Mike Whitbread (ARC, Red Hunter): The Arc of Time

ARC from Stourport-on-Severn were one of those bands which lasted for a few years and released just a pair of singles but gained cult status among the fans of hard rock and early heavy metal. Their second single “War of the Ring” was based on J. R. R. Tolkien books and came out waaaay before this fantasy theme spread like a plague in power metal. I tried so hard to find anyone from this band but it seemed the guys were rare guests on Facebook so I almost gave up when David Towers came to rescue. He was a member of Red Hunter together with the Whitbread brothers in 2000’s and agreed to conduct the interview with Mike Whitbread and transcript it for the blog!  

Hello, Mike! Let’s begin with a question about your family and brothers. Were your parents into music? Who discovered the music first — you, Geoff or John? Wasn’t there a competition between you and your brothers, something like “I’m gonna be a guitar player! — No, I wanna play the guitar, go and find something else!”

My father played the accordion. As far as we were concerned we all found our own thing. I liked the guitar, John was a singer and Geoff was very keen on Ginger Baker and Buddy Rich, so there was no argument over who was going to do what.

Tell me please about your first bands before ARC. Who else played with you at that time? What kind of music did you play in that time?

There was no band before ARC. It was me, John, Geoff, Steve Slater on bass and Dennis Paszkowec on rhythm guitar. We played original music and covers.

Can you recall the very first tune/song you wrote? What did you feel when that happened? Were you excited, wondered or did it feel absolutely natural?

One of the first songs we wrote was “Leviathan”, which was my suggestion, because of my support for Greenpeace and their Save the Whale campaign.  It was all new to us. We were a new band starting off.

How did ARC come into the picture? Who was in the original line-up and who came up with the name Arc? Did you consider other names?

ARC was John, Geoff, Steve, Dennis, and me. We did not consider any other names. The name ARC came about when our mother, Iris, who is still alive aged 93, was travelling on a bus when it passed a factory. As she looked across, she saw a welder working at a factory and there was a flash as the welding torch made an arc. And that was it. We were ARC.

Were you aware of the new wave of British heavy metal at the time? Did you feel that something new, fresh and exciting was happening on the rock scene?

Yes, we were well aware of what was going on and we all wanted to be a part of that.

Tell me about the early days of ARC: rehearsals, first shows. Was Stourport-on-Severn a good place for a rock band? What clubs or pubs did support bands who played original stuff?

Stourport is a very small town with a small number of village halls, pubs and a couple of clubs, but we played at many places in towns nearby. My father owned a carpet factory in Wilden, a small village between Kidderminster and Stourport. It was called Wilden Carpets and we modified the cellar to use as a rehearsal room for ARC.

What was your approach to live shows? Was it just go-out-and-play or did you try to make the shows theatrical to some degree?

We went out to enjoy ourselves. Our set list was original material, but towards the end of a show we would usually play some covers like ‘Born to be Wild’ to please the audience, because it is hard work for an audience to listen to a whole set of original songs. We all wore leather jackets and jeans on stage like bikers.

Did you record any demos prior to the single “Tribute”? If yes, what songs were on them?

We did some studio work and we recorded original material which we put onto cassettes, but it was never sold or promoted. We approached the major companies, like EMI and Virgin, but they were not interested. They all said they already had many bands on their books.

Tell me please about the recording of the “Tribute” single. What are your memories about the Old Smithy Studio? Was it well equipped? Who was in the band at that time?

The Old Smithy Studio was a fully equipped studio in Kempsey near Worcester about 20 miles south. Me, John, Geoff, Steve Slater on bass and Dennis Paszkowec on rhythm were in the band.

Mike "the Bike" Hailwood 

Tell me about the song “Tribute (to Mike Hailwood)”. Why did you decide to write the song in honour of “Mike The Bike”, who ironically died a year after the single?

We had great respect for Mike Hailwood as a world champion motorcyclist. We recorded the single and we went to the Isle of Man during TT week to promote it. We went there twice. We were all interested in motorbikes. We managed to get local radio stations on the Isle of Man to play the single and we got Mike Hailwood to sign some of the singles for us. Me, Geoff and John went, but we didn’t perform. Later that year, John telephoned Mike Hailwood — he lived locally in the Birmingham area — and he agreed to meet us at a Birmingham Record Store to attend an official signing of the single. The B-side, “For my next kick” was an anti-drugs song. I came up with the guitar riff and John wrote the lyrics. 

I guess Orcrist was your own label, so how did you ménage to press the single “Tribute”? Was it easy to arrange everything and find right people to work with? How many copies of the single were pressed?

Orcrist wasn’t a record company, it was our own invention. The name was John’s idea. I think it was the name of a sword in the Hobbit. The people at the Old Smithy put us in contact with a record-pressing factory in the Black Country, near Birmingham. In those days there were no CDs. Everything was vinyl. We had 500 copies pressed.

You were one of the first bands who were influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien and this thing became really important in heavy and especially power metal decades later. Tell me please about your passion to Tolkien and his books. When did you discover them? How did you get this idea to write a song “War of the Ring”?

Geoff and John were both interested in the stories of the Hobbit. On a camping holiday in Wales with friends we decided to write another single, so the three of us just sat down and wrote it. The basis for the song “War of the Ring” is about good against evil. Whenever I see the lyrics for “War of the Ring” published, they are usually incorrect. These are the correct lyrics.

WAR OF THE RING © ARC 1981

Through Sauron's veil

One red eye pierces through the darkened skies

The Nazgul fly through the air

Shadows stain like black sin polluted rain

All are forsaken by fear

Mithril flash

And orc skulls smashed

And bones are dash to the ground

Within his tower, Sauron unleashes power

No sanctuary to be found

[Chorus]

Ring forged in Mordor's fire

Ringwraiths shall find you

Bearer of Sauron's ring

In darkness he shall blind you

Balrog’s breath, Mithrandir's death

But his spirit shall rise

Witch King dies, corrupting where he lies

Light reborn to the skies

Mordor's might, like an ever seething night

Spills like blood from a vein

Free people soon, prepare to meet their doom

Fate tips the balance again

[Chorus x2]

[solo]

[Chorus x2]

Blind you

Can you comment on the song “Ice Cream Theme”? What was the idea?

I came up with the topic. It is about an ice cream salesman going insane, because the job is so boring. I wanted to play something that no one else was playing — something completely different rather than using the same boring topics and themes.

The second single was recorded with Steve Potter and Phil Lynch. How did you get to know them?

After the first single Steve and Dennis left to form a band of their own, because they wanted to do something else. It wasn’t their kind of music any more. Then someone phoned John and put him in touch with bass player Steve Potter and guitarist Phil Lynch who both lived in Malvern, about 25 miles away. We asked them to join ARC and they both accepted. They then had the tough task of having to learn about 15 original songs before we could start playing gigs again. The photograph of ARC on the Malvern Hills was taken by Martin Knight, a friend of the band. The photo was to be used as publicity for the single.

Would you agree that musically the second single is closer to Black Sabbath and to what we call doom rock/metal these days? Did your tastes and influences changed by the time you recorded “War Of The Ring”?

After 1981 we mainly played original songs on our gigs with not so many covers, although we would sometimes play some covers towards the end of the show. Also, we became more focussed on our performance and sound and more organised with the lyrics and with the structure and dynamics of the songs.

Did you like to work with Dave Morris who co-produced “War Of The Rings” and with the label Slipped Disc?

We recorded “War of the Ring” and “Ice Cream Theme” at a mobile studio at a farm outside Worcester. Dave Morris owned the studio and he was familiar with all the recording equipment, so he helped us to mix the sound. He did not produce the record. We did that. Slipped Disc wasn’t a record company, it was something John thought up. We had 1,000 copies pressed, but I can’t remember where it was done. I think John found them. It was not the same factory that pressed “Tribute”. The covers were printed by a small printing company in Stourport. They were delivered unglued, so we had to glue them ourselves. This is why when you see a copy of “War of the Ring” the cover has usually come unstuck and been re-glued.

What happened to the band after the second single? When did David Godsmark and Dennis Paszkowec join Arc? Why did Arc split-up eventually?

I don’t know the name David Godsmark, but Dennis joined ARC at the start and played on “Tribute”, the first single. ARC split up when John got married around 1985 and moved to Devon, nearly 200 miles away.

Tell me please about your life between Arc and Red Hunter. Were you involved in any music projects?

Well, I got married too, so I didn’t do much, but I spent my time practising and learning new riffs. John and Geoff did a few things between the two bands, like their time with the Black and Blues band. They made a cassette with “Leviathan”, “Monday Morning Blues” and three covers — “Tutti Frutti”, “Walk Right Back” and “Woolly Boolly”.

How did you get the idea of Red Hunter? What is the idea behind this name? How did you get in touch with David Towers?

The name Red Hunter was my idea. It was the name of a motorcycle made by Ariel. It was my father’s favourite bike and he made one out of bits and pieces, which I still have. I got divorced and John’s marriage had also broken up, so I suggested we form another band. John and Geoff both lived in Thame in Oxfordshire, about 80 miles south of Kidderminster. We put an advertisement in my local paper for a bass player and Dave answered the advert. He came around to my house to meet us and we asked him to join. He had been in a club band for 30 years and he had managed it for the last 20 years, so he had lots of contacts for getting gigs, which is what we wanted. We rehearsed a mixture of covers and originals here in the attic of my house. In clubs we only played covers, but in pubs, we played a mixture of covers and our own songs. John then moved to north London, 120 miles away, Geoff was in Thame, and me and Dave were in Kidderminster, so our gigs were all along the M40 corridor. Sometimes me and Dave travelled south for gigs, sometimes Geoff and John travelled north.

Tell me please about the making of the album, which was recorded in 5 or 6 days. Did you use some old stuff from the 80’s or 90s? Why did you decide to put out yourselves again? Did you try to get a deal or was it a DIY thing from the beginning?

It was recorded at Smallwood Studios in Redditch, about 20 miles away, in April 2001. The engineer was Mat Webster. We recorded some songs from the ARC days, but it was mainly recent compositions by Geoff and John. Prior to the recordings, we warmed up on the first day by playing some covers that we featured in our set, and these were recorded for our own use. The instruments were plugged directly into the board and Geoff’s drums were gated, so there was no cross-over during the recordings. Geoff and John produced all the songs. They said they knew exactly how they were all going to sound before we had even started the recording process. We also recorded a live set when we entered a local band competition. We have that on CD, too. We wanted to record some of the newer songs, but we did not approach anyone about a record deal. I have the master tapes for the Red Hunter stuff and I have the ARC singles and the Black and Blues band stuff in digital format on CD.

How do you view the album these days? Don’t you want to re-release it along with the ARC’s stuff? I guess the album is so awesome and so overlooked that it really deserves a second chance!

The Red Hunter CD should have been promoted properly, but it wasn’t. We made our own copies and we sold them on gigs. It was never an official CD release. “Ice Cream Theme” has new lyrics added to it and it became “New Millenium” on the Red Hunter CD. “Leviathan” also came from the ARC days. John was responsible for writing most of the lyrics. No one has ever approached us about re-releasing the ARC or the Red Hunter stuff.

Why did Red Hunter call it quits? What you’ve been up since then?

John just seemed to lose interest and he and Geoff moved to Scotland.

Is it correct that you resurrected ARC in 2007? What are your plans about the band?

We reformed ARC in 2007 as a trio with me, Geoff, and Dave and we performed for a further 2 or 3 years. Both me and Geoff wrote a few more songs which we also included in the set list.

Do you still stay in touch with the ex-members of ARC beside your brothers?

I sometimes see Dennis, because he still lives locally in Stourport. Phil Lynch moved to LA in the 1990’s, but he died in 2005. I keep in regular touch with Dave, because he lives nearby. Martin Griffin lives in Worcester, but I haven’t seen him for many years.

Please say a few words for your fans.

I now play in a local band called the Transporters playing covers in local pubs and clubs. I also go to local open mic nights to keep up my practise. I play lead guitar and sometimes 5-string bass. Recently I bought a “Shine” lead guitar and a “Washburn” 5-string bass and I am in the process of forming them into one double-necked guitar. Thank you KC for your interest in ARC and Red Hunter. I hope you find the answers interesting.