Wayne Morgan (Scimitar)

Scimitar were formed in 1980, in Abergavenny, UK, ad recorded two demo tapes in 1981 and 1982. We had a chat with bass player Wayne Morgan about the early days of Scimitar and about future plans.

Q. - Hello Wayne, tell us a little bit about your beginnings in the heavy metal world, what lead you to be a bass player?

Wayne - Why bass? Simple answer is Jim Lea from Slade.  Early 70s Slade was quite heavy (listen to Slade Alive for proof) and Jim Lea played the bass like it was cross between a lead guitar and a chain saw.  He also looked as cool as fk!!! It just seemed to me that the bass changed the feel of songs completely…or the rhythm section did any way.  Working with Stubs over the years just confirmed that….. because when we are shit everything sounds shit LoL!

Q. - When did Scimitar start? How did you get in touch with the other members? Tell us a bit about the beginning of the band.

Wayne - Scimitar followed an earlier band called Heavy Weather (Stu S, John D, Craig Richards (guitar - later Monro) and Gary Stanbury (vox). 

I was in school bands with Craig, Gary was my mate who was always singing and looked like a rock star.

Around 1980 a mutual acquaintance told us about “a shit hot 17 year old lead guitarist” who liked Priest, Budgie, VH, Rush…. This was John D.  We had a blast and decided we’d take it further…somehow…..We were all 17-18 and lived about 30miles away from each other and none of us had any transport so had to blag lifts to pracco and then get train and bus home.  We’d knocked up a few songs and tried a few drummers. Then we found Stubs (another mutual acquaintance…no feken FaceBook in those days) and when he started playing we knew straight away that he was the right one even though he didn’t have long hair like the rest of us….yet

When HW split up (musical differences) John and Stu started another band which included Steve Colley (Traitor’s Gate).  I joined and then Gary joined too.  Before we got to gigging I think Gary kinda lost interest and Trev came in.  Trev had been vocalist with Traitor’s Gate and was a little bit older than us…..great voice and again just looked like a rock star.  So that was that for a while including the Loco demo and some mad gigs.

Q. - Did you start writing your own songs since the beginning or were you most concentrated on covers?

Wayne - Heavy Weather and Scimitar were originals bands from the start.  We did throw in 2 covers per gig - over time HW did  Wasted (Def Leppard), Hell Bent for Leather (Priest), Touch Too Much (AC/DC), Neon Nights (Sabbath).

Scimitar did a super fast version of Paranoid, Get Ya Rocks Off (Leppard), Aint Talkin About Love (VH).  HW was NWoBHM with spandex and leather.  Scimitar very quickly wasn’t.  We looked more like The Ramones or 4 blokes from the pub than metal bands were supposed to at the time.  Steve still looked like a rock star though.

Q. - A 4 song demo tape were recorded in 1981 (Burning Rubber, Wield The Axe, Heartless, See You Around (Next Time)). What do you recall from these recording season?

Wayne - This was the second time we had been to the Loco studio in South Wales (once as HW) but first time with Trev and Steve.

We scraped enough money for one day in studio and did 4 songs in a hurry.  If you looked at them graphically in Ableton you’d see how rough and rushed they were.  Not massively proud of those recordings as they contain a few obvious fk ups each 😊 but I think the “do it yourself” unpolished sound was what NWoBHM was about….a bit punkish in attitude.

Sadly nobody knows what happened to the master tape…..maybe not sadly….I have cassette version and like I said, it aint great 😉 But, the songs are of the NWoBHM genre without a doubt…..you can almost spot it from the song titles 😊

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

Wayne - By then we were still only 18-19 and not very savvy or organised. 

All our mates liked the songs but there was no real outlet for small bands in South Wales with very little organisation…and we were very disorganised/pissed a lot too

We did nothing really except use the tapes to get gigs and the interest from Ebony.

Q. - In 82, a two song demo tape were recorded, at Ebony Records Hull, what do you recall from these recordings?

Wayne - Ebony had heard the Loco demo and there was enough interest to talk to us.

By now Steve had got fed up with the lack of progress (disorganisation) and left so we stayed as a 4 piece.  Steve also had a good idea of what he wanted image wise and we weren’t it because as I said before by now we weren’t very NWoBHM anymore.  More like 4 noisy unpolished hooligans.

We travelled to Hull in a camper van which we slept in. 3 of us went out in Hull and got hammered until daft o’clock in the morning….recording was all about fighting the hangovers.

We tried out 3 songs “GFM”- (aka Good Fkn Mayhem) but recorded “That’s the way I want it” and a song called “Scimitar”.  The lyrics were written for both on the morning we recorded them as Trev had never really settled on what he sang live (kinda made it up as he went along). There are some photos floating about and we look rough as fek on them 😊

Q. - Also in 1982 comes the compilation “Metallic Storm”, by Ebony, with the track "That's the Way I Want It", how did that happen?

Wayne - When we did the album tracks we were literally still kids. Darryl Johnston (owner of Ebony) advised us to use “Scimitar” for the album as it was a good NWoBHM type song but we decided to use the other one as it was more representative of us live…..ie. noisy, punky and loud.  Possibly not one of our better ideas on reflection.

Its quite a bit different from the other tracks on the album (I think)…for starters it’s only 2:40 long. Listening to the lyrics now is quite funny…. There is a line “When I am an old grey man will life still get to me?”…..Err, yes.

We weren’t very happy with the production as it wasn’t punchy enough.  A review I read a while ago described us as “lightweight rowdies”….seems fair now but we were a bit pissed off when we read it.  I’d still like to do it properly as it should have sounded.

Q. - Was there any promotional tour after the release of this compilation? Did you get support from the media back then? Radio, magazines, fanzines?

Wayne - Nothing. Again, lack of organisation and ambition……beer might have had something to do with that too.  We didn’t really know what to do with the material. Ebony had promised a media blitz for Metallic Storm but I didn’t even see a review in Sounds which was the NWoBHM media back then.  Definitely felt a bit let down by Ebony but 1982 was a completely different planet to 2019 in terms of media outlets.

Q. - Did you try to find a record deal after these release?

Wayne - Hmmmm…youth, disorganisation, all had 40hrs/week jobs.  In fact around April 1983 we ripped up most of the songs and started again in an effort to make them more melodic (still noisy, fast and loud).  That took us out for many months but we did end up with some good songs.  We just left it a bit late and within 5 months Scimitar had gone.

Q. - Why did Scimitar split up in 1986? What happened that lead to the break?

Wayne - The Ebony line up split up in 1983. We had some nice gigs booked up and by then we were pretty tight with some good catchy punky metal songs.  We recorded three on an 8 track but it was pretty disastrous.  Sound was rubbish and we didn’t know what the hell we were doing. Within months of recording at Ebony, 3 of us were married and had kids.  Stubs was probably regretting sticking with the band instead of going to University (he was the clever band member).  I think John called it a day in September 1983 which was a shame really but once again disorganisation played a big part in it with not one of us really being massively driven.  We were that disorganised that after me and my pregnant wife had put posters all around Cardiff announcing we were playing at Bogies, we forgot to tell the venue Scimitar had split up.  I had a very angry call on the night saying “Where are you?  Bogies is full and you’re meant to be on in an hour!”  Felt bad about that for the last 36 years but I am getting over it…slowly 😉

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

Wayne - Me Stu and Trev were in a few bands together up to around 1986ish.  John by then was concentrating on his specialist building business which became very successful. Trev drifted off (and we haven’t seen him since), but Stubs and I stayed in intermittent contact over the years. After talking about it for eternity we put a cover band together around 2012 with my son on guitar and Gary Stanbury back on vocals. Sadly Gary got a bit disillusioned and left.  But with a few line up changes that cover band lasted for about 5 years and was quite popular in our corner of the UK.

Q. - What do you feel about the interest in Scimitar after all these years?

Wayne - Surprised!  Shocked….we were just a small unknown bunch of louts making a noise. I guess if it wasn’t for Metallic Storm we would be totally invisible in 2019. I think it’s more of a general interest in the whole NWoBHM scene.  It’s a shame Planet Rock doesn’t have a show dedicated to playing just the obscure independent tracks.

Q. - Have you ever thought about doing a compilation on cd with all the demos recorded by Scimitar in the early days?

Wayne - We have been asked but not being able to find the original recordings and the fact that we all agree they were a bit shit kinda killed the idea.  We couldn’t re-record them …not without Trev signing so that’s off the menu too.  We can’t even trace the second track from Ebony (Scimitar).  None of us has a copy so I guess that is lost forever…which is a bit shit.

Q. - What plans do you have for Scimitar future? Are you planning a comeback or new recordings?

Wayne - Stubsy and I have been working with John again for a few months just for fun.  We did some of the old songs but have also written some new stuff which we are in the process of recording.  Sadly no Trev so we’ll sort out the vox between us.  There are some of the old songs that I would love to revamp but I think something would be lost in the process.  The riffs, lyrics and overall sound was specific to that time and our age (ie kids).  Change anything and it just won’t really be NWoBHM…might be good though…I have heard a lot of the old bands banging out new stuff and it sounds great but not quite authentic NWoBHM. So, I don’t think you’ll be hearing anything released as “Scimitar”.  But, as soon as we finish recording (which might include a couple of oldies) we have a special mental note saying “Send To Paulo”  😉

Q. - How did you see the whole N.W.O.B.H.M. movement, back then, and how do you see the interest around those bands and recordings nowadays?

Wayne - NWoBHM was brilliant. Going to gigs was like being in a football hooligan firm. At the start bands like Maiden, Saxon, Leppard were thought of as “us”…it was like seeing your mates becoming successful. They were all just working class lads, like us. Quite quickly the “Glam” thing started to appear and it seemed to me that image became more important than the music…music started to become a bit “bubble gum” and I wasn’t too keen on all that.

Q. - Are you still a heavy metal fan these days?

Wayne - I am not the music fascist I used to be “If aint rock, it sux c**k” attitude has gone.  I still love the old metal and a lot of the new stuff of course.  Its just that much of the new metal sounds the same to me…I can’t even discern between bands.  But that might be because I am now 57 years old and that stuff is not aimed at me.  I would have been mortified if, back in 1983, someone 57 years old said they liked Scimitar 😊

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

Wayne - When John, Stu and I got back together, for several weeks before we picked up the instruments, we met in the pub and chatted for hours about the old days and each of us had stories the others had forgotten all about.  Before we started playing together it was important to see if the “old bond” was still there. It was / is.

Nearly 40 years on we can’t have the same spark and dreams of being rock stars that NWoBHM gave us as kids but the memories can just take you back in time and make you feel young just for a moment

Thanks for getting in touch Paulo.  Its been a blast reminiscing.

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