Spider: Under the banner of rock'n'roll

Spider were a hard working band from Liverpool who released a lot of singles, three LPs, played countless gigs and then disappeared. Probably they happened to be in a wrong place at a wrong time. They represented rock'n'roll-ish side of NWOBHM and I guess they weren't "metal" enough for an average fan of the time. Does it makes their music bad? Not at all! I contacted Spider's guitarist Dave "Snyffa" Bryce to cover the history of the band and to pay a tribute to Col Harkness who left us erlier this year. 

Frank Darch (ex-More): We were a band

Among the hundreds of NWOBHM bands that never made it, More were the ones who should be on the top and enjoy a long and successful career. They had everything needed: an outstanding frontman, an excellent guitarist, great songs, powerful shows, a deal with a major label… Suddenly it started to fall apart like a house of cards. They lost the drummer Frank Darch during the recording of the first album, and by the time More went to record the second one, only Kenny Cox, the guitarist, remained from the previous line-up. Around Spring, 2022 I thought it would be cool to do a series of interviews with ex-members of More. I approached some of them via Facebook but with no luck (I steel keep the hope to interview them one day). I also tried to track down Kenny and asked Mac Backer from Mammoth for help. But after a while the news about Kenny’s passing hit the world. Finally I got in touch with Mr. Darch to talk about the early days of More and to pay a tribute to Kenny Cox. Here we go! 

George Arvanitakis (Obscure NWOBHM Releases): The guardian of NWOBHM

Remember an old saying “There is everything In Greece”? Not sure about everything, but when it comes to die-hard metal fans, it is true! One of them is George Arvanitakis, a true warrior of NWOBHM. He has been obsessed with this music for years and runs a label with the name that speaks for itself — Obscure NWOBHM Releases. It was George who brought us records of Dealer, Chain Reaction, Charlie Ungry, Goldsmith and many more!    

Taurus: Chase your dreams, not paper

There is always a good story between the dates of birth and death on a gravestone. Yours truly pretends to be a philosopher... But there is a lot of truth in these words, and the following interview proves it. Taurus. Of course you remeber these guys and their hit "Paper Chaser"! They did all the nesessary things for a NWOBHM band: toured hard, played at the Marquee, appeared in the Friday Rock Show and on the pages of Sounds and Kerrang. What else? Oh yes, they sank after a few years and never managed to release an EP, not saying an LP. But yet they have a lot of stories to share and a lot of things to be proud of. The drummer Hugh McGouran remembers the good times! 

Jaguar: Just a great unbelievably amazing ride

Finally that has happened! An interview with the band that recorded the song "Axe Crazy" is posted in the blog called Axe Crazy! Yes, right, Jaguar. They helped to shape speed and thrash metal along with Raven and Venom. Their "Power Games" was a brilliant debut and the future seemed so bright. What could go wrong? I'm sure you know the story. The second LP "This Time" was mellower and AOR-ish than its predicessor. The press slammed it. The fans wondered where the aggression and sheer power disappeared. That was a disaster. The history of Jaguar is quite well documented, but usually it's Garry Pepperd, the guitarist, who does interviews (read a good one about the early days of Jaguar here). I decided to get in touch with the bass player Jeff Cox, who also was there from the day one, helped to bring the band back on track in 1998 and then stepped out. 

Satan: On Earth as it is in Hell

A few months ago I posted an interview with Russ Tippins and Andy Reed about the early days of Satan. Earlier this year the band released another masterpiece called “Earth Infernal”, so it’s time to talk to Mr. Tippins again. We discussed the new album only, and although that was really tough to avoid questions about other matters, I did my best and kept it straight!

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.   

Quartz: Against all odds... again!

 

A while ago I already posted an in-depth interview with Quartz done by my friend Alexander Zhoglichev, and here we go again talking to the guitarist Mick Hopkins about the band’s fifth full-length album “On the Edge of no Tomorrow” which came out May, 20^th, 2022. The album is a true gem as always (it seems the band discovered Midas’ secret how to turn everything they touch to gold) and it’s a real tribute to the late Geoff Nicholls as there are several tracks based on his ideas and included his playing/singing. Mr. Hopkins explains how it all became possible and how they overcame technical difficulties, Covid restrictions and David Garner’s departure in the middle of the process.

Original Sin: Guilty as charged

"The golden age (of metal, literature, humanity, art, whatever) has gone forever and will never be repeated" — this idea is as old as hills. Apparently, there won't be anything like NWOBHM with its sheer rawness, over the top enthusiasm of both bands and fans, excitement, electrified atmosphere (geez, I'm ready to burst into tears!). But modern days have their own advantages. There are way more opportunities to discover the bands that were overlooked back then, there are much more labels who are into re-releasing all sorts of NWOBHM stuff from classic albums to rough demos. What did I know about Liverpool's Original Sin 10 years ago? Only what was written in Malc MacMillan's book (i. e. very little). And now we can talk to the guitarist Kevin McGinn while waiting for the release of Original Sin's demo anthology on Obscure NWOBHM Releases label. Ready for another journey down the memory lane? Here you go! 

Le Griffe: Looking back from a birds eye view

Doing interviews for quite a while now, I tend to believe that some things happen only when the time is right. I tried to do an interview with somebody from Le Griffe back in 2018, but it seemed no one was interested. When I decided to restart the blog earlier this year, I found the list of questions for Le Griffe members and decided to give it another shot. I also accidentaly found out that both Le Griffe's EPs were reissued via No Remorse Records. And you know what happened next? Robert Moseley, Le Griffe's ex-bass player and one of the founding members, came to the rescue! I tell you — timing is everything! So here we are remembering the early days of the Stock-on-Trent music scene and recording of the "Fast Bikes" EP. 

Fred Avesque (Troy, Tour de Force, Driveshaft, Farenheit): French connection

 

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!

Stormhunters "Eye of the Storm" (2022)

 01) Lost

02) New Horizons

03) Keep Believing

04) Long Way Down

05) Don't Let Go

06) I Won't Forget You

07) Time to Take the Fall

08) Holding On

09) Overload

10) You Won't Take Me 

Night Vision: Visions of the past

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.    

Tysondog "Midnight" (2022)

1) Batallion

2) It Lives

3) Hellbound

4) Defiant

5) Midnight

6) Dead Man Walking

7) Paper Cuts

8) Cold Day in Hell

9) Waiting for God

Label: From the Vaults

Eddie Kelly (ex-Rankelson): Walk through the fire

The bastards of rock'n'roll Rankelson along with Wrathchild represented the glam side of NWOBHM. They came out quite late (1984), lived fast and bright (sometimes literally) life, released 2 albums and by the 1988 were done. Here is an interview with Eddie Kelly, one of the founders of the band. He quit Rankelson before they recorded their debut LP "Hungry for Blood" (1986), and he still regrets it. 

Quartz: Back in the Band

 

Are Quartz a NWOBHM band? Well, if Rage (formelly Nutz) are than Quartz are, too. As they note they were too old for NWOBHM and started playing waaay before musicians from Iron Maiden, Angel Witch, Gaskin (you name it) picked up an instrument. But by the late 70's and early 80's they definitely had turned into heavier music and contributed to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. This interview was done in 2021 by a good friend of mine for Russian printed magazine "Stay Heavy". Now, when Quartz are ready to release their new album "On the Edge of No Tomorrow", here is an appetizer for you! This is very first appearance of the interview in the Web and in English. Answers were supplied by Mick Hopkins (MH), Derek Arnold (DA) and Malcolm Cope (MC).

Nicky Moore: Retired but not tired

Nicky Moore has done hundreds of interviews during his long career. So what’s the reason for another one may ask some of you? Well, it’s never enough of his stories about Hackensack, Samson, Big Jim Sullivan and other bands he sang with. Now, when Nicky is retired from music, it’s also great to let him know that there are people who still love his amazing voice and appreciate his achievements. So turn on some album from Nicky’s huge back catalogue (jazz, blues, rock, metal — he sang them all, so you’ll definitely find something for your taste!) and dig into his stories!