Chris Vye (Prowler)

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!