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.    

How did you and other guys meet? What kind of music did you play before the first demo?

Russ: We were at High school together. None of us could even play an instrument! We were 15 years old and the name Satan was all we had (plus a cool symmetrical logo). At that time there wasn't actually a band but somehow we decided to make the band a reality. Amazingly we persuaded our parents to buy us guitars, amps, drums and began the process of learning how to play them. We were so driven. It took a couple of years to get good while all of our peers were out partying and getting laid we were staying up all night learning Blackmore, Page & Iommi solos note for note.

Who came up with the name Satan? How did people react on this name? Were your parents OK when you said “Mum, dad, I’m playing in a band called Satan now!”?

Russ: That was Steve's idea and we all thought it was supercool, like I said We were just a bunch of school friends into heavy metal. My parents were totally relaxed about it (laughs). They even helped me. I was lucky.

Andy: Parents were supportive, especially Metal Maureen, Steve’s mother. No one had religious parents, no one cared.

Mom who is into heavy metal, how incredible is that?!

Russ: Yeah, Metal Mom, Mighty Mo or just Maureen (laughs). She was amazing in those early days. I mean, pretty much all of our parents were passively and financially supportive of us being in the band but Maureen took it even further and became an active part of the team, she would help us with transportation or gear and/or ourselves to band practice and even gigs — none of us were old enough to drive at that point! She would man the door at the shows and sell Merch, then feed us all afterwards. All the band mail came through her letterbox and she just loved to read those letters from fans saying how much they loved our music. She was so proud of her boy (and all of us really). And she had her favourite songs she would sing put on and sing along to — Hence Metal Mom!

Who created those early logos which we can see on the first demo and “Kiss of Death” single?

Russ: Again, Mr. Ramsey. He drew it out on a sheet of grid paper in a Technical Drawing class! We were all gathered around going “whoa”, “awesome”.

Did you try to capitalize on the name Satan and use some evil image, make-up, stage show etc.?

Russ: We DID have a stage show in mind even at that early point in school. A darkened stage full of dry ice. Slowly a spotlight would focus on a point centre stage and as the smoke cleared it would be revealed as a coffin with the lid slowly opening. Our singer would rise from the open coffin then Steve and I would swing in from high up on opposite the sides of the stage. We would be swinging on inverted crucifixes with our guitars in hand. We would pass each other centre stage behind the singer then drop down into position and begin the show. We were so excited by this visual, I guess that was the point at which we cemented our intention to really start the band. All we needed now was to learn how to play.

Do you remember anything about Steven Bee, Andrew Frepp and Steve Allsop? Were they any good and why did they leave the band?

Russ: Yes, Andy (Frepp) was one of the gang at school, he drew the short straw and got the job as singer (laughs). None of us wanted that. I knew two chords cos my brother had an electric guitar so it made sense for me to be one of the lead guitarists. Since Steve had created the name and logo he got to choose his role and also wanted to be lead guitar. Andy Reed was always going to be the drummer he was so crazy, so it was between Andy Frepp and Beesy (Steve Bee) to choose between bass guitar and singer. As I said, Frepp reluctantly took on the role of singer and of course, he was no good but that didn't deter us. It was all going to be about the heavy riffs. This was early 1980 and by the summer we could actually play three songs together as a band and our first ever gig was the end of year school party in the assembly hall. By late '80 Frepp and Bee were out of the band, Andy was developing anxiety about being on a stage and singing so badly, and Beesy would not buy an amp for his bass. He'd always plug into Ramsey's 2 channel combo (two players through one amp made sound mixing difficult). We gave him an ultimatum to buy his own amp or leave the band. He didn't buy an amp.

Trev, Graeme, Andy. December, 1981

How did Graeme English and Trev Robinson join the band eventually?

Russ: Ah, Graeme English (known to all as “Bean”). Bean was on the periphery of our school gang. He was into the same music as us but didn't seem interested in being in the band while we were drawing the blueprint. He had been trained on classical guitar when he was younger but never told us. Anyway when he heard we were looking for a new bass player he offered to do it. We said okay but only on condition that he buy an amplifier up front! Well, Bean went out and bought a Peavey Bass and a Carlsboro Stingray bass amp - we were so impressed! It struck us that we hadn't asked if he could even play but it turned out he was an awesome player already because of his training. We went through another two singers before we got Trev in the band. He simply replied to a classified ad we had placed for a vocalist. It was well into 1981 and by this time we were getting to be quite good players and even writers. We were actually looking for someone who could sing now. Trev had everything, the look, the hunger to be in the band and his voice just worked for us. His audition was to sing 'Give 'em Hell' by Witchfynde and he totally killed it.

Andy: Bean and I went to the same school. I asked Bean about band at school after Steve Bee left. Can’t remember why Steve left, but Bean was already a good classical guitarist then ,now obviously mainly bass. I think we advertised in Windows music shop for a singer, getting Trev. He was a bit older, from over the river.

Baltic Chambers, circa 1981

How often and where did you rehearse back then? Any memories about the places you used for rehearsals? 

Russ: We had started out in Andy Reed's garage but soon got our own practice room in Newcastle entirely to ourselves for the sum of £15 per week! It was on the top floor of an office building on the city quayside and the only restriction was we couldn't play during office hours. Of course we did anyway and were always in trouble for it. But we would hang out there at weekends — Saturday we would rehearse all day long then party into the small hours and crash there until morning. We'd wake up hungover and grab some breakfast from the burger van on the quayside then begin rehearsing again. We had nothing but time, such a luxury is unimaginable now but that is how we got so good so quickly.

Andy: We had our own practice room in the Baltic Chambers on Newcastle Quayside, very crazy, a huge rundown office biulding, full of bands, a room each, no soundproofing. With a pub downstairs it was just drink, no drugs, we didn’t even smoke. Russ did not drink at all, probably why he is so good! We were the first band there. A friend of mines dad owned the building. We used to rent the room and the equipment out to pay the rent, later Venom and others had rooms there, eventualy about 12 band as all going for it. We used to stay there on the weekend. It burnt down, and we were lucky to get out with the gear, mental!

Were you friends with Venom, Raven (who were a bit older I believe) and Fist? Did you try to follow their steps and get a deal with Neat Records, get noticed and sign with some major label?

Russ: Venom! (Laughs) They started after we did. I mentioned our practice room on the Quayside — well we used to sublet it to other local bands and one of the bands that came in was Venom. We had all of our backline in there plus a full PA system and we noticed that after they'd been rehearsing every knob on every amp (even the PA amp) was turned up full. To be honest we couldn't believe how bad they were as players, they didn't seem to care, it was ALL image for them. We used to laugh about them until they got the deal with Neat and broke big. I think it's safe to say we were never friends. For decades they were a joke to me and it was only in the last few years that I finally got it, saw what the appeal had been, even saw some live shows and found myself enjoying it. I mean, compared to today's Pro-tool bands Venom are genuine world beaters.

Andy: We knew Venom and Raven, but they were older and on Neat. We were never directly involved with Neat, they lived in a different area, no one had phones or cars then, but we would go to gigs when we could afford it.

I believe the band had plenty of riffs and ideas back than but what was the first original song you were proud of, which made you think “OK, now we have something going on here”?

Russ: Hah, that would be “Kiss of Death”. I'd just bought a wah wah pedal and was playing the hell out of it. The whole song developed from that wah wah intro. I wrote out the words but Trev sang it so good!

Andy: “Kiss of Death” and “Heads Will Roll” were the first 2 songs we thought were the best, but there was plenty of others.

Your music was very fast from the very beginning. Where did this idea to come from? Was it a way to be more extreme than anyone else?

Russ: It was never about being extreme, or anybody else's perception of Satan. It was more about fulfilling our own wants. Speed was a motivating factor for us - we were into Wishbone Ash and how they worked the two lead guitars. We wanted to do it in a similar way but faster. A lot faster.

Andy: The music was fast, just because it seemed natural. Also we very young, full of energy!.

By the way, were you influenced by punk rock? Was it still big thing in Newcastle back then and what were your relationships with punk rockers?

Russ: No, not me. It was always Jimmy Page, for years I was force-fed Led Zeppelin by my older brother (laughs). And their debut LP is still my all-time no 1. I don’t play like him at all though. When we were forming the band, it was based on the two guitar approach of Priest, Wishbone Ash etc. Other guitar players I loved were Ritchie Blackmore, Michael Schenker and Glenn Tipton. I guess Steve was into some punk bands like the Damned but his favourite players were Tony Iommi, Angus Young & Fast Eddie.

Andy: We listened to Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, but also the Dead Kennedys and other fast punk. Newcastle had a huge punk and alternative and bike scene, everyone used to hang together. There was a lot of enthusiasm for all this, lots of venues, pubs, promoters, good music shops, good credit deals.

Who was responsible for the lyrics in the band? Someone who wrote “Heads Will Roll” must be good in history classes!

Russ: “Heads Will Roll” was written by Steve — lyrics and music. It was his first writing contribution for Satan. As I said, mine had been “Kiss of Death” a few months earlier.

Russ Tippins and Steve Ramsey

Newcastle gave birth to a lot of bands who influenced speed and thrash metal. This is a phenomenon like East End in London in the late 70’s — early 80’s and Bay Area in San Francisco. So what caused this metal movement in Newcastle? Were there club owners and other enthusiasts who supported young musicians?

Russ: No, there weren't. If you wanted to put on a show, you'd have to rent the venue then put your own man on the door to collect entrance fees. There was no such thing as getting paid to play unless you were in a club band playing pop music covers. Very occasionally there would be a local promoter who would front the costs of hiring the venue and sound system. He'd also advertise the events and work the door himself but of course he would keep all the money. To be fair I guess they rarely (if ever) even made a profit.

You all were 16-17 in 1979 so how did you ménage to play gig in clubs and venues? What are you best memories about such venues like Dingwalls, Mayfair and Newcastle City Hall? Did you play there back then? What were some craziest shows you attended in these venues as fans? 

Russ: I had more experience of those places as a spectator than as a performer but we did play one time at the Mayfair with Brian (Ross) in 1983. Never the City Hall. Myself and a school friend used to sneak into concerts at the City Hall via a side window that was always open. The only problem was, it was a 12 ft climb to get to that window. We were pretty fond of climbing anyway so we repeatedly got in for free until one time when Queen were playing. The whole audience were sitting down in reserved seats so we couldn't blend in to the crowd as usual. When someone asked to see our tickets we got thrown out, and subsequently the side window was always closed. By the way, the band didn't exist in 1979, we didn't even dream it up until 1980.

Andy: The Mayfair and Dingwalls were great, Motorhead at The Mayfair in 1979 sticks in my mind. The City Hall was and is a stuffy place bad sound, boring, no moshing, rubbish drink!

Did you play mostly locally or did you tour the country? Did you have to support some well-known bands in 1979-1982? What is the most memorable gig with Satan?

In the first two years we didn't play out much at all and when we did it was usually a local music hall that we would hire as described above. We were constantly writing and rehearsing in our practice room. We did get to open for Girlschool at Dingwalls, and also got spots with Witchfynde and Bernie Torme. One time we broke out and drove all the way to Middlesbrough to play a show with Black Rose and Brands Hatch. We felt like jetsetters! There was to be no touring until we hit Holland in '83. The Dynamo club on that tour was pretty much the most memorable Satan show for us in the 80's.

How did your collaboration with Terry Cavaghan and his Guardian Studios come about? How can you describe Terry as a person and studio/label owner?

Russ: Terry was a pretty good sound engineer and his studio was top notch. As a person he was kind of flakey. Affable enough for sure and always telling funny stories but he would never stop, we had to keep interrupting him and pointing to the clock (we only had two days to record and mix four songs). Also he would disappear on us, saying he was going out to get some cigarettes but we'd be sitting waiting like 30 or 45 minutes.

Andy: The Guardian studios and Terry were great. Full on studio in a terraced house in small Durham village called Pity Me. Everything seemed to go smoothly, 4 tracks in 2 days, that’s where we recorded “Kiss of Death, “Heads Will Roll”, “The Executioner” and “Oppression”.

Russ: We were nothing if not well rehearsed, and pretty much got our tracks down smoothly though it was kind of nerve wracking every time that red light went on. We laid down full backing tracks live while Trev was sitting in the control room singing along — this was merely a guide vocal we could hear in our headphones. There were no guitar overdubs for solos, they had to be played in situ like a live show. This was fine with us as that's how we'd practiced it. The only problem came while recording the song “Oppression”. The other tracks we got down in 1 or 2 takes but it went into double figures for “Oppression”. We just couldn't get to the end of the song without some fuck up happening. It felt like Groundhog Day but eventually we got it.

Was there a band which was your model when you recorded your first demo? A band which you wanted to sound like or to outcome them and be much better?

Russ: I don't think so, and in any case that's something that would need to be addressed at the writing stage, not a recording thing.

Ian Cleary (in the middle)

Could you tell me about Ian Cleary please? Was he your manager back then or did he just help you sending demos etc.? How substantial was his input in the band? Was it Ian who sent your demos to Holland where they became huge?

Andy: Ian Cleary was and is a very smart dude. He was the manager, he and Steve’s mother worked very hard for the band, sending tapes, replying to letters. Obviously everything was different then with no social media.

Russ: Yes, Rex (Ian) was our friend and manager — in that order. He too was one of our group of metal-mad school friends. In fact I've known him longer than anyone in the band, we were in Primary school together from the age of 5. Rex was right by our side all through the 1980's  — even when we moved to London. Of course it was him that sent the demo to Andre Verhuysen which led to our first Dutch tour. He did everything except wipe our asses. Not only was he our manager, he would come on tour with us and operate the lights too. He had designed his own lighting console which was state of the art. We are still close, and although he doesn't manage Satan these days, he does travel to a lot of shows as our guest (and lighting man). My lifelong and dearest friend.

Was there already a tape trading thing which became huge during the 80’s? Did you shop the demo to labels? What was typical response from them?

Russ: There weren't actually a huge amount of those tapes in existence since we already had plans to turn the recordings into a self-released single. We made only enough tapes to distribute between ourselves and our friends & families. Maybe Rex had shopped some tapes to labels but we were more focused on getting gigs at the time.

Were song on “Kiss of Death” single recorded during the same session for the first demo or did you do another session for this release? How come that the single came out when Andy and Trev were already out of the band?

Russ: Yes, we recorded the demo at Guardian in December '81 and the master tape was used to press the 7" single. We took delivery of the vinyls in early "82 and Rex arranged a distribution deal with Revolver Mail Order who advertised in the national music magazines. This was around Spring time, Andy had already left the band but Trev stayed with us until the end of May.

Ian McCormack

Why did Andy Reed and Trev Robinson quit the band and where/how did you find Ian Swift and Ian McCormack who replaced them?

Andy: Unfortunately I just lost interest in drumming in general back then when I discovered motorbikes and girls. Russ, Steve and Bean were always more serious about this than me and Trev, to be honest, they all deserve the success they have had with this and Skyclad and everything else. All they did then was practice. Since then I have played  with Chelsea, the English punk band as a touring drummer on and off, I was in Riot Clone for 1 album and 4 tours, I played drums for crust/punk/dub band R.D.F. (Radical Dance Faction). i have also played in several covers bands and have also done a lot of tourmanaging/crew work. I dont regret anything about any of this or anything else and pleased I had the chance to do is when so young. It’s good to see metal is bigger than ever and Satan are on Metal Blade. 

Russ: Andy's departure happened on account of his increasing obsession with motorcycles — we had some gigs coming up but he went and broke his leg in a bike crash. We had to get a stand-in drummer for those shows and, well Andy never did rejoin Satan, he'd found a new crowd. The stand-in drummer was Ian McCormack who enjoyed the shows he played with us and decided to stick around a bit longer — without ever really being one of us. We didn't mind since his playing was really good. With Trev it was just that we'd begun writing more ambitious material, faster, more melodic and a lot of the vocal lines we'd dreamed up were simply out of his range. We knew we couldn't pursue this direction and also keep Trev in the band so sadly we had to let him go. We have a really good recording of his last show with us. It's never been released and features songs that Satan have never recorded.

Is it true that Lou Taylor was in the band in those early days? If yes, when was it — before Ian Swift joined Satan or after?

Russ: Yes it was Lou (not Swifty) who actually took over from Trev. He was an amazing singer but he only stayed with us over the summer. By September he'd left town and moved to London.

The second demo showed better songwriting, in my opinion. Was it just a natural evolution of your own style or were there some bands which you had heard and decided to follow in that direction?

Russ: A little bit of both I guess. We were really tweaking the dual guitar angle by this point, we admired Maiden for sure but we wanted to be heavier. I adored Judas Priest and they would have made a fantastic model for us but, come on, where on Earth would you ever find a singer like Rob Halford? To us he was the God of Gods. The closest I'd seen to being that good was the singer of Blitzkrieg — I forget his name now! Anyway I had been getting into a little known Canadian band called Anvil and their “Metal on Metal” LP definitely influenced some of my writing in 1982.

What are your best memories about the sessions for the second demo? Did they go according to the plan or were there some unexpected moments, problems, debaucheries in the studio etc.?

Russ: It wasn't the best studio in the world I must say. Steve actually had a job there as tape op (laughs). We got it really cheap and the audio quality reflects that, but as you said, the new material shone through regardless. We were super excited to finally hear it playing back at us. Now here is a not very well known fact — when Lou left for London we played a couple of shows with myself singing while playing guitar. It seemed to go well enough and I did enjoy the experience. We weren't having much luck finding a new vocalist so everyone was like "Fuck it! Let's just record the new songs with Russ" singing. So we did, but when I heard my voice coming back through the studio speakers I was mortified. I wanted the ground to swallow me up. It sounded nothing like the voice I'd been hearing in my head while singing live. It was in tune but sounded weak, no balls, definitely not metal. The guys tried to tell me there was nothing wrong with the singing but I wasn't listening. I had decided we needed a proper vocalist, so we kept these new song recordings on ice until we could find someone who could do them justice.

Could you tell me a bit about Yusman "Stoch" Osman? Was he helpful in the studio or was he just a guy who pressed “Record” and “Stop” and that was it?

Russ: Stosh was a live sound engineer who we'd recently worked with a couple of times. He impressed the hell out of us — and whenever we watched other bands with him mixing, the sound was always pristine. So of course, we asked him to mix our studio recordings. If only the studio had been better...

I know that Neat Record ignored you but what about Heavy Metal Records or Music for Nation? Did you send them your stuff? Why did Neat Records change their minds eventually?

Russ: I'm sure we never sent any of our recordings to any label. Before we went to Guardian studio we quite fancied the idea of getting onto Neat Records like the Tygers and Raven. So Rex called them to see if we could come and talk about it. When they heard the name of the band they burst out laughing and when they'd stopped, told us not to bother them anymore. They never did change their mind and we wouldn't have signed with them anyway. It just so happened that Roadrunner Records had an arrangement with Neat to distribute their releases in the U.K. Of course, we did sign with Roadrunner and that's why some versions of Court in the Act have the Neat sticker on them.

You’ve always had huge following in Netherlands, so how did that happen? How did people from this country discover your demos?

Russ: Because from the four songs recorded at Guardian, the two that didn't get put onto the single made it onto a multi-band sampler LP called “Roxcalibur”. Andre Verhuysen had bought it on mail order and wrote to us to say we were his favourite band on the sampler. That was when Rex called him and offered to send him the new demo ”Into the Fire”. When he heard that he was like "Holy shit! This is amazing, we must get you guys over here to play live for us". And between them, they worked it out that we would come over in February '83 to play four dates. It turns out that someone from Roadrunner was at one of those shows and not long after our return to England, Rex received a phone call from the boss Cees Wessels. He wanted to send us a recording contract for three LP releases.

Ian Swift

Did you play live with Ian Swift? How did that happen that you traded singers with Avenger?

Russ: Yes, we sure did, I've got to say he was one hell of a front man and looked every inch a rock star. Maybe we were dazzled with how he looked when we brought him in to complete the Into the Fire demo. Although he was a good enough singer I'll admit that part of me wondered deep down if he was the right man to take the band forward. We played some local shows then of course the Netherlands tour. He was great on stage and the tour was a big success but Aardschok magizine printed a review of the Dynamo show (written by Metal Mike) and though he loved the band and our music, he wrote that we would need another singer to get any further. I think we took that to heart and when we received the offer from Roadrunner, it was time to sit down and talk about what to do now. In the meantime, Steve Ramsey had gone back to the Dynamo club to take part in the “Super Sessie” — a metal show featuring one band comprised of various members of other bands. So there were players from Satan, Mercyful Fate, Jaguar and Tokyo Blade. And crucially, the singer from Avenger took part too. His former band was Blitzkrieg. I'm talking about none other than Brian Ross. It turned out that him and Steve got quite friendly on this trip to Holland and that Brian had actually heard Satan and liked our music. Steve also let it be known that we'd just been offered a deal with Roadrunner and, I think you get the general idea, the ground was being laid. When Steve got back he told me all of this, he was pretty excited. I was dumbstruck. I'd seen Blitzkrieg at Newcastle Mayfair and this guy on vocals was just so good. He seemed unattainable, I'd never dreamed that we might be able to get him in our band but now it seemed like he wanted to join! The only thing was, that he was in Avenger who also had comittments and he didn't want to leave them in the lurch without a vocalist. I don't know who came up with the idea to do a trade — I suspect it might have been Rex — but that is exactly what happened. It was a fantastic feeling to have Brian Ross in Satan.

Steve Ramsey (Satan) - Brian Ross (Avenger) - John Wiggins (Deep Machine) - Gary Young (Avenger) - Andy Wrighton (Deep Machine) -  Timi Hanson (Mercyful Fate) - Michael Denner (Mercyful Fate)

Almost every song off the second demo was rerecorded for “Court in the Act” but why did you drop “Pull the Trigger” and the songs off the first demo?

Russ: The Guardian tracks had already been released, and besides we had so much new material now, and we'd even written another three songs since Brian joined. All of it was better than those earlier songs, in fact we couldn't even fit all of the new stuff onto an LP (44 minutes max in 1983). “Pull the Trigger” was a good live piece but when we finally listened back to our finished mixes of CITA it was obvious that this track just didn't fit with the others. We had to lose one track and it was “Pull the Trigger”.

The early demos are still sought after by the fans. How do you think what makes these records so special? 

Russ: They are? I feel it's for other people to comment on that, not myself. That would be like a comedian explaining his joke. Myself, when I listen to the early stuff I hear naivety, vulnerability, and young players learning to play on the job. It brings back a certain nostalgia which is particular to me. I can't speak for others.

Feel free to add any last words (of wisdom) for the readers! 

Russ: Okay simply this... On stage take no prisoners. In life be gentle with people ffs!