Although Derbyshire’s group Night Vision were formed in 1981, they failed to catch the last train of NWOBHM, and recorded their original songs only in 1985, so the band remained relatively unknown among the fans of NWOBHM. Even Malc Macmillan’s Encyclopedia had zero information about the band. (No disrespect to Mr. Mcmillan, he did fantastic job for the pre-Internet era!) The situation changed around 2013 when Night Vision’s demo resurfaced in the Web, and people started talking about the band. I was so impressed by their music and contacted Russ Sharpe (the guitarist) immediately for a possible interview. Unfortunately he was too busy, and that lasted for a few years, until Russ unexpectedly died in 2018. But the idea of paying homage to the band kept haunting my mind, until John Towle, Night Vision’s drummer, came to the rescue.
When and how did you
meet each other and decided to start a band? Who came up with the name Night
Vision?
We formed in 1981. Mark (Lambourn, bass), Sage (Graham
Evans, guitars) and Harry (Harrison,
vocals) were starting a new band in a town called Ripley, about 8 miles
north of Derby. I lived in a town called Long Eaton about 15 miles away. I had
just split from a local band in Derby who were just going nowhere and a work
mate put me in touch with Mark and Sage who he knew were looking for a drummer.
I went to meet them for a trial and it went really well. Mark had enrolled in
the marines after school but it never worked out. He did learn though that at
night, in order to see better never look directly ahead but to one side. He
told us this improved your night vision...and so this is how we came up with
the name. We rented an old stable on a farm and practiced 3 times a week, Tuesday
and Sunday most weeks for about 3 years to start with. Started with a few
covers mixed with more and more of our own material.
Derby is known for its
horse runs and Derby County football team but what about rock/metal scene back
then? Were there bands beside Night Vision and Omen Searcher?John Towle
There were loads of local bands. Dead Wolf were
one and some more established bands like Hell and Pendragon (i think) memory. There
were so many fab bands coming through: April Wine, Maiden, Wytchfynde, Saxon to
name but a few. New bands were coming out the woodwork all the time playing all
the local pubs and trying to build a following. There was so much really good
music being made and competition between each band trying to be that little bit
better musically and make a more professional looking stage show. I guess this
competition helped us grow so much quicker than we might have otherwise done!
Could you tell me a
bit about the early stages of the band: rehearsals, first shows etc. Were those
early days eventful?
Our first ever gig was in Russ's garage in
front of our girlfriends and a few mates. A few local back street pubs
followed. There was a new club opening in Derby named the Rockhouse. Russ sort
of knew the owner and managed to persuade him to let us play. We were the first
ever band to play there!! For us this was a huge gig... probably 200 people. A
local biker group called The Outlaws came. I remember thinking if we don’t go
down ok here we could be on trouble!!! Turned out to be a good gig and really
good experience for us. We probably gigged a couple of time per month and
slowly got a small following.
What shows were the
most memorable for you? What were some of your favorite places to play live?
We played at a local bikers gathering one
weekend at a town called Hardstoft near Chesterfield. We had indoor fireworks
and it all got a bit out of hand with fireworks going off in all directions!
Luckily most people were either too drunk or stoned to care and they just
cheered more and more. Another time we played at a battle of the bands gig
against 5 other bands of a similar standing. We didn’t win but that was exciting
day out for us. Another time we supported Wytchfynde at the George hotel in
Alfreton. At this point we were playing really well and writing some really
great songs.
Graham "Sage" Evans
Could you tell me,
please, about the writing process in the band? Did you write together or was
there someone who dominated in that field so to say?
Sage and Harry wrote a lot of our music early
on. Sage wrote “Promises” when he was 15. Mark tended to write lyrics. I added
ideas but that’s all. Latterly Russ, who joined in 1982, started to write more and
more and Sage and Russ wrote a lot of twin lead stuff together.
The demo “Your Time
Will Come” was recorded only in 1985 which is quite late for NWOBHM. Why didn’t
you record it earlier?
This was one of our later songs written around 1982
or 1983. None of us had much money and we had recently recorded a compilation
album with 9 other bands at a cost of £500 per band. We recorded “Breaking the
Chains” as our most stand out song. Each band got 50 copies to use and either
sell or use to promote themselves. What we needed at that point was an
experienced manager to push us onto the next level but we were all working full
time and had mortgages and rent etc. So we had to wait and bide our time before
saving enough to record other tracks.
The demo was recorded
with John Crossley who is known for his work with Wolfsbane. So how was it to
work with him? Where was the demo recorded and did it take long to lay down
everything?
I had forgotten it was John Crossley. Yeah...
He was OK to work with and it was great to really get our music recorded
professionally. I remember Sage finishing one part of the solo for 'Your Time
Will Come” as we weren’t happy with it. I think we spent a long weekend
recording 4 tracks. One other was “Promises”. Can’t remember the other 2… The
studio was named Square Dance Recording studios in Abbey Street, Derby. This is
where “Concepts of Success” compilation was recorded also.
Mark Lambourn |
The demo sounds close to Samson and Savage. But at the time thrash metal bands like Metallica had started to get attention. Were you aware of them and didn’t you want to improve your music a bit and go in a heavier direction?
None of us were big thrash metal fans (especially
me). Sage loved Thin Lizzy, Russ loved Y&T and Thunder plus Magnum, Mark
was big Queen fan, Harry liked all sorts of stuff and I loved Maiden, Scorpions,
Dio etc., so we always wanted a British hard rock sound with twin lead
overtones.
What kind of reaction
the demo got from fans, press and labels? Was it popular among tape traders?
We tried to sell the demo at gigs and probably
only sold 30 or 40. Sage and Mark did a session on BBC radio Derby but nothing
really happened from the demo. The band were all very serious and had someone
come along and offered a record deal then I am sure we would have taken it. But
after 6 years of local gigging and supporting Hell and Wytchfynde Harry got
poached from us by a band called Savage. We were all gutted but Harry was our
signature as he had such a distinctive voice and hard to replace. We tried to
carry on for a few weeks but it wasn't the same anymore. Mark left soon after
for a band called China White and we just went our separate ways. I refused to
play for anyone else. We kept in touch but never played together again. Around
10 years later Sage very sadly and quickly passed away. He went to the doctors
with a really bad headache and feeling awful and got sent home with paracetamol
and told to drink fluids. That night he got rushed into hospital and died in
the early hours from meningitis. We all went to his funeral and were all
shocked that this talented guitarist and all round great friend had passed
away. It wasn’t until Russ started putting our music on MySpace social media we
started to get some interest in our music. We had a roadie called Paul (Hairy)
on account of his affro hair style. He had been with the band since the start and
was there at the end... and still he keeps in touch. He was a great friend of
Sage and particularly affected and upset as he was a lifelong friend. They
often went fishing together since school. Very sad as he left 2 young children
behind — Reece and Freya.
There are a bunch of the songs which wasn’t
released properly: “Mad Man’s Dream”, “Reality” and “The Prophet”. Can you
recall when and where they were recorded? Why didn’t they make it to any
official demos?
“Mad Man’s Dream” remains my favourite and I
only just wish we had recorded that more professionally as i think the guitar
riff especially at the start is awesome. We never recorded “Reality” or “The Prophet”,
only when we practiced or when we played live.
Harry Harrison
And what about the
songs “Memories” and “Stealing The Night”. Do they exist only in live versions?
Yes i think so. We never did these in the
studio as they weren’t our strongest songs. These were recorded at one of our
gigs. It’s only thanks to Russ as he had the foresight to upload them all. Still
hard to believe he's not with us anymore/
In 2014 you released a
single “Breaking the Chains” to celebrate your reunion. Were you contacted by
any label about possible reissue of your full catalogue? Can we expect this in
the future?
We only got asked to release “Your Time Will Come”
via a contact Russ had made and this spurred us on to reform. We had managed to
recruit a local guitarists who amazingly had actually bought Sages old Les Paul
guitar a few years earlier and Harry (who had toured and written 3 albums with
Wytchfynde) had now retired due to ill health but agreed to sing again (Harry
was still signed to Cherry Red records at this time) and we managed to get a
few practice sessions in. Sadly Harry's voice wasn’t so good and we struggled
to get back to where we wanted to be. Felt good to see our songs on YouTube hit
10's of thousands and having the record after 30 years felt amazing. An
achievement i guess. Shortly after Russ told us the sad news he had cancer. He
asked me to be his best man in 2018 which was an honour but tragically lost his
battle just 3 weeks later. Such a sad and devastating loss. But Russ made sure
our music lived on and both Russ and Sage will be remembered not only by all
the band, but help Night Vision's small token to music live on in the future.
Russ Sharpe
Yes, Russ’ death was
such a tragic loss! So what is the status of the band at the moment? Do you
want to continue without Russ?
I can’t see Night Vision ever reforming now.
Maybe we might try and remix our recordings at some point?
How do you view your
time with the band? Do you think you made your mark on the world?
The NWOBHM was a fab time for rock fans. A powerhouse of really great live music raw energy and some really talented musicians. It’s lived on for 40 years and I can only see it living on for at least another 40!! Long live rock and roll!
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