Steve Annetts (Heartbreaker, After Dark, Dangerous Age)

 

Steve Annetts was the lead singer and founding member of Heartbreaker (formed around 1973), later on at the heydays of the NWOBHM, around 79, came up with After Dark, recording the singles Evil Woman in 1981 and Deathbringer in 1983. We had a chat with Steve to know more about him and the bands where he was in.

Q. - Hello Steve, tell us a little bit about your beginnings in rock'n'roll world, what were your main influences, what lead you to be a rock singer?

Steve - The bands that made me want to be a rock singer were Free/ Led Zeppelin Although initially I was a guitar player, I got into singing because I really wanted to be like Paul Rodgers and Robert Plant.

My main influences were Paul Rodgers, Joe Cocker, Robert Plant and Frankie Miller.

Q. - What about Heartbreaker, when did it all start? Who were the first members? Tell us a bit about the beginning of the band.

Steve - I formed Heartbreaker in 1973 with Ian Foster drums and Dave Sexton bass guitar we found a brilliant guitar player called Roger Lewis and a great character who kind of played guitar whilst playing the fool as well called Keith Scutter, we were then begged by Andy Hill to let him join the band he claimed to be a keyboard player so we gave him a go so Heartbreaker was formed.

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

Steve - My first bands were pop groups that I played guitar in called Velvet then Happy Ending who were lucky enough to have a single out called “To Be With Her” we supported big acts of that time Slade and Sweet.

Then there was a band called Cross Town Traffic we did a lot of gigs mostly in the south of the UK my heart was always in to rock and blues music but those bands taught me a lot about gigging and how to go on in music.

 

Q. - How did the band name (Heartbreaker) came up?

Steve - The name Heartbreaker was chosen because Free had an album called Heartbreaker.

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

Steve - Heartbreaker played the length and breadth of the U.K. And also spent some time in Germany We were soon picked up by Johnny Glover (ex-Free and Spooky tooth manager) And a contract with EMI Publishing was secured, but no record deal was forthcoming. We worked with Johnny Glover for a couple of years and went on as support to his other band Back Street Crawler a few times, this was however after Paul Kossoff died but I did thankfully get to see Paul Kossosff with Back Street Crawler at the Fairfield halls Croydon as Johnny Glover treated Heartbreaker to a night out. After the gig we drove Pauls girlfriend Sandy home to Reading as his house was quite near to where we lived. At this stage it must be mentioned that Heartbreaker were headlining the famous old Marquee club on a very regular basis and building up a huge following around the south of England, but still no record deal. I still think about Johnny Glover quite a lot and was pleased to read about him in Free’s biography Heavy Load recently I have to say that we became close friends at one point and I hope he’s ok. Johnny Glover and Heartbreaker went their separate ways in 1977.

 

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

Steve - After playing Free cover versions for a while like All right now. Come together in the Morning, Heartbreaker etc. and performing them at local gigs we got fed up with them and started writing original material. First songs were Quiet Lady, The Loser, Rain Song Soldier, followed by: Simple Man, Song for Keith, Move On, Joey, Out on my own, Manager, My friend the night, Reach for your heart.

Q. - Are there any recordings of Heartbreaker, singles or demos? Did you try to find a record deal at that time?

Steve - During this period Heartbreaker supported some big-name bands such as AC/DC, Eddie and the hot rods, The Kursal Fliers Back Street, Crawler Boxer and The Gillan Band.

Next via a very good old friend Richard Griffiths Heartbreaker caught the attention of a certain Mr Ian Gillan (Deep Purple singer) I remember the occasion of my first meeting with Ian as if it were yesterday. The band were playing at a venue in Reading called the Target Club we had finished the set and I was talking with some people at the side of the stage when this big guy came over said hi and politely waited till I’d finished chatting to the others and then said why are you not a star with a voice like that I just replied I don’t know that’s just the way it goes I guess, we talked briefly about rock music and at the end of the conversation he said it’s a great band I would like to manage you I said but I don’t know you he said yes you do my names Ian Gillan I sang with a band called Deep Purple, after picking myself up from the floor I must confess to not being able to speak properly for about five minutes. I’ve got to say the only reason I didn’t recognize him was that he had short hair, the Ian Gillan I saw on album covers and, on the TV, had incredibly long black hair, anyway he gave me a piece of paper with his phone number written on it and just said ring me in a few days we’ll have a chat. And so we did.

After doing a lot of recording in Ian’s studio we came up with the classic tracks “Berlin Berlin“, “Mister Moonlight“, “On The Road“, “Angel In Rags“ and Gamblin’ Man. Ian also sang backing vocals and played conga’s on some of the recordings while Colin Towns played keyboards and Mick Underwood did some production.

Q. - When did "Heartbreaker" split up? What happened that lead to the split?

Steve - Heartbreaker also supported The Ian Gillan Band on tour in the UK.

However, try as he did Ian could not secure us a record deal he was also finding it difficult enough trying to make any kind of a living himself so after 18 months with Ian he reluctantly said I can do no more call me if you need me I’m always happy to help you guys.

After that, Heartbreaker carried on for about a year and then just drifted apart I guess we lost our mojo having guys like Johnny Glover and Ian Gillan on your side going back to normality was a real let down I really must mention 3 other guys involved with Heartbreaker our amazing road crew who stuck with us through thick and thin they were: Dick Puryer, Alan Batt and Alan Cutts wherever they are now I wish them well.

 

Q. - After Dark came in the late 70s, in the heydays of the NWOBHM, what do you think of the repercussion this movement had on heavy metal music and also on After Dark?

Steve - After a year in a musical wilderness, and while the punk thing burned itself out, I was asked by a band called After Dark if I would consider singing for them. At first, I wasn’t convinced but the sheer talent of very young guitarist Mick Hare made me think that with a lot of work and a quality rhythm section we could make it into a good unit. So, I contacted a couple of guys who I knew could do the job and After Dark had the nucleus of a rock band. As time went on, we added a second guitar player and a key board player (for band line ups see section at the end of this history) and did local gigs before branching out to do supports for name bands and playing the rock circuit gigs in and around London.

Q. - Looking back in time, it surprises you that the EPs "Evil Woman" and "Deathbringer", still have so much appreciation these days?

Steve - In 1980 with the financial help of a couple of people who believed in what we were doing musically we recorded 3 tracks in a studio in Wokingham Berkshire.

EVIL WOMAN - JOHNNY - LUCY this was to become our first single, we had it pressed got someone to design a picture sleeve and put it out ourselves on our own record label After Dark Records. The usual sell it to your mates and at gigs type thing followed, and then we were asked to do local radio interviews where the single was being played a lot. Next thing we knew Tommy Vance was playing it on his radio one friday night rock show and raving about all three tracks but it was the infectious Evil Woman that got most of the attention.

We then secured a distribution deal with Pinnacle Records for the single and went out on mini tours to promote it, the first 1000 pressings sold very quickly and Pinnacle soon needed more singles so we had another 1000 pressed.

Next came an attempt at recording a second single the 2 tracks were TOO LATE and ROCK AND ROLLER we were never happy with it so it didn’t get released.

After Dark then for one reason or another settled into a period of about a year actually doing nothing, we would get back together to do the odd gig and then not see each other for a while and it seemed as if it was all over until a guy called Neil Howard (who Mick Hare ( once worked for )asked what we were doing and said why don’t we give this another go, it’s too good a band to just give up on it, he would take on the management side and we’ll make an album which he would pay for and would get back the costs against any future deal. We thought this was great so we signed a contract with him, and worked very hard on new and old material.

Neil kept his word and put the band into Jigsaw Studios in Purley Surrey owned by Dave Willams the band and Dave immediately got on well and Dave ended up producing the album which was made over a period of about 6 months off and on.

We also brought in a very well respected and highly talented keyboard player to help us with some of the recordings Steve Gresswell he did a great job on the tracks where keyboards were required.

The album was to be titled Masked By Midnight. Everything was going ok, there was a picture promo 7” single released to promote the release of the album, a tour had been set up supporting the rock band “Diamond Head “and it seemed that After Dark now in the middle of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal boom were destined for bigger things. But the album ended up costing Neil a lot more money than was originally budgeted for added to that the tour with Diamond Head which we had to buy on to had really broke the bank so it was decided that the release of the album would be put back after all we still had the picture single to promote.

The tour which was in January/ February 1984 was a great success for both bands Probably slightly more so for After Dark judging by the comments we received and not only from the fans.

I don’t know why everything went wrong after the tour except that Neil Howard fell ill and had to go into hospital for quite a time.

The band just drifted apart after the success of the Evil woman single and doing the album and the tour we were brought back down to earth and went our separate ways.

 

Q. - And how do you feel about the reissue of the compilation Masked by Midnight (The Anthology)?

Steve - However the After Dark story does not end there as during an interview with “That’s It “fanzine for Dangerous Age it was mentioned that the After Dark singles Evil Woman and Deathbringer were very sought after on the collector’s market and if we had any more material, it would also do very well so the Album “Masked by Midnight” was released on the German record label “Art of Music” 1n January 1996

And then rereleased in November 2018 as Masked by Midnight The Anthology with extra tracks: Evil Woman 1981, Johnny, Lucy, Deathrace, Too Late and Rock and Roller.

This was released on Skol Records (big thanks and great respect to Bart Gabriel) We were stunned and very pleased about this.

It was during this quiet period that I worked for a while with Zak Starkey and his band The Next. I did 2 gigs with him and then he got me to do a track for a pending single which was a cover of the soul classic Midnight Hour. I also had a call from an old friend mentioned before in this story Richard Griffiths He was working for Virgin 10 Records and they had just signed Gary Moore and he wanted a singer so Richard got me to go up to the Marquee club where Gary was playing and all looked promising except I never even got to meet Gary let alone sing with him because the record company unknown to Richard had already signed Greg Lake to sing with him, I was very disappointed.

Q. - Later on came Dangerous Age, how did it all start?

Steve - 1991 saw the coming together of DANGEROUS AGE. It was only through a comment by Ian Fosters lovely daughter Bonnie saying you guys should play together again that actually made me think well why not, Ian seemed game for it so we started putting a few ideas together. To start with I played bass guitar and sang, Tiff Turtle played lead guitar Fozzy played drums and after a short while Mick Hare came in on second lead guitar.

We Wrote and rehearsed original material in woodcray manor studio Wokingham for a time then moved to Alleycat studios in Reading.

It was at this point that the owner of Alleycat (who I’d known for a long time). Came in to a rehearsal had a listen and proposed that we go into his recording studio and put down 4 tracks. Fozzy then suggested that it would be great to use keyboards on the recordings so we asked rob Bridgman if he would be up for it he said yes and promptly came along to the next rehearsal to learn the material. I think it’s fair to say that in his own words if I recall them correctly f!!!!!g hell this is awesome and Rob became a permanent member from that day.

The 4 tracks we recorded were:

On The Road.

Dangerous Age.

A Place In My Heart.

Follow Your Heart.

We worked pretty hard on the songs and with Fozzies production skills got a really good result. However, another change in the lineup was about to happen.

Tiff left the band for another project he had been working on we were all very disappointed at the time he was a great old friend and well-respected guitarist and as fate would have it we would never play together again.

We had actually been writing and recording more songs at Alleycat with Tiff before he left, another four had been recorded but only very roughly and had’nt even been mixed in any way these titles were: Breaking My Heart Again/ Amazed/ No Way Out/ A Little Love. This is when something happened that we’d given up on years ago.

The demo tape of the first 4 songs had been taken to a music trade fair in Germany and a German record company called Long Island records liked it and wanted us to do an album so at this point we had 4 demo tracks 4 roughly recorded tracks and we would have to write 2 more songs to make a 10 track CD.

Q. - The cd Troubled Times, was recorded around 1995, what do you recall from these recording seasons?

Steve - So we used all the basic demo tracks i.e. drums/bass and did overdubs where required i.e. new guitar tracks new vocals, keyboards, Fozzy then spent hours going through the production on each track changing things redoing odd things until everything was master quality. For the 2 extra songs needed we reverted back to 2 Heartbreaker songs one written by Fozzy “Losing Touch” the other written by myself and Fozzy “Settle Down Easy, both were written back in 1976. But we recorded them and they sounded great even after all those years.

Although we kept most of Tiffs guitar tracks, some were erased (something that we regretted later on for a couple of reasons) mainly because we used a few guitarists on the album notably Mick Hare who had rejoined the band thankfully and the ex After Dark 2nd guitar player J.C.(Jerry Christopher). Darren Nicklass also played on some tracks.

So here we now were in 1995 with a record deal and an album release what the hell was going on.

The album was to be called “Troubled Times” and the track list was as follows:

Follow your heart.

A little love.

Dangerous age.

A place in my heart.

Losing touch.

Breaking my heart.

Settle down easy.

On the road again.

Amazed.

No way out.

It was released on May 15 1995 mostly in Germany-Holland -Scandinavia and a few smaller territories.

Q. - Did you approach a record deal at that time or was the album self-released?

Steve - Various communications followed from German rock magazines and fanzines,and a couple of interviews were done over the phone.

One interview with a fanzine called “That’s It” revealed an interest in the old After Dark singles “Evil Woman” and “Deathbringer” stating that they were still being sold as collectors items in Germany, (a bit of news that I knew nothing about) .

It was suggested that the album would do well if released and so “Masked By Midnight” was released in January 1996.on the German record label Art of Music. Well, this was totally out of order 2 albums out in the space of a year.

In late summer1996 Dangerous Age were back in the studio recording again this time 3 tracks were concentrated on: “Berlin Berlin” “Mister Moonlight” (the new version) And “Mercy” some other backing tracks were recorded as well.

It was on the night of 30^th of December after we were mixing these tracks that the studio burnt down, we had gone home at 11oclock and by 2-30 am Alleycat studios was ablaze. Of course, everything anywhere near the studio was destroyed including all the master tapes to “Troubled Times” and all the new stuff, let alone god knows how many other artists work.

This was a major blow to the band which now had an adverse effect on all of us. All we did now was rehearse and waited in hope to be able to go into a studio of some sort to hopefully record what would be the second album. Apparently the dat tape of the mixes of Mister Moonlight and Berlin Berlin survived because Warren Basset our studio engineer had taken them home on the night of the fire.

Dangerous Age carried on working doing a lot of rehearsing and played the occasional gigs but again drifted apart for one reason or another.

 

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

Steve - I then spent seven years playing in a covers band called “Highway” doing Free /

Led Zeppelin / ACDC covers and had a really great time doing it.

Highway played a lot of gigs in the seven years we were together and became a very well received and respected outfit on the circuit but like all covers bands there is only a certain shelf life and we could not go any further with it.

As for today I still keep in touch with the guys from After Dark, Mick Hare and I have been working on some new material for the new Dangerous Age album (currently in pre-production). I speak mostly via messenger with Ian King and John Metcalfe. Also Dangerous Age members I am in constant contact with Ian Foster and Rob Bridgman.

During 2019 and 2020 I recorded a 15-track solo album called “The Rain and the Fire”

Produced by Steve Gresswell which will be released later this year 2021.

Q. - How do you want to end up this interview? Anything more you want to say?

Steve - There are also plans to rerecord some of the Heartbreaker songs from 1974 to 1977. And release these on an album called “The Second Coming” (some have already been recorded). So quite a lot still going on and exciting times ahead.

In reflection of my musical career, I have to say that when I look back, I have worked with some great musicians a few famous ones and a lot that should be famous but are not, but I guess all in all the sheer talent shines through and we should all be thankful at what we have achieved together great music and companionship.

Thank you for your time, and wish you all the best for the future!