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