Mythra

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Mythra
General information
origin South Shields , England
Genre (s) New Wave of British Heavy Metal
founding 1975 as Zarathustra, 2014
resolution 1982
Website http://www.mythra.co.uk/
Current occupation
Vince High
Alex Perry
Electric guitar
 John Roach
E-bass , before e-guitar, initially also vocals
 Maurice Bates
Phil Davies
former members
Electric bass
 Pete Melsom
Drums
 Barry Hopper
Electric guitar
 Mick Rundell
Drums
 Kenny Anderson

Mythra is an English New Wave of British Heavy Metal band from South Shields , which was founded in 1975 under the name Zarathustra , split up in 1981 and has been active again since 2014.

history

The group was founded as a cover band on December 1, 1975 under the name Zarathustra by three school friends John Roach (electric guitar), Pete Melsom (bass) and Maurice Bates (electric guitar). The name was taken from the symphonic poem Also sprach Zarathustra , which the group became aware of through the film 2001: A Space Odyssey . After Kenny Anderson was added as a drummer, the first local concerts followed, in which Bates also took over the vocals. The quartet covered songs by bands such as Thin Lizzy , the Scorpions , Led Zeppelin , Black Sabbath , Humble Pie , UFO and Rush . In 1977 Barry Hopper was added as the new drummer before Vince High was added as a singer.

In the following years, the band decided to write their own songs, whereupon the name was changed to Mythra in 1978, which is derived from the deity Mithras . The suggestion came from John Roach, who had previously been heavily involved in science fiction and the history of religion. The name change was justified by the fact that many people found the name Zarathustra difficult to remember. The band then made friends with the group Ax, which later renamed themselves Fist , and regularly performed live covers of their song Name, Rank and Serial Number . The band now held regular appearances in the local club scene, which also included Son of a Bitch (the later Saxon ), Raven and Geordie . Mythra now gave several concerts a week. Since the band noticed that many younger visitors had difficulty getting into the pubs and clubs where the concerts were taking place, they organized concerts themselves, which they held in community centers, including doing promotion. The concerts soon turned in enough profits to be able to afford a trip to the recording studio. Encouraged by Terry Gavaghan , the managing director of Guardian Records , the band decided to record a record instead of a compact cassette , which the band hoped to attract more attention. The produced by Gavaghan and self-financed by the band EP contains four songs and was released in November 1979 under the name Death and Destiny in an edition of 200 pieces. The copies, which were not given away for free or mailed for promotional purposes, were sold locally in the north east of England. Since the demand for the sound carrier was quite high - the EP was on first place in the Heavy Metal Charts in Sounds magazine for eleven weeks - a re-edition was soon pressed. Several thousand records were sold (a total of around 15,000 copies in 20 days) before the theme song was played on the Friday Rock Show on the BBC . All songs on the sound carrier were played on the local radio station Radio Metro . Due to the success of the EP, Pinnacle Records became aware of the band, on whose sub-label Street Beat Records the sound carrier was re-released in 1980 as both a 12 " and a 7" single, from which the song Overlord was then missing. In the same year, the single Killer was released on the same label . In February of that year, guitarist and main songwriter Roach left the line-up to attend college , whereupon 17-year-old Mick Rundle came on as a replacement. After signing a new management contract, the group took part in the Heavy Metal Barn Dance at Bingley Hall in Stafford , which also featured Motörhead , Saxon, Girlschool , Angel Witch , Vardis and White Spirit . Later the band was slated to support Ted Nugent on his 1980 European tour . However, this did not happen because the management of White Horses made a better offer, so this band was chosen for this. However, Mythra's name was on the tour promotional posters. Towards the end of the year the group made a couple of demo recordings of songs like Warrior of Time , Heaven Lies Above , Together Forever and At Least I Tried in the Guardian Records rehearsal room in Durham . The recordings were funded by Street Beat Records in the hope of another EP. During the recording, however, it became clear that Mick Rundle was too inexperienced, so that some recordings had to be re-recorded later. Rundle was later replaced by guitarist Alex Perry. After Street Beat Records decided against releasing another sound carrier, the band broke up in late 1981. The reason for the lack of publication were disputes between the label and management.

After the dissolution, the members turned to other projects. With the growing interest in the NWoBHM at the end of the 1980s, the band was picked up again in Kerrang magazine for the tenth anniversary of the genre . The band should also be represented on the sampler New Wave of British Heavy Metal '79 Revisited by Lars Ulrich , but this failed for licensing reasons. Towards the end of the 1990s, The Death and Destiny LP was compiled from the Guardian Records archive and distributed in 1998 through British Steel Records without the knowledge and consent of the members. The CD consists of demo material and the previously unreleased songs Paradise , England , The Age of Machine , Vicious Bastard and Blue Acid . Since the songs came from an unlabeled cassette, many songs were wrongly titled. They would Paradise , The Death of a Loved One and Blue Acid actually each New Life , Together Forever and WASA have called.

In 2000/2001, the album The Darkener was recorded in John Roach's house with Vince High , with no other members involved. However, the album was never released and contains nothing more than high quality demo recordings. Only a few CD-Rs were sent, but there was no response, so the band was not revived.

It was not until 2013 that Stuart Bartlett, the organizer of the Brofest , asked if the band would like to reunite for a performance at the festival. However, since many members had no opportunity to do so, they had to decline this invitation. When asked again in 2014, the band agreed. The festival took place in February 2015, with the cast of High, Bates, who played bass instead of the electric guitar, Roach, Perry and drummer Phil Davies. The performance had been preceded by months of rehearsals. Due to the positive reaction, Warriors of Time: The Anthology was released by Skoll Records , which consists of The Death and Destiny LP and five new songs that were written and recorded in 2015. The compilation had been put together with the manager of Skoll Records, Bart Gabriel , and the band members, with Gabriel also remastering the material. In 2016 the band took part in various festivals across Europe, including Keep It True in Germany . After this gig, Bart Gabriel brokered a record deal with the High Roller Records label . A new album was then recorded in Poland in October with Gabriel as producer, which was released in early 2017 under the name Still Burning . The album was the first in which the band was in the studio together to record the sound carrier in a coherent process.

style

Malc Macmillan wrote in The NWOBHM Encyclopedia that Death and Destiny contains energetic and euphoric music from the NWoBHM, with the riffs in the song Killer being typical of the genre. Upon publication, the group had to early Diamondhead oriented and as occasional similarities to Hollow Ground , Reincarnate , JJ's Powerhouse and A II Z on. The band later had an influence on the early Metallica . Matthias Mader stated in NWoBHM New Wave of British Heavy Metal The glory Days that the debut EP contained “loudly produced pre- speed metal jewels”. If the group had been given a chance to release an album, it would have been possible that the Jaguar Power Games “high speed record” might have been broken. In The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal was written that the band traditional Hard Rock plays, the group having a certain dexterity.

Martin Popoff wrote in his book The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 1: The Seventies for the EP Death and Destiny that this is the Holy Grail of the NWoBHM, not least because it is a foretaste of what bands like Fist , Tank , Holocaust , Angel Witch and - for the first half of the publications - Tygers of Pan Tang later released. The title song is medium-paced and melodic with vocals, as is typical of the early NWoBHM. The song Killer is kept fast and can be compared to Breadfan by Budgie or music by Iron Maiden . Towards the end the song turns into an average mix of punk and metal . Overlord is no different. UFO is initially like He's a Woman, She's a Man from the Scorpions, before the band sounds like Holocaust. Overall, the EP offers an accessible pub rock version of the NWoBHM. In the third volume of his book series, Popoff wrote about The Death and Destiny LP that the group sounds quite amateurish on it. Vince Hight's vocals are reminiscent of Sean Harris (Diamond Head). Overall, one could publish as a mix of Iron Maiden's debut album and the Charisma of Darkstar summarized.

According to Matthias Mader from Rock Hard , the band can be classified between Blitzkrieg , Satan , Raven and Jaguar, who would have laid the foundation for speed metal with American influences. In an interview with him, Vince High stated that he doesn't think Mythra is a political band. Rather, he wrote about things that would concern him. The song England is about mutual respect and solidarity, regardless of skin color. Holger Stratmann had reviewed Still Burning a previous issue and found that it had reanimated the spirit of the NWoBHM without sounding old-fashioned. The songs would be characterized by pleasant melodies and an analog sounding recording without proportional representation . None of the instruments would come to the fore; rather, as a unit, they would provide a template for the vocals. Stratmann noted that the band was often compared to early Iron Maiden as well as Satan or Jaguar, which is also apt here.

In an interview with sickanddrestroy.info , John Roach stated that he is inspired by science, the world around him, people in general and the human condition . He is influenced by blues , rock and metal. In terms of bands, he named The Beatles , Black Sabbath, Judas Priest , Led Zeppelin and Motörhead. Vince High felt that he was inspired by his beliefs, the physical beauty of the world, and the good in people he encountered in everyday life. In addition to groups like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, he named punk bands like The Clash and the early Sex Pistols as influences.

Discography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Info. Facebook , accessed June 24, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Malc Macmillan: The NWOBHM Encyclopedia . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-931624-16-3 , p. 405 ff .
  3. ↑ a b c d Interview Mythra. September 26, 2016. sickanddestroy.info, accessed June 25, 2017 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Janosch Besen: MYTHRA - They are still burning! crossfire-metal.de, accessed on June 25, 2017 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e Biography. rockdetector.com, archived from the original on April 9, 2016 ; accessed on June 24, 2017 .
  6. ↑ a b c Mythra. Allmusic , accessed June 24, 2017 .
  7. ↑ a b c d e Matthias Mader: Mythra . Match and flame. In: Rock Hard . No. 361 , June 2017, p. 56 .
  8. ↑ a b c MYTHRA - Legends of Heavy Metal. mythra.co.uk, accessed June 24, 2017 .
  9. ^ Matthias Mader, Otger Jeske, Manfred Kerschke: NWoBHM New Wave of British Heavy Metal The glory Days . Iron Pages, Berlin 1995, p. 124 .
  10. ↑ Tony Jasper, Derek Oliver: The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal . Facts on File Inc., New York 1983, ISBN 0-8160-1100-1 , pp. 230 .
  11. ^ Martin Popoff : The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 1: The Seventies . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2003, ISBN 978-1-894959-02-5 , pp. 197 .
  12. ↑ Martin Popoff: The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 3: The Nineties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2007, ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9 , pp. 304 .
  13. ↑ Holger Stratmann: Mythra . Still burning. In: Rock Hard . No. 360 , May 2017, p. 98 .