Rosanna's Raiders – Before & After The Fire
1985-2019 (We Are Raiders 35th Anniversary)
Rosanna's Raiders is a female fronted power
trio from Australia, and Rosanna Palmer (lead vocalist, guitarist and composer)
is the driving force behind the band.
David Palmer is the bass player (and Rosanna's
husband) and the drummer is Johno Zaffarese.
Rosanna's Raiders – Before & After The Fire
1985-2019 (We Are Raiders 35th Anniversary) is a compilation CD.
The first CD compiles their best tracks
recorded between 1996 and 2019. CD2 includes the 1985 debut cassette album
"We Are Raiders", and the bonus track "One Man".
Being this year the 35th Anniversary of the
album We Are Raiders.
Apart of being an excellent singer with high
range, and great melodic lines, Rosanna proves to have great abilities as
guitar player, as you can hear on both cds.
The band's sound can be described as Christian
Melodic Heavy Metal, with Hard Rock touches.
Gibraltar was formed in early
1979 by drummer Jim Lassen and guitarist Tony Miles, and recorded a 3 song demo
tape in 1980, these songs are featured in the V1/Gibraltar compilation
"The Spaceward Super Sessions". We had a chat with Tony Miles, about
his days in Gibraltar.
Q. - Hello Tony, so what can you
tell us about your musical beginnings in Hard Rock particularly? Who were your
principal influences and what bands did you play before Gibraltar?
Tony - Like mosy of my age I was
brought up with the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Small Faces, Cream, Hendrix,
etcbut soon after discovered Humble
Pie, Rory Gallagher, Alex Harvey, Boston, ZZ Top and so on and so on. Basically,
I had a classic rock education. Prior to Gibraltar my first ‘real band’ was TUSH,
an East London-based band that played a mixture of originals and covers. One of
our members at the time was Phil Collen who now plays with Def Leppard of
course. I still see Phil from time to time.
Q. - Tell us a bit about the
origins of Gibraltar, how and when did it all start? How did you get in touch
with the other members?
Tony - After TUSH split, Gibraltar
was a project started around 1978 by myself and an old drummer friend, Jim
Lassen. We both loved hard rock and decided to form a new band together. We
placed adverts in the music press to find other musicians. We eventually found
a bass player Steve Parsons (brother of ex-Iron Maiden guitarist Tony Parsons)
and a singer, one Dennis Willcock. Steve didn’t last long with us so I
recruited my old bass player from TUSH, Mickey Tickton. So the finished line-up
was myself, Jim, Dennis and Mickey. During the time we were auditioning and
rehearsing we had Steve Parsons, Tony Parsons, Bob Sawyer, Ron Matthews (for a
couple of gigs) all play with us for a time.
Q. - Do you remember who came up
with the band's name, and why did you choose Gibraltar?
Tony - No is the quickest answer.
I really don’t remember if it was Dennis or me. But the idea for the name came
from the Rock of Gibraltar. We were a rock band so being called Gibraltar fitted
well.
Q. - A 3 song demo tape were
recorded in 1980. Was it your first experience in studio? What do you recall
from these recording season?
Tony -Jim, Mickey and I all had
previous experience in recording. Dennis also had recorded demos with his previous
band V1 of course. The demo recording took place over 2 days in Spaceward
Studios, Cambridge. It all went reasonably well, with no problems during
recording. We were quite happy with the results at the time.
Q. - Did you sell this demo at
shows, send it to fanzines? What feedback did you receive from this demo?
Tony - We used the demo to get
gigs, such as the Ruskin Arms, etc. We did send the tape to a few music
magazines but there was no real substantial feedback we could use. I think we
weren’t ‘metal’ enough at the time. There was some interest from Derek
Lawrence, a producer who had previously produced Deep Purple and others, but it
never progressed from there. I think we were still in the process of working
out what the band was supposed to be about, we weren’t ready for the next
stage.
Q. - Did the demo tape have
airplay on Neal Kay's Bandwagon? Or did you play there too?
Tony - The short answer is no. We
never played there but the tape might have been played for all I know.
Q. - Do you remember the set list that you use to play with Gibraltar at that time? Did you play some covers too?
Tony - We played all original
songs, obviously the songs on the demo and some other songs I’d either previously
played in TUSH or Jim and I had written together. We did play the songs Tush
and Hey Joe at a couple of gigs when Ron Matthews played with us though.
Q. - Did you try to find a record
deal to release an Lp at that time?
Tony - We did send the demos out
here and there and invited various music biz people to come to our shows but it
never turned into anything positive enough. I also think the record companies
had enough NWOBHM bands on their books at the time.
Q. - After a break, Gibraltar
came back in 1984, what was the bands line up at that time?
Tony - We did a few gigs with
myself, Dennis, Mickey and a drummer named Dave Manning. I still have a video
of one of those gigs and a cassette tape too!
Q. - Did you stay in touch with
Gibraltar former members over the years?
Tony - Yes, off and on. Mickey
and I formed a band briefly in the late ‘80s. Jim, who is still an old friend,
I speak to every week. I lost contact with Dennis in ’84 until he reappeared in
2014.
Q. - Were you happy with the
edition of "The Spaceward Super Sessions" by HR Records in 2015? Was
it like a dream come true?
Tony - I was pleased to have some
recognition for what we did back in the day, it was completely unexpected.
Obviously now I wish we had recorded more of our songs for release but I’m not
complaining. It’s a matter of official record now so that’s good enough for me.
Q. - After a long hiatus
Gibraltar reunited around 2015, did you guys feel some kind of unfinished
business?
Tony - Yes, that would be a good
way of putting it, unfinished business. It was the initial approach from HR
Records that gave us the idea of putting something back together. But due to
personal circumstances it was really only possible for Dennis and I to be
involved with anything new, all the others were unable to contribute
unfortunately.
Q. - But this new version of
Gibraltar was short lived, what happened that lead to the break?
Tony - Another good question.
From the start I think Dennis’s expectations and my expectations were very
different. His involvement and enthusiasm with the reformed V1 were way much
more than I’d been prepared for so it felt like Gibraltar was of less
importance to him. The communication between us got worse over time and it was
inevitable that it would fall apart. It’s a real shame because I strongly felt there
was potential there for us to be doing something very different to what we’d
done in Gibraltar, before. I also think Dennis’s desire to chase after Iron
Maiden for money he felt they still owed him became a massive distraction for
all of us. As you may know, that is still the subject of ongoing legal
proceedings so I’m unable to say more about it at the moment.
Q. - How do you see the Hard Rock
and Heavy Metal scenes nowadays? Do you keep an eye on what's going on?
Tony - Good question. The scene to
me seems fairly saturated by sound-alike and look-alike bands and not much
originality around these days. Having said that, there are still some very good
bands around, like Alter Bridge for example. I also became a fan of Seattle
grunge so like listening to Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, etc. I also
listen to a lot of stuff that’s not necessarily hard or heavy rock. For now,
it’s only the mega bands like Iron Maiden that stick out as being exceptional
and really continue to draw the big crowds. Their consistency and longevity has
to be admired though. What happens next in rock music is anyone’s guess.
Q. - So what are you doing these
days? Do you still play in any band? Tell us a bit about it.
Tony - These days I’m playing
with a small local blues band in Cambridgeshire called the Blackjack Blues
Band. We play lot of blues songs that were originally performed by Muddy
Waters, Little Walter, Robert Johnson, Freddie King, and so on. It’s fun and
keeps me playing!
Q. - How do you want to end up
this interview? Anything more you want to say?
Tony - Covered most of it, I
think. It’s cool that people like yourself still take an interest in the
histories of bands from back in the day. When I saw Iron Maiden for the first time,
they were just a pub rock band, not much different to my old band TUSH in many
ways. But it’s an odd combination of talent, luck, timing and sheer
determination that makes the difference between make or break. It’s the same
for everyone.
Thank you for your time, and wish
you all the best for the future!
Chris Vye was the lead guitarist
from Prowler (Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire) in the early and mid-80's, having
recorded two singles (Forgotten Angels in 1983, and Alcatraz in 1985) and two
demo tapes (84 and 87). Later joined hard rock bands Bad Reputation and Passion
xx. We has a chat with Chris about these matters and future plans.
Q. - Hello Chris! Tell us a bit
about your background in heavy metal, what bands did you have before Prowler,
and what your main influences?
Chris - Before Prowler I was in a
band called Last Resort and we were actually semi New Wave at the time.
I was into a bands like Dr.
Feelgood, Pink Floyd, definitely Pink Floyd were one of my first influences,
and bands like AC/DC, UFO, Van Halen, and Thin Lizzy were obviously, a big influence
on me.
Q. - When did you join Prowler?
Were you a founding member? Tell us a bit about the beginning of the band.
Chris - I really can't remember
the year, I wasn't a founding member, when the band was in its infancy, Steve
Whetton was the other guitar player in the band at that time, he was a very
good friend of mine and he ended up being the lighting guy, it just happen that
way at that time, nothing was recorded with him or any live gigs, he was in the
band only in the very early days. Obviously I enjoyed being the guitar player
and I had known Steve Philpotts since school.
Q. - How did the band name came
up?
Chris - When I joined they
already had the name. The name came from the very first Iron Maiden album, one
of the tracks on that album was called Prowler, the opening track, and so
that's where the name came from.
Q. - Did you start writing your
own songs since the beginning or were you most concentrated on covers?
Chris - Right from the beginning
we wanted to write our own stuff, it was really important, you know, in the
style of the NWOBHM and we wanted to do our own thing and tried to come up with
our own sound. We did do one or two covers at the start but we replace them as
we wrote more stuff.
Q. - How did the idea of record
the single "Forgotten Angels" came up?
Chris - Forgotten Angels is a
song that was written by Rob Philpotts, obviously we can rewrite our own parts
to it, including solos and stuff, Rob wrote the song and it's one of the first
things that we have got properly recorded.
It sounds a bit basic nowadays
compared to what is possible now because the technology was just completely
steam train back in those days. We just couldn't get the sounds the people can
get now. We did our best and we did it honestly. Technology and gear is
incredible now... we would have loved to have it back then!
Q. - Did you get support in the
media back then? Radio, magazines, fanzines?
Chris - To be honest we had a few
things in the media more gig listings, we weren't a leading band, we were very
much in the lower ranks so pretty much unless you were quite big, the media
tend to ignore you a bit, so we didn't get a lot of assistance from the media
to be honest.
Q. - At a certain point Prowler
toured with Bernie Marsden as an opening act, how did that happen?
Chris - As to Bernie Marsden, I'm
not sure how we came about. We did a gig, I think we were asked to do a gig, at
the Trent Polytechnic, in Nottingham, with Bernie Marsden and we supported him
there. Bernie liked us so much that they took us along and we went to the
Marquee in London, which was a great experience, you know, the great and the
good were there, Micky Moody, John Sykes, and all those kind of people it was
an amazing experience and we really enjoyed to gig there at the old Marquee.
Micky was a lovely guy and sent us some beer off his rider which was so nice of
him... fantastic guy and player.
Q. - Why did Prowler split up in
1990? What happened that lead to the break?
Chris - We had been playing
together quite a lot and the brothers start to not get along musically as well
as they used to do, they got different ideas on things and I think just
generally the atmosphere in the band was just gone a little bit. It's just one
of those things, it just slowly died and that was it.
Q. - Did you keep in touch with
the other former members all over the years?
Chris - Yes, I know them all
pretty much, they were all fairly close, I actually played in a band with the
lead singer from Prowler, Ian Morrison, for a while, we didn't do much, we did just
a couple of gigs and I went to join Bad Reputation and later Passion xx with
whom I recorded another single.
Q. - When did you record your
solo demo tape "Wild One"? Were you already in Prowler, or was prior
to that? What reactions did you get from these recordings? Did you try to find
a record deal to release it?
Chris - "Wild One" was
actually recorded quite a long while after Prowler, and also after Bad
Reputation, I would say it was probably about 1989/90, something like that.
Recording gear become a lot
easier than it was in the old days, back then it was ridiculous expensive and I
got an 8 track cassette recorder and it allowed me to record at home,
"Wild One" was actually sessions I did on my own flat, the drum
machine, some keyboards and just play my own stuff and it really started from
there. I sold the tapes locally. I was quite happy about that, and that was a
long time ago. They have ended up all over the world which completely amazed
me!
Q. - After you leave Prowler you
joined the hard rock band "Bad Reputation", how did that happen?
Chris - I knew the guys from Bad
Reputation anyway cause we'd done gigs with them before, when I was in Prowler,
so I knew them quite well, and had gone fantastically, Pete Brown was the bass
player of Bad Reputation and he asked me to join, and it was great fun, we did
a quite few gigs mostly in the Midlands area. It really went pretty well and I
really enjoyed to be there, it was a fun time.
Q. - Did you record any songs
with them?
Chris - We did do a recording but
to be honest I don't have a copy of it, I’m sure someone might have it
somewhere.
Q. - For how long were "Bad
Reputation" active?
Chris - I think Bad Reputation
ware active a couple of years, I would say. After that I ended up doing some
stuff with bass player and lead singer from Prowler, like I said and then I go
on to record my own songs so that started really about 10/15 years ago when I
started really writing my own stuff which is mostly "Steve Vai'sh"
solo instrumental music
Q. - Have you ever thought about
doing a compilation on cd with the singles and demos recorded by Prowler in the
80's?
Chris - The answer to that is
yes, why not? I'd love to, some of the tapes aren't in the best of conditions,
and in fact all the songs were written by the Philpotts brothers they're not
feeling like releasing the material. I've tried to persuade them to do it but
you know they don't seem particularly keen on the idea at the moment, so didn't
go any further than that. It is looking like some of the tracks may be
re-recorded this year... not 100% yet but could happen!
Q. - What do you think of this
recent revival of the N.W.O.B.H.M., and all these bands reforming?
Chris - You know what? It was a
fantastic time back in the 80's, everyone was enjoying that kind of music, we
live free back then, so it's really nice to see it back, it's good time music,
people had a lot of fun and I think it's great that these bands are coming
back.
Q. - So what are you doing these
days? Do you still play in any band?
Chris - Right now I’m still
writing and playing my own music, and to be honest I'd really like to form a
new band on this area, Midlands, (and hopefully this virus that we are standing
is soon over) to play some of my own stuff, maybe some covers, maybe even some
Prowler stuff, but, you never know.
Q. - Are you still a heavy metal
fan these days?
Chris - Absolutely! You can't
beat this stuff from back on those days, I hate to sound old fashioned but I
just think in a lot ways, it was just better than some other stuff now, some
stuff now, it's a little bit too clinical and plus the fact I’m not keen on
mega mega heavy music.
Q. - Anything more you want to
say, to end up this interview?
Chris - I Think that's it,
hopefully this is enough and that will be everything you need to know, thanks!
Thank you for your time, and wish
you all the best for the future!
