Mick Procter (Nato, Blitzkrieg etc.): The man with an eclectic taste

Mick Procter wrote his name in metal history with Blitzkrieg’s classic of the genre — the album “A Time of Changes”. He also was in Tygers of Pan Tang for a brief period of time. That’s probably all that a regular metalhead knows about the man. When I approached Mick, my main focus was his first band Nato who released a single “Gangland” in 1981 which is now one of the rarest items among NWOBHM releases. And Mick didn’t let me down providing detailed information about this act and telling stories about his time with Jess Cox Band, Spear of Destiny, Hearts of Darkness and more!

Let’s begin the interview by talking about your passion to music. When and how did you decide to be a guitar player?

I think I've always been passionate about music, I can remember having a blue tin guitar when I was about 6 years old and jumping up and down on the bed with it, I started getting a bit more serious about it when I was 8 or 9, I had an acoustic guitar which was very cheap but quite good and I started writing songs with a friend of mine. My dad played the piano and later he had a Hammond organ so there was always music in the house. I suppose I could have quite easily become a keyboard player but I loved the sound of the guitar more than anything both electric and acoustic.  

Newcastle gave birth to a lot of really heavy bands like Raven, Venom, Atomkraft and Satan. How do you think why was that? Was there a rivalry between bands who tried to play heavier and faster than others?

Rock and metal has always been very popular in Newcastle, maybe it’s got something to do with its industrial background, even though a lot of that has now gone. Also the music industry was based at the other end of the country in London and very rarely ventured that far up north, so bands would go round and round gigging their asses off with very little interference or interest from the music industry. So bands were more inclined to play what they wanted as opposed to worrying about what was the latest trend or if it would get them signed.

Tell me a bit about the venues/clubs in Newcastle back then. What are your best memories about being a rocker/metalhead in the city in the early 80’s? 

There were a lot more bars and clubs around back then and a lot of them would have live music on, so if you wanted to play original material you could always find places to play. If you could guarantee a crowd the landlords were more than happy to let you play there as a regular thing, and these gigs would become residencies where you could build a following. I remember many nights fly posting around the City with bucket of paste and a roll of posters, and sometimes being chased by the police because it was illegal. On a social side there were a lot of rock orientated bars, with rock jukeboxes that would always get packed plus clubs like the Mayfair which would have a weekly rock night plus live bands. Newcastle was quite a happening city to grow up in.

How the band Nato was formed? When and where did you meet John Ward, Graham Brown and David Simpson? Were there any line-up changes in the band?

Graham Brown (bass), John Ward (drums) and I started a band when I was about 12/13 years old, and it became our passion. We started playing school Xmas parties and local discos, and it got to the point where we were gigging quite regularly and getting up the next morning and going in to school. Originally Graham was singing but when we saw David Simpson singing in another local band we decided to steal him, and that became the nucleus of the band right up to the more recent stuff as NATO 8. We had a keyboard player called Nick Mate for a while, and when he left we replaced him with the sax player called Ian (Porky) Woods, while David Simpson took over some of the keyboard duties.

What was the idea with the name Nato?

We went through quite a few different names, like a lot of bands do, some too bad to mention, we were called Eldron for a while, we had quite a progressive rock influence at that time. We wanted to find something which had more impact both visually and stick in your memory, but there was no political philosophy behind the name, it was just a name which we thought would have an impact and people would remember.

Tell me about the early days of the band. Where did you rehearse? Did it take long to go to the studio and record the single “Gangland”? Did you record any demos prior to that? If yes, can you recall when and where were they recorded and what songs were on that demo?

Graham Brown's father was a jazz musician, so they would let us rehearse in their house when he was gigging, but after being raided by the police for disturbing in the neighbourhood we decided we needed somewhere more secluded eventually settling on a farm quite close to where we lived. A friend of ours called Kerry lived there and they donated one of their barns to use as a rehearsal studio, which we imaginatively christened “The Barn”. We could leave the equipment permanently setup and rehearse as often, and for as long as we wanted, which was fantastic. Someone we knew worked in the local radio station, Metro Radio, they managed to blag some free studio time for us, so we recorded three tracks in one afternoon, they were “Gangland”, “Tied Down” and “For Anyone”. Prior to that we did some demos in Impulse Studios, which was run by Neat Records head honcho Dave Woods, but that was paid for by Ariola Hanza Records not Neat Records. We recorded 3 songs, “Did it Happen Tonight”, “Loser”, and “Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down”. The tape op for that day was Cronos from Venom, or Conrad as he was known then. We also did some demos in The Barn using a van as the mixing room, but a lot of these tapes have disappeared over the years.

Tell me everything you can recall from the recording of the single “Gangland”. How could you describe the music on the single? When and where was it recorded? Who produced it? What were your feelings and thoughts in the studio?

The Metro Radio session was done quite quickly, a couple takes of each song, and a few overdubs and that was it, it was produced by us and Ren Hunter, who was the engineer at the station. We chose “Gangland” and “Tied Down” for the single because they are both short and to the point and we thought they would have more commercial appeal, whereas “For Anyone” Is longer with an extended instrumental middle section. The session itself was quite relaxed because we were always well rehearsed and tight, and Ren was very professional and easy to work with. One thing about him was that being a radio engineer he was able to get a mix that was almost custom-made to sound punchy on the radio, which not all studio engineers can do.

What happened to the single? How many copies were pressed? Was it reviewed in magazines and fanzines? Did you get any mails from fans?   

We only pressed a couple of thousand on our own label, the first thing we did was to send out copies to radio stations and the press, we've picked up a couple decent reviews, then all of a sudden Radio 1, which is the main national radio station, started playing it. Which was great, but the only problem was all the other copies were still in boxes in our managers garage and not in the shops, because we were new at this and we didn't have a distribution deal so by the time we managed to distribute the singles on a national basis the radio station had stop playing it.

It seems quite funny now, Radio 1 playing it while we were looking at the boxes knowing nobody could to buy it, but at the time it seemed like the end of the world. I still occasionally get an email from somewhere like Eastern Europe or South America asking for a copy, but they have all long gone, but it just amazes me that people from places it was never released actually know about it.

What can you recall about the label D. V. Records? Was it just another small time company which wanted to capitalize on the popularity of heavy music at the time?

D.V. Records was our own label that we setup with our manager Tony Henderson to promote the band, prior to that we had been managed by Hilton Valentine, who used to be the guitarist in The Animals, of “House of the Rising Sun” fame, he had been involved in trying to setup the Ariola Hanza deal and Chas Chandler was involved at one point, but when it all came to nothing we severed our ties with Hilton and our road manager Tony took over the role.

Did other labels like Neat show some interest in Nato?

Funny enough I don't think we spoke to Neat, but years later I found out the airplay on Radio 1 had generated quite a lot of interest in London but we were unaware of it at the time.

What are your best memories about the live shows of Nato? Did you play enough of them? What bands did you share the stage with?

We played so many shows either as Nato or the other earlier names, we started gigging at school dancers and community hall discos when I was 13 and ended up headlining the Guildhall. A lot of the shows would be just us, so we could do two sets but we did do quite a lot with other local bands that you may not have heard of. We shared a manager with Raven for a short while and played with them and also touring bands like Praying Mantis and Supercharge. Oh… and I use to busk in the street with Jim Clare who joined Venom.

What happened to the band after the single? Why did it split-up? 

Dave the singer and I wanted to take the band in a heavier direction so we ended up leaving and forming another band called Tokyo Treatment, but just when things were looking good for us Dave left over conflicts with his job, a similar situation to what Blitzkrieg had with Jim.

Do you still stay in touch with the guys from Nato? What are they up to these days?

We did an album together a couple of years ago as Nato 8, the album is basically what we were playing as our live set at the time we split, with the exclusion of a few things like “Gangland”. The album is called “The Wait” and we purposefully avoided trying to modernise any of the songs to try and keep the original feel they had back then.

Don’t you want to re-release the Nato stuff as it costs hell of a money these days?

I think doing that album gave us a chance to exorcise the stuff from the past, but if we do something more it would have to be new material, we had a couple of writing sessions, which went well, but we are based in difference parts of the country nowadays, so the logistics are more difficult, but you should never say never.   

How did you get the job in the Jess Cox band?

I knew the sister of Pete Rea, who was the drummer with Jess's band, and she hooked us up when they were looking for a guitarist.

Tell me about your collaboration with Jess Cox in his solo album “Third Step”. What songs did you record for the album? Did you just play the songs or did you contribute something to the songwriting?

I'm on all of them apart from three, I think, they had already finished a couple of tracks which they were releasing as a single and needed a live band to do some gigs in London to promote it. There were only the three of them when I met up with them so i ended up bringing in a bass player called Jules Jones and a couple of female backing singers, one of which was my girlfriend at the time. plus another singer who had impressed me when she auditioned for Tokyo Treatment after Dave left.

Did you play in any band between 1983—1985 before you joined Blitzkrieg?

After we've finished working on Jess's album I was approached by the Tygers of Pan Tang to join them.

How did you get the gig in Blitzkrieg?

They contacted me to see if I was interested, I can’t remember exactly what happened but I knew Sean Taylor because we had played together a few times; I'm not sure if it was that or if they knew me through Neat Records.

s it true that the guitarist Jim Sirotto was a school teacher back then? How was it to work with him? Were you able to lay down any solos or offer your ideas?

Yes that is correct, Jim was a teacher, but I think there is a bit of a misconception about Jim's involvement with the album, I've only actually met Jim twice, because he left the band several years before we recorded it. As I understand it, after the original EP “Buried Alive” they were offered a tour but Jim didn't want to do it if it meant leaving his job, you have to remember there was very little money, if any, back in those 5 days if you were signed to a small label, so he left the band and they went into a period of nonexistence.

 After Jim left Brian went off to sing with Satan, I think, but Neat Records became interested in doing the album again, if Brian could put together another line up, which is when I got involved

We met and he gave me some tapes then all of a sudden we were booked into the studio, we had one rehearsal my flat and then recorded the album in 3 days because Sean had to be back in London, I then hung around to do overdubs and stuff after that.

There was Mick Moore on bass, Sean Taylor on drums and myself with Brian and that's how the albums was recorded. I think what happened then was somebody thought it looked a bit odd that the person who been heavily involved with the writing wasn't part of the band, so Jim came in for an afternoon borrowed my guitar and put a few lead lines down. Most of the dual guitar parts were just me overdubbed apart from pull the trigger which was recorded with Russ Tippin and myself live in studio.

Tell me about the recording of the album “A Time of Changes”. Did you like that experience? Was Brian supportive or was he demanding? Did it take long to record everything?

I have quite good memories of recording "A Time of Changes", Brian was really easy going and we worked quite quickly running through and laying down all the basic tracks in 3 days. Then it was just a case of overdubbing or fattening up the extra guitar parts and doing the vocals Ian Boddy came in with his synth for an afternoon and we recorded “Ragnarok” with just synth and guitar. And as I mentioned earlier Jim came in for an afternoon to do his bit. The only gripe I have is with the final mix, the drums in particular didn't come out sounding right, poor Sean sounds like he is playing down the bottom of a well. All in all it was enjoyable time and good fun.

What was the original idea with the album? Did the band plan to support it with a tour or did Brian want just to release the album and that was it? Why did the band split-up so quickly? 

We were keen to tour and promote it but it didn't seem like the label was keen or had the money to really get behind the record. We played in London with a new drummer called Chris Green and 2nd guitarist called Gav Taylor and we hoped a support tour or something would happen but it didn't. Chris Green moved to London, I stayed with Blitzkrieg and did a few radio interviews but ended up joining Chris in London. I joined a band called Hearts of Darkness which was a new project for Paul Thompson, (ex Roxy Music, Gary Moore).

Why were you credited in the album as Mick Proctor? Was it a misspelling?

People are always mixing up the spelling of my name up, but it's become a bit of a joke over the years, I've been called Mark Procter, Mark Parker even Marco Perroni. A live album came out of when I was playing with Spear of Destiny on which I was called Stevie B??.

How do you view the album and its quality these days? Did you like the new version of the album which was re-recorded in 2015?

I always thought it would be a good idea to remix the original album because I thought the original mix let it down, but I don't even know if they still have the original tapes. Maybe that's why they decided to re- record it from scratch but I have not heard the new version yet.

Mick with Spear of Destiny

What were you doing between 1985 and 1999? it seems you just disappeared from the metal stage? Were you asked to join any well known bands like Avenger, Pariah etc.?

After I moved to London I joined Hearts of Darkness, we released one single and video but then I joined a band called Spear of Destiny which was a band Kirk Brandon had formed after Theatre of Hate. They had already had three albums out on CBS but had just signed a new deal with Virgin when I joined them. Right from the beginning the difference between being involved with a major label was obvious, the label got behind the album and it went top 20 on the charts and we toured it playing 2000—3000 capacity venues around Britain then all around Europe. While we were there the single “Never Take Me Alive” went top 20 in Britain so we had to cancel a gig in Belgium to fly back to London to do “Top of the Pops” before returning to Europe the next morning.

We did some cool outdoor gigs in Copenhagen and supporting U2 at Wembley stadium. We were booked to play the Reading Festival, co headlining the Friday night with The Mission but on day we were booked to do the sound check our singer Kirk was rushed into hospital. It turned out that he had an illness that would put the band on ice for some time.

Mick in Crash Club

After SOD I had a band called Crash Club but then I ended up working in Abbey Road Studio, which was really interesting, every other day you would be bumping into Paul McCartney or Dave Gilmore.

There was a lot of orchestral film soundtrack work going on which was fascinating to see. You would these Hollywood films in there early stages before all the special effects are added or actors acting to a blank screen while the orchestra is whipping up frenzy.

Tell me about your brief collaboration with Tygers Of Pan Tang. What was the best part of being in this band?

The Tygers had just split with their two original members, guitarist Rob Weir and drummer Brian Dick, then bassist Rocky left so they were just singer John Deverill and guitarist Fred Purser. We brought in an excellent new drummer called Jeff Armstrong and started working on new material for the next album, which would have been the follow-up to “The Cage”. We went into the studio and recorded a bunch of tracks with a temporary bass player because the bass player who had agreed to join the band still had tour commitments supporting Black Sabbath. By now there was an albums worth of material demoed and we were just waiting for him to join us, but then something went wrong, it turned out John and Fred had got themselves into some kind of contractual mess and didn't want to work with each other anymore, so the whole thing fell apart, to this day I still don't know what went on between them. Jon Deverill then asked me help him put together a solo album, I demoed I few songs for him in a studio that Pete Rea had, but nothing really came of his solo album deal. Jon would later reactivate the Tygers of Pan Tang with different people and I went off to work with Blitzkrieg.

And again, what have you done since 1999? What bands or projects with you do we need to check out?

I took a little time out but found myself getting back into it through DJing, I'd done some demo's with  French singer, they were a in an electronic trip hop style, and some people who were starting a Drum and Bass club in Toulouse heard them and wanted up to play the opening night but that would have meant taking my studio across to France so I agreed to DJ instead, the only problem was I never done it before, so had to give myself a crash course in two weeks but I played a 3 hours mix and that lead to a residency which went on for a couple of years plus some festivals in the south of France.

Nato 8 in 2011

I was also working with a sound system back in London, I got quite into the electronic music scene, it was so new and exciting, probably like the Rock scene was in the late 60s, people were doing things for the first time, nobody really knew what they were doing because there was no blueprint to follow, you could write a track, burn it to CD and play in the mix that night, but I think a lot of electronic music has now become very formulated. I also got involved with Nato again recording “The Wait” album, but under the name Nato 8. I've always had a very eclectic taste when it comes to music anyway, I'm not really interested in pigeon holes, I can listen to anything from Indian classical music to death metal or 1930s Gypsy Jazz to the latest electronica. I have some acoustic material that I'm quite interested in doing something with at the moment as well as playing with a rock band called Universal Order.

Do you stay in touch with Jim, Brian and the others from Blitzkrieg? Don’t you want to join Blitzkrieg on stage and play some songs from the first album?

I am sort of in contact with Brian and Sean through Facebook but we live at opposite ends of the country so it's not like I can pop around for a Jam, but it would be quite fun to get up and play some of the old numbers if they were playing in London. 

Feel free to say anything you want to your fans. 

I’m always more than happy to hear from people, I’m always surprised to hear from someone who has been into one of the bands I’ve played with, especially when it’s from a part of the world I’ve never even been to. I just shows the power of music and how far it can reach.