Richard Laws also known as Rocky, was part of Tygers of Pan Tang since
the early beginning in 1978 till 1984 having recorded the first four albums
with the band (Wild Cat, Hellbound, Crazy Nights and The Cage). We had a chat
with about the early days of Tygers of Pan Tang.
Q. - Hello Richard, how did your interest in heavy metal and hard rock
music start?
Rocky – Really, I have always
liked guitar music of all types (except classical guitar). The first band I was
really into was the Who and then I got into prog rock like Pink Floyd and Can
and then eventually Hawkwind which was where I first heard Lemmy play bass
which was a life changing experience from which I took up the bass guitar
myself.
Q. - What other bands did you play before Tygers of Pan Tang?
Rocky – The Tygers was my first
proper band (i.e. that did actual gigs). Before that I was only played in jam
sessions with friends.
Q. - Regarding for the early days, how did the Tygers got together?
Rocky – I was looking for a band
to join or to form a band and one person who was not available gave me Robb
Weir’s telephone number and I gave him a call. We didn’t actually start the
Tygers for a while and he formed a band with some other people which was called
Trick (which was sort of punk) and I was a roadie for them occasionally.
Meanwhile I had met Brian who played drums in a friends band and I had played
with him at jam sessions. I eventually persuaded Brian and Robb to try playing
together with me and it worked straight away. We advertised for a singer and a guy
called Mark Butcher was our singer for about 25 gigs and when he left Jess Cox
joined. I think we found him through a friend.
Q. - What do you recall from your first UK tour with Magnum? firstly you
were the support band, but later on Magnum support Tygers Of Pan Tang.
Rocky – It was a real step up
from playing local gigs in Newcastle and we drove around in a small car (with
me or Robb driving as we were the only ones who could drive) and stayed in the
cheapest hotels we could find and cooked our own food on a gas stove at the
gigs because we had no money! We had a lot of fun and enjoyed touring with
Magnum when we were the support band. I don’t think they liked it very much
when they ended up supporting us. It was really supposed to be a co-headline
but we always went on last – even in Magnum’s home town as they didn’t like
having to go on after us as by then we were probably a bigger band.
Q. - How was it like to play the Reading festival in 82 with Tygers?
What do you recall from that day? Did you meet with the other bands from the
bill? Have some fun together?
Rocky – We had played Reading in
80 though quite far down the bill. We were quite scared of playing in 82
because we had to go on after Blackfood who were a very good band and a bigger
band than us. However it went really well and our agent told us to start
playing as soon as Blackfoot stopped so people wouldn’t have a chance to talk
about how good they were! We did hang out with some other musicians back stage
including Lemmy and also John Sykes who had left the Tygers by then. We got on
with John Sykes pretty well considering he had walked out on us!
Q. - How did the idea of recording the cover song "Love Potion No
9" came up? Was this song the last recording with John Sykes?
Rocky – It is an interesting
story. We were set to use a producer called Peter Collins who had only done pop
music before but wanted to try to produce a rock band and we wanted to try a
pop producer. Peter later went on to produce Rush but we were his first rock
band. Peter Collins was managed by Pete Waterman who later went on to become a
producer himself as part of Stock Aitkin and Waterman doing such artists as
Kylie Minogue but at the time he was just a manager. Anyway it was Pete
Waterman’s idea to do Love Potion but I don’t think he really knew how it would
sound when we played it as it is nothing like the original. In the first
recording session with Peter Collins we did two songs – Love Potion and Danger
in Paradise which were both on the Cage Album. After this session John Sykes
left though I think he liked the recordings.
Q. - How did you feel when John Sykes left to try the vacancy for Ozzy?
But he didn't get the job, did he try to return?
Rocky – We were not surprised
that John auditioned for Ozzy as I had said to him when Randy Rhodes died that
it would be a good gig for him as he was a big Randy fan. We were surprised
that he didn’t tell us he was doing it and just disappeared overnight to go and
do the audition when we were preparing for a French tour. When he didn’t get
the job he did ask if he could come back but we didn’t want him back. He was a
brilliant musician but quite hard to work with and it was a bit of a relief
when he left!
Q. - In 1983 a demo tape was recorded with the songs that should have
been the 5th studio record of Tygers Of Pan Tang, why did those recordings
never see the light of the day?
Rocky - After the Cage album MCA
Records wanted us to do another similar album with a lot of cover versions and
(after the success of Love Potion) particularly more rocked up Soul Music
covers. We didn’t want to do the album they wanted us to do but they wouldn’t
fund the recording of anything else but also wouldn’t let us go to another record
company without paying them a lot of money. We were in limbo. I don’t think any other record companies liked the 5th
album material enough to buy us out of the MCA contract as well as pay for the
recordings and eventually I got fed up and left.
Q. - After the first break due to disagreements with MCA Records, the
Tygers came back for a new album (The Wreck-Age), were you contacted to be in
that line-up at that time?
Rocky – No, I was not contacted.
By then I was at University studying law and wouldn’t have been interested in
doing it.
Q. - What other bands did you play after Tygers Of Pan Tang? Tell us a
bit about it please.
Rocky – When I became a lawyer I
worked in a company which mostly represented bands and artists and record
companies so there were quite a few music fans and musicians who also worked
there. We formed a covers band to play parties and private functions and I
played bass though it was almost 10 years since I had played bass in the
Tygers. It was just for fun and I never played in any serious bands after the
Tygers as by then I had a legal career.
Q. - Do you keep an eye to hard rock and heavy metal music nowadays?
Rocky – I still like all guitar
music (still don’t like classical!) and I still play guitar. I still listen to
metal and might be listening to Devil Driver one minute and John Mayer the
next! I can’t say that I try to keep up to date with the music scene especially
as I am now retired from being a music lawyer but if I like something I will
listen to it.
Q. - Did you follow Tygers Of Pan Tang career recently? Or do you keep
an eye in what they're doing these days?
Rocky – Yes, I am in contact with
Robb and speak to him occasionally and I went to see them live a couple of
years ago when they played in London where I live.
Q. - What was it like to start a metal band in the late 70s? Did you
realise, that something as big as the NWOBHM was going on around the UK?
Rocky – We didn’t think in terms
of starting a metal band just starting a band – we just happened to sound metal
(with a bit of punk and prog in the beginning). Newcastle had a very active
music scene but not a metal scene though there were a few metal bands around
such as Raven. We had no idea there was a growing metal scene in the UK until
we saw the article by Geoff Barton in Sounds music paper and thought these
bands in London (Iron Maiden) and Sheffield (Def Leppard) are a bit like us.
Although we had become one of the most popular bands in Newcastle we had not
connected it to any increase in interest in metal generally as there was not a
particularly big metal scene where we lived.
Q. - How do you want to end up this interview? Anything more you want to
say?
Rocky – Just to say that it is
great that as I am coming up to my 64th birthday people are still
interested in something that I did 40 years ago! It is a real validation of
what we tried to and did achieve. So thank you very much for your interest and
taking the time to put together these questions. I have enjoyed this very much!
Thank you for your time, and wish you all the best for the future!
