Excalibur (band)
| Excalibur | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | Bradford , England |
| Genre (s) | New Wave of British Heavy Metal , Hard Rock |
| founding | 1981 |
| resolution | 1992 |
| Last occupation | |
| Dean Wilson | |
| Dave Sykes | |
| Steve Blades | |
Electric guitar |
Paul "Soldier" Solynskyi |
| Paul McBride | |
| former members | |
Electric bass |
Geoff Livermore |
Electric bass |
Martin Hawthorn |
Drums |
Stewart Sea |
Drums |
Mick Dodson |
Excalibur was an English hard rock and new wave of British heavy metal band from Bradford that was formed in 1981 and disbanded in 1992.
history
The band was formed in 1981, with the members all in their early teens . For example, the guitarist Solynskyi was born on October 27, 1966. The group initially consisted of the singer Paul McBride, the guitarist Paul “Soldier” Solynskyj, the bassist Martin Hawthorn and the drummer Stewart Meer. The choice of the name was purely a matter of feeling: It had only sound reasons, because one did not want to be associated with the local myths . In the following period, occasional concerts joined before the band played in early 1983 regular concerts, with most appearances in youth clubs and institutions of the YMCA took place. Until 1984, however, hardly any records were published. That year Mick Dodson joined the cast as the new drummer, replacing Stewart Meer. Then the demo Back Before Dawn appeared . The group had already recorded a demo in previous years, but, unlike Back Before Dawn , did not put it into circulation. In 1985, the members, who had meanwhile finished school, could concentrate more on the band and got a contract with Conquest Records , whereby an employee of the label had previously convinced himself of the band live. The EP The Bitter End was released on the label in the same year . This contains the three songs Come on and Rock , Haunted by the Shadows and Only Time Can Tell , which were already included on the previous demo, as well as the three new songs I'm Telling You , Devil in Disguise and the theme song. However, members were not satisfied with the quality of the publication. The group then made recordings for the Friday Rock Show , which aired on July 18, 1986. The show was broadcast again in September. The recordings were produced by Dale Griffin . All members were under 19 years old. This brought the band to the attention of Jet Records , which Excalibur wanted to sign. After the first demo recordings were made, the label was no longer interested in the band, so there was no further collaboration. However, since the band was very satisfied with the recordings from the Friday Rock Show , they agreed with the BBC to reuse them for the single Hot for Love , which was only released in 1988 by Clay Records . The sound carrier was self-financed by the band and attracted attention with its vulgar cover, which depicts leather panties and a tattooed woman's bottom. By 1988 the band had completed a national tour as well as occasional appearances with bands such as Vow Wow and Uriah Heep , for the latter band they opened a total of five concerts. In addition, with Dave Sykes, a new drummer had joined the band towards the end of 1988 and (as early as 1986) with Steve Blades (born May 20, 1968 in Scotland ) a second guitarist who also occasionally played the keyboard. In 1988 the band appeared on the BBC program On a Personal Note , where they played the songs Hot for Love and Running Scared . In the show were also Def Leppard and Little Angels to see. In December 1988, a gig had to be canceled because Sykes broke his wrist and Hawthorn was involved in a car accident. In August 1989 the band reached a recording deal with Active Records . In the same year, bassist and founding member Martin Hawthorn left the line-up and was replaced by Geoff Livermore. After the changed line-up had rehearsed together for a few months, they went to the Ric Rac Studios in Leeds for three weeks to record the debut album One Strange Night . The band produced the album themselves, but had it mixed in Sweden by Mats Lindfors, who had previously worked for Candlemass and Treat . It was released by Active Records in 1990. Following several appearances followed, among other things, along with Saxon . After that, Livermore left the band. To end their European tour with Vengeance , Dean Wilson (born March 5, 1966) joined the band. The band played in Tilburg in October 1991 with Vengeance, Gin on the Rocks and Thunderhead . In the same year work began on the second album. During this Paul McBride became more dissatisfied with the progress of the band, after which the band broke up towards the end of the year. To say goodbye, the band got together again for a tour in the spring of 1992. Paul Solynskyj and Martin Hawthorn later founded the band Hardware, which played with Amorphis and Therion , among others .
style
According to Malc Macmillan in The NWOBHM Encyclopedia , the group on Back Before Dawn is melodic, but still “heavy” and reminds of bands like Turbo, Dealer , Geddes Ax and Elixir . After the release of The Bitter End , the band was referred to by some as the next Def Leppard . On One Strange Night the band sounds like First Offence or like a harder and more accomplished version of Idol Rich. Singer McBride sometimes strained his vocal cords too much on the album. The song Carole Ann sounds very much like Bon Jovi . Also Allmusic compared the acoustic song with Bon Jovi. The band saw themselves as a cheerful rock band with "a lot of melody and power and not too many keyboards". Otger Jeske described the band as relatively melodic in the book NWoBHM New Wave of British Heavy Metal The glory Days . Jeske also wrote that the band was compared to Def Leppard by the trade press after The Bitter End was published. In The Ultimate Hard Rock Guide Vol I - Europe , the group is described as a classic hard rock band. In his review of One Strange Night , Holger Stratmann from Rock Hard wrote that you can listen to the album for the long wait because the music sounds very mature. However, it now sounds a bit dusty. However, there is a “well-arranged use of acoustic guitars and NWOBHM virtues such as the clean melody”. In songs like Waiting , Lights Go Down and Frozen Promises , the group sounds like a hard version of the old Heavy Pettin or Tokyo Blade , who "made sparkling clean hard rock with a sense of melodies on their first albums". On the album you can hear "[e] in a high-pitched shouter with a slightly rough voice".
Discography
- 1984: Back Before Dawn (demo, self-published)
- 1985: The Bitter End (EP, Conquest Records )
- 1987: Demo 1987 (demo, self-publication)
- 1988: Hot for Love (single, Clay Records )
- 1990: One Strange Night (Album, Active Records )
- 1990: Carole Ann (single, Active Records)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Malc Macmillan: The NWOBHM Encyclopedia . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-931624-16-3 , p. 206 f .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Excalibur. Allmusic , accessed September 17, 2015 .
- ↑ a b Biography. (No longer available online.) Rockdetector.com, archived from the original on September 30, 2015 ; accessed on September 17, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d e Angelika Sauer: Excalibur. Somewhat mysterious ... In: Break Out . The Heavy Rock Magazine. August 1990, p. 8th f .
- ↑ a b c d e Garry Sharpe-Young , Horst Odermatt & Friends: The Ultimate Hard Rock Guide Vol I - Europe . Bang Your Head Enterprises Ltd, 1997, p. 195 .
- ↑ Michael van de Moosdijk: The Hard N'Heavy Autumn . Vengeance Gin on the Rocks Excalibur Thunderhead. In: Metal Hammer . January 1991, p. 132 f .
- ^ Matthias Mader, Otger Jeske, Manfred Kerschke: NWoBHM New Wave of British Heavy Metal The glory Days . Iron Pages, Berlin 1995, p. 105 f .
- ↑ Holger Stratmann: Excalibur . One strange night. In: Rock Hard . No. 38 , April 1990, pp. 48 .
