Tony Forsythe (L.A., Overdrive, Weapon UK)

Tony Forsythe was the bass player in the bands L.A. and Overdrive, from Birmingham, in the late 70's and early 80's. Currently is playing with Weapon UK, after some years in Rogue Male. We had a chat with Tony about his early days in L.A. and Overdrive, and what's going on with Weapon UK.

Q. – Hello Tony! What do you recall from the beginning of the band L.A.? How did you get in touch with the other members?

Tony - L.A. was formed at the tail end of 1978 going into 1979. I was working at the time for a Birmingham paint sprayer manufacturer called Apollo Sprayers, this was to pay via HP (hire purchase) for my very first serious bass guitar, a 1979 Fender Precision. It was a beautiful transparent burgundy red with a lovely slim maple neck. Apollo Sprayers for their sins mainly employed pensioners part time so when a new guy (Dave Wheeler) in my own age group started, we naturally gravitated towards each other mainly during tea and lunch breaks and soon found we had many things in common, playing instruments, a deep rooted passion for rock and heavy metal and a love of live music and watching bands. We both desperately wanted to get away from our dead end jobs and do something that was inspiring, creative and above all fun. I mentioned I knew of another guitarist (Larry Ashurst) who’s band I’d seen and heard many times rehearsing by being cheeky and peeking through the window of the local church hall in Newtown, Birmingham. So it was quickly agreed we’d form a band, we found a place to practise and set about auditioning drummers. We saw numerous drummers and had reached the point of frustration. It had been a very long day with no one making any real impression on us, when in walks this very cool looking, blonde long haired guy (Roger Simms) wearing mirrored shades with clothes to give Dave Lee Roth a run for his money. Even better was he had a massive, Fibes double bass drum kit in a chrome finish that matched his shades and boy could he play and that was the birth of L.A.

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

Tony - Thin Lizzy, “Live & Dangerous” was the common thread between us all, the songwriting, story telling and twin harmony guitar sound and of course the very cool image of the band. Phil Lynott was for me at his peak, a brilliant song writer full of bravado and rock star swagger, all the girls loved him and what was there not to like as a role model for a young up and coming black bass player. As a band we listened to the likes of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Motörhead, Deep Purple, Saxon, Iron Maiden, Triumph, Budgie, Van Halen and many more, too numerous to mention here.

Q. - When did you start playing gigs and what venues did you play?

Tony - Our very first gig was an open air event in the summer of 1979 at Sandwell Park, we had a good sized crowd as the event was quite well attended, 1500 people approximately and all eyes were on us especially as we were the only band playing, it was very enjoyable but nerve racking experience which lived up to and surpassed our expectations. From there we gained regular gigs at popular venues such as Bogarts, The Railway, Romeo & Juliette’s, The Golden Eagle, Mr Bills, JB’s in Dudley & The Barrel Organ.

Q. - Do you recall the songs you were playing in the beginning? Did you play any covers too?

Tony - We didn’t believe in playing covers, and as a young band felt our songs stood, if not better, head and shoulders with our peers. We knew we had lots of work to do, to become a major head lining band but that didn’t deter us. We rehearsed at least three times a week because we were very driven, determined and hungry for some recognition. Early song titles and crowd favourites were, “See You In Hell, Wrong Side of The Law, Victims, You’ve Got Me, Survival & Little Jimmy”.

Q. - A 4 song demo tape were recorded in 1979 (You've Got Me, See You In Hell, Little Jimmy, Victims). What do you recall from these recording season?

Tony - We had a great time recording these tracks at Zella Studios in Edgbaston Birmingham. The Studio itself was situated in a posh leafy residential area in what if I remember correctly was an old church and not really the kind of area you would expect young long haired noisy rock n’ roll type upstarts to be roaming around. This was our first time as a band in a professional studio environment, we were all very excited and nervous at the same time with very ambitious expectations of recording and mixing four songs in one day. We set up in the live room, which was large in comparison to the cramped control room and were given the very strict instructions of “no drinks” being allowed in there by the owner John, mainly due to the vast array of very expensive looking equipment and quickly calmed ourselves down a little due to the explicit warning, we’d be paying for any damages, if anything was spilt, especially on the mixing desk. It took a while to mic and set up with chest high sound reducing screens placed around the drums and in front of the Marshalls. We had a quick run through for levels but it was so loud the Marshalls had to be turned around to face in to the studio walls. After some time fine tuning and adjusting, John had the band sounding great and we were ready to rock. Unlike the studio’s of today where you have hundreds of sounds and triggers available at the end of your finger tips, back then you had to totally rely on the experience of the engineer and the quality of your equipment. We felt a little what pressured as we’d spent more time than expected getting a sound. Because we were well rehearsed we made up some of the time but had to book more time to do the mixes. We took away cassettes of the rough mix and ordered a acetate disc of “You’ve Got Me” which we then took with great excitement to Bogarts the very same day we picked it up , we so desperately wanted to hear and see people’s reactions. It was pure magic to say the least seeing the Bogarts crowd rocking to our brand spanking new recording before actually informing them via the DJ it was our band L.A. This was met with a loud and raucous approval with quite a few saying it sounded like “Thin Lizzy”, which we took as a very positive compliment. For those not familiar with the word acetate disc, this is a record made and cut in to aluminium and used as a master for vinyl pressings.

Q. - Did you sell the demo at shows, send it to fanzines? What feedback did you receive from this demo?

Tony - We never actually got around to selling demo’s at shows or sending our songs to publications or any fanzines. We very fortunate early in to the bands existence to get involved with the late great Chas Chandler, former manager of “Jimi Hendrix”, producer of the band “Slade” and Bassist for “The Animals”. This came about by sending our demo tape to the booking agent for the world famous “Marquee Club” which gained some very positive feedback and managed to secure us a support slot opening for the “Tygers of Pan Tang”. Unknown to us at the gig was Chas Chandler who I believed came to see the headliners. After we’d finished playing I was approached by Chas who liked and enjoyed our set so much, he gave me his business card with a personal invite to come to his studio in Portland Place to record and possibly release an album. So our very first big adventure outside of Birmingham paid off dividends and delivered some very exciting news for the band, we had somehow managed to by pass the route normally taken by most bands of selling recordings, publishing a fanzine and having to build up a strong and healthy following to gain the attentions of record labels. So if any one out there has a L.A. Demo in their possession I can safely say it’s most definitely a rarity.

Q. - Did you try to find a record deal at that time?

Tony - As mentioned in the previous question, a record deal with one of the industries most highly respected managers and record producers was being talked about. I believe in hind sight Chas Chandler was from my perspective looking to have a similar run of success as he’d experienced with Hendrix and I was possibly the vehicle to be mentored and developed. The band, I will never forget, arrived at Chas Chandler’s studio the morning it was announced John Lennon had been shot and killed outside his apartment in NewYork, it was a complete shock as we set out in the early hours from Birmingham to drive to London. The mood was not the one we had all excitedly anticipated in the weeks building up to our all important visit to the studio in London. Everyone’s, including Chas Chandler’s spirits was completely down and extremely sombre, consequently the session was a up hill struggle and everything that could possibly go wrong did so, my inexperience showed and sadly got the better of me and I was unable to reach the high notes in the songs I’d written and performed at many gigs, a very dark cloud hung in the air that none of us could shake off “John Lennon” had always been around and was part of the fabric of our lives and his cruel and senseless killing by a fan shook everyone to the core that fateful day.

Q. - Why did you change the band's name to Overdrive? Was it at this time that John "Wardi" Ward joined the band?

Tony - After what I thought was our disaster of a visit to the studio in London, Chas Chandler still had strong faith and belief that the band could deliver something special and we were, to my complete surprise invited back. By that time I’d decided I wasn’t going to front the band anymore or do lead vocals, I didn’t want to go through that pressure of feeling I’d let everyone down if things didn’t work out vocally again and I was still licking my wounds so to speak. After a lunch time drink at Bogarts on a Saturday, I’d sometimes hang out at the Birmingham Odeon where all the major bands played while touring the U.K. This is where I first met John “Wardi” Ward, one Saturday afternoon, we were both hanging around inside the Odeon watching roadies setting up for that evenings show and waiting for the band to sound check so we could get passes. I let slip I played in a band looking for a vocalist and “Wardi” followed me around the rest of that day singing at every opportunity he could, until eventually I said, he could have a blast with the band. The name changed happened almost around the same time. L.A. was just too plain and didn’t really reflect the energy or connect to the music of the band and in comparison to our peers it was far from memorable or catchy. With “Wardi” now in the band our musical direction started to shift more towards a much heavier sound, so it seemed a logical step to take, a new front man and a new name.

Q. - Soon after, John Ward is replaced by Tony Mills, how did that happen?

Tony - The band, now named “Overdrive”, made another visit to Chas Chandler’s studio in London with our new vocalist “Wardi” in tow. The idea was for Chas to hear our new found direction and find a possible single from our material for release. The session itself went much better than our last visit, with us playing more or less our full live set in the biggest studio live room we’d ever seen in our entire young lives, so big, it could easily accommodate a full orchestra with room to spare and probably did, as BBC Broadcasting House was only a stones throw away. The control room was itself situated up a flight of wooden stairs above the live room and had been graced by many great artists, “Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Deep Purple, The Kinks, David Bowie and of course Slade” to name but a few. So to say it was a surreal experience would be a understatement, a bunch of young unknown brummie lads recording in a place steeped in so much musical history. Chas Chandler wanted time to go through and listen to our session and promised to call the following week, which he duly did. He came back with the conclusion we lacked a hit single and provided us with a song called “Sleeping Visions” to work in to our own style, he also set up a showcase gig for us at a venue called “The Brecknock” in London as he had some business partners who he wanted to see the band. “Wardi” was still learning his trade as we all were at the time. That said, Chas Chandler wasn’t completely convinced “Wardi” was the right man and this was another reason for arranging the showcase gig, sadly the gig didn’t pan out in “Wardi’s” favour and on our return back to Birmingham we held auditions and quickly found a very young Tony Mills who suitably blew us away with his four octave vocal range.

Q. - Two demo tapes were recorded with Overdrive, do you recall the songs from these tapes?

Tony - Not every song, as sadly I don’t have a copy of any of the sessions we did with Tony Mills. I can say for certain the would be single Chas Chandler provided us with, which was called “Sleeping Visions”. However that said, I do still have a couple of old set lists from that time, one for “Wardi” and one for Tony Mills and the likelihood will be anything that was duplicated would have most certainly been recorded in these demo sessions with the exception of “Survival” which was originally performed by “Wardi”.

“Wardi Set”

1. Staircase

2. Crazy Bikers

3. And I’ll be Fighting

4. Can’t get close to you

5. Fox Hunt

6. Lady Obsolete

7. Shock Treatment

8. Little Jimmy

9. Victims

10. See you in hell

11. Wrong side of the law

12. Can’t get away with murder

13. Bitch

14. Fighting.

“Tony Mills Set”

1. Screaming Cars

2. Survival

3. Can’t get away with murder

4. Lady obsolete

5. Shoot to kill

6. No sense of freedom

7. Storm child

8. Grey skies

9. Phasing time

10. Some like it hot

11. Let it Rock

12. Wrong side of the law

13. Fighting

14. Toys of War

Q. - Did you tour supporting those demo tapes?

Tony - The demo tapes were primarily recorded with the intention of securing a record deal at the invite of Chas Chandler to his studio and not really for the purpose of being on sale. Had we managed to secure a support slot with Saxon at the time then it may have been a different story, there were talks of this up until the point we found out we had to buy on to the tour.

Q. - With the great talent and potential you guys had, what do you think has failed to achieve a real success?

Tony - Well great talent, being in the right place at the right time and luck all has its role to play. For us I think, being so young and naive was one factor as you believe you have all the answers and look at things from a very blinkered point of view. We were unable to adapt in unexpected situations and still seize opportunity with both hands when it presented itself, we took things very much for granted as it all happened so quickly and failed to realise at the time opportunity can be sometimes like waiting for a bus, nothing for ages so you take a gamble start walking and then two drive straight past you and that’s your opportunity gone. Passion always ran high within in the band so being professional and easy to work with was another factor, band arguments in a very expensive studio at a top producers time and expense is never a good idea and sadly we were guilty of that. It’s also difficult to keep a bunch of talented musicians together who are young, very impatient and hungry for success.

Q. - Did you stay in touch with the other former members over the years?

Tony - Yes, we all managed to keep in touch one way or another over the years probably more so now with social media around and are still good friends after all these years.

Q. - Did you ever thought about an Overdrive reunion? Or do you do it sometimes?

Tony - We had a great private reunion back in July 2011 at “Madhouse Studio” Birmingham. This was purely just for fun and was wonderfully organised by former “Overdrive” guitarist Nik Lloyd. Tony Mills, Larry Ashurst, Roger Simms, Nik Lloyd and myself were present and we certainly had a fantastic day blasting out some of the old songs, shared a few pints and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company just like the old days. Dave Wheeler, “Wardi” and Harry Chichon réside outside the U.K. so it wasn’t possible to invite them at the time but hoping to fix that at some point.

Q. - Have you ever think about doing a compilation with all the recordings made by L.A. and Overdrive?

Tony - As we speak there is a compilation album coming out early this year, which will include some of our demo’s a long with other bands around at the time. This is being put together by George Advanitakis of Obscure Nwobhm Releases (ONR) and we’re all very much looking forward to this.

Q. - Rogue Male comes around 2013, have you done any recordings with them? Do you still play with Rogue Male nowadays?

Tony - Unfortunately no recording with Rogue Male was completed in the time I was with the band, due to management issues I no longer have any involvement with the band but Jim Lyttle and John Binne are great lads and I wish them all the very best as always.

Q. - How did you get into Weapon UK?

Tony - I’ve crossed paths with Danny Hynes since the 80’s we played in bands that did the same circuit and met Jeff Summers while playing for Rogue Male who I immediately hit it off with, he’s genuinely one of the nicest guys in the business. I was at a bit of a loose end after Rogue Male and saw they were having some problems and simply offered to help them out, I got a call a good while later informing me they had some dates in Sweden and could I help out, I duly did and it went extremely well and as they say the rest is history.

Q. - Are you recording a new album with Weapon UK? What can you tell us about the new album?

Tony - Yes, we’ve actually finished recording the new album and it’s being mixed and mastered as we speak. Jeff Summers is a superb song writer and we have some beautifully crafted songs, which I can’t wait for everyone to hear. I won’t go into all the full details here but I will say the band hasn’t rested on its laurels and has definitely worked hard to bring something new to the table and not rely on doing a carbon of the last critically acclaimed album “Rising From The Ashes”. There’s something for all metal fans. Darren Lee delivers plenty of thunderous power and buckets of energy on the drums. Jeff Summers, riff master general played literally until his fingers bled on the faster tracks, Danny Hynes is truly spell binding with his sublime vocal delivery of some very classy melodies, I’m more than pleased with the bass tracks I’ve laid down on the album and look forward to getting some feedback. I believe we have a album we can all be very proud of. Weapon U.K. diehards will enjoy its freshness while hearing our traditional musical heritage and influences the band is well known for. The albums titled “Ghosts Of War” will be out on “PURE STEEL RECORDS” later this year.

Q. - How do you see the NWOBHM movement after all these years?

Tony - As strong as ever, there’s always in my eyes been a loyal following. More kids seem to be getting in to nwobhm music these days mainly because of popular chart music following the same bland lazy formula, year in, year out, the kids are actively seeking out and discovering for themselves which is absolutely brilliant. I’m seeing numerous youngsters picking up and learning instruments some of whom are amazingly talented for their tender age on YouTube and eventually this will translate in to going to gigs and forming bands of their own. The great bands I grew up with are sadly but surely, slowing disappearing and of course the music industry has changed completely since I started. The NWOBHM still has a very important and relevant role to play in all of this and as long as people want to see and enjoy the music I’ll be there.

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

Tony - Its been a good while since you first presented me with these question so an apology is in order, in my defence I will say I’ve been a extremely busy boy, recording three albums with another to start this year, shot two video’s for other projects I’m involved with, all of which will surface at some point this year and I have festival slots coming up with preparations already beginning, so thank you for asking and many thanks for being so patient...

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