Wildfire: The fire still burns!

This interview was done originally for Stay Heavy magazine in 2014 when I was lucky to get singer Paul Mario Day and guitarists Martin Bushell and Jeff Summers to answer my questions. A few (un)necessary words. I firstly heard Wildfire back in 2002 when I got my hands on re-issues of their albums “Brute Force and Ignorance” and “Summer Lightning”. I was intrigued by a sticker “Featuring ex-Iron Maiden singer”. Everything related to Maiden gave me goose bumps those days. Needless to say I immediately fell in love with their music! What an amazing voice! What incredible harmonies and guitar leads! So much passion in every song! Oh, man! It’s a real shame that Wildfire remained obscure and never made it bigger while they were active. So here is the story of how the fire was lit and burned out.

Please tell me about the early days of Wildfire. I know that Paul was in Iron Maiden and More, Jeff Brown was in Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts. Bruce and Jeff Summers played in Weapon but how did you get in touch together? Is it correct that Jeff Summers and Martin were a part of Iron Maiden for a while?

Martin: I was in Iron Maiden for a very short time when I was 18. I was invited to the audition by Paul Di’Anno who I had previously played in a band with.

Paul: Exactly how Martin and I meet is hard to remember. Maybe through a friend we met to plan strategy and write new songs. However, I do remember working with Martin years earlier. I also remember what an astonishing musician/guitar player he was at a relatively young age.

Martin had a great many component riff patterns, chords, chorus, and intros so we went to work crafting embryo songs with melodies created with adlib lyrics. I worked at that time as a deliveryman with a van. The times waiting for pagers to ring and tell me to pick up a load I spent listening to those jams on cassette. (You really do not know how lucky everyone is today to have brilliant recording equipment.) Jotting down words and honing down the melodies.

Jeff: I met Paul and Martin Via Bruce Bisland, Bruce and I had been working (briefly) with Paul’s ex colleague in More, Laurie Mansworth after Weapon split up. Paul and Bruce were also working with Laurie on another project at the same time… I was invited down to a rehearsal session which Paul, Bruce and Martin had organized and we had a jam. The band invited me to join the next day. Paul and I had not played together before Wildfire…

Who came up with the name Wildfire? Did you know about the bands with the same name from the U.S.A. and England?

Martin: I'm going to guess it was Paul. I know he did the logo for the band. It was influenced by motorbike logos Norton and BSA of which he was a fan.

Paul: In the opening weeks of the project, I wanted a respectable name for the band, as I hated the name of my old band More so much. Also I was leaning towards a “non metal” band name as I felt it would be wise to head towards the mainstream like Thin Lizzy but still holding up to the emotion of the giants that preceded us. It was taking too long to come up with one. I saw an old film called “The Andromeda Strain” on TV. The name of the base to control and contained the Virus was called Wildfire. By now the band was complete and rehearsing towards our first album. As far as other bands with the same name go’s, first to the top wins. It was going to be a long time till the Internet existed and such research back then was much hard to do.

Jeff: I seem to remember we were all sitting in a Café, talking about what we should call ourselves. Paul had quite a few “sensible” names and the rest of us just came up with a load of silly joke names (which was our way at the time). We all agreed that Wildfire was the best!! We were unaware of the US band with the same name.

Playing in other bands before Wildfire Paul, Jeff and Bruce gained some recognition. So why did you sign with Belgian label Mausoleum and not with some British label? How did you get in touch with Alfie Falckenbach?

Martin: Paul and I wrote some songs together and recorded them in London's docklands with our friends John Young on drums and Rob Young (not related) on bass. Paul had befriended some Belgians whilst in his previous band More. He took our demos to Belgium. In the first meeting Alfie agreed to sign us up. At that moment in time Alfie didn't know there was no band. We quickly started auditioning members. With a record deal already agreed it was easy to attract some good musicians.

Paul: As Martin said, but I feel the weak deal was my fault. When More and I parted company I was in a panic. More was on the road for over a solid year and a half, with recording the second album amongst it. I couldn’t risk the ride stopping so I acted too hastily and took what I could find. It did however, fast track us to complete the band and finish the writing and pre-production within the two month time period between meeting Alfie and starting the recording.

Please tell me everything that you remember from recording sessions for the album “Brute Force and Ignorance”: stories from the studio or songwriting process, everything will be good! Did you use any ideas from your previous bands?

Martin: We arrived in Belgium to record the album. We were taken to the studio. To get into the studio we had to take all our equipment through a restaurant and out through to the back, a very strange arrangement! I remember the ribs were very good in the restaurant and I got a taste for unsalted Belgian butter. To the band, the studio seemed very well equipped but John complained that they lacked the most basic of gear.

Paul: We had a little too much to drink after a session of recording and we had a sing-along to the “Violator” backing track with Mr. Bisland on lead vocals. There was one jam recorded as a sound check and we put some words down about a friend of ours, It was called “Horrendous but Tremendous”. I put a collection of these and some funny out-takes and fooling around on cassette tape. Unfortunately it has been lost over time never to return.

Jeff: Those sessions were really productive and loads of fun… Because of the small amount of time involved, we were just getting to know each other really and soon discovered we all had a similar sense of humour. Between all of the frantic and serious work we also spent a great deal of time drinking and buying hot dogs from Brussels train station. Bruce would often order up large portions of what he called “Bullet and chips” which was some kind of Meatball with French fries.

Jon McGowan (producer) was also a young guy and he had the tricky task of getting us all into the studio working at the same time. I don’t think many ideas were used from any of our previous bands, most of the ideas for “BFA” came from Martin and Paul; they were already formulated. I think I remember that Paul had quite a bad cold when it came time for him to record the vocals, hence some “down time” to give Bruce the opportunity to put his own “special” vocals on “Violator” & “Horrendous but Tremendous”

The album was recorded in Shiva Studios in Brussels with the producer John McGowan. Were you satisfied with his work at that time and what do you think about this album nowadays?

Martin: John was one of the most charming men I knew. He was always very friendly and within 5 minutes was chatting to the locals in Belgium. It was thought he knew everybody. I asked him if he knew everybody. He said he didn't – he just met them. That was his way. I learnt a lot from John.  When I first listened to our first piece of vinyl I was very proud. If I listen to it now I wish it could sound better and bigger.

Paul: I met John working on More’s first album, “Warhead”. He was with the Truck Mobile studio as the sound engineer working under producer, Al Nally (producer of Blackfoot’s albums).  Later John was added to More’s road crew as monitor soundman.

I wanted a man who was easy to work with and whom I could trust with the task plus his natural engineering talents. I still love the album for the joy behind its creation and for me the music was just right. If we had performed live shows before making the album I know it would have sounded and had been played better. Playing live makes subtle changes and inspired shifts in the band and melody’s and they would have been transferred to the album. Was a fabulous experience working with J

Jeff: It WAS a fabulous experience working with John, as the guys say he is a lovely charming man and took the job very seriously… The album sounds a little “thin” compared to today’s productions, but it was excellent for the time… He really got the best out of us by joining in with the fun and understanding that when we were happy we were playing well.

Most of the songs were written by Paul and you and only a few – by Jeff Summers. Why was that?

Martin: There was a real rush to get this album recorded – a lot of songs were written before Jeff joined.

Paul: That’s about all there is to it as Jeff Summers is a brilliant songwriter.

Jeff: Thanks guys!! Absolutely, the album was virtually written before I joined.

Can you say a few words about the lyrics from this album? What is the message behind such tracks like “Eyes Of The Future”, “Goldrush”, “Another Daymare” and “Redline”?

Martin: Paul was listening to lots of Rush at the time and put a lot of thought into his lyrics. I loved the title “Eyes Of The Future”. Where it came from, you'd have to ask Paul.

Paul: “Eyes of the future”: Toying with the idea of if we had awareness from within the womb and the importance of the following generations.

“Goldrush”: Back in the old days of the prospector, putting life at risk/loneliness of searching for gold.

“Another Daymare”: Drugs, living the nightmare of addiction without sleeping.

“Redline”: Like pushing a car/bike hard on the red line of the tachometer one little push more and it will blow. A story of living life, love, sex, drugs and rock music hard and fast with no regrets.

Did you play enough shows in support of the album? And where did you play often – in continental Europe or in England?

Martin: Enough shows? Short answer: No. A few festivals in Europe but mostly England.

Paul: Wish we worked hard like More but there was no support from our record company, in fact there was no support at all.

Jeff: Lots of pubs and clubs in the UK, but we also toured the UK with Hawkwind. A few shows in Europe including a couple of festivals if I remember rightly.

The next album by the band was absolutely fantastic “Summer Lightning”. The booklet reads that all the songs were written by the whole band. Was it really like that or was it a kind of agreement within the band?

Martin: When it comes to writing songs then bands sometimes have the problem of members trying to cram their ideas in to get a publishing cut. One way to avoid that is to agree an equal split regardless of the input then get on with the songwriting process in peace.

Paul: I could not say that any better than Martin.

The album was recorded with Guy Bidmead as a producer. How substantial was his contribution in the album?

Martin: I don't remember. My one memory of Guy was him listening to Bon Jovi on a walkman as a reference check when doing our album.

Paul: He did ok; he was only involved in the mixing process. The recording was as in the first album, guided by Wildfire and the recording engineer. This time engineer, Mick McKenna who accompanied the Rolling Stones Mobil Studio assisted us in the recording/production. I am sure if we had a class act producer for both albums from the start of recording we would have had a far better product.

Jeff: “Summer Lightning” took longer to record, we kind of did it in amongst live shows I think. From what I remember, the drums were recorded in an old Church in Shepperton film Studios and also some of the backing tacks using the rolling Stones Mobile. Some of the overdubs and vocals were done between Shepperton and Belgium again I think.

The album starts with the intro “Prelude In F Flat Minor”. Such things are typical for orchestral music. Did you try to extend the borders of heavy metal?

Martin: When you get into a posh studio as a youngster and discover that you can overdub as many guitars as you like then the temptation is to record as many guitars as you like :)
The title;  F Flat Minor was meant to be a tongue in cheek joke – F flat is E – right?

Paul: There is no end, you never stop learning, and you keep on trying to push barriers with your music. If we stayed together as a band longer who knows what our music would become. I adore the musical adventure.

Jeff: “Prelude” was Martin’s baby. He was the most adventurous musically of us all and was always the most interested in the recording process… It still sounds fantastic to my ears.

Another question about the lyrics: can you comment on the lyrics of “The Key”, “Gun Runner”, “Natural Selection” and “Passion for the Sun”?

Martin: I loved the titles of “Natural Selection” and “Passion for the Sun”. Again, Paul is your man!

Paul: “Natural Selection” was originally called “Un-natural Selection”, and the title got lost in-between recording and the printing of the album cover. I was thinking about war when I was visiting the “Natural History Museum” in London. Thinking about how certain people wanted to change the face of mankind and about those people who resisted.

“Passion for the Sun” was a similar theme, but this time an about individual soldier away from this loved ones in the trenches during the First World War. An idea viewed on no particular side.

“The Key” is just a story of finding a lost city whose people had moved on leaving a puzzle for us to unravel.

“Gun Runner” was only a working title I had to find words for. I did not want it to be about guns as there was already enough about war and violence. So I decided to give the lyrics a dragster theme, with the “Gun Runner” the name vehicle .A story about being the driver gladly risking his life pushing for the fastest sprint time.

There were two singles from this album: “Nothing Lasts Forever” and “Jerusalem”. Did they help to promote the band? How did you get this idea to perform English traditional tune “Jerusalem”?

Martin: Paul and I used to live together in a house in London. We used to listen to cassettes on the way to rehearsals. Jerusalem was one of those tunes. We reckoned we could do a Rainbow type arrangement. For good measure I added another classical piece in the middle. Mozart I think.
Our version of “Jerusalem” was always a popular favourite amongst our fans. Mine too. People still remark about it to me now.

Paul: “Jerusalem” was a novel idea of using a favorite English hymn to hopefully create some interest in the UK music scene trying to be discovered by the public who at this time did not know we even existed. Still love that guitar solo on Jerusalem Martin. “Nothing Lasts Forever” was only a pop single in the hope of radio play.

Jeff: “Jerusalem” was also featured live in session on the Friday Rock Show with Tommy Vance. We did a video for it too. We were then asked to perform it Live (along with Natural Selection) on the now defunct channel 4 TV show: ECT. “Jerusalem” was Martin’s masterpiece…

There are a couple of videos of the band performing “Jerusalem” and “Natural Selection” on Channel 4. What are your best memories about that show?

Martin: It was a live show. Absolutely live and transmitted as we played and very nerve-racking. What if I broke a string?  Anything could happen. I remember Paul had bought a white shirt for the show. In the rehearsals they told him it was too white for the cameras. We had to soak it in tea to calm the brightness down!

Paul: Not my finest time, for two weeks before the show I was in bed with sciatica, making it impossible to move. I never rehearsed with the band before the show and still was suffering with tremendous back pains during that session. However, it was also a buzz to be on the same stage as Phillip Lynott and Gary Moore playing “Out in the Fields” live. Knowing it was live nationally could have been a great boost to our future; unfortunately it was the last time we worked together.

Jeff: It was a great opportunity for us to gain exposure and the hits on for this live performance YouTube prove that it was worthwhile in the long run. Personally I really enjoyed it and meeting Gary and Phil was a real highlight.

Jeff and Paul said that the contract with Mausoleum Records caused a lot of problems. Did you try to release yourself from this contract and sign another one?

Martin: Our fault for signing it. Maybe a major in the UK would have been better? Who knows?

Paul: Like Judas Priest the first two albums were with a weak record company. If its good enough for them its good enough for me. We then would have looked around for better and if we would have survived that disaster and moved on to a larger company as Martin said, who knows?

Jeff: We kind of had a lot of the third album written, but I’m pretty sure we would have had to remain on Mausoleum. Part of the problem was that we needed a bit of money invested in the band and there was none.

After the second album the band split eventually. I know about the following careers of Jeff Summers, Paul Mario Day and Bruce Bisland but what happened to Jeff Brown and Martin Bushell after the band’s split? Do you still play music?

Martin: I wrote and released some dance music and then went on to write for Zomba Music for a number of years, finishing with writing and recording and album for Sacred a few years ago. Now I play in a pretty good covers band.

Paul: Jeff Brown played with The Sweet after I moved to Australia around the 1990’s

In 2002 both albums of Wildfire were re-issued via Mausoleum Records. Were you involved in these re-issues and do you still have the rights on your songs? Don’t you want to put out remastered versions of your albums? Don’t you want to reunite for some special events and play all these amazing songs once again?

Martin: I became aware that they had been re-issued. Do I have rights to the songs? Probably. The moment was beautiful at the time but it has passed and will remain a better memory because of its transience.

Paul: I would love to reunite but living in Australia, who’s going to pay the bills? I must complain that Wildfire never received a penny or was offered any for our song writing royalty’s.

Jeff: Martin…What?! Haha!! I spoke to the owner of Mausoleum a few years back regarding the ownership of our songs and their recorded rights. He said we had signed them away for life, check your contract… Unfortunately, I don’t have a copy any more. Reunite? That would be fantastic… If we found a promoter who was ready to pay Paul’s airfare from Oz, I’d be there!

Listening to Wildfire nowadays I feel that the band being British sounds really different to what we call NWOBHM, but I can’t find the right words to describe my emotion. In your opinion, what were the main differences between Wildfire and all other bands from England?

Martin: That's very kind. I don't know the answer.

Paul: I would like to think we were a bridge between Heavy Rock and commercial music, like Thin Lizzy, Rainbow and The Who. I grew up with the Beatles and love them. I like melody with pumping chords/riffs I wanted Wildfire to be the best of them.

Jeff: Agreed, we were much heavier live than we were on record, much more “British!” Massive energy and big, big vocals and harmonies… We didn’t really try to sound like anyone, it was the combination of our personalities that gave Wildfire its sound. We were like a little family really, living and breathing our music however, it’s difficult to sustain when you aren’t earning from the band and day jobs were becoming increasingly demanding.

If I forgot to ask something, please feel free to share – any memories or stories would be helpful and much appreciated!

Martin: My best memory of recording the first album was the day that the record company took us out for a curry. Our drummer, Bruce was known for getting too drunk. Anyway, after a few drinks and food we left. Bruce was in need of a piss. He decided to piss up against a Mercedes parked outside. The Indian restaurant owner ran out of the restaurant shouting: “That's my car!!” Bruce, while STILL pissing on the car, looked over his shoulder and said: “It wasn't ME”. Great times, good experience. Great fellas!

Paul: I cannot remember anything in particular, except I consider Wildfire to be a group of friends who worked together for a common goal with a great love of music. Wildfire was one of my greatest moments and I am very proud to be part of it.

Jeff: I remember being kicked off of the Hawkwind tour for playing their hit “Silver Machine” on the last day of the tour. We had changed the lyrics to “Sewing Machine” and they were really pissed off about it. They also got us kicked out of “the Agency” for doing this! No sense of humour eh ;)