Lyadrive

Lyadrive started out in May 81, in Watford, England, and were active til spring 85, recording the single "Anytime / White Dress" in 1983. In 1995 they reunited and recorded the album "Another Time, Another Place" in 1997.  We had a chat with drummer Lee Burrows, about this underrated band.

Q. - Hello Lee! You started as Tempest Ride around 1981, how did you got together? Who would you cite as your major influences at that time?

Lee - The band started to come together in the spring of 81. The core of the band met up @ Neal Kay’s famous HM Soundhouse in NW London. We were all just major Heavy ROCK fans, bought up on all the classic 70’s bands & excited by the emergence of NWOBHM.

Q. - What were the main difficulties you faced at that time? Practice rooms? Availability to rehearse? Some lack of material? Or other?

Lee - One problem we faced initially was the fact that I had not ever actually played a kit in anger for a start! Taking my cue from the UK Punk ethic. We never had issues around rehearsing.

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

Lee - As with must people in their 1st bands, covers was the way in. You start there & see if you gel as people, gel in musical taste, attitude, outlook & take it from there. After that we started writing songs.

Q. - In April 82 comes the "Bridge Records" compilation album, with the song "Another Time, Another Place", how did that happen?

Lee - We did a couple of local gigs @ the end of 81 & were not entirely happy with how it went. We had decided to do a private Christmas gig for us & some friends & to cut a long story short, due to some gossip, we actually split up! Come March 82 we got word from the guy who owned our rehearsal studio, he wanted us to do a song for a compilation he was putting together. It didn’t take too much effort for us to say yes, after all who knew if we’d ever record again.

Q. - Was there any promotional mini tour, after the release of the compilation album?

Lee - Not a tour as such, we played a few gigs for this guy (Al Bartlett was his name). He also did a one off promo gig featuring most of the bands on the compilation in I think August 82 @ Brunel University. It was well attended & all a bit of a blur actually.

Q. - Why did you change the name to Lyadrive?

Lee - We found out there had been a band called Tempest who had made a few LPs so thought we’d better change it. Not as easy as you’d think! Lyadrive was just a combination of 2 words (Liar given the Lynyrd Skynyrd treatment). The fact it meant absolutely nothing appealed to us. In hindsight we could’ve done better I guess.

Q. - In 1980 you worked as drummer roadie in the UK tour of Iron Maiden and Praying Mantis, how did that happen?

Lee - Because I was hanging out @ Neal Kay’s thing on a regular basis, I heard that Praying Mantis were looking for roadies to help out. Sounded like a great idea to me & I ended up helping them out @ the end of 79. When they asked me to roadie for the Maiden tour I gave up my job @ British Airways & did it. An experience I will always cherish but again in hindsight not the smartest move I ever made.

Q. - What memories do you keep from that tour?

Lee - Meeting up with the tour bus @5am in central London to be taken to the famous Shepperton Studios for a gig set up run through, an enormous hanger! From there we had a 17 hour trip up to the 1st gig in Aberdeen (the bus was an old relic & could barely do 50mph). Loading in flight cases of gear up 30 stairs covered in ice was interesting. Being frightened out of my wits when Maidens pyro cut the power & set off the klaxon fire alarm, right above my head, as I was dismantling Mantis’s drum riser @ the top of a now blacked out staircase. How’s that for starters for a 1st day. I did ask the sound guy to do me a Mantis bootleg for me to keep as a momento, alas I suspect one of the Maiden crew nicked it.

Q. - In march 83 came out the single "White dress / Anytime", did the single have air play on radio stations, at that time?

Lee - Apart from a local pirate radio station (Radio Floss 222MW) we were not aware of any. We did get a couple of reviews in Kerrang & New Musical Express where we were called ‘a pub rock Blue Oyster Cult’, what they call a back handed compliment, we were ok with being mentioned with such a great band that we were kind of happy with that.

Q. - A single were planned for 1985, why did that single never got released?

Lee - We’d signed a deal with Loose Records in the Autumn of 84 to release a 12 inch 3 track single & went ahead with the recording, if I remember correctly @ our own expense. Loose we’re a small independent label & I think they just over stretched themselves & @ some point pulled out of the deal.

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

Lee - Well thank you for the compliment Paulo. I guess yes, we had some potential & a few half decent songs, however you never know from the outside what is going on. Lyadrive got to where we got without ever really knowing how to play the game, without the utter ruthless commitment or determination needed. By mid 1985, 2 of us were married, me with a kid on the way, we hadn’t written a decent song in over a year, we’d gone through 4 bassists in that time when we should’ve stuck with Dennis O’Leary, we’d Organised a 16 date tour & ended up playing just 6 of the dates ... we were just getting bogged down & I think actually Loose pulling out was kind of the final straw.

Q. - What made you feel like reunite Lyadrive again back in 1995?

Lee - That was quite strange actually. Myself & Nick John (vocals & occasional keys) had kept our name alive whenever anything came up & we were both still doing stuff, Nick taking over his fathers music business & me still banging out a beat in cover bands. Within 1 week in 95 we were contacted by as it turned out a bootleg maker in the States & an obscure label called Vinyl Tap in the UK asking about our single & the Bridge album. Within probably a month or so of that there was serious chat with the UK people about releasing old demos etc.

Q. - How did the idea of recording the compilation "Another Time, Another Place" came up?

Lee - Well the Vinyl Tap thing kind of fell by the wayside but it had reminded us that we did have some kind of profile amongst what you would call the NWOBHM Anoraks which might be worth exploring. Thanks to Nicks connections through his budget record label, we found the guys @ Minority One who were willing to release it. Also thanks to Nick we had a studio where we could get a decent quality recording @ a knock down price (Nick used it a lot when doing his budget CD collections). Luckily he knew a great guitarist (Keith Thompson) who in a past life had been in a band with Wurzel from Motörhead. I also @ the time had just finished a stint in a metal covers outfit so roped in the bassist & guitarist from them. We were ready to go!

Q. - About ten years ago, the compilations "Post Millennium Blues Compilation", "The Sands of Time: Sessions 1982-83" and "One Night in London… (The Denmark Street Sessions & ‘Live Alive’ Bootleg)" were released, how do you feel about these compilations?

Lee - Well 1st we’d like to say big thanks to Steffen Boehm & High Roller Records for putting those 2 LPs out. The guy is definitely an Anorak of the 1st order & was very kind to put out our demo material. I think ‘Sands Of Time’ is a worthy effort showing how far we progressed in such a short space of time. If I’m honest for ‘One Night’ I guess maybe we were milking it a little. ‘Post Millennium’ I’m quite proud of because it coincided with another spike in our story. After the relative success of ‘Another Time..’ we went back into the studio to record a few more songs for fun, having made a few hundred pounds of profit we thought it was the best way to spend it. All went quiet for a bit & the songs just sat there but as the Internet age had reached the Facebook era, I took it upon myself to move the Lyadrive My Space page there. Interest from unexpected quarters started to happen. Couple that with myself getting married again & original band member Steve Jones coming over for the wedding prompting us to do yet more recording, which included 2 more members from the 80’s Steve Christiansen & Graham Bellmaine. We then got invited to play @ British Steel Festival 3 with believe it or not Praying Mantis! This prompted Nick & myself to get our own compilation of new & cover recordings together in time for the gig. We had both Post & Sands available on sale that night & an audience of metal maniacs too. Special thanks to Rys ‘Devra’ Miller from New Yoik for getting us on the bill

Q. - What expectations do you have for the future of Lyadrive?

Lee - None to be honest, we had a spurt of live energy as a 4 piece around 2011/12 but not the will or to be honest energy to push on from there. I keep the Facebook page ticking over & it’s great that new people keep finding us but unless someone comes up with a way of doing something without us losing money on it, we are quite happy that we gave it a go & have made a small contribution to the juggernaut that is Heavy Metal.

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

Lee - Thanks for the interest Paulo. People can check us out on Facebook & Reverbnation, we have a website which is kinda dormant, thanks to Jon Hinchliffe for keeping that alive. Also thanks to all former members of Lyadrive including Paul ‘Rhino’ Ryan, Guy Wilson, Barrie Fleming, Lee Redding’s R.I.P & last but not least to Malcolm MacMillan for his fantastic feature on us in his Encyclopedia Of NWOBHM.

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

CHEERS! \m/ Lee

Michael Jackson (Satan, Pariah)

Michael Jackson was the lead singer for Satan and Pariah in the middle and late 80's, having recorded the Ep "Into the Future" and the Lp "Suspended Sentence" with Satan, and "The Kindred" and “Blaze of Obscurity” with Pariah. We had a chat with this great singer about his days in Satan and Pariah.

Q. – Hello Michael, when did you join "Satan"? Was it around 85? How did that happen?

Mike- I joined Satan in early 1986 if I recall correctly it was a l not time ago. It all came about when I was playing in a local band called Rough Edge and working in the merchant navy and really wanted to spread my wings outside of my home town. So I answered an advert in the NME asking for a singer. So I sent a demo tape got the audition and ultimately the job and then joined up with the band in London to start work on another album.

Q. - What other bands did you play before "Satan"?

Mike - I played in a band called Rough Edge before I joined Satan.

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

Mike - I was and still am a massive Queen fan. I was also very much into Judas Priest, ELO, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd.

Q. - What memories do you keep from the recording seasons of "The Dirt" demo from 86? Was it your first experience in studio?

Mike - It wasn’t my first experience in a studio but it was a great thing meeting likeminded lads who became great, great friends writing and recording music we All loved. Experimenting as co-writers for the first time.

Q. - After the edition of the EP "Into the Future", Satan played Dynamo Open Air alongside with Angel Witch and Laaz Rockit, do you have any special memories from that festival?

Mike - The Dynamo festival was a fantastic experience for me definitely the biggest stage I had played at that time. We became great friends with Angel Witch and also ended up doing a small tour with the lads In Europe shortly afterwards all sharing a battered mini bus. It got wild at times but great fun. Laaz Rocket where also fantastic lads. It was most defiantly a crazy week that week we stayed for the festival.

Q. - Why did you change the name of the band to "Pariah", after the edition of "Suspended Sentence"? Maybe the name "Satan" was a little scary to some labels?

Mike - When we supported German band Running Wild on your  to promote Suspended Sentence it sort of happened then. We would sometimes turn up at venues and religious groups would be burning our shirts and protesting that a band called Satan where in town. So we decided to take a change in direction and change the name.

Q. - At that time you worked for the band Sabbat, as roadie, how did that happen?

Mike - We met the band at a gig and became friends and when the bands first album came out we had just recorded Blaze Of Obscurity and waiting for its release.  So they needed some mates as support so we offered to go on tour with them as roadies. Steve was road manager and me and Graham did the driving crowd control and PA. That was also a very drunken tour but so many laughs.

Q. - The first Pariah album "The Kindred", had a heavier sound comparing to Satan albums, what made you change the sound in a heavier way?

Mike - That is a difficult question. I really don’t think it was really intentional if I remember rightly there was a lot of heavier thrash coming out that could have influenced us a little. And we wanted to just experiment although It wasn’t a favourite album of mine at all. Going back to more melodic metal was the only way forward after The Kindred although the album was received well by metal fans.

Q. - Why did the band split up after such a great album as “Blaze of Obscurity”? What made you feel it was time to call it a day?

Mike - It wasn’t the band it was me I will hold my hands up to that. At the time I wasn’t happy with the lack of record company help and no real quality management.  I felt Blaze was our best work and it just wasn’t being promoted the way it should have been and no decent support tours coming our way.. To many record company promises with little action  So I went back to Morecambe for a short break and decided I didn’t want to pursue making another album. Sad times but life moves on and so did the boys so all was well.

Q. - At a certain point, after the edition of "Blaze of Obscurity" there was talk about the recording of a live album, why did that album never see the light of the day?

Mike - I’m not sure where that story comes from but the only way we would have done a live album was if we had been on tour after the album. The songs on the album never got a lot of live exposure unfortunately and we did very little touring after the album release.

Q. - After the split, did you stay in touch with each other’s over the years?

Mike - I still chat to Russ every now and again. But no we never really kept in touch.

Q. - By 1997 "Pariah" did a comeback, recording the album "Unity", were you invited to come back at that time? If yes, why didn't you accept?

Mike - No I didn’t get asked but I had made it quite clear I had really had enough.

Q. - The same related to "Satan", when they came back, some years ago?

Mike - No the lads already had contact with Brian and we had not spoken for many years so it was inevitable that Brian would sing on the future albums. I am so pleased the lads have made new music under Satan. I wish them all the best for the future.

Q. - How do you see the heavy metal scene nowadays? Do you keep interest on what "Satan" has been releasing lately?

Mike - I take a look every now and again to see what the lads are doing but I don’t really keep up with the metal scene anyone to be honest.

Q. - So what are you doing these days? Do you still play in any band? Tell us a bit about it please.

Mike - No I joined a couple of bands but it didn’t work out so I went into cabaret to make my living. I don’t sing anymore just DJing, photography work and various promotions and different entertainment.

Q. - Looking back in time, did you have some fun with Satan and Pariah, do you miss those days?

Mike - I had some of the best days of my life with the lads. It’s quite scary to see how many years have just disappeared it’s almost like a life time ago and another person who sang on the albums lol.

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

Mike - Thank you for asking the question as it’s such a long time ago and is still quite strange when people are still interested in what has to be said.

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