Trial By Fire

Trial by Fire is an obscure band from Essex, England, they recorded two demo tapes in 79/81, and are bout to release a compilation on Sonic Age records, we had a chat with Neil Freeman to know a little bit more about them.

Q. - Hello Neil, tell us a bit about the origins of Trial by Fire, how and when did it all start? Who were the first members of the band?

Neil - Trial by Fire were formed in 1979 when school friends Terry Wilson (Guitar) and Neil Freeman (Bass) joined forces with Gary Dawson (Lead Guitar) and Paul Harris (Drums), Neil had bought a Bass Amp from Paul’s brother and Paul persuaded Gary to join. Paul and Gary had been in a band called Scorched Earth that rehearsed together for fun – no gigs.

Q. - Who would you cite as your major influences at that time?

Neil - Gary was heavily influenced by UFO and they were a firm favourite of all the band members.

Other influences were Judas Priest, Girl and Scorpions amongst others.

Q. - Did you play in any other bands before Trial by Fire?

Neil - The four went through various names before settling on Trial By Fire and they auditioned Nick Hodges as lead singer after Nick replied to an advert in Melody Maker and Nick complete the original line up.

The band rehearsed every week at Alan Gordon’s Studios in Leyton which was a dim and grimy disused Railway arch under the London tube line.

Q. - The first demo tape were recorded at Alan Gordon’s Studios, in 79, and the second demo tape came up in 81, did you sell these tapes at shows, or send it to fanzines?

Neil - The demo tapes were recorded at Alan Gordon’s Studios and Blackwing Studios in London. These were not made available for sale but were picked up by Bernard Doe – Editor of Metal Forces magazine who then distributed these tapes around Europe and the USA as part of a tape exchange network.

Q. - How about shows? Did you play regularly in Essex back then? Or was it hard for a heavy metal band to be booked in the area at that time?

Neil - Trial By Fire played around Essex and East London – most notably at the legendary Ruskin Arms in East Ham where Iron Maiden had previously built up such a following. After one show the landlord at the Ruskins told the band that they were the loudest band they’d ever had on the premises. :-)

Q. - At that time did you play some covers too, or was it only your own songs?

Neil - TBF were keen to write original material and only ever played a couple of covers; “Shout It Out Loud” by Kiss and “She’s No Angel” by Heavy Metal Kids.

At this time Terry Wilson was the main originator of musical ideas with Gary Dawson chipping in, and Neil Freeman and Nick Hodges would supply the lyrical content.

Trial By Fire were proud of their song writing ability and generally eschewed covers although they did flirt with “Shout It Out Loud” by Kiss and “She’s No Angel” by Heavy Metal Kids although these were never played live.

“Jeepster” by T Rex and “American Girl” by Tom Petty were trundled out for extended plays in the very early days at rehearsals before they had enough material for a set.

Q. - When did "Trial by Fire" split up exactly? What happened that lead to the split?

Neil - The final gig was at Oscar’s Newbury Park in Essex in 1982 on the night of an FA Cup Final replay between Spurs and QPR. As Gary Dawson and Nick Hodges were both Spurs fans this led to some serious inebriation.

TBF were turned down by Rough Trade records who were more interested in Punk / New Wave and the band tried to get a manager. Jayne Revell who looked after Sledgehammer was approached but she didn’t have the inclination to take them on.

None of the band really had the drive or acumen to push the band to the next level and it all finally petered out after the Newbury Park gig.

There was no acrimony between the members they just kind of lost impetus and the will to carry on.

Q. - Did you remain in touch all over the years?

Neil - Guitarist Jim Reid joined Airrace and the others just stopped playing for a good few years.

Original guitarist Terry Wilson had a number of projects. “The Toothbrush Clan” , “Slag Sisters” and “Monsters”

Gary Dawson played briefly with punk band Anti Establishment and a number of metal cover bands.

Neil Freeman still plays Bass with a punk band called “Storm The Gates” around the North East London area. STG play original material. It’s really punk/power pop – simple catchy songs in the mode of Kiss or The Boys.

Gary and Neil remain good friends and meet up from time to time as do Terry and Neil.

We lost touch with the singer Nick Hodges and guitarist Jim Reid after the band split.

Q. - Sonic Age records are working on a Trial By Fire compilation, what do you think of this?

Neil - TBF were delighted to be contacted by Sonic Records as it all came out of the blue.

It’s going to be great for a few old fans to finally have a product that they can own. We’ve been contacted by fans in USA, Poland and Iran all interested.

We never knew that we had that kind of interest!

Q. - What do you think about all the N.W.O.B.H.M. movement, and the repercussion it had around the world?

Neil - It’s difficult to explain to people who weren’t there just what an explosion NWOBHM was at the time and it seems the interest has never really waned.

There was a lot of dross at the time as well as there is in any movement. But there were so many gems in that catalogue and it seemed that most of the bands had at least one!

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

Neil - It’s very strange for me to have this interest in TBF after all these years and when one fan said he had been checking You Tube for as long as it had been around searching for “Eclipse” which he heard as a worker in a warehouse in NY it really reminded me of the power of music and metal in particular to touch people’s hearts.

I hope people enjoy the record when it finally sees the light of day.

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