Gangland: Riots, fights and rock'n'roll

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!  

 Let’s get back to the time when you joined the band Straight Edge with Dave Orton (ex-Deep Machine, ex-Touchstone). When and how did you get in touch with him? Who else was in the band? Did you record anything and play some gigs maybe?

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.