There were several bands with the name Titan back in the heyday of
the NWOBHM. Strangely enough even the respected Malc McMillan's encyclopedia
doesn’t mention this band from Barton-upon-Humber at all. Well, I guess this is
because the band hadn’t official singles let alone a full-length album and
their demo tapes were available only to the most obsessed collectors before
someone uploaded them on YouTube. So the guitarists Haydn Dickinson and Nige
Walker have helped Axe Crazy to fill the informational gap.
Let’s start
the interview with your musical influences. Why did you pick up a guitar? What
bands or musicians were responsible for your choice?
Haydn: At the age
of 13 years really! My cousin had a 3 piece rock band playing Sabbath, Free,
Budgie and various early 70’s rock, metal. I watched them practice at the local
youth centre and wanted to be a lead guitarist from then onwards.
Nige: I think I
first fell in love with the guitar way back in the late 60’s, after watching a
band called Love Sculpture play their metal version of Kachaturian’s “Sabre
Dance” on a TV show… But it wasn’t until the late 70’s that I began to take it
seriously. My influences by then were Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple,
Queen, Scorpions and of course Iron Maiden. I would like to give a special
mention to Kevin Heybourne from Angel Witch, as seeing them several times on
their Girlschool tour really made me want to practice very hard.
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| The line-up with Mick Dawn |
As far as I
understand, the roots of Titan go back to the late 70’s. Do you remember the
name of the early incarnation of Titan? Who played in that band together with
you?
Haydn: Early Titan
was mainly Nige Walker, Phil Walker, and some school friends jamming, I
suggested that my cousin Wan should join them on drums and soon after I joined
to write and play lead guitar which worked well with my twin guitar harmony
obsession at the time, being able to work with Nige.
Nige: It was
Titan right from the beginning in 1979/80… The band was started by myself, my
brother Phillip Walker (bass) Mark Johnson (guitar) and Mick Dawn (vocals).
It’s funny but I can’t remember the name of our first drummer, all I remember
is that his parents used to drop him off for rehearsals and pick him up again.
I remember turning up for a band rehearsal and there was a different drum kit
set up. It turned out to be owned by Wan Hewitt (an old school mate) and he had
heard that a local band had started up and so he went out and bought a kit. He
ended up being our full time drummer. Mark and Mick left the band after a few
months due to musical differences (Titan was always going to be a metal band
and nothing else) (laughs). Haydn
Dickinson was soon recruited on guitar and Sid Cook came in on vocals. This
line up stayed together until we started to play our first shows (early ’82).
In ’83 Sid left the band and was replaced by Roy Blendell.
Tell me
about the metal scene in your area at that time. Were there any cool rock or
metal bands in Barton-upon-Humber? Were there also great rock pubs or venues in
your hometown?
Haydn: The local
scene in our town was not good for our style and we ended up in the local
papers for being loud and very dirge metal! We had to play local larger towns
like Hull, Grimsby and Scunthorpe with other rock/metal bands who we became
friends with like Limelight and Gaskin.
Nige: In short
there was NO metal scene in the Barton area at that time… It was just your
standard rural county town with standard pubs etc. Hull, Scunthorpe and Grimsby
were a lot better and that is where we played most of our shows.
Were you
aware of other bands with the same name? Weren’t there any troubles or legal
issues because of that?
Haydn: Not really!
Apart from Tytan, We were the first of that name i believe?
Nige: Not aware
at the time and so no legal issues…
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| Nige Walker |
Were there
any line-up changes over the years?
Haydn: The only two
noted changes were the first singer Ian Cook was replaced by Roy Blendell and
in around 1983/84 the band parted when Wan, Nige and Phil decided to move to
London to join other bands. My cousin Wan Hewitt (the drummer) managed to join
Paul Di’Anno’s Battlezone and toured UK and Europe.
Nige: The only
other significant line up change was in ’85 when Haydn left the band briefly.
We advertised nationally in “Kerrang!” for a new guitarist and found Steve
Giles who moved to Barton from South Wales. Steve played several shows with
Titan before moving to London, we then called Haydn back into the fold and that
line up stayed together until the end.
When and
where was recorded your first demo with “On to the End” and “The Rack”? Was it
a self-produced affair or did you work with a professional producer? Did it
take long to write and record that demo?
Haydn: That demo
was recorded in a small studio in Hull City Centre which was a bit ltd by gear
and Budget but it served a purpose. We were using gig money to pay for demo,
lights pyros etc.
Nige: It think it
was recorded in ’82 at a small 8 track studio somewhere in the Hull area (I
don’t remember the name of the studio). It was done with a pro producer and
took around two2 days to complete. It was the first time (apart from Roy) that
we had been in a studio environment. Haydn wrote “Onto The End”, and I wrote “The
Rack”.
Did you sell
the demo at shows and did you shop it to labels? If yes, what was their typical
response or reason to refuse it?
Haydn: We
distributed demo tapes at gigs and to sent to venues mainly to get work! We had
support through a close friend of the band whose father was the bass player in
the band Steeleye Span.
Nige: Yes we sold
them at shows and they did sell out (not sure just how many though). I don’t
think we sent out the first demo to any labels, but we did send out the second
demo. Sadly we didn’t set the metal world alight but the responses were polite
and were basically “send more demos if you record them” type letters.
Would you
agree that the band was highly influenced by Iron Maiden at the time and
especially the singer?
Haydn: Ha!.. I don’t
think Roy would say he was influenced by Iron Maiden although, yes, we were
very much into Maiden and Judas Priest, and always supported other bands such
as Grand Prix, Demon, Marrilion, Diamond Head, Angel Witch locally by attending
their gigs when possible. Me and Nige attended a promo evening with a band
called the Mamas Boys at Nottingham one night and were amazed to be pointed
toward Phil Lynott and John Sykes who had come to do a guest spot.
Nige: (Laughs) Yeah… I guess they were the
benchmark at the time. I think it was their gallop style rhythms, time changes
and of course lots of harmonising thirds. In saying that tho’ I don’t think we
actively wanted to sound like Maiden, it just came out that way.
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| Roy Blendell |
By the way,
tell me please a bit about Blendell. As far as I can understand he was such a
character on stage and he definitely had an awesome voice! Was he fun to be
around with?
Haydn: Yes it was
Roy’s real name. He was such a great guy to be around. Me and Wan were playing
guitar and drums in a local covers band for practice while writing songs for
our Titan set, and that was where we first met Roy who was singing for the
band. We thought “This guy should join Titan!” And he did!
Nige: Roy was a
big fan of Ronnie James Dio and Alice Cooper. I guess that’s were his theatrics
came from. But he was definitely a character… He loved his stage outfits and he
would make them out of anything from old sofas to pipe cleaners. But you never
knew which Roy would turn up at shows. He would be vocally awesome somedays,
but a little quiet action wise, then at other shows he would jump on tables,
climb lighting rigs but forget some of his vocal lines (laughs). But whichever version of Roy turned up the punters were
always guaranteed a show.
The 1982
demo had 14 tracks which is insane! Tell me everything you can remember about
this tape, please! Do you still own it? Where and how was it recorded? Did it
sound better than the first one? Did it have a pro-done cover?
Haydn: The ‘82 demo
was never recorded well as most of it was done on a small mobile unit so there
are only 2 studio sessions of good quality. We are working with Titan’s back
catalog of songs at the moment and will be releasing a remastered album this
year.
Nige: That wasn’t
an official Titan demo, a sort of bootleg if you like, made up of the official
demos and some live gig recordings and a few rehearsal recordings. It was done
primarily to save our material onto a digital format for durability.
14 tracks
are quite too much for a demo. How did you manage to write such amount of songs
within one year? Would you say it was a kind of a cassette tape album?
Haydn: It was a
cassette album only, like the Maiden “Soundhouse Tapes” idea! We didn’t put all
14 tracks out to the public because of the various sound quality.
The band had
very glam/hair metal image with spandex and leopard trousers. Did metal fans
accept it easily? By the way, different pictures show us different members in
those leopard trousers? Did you share those trousers with each other wearing in
turns or by lot?
Haydn: (Laughs) I
think we had different ideas regarding image. Mmm… say no more!!
Nige: (Laughs) Those leopard trousers were mine
(and still are, although they don’t fit that well these days). If you saw
anyone else wearing them then they’re an imposter and I would like to see those
pics too. Oh God! The spandex. Nooooo!!! OK Yes… If it was good enough for Dave
Murray and the Maiden boys then who were we to argue.
In 1983 the
band supported Hanoi Rocks. Was it a proper tour? Can you recall anything
significant from those shows?
Haydn: We managed
to secure a few local shows with Hanoi Rocks and our friends in the band
Farenheit landed the Motorhead support which would have suited us better as
they were lighter metal than us! I did have a beer with Lemmy at the gig
though... Nice!
Nige: My most
memorable show to be honest… Sadly it wasn’t a full tour, just a one off, but
the guys from Hanoi Rocks were awesome and were very amiable. What made it
memorable for me was the fact that the ‘Rocks’ soundcrew were more metal
orientated in their music tastes and they gave us a monstrous sound mix. I
don’t think my Flying V has ever got over it… It just screamed man!
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| Nige on Her Majesty's Service |
Did you play
enough shows over your career with Titan? Were you able to tour properly or did
you play just selected shows here and there? Which shows with Titan you can
call as memorable?
Haydn: The Hanoi
Rocks shows were the best really as we had Wishbone Ash sound engineer who got
our sound just right! Gigs like the Tower in Hull were good too as it was the
right metal crowds.
Nige: I would
have loved to have played more shows. One of the main problems was the fact I
was serving in the military at the time (Royal Air Force), so having long tours
wasn’t possible for us. We had some memorable shows tho’. I personally enjoyed
the Gaskin and Limelight support slots at Baths Hall, Scunthorpe. In our early
days, we entered a North-East England band competition and came first in our heat
and then we came second in the final, which was pretty good for a metal band in
amongst 50 other bands of all music styles. Our last show was quite special too as we sold around
350 tickets for it
Another demo
followed in 1984. And again: when and where was it recorded and how was it
received by fans, press and labels? Would you say that on this demo the band
found its unique style?
Haydn: The second
one was recorded in a Bigger Studio in Bridlington on the North East Coast and
had slightly better results. The tracks were, Into the Storm and High and
Mighty. The sound was coming together at this stage and was a lot more
enjoyable to do.
Nige: It was
recorded in Scarborough, N. Yorks… For us it was a much better demo. Like you
say, we were beginning to find a style and just as important was the fact that
we were improving as musicians. We had a regular sound engineer for our shows
and he did a lot of work with UK band Chrome Molly and he would often lend an
ear and give opinions on what we were writing.
The band
split-up 2 years after the last demo. Were those years eventful?
Haydn: The band
didn't do a lot of gigs in the last year due to other work commitments and i
was the first to pull out which was through frustration really. The band
briefly pulled in another guitarist called Steve Giles up to the end.
Nige: I left the
Air Force and wanted to relocate the band to London, but some members had
commitments and were unable to do so. So we called it a day with Titan.
Why did you
fail to get a record deal? I believe that the quality of both the music and the
production on your demos were high enough to get a major deal. So what was
wrong with the band or with the labels you tried to get in touch with?
Haydn: Thank you
for that, I think the problem was that not all the band pushed hard enough and
wanted it badly. We really needed a manager or producer at the time but maybe
we were in the wrong area.
Nige: Good
question… I think it boils down to the fact that we were slightly too late for
the NWOBHM scene and ultimately we were inexperienced musically, both in
writing and technical ability and although we had lots of enthusiasm and energy
I think those two things let us down. We were in a stagnant (metal-wise) area
of the country and it was difficult to get agents and labels to come to see us.
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| Steve Giles, Phill Walker, Wan Hewitt, Nige Walker |
Did you play
in other bands after Titan called it a day? What you’ve been up to since then?
Haydn: I didn’t
play much for a few years but in the late eighties i started to write songs
again and play in covers bands mainly to be gigging again. In 1998 i received a
call from a great local singer who I’ve worked with before and formed a cover
band again which i have now been in for 20 years and played around 2000 gigs.
Nige: I moved to
London in ’86. Phill and Wan joined me a few months later and whilst we never
reformed Titan. Wan went on to join Paul Di’Anno’s Battlezone and did some UK
shows and a European tour. I auditioned for a couple of bands and briefly
joined a band called Phantasm with Gary Jones (ex-Blade Runner), Tom Prince
(ex-Tredegar), Dave Dufort (ex-Angel Witch) and female vocalist Jan Stevens (ex-Flame).
Again, the timing wasn’t right, they had a tour planned and I didn’t have the
time to really learn the material so they toured with one guitarist and decided
to stay that way. Phill married and emigrated to South Africa in 1990 he did
play a few shows over there in a covers band.
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| Nige and Phill: brothers forever |
Sorry for
asking but what happened to Blendell and Phil Walker who both sadly died in
2016?
Haydn: That’s ok,
Phil moved to South Africa and lived there for 20+ years until moving back to
his hometown a few years ago, He suffered a major heart attack at home which
was a shock due to him being a very active person. Roy also died of heart
problems too.
Nige: Sadly Roy
passed away early 2016 which was especially sad as we hadn’t really kept in
touch since Titan split. My brother returned to the UK in 2012 after losing his
wife in an auto accident some years earlier. He sadly passed away 8 months
after Roy in Sept 2016 of a heart failure. RIP Bro’… I know he heard Judas
Priest’s “Metal Gods” blasting out at his service…
Do you still
stay in touch with each other? What do they do these days?
Haydn: Wan and
Nige have moved back from London to be with family again and live local to me
at the moment and we are working together again.
Nige: Both myself
and Wan are now back living in the place where the whole Titan thing started
and we share a beer or two or six… Haydn plays regularly for a covers band
called Scrapyard Dogs.
Have you
ever considered an option of re-issuing the old material or re-recording of
those songs? (I bet it will be sold out pretty much quick).
Haydn: We are
working with Titan’s back catalog of songs at the moment and will be releasing
a remastered album this year. We are also looking into building a studio. Wan
ran a studio in London for a number of years working with people like Bernie
Marsden (ex-Whitesnake), Shane McGowan, and many others so we will be
reproducing most of the Titan tracks and hopefully getting the sound we
originally wanted.
Nige: Yes!
Re-recording definitely… In fact Wan and I have made a start but we will be
intitially concentrating on material that didn’t make it onto the demos…
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| To those who forgot Titan |
Please say a
few words to all those who still remember Titan and your music.
Haydn: Thank you
to all the metal heads we meet from time to time who remember us! .. and we
will be making an Album this year to celebrate our fallen! Once Metal Always
Metal!
Nige:
The one thing that surprises me is number of times metal-head musicians have
come up to me and said “Hey! You and Titan are the reason I started playing
guitar and formed this or that band”… Cheers you guys. it was worth it then…Pictures are from Nige Walker's archive
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