Satan's Empire

Formed in July 1979, in Dundee, Scotland. They recorded the song "Soldiers Of War", for the compilation “Lead Weight” in 81. They have been active since 2017 having recorded the EP Satan's Empire, and the new album Rising. We had a chat with both guitar players Sandy McRitchie and Paul Lewis.

Hello Sandy! When did Satan's Empire start? Tell us a bit about the beginning of the band.

Sandy - July 1979. Formed from High School, we were originally a covers band doing Priest, Saxon and Zeppelin songs.

Q. - And how did the band name came up?

Sandy - There was a focus on Black Magic and Demonology in the New Heavy Metal (Venom, WitchFynde, Satan, etc.) so we decided on Satan’s Empire.

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

Sandy - Mainly Priest, Rush, Saxon, Zeppelin to name a few.

Q. - Hello Paul! Tell us a bit about your background in heavy metal, what bands did you play before Satan's Empire, and what your main influences?

Paul - I first got into heavy metal at the age of 13, I heard the Black Sabbath song "Paranoid" playing in a market stall at Whitechapel (my home town, famous also for “Jack the Ripper" and "The Kray Twins" , nice !  I started a band with my twin brother (Eddy) on drums playing some rock classics. My first proper Heavy Metal band before Satan's Empire was "Devil's Chariot", that lasted about 2 and a half years, we recorded a demo at "Mount Pleasant Studios" in London and played a few gigs at The Ruskin Arms (home of Iron Maiden) East Ham plus one or two other East London venues, but we split up when we weren't really getting anywhere. I joined Satan's Empire at the age of 25 after Devil's Chariot split and after spending a few months with a band called "Flight 19", which featured original "More" drummer Frank Darch. My influences bandwise were Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, UFO, Iron Maiden and Angelwitch although I liked most other Heavy Metal bands that were around at the time. I also liked a bit of prog music, especially "Camel", Eddy and I used to go to see them in London whenever possible. My guitarist influences are (chronologically): Eric Clapton (with Cream), Jimi Hendrix, Michael Schenker, Eddie Van Halen and my biggest influence of all Randy Rhoads. My biggest musical influence post NWOBHM is Warrant, I love their songs and I am into that whole glam period where every gig was one great big rock n roll party.

Q. - When did you join Satan's Empire? Tell us a bit about your early days in the band too.

Paul - I joined Satan's Empire at age 25. I was living in Seven Kings, Essex, just outside East London and the band had relocated to East London from Dundee. I met Derek when he joined Flight 19 as vocalist, Satan's Empire were having a bit of time out at that point, after a few gigs, Derek was missing Satan's Empire so much that he wanted to return, but he also wanted to take me with him to join the band. I went along to a rehearsal at Scarf Studios in Bow (East London), the lineup at that time was; Derek Lyon (Vocals), Sandy McRitchie (Guitar), Billy Masterton (Drums) and Wayne Hudson (Bass) who had only joined them a few months previously. Things clicked immediately and I really loved their music and was made very welcome by all band members, the rest is history as they say. We played some gigs at The Ruskin Arms, the Red Lion at Gravesend, Kent and a very memorable gig at The Mitre, just on the south side of Blackwall Tunnel, we supported T34 on that night who were one of the big bands on the East London circuit at the time, we went down a storm and everyone said we were the best band on the night.

Q. - In the summer of 1981 you played at the Dundee Festival supporting Budgie, what memories do you keep from that show?

Sandy - It was loud and our first major gig. We were only a four piece then and the set was short.

Q. - Why did you move from Dundee, Scotland to London, England?

Sandy - To get work and better exposure. Nobody would come up to Dundee just to see us so we had to go down.

Paul - To try to secure a record deal. The record companies were unwilling to travel to Dundee to see the band and they hadn't played outside of Scotland at that time to my knowledge.

Q. - How did you get the chance to enter in the Neat “Lead Weight” compilation?

Sandy - We sent a demo cassette to David Wood at Neat and he called us to ask if he could include it in his Sounds sampler Leadweight.

Q. - Did you try to find a record deal after the edition of the compilation “Lead Weight”?

Sandy - We did have some interest but the difficulty in getting regular work was prohibitive.

Q. - What do you feel about the coincidences between the song "Soldiers Of War" and Maiden's "Weasted Years"?

Sandy - There are not that similar to be honest and I don’t think there is any plagiarising on their behalf!

Paul - Ha ha, that's a great question. There are certain similarities, but Soldiers Of War was written in 1979 and was released on Lead Weight well before Iron Maiden released Wasted Years. i suppose if Iron Maiden had heard Soldiers Of War and were influenced by it in any way, we can take it as a huge compliment lol.

Q. - Satan's Empire split up around 1984, what do you think went wrong that lead to the end of the band?

Sandy - We just got fed up and the cost was prohibitive for rehearsing and travelling.

Paul - Probably frustration with the industry. we never fell out of love with each other but it was extremely difficult to get signed at the time and the musical trend was going away from NWOBHM. Derek and I formed VHF after Satan's Empire, but even that band had limited success.

Q. - Did you all remain friends after the split?

Sandy - I kept in touch with Billy and Derek.

Paul - We all remained friends, but we kinda drifted apart when we didn't have day to day contact with each other, as is the natural order of things. We also lost contact when various members had moved away from East London. I have been in contact with Wayne though for most of the time as we both stayed in East London and Essex and his band "Aftershock" rehearsed at my rehearsal studios (OTR) for a good few years before it closed. Wayne had also depped on bass in my rock covers band "Anthem" on a few occasions.

Q. - Then comes VHF, were you a founding member Paul? What do you recall from VHF early days?

Paul - Myself and Derek formed VHF. The lineup was, Derek (Vocals), Myself (Lead Guitar), Sean Elliot (Bass) and Neil Richards (Drums). We later added Bill Mulldowney on 2nd Lead guitar.

Q. - Did you record any demo tape with VHF?

Paul - We recorded a 3 track demo "Heartbeat City" at Scarf Studios London on 22nd-23rd July 1985. Track listing is; Burning the flags, nowhere to hide and Heartbeat City.

Q. - Did you tour around the UK back then?

Paul - Not whilst I was with the band, we didn't gig very much and stayed within the London area.

Q. - Have you ever been confused with the other VHF from Manningtree?

Paul - Not to my knowledge. We were there first ha ha.

Q. - When did you leave VHF? And why?

Paul - Can't really remember why I left VHF, possibly due to the time honoured musical differences, I think there was talk of bringing keyboards into the band which wasn't really my thing at the time. I also was offered the guitarist vacancy in Thunderstick around that time, which was a big step up and an offer I couldn't refuse.

Q. - What other musical projects did you have after Satan's Empire and VHF?

Sandy - Myself and Billy did a project called Partners In Rhyme writing all sorts of music from Pop to Heavy Rock. Paul formed Belladonna and Wayne joined Aardshock.

Paul - I have always been big into Glam Metal and I formed the Glam Metal Band "Belladonna" in 1986. We toured extensively around the UK and also played the London Marquee and other prestigious venues. We released a 3 track 12 inch Ep "High on Rock n Roll", also recorded at Scarf Studios, London (special thanks to my good friend Nigel Palmer here who has done a streling jib recording and producing most of my early work), the EP is very rare now and features a cartoon insert of the band drawn by world famous cartoonist Dave Gaskill who is the father of Chris who was bass player with the band.

Q. - After almost 30 years, the band is active again, what made you feel like reunite Satan's Empire?

Sandy - Guido Gevels and Andy Gregory kept hounding us to reform and via Facebook we met up in the Autumn of 2015 to discuss and all went well, we just needed a drummer and Garry joined officially in November 2015.

Paul - I met Wayne when he did a dep gig for Anthem and he told me there was some interest from Europe. It turns out that this interest had gone back to some 3 years previous (which I was totally unaware of). Guido Gevels who runs "Negasonic" club in Aalst, Belgium was a big fan of Satan's Empire and said there was a lot of people in Europe who would love to see the band reform, we heard of this interest from our mutual friend Andy Gregory. A few phone calls later and a meeting in a Cambridge pub with Derek, Sandy, Wayne and myself and we decided to go full steam ahead with a reunion.

Q. - Some of these songs in “Rising", like "Suicidal Man", "On The Road To Hell", "Slaves Of Satan", "Come Back" and "Strange World" are old songs revamped for "Rising". Did you try to keep the essence of to the original recordings?

Sandy - All of the songs originate from the early 80’s, we just cut down some of the long intros and tightened up the arrangements.

Paul - Yes, we tried to keep the essence of the old songs, Come Back and Slaves of Satan in particular have remained largely unchanged. Some of the other tracks had to be shortened down and revamped from their original format to make them more straight ahead metal songs. The songs have been given new life and sound more powerful now, particularly with the addition of Magpie on drums, who was very involved with the new arrangements.

Q. - How’s "Rising" being received by Satan's Empire fans so far, despite the severe economic crisis that affects all of us?

Sandy - Critically, it has been brilliant. We have not had one bad review and there were several magazines and fanzines who enjoyed the album. Feedback from the public has been overwhelming and we have had the album in people’s Album of the Year listings.

Paul - Rising has exploded with a big bang and has been very well received. As far as we are aware, the album is selling very well and has exceeded our expectations.

Q. - And what expectations do you have for Satan's Empire? Are you recording a new album? What can you tell us about it?

Sandy - We would like to carry on working but doing more festivals abroad and at home, as well headlining our own gigs. We have 8 out of 10 songs written and are currently spending time rehearsing in early 2019 to finish the 10 songs we need for the second album.

Paul - We have gigged extensively both in the UK and Europe since reforming. We have nine new songs and have plans to start recording a new album in 2019. The new songs are being very well received at out gigs.

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

Sandy - Great! It’s live music and from the reception we have had at all of our gigs, people love to hear live bands and we would like it to stay that way.

Paul - I think its great, there was so much bland music around and rock was dying, so this is a very welcome "shot in the arm" to coin a phrase.

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

Sandy - Thanks for the invite and send us a copy link to your finished article and we will put it on our new website in 2019!

Paul - Looking forward to the future. Exciting times are ahead, we pan to gig more in Europe next year and get into some of the big festivals at home and abroad, and, of course, release album number 2 before the end of 2019.

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

Sandy - Your welcome!