Andy Sayers (Traitors Gate, Zenith)

Traitors Gate was a heavy rock band from Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, and were active from 1981 to 1983. We had a chat with Andy Sayers, about this obscure band. After leave Traitors Gate, Andy went on to form the band Zenith with whom recorded the Ep Heavy Heart.

Q. - Hello Andy, tell us a bit about the origins of Traitors Gate, how and when did it all start? Who were the first members of the band?

Andy - The band was started by me along with Martyn Dykes and Ian (Boris) Mereweather in Weston-super-Mare.

Q. - Was Traitors Gate your very first band? Or did you have any other band previously?

Andy - Martyn and me played in a band beforehand, but only played one gig.

Q. - How did the band name came up?

Andy - We made a shortlist of possible names and agreed on Traitors Gate.

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

Andy - Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Rush, UFO.

Q. - What about shows? Did you play regularly in the UK back then? Did you share stage with some other well known bands?

Andy - We played about 30/40 shows in total between February 1981 and January 1984.  Support to Shiva who were signed to Heavy Metal Records and Dumpys Rusty Nuts.

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

Andy - Yeah at the beginning we stuck to original songs, such as:

Twice for your Sins

Haunted by the past

Twist of Fate

Warning Sign

Assassin

Q. - When did you record your demo tapes? What do you recall from these recording season at the studio?

Andy - The first demo was completely live with absolutely no overdubs. Recorded straight to 2 tracks in a farm house in Somerset.

Next we recorded three tracks at a studio in Taunton (Assassin, Warning Sign and Haunted by the Past).

The rest came from two sessions at Horizon Studios in Weston-super-Mare

Q. - Did you sell these demos at shows, send it to fanzines? What feedback did you receive from it?

Andy - No. Maybe we should have!

Q. - Did you try to approach a record deal at that time with Traitors Gate?

Andy - Yes, but we should have tried harder

Q. - When did "Traitors Gate" split up exactly? What happened that lead to the split?

Andy - January 1984.  Shelly left to join another local band called Shanghai and Ian basically retired and no one else wanted to carry on ☹

Q. - When did you form Zenith, how did that happen?

Andy - About August 1984 after a chance meeting with an old friend and fellow guitarist Cliff Evans.

Q. - A 10 track demo tape were recorded in 1984, were this songs recorded for an LP? Did you try to approach a record deal at that time?

Andy - We recorded all the tracks on a Tascam Portastudio. The drums at our rehearsal place and the rest at my home. Unfortunately the tape broke at the start of the track Trust no one so we had to fade that one in. We sold the album on Cassette at gigs and mail order.

Q. - How was the EP "Heavy Heart" received by the fans? Did it have airplay on radio stations?

Andy - Pretty good really and we sold a fair few. I remember we had the pressing (500 copies) done by a company in London. The sleeves were printed locally.

We had airplay on BBC Radio 1's John Peel Show and Red Dragon in Cardiff.

Q. - After a great EP such as Heavy Heart, what lead to the end of Zenith?

Andy - It fell apart in a similar way to Traitors Gate

Q. - Did you stay in touch with each other’s all over the years?

Andy - Yes, not regularly, but we have and more so recently as there are albums being released by Onreleses in Athens.

Andy - I went on to form the band Outsider in 1998 with Andrew Jamieson and Keith Townshend who were both members of Zenith. Outsider released 3 albums between 1999 and 2009.

Q. - Have you ever thought about doing a compilation with all the recordings made by Traitors Gate and Zenith?

Andy - Well it looks as though that is about to happen (see above) and it will be good to meet up with the other guys in a few months to share out our copies of the CD's.

Keep in touch and I'll tell you more when we get nearer the time.

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

Andy - Outsider had a few line-up changes over the years. We got a new bass player in 2009 who told us that he had a friend who looked a bit like Ozzy Osbourne. So, cutting a long story short, Outsider morphed into the Black Sabbath Tribute Snowblind, which eventually took over completely. That band split in 2014 when I moved to Manchester. Almost straight away I formed a new Sabbath Tribute called Sabbotage which is still going strong today!

Q. - Having you been part of it, what do you think about all the N.W.O.B.H.M. movement, and the repercussion it had around the world? What memories do you keep from those days?

Andy - It was a massive part of my life, to say the least and I have lots of fond memories. Some sad too with the breakups but a great time. Its great to see how the NWOBHM is still with us.