting of: Jon Mabey - guitar, Mike Richardson - Bass, Anthony (Spiff)
Smith - Drums, Jeremy Herbert (Herbie) - Vocals
The band rehearsed in a porta
cabin at the high school, and it is here they began to develop their own original
hard rock/metal sound and began writing their own material.
I replaced Herbie on vocals late
1982 and my brother Crispin replaced Spiff on drums around the same time.
Q. - Did you play in any other
bands before Zeb Dragon?
Ben - I played in a band called
Assassin. Playing bass and vocals.
Q. - When did you record the
first demo tapes? Was it in 1982 and 1983?
Ben - I think the first tape was
recorded in early 1983 at Windrush studios in Gloucestershire. The second was
recorded about a year later at the same studio.
Q. - Did you sell these tapes at
shows, or send it to fanzines?
Ben - Yes, the tapes were sold at
gigs and were also sent out to venues and local papers for gig bookings and
reviews. There were several fanzines around the Birmingham area who used to
follow our activities.
Q. - What about shows? Did you
play regularly in the UK?
Ben - Yes, we played a lot of
live shows 3 or 4 a week. Mike the bass player’s parents had an old Bedford
camper van which we would pile into with all our kit and travel to gigs all
over the place. We always loved playing live, it was what it was all about for
us. Right from the start playing on a Tuesday night at the Green Dragon pub in
Stratford. We had a great following. When we played around London we would often
have several coaches of supporters coming down from the Stratford area.
Q. - Did you open for some other
bands, or was it headlining shows?
Ben - We would open for some
shows and headline for others, we played quite a few festivals as well. We
loved playing live and weren’t really fussed where we were on the billing. We
always tried to put on a high energy show, dynamic show.
Q. - Do you recall the set list
you were playing in general during those shows? Did you play some covers too?
Ben - We never played covers. Our
whole ethos was about writing and performing our own material. We really
enjoyed the song writing process and all the band contributed to that. One of
us would have an idea and we would work on that until we formed a finished
piece. Sometimes it worked sometimes it didn’t. There were plenty of songs
which never got to the point of being performed or recorded in the studio. The
set which we were playing around 85/86 was recorded on a live tape which is in
a bit of a poor state now but the tracks were:
* Voyage of a twentieth century
poet
* Golden Angel
* Penny
* Underground
* A pleasant tale
* Air controlled insanity
* Fading away
* Don’t you know?
* Sprite
* Send in the clowns
Q. - In 1985 you recorded your
most known demo tape, how did the fans react to this tape?
Ben - It went down very well. We
sold a lot of copies at gigs and reviews in the press were good. It opened up a
lot of gigs for us.
Q. - Did you try to approach a
label, to record an LP after that demo?
Ben - I don’t think we did really.
We felt that what we were doing was not what the mainstream record industry
were looking for at that point in time. Acts like Bon Jovi, Def leppard, were
just starting to appear and many other bands which were a much more ‘Glam’,
manicured image and sound. Lots of spandex. 😊 We really weren’t interested in
that or becoming that. We were more interested musically in mixing genres with
a heavy rock core and delivering a strong show. I think had we stayed together
for longer then maybe we would have approached independent labels.
Q. - When did you split exactly
and for what reasons? What do you think that went wrong at that time, so that
Zeb Dragon did not have continuity?
Ben - We split for a very silly
reason really. I caught glandular fever and after a hard gig at a venue in
Shepherds Bush, London, my body kind of gave up for a bit and I was pretty ill.
We had gig dates booked and the rest of the band decided to do the gigs without
me. I didn’t take it well and left.
Zeb Dragon continued as ‘Zeb’,
for a while with Jon playing guitar and vocals, Cris on drums and Mike on Bass.
After about a year ‘Zeb’ (having recorded a tape), folded and Jon and I formed
a band called ‘Libra’, with Darren Clarke (keys), Spiff (Drums) and John Archer
(bass). We recorded a couple of tapes. Cris was playing with a new band. Libra
were together for about 3 years Jon left after 2 years
to study contemporary music at
Leeds University with Mike and was replaced by Richard Bachus on guitar. Dom
Allcock took over from Spiff on drums but unfortunately died in a motorcycle
accident and Libra then folded.
Q. - How did the idea of
compiling "Zeb Dragon (CD 2018)" came up?
Ben - I was initially contacted
about 2 years ago by a guy who had had our tape but it broke, he was asking if
I had a copy so I sent him one plus a live Tape recording from 85/86. I was
then contacted about a year ago by Sonic age records about the possibility of
releasing some of the Zeb Dragon tracks on a CD release and we’ve been working
on that.
Q. - Is it like a dream come
true, seeing the compilation edited now?
Ben - It’s great! We’re excited
and hope people will listen and enjoy what we were doing.
Q. - In 2013, Zeb Dragon reformed
for one concert, how did it go? Did you try to keep the band active at that
time?
Ben - We reformed to play a
memorial gig along with other Stratford bands to commemorate Ray Porter who
passed away. Ray used to run the Green Dragon pub where lots of us started out
performing. Unfortunately, Mike the bass player couldn’t make it as he now
lives in Madrid and couldn’t get over. Jon, Crispin and myself put together
some acoustic arrangements of a few of our songs (Golden Angel, Sprite,
underground, and send in the clowns, I think), It was a blast to do and went
down really well and got us working together again.
Q. - Did you stay in touch with
each other’s all over the years?
Ben - Yes, we’re all still very
good friends and try to catch up a couple of times a year. We’re all a bit
geographically spread out now but have a great time when we meet up.
Q. - So what are you doing these
days? Do you still play in any band? Tell us a bit about it.
Ben - We enjoyed the reunion gig
so much that we decided to start a new project which we call ‘The Zeb Project’.
We didn’t want to just rehash Zeb Dragon material though, so in the spirit of
ZD, we wrote new material, all acoustic, and now invite guest musician to play
with us. Neil Jones plays on bass occasionally and Doug Fazzani on fiddle. The
idea is we can busk or play large venues with the same material but with varying
number of musicians. There was always an acoustic/ folk element to Zeb Dragon
and I think we all went down that path. Jon tends to guest at performances now
as he lives out of the Midlands. Cris and I being the core of the Zeb Project
are still writing and gigging regularly.
Jon is a musician and producer
based in Somerset, UK. He played for a folk trance band called Elephant Talk
for quite a while and he now prolifically gigs his own instrumental material as
well as collaborating with other musicians. He runs a studio from which he also
composes and records film scores.
Q. - How do you want to end up
this interview? Anything more you want to say?
Ben - I guess we’re just very
excited about hearing the music again. It’s been great finding old tapes of
rehearsals and gigs ad looking at all the press cutting and stuff which have
surfaced. We just hope that people will listen to the CD and like the noises we
were making. As individuals back then we were all listening to quite eclectic
music from punk bands, Yes and Black Sabbath to Fairport convention and
traditional folk music. All those influences came out in the music we were
making. We hope folks enjoy it.
Thank you for your time, and wish
you all the best for the future!
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