Satan laughing spreads his wings: The early days of Satan

The story of this band is well documented in countless interviews (read one here for example). But I decided to bother Russ Tippins and the original drummer Andy Reed again and talk about the childhood years of Satan. What was an occasion? Well, basically my ongoing curiosity and a habit to stick my nose where it doesn’t belong, hehe. Actually the interview was done in 2020 when Listenable Records released “Early Rituals”, a compilation of Satan’s demos and singles, and I wanted to support it by publishing the interview in my (now defunct) printed magazine. So this is the first time the interview is posted online and in English.    

Bob Starling (Stormhunters, ex-Stormtrooper): Riding the storm

For many years Stormtrooper were known as a band who released sole single back in 1980 and detached Paul Merrell to Jaguar and Colin Bond to Stampede. But thank to Bristol Archive Records and High Roller Records who brought Stormtrooper's "lost album" to all NWOBHM followers, we discovered the mastery and the awesomness of this band. The Troopers managed to release another album before calling it a day once again. But guitarist Bob Starling refused to give up and is ready to release a new album with his new group Stormhunters (read the review here). I got in touchwith Mr. Starling for an in-depth interview about his music career with Stromtrooper and Hunted and the new beginning with Stormhunters.  

John Phillips (Lautrec, Megaton, Weapon, etc.): Fanfare for the humble man

There are musicians who happened to play a gig or two with some well-known bands and they live off of this legend for the rest of theit lives, telling the same story again and again and adding "ex-memeber of ..." to the posters of their shows at bars. And there is drummer John Phillips who have played with at least three very respectful NWOBHM bands and with Kenny Driscoll's Lone Star, auditioned for Ozzy Osbourne and Waysted. Never heard of this man? I'm not surprised as he is a very humble guy, and I even had to convince him that his memories are important for the history of NWOBHM. I also want to apologise: the interview was done in 2018 right before the blog went on hiatus and I kinda forgot about it for a few years. I'm really sorry for this, mr. Phillips! Here it is at last.