Tony Miles (Gibraltar)

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, etc  but 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!

You’re welcome and wish you well also! J