Gangland never were a
NWOBHM band as they came up at least 10 years late to be a part of that
movement. But they did have strong connection to such acts like Deep Machine,
Touchstone and Battlezone. After short interview with ex-Gangland/Battlezone guitarist Paulo Turin I decided to do an in-depth interview with Mark Storey,
singer of Gangland. The band never made it big although enjoyed some success in
Japan where appeared on a compilation called “Metal for Muthas ‘92” and
released a single. So how was it to be in a starting rock band in the UK just
before grunge wiped out everything? Mark Storey is ready to tell you!
Now THAT really is going back in time! I’d been
writing material with a guitarist called Rob Halls and we saw an ad in a music
paper. It was a bass player and drummer looking for a singer and guitarist… How
mad is that?!! We answered the ad and met Dave Orton (Bass) and Chas Towler
(Drums) in a local pub, sorted a rehearsal time and once we started playing
together it just clicked. Chas Towler, strangely enough ended up playing drums
in the last incarnation of Deep Machine. When Dave Orton left the Band he was
replaced by Lenny Baxter on Bass who later went on to sing for the last
incarnation of Deep Machine… Small world eh? We gigged a lot, the Standard, the
Ruskin all the usual haunts.
Straight Edge recorded a 3 track demo which we
took to the record companies in the days when you could actually make an
appointment and meet someone in their A&R Dept.! I recall the Music for
Nations label were quite impressed with one of our songs “Money To Burn” but
nothing came of it and the Band eventually just fizzled out.
Strangely enough, Dave
was replaced by Lenny Baxter who joined Deep Machine in 2010’s. Why did Dave
quit? Was it because his love to alcohol?
Sadly yes, Dave was a very heavy drinker, it
eventually cost him his marriage and the Band. We didn’t want him to leave and
we tried our hardest to help him but he just packed his gear and moved to Wales
and that was the last I ever saw of him.
When did Straight Edge turn into Gangland? Was Paulo Turin in the band
from the very beginning?
After
Straight Edge split we all went off and did our own thing. I formed a new band
with some guys from another local band and we called ourselves Force 10, played
about 3 gigs and called it a day, but that’s how I met Dave Cavill who went on
to be Gangland’s drummer. Eventually myself, Lenny and Dave got together and
had help on guitar from John Wiggins (Tokyo Blade/Battlezone) who was a mate
of ours. We had an all night rehearsal in a studio in East Ham and it was most
productive, that’s when we came up with “Death Threat” in a bare bones form.
John Wiggins stuck
around to help us audition guitarists and we ended up with a Scottish guitarist
called Neal MacDonald. He was with us right up till we got the "Metal for Muthas" deal and then chose that moment to leave! Still a mystery to me as to why but
we needed a replacement fast. It was then that Paulo Turin joined the Band.
Would you tell me about
the baby years of Gangland? Did you have some line-up changes? How often did
you play live? Was the scene in London healthy in the late 80’s?
We played
our debut gig at a Pub called The Stick of Rock in Bethnal green, the place was
rammed on the night, friends, relatives and a healthy crowd of punters. We hit
the stage like a hurricane and didn’t let up till the final chord of the
encore, it was a massive success. Adam Parsons and John Hurley from the Big
rock Agency were there and put us on their roster there and then. There was a
really buzzing music scene at the time, places like the Royal Standard in
Walthamstow became Gangland’s second home, plenty of pubs put on Live Bands, it
was awesome.
Neal
McDonald our guitarist was shit hot, the real deal, we quickly developed our
set into a show, Neal would do a solo spot and it was amazing and it was then I
had the idea to bring a baseball bat onstage with me. I’ve always been a bit
prone to the theatrical, probably my Alice Cooper influence!
Things just went
from strength to strength very quickly, we built up a reputation as a kick ass
Live band in no time. Headline Bands would shit themselves when they found out
we were supporting them. Then out of the blue Neal left, I really don’t know
why to this day, we tried to lure him back when we got the “Metal for Muthas”
deal but he wasn’t interested. We held auditions and along came Paulo Turin,
fresh off the boat from Brazil looking for a Metal band to join. We also added
a second guitarist to the line up later on, a guy called Pete Lynskey. He and
Paulo worked really well together and the Gangland sound benefitted greatly
from it but after a short while there was a few disagreements about a few things
musically and Paulo left and Pete left a short while after that. John Hurley
played with us for a time before he moved to America and he was replaced with
Jon Hutter from Treason. By this time though the moment had well and truly
passed and eventually we called it a day.
What can you recall
from the gig at The Marquee? Were you headlining that show? Was it a big deal
for you? What are some other memorable shows you played with Gangland?
The
Marquee was a MASSIVE deal for us, I mean I’d been seeing bands at the Marquee
since I was 13, first gig I ever saw there was Sparks who were supported by a
then unknown and unsigned band called Queen… I used to see Judas Priest down
there regularly supporting Budgie, U.F.O., Pink Fairies, Pat Travers, AC/DC… Many
happy memories… Then the Marquee moved from Wardour Street to Charing Cross
Road which was a much bigger premises.
When
Gangland played our first Marquee gig I had never been so nervous before a gig
in my life but once we hit the stage the nerves were replaced by adrenalin and
BANG!!! We rose to the occasion and
annihilated. We got a review in “Kerrang!”
from that gig and it was most flattering. We felt like Rock Stars! We
played the Marquee quite a few times after that.
You ask
about “memorable gigs” the list is endless. One gig at the Marquee when we were
headlining, everything was going all guns blazing, crowd going ape shit and
then Paulo tripped over and brought his stack down with him. Gig had to be
stopped to sort out the mess and then we carried on somewhat with our tails
between our legs! It was a nightmare but we got through it. Other gigs were a
bit more notorious like when we played a club in Romford caused a riot, got
thrown out and barred for life after squaring up to the Bouncers and nearly
getting killed!!
We played
a few gigs in Wales and fortunately we were warned beforehand that if the crowd
liked you they would shower you with empty beer cans, we played in Cardiff and
you couldn’t see the drum kit for beer cans I kid you not. Strange bunch but
they liked us so all’s well.
Gangland
gigs were very volatile, I had a stand up fight with Dave our drummer backstage
at The Standard, the crowd could see our shadows on the wall all piss, vinegar
and fists flying, then we brought the fight back onstage for our encore which
was our cover of Judas Priest’s “Electric Eye” and me and him were still at it
threatening each other during the guitar solo, we were swiftly separated by our
Agency when we came off, cooled down and were mates again. One guy came up to
me after the show and said how realistic the violence looked onstage and what a
great act we had. I just looked at him and said “That was NO act!” I could go on for ages but you get the
picture.
I have to
say the best gig ever was when we played the Hammersmith Odeon. It was a kind
of light hearted battle of the bands type of thing to help promote the movie “Bill
and Ted’s Bogus Journey”. We were in the middle of a 3 band bill and then they
screened the movie. If I thought I was nervous before the Marquee I nearly had
a nervous breakdown before going onstage at the Hammersmith Odeon! It was
electric and Gangland discovered that night that we were as at home on a big
stage as we were on a pub stage. Brilliant night and a personal highlight!
John Hurley
(ex-Battlezone, ex-Touchstone, R.I.P.) was your agent back then. How did you
get to know him? Was he a competent agent? What are your memories about him in
general?
John was
a mate before he was our agent, he partnered up with Adam Parsons to form the
Big Rock Agency and it was John that dragged Adam down to our debut gig.
Adam was
not an easy guy to impress but he saw our potential as did John and added us to
their roster. John was extremely competent as our Agent and Big Rock took good
care of us, we started to get better pay for gigs and they opened up a lot of
doors for us. John as a friend is best described as enigmatic, he had a very
strong charisma and a brilliant sense of humour, when John spoke people
listened and he was also an expert blagger, he managed to get a tour bus for us
to play one gig in Southend, which funnily enough was another venue we got
barred from after playing there! As I said, we were a volatile bunch, we had
many laughs but we also had many rows both offstage and on.
Could you tell me
please about “Metal for Muthas ‘92” compilation? Who came up with it — Neal Kay
or Pony Canyon? How did you get involved in that compilation?
It was
Neal Kay’s idea and Pony Canyon went for it, Neal got in touch with Big Rock who
had offices in the same building as him and Gangland did a showcase for him at
Samurai Studios in London Bridge. It was then we discovered that the Japanese
were mad for Gangland BIG TIME, they’d heard a four track demo we’d done and
were very excited, that’s why they offered us the single as well as the 2
tracks on the album.
When and where did you
record “Beyond the Law” and “Death Threat” for that compilation? Who wrote the
songs?
We
recorded them at Samurai studios I do believe, I’m not 100% sure.
The songs
are credited to me on the album but that was a printing error, “Death Threat”
was written by me, Lenny Baxter and John Wiggins first night we rehearsed as
Gangland, I seem to recall the riff was bastardised from a riff Wiggins came up
with when he was with Deep Machine. I loved rehearsing with John Wiggins, he’d
play us a riff and if we liked it he’d say “You can have that”. I think we also
came up with “Crazy Angel” that night with Mr. Wiggins, as I said previously, a
most productive night.
“Beyond
the Law” was originally called “Black Star Rising” and was written when Neal
Mac Donald was in the band, so me and Neal wrote that but when he left we hung
onto the song, changed it around a bit and it became “Beyond the Law”. Paulo
really made his mark on that song, his twin lead solo has a great hook, in fact
his playing on all the recordings is excellent.
How was that CD received?
Was it distributed outside Japan?
Sadly not
too well. In a word it bombed! We had a few fans in Japan and they used to write
to us, they sent us a review of the album and translated it for us and it
didn’t read well!! The single fared no better but, to be fair the music scene
was changing and the style was not fashionable. Today it would be a different
story I think as NWOBHM has a healthy spark of interest again and a lot of
Bands are reforming.
“Metal
for Muthas” was never distributed outside of Japan to my knowledge. While we
were recording Gangland and all the other Bands on the album had a promo video
shot to capture the occasion, I saw it once round Neal Kay’s house but it’s
disappeared now. Shame.
The band also released
a single “Crazy Angel” and “One in Million”. Did you record the songs during
the same session with “Beyond the Law”?
Yes we
recorded all four tracks over 3 days, I recorded all my vocals in one day and I
tell ya. It was hard work but the tracks turned out really well considering the
timeslot we had.
Did you have a long
term deal with Pony Canyon or was just a one-off affair?
No it was
a one off deal. I think we got a £900 advance!
Why did Paulo leave
the band? Was he offered a job in Battlezone?
Like I
said we were all very volatile people, there were always massive rows in
Gangland, Paulo has a very disciplined approach to music, he knows his shit on
the guitar and he works hard, this situation clashed with a certain other band members approach and to be
honest I think he just got tired of all the upsets , so he walked. When the
problems outweigh the fun it’s the right thing to do.
Paulo was replaced
with John Hurley himself. How was it to play with him? Did he change band’s
chemistry and dynamic?
Oh for
sure! John had previously been playing with his own band L.O.Girls who are also
on “Metal for Muthas” and also had a single released like us. L.O.Girls had a
unique sound which strayed into Guns N’ Roses territory a bit but their songs
had hooks and swagger. Then John started writing heavier stuff , Pantera had
just broken through and THAT was the NEW Metal sound. When L.O.Girls split up
he joined us and brought all these up to date heavy riffs with him. John wrote
the majority of the music for that demo and I wrote the lyrics which I’ve
always done It was a completely new sound for Gangland but definitely more
relevant to the direction Metal was heading in and I think we totally owned it.
I felt more confident about Gangland at that time than I had for ages.
You recorded a demo
with John Hurley but replaced his parts eventually. Why was that? What was the
problem with the parts John laid down?
Oh there
were no problems with John’s parts, his playing was epic but he left to start a
life in the States and we got Jon Hutter in and, at the time we thought it
would be better to pump out a demo with the new line up on it so Jon did his
thing, he rocked it too! Great guitarist.
You said that the
songs on the demo were brutal. Could you tell me more about them? Were they
like thrash metal or were they like alternative/grunge? Why did you decide to
change your style? Was it a natural move for the band or did you try to follow
trends?
Well as I
said John wrote a lot of the new riffs, we were all listening to a lot of Alice
in Chains and Pantera and the like around that time but also keeping abreast of
the Armored Saint/Savatage/Vicious Rumors Metal as well. I stepped up my game
for the vocals, I hadn’t done my homework when we did the “Muthas” recordings
but, lesson learned and I walked into the studio fully prepared this time. We
did 4 tracks, “Psycho Public Animal” was a song Paulo wrote when he was in the
band and it is fast , very heavy and very scary. “In Anger” was a Hurley riff,
a real grinding motherfucka and I went to town on that one with screams and
aggression, couldn’t speak for a week after that recording session! Other 2
tracks are “Neighbourhood” and “Patron Saint of Pain”. I can’t remember exactly
who got credited for those 2, I think one was me and John and one was me and
Lenny, but I can’t remember which.
Who recorded that
demo? Did you shop it to labels?
Line-up
was me on vocals, John Hurley on guitar (replaced by Jon Hutter), Lenny Baxter
on bass and Dave Cavill on drums. Yeah I definitely put it out there but not a
sniff sad to say, it would have been easier today with the wonders of the
internet.
What happened to the
band after that? When and why did you split?
We
started gigging again with Jon Hutter but, to be honest, the moment had passed,
gigs were getting harder to find and the Pub Rock Scene had changed with the
evolution of tribute bands. “Metal for Muthas” was a flop and the “glory days”
had long gone. We held on as long as we could but eventually it ended.
You are working with
Paulo Turin again and recording some new music. How would you describe it? When
will it be released?
Yeah me
and Paulo have kept in touch over the years, he messaged me a while back and
said about working together again and I’m most definitely up for that. Funnily
enough I just completed the lyrics and vocals tonight on it! It’s most
definitely Metal, bit of a Metallica / Metal Church groove going on. It’s been
a while since I’ve recorded a Metal style vocal so it was definitely
interesting for me get my head around. I’m gonna live with the vocals for a bit
and if happy then do a mix and send it to Paulo, it’s up to him when it comes
out, hopefully soon, we shall see.
What you’ve been up
musically after Gangland? Did you record anything with other bands and artists?
When
Gangland split I knocked it all on the head as I’d just become a father for the
second time, but I eventually joined a band called Schizofrantic which,
musically was a whole different ballgame to Gangland and had a very unique
sound, part Goth part RocknRoll and part Metal. We recorded 2 albums “Pro
Emotional” and “Psinus” and then changed our name to Dog Nasty and recorded an
album called “Crossbreed”.
It was a
breath of creative fresh air for me as Gangland had always followed the Metal
scene and emulated whoever’s album we was playing the most at the time whereas
Schizofrantic were trendsetters, we had our influences sure, but we had our own
sound. I learned a lot from the guys in Schizofrantic and it was while I was
with them that I started writing and recording my own songs.
These
days I have a collaboration going with a brilliant guitarist in Indonesia
called Tommy Maranua , we’ve been working together now for about 8 or 9 years.
We have a very laid back casual musical relationship but it works great for us.
We released an album recently which is available on Spotify and CD Baby called
“A Shoulder for the Crow”. If you wanna
find it on Spotify then you need to type M.S.P “A Shoulder for the Crow” in the
search bar as there’s another band on there called MSP who are a dance
orientated band and it looks like we are
one and the same so it’s quite confusing!!!
Tommy and
I have never met obviously with me in the UK and Tommy in Indonesia, we
communicate through social media and about 6 months ago he actually video
called me and we had our first “face to face” which was cool. He’s a great guy
and an exceptionally talented musician and producer. Our album really is a case
of let the music do the talking and I am extremely proud of it, the drums
are played on it by an Indonesian
drummer called Faried Badjeber and both Tommy and Faried are in Indonesia’s
biggest Rock band Boomerang. Consequently I have a little bit of a fanbase in
Indonesia which is cool There’s a very cool Rock music scene in Indonesia.
I also do
a lot of writing and recording on my home studio as Mark Storey, singer/songwriter,
and I’ve had some amazing feedback on that stuff which is quite Bluesy Groove
Rock, I play all the instruments and perform all the vocals and I also produce
my own videos. On the Live scene I fronted a down and dirty Blues rock band
called One Night Stand that’s dead in the water now but I am currently putting a new outfit together
under the name Voodoo Blues. it’s just a case of finding the right line up.
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