More (band)

More
General information
origin	London , England
Genre (s)	New Wave of British Heavy Metal , Rock
founding	1979 as Defender, 1985, 1998, 2011 as Exmore
resolution	1983, 1985, 2000
Current occupation
singing	Mike Freeland
singing	Richie Wicks
Electric guitar	Paul Stickles
Electric guitar	Chris Tsangarides
Electric bass	Barry Nicholls
Drums	Andy John Burton
Drums	Steve Rix
former members
singing	Paul Mario Day
Electric guitar	Kenny Cox
Electric guitar	Paul Todd
Electric bass	Brian Day (†)
Drums	Frank Darch
Electric guitar	Laurie Mansworth
singing	Mick Stratton
singing	Ron Jackson
Electric guitar	Mel Jones
Drums	Paul George
Drums	Rick Dyat
Drums	Andy Robinson

More was an English New Wave of British Heavy Metal band from London , which was founded in 1979 under the name Defender and disbanded in 1983. In 1985 the band re-founded and broke up shortly afterwards. The band was also active from 1998 to 2000. In 2011 it was re-founded under the name Exmore , before being renamed More 2012 in 2012 .

history

The band was founded in 1979 under the name Defender. The first live performances followed, with a German helping out as a bass player. In the spring of 1980 More was found a permanent line-up and consisted of singer Paul Mario Day (ex- Iron Maiden ), the unrelated bassist Brian Day, the guitarists Kenny Cox and Paul Todd, and drummer Frank Darch. The band was invited to the Friday Rock Show , a broadcast on BBC Radio 1 , where they played on May 23, 1980. The recording of Soldier was also featured on BBC's Metal Explosion album. This made Atlantic Records aware of the band and signed them. After Paul Todd left the band and was replaced by Laurie Mansworth, the group went into the studio in late 1980 to record their debut album, which was released in early 1981 under the name Warhead . The album was mixed in Detroit . The album included the song Fire , a cover version originally from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown . Gigs followed to promote the album, with Frank Darch leaving the band and being replaced by Andy John Burton. The band went on a tour of the UK with Krokus , which was followed by a European tour with Iron Maiden. In addition, the first single was released with We Are the Band . After that the band organized their own gigs under the name "Atomic Rock Roadshow", which were sponsored by Sounds magazine. Here the group performed together with bands like Lionheart . Through these appearances, the band gained increased attention so that they could perform on the Monsters of Rock . In late 1981 guitarist Laurie Mansworth left the band. Further appearances followed in 1982, including in Finland as the opening act for Slade . Then the band went to the studio to record their second album. Meanwhile, there was a dispute between singer Day and the other members about the stylistic change of the band, so that Day left the band as a result. As a result, the band had to cancel a planned gig with Black Sabbath . Mick Stratton joined the band as the new singer. The band then re-recorded the songs they had already recorded, with Stratton changing some of the songs significantly. While the recordings were finished in the middle of the year, the second single Trickster was released , which contained a cover version of the Jimi Hendrix song Hey Joe in addition to the title song . As the label increasingly lost interest in the band, the release of the album was delayed. Meanwhile, appearances followed with Motörhead , Saxon and Spider . The album was released towards the end of 1982 in limited numbers under the name Blood & Thunder , with most units only being pressed in Europe, mainly for the German market, where the band had achieved a certain cult status. Due to the failure of the album, due to the new singer Stratton and the low edition of the album, Atlantic Records separated from the band. The group worked on a third album and offered themselves to various labels, but this was unsuccessful. After his recordings for the album, bassist Brian Day had also left the band to join the band Wildfire , in which singer Paul Mario Day also played. Various musicians were used as replacements before the band split up in 1983. In 1985 guitarist Kenny Cox revived the band. The other members were bassist Barry Nicholls, guitarist Mel Jones, drummer Paul George and singer Ron Jackson. However, the band broke up a little later. Cox later joined the band Mammoth . In the spring of 1998 the band was re-founded, with Mike Freeland as a singer. A new song called My Obsession was recorded before the band split up again in 2000. Freeland replaced Kenny Cox, who had suffered five strokes around the same time it was founded in the spring. Brian Day later passed away for reasons unknown. In 2011 the band was re-established under the name Exmore and consisted of drummer Andy John Burton, bassist Barry Nicholls, singer Mike Freeland and guitarist Paul Stickles. As a guest musician wasChris Tsangarides in the band. In this line-up, the band performed at the Headbangers Open Air in 2011. The following year the band changed their name to More 2012, after which they performed several concerts.

style

On their debut album Warhead , the band played music comparable to the works of Fist , Starfighters , The Handsome Beasts , Xero and Quartz . On their second album Blood & Thunder , the band sounds like a mixture of the groups Snakebite and the English band Chainsaw . Paul Stickles names Thin Lizzy , Gary Moore and Ozzy Osbourne as his main influences. Allmusic's Rob Theakston compares the guitar playing on Warhead with that of Jimmy Page , with the songs reminiscent of classic rock by Led Zeppelin , Lynyrd Skynyrd , Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. He also describes that the album has its roots in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal as well as in Southern Rock . On Blood & Thunder , the guitar playing is similar to Led Zeppelin's, while the drums are reminiscent of Bill Ward from Black Sabbath. He described the singing of the new singer Kenny Cox as a mixture of Blackie Lawless ( WASP ), Ronnie James Dio and Brian Johnson .

Discography

• Warhead (album, 1981, Atlantic Records )
• We Are the Band (single, 1981, Atlantic Records)
• Blood & Thunder (album, 1982, Atlantic Records)
• Trickster (single, 1982, Atlantic Records)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Matthias Mader: More . In: Matthias Mader, Otger Jeske, Manfred Kerschke: NWOBHM: New Wave of British Heavy Metal . The Glory Days . Berlin: Iron Pages 1995, p. 45ff.
2. ^ Eduardo Rivadavia: More , accessed April 9, 2013.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Malc Macmillan: The NWOBHM Encyclopedia . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-931624-16-3 , p. 397 ff .
4. ↑ ExMORE + TEN BY TEN ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) 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. , accessed April 9, 2013. 
5. ↑ EXMORE BOOKED FOR HEADBANGER'S OPEN AIR , accessed April 9, 2013.
6. ↑ MORE 2012 AT THE RAILWAY VENUE BOLTON  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 9, 2013.  
7. ↑ Chris Galea: Interview with More, December 2012 , accessed April 9, 2013.
8. ^ Rob Theakston: More Warhead , accessed April 9, 2013.
9. ^ Rob Theakston: More Blood & Thunder , accessed April 9, 2013.