New Wave of British Heavy Metal adopted few musicians outside Great Britain. EF Band, who moved from Sweden to England and contributed to “Metal for Muthas” compilation, are one of them. Another one is a French man Frederic Avesque, who moved to London in the 80’s to pursue his rock and roll dream. There he played with the ex-Angel Witch sticksman Dave Dufort, Blind Fury’s singer Lou Taylor, and Driveshaft. More to that, he has worked in Shades record store and has been a manager in Music for Nation and Metal Blade Records. But enough of facts, let monsieur Avesque tell his story himself!
Let’s begin with some obvious questions. How and when did you discover rock music and who influenced you to pick the guitar up?
I started music,
first by being forced to play the piano when I was 5 years old. My grand-mother
was a classical soprano and was instrumental in putting me in front of a piano.
I wasn't really interested in it but did 7 years of it, including music theory
and the like. I wasn't very good and I gave up as I started to show promises as
a Football player. Nothing really came of it, but during the punk era I bought
a guitar (a terrible instrument, unplayable even by yesterday's standards!) and
started a few bands with my friends. In 1980 I played in a Top 40 band locally
and learned the basics the hard way: learning songs, long trips and intense
workload (we did around 70 shows in 90 days that summer!). But my real love was
for the burgeoning NWOBHM. I started Farenheit with Thierry (Traup) and Michel (Antoine) and we had a singer, Phil Clark, who eventually played in
the mid to late 80’s with Rogue Male as a bass player. We had a drummer then (Eric
was his name) and when we reformed Farenheit in 2010 he was involved but this
didn't last.
Playing in Nimes was
always going to be difficult. It's a lovely town, full of history and charms
but music here is stunted to Flamenco (the Spanish influence) and pretentious
jazz. However, when we started, all long hair and playing sub Iron Maiden
metal, we got immediately noticed (included by the police and the local Foreign
Legion garrison) and started to get local heroes status. We recorded a single (called
“Revenge”) which I re-recorded last year and it will be on the new Farenheit
record.
When the band split-up, you went to England.
How did this idea come to fruition? Were you invited by some band or was it
just a spur-of-the-moment decision?
I followed Phil Clark
to London as it became clear that if I wanted to go further, a change was
needed. Clark and I wanted to form a band in London, but that didn't last very
long, as Phil started to be more involved in the local drug scene than with
music.
Was Troy your first band on English soil? When
and how the band was formed? Did you audition other musicians besides those who
recorded the first demo in 1984?
I did some audition,
notably with Thunder (I was definitely not their kind of guitarist!) and the
reformation of Tytan. I got the gig with Dave Duford, but Cal Swan, Addie Gibbs
and Kevin Riddles didn't show an interest in it, so we renamed it Troy with
Dave, Richard Vernon on bass (he became a seasoned musician with Peter Perett
and the Only Ones and The Mission; he is currently touring with Ricky Warwick) and a vocalist named Michel Baron.
What do you remember about recording the demo
with Troy?
We made a demo, that was picked up everywhere by magazines and became a bit of a legend. Hell, I get asked all the time if I have a copy, even now! The recording was pretty uneventful. I wrote most of the songs and the lyrics were written by Mike Baron. We went to a big studio in London paid by a wannabee manager (they were lots of them around at the time, searching for the next NWOBHM big thing). We did a few gigs, here and there in London (Marquee, Dingwalls, Royal Standard which were the venues Heavy Rock bands played between 1980 and 1990). We never did much "big support" but were destined to big things but Dave Dufort was a bit of a jerk... We had a succession of guitarists but the last one was Mike Gray, then managed by Q-Prime. I was ousted as Mike Gray wanted to be the only guitar player. Dave sacrificed his band for Mike Gray (who did not fit the style at all) and Dave was always the one weak link with his outdated playing... Still, I got to meet many legends: AC/DC, Girlschool, Michael Schenker, Rock Goddess, UFO... Man, sitting outside at a party with Angus Young and Cliff Williams, not been able to utter a word! Meeting Dee O'Malley (Rock Goddess), who was such a crush of mine at the time... Great memories for a little guy from Nimes!
 |
| Troy |
After Troy you played with Driveshaft, more
AOR-ish band. Was it something you really wanted to do or was it just an
opportunity to play in a band while you were in London?
I quickly joined
Driveshaft, with the extraordinary singer Gerry Lane. He was an amazing singer.
He came to London to be in Gary Moore's band, rehearsing and putting down demos
of a G Moore album. Gary decided to do the singing and Gerry restarted
Driveshaft. Again, we played in and around London, became (again) local heroes
and signed with Rak Records. I did not sign the contract as I was suspicious of
the terms of it. When I started asking questions (particularly with
merchandising and the finer details), I was shown the door and started Tour de
Force with Lou Taylor, Michel (my old mate from Farenheit), Gary "HD"
Burfoot and Andy (can't remember his
name).
There is almost no information about Tour de
Force. What happened to this band?
Lou is not only a
great singer but also an incredibly funny man. We became (again) the band to
follow and we almost got signed to Polygram. But their A&R preferred Little
Angels as their singer was prettier than Lou and the Japanese market was huge
at the time. Still got involved with plenty of bands of the era, became friend
with Angel Witch, Tatooed Love Boys, Rogue Male, FM to name a few. We had a
residency at the Marquee, played many of the best local venues of the time and
recorded a demo. We never did any support slot apart from a local gig with
Danger Danger (I think). A not well known fact is that to get on a big venue
with a big band cost money… lots of money! I went on tour with Chariot,
supporting Venom and Exodus; it costs an absolute fortune!!! About 25 000
pounds of 1987... a fortune. Even nowadays supporting an artist like JS Sotto
is over 400 Euros a show to pay plus lending your backline!
Could you tell me about your life in London,
please? Was it easy for you to adapt to the new life? Was your English already
fluent?
My life in England
was tough to start with. I was a squatter in Brixton and got all kind of troubles,
between fights (I ended in hospital once, being knifed by a guy trying to steal
my squat!) muggings and the odd Riot (Brixton 1985). I met Mike Shannon in 84
going to gig together. He fancied my then girlfriend, but we quickly became
friends and he got me out of the squatting life and offered me a job in “Shades”.
I could not speak English well enough, but working with Mike and Kelv Hellrazer
(sadly, sadly missed... his passing was a real shock!) I quickly picked up
and ended up mastering the language, although I had funny, funny moment... an
anecdote? I went to a guitar shop once, asking for a tremolo for my guitar... in
French, it is called a vibrato. But with my poor accent, I asked for a
vibrator. The guy I asked, Andy Cremona (guitar player with Panama) is still a
good friend and we often laugh at that!
 |
| Fred and Kevin Heybourne at the Marque, 1989 |
Could you recall some of the shows in clubs or
arenas you attended in London? What bands impressed you and what bands
disappointed? What bands deserved more than they gained, in your opinion?
As you can imagine, I
saw a thousand bands then; from the most obscure to the most famous. I liked
Chariot a lot and they deserved far more than they got. Pure energy (again Pete
Franklin is sadly missed. What a guy!). I saw a few bands that were unknown
and were amazing (Hell, Dumpy's Rusty Nuts, Medicine Hat, Kooga, Bomb Dysneyland...).
From the "famous", I would say that I loved TNT, Slayer, Y&T, Dan
Reed Network, Queensryche, Malice, Voivod, Anthrax but I hated Metallica and Guns N' Roses. I saw Metallica in 1984 and they were just a
wall of noise and all over the place. Lars and Kirk were so... average! Lemmy was next to me saying, “Is that the best band in the world? Fuck me!” He
played 5 minutes on a slot machine and left! And GnR in 1986 were again messy and
very noisy! A poor cross between Rose Tattoo and Motley Crue. I believe these bands
were genuine and bang on the time frame but were very poor exponent of their
style... Anvil was a better band than Metallica, real innovators and the US scene
was very much in vogue with journalists. Yngwie Malmsteen was another horror
show... The only time I saw the Marquee emptied itself that fast. He was just
so loud (but uncomfortably loud, all feedback, horrible!). I saw some of the
best "secret bands" (Red Beard from Texas for ZZtop, Unmasked for
Kiss and the Four Horsemen for a much improved Metallica). As far as huge shows
were, Whitesnake, early AC/DC (with Bon), Dave Lee Roth, Y&T, Status Quo (they were incredible live back in the 80's!) and Monster of Rock (from 1984 until 1992). Today, I would say Rammstein are breath-taking. And I also love Foo
Fighters and Mr Big. I saw The Exploited at the Hellfest and still love what
Wattie is doing!
You worked in the famous London record store
Shades. How did you get the job and what actually was your job? I’d love to
hear as much as possible about your time in Shades as you worked there with
such people like Kelv Hellraiser and Dave Constable, met Bernard Doe and Lars
Ulrich there and saw signing sessions of many bands (Bon Jovi, poison, WASP,
Queensryche)! So every bit of your memory would be great!
Man, we could write a
whole book on that period, which was the best in my life. Actually, three
books (three!!!) are in preparation for the time we had there, and the impact
it had, not only on the UK but all over the world! Let me say this
clearly... Shades was massively influential for bands like Bon Jovi, Slayer,
Metallica, Anthrax, Guns N' Roses and many others like Tesla, Poison,
Candlemass, SOD and many glamsters. Shades was a
melting pot of metal and rock styles. Dave Constable was exchanging Metallica,
Slayer, Exodus tapes with his friends (including Lars Ulrich who used to come
to visit often: we would go to gigs together and many times put him back to bed
as he used to drink too much and couldn't get back to his hotel...) and the
punters back in '83 creating a "new scene" ripe for the thrash metal
era to thrive. Kelv came back with almost 200 copies of GnR’s "Live ?!*@
Like a Suicide" (out of 500 pressed) from LA saying to all: this is the
future of rock/glam. It got picked up by most of the journalists we had as
friends and even by the record companies... Even Bon Jovi! We had a visit from an
executive from Polygram asking us what we thought of the first album, only
available as an import. We loved it and on our advice they released the first and the second albums in the UK. Rumours were that the results of the sales in the UK (pushed by the
very exec asked us about Bon Jovi) forced Polygram to extend the deal to
another album as they were about to dump him... Then “Living on a Prayer” came
out and the rest is history. I believe Shades was a time and a place etched in metal/hard
rock history, all overseen by the magnanimous Mike Shannon... A true legend! As
I said, three books are being written as we speak about the time of shades
records (from 1982 till 1992). I am immensely proud and humbled at being part
of this.
 |
| Bernard Doe, Mike Shannon, Steve Hammonds and Fred Avesque |
How long did you stay in England overall and why did you return to France eventually?
I worked for Music For Nations from 1989 until 1993. Another legend, sadly departed, Martin Hooker gave me a job when I got out of Shades (for personal reasons). Martin discovered Ratt, Twisted Sister (he went personally to New Jersey to sign them) Manowar, Poison. His influence to sign Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Exodus, Anthrax but also Joe Satrianni, Steve Vai, for the European market and getting them a real success that they did not have in the US on Megaforce or Metal Blade at the time. I was the label manager for Metal Blade Records and I was overseeing the European sales and promotion for the roster. I became, eventually, an extra pair of ears for Martin helping him signing licences for different acts like Blackfoot, Revolting Cox, Patrick Rondat and others, but by that time (1991—1992) the metal scene was crumbling. The double effect of grunge and the swing from the media towards boys and girls band and arseholes like Simon Cowell (he was tea boy for Stock Aitken and Waterman when I first saw him; got his big break looking after Sinita (rumour has that she did not sing on her own record?!). Real shit came out of the radio, making life for a rock record company almost impossible. You had to have singles in the Top 40 to make it on the radio... Rock and metal are not singles’ type music. It quickly died also because the record companies execs were just salesmen with no knowledge and no balls, selling records today, socks and washing powder tomorrow. I left the business and when I look back, it was the right time. I went travelling for a while and went back to University to become a teacher (an idea from a friend of mine that I followed: apparently I was suited to the job?). My students have a hard time to believe I was a rocker! I show them a few photos I have left and I get a lot of creed from that! I went back to France in 2007 as life in England was becoming quickly unbearable... Rising prices, Tories and abject materialism was rampant and I came back to Nimes for an easier life, far from rain and cold! I have no regrets in doing it. My friends in England are flabbergasted at the incredible things that happen in The UK since Brexit... xenophobes, corruption, totalitarianism and the whole 1984 society. Dreadful!
As far as Farenheit
is concerned, I started it back in 2009 with the original members. They were up
for it. I guess they needed a little boost and I had not played for a few
years. The idea of coming back here was, in part, with restarting the music
thing. It is like smoking; you leave it for a few years but once a smoker or a rocker...
We made a demo in 2014 and an old friend, Steve Loveday (from Mournblade/Medicine
Hat) mixed and produced it. We decided it was decent enough to release it but
it is only a "pressed demo". We did a few shows in the last 5 years,
but we are getting old. Physically, we are ok, but TT and Michel have their own
families and businesses, so they have little time. We still manage to play the
odd gig here and there, but playing in the south of France is tricky for a hard
rock band! However, I have my own studio now and I am recording stuff. I have
the second album ready, but I need some cash to get Steve to mix it. I have
recorded a few songs from the old days: 2 Troy songs (“Wings of the Storm”, “She
Doesn't Want My Love”), 3 Tour de Force songs (“Tell Me”, “For the Future” and “Always”).
I need the help and authorisation of Gerry to record versions of Driveshaft's “Lonely
Nights” and “Bad Boy”, plus I have a couple of old Farenheit songs and a song or
two from my (short) time in Medicine Hat. I'll keep you posted!
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