I guess you all are aware of who Tony Coldham is otherwise you have got here by some strange ocassion. The singer is curently very busy recording a new EP with his band The Deep but he kindly took the time to answer my numerous and detailed questions about his eventful career with Minas Tirith, Deep Machine, Airrace and more.
Tony, let’s begin with
the question about your early influences in music. Do you remember that moment
when the music hooked you up? Was there some certain point when you said
“That’s it! That’s what I wanna do for the rest of my life!”?
I don’t think there was any one defining moment
when I felt that way. It was more of a gradual thing for me. I started singing
in a band when I was at school with some of my school friends. We performed a
couple of street-party gigs for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977
and did a gig in the school one evening, and the school hall we played in was
filled-to-capacity. We played pop and light-rock covers mostly, except we also
played “Stairway to Heaven”. It was my first taste of performing live to an
audience. It was exhilarating, but I also found it to be nerve-racking. I
suffered with stage fright for many years, actually, until quite recently.
Around that time I began to realise I liked hard
rock and started buying albums by Zeppelin, Sabbath and Purple, as well as
bands like Yes and Pink Floyd. I saw Zeppelin at Knebworth in 1979, and for
quite a while I wanted to be Robert Plant (laughs).
A real pivotal moment for me, I suppose, was when I bought the Rainbow Rising
album and first heard Ronnie James Dio. I thought he had a remarkable and
highly original voice. He was a major influence on my vocal style, and I think
he may possibly have been the most influential rock/metal vocalist ever. I also
got into bands like Judas Priest, Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and especially UFO. I
tend to like high-energy, emotionally-charged music that has great melody.
Michael Schenker has always been a big musical influence for me.
There have been a lot of vocalists I’ve
admired: Plant, Gillan, Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Graham Bonnet, Joe-Lynn
Turner, Gary Barden, Lou Gramm… too many to mention. I think it’s important to
listen to lots of different people, you learn different things from each of
them. For instance, Dio very much influenced my voice projection and
enunciation, whilst Bobby Kimball made me think more about groove and vocal
riffs, runs and trills. Somewhere along the way, you find yourself. It’s like
there’s a composite or collage of all your influences coming together to make a
final image, that when you step back a certain distance, you can see is clearly
a picture of you.
Did you attend the gig
in Music Machine where Iron Maiden, Samson and Angel Witch played? Was it
really that hot as people tend to think these days?
No, I didn’t go to that venue. I used to watch most
of those bands playing at the Ruskin Arms in East London, near where I live. The
Ruskin was a major part of my life back then. I’d made a huge number of friends
there because we all went there most nights of the week. It was like a big
family. Most of my closest friends today are people I met back then. I couldn’t
tell you how many bands I saw there over the years, hundreds. I saw Maiden
there and Angel Witch, who were just awesome.
I’m still trying to
understand what caused that new wave of British heavy metal. Was it your
response to punk invasion? What is your point of view on this matter?
At the time, I probably wouldn’t have been able
to tell you how or why it was happening. But being swept up in it was very
exciting. Suddenly the music I loved was no longer an underground phenomenon.
Many rock and metal bands were now getting into the British singles charts, not
just the album charts like they had always done before. Essentially, it became
mainstream. The music had a new raw, edginess to it. It was often pacey and
powerful, but melodic. Looking back now, I realise that, indeed, the whole punk
thing that had happened in the UK a couple of years before really played an
important part in the rise of NWOBHM. Punk was about rebellion and the shock factor
and very much pushed against the establishment. It was quite extreme. But it
opened the door for the underground rock scene that had existed for a couple of
decades up until that point. In comparison, I suppose, this new rock evolution
was now much more tolerable to the older generation than punk had been, and it
also gave a new generation their own brand of music and help define their
identity. They were no longer ‘rockers’, they were ‘Heavy Metal’ (a term I
first heard a punk used to describe his music and himself). Another important
factor was that this music was very accessible. It was seen as something
created by working-class people from somewhat humble or modest backgrounds.
Often with no formal musical training, they were writing and performing their
own original material and playing at local venues. These NWOBHM bands developed
a loyal fanbase. As they grew more successful, I suppose it was perceived as a
rag-to-riches story to some extent. More than ever, ordinary people, the fans,
felt they were part of that success and subsequently felt a particularly close
bond to those bands.
Lee Slater (gtr), Tony Coldham (vox), Mark Stuart (drms), Kevin Browne (bass)... Mark Venables (keys) not visible in this shot |
How did you get the
gig in Minas Tirith? Didn’t you feel betrayed when your bandmates joined Paul
Di’Anno in Lone Wolf?
It was around February 1981 and I’d been in a
band with some friends. However, it wasn’t a serious band and was never likely
to get out of the rehearsal studio. I really wanted to do things properly, so I
started looking in the music press at adverts for singers and I saw Minas
Tirith, a local band, were advertising. I went along to an audition and got the
job. After a few weeks of rehearsals, they booked our first gig at the Ruskin
Arms. I was terrified and didn’t perform too well. As time went by, however,
things got better.
Minas Tirith was quite popular and usually had
a good crowd. I know that ex-Maiden vocalist, Paul Di’Anno, came to see some of
our gigs. I think I’d been with the band about a year when I found out that
Mark Venables, our keyboard player, was leaving us and that he would be joining
Paul Di’Anno in a new band, which eventually became Lone Wolf and then Di’Anno.
A short-while later it transpired that Kevin Browne, our bassist, was also
joining Di’Anno. Eventually, Di’Anno ended up with everyone except me (laughs). I was really down about it. I
felt no animosity to my former band-mates, it was an opportunity they couldn’t
ignore. However, I felt that Paul Di’Anno had destroyed my world.
NOTE: You can read the interview with Mark Venables about Minas Tirith and Di'Anno here.
In 1982 you joined
Deep Machine. Was Bob Hooker still in the band at that point? Would you agree
that with you and Paul Smith Deep Machine was completely different band
comparing to their early stuff?
For a few months after the demise of Minas
Tirith, I was trying to network and put something together. I auditioned for a
couple of bands, but didn’t like them. Then one day, I got a phone call from
Bob Hooker, guitarist with another local metal band called Deep Machine. They
were looking for a vocalist. I loved that band, they were a lot heavier than
Tirith and more to my liking musically. I know there were line-up problems and I
remember that Kevin Heybourne of Angel Witch had joined at one point and that
they had been calling themselves Kevin Heybourne’s Deep Machine for a while. However,
I didn’t hear anything further from Bob.
I auditioned for a band called Burn. Guitarist,
Tony Harris, was very influenced by Schenker, UFO and MSG and a bit by Maiden.
He was also doing the lead vocals, but they were looking for a lead singer. I
agreed to join them and even jumped on stage at the end of one of their gigs to
do a cover of MSG’s “Ready To Rock”. But the very next day, the other Deep
Machine guitarist, John Wiggins, called to ask if I still interested in
auditioning. I went along and it was great. Bob Hooker had left the band, so I
never got to play alongside him. There was me, John, bassist Andy Wrighton and
a drummer they were trying out, who they decided not to keep. I agreed to join
them instead. I called Tony to explain I wouldn’t be joining Burn after all. I
mentioned that Deep Machine were looking for a second guitarist and Tony
quickly said ‘I’ll join!’. We just got the ball rolling and then, out of the
blue, John left to join another band… Paul Di’Anno’s Lone Wolf! I felt like
Di’Anno was a curse on my life at that point.
Eventually, we got drummer Steve Kingsley and
guitarist Paul Smith on board to complete the line-up. We started off just
learning the Deep Machine set, but quickly started writing new songs. It soon
became apparent that me and Tony Harris had a fantastic rapport and could write
really good songs together. But this new material was quite different from the
original Deep Machine songs. We felt it was much stronger and had great
potential. Although the original material was heavy and quite dramatic, it had
limitations. For instance, the lead vocal melodies simply following the guitar
riffs and chords, especially on choruses. Our melodies didn’t do that. The
vocal lines complimented the guitar parts rather than copy them. So, the songs
were more interesting and sounded more professional. We also used three-part
harmonies in places. Song arrangement and structure was much more developed.
Both our guitarists were much more capable musicians and so their playing and
their solos were a much higher standard. Also, both myself and Tony could write
good lyrics and we wrote in a more sophisticated manner. Unlike our
predecessors, we would never have written a song with a title like “Kamikaze
Lover”. In a short time we totally transformed Deep Machine and we were forging
ahead in Europe. It was a shame we couldn’t find a manager to help us keep it
all together.
Deep Machine 1982: Tony Coldham, Tony Harris, Steve Kingsley, a Dutch fan, Paul Smith, Andy Wrighton |
Both Minas Tirith and
Deep Machine were regulars in Ruskin Arms. What is your favourite story about
the place? And what about Neal Kay’s Bandwagon, Cart & Horses or Prince of
Wales?
As I said earlier, I seldom went to the other
venues really, I didn’t need to I suppose. I used to see a lot of Neal Kay
because he was a regular at the Ruskin and it was a highlight of our Saturday
nights to head-bang to his Heavy Metal disco. We had lots of fun experiences
and great times at the Ruskin. One of my best memories were the first couple of
gigs that our line-up of Deep Machine did there. I have rarely seen such a
large crowd at that venue. You could not move an inch. Everyone knew that this
new line-up was something special and EVERYONE turned up to watch. There were
people spilling out into the street. The only time I ever saw anything like
that there was when Iron Maiden returned to play a thankyou gig, when they had
Di’Anno with them, and later when they did a warm-up gig with Bruce Dickenson.
I remember quite a few gigs we did there when I looked out at the audience and
could see Steve Harris and other members of Maiden in the crowd watching us.
That was a real thrill.
I’m a bit confused
about your last name as you were also known as Tony Smith. Why was that?
Ah, that just a sad story of family life to be
honest. My birth name was Anthony Coldham. My mum divorced and remarried and my
step-father legally adopted me at that time, so my name was changed to Tony
Smith. It stayed that way for most of my life. However, me and my step-father
never got on well and the relationship basically got worse with time. When he
died, I decided I didn’t want to carry his name forward and decided to revert
back to my birth name. So, the name change wasn’t just an attempt to have a new
trendy stage-name (laughs).
Tell me everything you
can remember about the recording of the ’82 demo which consisted of
“Night-Stalker” and “Saga”. Where was it recorded? Did it take long to record
it?
Well, the new line-up of Deep Machine had been
together for 4 weeks and we had been rehearsing a couple of new songs we’d
written. We decided to make a demo. I’m still amazed today at how fast that
band worked. Remember, we all had day jobs and only rehearsed a couple of times
each week. There was a recording studio near to where Tony Harris lived called
Scarf Studios. I’d rehearsed with Minas Tirith there a few times, so I knew of
the rehearsal facilities. I hated that you had to carry equipment up a steep
and narrow set of stairs that were on the outside of the building. In winter
the steps were icy and treacherous. It could be windy and you sometimes got soaked
by rain. In those days, all our equipment seemed to weigh a ton. However, once
inside it had great rehearsal rooms.
Scarf had 4-track recording on a reel-to-reel.
I think we recorded drums, bass and rhythm guitars and bounced them down
together onto one track, solos on a second track, lead vocals on a third with
backing vocals on the last. I believe we did the whole thing in a few hours.
You simply wouldn’t record like that now. The recording process today has come
a long way and the expectations are for a much higher standard end-product. If
you listen to a copy of the demo now, you can hear that the bass had gone
slightly out of tune by the time we played and recorded the second song, “Saga”.
But hey, every small band at that time were doing demos in a similar way. We
couldn’t afford to press it as vinyl, which is such a shame, because it was on
cassette tape, which wasn’t ideal. However, the demo was received very well and
copies can be found even now.
Why did you record
only these two tracks and not “The Rider”, “Premonition” or “Spell-bound” which
later appeared on The Deep album? By the way, were these songs recorded or was
it you and Paul who remember these songs that well and were able to record them
in 2015?
For some reason we were in a real rush back
then. If we’d waited a few more weeks we could have had more songs on the demo,
probably “Premonition” and “Spell-bound”. I think “The Rider” was written a little while after anyway. Some of these songs
were recorded very roughly years later by me and Tony when we were in another
band called Strutt. Both Paul Smith and Mick Feleppa had
been members in Strutt at different times. Therefore, both Paul and Mick knew
those songs really well. In fact, when we first jammed with Mick in 2013 to see
if he would join The Deep, “The Rider” was the first song he played with us. He
played it perfectly and his solo was great. We actually have that session on
film somewhere.
In 1982 you played
with Deep Machine in the famous club Dynamo, in Holland. How did you manage to
get this gig and what are you best memories about that trip?
It came about because a writer for Holland’s
Aardschok magazine was in the UK when Deep Machine was doing a gig at the
Carlisle Pub in Hastings on the south coast of England. This guy knew of the
band because of its connection with Kevin Heybourne and was curious about this
new line-up. Well, let’s just say he was extremely impressed. He wrote the most
amazing review of the gig and that generated a lot of interest in Holland. Some
months later we got the call from Mike van Rijswijk, the owner of Aardschok,
and were invited to play at the Dynamo. I remember we all travelled across with
the guy we used to hire the PA from in the UK, Paul Vincent, in his Ford Luton
van. We drove quite a way with the shutter door open and some of us sat on the
edge with our legs dangling outside. We were waving to the other motorists
behind us. They must have thought we were crazy.
When we met up with Mike, we were late and had
to rush off with him to the venue to set up for the sound check. During the
soundcheck we were aware that there were already people outside. Suddenly, there
was a loud bang at the far end of the venue. The doors had given way because of
the amount of people pushing up against them. We could not believe how many
people rushed into the hall and up to the stage where we were sound-checking.
The venue was completely filled and we still had at least two hours to go until
showtime.
It was an incredible gig for us. From the
moment we struck the first chord of the first song until the last note in our
set, the audience never stopped head-banging. The crowd were brilliant and it
spurred us on to play even better. When we got to the end of the set, some
members of the audience rushed the stage. We didn’t have a clue what was
happening and I remember getting quite nervous. They started to grab at our
belts and guitar straps and anything they could take as a memento of the gig.
What were some other
significant shows you played with Deep Machine?
There were a lot, and I’ve forgotten many of
the shows over the years. We did three dates in Holland and they were all
great. We actually supported Paul Di’Anno’s Lone Wolf at the Marquee in London
the day after we played that gig at the Dynamo. That was surreal for me.
Deep Machine were
formed in the late 70’s and played the same club circuit as Iron Maiden did but
never managed to secure a deal or become big in those days. Why was that in
your opinion? Was it because the music or was it all because poor management?
We never had management and did everything
ourselves. With hindsight, I would say our approach was flawed. We should have
put a lot more effort into finding a manager and then trying to approach
labels. A good manager would have given us stability and helped us to deal with
some of the clashes of ego that eventually split the band apart. I think our
music and our live performances were our strength. It was an incredible band
for its time and it’s a real tragedy that it didn’t get a record deal.
Ocean: Steve Bensusan (gtr), Chris Bolan (bass), Tony Coldham (vox), Fred Ball (drms), Rudi Riviere (gtr) |
After Deep Machine you
had a project with Rudi Riviere from Dragonfly. What type of the music did you
play and who else was in that band? Do you still have any recordings of that
project?
It was a very short-lived project that recorded
a couple of songs and did one gig. We used the name Ocean for the gig. Joining
me and Rudi was bassist Chris Bolan, and two guys I’m still friends with to
this day, guitarist Steve Bensusan and drummer Fred Ball. The music was a bit
disjointed and lacked a clear direction. It was immediately after the gig that
I quit the band. Coincidentally, the bass guitarist with the band that
supported us that day was Phil Reeve, who is The Deep’s bass player now. It’s a
small world as they say.
You also spent some
years in Strutt. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any info about the band. Tell me please about this part of your
career. Judging by the songs “You Take My Breath Away” which was recorded for
“Premonition” in 2015 the band was awesome!
Well thank you! A few months after Deep Machine
split up, Tony Harris started to put a band together. He invited Paul Smith to
join him and they soon had a complete line-up and were busy writing songs.
However, they weren’t happy with their vocalist and Paul knew I had just quit
Ocean. Paul had played me some recordings from their rehearsals and I really
liked their songs. Back then there was a lot of friction between me and Tony
and we hadn’t spoken since Deep Machine had split. Paul Smith coaxed me to come
along and have a chat with Tony to try to bury the hatchet. I think everyone
knew that really it was about getting me down to the rehearsals with the
prospect of me joining the band. It worked. I met drummer Steve Jones and the
bassist, Lee Powis I had met previously when he was in Burn with Tony. It was a
good band, but the early material was actually too commercial and very
pop-rock.
Strutt (1983): Tony Harris, Steve Jones (drms), Lee Powis (bass), Tony Coldham, Paul Smith |
I was in that band for 5 years and there were
several line-ups. In fact, Mick Feleppa joined Strutt when Paul Smith left. The
musical direction evolved with time and the band became quite heavy in the end.
There were numerous demos recorded over the years and I am still fond of quite
a few of the songs we played. “Turn Me Loose”, “Out Of Touch” and “You Take My
Breath Away” were three that we ended up recording with The Deep. The band
eventually split up in 1988 when Tony sort of gave up for a while. He was
having a lot of personal problems then.
You also mentioned
that you played with Airrace for a while. Did it last long and did you record
anything with this band?
I was with Airrace in 1986. Mark Venables and
Kevin Browne from Minas Tirith had joined and band leader, guitarist Laurie
Mansworth, was looking for a vocalist. They got me down for an audition and I
was offered the job. We were rehearsing the stuff from the first album. I
remember Laurie was really happy with it and kept saying this line-up sounded
exactly the same as the previous one. Problems started occurring when Laurie
was writing the new material. He set the vocal melody lines really high, much
higher than on the first album. We recorded a couple of demos. It was difficult
for me and I developed throat problems. My confidence plummeted and I became
very disheartened. After a few months I told Laurie I didn’t feel I could go on
and it was mutually agreed that I should leave.
Ironically, they got another singer in, and had
to bring all the melody lines down on the new songs because they were too high
for him. Some of the songs from that time eventually ended up on the second
Airrace album.
The Rodford Files (early 90s): Tony Coldham, Paul Smith |
You and Paul had a
project called The Rodford Files and the songs of this project are awesome. Why
didn’t you release them properly? Do you have plans to do so or do you want to
use these songs for your future releases with The Deep?
With hindsight, we should have kept recording
together until we had a complete album’s worth of material for The Rodford Аiles. Then we should have taken it
to record companies and/or management. But, we made the mistake of trying to
put a band together first. We stopped recording to do that and wasted many
months rehearsing only to find that the band fell apart in the end. When we
were considering songs for The Deep’s debut album, we talked about the songs me
and Paul did back then. But, we felt that they would not necessarily work well
with the Deep Machine songs we wanted to do. There was one song, however, that had
never been recorded by us, which did end up on the album, “Cold-hearted”.
I’m not sure if we’d end up re-recording any of
those songs for a future The Deep album. However, I wouldn’t completely rule it
out.
Most of us had lost touch over the years. It
was when we all managed to finally track each other down that we got together
for a drink. Tony Harris, sadly, couldn’t make it. But later, we got together
again for a second drink with Tony as well. We just had the best time, swapping
stories and sharing memories. Someone suggested we get together in a rehearsal
studio and jam the old songs. We were all keen to give it a go. Wow… it was
incredible when we did. Although thirty years had passed, it was like we’d only
played together the day before. It was so good that it convinced us all to
reform the band. I think everyone felt that our line-up of Deep Machine should
be heard again. Because Bob Hooker was gigging with a new line-up of Deep
Machine, we had to come up with a different name. I suggested The Deep. Sadly,
both Tony and Andy couldn’t stay with the band in the end.
The album
“Premonition” was released by the band which is insane! I can’t believe there
was no label interested in putting out such a cool album. Did you try to get a
deal or was it your own decision to do everything independently?
Thank you! We approached a label and there was interest
for a while. We were already paying for the recording ourselves and were
primarily looking for a distribution deal. However, we’d pretty much finished
recording and were mixing the tracks when the label essentially told us they
didn’t like the production and dropped us. I think they made a mistake and
should have at least waited to hear the finished product. They had no money
invested, so there was no risk to them whatsoever. Months later, I sent them
the actual finished album. They were surprised at how different it sounded from
the original mix they had heard.
Why did Steve Kingsley
and Tony Harris leave the band?
Tony has been ill for a number of years and reached
the point where he could no longer play guitar. It’s a desperate shame, because
he is one of the most talented musicians and songwriters I have ever worked
with. Steve decided to leave because he wanted to start his own business and
needed to devote more time to that project.
Mick Feleppa who took
the position of Tony is your longtime friend and was in Strutt if I’m correct,
but how did you find Fraser Powell who is a way younger than the others?
Actually, I’d completely lost touch with Mick
since the mid-1980s. It was pure luck that I discovered that a mutual friend
had his details, and he was able to put us in touch. Before that, I’d tried
many times to try to trace him. It was amazing to see Mick after all that time.
Fraser is the son of Mick’s wife, Lynne. He’s a lovely young man with an amazing
talent. It was heart-breaking when he decided to move away and had to leave the
band. It was terrific having his fresh perspective on things when we were
writing and rehearsing the new material.
The Deep live in France (as recorded on the EP): Paul Smith, Tony Coldham, Fraser Powell (drms), Phil Reeve (bass), Mick Feleppa (gtr) |
As far as I’m aware
you contribute ideas to the songs — riffs, harmonies and melodies. Isn’t it
hard to explain how you want a song to sound not being a guitar player?
I can play guitar to an extent, but not well
enough to demonstrate to the guys the ideas I have in my head. I mostly sing
out everything and the guys pick up on it. Paul and I have worked together for
many years and he’s brilliant at interpreting what I’m trying to show him.
Plus, I’ve probably got better at explaining things as well. The best thing,
and the thing I enjoy most, is when we’ve got a collection of good ideas and
they all slot into place. "Cold-hearted" was like that. Paul had a great guitar
part that became the verse and I had a chorus that I’d been working on that
just fitted perfectly. Then between us, we fleshed it out into the final
version.
The band is working on
the new EP, so can you say a couple of words about it? How many songs will be
on it? Did you again use some old ideas or are the songs all new?
There are four studio tracks and, as a special
bonus, there are four tracks that were recorded live at the British Steel
Festival in Fisme, France by Laurent (Bill) Bocquet. It was the first time we’d
played in France and it was a terrific show. We’d love to go back again one
day. The four live songs are all from our debut album, Premonition. Two of the
studio songs we have been playing live for a couple of years. One of them was based upon a song we wrote
with Tony Harris when we were in Strutt.
But it’s been changed a lot and is hardly recognisable. The other two are brand new. We’re really
pleased with how it is all sounding.
By the way, have your
approach to songwriting changed with years? Isn’t there a risk that your new
stuff will sound completely different to the older songs?
We were really surprised at how fresh and
relevant the older material sounded when we started to play it again. I think
that was a testament to the strength of the song-writing at the time. Where
needed, we re-worked the parts that sounded dated. The recent revival of
interest in music from that time also helped us a lot, because people could
hear our music’s authenticity and they appreciated it.
In terms of our new stuff, we are still able to
write in a way that’s sympathetic to the earlier stuff, so that there’s not a
huge departure in styles. People should notice an evolution In the music when
they move from listening to “Premonition” to
listening to the EP: “Watching You”. There’s a natural transition.
Do you still stay in
touch with Bob Hooker? Is he fine with the fact that you record and perform
some stuff of Deep Machine?
Not at all. He seems to have dropped out of the
music scene completely, as he did back in the 1980s when he quit Deep Machine.
We’ve only ever performed and recorded the songs that we wrote from that time.
We’ve never played anything Bob, or his line-up, wrote. Sadly, despite my
efforts to get along with Bob, he could never accept The Deep existed and was
quite insecure about the whole thing. He’d even make unnecessary remarks in
interviews about us. I really wanted both bands to gig together so the fans
could hear all the songs from that time. He wouldn’t do it.
Don’t you want to use
Deep Machine moniker again considering the fact that Bob Hooker’s band is
inactive?
No, I have no interest in using that name
again, nor have any of the guys in the band. For us, that is now a completely
different entity and we’ve worked so hard to build the name of The Deep. I
actually never liked the name Deep Machine (laughs).
The Deep is a name you can do a lot with conceptually. Think of the different
interpretations you can have of the meaning of the name. For example, you could
do so much with album cover designs based on the name. It’s a lot more open… you can do much more
with it.
Tytan: Andy Thompson (keys), Seth Markes (drms), Tony Coldham, Dave Strange (gtr), Kevin Riddles (bass) |
Why did you quit
Tytan? Did you feel that it was about a time to concentrate on your own band?
That was a really tough decision to make, but I
had to do it for the sake of both bands. It was becoming increasingly apparent
that both Tytan and The Deep would be recording their albums in 2019 and, what
with trying to gig with both bands as well, especially trying to promote both
albums, it would have been too much for me. Also, I think everyone would agree,
I’m a bit more of a metalhead than the guys in Tytan (laughs). It was better that I quit Tytan at a time when there was a
reasonable gap in the tour dates, so the guys could find a new vocalist and
write the new material with that person’s voice in mind. It was heart-breaking
to leave because we got on so very well and they are a fantastic bunch of guys.
I will always treasure those memories and I hope we will all be friends for
life. Yes, Mr Frodo will miss them terribly.
A few words of wisdom
for the readers!
I think one of the most important things I
could say is please, please, please go and support those live bands playing
original music. The artists and venues need that support or there is a real
risk of emerging talent being lost and of venues closing. Thank you!
The Deep on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheDeepUK/
The Deep's official website - http://www.thedeepband.co.uk
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