Fist (English band)

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Fist
General information
origin Newcastle upon Tyne , England
Genre (s) New Wave of British Heavy Metal , Hard Rock
founding 1978 as Ax, 2001
resolution 1985
Website http://www.fistrocks.com/
Current occupation
Harry "Hiroshima" Hill
Dave Irwin
Glenn S. Howes
Stephen East
former members
Electric bass
 Big Al
Electric bass
 Dave Durey
Electric guitar, vocals
 Keith Satchfield
Electric bass
 John Wylie
Electric bass
 Norman Appleby
Electric guitar
 John Roach
singing
 Glen Coates
Electric bass
 Brian Rickman
Drums
 Martin "Hairy" Harrison
Electric guitar
 Martin Metcalf

Fist is an English hard rock and new wave of British heavy metal band from Newcastle upon Tyne , which was founded in 1978 under the name Ax , disbanded in 1985 and has been active again since 2001.

history

The origins of the band go back to the mid-1970s, when members were still playing in the pub band Warbeck. This resulted in the band Ax in 1978. The line-up consisted of singer and guitarist Keith Satchfield, guitarist Dave Irwin and bassist Dave Durey and was completed in April by drummer Harry "Hiroshima" Hill. In September the band had recorded their first single called SS Giro . Performances in the north of England followed under this name. Eight months after it was founded, it fell apart for a short time before a new beginning under the name Fist was started in December 1979 with John Wylie as the new bassist. The name changes were made by the group so as not to be confused with the American band of the same name .

After her first appearance, Neat Records became aware of her. After recording a demo , the label released the single Name, Rank and Serial Number in 1980 with the song You'll Never Get Me up in One of Those as the B-side. Due to the good sales of the single, the band was booked for a session on Capital Radio . This made it possible to perform with well-known groups, such as Samson in London . Neat Records meanwhile arranged a contract with MCA , about which the single was re-released and in late September 1980 the debut album Turn the Hell On was released. The singles Forever Amber and Collision Course were extracted from this in the same year via MCA . The respective B-sides Brain Damage and Law of the Jungle are not included on the album. Brain Damage can also be heard on the MCA sampler Brute Force in 1980 . In January 1981 it went on tour through Great Britain with UFO . Shortly thereafter, the Neat Records sampler Lead Weight appeared , which includes the exclusive song Throwing in the Towel . The 1978 Ax song SS Giro was also used. The group was performed under the old name Ax on this song, but Fist later re-recorded the song for their second album. In the later months the activity came to a standstill, which was also due to the fact that the label refused to finance a tour through Europe . Guitarist and singer Keith Satchfield and bassist John Wylie left the line-up and were replaced by singer Glen Coates ( Hollow Ground ), guitarist John Roach ( Mythra ) and bassist Norman "Pop" Appleby. In early 1982 the group resumed its activity, with Neat Records, but now again without the support of MCA. After recording in Impulse Studios , the debut album Back with a Vengeance was released at the beginning of the same year . This was followed by appearances, among others together with Y&T . A short time later, the well-known songs Dog Soldier and Vamp as well as the new songs Lucy and The Wanderer , a cover of the original by Dion DiMucci , were recorded for the Friday Rock Show . The show aired on July 30, 1982. The Wanderer was also released as a single that same year. In the following years, the band was little active and hardly successful, after which it came to a breakup in early 1985.

In 2001, Satchfield and Hill neither revived the band with the help of Hollow Ground guitarist Martin Metcalfe and bassist Big Al. This was followed by a tour of the UK and an EP containing remixed versions of The Vamp , Axeman , Terminus and Name, Rank and Serial Number . In 2002 the compilation Back with a Vengeance: The Anthology was published. In 2005 Demolition Records released the album The Storm . After that, former Hollow Ground bassist Brian Rickman joined the cast. Shortly thereafter, the band became inactive again due to the instability of the cast. It wasn't until 2013 that a new line-up was found, which, in addition to the already known Hill, Irwin and Appleby, consisted of the new singer Glen S. Howes, who had previously been with Blitzkrieg and Tygers of Pan Tang . In 2015 the band was featured on Keep It True .

style

According to Malc Macmillian in The NWOBHM Encyclopedia , the band had kept their original songs by changing their name, but they had been arranged shorter and faster. The first single is reminiscent of the upbeat - and medium-slippery songs by More and Starfighters . In addition, influences from Deep Purple and Gillan can be heard in the early songs . Since the arrival of Coates, Roach and Appleby, all members have been involved in the writing of the songs. Back with a Vengeance is stronger on heavy metal -oriented than in the debut album and was with works by Diamond Head and Def Leppard comparable. According to Martin Popoff in his book The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties , the debut album features straightforward hard rock that aging has hardly harmed. The following album mixes NWoBHM rock , punk and rock music from the 1970s. The eccentric singing is also characteristic. While listening to it, he was reminded of an early Samson album, where hooklines were used in the songs . Allmusic's Eduardo Rivadavia wrote that the second album was cleanly produced and melodic and the first was rather raw. The two recordings would have hardly anything to do with each other.

Discography

  • 1980: Name, Rank and Serial Number (Single, Neat Records )
  • 1980: Forever Amber (single, MCA )
  • 1980: Turn the Hell On (album, MCA)
  • 1980: Collision Course (Single, MCA)
  • 1982: Back with a Vengeance (Album, Neat Records)
  • 1982: The Wanderer (single, Neat Records)
  • 2002: Back with a Vengeance: The Anthology (compilation, Castle Communications Records )
  • 2005: Storm (album, Demolition Records )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Matthias Mader, Otger Jeske, Manfred Kerschke: NWoBHM New Wave of British Heavy Metal The glory Days . Iron Pages, Berlin 1995, p. 115 f .
  2. ^ A b c Malc Macmillan: The NWOBHM Encyclopedia . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-931624-16-3 , p. 220 ff .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Biography. fistrocks.com, accessed June 28, 2016 .
  4. ↑ a b c Biography. (No longer available online.) Rockdetector.com, archived from the original on March 5, 2016 ; accessed on June 28, 2016 . 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rockdetector.com
  5. ^ A b Eduardo Rivadavia: Fist. Allmusic , accessed June 28, 2016 .
  6. ^ Rüdiger Stehle: Keep It True XVIII - Königshofen. Powermetal.de , accessed on June 28, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Martin Popoff : The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2005, ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5 , pp. 121 f .