Sparta (English band)
| Sparta | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | Mansfield , England |
| Genre (s) | New Wave of British Heavy Metal |
| founding | 1980, 2012 |
| resolution | 1987 |
| Current occupation | |
| Tony "Sapper" Warren | |
| Paul "Radge" Reders | |
| Tony Foster | |
Electric guitar |
Steve "Snake" Reders |
| Karl Reders | |
| former members | |
Drums |
Gary |
singing |
Trevor "Captain" Morgan |
singing |
Mark Henshaw |
Sparta is an English New Wave of British Heavy Metal band from Mansfield , which was founded in 1980, disbanded in 1987 and has been active again since 2012.
history
The band was formed in early 1980, with the members having been active in other groups in the Midlands by the late 1970s . On the one hand, the guitarist Tony Foster and the bassist Tony Warren had played in Xerox, while the Reders siblings, consisting of Karl (vocals), Steve "Snake" (electric guitar) and Paul "Radge" Reders (drums), were already playing Amateur trio had been active. Performances with bands like Overdrive followed . The group is also said to have performed with Diamond Head , Uriah Heep , Praying Mantis , Lionheart and Budgie , but the evidence for such performances is rather vague. About six months after the founding, the band's own label Suspect Records released Fast Lane, their first double A-side single with Fighting to Be Free as another song. The publication was, like all later singles, self-financed. In the meantime, a first fan club and a merchandising unit had come together. The release was named "Heavy Metal Single of the Week" in Sounds magazine. This was followed by further regional appearances as well as the double A-side single Tonight with Angel of Death via Suspect Records in late 1981 . In the same year the group took part in the Suspect Records sampler Scene of the Crime with the song Lords of Time and the band was listed in the Armed and Ready section in the Kerrang . The band had also recorded a song for a sampler for Ebony Records , but the label broke up before it was released. In early 1982 the band separated from Karl Reders, who was replaced a few months later by Trevor "Captain" Morgan. The optical feature of Morgan was the use of a prosthetic arm. The band then wrote new songs and played songs such as Rock for You , Dogs of War , Streetwalkin ' , Shady Lady , Lady Evil and Hot Rock in sessions on Radio Hallam . Plans were made for a third single to be released, but they were never realized. After gigs towards the end of the year, the band fell silent. In the following years Sparta was hardly active. Morgan had to serve a prison sentence due to an accident escape, which meant that he could no longer participate in the band. Mark Henshaw joined as the new vocalist and demo recordings of songs like Soldier of Fortune , Welcome to My Nightmare and The Legend of Doctor Bill were made, while plans were made to release the third single in the mid-1980s. Tony Foster, who was mainly responsible for the songwriting , left the band in 1985. The band continued their activity to a small extent until 1987, before it was dissolved. At the turn of the decade the Reders brothers got together again to record a few songs as a trio under the name Sparta. In their career the band had also played with Geddes Ax , the band of Ken Hensley and Groundhogs . Sparta had never been active outside of Great Britain . In 2005 a self-titled compilation was released by Hades Paradise Records .
After Karl Reders was contacted by High Roller Records on his Facebook page, it was agreed to publish a compilation consisting of all demo recordings that the band had made so far. The sound carrier was released in 2011 under the name Use Your Weapons Well . The band has been active again since 2012. The debut album Welcome to Hell followed on the same label in 2014 . In the same year the band could be seen at the Brofest . In 2016 the second album called No Retreat No Surrender followed on Suspect Records .
style
According to Malc Macmillan in The NWOBHM Encyclopedia , the music on the debut single is very “heavy”, with the vocals being very distinctive. Occasionally the music reminded me of that of Marz or early Def Leppard . The second single is more energetic and more comparable to songs by Ricochet and Scarab from the Midlands . With the later addition of Trevor Morgan, the group now has a traditional singer and attempts have been made to go in a more straightforward, rockier direction in the style of Battleaxe and Fugitive .
Rock Hard's Patrick Schmidt wrote in his review of Welcome to Hell that listening to the album reminded him of the early Judas Priest . The group sounds "staid, naive and terrifyingly antiquated". Some songs can be found to have a few good melodies, but there are also some “banal-naive melodies”. In a later issue, Matthias Mader reviewed No Retreat No Surrender and found it suitable for fans of British metal .
Discography
- 1980: Fast Lane (single, Suspect Records)
- 1981: Tonight (single, Suspect Records)
- 2005: Sparta (compilation, Hades Paradise Records )
- 2011: Use Your Weapons Well (compilation, High Roller Records )
- 2014: Welcome to Hell (album, High Roller Records)
- 2016: No Retreat No Surrender (Album, Suspect Records)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Interview with Tony Foster from Sparta. newwaveofbritishheavymetal.com, accessed April 10, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c d e f Malc Macmillan: The NWOBHM Encyclopedia . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-931624-16-3 , p. 571 f .
- ↑ a b c d Biography. rockdetector.com, archived from the original on July 7, 2016 ; accessed on April 9, 2018 .
- ^ Matthias Mader, Otger Jeske, Manfred Kerschke: NWoBHM New Wave of British Heavy Metal The glory Days . Iron Pages, Berlin 1995, p. 138 f .
- ↑ a b Sparta (5). Discogs , accessed April 9, 2018 .
- ↑ Patrick Schmidt: Sparta . Welcome to Hell. In: Rock Hard . No. 322 , March 2014.
- ^ Matthias Mader: Sparta . No retreat, no surrender. In: Rock Hard . No. 361 , June 2017, p. 98 .