NWOBHM
I felt we were at war there was a war to be won
And I think there's no room for part-timers. It was all or nothing. I
Can only think it was
You know the working-class escape, you know, if you don't be a footballer
You know trying to be a musician that kind of thing some way of getting off there, you know out of the nine-to-five
Learning instrument to form a band at some point
write songs
It was an ideology. Just try and be working
Where we come from there's nothing there's nothing Aires London if you weren't in the gangs or you can't play football boxing
You've got music. I don't think any of us even in our wildest dreams thought
It would ever become the way it was. You know, I mean we which is all happy we played
helped
hard rock
heavy rock heavy metal
It just gave it an extra boost at a time when it had been pretty much dormant
and pretty much ignored
New wave of British heavy metal twins
Heavy metals own pumpkin oi, it's creative. It's not just a marketing ploy to boot time
Picnic bags the ones that really are worthwhile talking about they feed off of that
And that's why you have these kind of these periods in time
Where it just goes boom
At the tail end of the 1960's popular music began to get louder
Along with tracks like the Beatles helter skelter
And the stones jumpin Jack flash which pumped up the volume and the distortion of the rhythm guitars
Fresh acts were appearing who focused on this new heavier sound
Guitar gods such as Hendrix and Clapton push their instruments to the forefront
showcasing their virtuozzo ability whilst moving further away from the dominant sounds of pop
it was after the emergence of the new hard rock bands deep purple Led Zeppelin and in particular Black Sabbath
However, that a new phrase began to circulate heavy metal and although this would slowly seep into the common musical vocabulary
Where it emerged from and what exactly it defines remains to this day enigmatic
The first use of the term heavy metal history. I mean this the whole thing is shrouded in myth
And and no one's got a definitive answer. I mean, I've actually read I've read music texts that sort of described the birds
Even as bears of heavy mell, which I mean sounds absolutely preposterous
Steppenwolf had
heavy metal Thunder in the lyrics to born to be wild which I mean as base so
obviously a sort of a reference to sort of
An automotive reference rather than a sonic reference, but it's still a reference
I
Can write that no one even knows where it came from silly thing when I first heard the phrase heavy metal
I kind of liked it. I think I guess I was a bit unsure as to what it meant
I
I kind of figured that
Well, maybe it's like high-energy rock
Was a heaviness that Black Sabbath were so very
Successful in developing as a unique aspect of their sound and what they did and others, of course
Got heavier and followed suit
But at the time with no one ever hearing it before we I had no way of knowing what actually they meant by that
well Black Sabbath the kind of look tone as I
Mean these days as sort of like the OD first band they were they weren't at all
They were just part of a huge group. But I mean I think with the name and
Just the way sort history has treated them. They've become the archetype as it were and
If you want to look around for something to sort of pinpoint heavy-metal
Sabitha are not just as good they're probably better than most
But there are a lot of other bands around there the same sort of thing that don't get
Mentioned like ISIL or Baltimore or a perfectly sample leaf hounds we can't
Underestimate the impact of Led Zeppelin and from me even more. So in the Black Sabbath
even though you know Robert Plant is quite vociferous in his that enormous boom that was inspired by the likes of Sergeant Pepper and
Pet Sounds
Albums Azure broke the mold something people realized they could do whatever they want and the music industry was set up
Thus then it allowed them to and that's where you get, you know
basically heavy metal came from
And throughout the first half of the decade said when Sabbath indeed purple went from strength to strength in a musically diverse
climate that saw their heavy rock coexisting with both the extravagance of glam and the excesses of the prog by
1975 however, things were changing with all these back is broadening their sound and incorporating new elements into their music. I
Think by 75 the likes of Zeppelin Sabbath purple have been doing it all a long time
There was a lot of touring going on
There was a lot more emphasis directly from America as opposed to bringing in
sort of thirties forties blues
And I think people being heavily influenced by what was going on around them purple, certainly
We're spending a lot more time in America bringing the likes of Glenn Hughes
Who was big on the funk big on Stevie Wonder was bound to influence them most bands?
Five six years down the line of eret have got very little to do with what they were when they started
The mid-70s was a brilliant boom time for funk music Earth Wind & Fire of his finest the early Commodores
Stevie Wonder the best music Stevie Wonder ever made was in that period you
Don't think that's gonna have an effect on people who are at the top of their game musically
They're listening to this stuff and letting you know a lot of hard rock fans sort of
Narrow-minded approaches are kind of like oh no, no don't have that Richard. Blackmore didn't like it
You know and he was the essence of deep purple. He quit
Blackmore who had been a founding member of deep him or formed a new group rainbow the distanced itself from this new
Experimentation and returned to a heavy rock sound other bands too were beginning to emerge that would also keep the hardrock flag flying
Including Judas Priest UFO Thin Lizzy Motorhead and the Australian outfit ac/dc yet
Despite the fact that all these bands were collected in one genre
there was a striking variety their musical approach Thin Lizzy didn't sound anything like
UFO
You know
possibly the two biggest sort of heavy rock bands that
The UK came up with in all the British Isles came up with you know in the mid 70s sinlessly
Celtic folk music and
Loud guitar music that's kind of where that one came from UFO
deep purple and
A sort of an even more melodic here. That's kind of where they sort of come from Motorhead
well
I mean Lenny's old record is saying all he wanted was a UK version of the mc5 and
Let's face it if you're actually really stripped down everything Motorhead I've ever done
It's not heavy metal and let me hates the term any metal. It's just rock and roll played very fast and very loud
that's all it is, you know, so it's just again, it's it's it's a myriad of influences and
different bits sort of influencing different bands
None of those bands that I've just mentioned sound like each other and yet they're all lumped him
Under a banner of heavy mill and although each of these hard rock bands would chart their own course throughout the 1970s
it was over the following five years in Britain that the first
Identifiable group of bands appeared who were prepared to fully embrace the term heavy metal and who would constitute a major?
musical movement
Lately east london a working-class suburb far removed from the glamour of rock and roll it was here in late
1975 that a young band emerged who would eventually
Spearhead this new wave of heavy metal
Fooled by bassist Steve Harris Iron Maiden were a driven and ambitious young man determined to make them up
And
It was quite self evident that he had
The boy had direction, you know he knew exactly where he was going to go
I don't think he probably knew the size
That they are now, but he certainly had he had that focused
ideology of of what Iron Maiden was about and what the music should sound like and who they were and
to the point that he used to come to my house and we'd go through the pace and drum parts and
all that kind of thing to get everything right and I mean at that time the band didn't actually particularly mean anything it was just
another band that was that was trying to push the frontiers and it all their
Maiden were not alone and new bands intent on injecting a new heaviness into hard rock were emerging across the country
in
1976 son of a bitch the band who would become
Saxon formed inbounds Lee and in stab bridge in the Midlands school friends Brian tackler and Duncan Scott formed
Diamond
We didn't have any gigs. And so we're just the right right somes
practice and you know in the bedroom and
Just see how it goes from there. And eventually we got a bass player and started doing gigs, but
Initially, I think we're more interested in
Writing well, I don't know why exactly
But I'm glad we did because we learnt our craft, you know
but just recording straight into cassette and listening back and thinking that's not right analyzing the
arrangements, really
And we did it, you know a lot of that
We went to see Led Zeppelin three out of the four members of the band and we all you know sat in this
You know two hundred thousand people
What you're watching Led Zeppelin and and you know, you probably think a lot be great to be Led Zeppelin, you know
you're great to be this big only as we'll go back and play the Crispian Starbridge and
Dream about being as big as Led Zeppelin
Yet while these new heavy metal bands were honing their craft
There would be a seismic cultural shift in the world of music a mid seventies
Revolution that would briefly put other genres out of favor
punk rock
Exploded and captured the attention of the public in an unprecedented manner a situation. That would not be an answer. Everyone's like
My generation had enjoyed the sixties
Then we enjoyed the late 60s into the early 70s when we had this sort of progressive rock stuff around
and the blue side
rock-and-roll side covered
and then
Things suddenly semen drop off dissipate what we came up against was this thing called punk
you see which was to me in my way of feeling like a sort of an
anti stand anti human passion
I was completely bemused by actually to be honest with you. Um
You know what while Babylon was burning and the sounds office was literally a stone's throw from from the Roxy club
You know where with the clash and the pistols will play on a regular basis?
And I was just sitting in my little corner listening to Ted Nugent and kiss and Aerosmith, you know
So I was kind of a bit I suppose in retrospect a bit of a bit of a pariah
I couldn't understand the reason for devaluing music
That is to me what it was he was a devaluation in in cause of a fashion
That's to me what it was and it was like a shock fashion as well
You know, the more you curse on radio and television when you do get interviewed
The better it is for you
But actually that's usurping the media for me. I
Think music is the thing that mattered and I think excellence within the field is - is to me what it's all about
I don't believe they have the right to stand on stage unless you can play write and sing to the nth degree
although punk antagonized many in the established rock community
Both through its radical philosophy and its dismissal of many of the scenes heroes as obsolete dinosaurs
It was nevertheless an important movement for many of the younger British rock bands
The independent DIY atmosphere that punk had introduced into an increasingly
Commercial music industry was vital to the eventual success of the new wave of British heavy metal
And unlike funk and later disco musically it had much in common with heavy rock
I could appreciate what punk was doing a liked, you know several of the punk rock bands and
You know that it put singles out and be on top of the pops and things he would see the good music or bad music
Type thing. I didn't necessarily stand there punk rock. I don't like them
my thoughts on punk were that I was
that I was always willing to give anything a chance because I've always liked to consider myself as being
Open-minded musician more than just a drummer
I like to consider myself as a musician and as a musician, you're always willing to take on any
Anything that that shapes what you do?
So yes, I love the energy. I loved I loved the the brutal Ness of
of punk and I'd like anybody else went out and bought never mind the bollocks and
Thoroughly enjoying it
There is an argument to say that all pomp was was heavy metal played badly
Now quite frankly the first Sex Pistols album is one of the great heavy metal albums of all time right now
There are going you know, well
There will be old enemy journalists. That won't watch this
But if they were to hear that would be sticking their fingers down their throat or be up in arms
But quite frankly Steve Jones is a brilliant riff guitarist, right?
It's a brilliant heavy metal riff guitar player and the first sex pistol never mind
The bollocks is a brilliant heavy metal album with a little Herbert with spots and green teeth and red hair
screaming his head off over the top of it a
vocal approach that would be appropriated by millions of heavy metal bands about ten years down the line the links between
proper punk and
Heavy metal are very very close because musically it's almost the same thing
Punk had the attitude anyone get up and play. It's only three cause it's not rocket science and
the sophistication of the progressive rock
Dinosaurs really is irrelevant to us
if you can go out get a guitar and you can stand in a local pub do it and I think that's absolutely
Crucial to what?
happened in
1976-77 when he had the formation of Iron Maiden and Def Leppard and Diamond Head and Saxon
Although they were called son of a bitch at the time and that's the thing people forget is that I made him to start in
1979 they started two or three years earlier, so did Leppard soda Saxon?
So did Diamond had all those crucial bands in a new wave of British heavy metal were happening at the time that the Pope
Explosion went on and what made them I think
Part of the punk movement also separate was the fact that they were getting up and playing in pubs
They were getting up in clubs in Churchill's and playing whatever they possibly could and whilst
I don't think they were getting involved in the socio-political Anika's Nanna came confrontation that defined so much of punk
they picked up on the energy and picked up on the DIY as it and got in their vans and drove around the country and
Basically said well we've seen a Harris on stage
We want to emulate them but we feel we can and it actually Punk in power those bands to do what they did
and I've got no doubt how Punk not happened that these bands would never have come out and had that drive and
inspiration and energy to do what they did and
In a new climate in which establish rock outfits like Zeppelin and deep purple were now considered passe
It meant that the younger rock bands like Maiden were having to fight to get their music heard
Back on the ground again
Like I say how many it just seems ridiculous
If you put it on paper five years after you know
the biggest rock bands we've ever heard about who sort of got together that you know, they're being
discarded
When it was enough for young blokes to think fuck out I can do better or we can do something else and
You know dark it's back then from Earls Court back down to you know
A pub in Stratford. The first time I saw I made him wear must have been
1977 early 77 it could have been even mean 76
Friend of ours told us about his band
Because we were all into metal game when we was kids and there wasn't no places for metal bands
You know, you never heard of metal band planning purposes. Just simply call shot bands
you know cover bands and all this friend of ours Steve Wright said come see this band they play down a carton offices in
Stratford, which is Maryland point the called Iron Maiden
So like yeah all of us from the pub it must have been eight or nine of us. We was all like
you know dressed up saying all the Levi's Jackie and you know, we area and
We shot down this pub
you know in Stratford and and there they were Iron Maiden and I
Couldn't believe it, but I heard how completely it's the first time
I've been watching bangs, you know, and you go and see a band but it's the actual pub band that every track
Was outstanding I couldn't believe every track. They played was just different class and from then on we followed them everywhere
We went the pubs. I used to play with the bridge ass wit in Canning Town, which was a
They played there quite a lot and we used to go down
Bridge as the player embarking which not many people, you know nowadays now, they played as a pub embarking
They supply
Plan error in Leytonstone, which was Terry Venables actually at the pub at one stage
And there was I played the music machine we still can't see him down the music machine
And that and various pubs in East London, wherever they played we've followed him as punk music flourished in
1976 outside of the underground circuit hard rock appeared to be in bad shape
As Black Sabbath struggled to keep up their momentum with drug problems escalating and their albums performing poorly
Deep purple shocked many by splitting up yet
The scene was still being kept alive by some of the newer wave of rock bands
Whose more simple approach and down-to-earth manner was accepted far more by the punk crowd well motek
may CDC were always going to survive the punk thing unknowingly because of
the kind of no frills no bullshit kind of approach that they took and
That sits with the punk ethic Motorhead and ac/dc were bands
Like you and me who literally looking the way they did just walked in on the street
But could play some music and everybody that like that kind of had that thing
I thought well, I can do that
even if they couldn't that was the and that's why they survived and also I mean, you know
The music was raw and also to a certain extent
avenues of what media there was in the UK at that at that time if they were sympathetic to Punk they'd also be sympathetic to
certain elements of heavy rock later down the line
That would be very beneficial because it meant that you know
You had certain music papers would align themselves with
the music as a whole instead of sort of a
Couple of writers who are into a certain style of music and while those two bands aren't bad
the punk scene also opened doors for female metal acts and
Such as girl school who would emerge a little later than Iron Maiden were musically rooted in rock
But much of their Drive was inspired by the powerful female role models emerging from the less sexist world of punk
When we first died
I mean if you liked at the very beginning like when we began playing obviously like Deniz and Kelly were playing separately
In other bands at that time anyway, but we love Zeppelin Sabbath t-rex
so it's a bit mixture of the glam rock Bowie to your ex Alice Cooper all that stuff and
Sabbath purple and settling they were the big ones but then by 78 when the actual bands got together
punk had just come along and there was that whole energy and then when we toured with
Motorhead there was that sense of that whole kind of rock history
That we were like grew up with
Plus the energy of punk and that kind of can-do attitude of like yeah girls are the same as guys and anyone can do it
You can play three chords
We were doing it. Anyway, we were actually doing that
Things have changed
Because of the punk the punk thing and you had people like say Chrissie Hynde
You didn't think twice about playing the band with guys, but she worked at the NME
She was surrounded by guys and journalists who knew guys that played in bands
So it's probably much easier but being at school in 16, we didn't ever hope in hell
They were all punk bands all the bands like girls picked up guitars at that time because it's like you can play can be in
A band and play three chords and that's enough and that was a sort of a striking but they were punk bands
They were all punk bands and we were the only one in the sort of rock kind of area at that time
I mean obviously The Runaways came up around about summer 75, but we just started playing a few months
There were four everything everything that was happening was in the state
Yeah, really in Britain it and it wasn't much happening in Europe
But in Britain it was very much that pump thing and then it just died down again until riot girls
but I said that ain't if we didn't actually realize we were doing anything different because
Playing we were just playing in the band with with other people that wanted to play
Yet punks domination of the alternative music scene
Meant that the new young metal acts were finding it hard to capture the attention of music industry professionals
And in Iron Maiden's case any who did show interest wanted to alter the band to fit into the more popular scene?
but I wanted to get this career and all that sort of thing and
You know just know why because it's not what we want to do, you know this place. They want to play more commercial music
so, you know, I mean it was people say I was you know, was it easy to all artists or
Just turned down a deal or anything like that, but it's not hard to do something
When you don't like what you're gonna have to do sort of thing, you know
It's just not hard to stick to your guns. If you know what you're doing, you know all the time
they've been approached by people who want you to be their manager who wanted to be their agent or the
Very few A&R mean you ventured into East London, they'd all say you got cut here
You got to cut your own place simpler songs because to to become
stars now you've got become you've got a deuce a variant of punk and Iron Maiden absolutely refuse to compromise a
Lot of people later on starting to describe Iron Maiden
There's like a post-punk metal and that was absolute cobblers because it wasn't they were playing that sort of music
Simultaneously as the plank thing was happening. So it was like an alternative street-level
Rock that was aggressive
Had some similarities with punk at the same sort of speed had the same sort of power
But it was a lot more melodic and obviously got a lot more key changes and the musicianship was far greater
So this was something that didn't happen post-punk
it happened parallel to Punk and was actually prevented from happening earlier by the fact that everyone was so into the idea of
punk and new wave
Founding member and band leader Steve Harris had little time for punk as a musical form
However, and drew as much inspiration from prog rock as he did from classic hard rock bands Sabbath and deep purple
Despite the popularity of simple no-nonsense song construction
He was determined to create more accomplished and complex music through Iron Maiden. I
Love the time changes. I'd always been into
They call it prog rock if you like and all that that
Encompasses I've been listening in to all kinds of weird bands not so much on the hardrock side
But more bands like King Crimson Van de Graaff generator
Gong
you know all these kind of weird wonderful bands that had time Chuck lots of time changes and I had that in mind and
As soon as I went, so I made and there was a time change every every kind of 30 seconds or so, you know
We'd go into something different and I thought well this he's crying. Yeah, this is wonderful
I believe that Steve Harris of Iron Maiden is he is an anomaly in so many different ways
One of which is certainly he's loved a prog rock
Open lover program
Which I think a lot of metal fans when made and first started to get notice or a bit puzzled by however
Let's not forget
Those same fans who loved Iron Maiden were heavily into early rush as well and rush were definitely influenced by the prog scene
So I don't think there's any problem or any confusion over the fact that pro crock has played its role in
Giving an aspiration towards musicianship for so many metal bands because metal at its best is played by people who really can play
Yet in
1977 the punk aesthetic
Did manage to infiltrate Iron Maiden sound and impart its image with an improvement of new singer Paul Di'Anno?
Who joined the band after a chance encounter with Steve Harris at the redline pub in Leytonstone?
I was Steve and that started talking and that went round his house
That's why you may go down for an interview
Interview by a rehearse one every time when I'm sitting there trying to seem songs
I've got no idea what they are my deep purple or something. So we've done that
sort of nudists on vaguely
We just sort of hummed it and all didn't went through and then Steve come around in the Sunday afternoon. It was it wolf
Yeah, we tried a few other guys, but he got the job if you want it
I won't really give up to be honest with you
wasn't that interesting but then I
See Steve a bit more and then we weren't Raley's house and we started to write together
And as soon as we started writing there was something there
I can't really say firstly about the rest of the guys in the band musical influences on my Amazon Punk
Yeah, I know Steve life seems like sovereign grand stuff right there
he does like a little bit more of the
Progressive I suppose in it
Yeah
but then
that would be Steven over because he's a bloody great musician and that will be a challenge to him to play something like that you
Know I mean is it's great a maiden who's quite a complex behind Paul Di'Anno was a great frontman
He was slightly different to the rest of the band Steve Harris Francis long hair
Posing all the time with his bass, etc
Dioner has shorter
Hey looked like a punk because he came from a punk background and he gave him a certain punk energy in attitude
Jeff Barton once described him as a rough-hewn stable boy in terms of his charisma and personality that summed him up
Perfectly, that's what he was. He was a lad from the streets
It was a bit cheeky was a bit arrogant
But it was exactly what Maidan needed at the time had Bruce Dickinson been fronting the band in the first two albums
I don't think it would have worked
because you
Needed something someone a bit Larry's someone who came out of the pub as it were and got up on stage to give Maidan their
focus at that particular juncture and that's what diono did
while I made him continue to formulate both their lineup and this a number of
significant developments occurred in the heavy metal scene
the genre began to emerge from under the shadow of punk and
Essential to this was the tireless work of DJ Neil K and his tenure at a North London club night that came to be known
As the sound house. I was out of work. I've been sacked from all the club's hype works
He loved it and I was delivering furniture for a living
Out of a big old pantech, you know around London and enjoying life out outside of rock and roll
You know
My trucking buddy takes me to this gaff one night night and buys me a beer and he says look this place you're gonna love
And it was a Wednesday night, and it was a rock night, and they had a biggest sound system
I'd ever seen at the time and the night was wonderful
I remember Peter France and being played and stuff like that, you know suddenly halfway through the night. There's an announcement
The guys on stage are asking if anybody in the house fancies
coming up on stage and trying out as a DJ because they desperately needed a rock presenter and
I just thought I can't turn this down. I've done all this time in the London clubs. I've been in West Berlin
I've done everything and and rock is my life, you know, and it was I love motorcycles
I love the lifestyle
And I went up and did an audition and got the gig there and then and that's how I arrived at a bandwagon
There's always people that would get up and do something new
Okay in the same house a Jew is showing he had the balls to get up and do it in that sort of musical climate
Somebody like Neil K wasn't so much of a visionary as somebody that was just a fast and Barris one who's prepared to?
Spend up for what he believed him
Although the sound house began life as a Wednesday night only disco at the bandwagon
Kay's cause was aided by circumstances outside of his control
the club's management appeared in court after
Underage drinkers were discovered at their sole nights and the judge ordered that the keep their license
Only if they change their schedule and scrap these discos in favor of Ches metal shirts
Which tended not to attract young drinkers?
I came out of court laughing they'd given me six nights a week at the wagon for my own god damn thing
by default, you know, it's like it's like Christmas come early and
Once that happened there was a lot more interest
you can't
Underestimate how important the bandwagon and Neal case sound house was which was just basically a back room of a pub
Where Neal would play the music and everyone would go along and play a guitar or even turn up with coulple guitars, you know
And the Badgers would turn up but not just like, you know
like up-and-coming bands people like Ted Nugent and
April Wine who were like a really big sort of melodic rock band from Canada in the seventies would sort of turn up
Right, and it wasn't evenly central of that
I mean these days if he could you if you can't go sort of like 10 yards from Oxford Circus tube station
No one gives a shit then they travel where to Kingsbury
Kingsbury
It was very very important and it worked and although I'm sure heavy metal would have developed his own way
Anyway had Neil Kaye not been there. He's still
incredibly important in
that sort of unifying bit between
The band and the kid that bought the record as K was working to bring hard rock and heavy metal fans together
The scene itself was continuing to grow
1977 saw the formation in Sheffield of another of the scenes major figureheads Def Leppard the following year in Whitney Bay
Guitarist Rob. We're quit his band trick and formed the Tygers of pan Tang
As the punk movement began to lose some of its momentum all across the country nu metal bands were surfacing
After trick finished I put an advert in
actually their Newcastle University
For a bass player drummer and I thought I'll stop you know, stop start again as it were
And rocky was applied to the advert and rocky and I became friends and rocky
Along the course of a very short time said let's not have I've got a friend to him on a college course with called Brian
and he plays drums and
You know what? What about you know, we get him down and and the three of us have a go at it and
Rocky and I started to go to shows together
and with a great love of
A band called Rush who were obviously Oh like it like a one of the first sort of power three-piece
hardrock three-piece bands
I
remember standing in the front row of a very very early rush tour and these guys came on rocky and I just look said
We've this is tremendous. We've we've got to do this, you know with so, you know, well, we're set about
Set about creating that, you know
Sort of sat a me bedroom like a Mad Professor
You know children up these rifts and stuff and bringing them to the rehearsal room and and you know
we would form them and knock them out and you know rocky will put his bass lines to them and Bryan would put
His grooves to them and off we went
And then we decided you know, we wanted to play live
Although there were now a number of young metal bands stepping out performing life
The scene was still not being publicized and the band's themselves were existing on local circuits
Mostly unaware that they were in fact part of a wider national movement
bands tempted to play in their own area because it worked because it was safe and
They knew that they had that there that they're sort of safe network of fans
I made intended to play in London, you know Leppard tended to play the Midlands we tended to play up here
Saxon would play
Sheffield Barnsley, you know Doncaster Rochdale
Everybody sort of played in the in their own areas and occasionally
You know you went out of your safe zone
And you and he got in your van and he and you drove and you know
You got to show somewhere else and as indeed we did some shows, you know on Def Leppard sort of home ground
1978 would be a big year for the burgeoning movement hard rock was returning to the mainstream
with Judas Priest out and stained glass hitting the top 30 in the UK and
Despite the possibilities for media exposure being all but non-existent for rock acts
Motorhead did manage to break through with an appearance on Top of the Pops
At the same time the sound houses
Reputation within the metal community was growing a neil k was soon receiving a wealth of demo tapes from up-and-coming bands
Yet it would remain relatively unknown to the music world at large
Until the young journalist from sounds magazine called Jeff Barton paid the bandwagon of visit and almost inadvertently
Help coined the phrase that would take the movement to a higher plateau
neil k called me up and
Said we've got this really thriving rock club here. We've got to got a lot of serious headbangers, you know
Hit bagging so music that you will like
And strange as it may seem the concept of a rock club, you know full it sort of, you know, long-haired works, you know
Getting their rocks off to you know, the likes of ted nugent's was was pretty much inconceivable
Circa 1978 1979 I found up barton a million times old jeff and even he was like well
I don't know, you know Jeff. I have got a
serious music house here
The bandwagon heavy metal sound house is a heavy metal
Discotheque with a serious non discotheque sound system that will blow you
All your allies in your office from here across the channel to France
It is populated by the greatest bunch of loonies. You've ever seen. Please come down and give them your time
they are more than worthy of it and it took forever in a day to get him there and when he came
Oh boy, that did it
We had a center page double spread in next week sounds and that really did it
Oh boy, did that open the gates all hell broke loose that was it. They came from everywhere
and of course once sounds did their opening piece on us people started sending tapes to them as well and
they were snowed under too and
I had talked to Jeff about have you heard this have you heard that he used to say the same to me
What about this? What about that? And it was obvious that something was coming on wasn't it? And
It was Al Lewis the sub editor of sounds who actually coined a phrase the new wave of British heavy
Metal it was kind of
What we call in in journalistic terms of stand first underneath the review
I did of Iron Maiden angel which and samisen at the Music Machine
I think the main headline was if you want blood and guts and gore or something. You've got it and then
The strap liner they say the new wave of British heavy metal begins here or something
You know by Jeff Burton sounds magazine, possibly because I had Jeff Barton there and Jeff was a big hard rock heavy rock fan
They picked up on it and they ran with the ball because it was an interesting exciting time in music
Sounds really jumped in with punk and got a lot of success and attention because of that as a weekly music
Magazine and now they saw that there was another phenomenon happening
I feel a big difference is sounds really not just championed these bands
But gave them a cause gave them a focus by calling it the new wave of British heavy metal calling it nawab l'm
Inevitably it helped
because
People wanted to go and see bands
That were the new wave of British heavy metal
The name obviously suggested that there had been
Substantial rock acts before but this was this was the next the next level the next movement
You know the new kids on the block check about listen to them. So
Maneuv ands that were that were encompassed within the new ever rich heavy metal tremendously. Absolutely
We didn't put ourselves in the category. It was the journalists
Included us so obviously one more reading reviews and some of that we were sent ourselves
Hey were part of the new everybody show him out. That's pretty good. Innit
so we were obviously delighted to be included in that, you know little did we know that you know, we were
From my mind clusters as one of the sort of that the major runners in it
Now with a movement to report on rather than a selection of disparate bands
Sounds struck up an enthusiastic relationship with Neil K's sound house
The magazine even began to print a weekly rundown of the most popular records and demo tapes being played at the venue
Which became a valuable resource for the fans and an essential point of exposure for the band's themselves?
printing the sound house is most
Did almost popular tracks on our charts page was a pretty big deal for Neil actually in retrospect
I mean to be honest with you
The chart page was was a was a was a bit of a nightmare to do anyway
And once you've got through the British top 40 singles
Which inevitably wouldn't include much rock or metal and and done the us singles or whatever else we did
We you know
We used to have holes to fill so I think when Neil offered us the chance of printing this chart with a great
You know, that's another little space that that we can fill up there. But that proved to be immensely popular. I think I think people
People used to used to used to go to that
in the manner of you know
The way somebody would go to myspace today or whatever
Just to check out what the people that sound house were listening to what Neil K was playing what demos he was playing
You know, that was great. That was great. That was a great scene. We had do the three track demo did movie
Studios down in in Kent in Beckenham and we just did three tracks
we took him to neo at the sound house and he played them and
Before we knew it. We had three of these tracks and in the
zone little char and you know, it's amazingly really for such a small little
Company a little you know
A little DJ an outfit and them but for it to be published in sounds magazine because it was nationwide. I think so
There's Turner said I think we had I think the three songs in the top ten
Including number one. I think we hadn't liked number one number three number seven or eight
I think it wasn't it was incredibly well people then it was really and I feel credit to Neil
I think that really says was going because
To have free songs that people started saying who is this primates us so we did have record companies
For the first time actually chasing us we didn't need to go out
they were coming to us and
It was through the successful new demo tape culture that Neil K was exposed to the band who would become the movements most
iconic act
having recorded a four-track demo in December 1978 on
Maidan decided to introduce themselves to the sound house scene
Suddenly one day into the wagon walk these two geezers you see
Unassuming quiet one blonde one with dark he share he was dark in the way
They came out to me on stage
They gave me a cassette didn't know who the hell they were had no idea just one of I don't know hundreds
The one with the dark hair said to me
Do us a favor mate?
Listen to our cassette will you and if you think it's any good give us a shout and maybe a booking or something
So rude to the guy to this day, I hate myself for it now
So very sorry I swung round to him and said, oh, yeah you and half a country mate when I'm ready
Helia from me give us a chance. All right, of course, it was Steve Harris from Iron Maiden. I
Am so sorry. I took the tape home by 2:30 in the morning. I was jumping around and going utterly potty the phone hairy up
told him was gonna be an exceedingly successful young man, but what he had was
Undeniable maidens timing was perfect and the demo succeeded in establishing them within a scene that was about to explode
1979 was to be a vital year for this new wave of British heavy metal
One which saw a number of bands raise their profile and begin to release records the first off
The block was sheffield act def leppard who set up their own label to distribute a three-track EP in february
The record ended up in the hands of DJ John Peel who played it on his radio 1 show
And generated a lot of press for the young Fame. I first met Def Leppard
When they came South to play the music machine for me
Prior to that I'd had
I think it was a three-track EP like a vinyl
EP that they had out at the time and probably a cassette tape as well. We didn't know much about them
I mean we knew they were very young but
they were being handled by a local guy up there who had a record store and
he he sent me a
locally financed
EP at that time they were not the pyromania band of course that everyone
latterly remembers with Matt Langer and the producer at the helm
They were far more fiery a lot more gutsy and a lot more sort of British. He really
One of the most important things that happened really was the the first one I think the one that came out
The blocks first was Def Leppard's EP followed by I made in the Santos tape CP
both self-breast both borrow the money blanket off someone get it in get into a studio and
Record a song yourself and then sell it through gigs sell it through mail order
This was something that really had come from Punk in days before Punk you
Grafted and grafted and grafted. You've got a record deal. You got put in the studio
You spent vast amount of money on recording time and drugs and eventually you end up with an LP here
You have people who were let's face it young in the case of debt that were very young who scratched the money together
Went into a studio put their three best songs on tape for in a case where I made
and then
Pressed it themselves. What?
I believe Def Leppard spent about a hundred forty eight quid or something like that the whole thing cost them
We got three tracks on that EP that are very very different. You've got the rush inspired epic of the overture
You've got the kind of more Thin Lizzy ish right into the Sun and the out now
Let's be now
Get your rocks off which became sort of the anthem foot for their times what it had in common with with so many
singles from both self pressings and independently was to follow
Was a
Cheap sound and that sounds awful but you can recognize metal songs from that era because of that particular sound
It's a new you're working in possibly eight-track Studios Max
Whereas these days you spend like 12 tracks in a drum kit alone
The drum kit goes through one track and what time for anything else or space for anything else?
Def Leppard, EP is one of the high points of very early new okhla British and milk
Very interesting to note who picked up at Radio 1 John Peel who?
Would have been totally opposed to what definite bird became
Andy Peebles the doyen of soul music as was at the time on radio 1
He picked it up. He was a DJ that liked music and then honestly, that's a rarity it really is
But his thing was soul music and yet he could see or could hear
You know
there was something in what their flipper did on that that early
beam
And that's the thing about leopard and a reason that leopard sort of got noticed so quickly was because they were a bloody good songs
You know
That's not the way Maiden. Perhaps took a little longer to develop
whereas, you know if Steve Harris was
Thinking bit of punk bit of prog and a bit of UFO
Let's see what happens
Leopard were like sweet Slade, you know great catchy songs. Let's do that
Let's do that, you know still loud and abrasive and reactionary
but
You know and that that's that's that's probably why leopard got though just so quickly
they really and always have concentrated no matter how
Flippant critics remarks have been down the years about what they do. They've always been very very very sort of
careful about how they wrote their songs
Maiden soon followed suit and in November
1979 the band pressed and released three songs from their demo to create a higher profile calling card
legendary sound house tapes
that demo tape was released on their own label only the
5,000 pressing because I wanted to keep being exclusive for the fans and it was called the sound house tapes and we had a copy
Of that and in the office, and it was just we had to it's been played every day. Everyone loved it
It was fantastic. It was a breath of fresh air really at the time
The thing about the sound outtakes was they were very raw but also very cocksure and add catchy tunes
I mean so you had it had the power but it also had great hooks and it stood out at the time because
firstly because
To all of the rock papers rock rock had been written off
only what everyone was only interested in New Wave
and
Reggae to town a bit later
so there was no interesting everywhere as far as far as the people who worked on music papers were concerned every metal was dead and
buried
And so to hear this and to actually to hear something that was young and vibrant and exciting and actually well played
But aggressive - it really did stand out for everybody
Mayton sound how states honestly was a pivotal release in the new wave of British heavy metal genre. I
Mean, I just thought you know take taking the music to one side from for an instant. I just thought was amazing that the band
Have made the statue which which was which was small and insignificant at that point. It actually got something out because
Really, you know apart from obviously the the punk do yourself there?
You weren't really too accustomed to metal bands doing their own thing
You know, you would be you'd be more used to it
You know getting a get a single an EMI accompanied by a lavish press release and and a beautiful Tim boy photo
So to get this, you know scabby sound House tapes thing through
You know was was a bit of an eye-opener really and and I think I think you know perfectly captured Madon Madon
Spirit at that time. They were selling it off the back of their truck and I couldn't get enough there
I mean, they never thought they'd sell him that quick and when I went back to press more
you know, the dreadful thing had happened they didn't they didn't have enough money on the demo tape to actually keep the
Like the masters and stuff and when Steve I think he was went back to you know, get the masters and do more pressings
They've gone over it. I couldn't even buy or anything
It had gone, you know
Then like they couldn't afford to pay for the tapes at the time of the recording and the yeah of God
Yet Maiden didn't require any further copies to make their mark
Weeks before the release of the sound house tapes the band had been offered a recording contract with EMI and in mid-november
They debuted on the radio one Rock Show
Elsewhere freshly signed bats were recording and unleashing their debut albums
And the first of the major new wave acts to release a long player were Yorkshiremen
Saxon
From Barnsley, you know
Their gimmick was that they drink they preferred a cup of tea to a pint of beer with a load of bollocks
But I mean, yeah, that's that's their little bit of speed
They were important in the scheme of the new wave of British heavy metal
but I think benefited very much from the fact that it happened whereas Maiden and
Leopard and the early days sort of spearheaded the movement
Saxons service then
benefited and were lucky that
It happened because let's first album sack. The first Saxon element isn't very good
Saxons first album was I
Think it's quite unique in looking back at it now. It's a very very good album
There's no two ways about it. The band themselves will tell you that um, it's not quite what they had in mind
And later albums wheels are still in particular. I know I was told that um,
the demos of wills are still and almost exactly the way the album turned out but
Biff was on record as saying that the trouble with the first album is when they went home at night
the producer John Verity who was known for his melodic touches without all these backing vocals and
he referred to it as the
Album because they didn't have backing those still have a backing singer
So I'm strip away a lot of the gloss and strip away
All the the the backing harmonics and you've actually got quite a heavy out in a very different album
Samson with the second band to release a debut album in 79
formed by guitarist and vocalist Paul Samson two years before hand their heavy blues rock sound have made them a favorite at the
Bandwagon and they'd issued to self press singles in 1978
Which many see as the first releases of the new wave of British heavy metal
Having recruited drummer Barry Graham after his short stint in Iron Maiden their first album survivors hit the stores in May
Sampson was put together by Paul Sampson and was heavily influenced from
Early blues type of bands now the kind of bands that Paul was influenced by were Graham funk
Mountain
All those kind of bounds English bands like the ground Hawks
For those of you who don't know these beds look them up
Because you'd be surprised how much you would be able to hear the influence that these bands actually
Fed into the new wave of British heavy metal
So we were a blues orientated band, but with a with an attack of a hard rock band
It was honest it was really, you know, a pushy type of band and it was just filled with energy
Poor samson, god bless his soul as a blues rocker at heart
Probably is be used by the new wave of British heavy metal
as you know, Robin Trower might have been you know, I mean, that's really where is it his heart like
And just but again caught up in
You know, but you have bands like Jaguar and
Parallax and you know and things like this thing sort of really were sort of
Oh, look, he just think a new wave of British heavy metal will be a band like that
Samson was sort of Oh kind of got caught up
they were allowed guitar band at at that time and and and
sort of kind of got caught up in it and and and and rode their luck and
Had some success, you know, but I mean, you know if Paul Saxon were alive today
He'd probably sit here and tell you well quite frankly
I thought it was all a load of bollocks and all I wanted to do was sound like Rory Gallagher or something like that you
know
Yet the band made up for their slightly softer Center with a dynamic stage show and through Barry Graham's bizarre
alter-ego ThunderStick the mass drummer
Although Paul Samson's heart may have been in blues rock the press and the fans
Considered the band to be one of the figureheads of new Robin and ThunderStick in particularly became an icon of the movement
I had the misfortune to interview Samson when when Barry was was in his full ThunderStick persona
I found it the most confusing to be honest with you
It was very very very difficult to interview a man in rapist mask whose faces when ThunderStick came about
It was welcomed with open arms really because
Any press is good press
ThunderStick was all over the press at that time. It was just something that that
happened and because it emerged and and I
Would take the animalistic drummer to the extreme
I mean we'd always had people like Keith Moon from the WHO and
John Bonham from Zeppelin who was supposed to be waving their drummers and I was just taking it on to the next level. So
Wearing a mask and plane inside a cage. Well, that's it
you know surely that's the the next extreme to go to the band loved it, but then unfortunately
Much later on and I'm talking towards the end of my time with Samson
It became a real bugbear for them because they would give a straight interview and want to be treated seriously about the music
And all the person that was doing the interview would want to write about would be the fact that ThunderStick had
Set fire to his head or you know
Or done something crazy or jumped out of a window in a hotel or what-have-you and there were plenty of occasions
Well, I did set fire to my head and I did jump out that hotel we know but I was always serious about doing it
And as the bands of the new bobbum were taking their first steps towards chart success and national recognition
The more established Hard Rock hands began to make their presence felt
1979 was a landmark for these bands with Motorhead releasing two top 30 albums
Judas Priest hitting the top twenty with their single take on the world an ac/dc breaking into the top ten with highway to hell
despite the lack of interest from the majority of the music press and the struggle for airplay in
1979 hard rock and heavy metal began to infiltrate the mainstream
Take on the world that's on top of pops juice place the first time the only reason that they appeared on top of falls
Right was the Hat to bloody play
I mean
You know try as they might and they let's face it the BBC have done a fantastic job of trying to ignore loud
Guitar music over the years right? They can't they have to bow
eventually, you know and
These these are the starting points, you know
And then all of a sudden Motorhead in the top ten becomes the norm for sort of like five or six years
Every ACDC single goes in the top twenty who would become successful
Along with the new wave of British heavy metal, but 1979 is pretty much
where it all starts to happen for these youthful bands who were taking the
musical strands of
now established acts like Motorhead and Judas Priest and ac/dc and
Doing the right thing with it, basically
With the scene exploding around them Iron Maiden
We're preparing to make their mark yet, Steve Harris
Once again shuffled the band's lineup to ensure that it was as strong as possible and recruited X Sampson drummer Clive
Byrne and guitarist Dennis Stratton
Looking for a
Guitarist backing singer like second vocalist to come into the band with recorded experience
so basically what happened was
They contacted me
to
To come into the band to have a listen to see if you could improve what was going on. I don't
Think that the band had that much experience
In a studio the promise to do and I think they've done a lot of demos
The sound ask tapes and things like that
But not basically recording proper recording some because I've recorded with a few days before
They contacted me but at the same time they were looking for a drummer Clive Burr me
Many years before Maiden I bumped into the public he's dead
And I just said too that I was joining the band and they were looking for a drummer
so I took him along to the rear so they like live and then
The rest is history, you know, that's what we started working with
Fantastic and things see everything just yells at the right times
You know I'm saying it and it was there sort of dynamics there. The band was just pumping. I'm now a song
well, obviously views of run around on stage a bit, but Dave's pretty you know, just they're having their
Penny Stratton was there. I mean days is a great singer as well
So like a backing vocals was pretty shit or the banners musicians are fantastic. Well, I admired about
Minded was that they've got all the groundwork
They've done all the hard work which is you know, which we'd all done in bands years ago before that
It was like you getting a transit van you go around the country
You got Preston you're planning places in
Beckham's field or wherever little clubs in well over the place and what I have mine about was that they've done all that groundwork
So they already had
quite a big following and
It was all done from demo tapes like the sound our stage and when they used to go and do it again, you know
For somebody like Middlesbrough or wherever
They always had a big crowd
So you knew there was potential there
but because I wasn't in the band at the time I didn't know what was going on with the bear know how big they
Circulated from the country so, you know
it was just
Yet Stratton was soon to find out just how large a fan base the band had secured in
February 1980 Iron Maiden's first EMI single was released
Peaking in the UK charts at number 34 it afforded the band an opportunity to appear on British music television show top
the pups
But even at this early stage they insisted that things were done their own way
Running free came out on top of the Pops that we'd like you to appear
Everybody mind at the time
I made them said no, we're only gonna do if we can play live and it wasn't done for effect
They meant it
If Top of the Pops have said well
So you can't they would have said were not appearing that would have been the end of it
There was no question at all of Iron Maiden trying to get some cheap publicity. That way they meant it
Because today this is real we can play and we want to prove we can play we're not miming
That's not what we're about
this is about delivering the music and we want to play it properly so that people get the full impact of what I made and
Are all about and we can't do it on our terms. We're not doing it
We
Do in this we hate played live
But that was our the amount
And we had loads of trouble
In the studio because the top of the clock studio isn't quiet. I
Remember, we would we were on the same
Night as shaking Stevens and shakin Stevens was doing this whole house
And he was on the next stage and he was dancing and the squeak from his trainers was louder
Than the track that was being played and we sort of looked at it before
If we can only hear the squeaking of the trainers while he's balancing
What are we gonna be Mike?
We're looking over the other stage after us really a place Spandau Ballet and they were like looking at us without
Makeup punchy wankers. I over those really nice guys even to be honest with you, but
It was an experience but not one really wanted to repeat and to be honest with you. I hate that
Day, because that was a day bombs got died
And I met Bon Scott before I joined Maidan when I was younger
I went to see ac/dc play until sport to go and see him
So it's very sad day for me and the second time we've done it was when John Bonham died
So possibly not lucky for me to be honest area
running free beckoned a new era of chart successful metal and as
successful as Iron Maiden were gearing up to be they were certainly not alone a
multitude of other groups have now begun to embrace the opportunities that the new wabun label had afforded them a
Snapshot of the scene would emerge on the compilation record metal form others
Released on the same day as the running free single. It featured two maiden tracks while spotlighting various unsigned acts
metal for mothers this came about as a direct result of
the inbound cassettes
demonstration tapes that grew weekly on the desks of the ANR division of all the record companies and myself
And it was EMI
That came up with an idea of a compilation album
Basically through through the arrives that bunnies jump on the the new wave of British heavy metal band
I kind of thought it is a compilation but it was it was actually
Forced through by Neil and he thought it'd be a good idea. So I think he he approached him I originally and
it was basically a variation of various bands from
From that era that had played at the at the sound house and also giving him tapes, you know
Demo tapes it was supposed to feature
Re-recorded demin demonstration songs from cassettes make a nice product decent package
Nice cover good artwork good sound and it was none of those things actually
But he did feature two songs from Iron Maiden on it and it did feature praying mantis
I
Don't think we were ever really when people can't came to see us, you know, when particularly when we're supporting Maidan
They probably went they'll probably a little bit surprised
I felt they're not really heavy metal
But in a way you could say it was good for us and in other words, you know in other ways bad
But certainly I mean we were being dragged along with it. So in that case it was good
We'd actually found the niche even if we didn't quite belong in there
We were actually were try him a little bit on the wave of of a heavy metal
But in certain ways maybe it went a little bit against us as well because people were a little bit surprised because it's more melodic
And probably not as hard there was enormous diversity in what became known as the new wave of British heavy metal
you know an angel which didn't sound anything like
Maidan
Sonic traits but you know girls go, okay
They work they work. They were ladies which find you know a precursor of black thrash doom metal etc. You know, it's
sledgehammer
Kind of basically or a kind of hoary old throwback to deep purple really girl, you know make up
praying mantis
often overlooked but one of the really really great bands of
the new wave of British heavy metal new wave of British heavy metal was
heavy metal zone Punk annoy
right, and it was needed and
You know, it did some good things for the music
And you know, like all of these things. Let's not get carried away
There was some brilliant stuff that came through with me rave debris of hate British heavy metal and it was a ton of shit
Right, you know later we are not looking through rose-tinted spectacles
there was some really good stuff and it was an enormous mountain of crap as
With any musical movement and it was with their debut album that maidens position at the top of this movement was confirmed
Released in April 1980 the self-titled LP look metal on the map
By 1980 there was a select group of metalheads knew about the new wave of British heavy metal in each of the cities and people
Who read sound it certainly hadn't burst out into the wider consciousness that happened when I made
Brilliant marketing by Todd Smallwood their manager that guy's so clued in you just got to admire everything that he's ever done
okay, and even if it
developed sort of naturally the way he sort of developed the logo and the you know,
What we would now say brand Iron Maiden before you even listen to the record. It's the bloody
It's the way it looks it in thralls and terrifies in equal measures
right, and then you put the pill you put the needle or back name you put a needle in the groove and and it's just
Like fucking hell man, when it was released for advanced orders on EMI. We we were told it we're probably going top ten
Hopefully top five
It went straight in at number four
They'd been up that
fan
Hysteria so that when the album was gonna come out
Everyone had it on advanced orders and the magic of given an album being the chance is if you can get as many advance orders
As you can it's all sold on that one week. So it just went straight ever. We just believe it was unbelievable
I know to this day Steve Harris hates the production
From a guy called will Malone and he feels that somehow the production wasn't right
but I think it does stand out and I think it captures a moment and if they were to go back now and we
Created and re-recorded. It would sound so much better
The musicianship would be so much better, but it wouldn't be as good as a debut album
It's always the same use issues
if you listen to an album
You just wish you could go back in there and do it again because nothing's good enough
You could never get the best out of it
you always learn by coming away, but we did their album in the middle of China them tours and
Mixed with it
we were doing two up at Top of the Pops and next week you're running around doing promotional work and
You don't get a chance to think you know, and you just wish that you could
spectres that little bit what so I bought the album but in the long run
I've had people come up to me to say that that's what they like about the album because it was raw
It was new fresh and it wasn't
too
Pre-planned it was just raw and that's what they liked about. You know, what comes across with innocence
Phantom of the opera' slepak. It's a marvelous rollercoaster retract which starts off with a very sort of
ominous approach if you want and obviously inspired by the whole Phantom of the Opera story and
Builds from there. It's got harmonies and then goes into a wonderful
instrumental break with
Chiming guitars that oh something to wishbone ash more than anything else more than Thin Lizzy or more than Judas Priest isn't it's very uplifting
Those of us who are privileged to have seen Maidan do that number quite a few times live
Anyway, we're so excited with the way they captured it on record
And the fact is that first album has the seeds of something more than just straight ahead metal. It's not just brutal
It's sophisticated in its own way has got an energy that's actually quite progressive
Prog-rock, let's face it. You know, it's just prog-rock played a lot faster, really?
Yeah, it's it really you know
It's not rocket science this stuff
It's really taking something and developing it into something new then putting your own personal stamp on it. And that's really why I made it
You know, it's like turn up the tempo a little bit on the prog rock that was being played a few years previously
Like Bohemian Rhapsody, it's composed of various sections that are bolted together
Each of which is as good as the last
I'm a bass geek and I love the bass solo in the middle of it the Steve Harris executing the high register
And it just goes on so long and has so many thrilling parts Fenton the operation
Taking this or silver as as a point on it first album
Pinpoints why Maiden a maiden and they are still huge and so many of the other bands you talk
we look back at through rose-tinted spectacles some of them, you know, like I said,
There's a lot of shit that came through as well
There's a reason that Maiden a maiden and maiden and so piggish because they were bloody good at what they did
You know and for a bands who?
Had that kind of nascent anger of punk. They wrote catchy songs at the end of the day, right?
you're never gonna make it as a band in any form music unless you can write a song a
strange thing is it's actually dave murray who was the architect of so much of what went on because
He just naturally plays
Bizarre guitar stuff. I don't think he you know
he just does it and
and a lot of that stuff that was coming on and then when you put that with Dennis Stratton who was very much a
musician and therefore able to kind of
Nail the harmonies and the harmonics that went into it the music developed quite easily and quickly in that
Respect there were so many good tracks in that album that
You look back and think what it really?
Encapsulated on a record
the songs that I have made have been playing live for a couple of years and getting great attention across the country and
That's what they did this. I am made in itself
which is their anthem which it is a climactic way to finish any life said the
tractor
Absolutely stands out for me as Iron Maiden the original one the original Iron Maiden's going to get you no matter how far because none
Of us had any idea of how far that was going to be and it was such a great son
It was kind of like the icing on the cake
At that point and Maidan didn't compromise, you know, I think that's really really important
You know it stood by their guns didn't write a whole slew of new material
It was still the old stuff
They were playing from the old days, you know transferred on so the old fashioned 12-inch hunk of black frying all you know
and I think it's tremendous and it even today, you know, you can argue about the primitiveness of its sound and
the you know
the production failures perhaps that was slightly lacking, but I think I think that you know
that energy enthusiasm
You know still still hits you and it still comes from well the grooves as they would have been
You know in the vinyl days and I think it still stands up remarkably. Well today and I think
It stands up a little bit better perhaps than some of the more ambitious
Works that they undertook a little bit later on in their career. There's a fantastic debut
1980 was to be the breakthrough year for the cream of the new wave of metal bands
With maiden success highlighting the commercial possibilities for the genre
Several acts was signed to major labels and acts such as Saxon who had seen their debut albums failed commercially
Was suddenly thrust into the spotlight with their follow ups
Wheels of Steel released in May hit the top 5 in the UK and remained on the charts for 29 weeks
Wheels of Steel was the next big release definitely a combined with a massive tour that would see them
I don't know one night in Glasgow the next night and Brighton the next night in London
No, really badly organised, but we're selling records that slap some dates on
fantastic album fantastic release
Did them that world it could push them right up through the roof?
Very very strong songs two two four three good singles
In wheels of steel 740 m and n Susi hold on
- fine
If you listen to the first Saxon album those songs are
Quite a bit different from from their Wheels of Steel album, the Wheels of Steel album was was definitely more mainstream rock
with
absolutely tremendous
anthem Wheels of Steel, which of course they did top of the pops with and you know,
I remember watching on top of the votes, you know think meself. This is great. You know, it really is a stonking song
It's one of those songs with if it's you don't ride a motorbike beating and have it on the headphones because you'd end up doing
You know
270 mile an hour and driving into a wall because you just it just got you you just drive faster and faster and faster
It's just one of those songs
I
Don't think most bands. I mean Leppard are different because obviously they always had one eye on what was the great
catchy
Crack, I don't think bands like Saxon and I made went out their way to write
Deliberately capture material. I mean there comes a point in a career where the record company are going
You've got to write a hit single, but by when Saxon released wheels of steel that wasn't the case they were doing it naturally
It's how they wrote their songs and they just happen to be catchy and very good
Sampson also saw their fortunes changed commercially with the release of their second album head-on
with singer Bruce Dickinson having taken over vocal duties
The band's sound was now heavier and the album hit the top 40 in June 1980 on a personal note
I like the second album
Head-on because that was a much better sound and we had a producer in as much as that Toni Toni
Platt took it. We had two weeks pre-production and
we pulled apart each track and rebuilt it the mixes weren't particularly good they made the album, but it
wasn't quite where they wanted it to be and
so my manager Ralph Simon
suggested that I went in and mixed a few of the tracks and and saw whether I could
You know do anything more with them and the interesting thing actually was that I I thought they sounded more like ZZ Top
than
You know anything heavier than that
I
Work very much on the songs with Samson
That was the main thing was to
Try and bring the songs up to scratch to try and tighten the music up a little bit to make it
As much in your face as I possibly could it was an album for us that we were still in that
knowledgeable
Absorption stage where we were absorbing influence from everywhere
We were absorbing influences from bands that we were out on the road with
from the punk era as we've spoken about
From the the big bands that we'd haul or listen to
It was great to be able to get into a student ID always liked people for their productions as well
I'd love to people like Brian Eno the kind of stuff that he did with in ROTC music was
Experimental and he was always pushing the boundaries. So for me
Honest on a purely selfish note the studio was wonderful because suddenly there was this vast array of toys to play with
Hence, the reason that we had tubular bells and backwards sections and orchestras and you know and slowed down
Bits and you know anything then and everything that was a kind of hotchpotch of all this kind of influence going on
So I always looked on
Head on earth with a lot of love
She was a real
But she
Brock Sampson never released what you were called a great definitive album. They released good records
like yeah, I don't want to do pulls memory a disservice but workmen like
His perhaps it's Pat's cruel
But you know, if you're gonna be cruel then Sampson workman like whereas Maiden and leopard made you go almost there
Yet for many leopards debut album on through the night was a disappointment
leopard had signed to phonogram in 1979 on the back of their EP and their stunning live performances and
expectations for their first album were running high
Yet the core metal fan base was becoming suspicious of the band's intentions when they told the u.s
Supporting Pat Travis believing that they were already distancing themselves from the UK scene and solely looking to conquer America
Despite hitting the top 20 in the UK on through the night contained the single
Hello America
Which seemingly confirmed these fears and the album was also
Roundly criticized for aspects of its production when their album came out
Because that had so much money advance to them. I think everybody everybody immediately got a preconception of this album is going to be
you know another Royce and Thomas Baker, you know, sort of Queen produced whatever and
This although I like all the songs on the album I
When I listened to it, I thought to myself. I actually thought it was going to be
Slicker
They were very very influential on the early scene. They had a lot of press they toured a lot
They worked hard and they were a very very good live band
Then they came to record their first album and it is a weak album
It's got some great songs, and it's not that well produced. It didn't deserve the kicking that it got from sounds
Which which forced them really tear a complete rethink and push off to the States. It didn't
Deserve them getting the the bottom they got when they play reading because by this time people thought they'd sold out
It's something I could never understand because they were great. They really were a good live band and
The song more very good
First Def Leppard albums great record Def Leppard don't make bad records
The first thing that called hello America
Okay
Their songs are catchy because for them it's all about writing the classic pop meld single all the time
Whereas maiden is about writing songs
so they
They end up coming back to playwriting fester learning and of course it the crowds will turn against them
Primarily on the back of well have been written in sounds
Romney I think in hindsight but not through malice in any way
Probably just a sort of kind of like
Oh, thanks
You know
I've kind of done all this to try and help you and you just go
Fuck your own kind of America is you're more money. There is more money in America. Yeah, and let's face it leopard conquered America
Maiden never quite did to the level, you know that that leopard did and
Yeah, it was until 1987 that never even got in got the charts. I think in the UK
You know the singles charts
Which of course sales wise doesn't mean a thing that back then it was prestige and it did means or something
so
Yeah, I mean that first Def Leppard ad was a bloody good record. It's not got the impact and
the longevity that the first line made no still has kind of thing, but each state's a great record and
While the bands of the new wobba were having their first taste of mainstream exposure
1980 also saw the more established bands enjoying previously unattained chart success
With britain caught in the grip of a heavy metal explosion Judas Priest released their seminal British steel up
Like Sabbath return to the UK top ten with their heaven and hell LP
Motorhead broke into the mainstream with both their golden years EP and their landmark album Ace of Spades an
Ac/dc hit the number one spot with back in black. Not only were these commercially successful
They would become classics of the genre
The law breaking the law along the law
With the new wave of British heavy metal what you have
I like punk for years earlier and you know any kind of musical movement. It's creative as
Well as oh, yeah, it's not just a marketing ploy. It's too easy to be cynical these days
And it's a creative to Bhutan, right?
And these are people in bands the ones that really are worthwhile talking about I made Motorhead ACDC, you know
They feed off of that and he you know, and that's why you have these kind of these periods in time
Where it just goes?
The beds that were really established
To a certain level rose and
Benefitted perhaps even more than the new wave of British heavy metal bands because obviously but their network was in place
they had to do they had their fan base and as the sort of music that they played developed and new bands came through they
Rose to the top of the pile
Motorhead ac/dc status quo
rainbow Whitesnake Gillan Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio and Judas Priest
All of these bands became enormous and not one of those are a new wave of British heavy metal band
They're all heavy metal stroke hard rock bands
Every now and then it just explodes and and that's what happened in in 1980, you know
It was just like you can't hold us back anymore
You know these records are going to get into the upper reaches of the charts and fuck you
You are gonna have to play them at some point
During this boom
The Tygers of pan Tang had been busy establishing their reputation and increasing their fan base having signed a deal with MCA
They played a number of supporting gigs to raise their profile before the recording and release of their first album
Wild cat we started off at our life performing career opening for Magnum
We then jumped from Magnum to the Wheels of Steel to a Saxon did three weeks of Saxon
We then jump from that to some shows with Iron Maiden and directly said, okay
It's late June early July. We want you to go in the studio. We want you to record your first album
And I remember van Halen were coming across being me
Being a bit a bit mouthing a bit pushy
I can remember marching on the corridors of MCA knocking on the md's office door
and I said, can I have a word and he said
yes, and you can see the the look on the look on the face in trench then but now the look on his face said
Should you really be in here? You know, I'm sat here in a suit and a tie and you know
I'm a professional person and you have hair down to your waist and holes in your jeans
And this is not really normal and I said, excuse me. Mr. Um misters senior management, please type and sir
Van Halen are coming to the into the country
presuming that he knew of Van Halen was
And I said, they're only coming in for the redoing ten shows
Would it be all right if we just put the album back a couple of weeks and could we open up for them, please?
I'd really dearly wanted to do is as let the sort of the last support sort of thing before we went out on our own
You know
Great exposure because it's sold out everywhere. I mean, they didn't need anybody to open up for them. But you know
And he said none of us the studio's booked. Its you really need to be doing this
We went into the studio and we recorded the album in the eleven days flat and I think Chris mixed it in
Three or four days after that so it was a very quick album
Having successfully built up a huge following WorldCat became the next major release of the new wave of British heavy metal
Hitting the top 20 in August 1980. They all go straight into the British now we're talking
These charts charts here that we're talking about are the British
National charts as it were rather than a rather than a rock chart or a heavy metal chart or whatever so that there's artists
There's artists like Earth Wind & Fire and Michael Jackson and all those sort of massive
multi-platinum million sellin artists
You know their arms are all behind us, you know damn thing itself. Now, this is good. I like this
Tygers of pan Tang stay problem what could strip paint off a war and fantastic record it got fairly mixed reviews because
fairly heavy production on it
But great songs. Well again well-crafted songs quite a clever range of lyrics
the opening single that don't touch me this and go by the time the album came out it was
Obviously it was it was too old
you know the art their song rightly moved on so far it stands out like a sore thumb as being the oldest track on the
Album and they wrote some very clever stuff insanity
euthanasia upset some people but the concept of
the
Sort of futuristic. Okay, that should like you've had your time time to move on very very good album. Very good album indeed
Everything was was well-received about it
it was just
It was lovingly put together by us. And I'm sure it was lovingly mixed and engineered by Chris. You know, he did his at most
everybody just pulled together and it was it was a
quality product
While other bands around them were beginning to flange Maiden were now a far higher profile prospect and record company
Expectations increased their second single sanctuary was perhaps most notable for his controversial cover art
Although on its release in May 1980 it charted at a respectable 29 in the summer
They played the Reading Festival before embarking on a European tour supporting kiss their next release
However was a concession to publishing and record company pressure
women in uniform attract by obscure Australian band
Skyhooks was suggested to the bankers cover version material a classic rock track with top-ten potential
After the colossal highs of the year so far
Maiden reluctantly went into the studio with producer
Tony plant and the sessions proved tempts and frustrating it wasn't an option to not do it
It was the we had to come out with these three tracks from that bunch of sessions
So, you know that the producers role in that respect sometimes is to be the bad guy the fall
So they've gone into it with a really bad attitude, you know, we don't want to do this
Where is the better attitude would have been well we'll go in and we'll do this. We'll make this ours
It was very very difficult to get things to happen properly
And you know, it doesn't matter how good a produce you are in the end
If a band wants to be difficult if they don't want to be cooperative
then there's not a lot you can do you can't actually sort of stand there and and
Force people to play well
So, you know
I'm kind of proud in a way that I managed to get something out of those sessions at all
Given the attitude that was being displayed
Wasn't wholly professional from a lot of aspects
Steve Harris rather took the big kind of
The opinion that this was to be some kind of challenge, you know to him
So it was terrible the the whole atmosphere on those sessions was was horrible
It was also towards the end of Dennis Stratton
Time with the band, you know arguably the musician in the band
And so he wasn't getting on particularly. Well with them and wasn't being treated very nicely at all. It was all the kiss to her
and
What Smallwood had that had this?
Thing in his head, which he he had to have the whole band together every day
It was like in a goldfish bowl
Because I had previous experience to another band I
used to say to him
If you could try and push the band together all the time, they will get fed up with one another's company
You can't live the brief 24/7 with one person or four people you will end up
You know arguing but he wanted the band
Everywhere we went together. We all had to be together and he he was like
He was worried in case one of us disappear that whatever so my question to it was
Are you satisfied with the guitar player? And he said yes, and I said are you satisfied with the vocal?
contribution and he said yes more than
Sausage. So if the jobs being done, what is my personal life people do then what you know, you're coming to my house
you know, you're telling me what I can listen to what TV to watch and
He said no you said if you if you're listening to different mature stuff like that. You can't be focused on humpr
Oh, no, I made them
So we disagreed that was it
With Dennis Stratton gone a replacement guitarist was needed before the band could begin work on their second album
Adrian Smith had initially been mooted for the position instead of Stratton but declined due to other work
commitments
By the time this second opportunity to join the band came around he signed up and became part of the new lineup on the first
I made an album you had the twin guitar attack of Dave Mary and Dennis Stratton and
Dave Murray has always been quite content to be there, but not there he plays but he's not trying to take over the stage
But he's got his own way before me
He's got his own little space means in his own little world always had been
Dennis Stratton was much more of a lead guitarist and Dennis wanted to be very much upfront and part of the show
Trouble is Dennis to never quite looked right in doing it
and
Of course later on when he was fired after the first album Steve Harris claimed he was too much into the Eagles and that sort
Of stuff and not in to the heavier elements, which made Iron Maiden Dennis Stratton is a fantastic guitar player. He's a great singer
As a great year for melody and commercial sense, but I don't think he was actually quite right for Maiden anyway
So the change with Adrian was a good thing Adrian's
Also a great singer got an ear for the melody
But the melody is more metal like Dennis is a more commercial probably more like journey foreigner type stuff, but they didn't add that
fantastic with a wealth of material
Already written the new lineup of Iron Maiden returned to the studio to record their follow-up to the groundbreaking
Debut yet killers had a lot to live up to on its release in February 1981
I think people were expecting killers to be quite special
the press that maiden had given indicator that they were driven bunch of individuals with something to say and with plenty to sing about and
So I think there was a real expectation that built up before killers came out if I Maidan hadn't been such a great debut album
In killers my of eclipsed it but it didn't I mean it's damn close. Don't get me wrong
I mean when I say it's not as good it's fucking great record. It's just not as good
They the maiden backlash started. I think they got two stars in the same sort of that
It got severely kicked yet. The fact remains. It's got some very very strong songs
Personally for it's worth I prefer it to the first album. I loved the first album
I played it to death, but the second album that they started writing
Slightly cleverer songs a couple of older songs in there. That didn't work
And could've been pensioned off, but there are some really good songs. They're killers itself is a great song
I am a good living writer. I do write nowadays as well a lot. It's not like written by a monkey
there's a lot of thought goes into this and still need a
Little bit political but nowadays though. It wasn't so much
when I wrote killers though, I still had a in my head when I wrote the track killers on the second album the
Actual lyric is like a three-way split
It's about the guy who done it what the public says and you know
And the art and the own the aftermath of it all so I tried to sort of keep things interesting
I don't think I've ever actually spoken of it before quite like this
But I didn't actually like killers as much as I like the debut album
Because I felt though instinctively there was something out of balance. I didn't couldn't name. It couldn't maybe even put my finger to it
certainly never said anything about it back then because you must give a
Growing band a chance at time and I mean we always said it was three albums anyway, but for me
That's one of the lesser albums of the maiden camp for me. I was looking for this
kind of progression that that was going to
become
The stadium band I was looking for more polished. I was looking for a load of stuff and it was a long time coming and
There was a thing about the vocals on killers that was beginning in my mind. Just a little
to bother me and there was like a point where I
could almost feel the
Backline was beginning to off balance and out balance the front line
after the rush of activity in the creative highs of 1980, it was inevitable that
1981 would see its fair share of disappointments like
killers Def Leppard's second album high and dry performed poorly on the UK charts in comparison with his
Predecessor yet after being accused of selling out and aiming for us success with their debut the band found that their music was more
Appreciated in America and they follow up hit the top 40 pop albums chart a vital component of this u.s
success was young producer Robert Mutt Lange
Who had succeeded in bringing ac/dc to the mainstream with highway to hell and back in black and who now?
Repeated the formula with the young Sheffield Act
Whereas on through the night had been criticized for its production with high and dry Leppard emerged as a polished hot metal force
High dry certainly takes everything for Leppard in turn into a different league. But yeah, I mean you nut length
They've got that laying on board. Okay, but what language learning as
We're death method he done sort of some
Loverboy, I think Canadian melodic rock band
He'd work with em
And so salt like started to hone his crime
After he hired help back in black and flows back to rock and that kind of made his name
I mean it was in metal terms a hotshot producer, but in kind of the terms that he's known now
He was a nobody still and leopard were nobodies in
Global terms and they would become
To sort metal in certainly in the late 80s what? Mr. Production the thing is we we saw a
number of times, you know prior to mark getting hold of the the material and I remember when I heard the album
I thought who's that? Because it's race not bloody death Leopard
I mean he put the real nut stamp on it and it was just an incredible. What what he did
I mean, yeah, I took it to different experience. I get well Americanized them basically
That was the start of Def Leppard's actual career with the leopards themselves for a long time in the United Kingdom did
Definitely have a problem
Because United Kingdom was metal mad. That means it was aggressive Rock Med and
The Def Leppard's they had more than just that going for themselves, and it was very difficult
To actually get through to a metal or hard rock based audience that there was more to life than just that and of course
It took a few albums and eventually pyromania surfaced and it was a cracking album in a sense
I felt that we were not actually ready for that sort of thing until the time of
Pyromania, which is probably why the leopards had to go to America
you know with their first couple of albums because in a way
I don't think we were at the time quite ready to receive a different more commercial more melodic
But still powerful form of their kind of rock music. It's
far more melodic than Iron Maiden and
It's far more catchy song based than I am Maiden not deliberate attempt to write a hit single
It's just how they wrote. That's what appealed to them and that's what they were aiming for
Harris and Maiden we're looking in a more sort of
Musically complex approach. It's just just so it's a tiny little sort of differentiation
Then it means that Maiden win that way and left with no one
They got the biggest produce in the world to produce around smart line, you know and the story case closed, you know
Guaranteed success that they're the signs of the biggest agency
With with the hardest manager going
You know, you know when somebody says, you know this fellas on the phone, you know
You you shoot yourself as a yes. I'll pay them anything they can play
And that's great. It just worked so well for them, and there is success or you know to this day and deservedly so
as Def Leppard began a process that would eventually see them distancing themselves entirely from the new wave of British heavy metal the
Movement itself was losing its original community atmosphere
1981 saw Saxon released the top 10 album denim and leather and the Tygers of pan Tang followed Wildcat with the equally impressive
spellbound
Yet the emergence of new success stories was sketchy but bands such as praying mantis who was such a vital part of the scene
Failing to chart with their debut album and less prominent acts like angel which being dropped by the major labels
Those who were established were now left to their own devices the music industry as a whole had lost interest
By the time 81 came around I think
Obviously a lot of a lot of bands had got major record label deals
And I think I think the scene had slightly dissipated to be honest with you, I think
you know the new way of a Britisher metal hit met a heavy metal had been a
Launch pad for a lot of these bands and now they were kind of forging off on paths of their own. I
Mean that venom is a prime example really just three, you know satanic Jordi's
Muttering about the devil unwittingly created, you know
Probably two new genres of music black metal and thrash metal maybe even more
The new way British MLC and I think was suppose was becoming you know
Was kind of as I say breaking out into into several different areas
So that kind of core that existed at the tail end of the serpent is you know, turn of the 80s I think
Had been slightly broken because you separate the wheat from the chaff
There's a lot of chaff
You know and
Yet you figure heads to start to establish themselves he also rands
Are there for a reason this because they're not that good if you perceive it as a horse race
You know that you take bets on
and you know
you have the tigers horse and the saxon horse and the animating horse in the period - horse and it
Will will kind of set off roughly at the same sort of time a year goes by you know
we've all had albums out or had chart success all played sold-out shows that don't Club to us and stuff like that and
Other bands, you know a sort of starting to fall a little bit behind and that's through no fault of their own
it's because the you know
That the power of the record company wasn't behind them
And it's it it certainly then it did matter
And for I'm Maiden to continue their career more lineup changes proved inevitable
Although killers had been a disappointment commercially the band had embarked on their first World Tour in an attempt to evolve from a successful
underground phenomenon into a major player in popular music
Yet singer Paul
Deanna was struggling with both the pressure and with substance abuse issues and although he was an
Iconic frontman his tenure as the lead singer of iron mate was brought to a close
It will prove vital to the band's subsequent success as Diana's limitations as a vocalist
already been apparent on The Killers album
There were one or two fundamental factors within I made and it didn't work the most obvious
Factor to me was that if you've got music that's being played that fast
And you've got a singer singing in the same octave as the rest of the music
It's all going to become a big clutter and that really needed to change with that record
he really heard Paul Di'Anno going as far as he possibly can and
Knowing he had nothing more to give and I think with hindsight. He listened back to the record
You think Dion has done a great job
But Maidan themselves, like they're really starting to open up. They're starting to become the band
we all were to know and love in the mid to late 80s, but
Deanna was at that point where he was about to be left behind
the reason why it came to an end with me the lion made me because
the second album killers as I said was
Going more towards the metal side and less of the punchline
I was a bit unhappy even though I wrote the title track we Steve killers itself
There was other songs on the other eye I have issues with I just didn't feel right in myself. So obviously to
Make it more interesting for myself. I was drinking more alcohol
doing more drugs
Something I loved was turning to something. I didn't want but it was being successful
You know, I mean I knew there and then that I didn't want to go down that route. So
to
blot out
some of this stuff you do these things, you know, I weren't the only one doing drugs at the time, but you know,
I was doing it and
I was very very unhappy and I think they knew I was unhappy and it came to a head and was gonna sit there
I think Steve was about to say something about like we want you to either straighten it up or go
And I wanted to go anyways, we came to the conclusion. Okay. I'm out of here man. That's it
I've gone I don't think that Maiden getting rid of Paul Di'Anno or poor Deanna. Lumen I made not Paul
The owner being asked Levi made me just pick I mean depending on who you talk to or whatever. I
Don't think that had anything to do with making a break from
The underground as it were
But they're probably a good argument to say had piano remained in Maidan
They wouldn't become as big as they did now, that's not to belittle. Paul chemically fucking great singer
I need performance on those two Maiden album is brilliant
Right, but it obviously wasn't going to work in the context that Steve's
vision
For Maiden, you know it wasn't in sync with that which of course is why he and they were just fortunate enough that
Bruce Dickinson
happened to be
You know the square peg for the square hole Bruce was just obviously going to be successful one way or another
Very determined guy very intelligent
What a fantastic voice, you know, I mean that was that was fairly obvious. So I wasn't surprised in the least
when
Bruce mentioned to me that he'd had an approach from Iron Maiden and I
Had no hesitation and suggesting or you know confirming the fact that that's where he ought to go
Although dickinson had been a major element in samson success when he took over vocal duties from the album head-on the band themselves
Had struggled to recapture their initial energy their third album shock tactics failed to chart
About the public and the band members had grown tired of the novelty of ThunderStick
When dickinson was approached by Iron Maiden?
he was in a very different back to the one that had previously been seen as a
front-runner in the new wave of British heavy metal
Well the time that Bruce left Samson
I've already got a wedge was being driven between myself and the rest of the band because they wanted to be treated seriously
In as much as that, you know, forget all the stage show and forget all that so I had become very alienated
We did a stint at the Marquee
where
I
Still gone on with all the the garb and the ThunderStick image and was still being myself
Thunder steel and the rest of the band really dulled it down
they went out wearing t-shirts and jeans and
Old trainers and stuff like that and just wanted the music to be able to project
so by the very nature of doing that I was totally alienated so
It was time to say goodbye
Now with that with the Samson thing
The way that I recall it and bearing in mind that I wasn't around
was that they'd been offered a fairly big deal with I believe it was I am and
the contracts were ready to be signed and
Were actually on the on the desk for an afternoon meeting
when all the rest of the band turned up there only for Bruce to turn up and say well actually
I'm leaving I'm joining Iron Maiden
Would Samson have gone on to greater things if Bruce had stuck around?
Do you know I kind of doubt it really in my heart of hearts
I think with the head on album, which was the second one. That's that Bruce
produced with with Samson that was probably about as good as it was going to get I think personally I
think probably
Bruce needed to leave Samson and
Join another band in order to further his career as much as made needed Bruce to further their career
Dickenson joining iron mate helped to realize the band's early potential and it
Transformed them into the world's most important heavy metal act
in February 1982 the single run to the hills' hit the UK top 10 and the following month the album number of the
Beast was released. It would become a landmark of the genre
It was just but pure piece of luck Pitman
The guy I bought in was perfect for America because you wouldn't have got the airplay on you
Haven't got you wouldn't got a radio play in the States with dr. Nose was a bit too rough for American radio
Dickenson on the other end at the perfect voice and
in some ways
As much of a character as Diana was in a different way but a much more polished performer
I mean they were used to calling the air rights aren't kind of power their lungs and he was very much very physical on stage
Very he was you know
You dr. Know for all the qualities of all to the band it no one could say that Dickinson was a discipline
I still remember hearing run to the hills on the radio. I mean I was a big fan of Maiden right but
Di'Anno leaving or do you know ya know not being in a band anymore hadn't kind of affected me in this little way that you
Know when bonds got died
You know ac/dc how it was really traumatic we'd made and it was kind of like oh, right. Yeah, well
And then I heard them run to the hills on a rain. Is it bloody good? Why happen do I mind?
You know, I got even better
I once numbered the Beast came out. Yes, there might have been still a small percentage of Maidan fans
He refused to listen to it because of a misguided allotted poliana
but they won over the skeptics and more important one themselves a new audience and I think they've renewed themselves and
Revitalized themselves because they made a great record
They make possibly the most important metal album in the history of British music
I think maidens ambitions had got so huge by the time number of the beasts came around that
You know that the the new wave of British heavy metal thing was was a kind of distant memory to them. Really
Well
Reflective
That was the first definitive made now them I think but that was the one where you could actually say blimey
They spend really are as good as we thought they were going to be
I mean, I think at the time I reviewed in sounds gave it five stars
and compared it to
Claimed at the time that it had the same impact
It would have the same impact that deep purple in rocket had in its day and I think I was right
I think it was a definitive album
There is something to be said for the ottoman era
He's kind of find themselves on the third album rock bands certainly find themselves on their third record, right?
They have the impact of the first album. They're difficult second album
and if they can counteract that
How many bands do it? I
Made and did it Bon Jovi slippery. When wet Europe final countdown. That was the third record. It's like, you know leopard
Pyromania is the one when they really all come. Ok. Hysteria is enormous. But pyromania is where it all comes together for them
They're more aware of how they should sound. So production is all never to be converted
They're bigger so they can afford more. So it's gonna sound better, you know, they're better at what they do. So they write better songs
So, of course, it's gonna sound better, you know
They are now road tested and they can bring part of that live thing into what they do
So, of course it all sounds better
So give them the chance and with that amount of talent get to your third album
and it will fall into place for a lot of rock bands and that's what happened with I made and
In many ways by the time the number of the beast was released the movement that had been known as the new wave of British
Heavy metal was all but over
Maiden and leopard would continue to dominate the heavy rock scene along with those already
Established bands who had been propelled into superstardom along with them
Saxon and the Tygers of pan Tang would eventually run out of commercial steam and the music industry itself would inevitably
Become obsessed with new movements and other emerging scenes the new wave of British heavy metal. Wasn't that new anymore?
I think things do run out of steam. There's no two ways about it that the big bands now have been signed
They had their thing and they were doing it extremely. Well. The the labels were looking for something new they no longer wanted to sign
another
Iron Maiden or another Saxon Diamond Head had come on board. Very late. And
Hadn't been particularly successful and that was pretty the last major band to get signed after you've had your movement
then you have the bands that rise to the top and they have then their period of
You know, we're at the top of our game, we're two figure heads and we define what happens and people follow them and bands
starts and want to sound like
They do
By 82 Saxon maiden Leopard to a lesser extent Tygers of pan Tang
have written to the top and have joined Motorhead ac/dc Priest rainbow status quo as
part of now the establishment
and
As with any musical scene, there were the near misses those bands who seemed destined for greatness
But who either failed to capitalize on their potential or failed to rise to the occasion?
For praying mantis who had formed long before the movement began to take shape
The interests that they attracted failed to materialize into any viable commercial success. It was a
Guy interested in managing us at the time
He's known as Pete Peter Mensch
who was that scorpions manager and allows the the
Ac/dc I may had involvement and all those bands and he said at the time we needed a singer
And we were just too cocky and thinking they really knew it all that now
we don't and a lot of people were saying I know you're fine as you are, but
You know a couple of guys
From the higher end of the business said yeah, we need the frontman
Give us give it some
identity because at that time it was just a four-piece and there was three of us singing I was singing Christmas singing and the other
guitarist Steve Carroll was singing and
That didn't give the the band the identity it needed
I mean, yes, we should have got a singer now. I know that and it was probably the
a death knell for us really was because he came over that time and that's when he saying
That's right. Think of those early days as well where we were the aristeros
Clive Davis, who was the head of our student in America?
Wanted us to do a cover of what was it all down all over the map over kinks
seen what the success of you really got me by Van Halen did you know and
That was our sort of entrance into the u.s. For you never say sir, but that didn't actually work out
I mean in the end we didn't get signed by our store over there Dobby
No, it's a and then there soon soon fizzled out over there over here with Ariston. Mm-hmm
Certain of what went wrong there, but it was some some management dude. Ow, I
Cannot emphasize how fucking good pregnant is a car was certainly but I mean no yet they were at that point though
time tells no lies is a fucking great record and it just didn't happen for him and you always
In every movement you get the band
That should have but didn't make it and praying mantis are the new wave of British heavy metal band
That should have been enormous and it just didn't happen. You know, I knew and you you feel gutted for him in a way
I mean, I know I know the troy brothers
Who are the mainstay of praying mantis Nick great guys, really nice blokes and you know, it's fuck man
If anyone deserves it they do but then it just didn't matter for
Diamond Head to the movement seemed to promise so much but was over too quickly
Despite major label interest at an early stage
Their decision to press and release their debut album on their own label happy face records
Meant that their commercial career had yet to take off while maybe leopard and Saxon were entering the upper reaches of the UK charts
Finally signed to MCA in 1981 Diamond Head second album did hit the top 30 in Britain
But new more progressive elements in their follow up Canterbury led to the band being dropped by the record company
Things might have been quite a bit different for dynamo, but tan, I don't know
I it did seem to be like, you know, try and conquer England which we almost did and then
Usually bands going to of the states and for some reason we'd seem to miss out on that, you know
Luxury and Japan and places like that and we ended up been told. Okay. Go back into the studio and write another album
no, we just don't want you know you tend to write your album to take ages and then
spend two weeks to earn it and then let's say
Let's start writing your next one. Then. You know, it's always rankled me that Diamondhead never became big now
I personally think diamond has should have been the biggest band to come out of the new wave of British heavy metal
When people said they were the natural successors to Led Zeppelin which people were at the time. I don't think they were far off
I think they had everything they could have actually been global superstars. No question about it
I think a new wave of British heavy metal was tailor-made to propel them to legendary status and it never happened
They never got blue on the Colt stature because I think things went wrong on a business side
They made the wrong decisions at the wrong time, and eventually it's covered them
But for a while I have to say I thought they were the best band in a new wave of British heavy metal
It was just piss-poor management in the end of the day piss more management ignorance and arrogance
You know our fucking brilliant plans, you know, nobody will ever dinna like that
I mean sounds set out in the mist like the new Led Zeppelin and they
certainly
I mean I'm selling only good as that but they certainly had the kind of ideas that could have developed in that kind of
Kind of way that majestic rock sound
like many British bands
You know
Pathetic management is the undoing of them
I mean, you know, there is the classic story that Diamondhead were managed by Sean Harris the singer's mum and her boyfriend
okay, and
the
foreigner
massive mega successful us
stroke British rock band
Their management came over sniffing l wanted to slice of dead scene Leppard Schneider wanted a slice of the UK pie
Right foreigner at a time for is probably the biggest record in the world
Come over express an interest in managing Diamond Head
No, thanks. We stay with my mum
if
Anything sums up the fucking blinkered ignorant
attitude that fucks up so many British bands in
Management terms then this is it
Because surely that was their ticket to superstardom
For the Tygers of pan Tang the commercial and critical failure of their third album crazy nights lent to a record company
Rethink with one eye on the kind of American crossover success that leopard had achieved
Songwriting duties for the Tigers 1982 follow-up were handed over to outsiders and inevitably this left the band themselves
Resentful, although the album the cage went on to become their biggest chart success in the UK this lack of artistic control
Became something that the band simply could not tolerate
The cage was was a very much planned
Pre-planned by the record company is going to be very Americanized and for the American market
And although in essence, that's great
and if we you know if we struggle like Def Leppard did then, you know out of a rolls-royce outside, but
It just I don't know it wasn't the way for us. It wasn't the way forward for the Tigers. I don't think I
Had made number up as far as no, you know, don't use outside songwriters. Well, they don't use that songwriters
You know it Steve writes the book of the material
So EMI, obviously never asked them to you know in Def Leppard
You know write their own songs, so I couldn't quite see why why this was happening
And it bugged me. It really kind of went against the grain
It achieved commercial success, it had a pretty high chart position we did a big tour and
You know everybody started patting each other on the back
we
demoed a fifth album
Went down to the record company or dead pleased played it to them
In the board room and 1982 and they said yeah, that's very good
Okay, but we've got these songs that we'd like you to have a listen to
And we said well, there's nine songs here that you know, yeah
But you want to listen to these songs and we should really be recording these songs and these were for all outside songwriters. So
We were becoming a I
Don't know
Just mutant just session players really
session players in the name of the tags upon tyne which is
Certainly wasn't the way ahead that we thought so at that point
we took a massive decision to part company with a major record label and
The sound house too became another casualty of the loss of interest in the new wave of British heavy metal
Despite being such a vital force for the movement in the late 70s in
1981 neil k became locked in a dispute with the bandwagons landlord
Which eventually led to the termination of his contract and the end of the influential heavy-metal disco
Suddenly one day we had a phone call from the public and manager of the bandwagon
in reality known as the Prince of Wales public house Kingsbury circle
He called me in he called the guys that had the contract in and he basically sat us. He gave us six weeks notice
twelve weeks later the wagons shut
Opening night for the nacho position was met by cat calls screams eggs
I understand a picket line outside with placard waving and above all else a lot of people sitting on the dance floor
Reading the newspaper. It did upset a huge amount of people but
It enabled me to
Put the show on
the road and
go and see people that hitherto I had only seen as a
Support DJ and compair and some of the big shows that I was touring at the time
We covered the hair years arrogance stuff. We went on and on and
then I
Kind of felt that I couldn't really do anymore and it was falling off and fading away and I said goodbye to the sound house
You know, and I said, thank you for the years
There's nothing I can give you anymore nothing I can say just thank you so very much for the life
You gave me what else? Can you say?
with the scene now over and the community and decline the new wabun could simply have become a footnote in the career histories of
maidan, leopard and sassy
Yet on the other side of the Atlantic young rock musicians had been keenly following the developments in Britain
And what emerged was America's own new wave of heavy metal?
Every period of rock music with a past on some kind of legacy
And the new wave of British heavy metal is no different in that respect
Crash was very much the new wave of American heavy metal and very very much
And it was inspired directly by the new wave of British heavy metal
You know and much like the new wave of British heavy metal
there are a few bands that were brilliant and a lot of bands that work and
whereas the new wave of British heavy metal took the blueprint of
Classic metal as we kind of would know it now and just made it faster and louder
The American bands took the new wave of British heavy metal and made that faster and louder and that's what fresh was
It's nice the moment someone comes up says you started it
He was one of the person people that was there
You you put their influence into the bag no matter our own ticket. You will still get a buzz out of it
The legacy of nuova has been
It produced a couple of big bands like Iron Maiden Def Leppard
probably Saxon
The other bands just about struggling on underneath
And that in turn influenced the next generation, which has been in a Metallica?
Etc. I sometimes think of diamond it is like a stepping stone between the classic the hands and
The Metallica balancing. We just parted it that chain of heavy metal slice to be it's nice to be recognized. It's nice to
to be part of but the big picture rather than
One of the runners to get for that. No, man
I'm great
Brought metal back to basics and
just
enabled people to enjoy themselves again
We realized that you know
There was fun to be had from the form of music that had been underground for so long. It was back on the street and
an entertaining
In those days it was, you know knew no boundaries
it was just a case of trying to push it out there as far as you could get and sometimes it backfired but
Such is life
