Tora Tora (English band)

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Torah Torah
General information
origin Manchester , England
Genre (s) New Wave of British Heavy Metal , Rock
founding 1979
resolution Late 1980s as Torah
Last occupation
Nigel Blyth
Electric guitar , meanwhile vocals
Peter North
Electric guitar
 Paul Wheeldon
Paul Quinn
Keyboard
 Kevin Brannie
former members
singing
 Brenn
Electric bass
 Ian Dalglish
Electric bass
 John Murney
Electric bass
 Mick Leach
Drums
 Kevin Whitehead
singing
 Pete Jackson
Drums
 Simon Wright

Tora Tora was an English new wave of British heavy metal and rock band from Manchester that was formed in 1979 and split up under the name Tora in the late 1980s .

history

The band was founded in 1979 by four young people. In mid-1980, the self-financed single Red Sun Setting was recorded in the Cargo Studios in Rochdale , with the average age of the members being around 17 years. The sound carrier was released in the autumn of the same year by Mancunian Metal Records and contains the song Highway (Shooting Like a Bullet) as the B-side . Then the singer Brenn and the bassist Ian Dalglish left the cast. The latter was replaced by Nigel Blyth, who occasionally also contributed keyboard sounds. Guitarist Peter North took over the vocals. A demo was recorded with a different line-up , which contains the songs Rod of Iron , Burn Down Ya Stack and the UFO Cover Shoot Shoot . The band had previously toured the north-west of England. Further line-up changes followed, after which the line-up consisted of long-term members Paul Wheeldon and Peter North, singer Mick Leach, bassist John Murney and drummer Kevin Whitehead. Then another demo was recorded with the songs Night of the Demons , Island of Gods and Rockin 'in the UK . Shortly thereafter, a selection of demo recordings was played on Piccadilly Radio before the band played in May 1981 in Manchester at the UMIST Metal Festival , which also included Sacred Alien , Rox (still under the original name Venom), Silverwing and Diamond Head . The fact that the band was listed in the Armed and Ready section in Kerrang magazine allowed them to further increase their popularity. After the festival appearance, the group signed a record deal with CBS Records for the release of five albums, which was soon dissolved. Further concerts followed, whereby the group had no professional management, but related tasks were taken over by family members. After that, another self-financed single, Don't Want to Let You Go, was released with the B-side Sorry I Broke Your Heart , but it was hardly advertised. It is not exactly clear which members the cast consisted of at the time, however the position of the singer appeared to have changed again. The date of publication was also not given on the phonogram, so that only 1984 can be assumed as the approximate year of publication.

After a few years break, the band returned with a new line-up and a name shortened to Tora. In addition to Wheeldon and North, this consisted of bassist Nigel Blyth, who had returned to the cast, as well as singer Pete Jackson, drummer Paul Quinn and keyboardist Kevin Brannie. A demo and several concerts followed, so that it got the attention of the Kerrang and a few fanzines . Then in 1987 the single Deja Vu with She's History as the B-side was released via Laminate Records . However, the single sold only moderately. In the period that followed, the line-up changed several times, including Pete McGuckian as the new singer. The band remained active for the rest of the 1980s, performing with FM and playing with The Dogs D'Amour in 1988 .

style

According to Malc Macmillan in The NWOBHM Encyclopedia , the debut single features medium-paced, straightforward music that is typical of the early days of the NWoBHM. It is comparable to that of Chainsaw , Sledgehammer and Torture . Don't Want to Let You Go sounds “polished” and more melodic and comparable to songs from Sherwood and Grand Prix . Deja Vu is going in a more commercial direction so that the single can be classified between releases by Radio Moscow and Voyager UK . The material has nothing to do with the initial publications. In The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal it was noted that the group has aural similarities to Black Sabbath .

Discography

as Torah Torah
  • 1980: Red Sun Setting (Single, Mancunian Metal Records )
  • approx. 1984: Don't Want to Let You Go (Single, Tora Records)
as Torah

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Matthias Mader, Otger Jeske, Manfred Kerschke: NWoBHM New Wave of British Heavy Metal The glory Days . Iron Pages, Berlin 1995, p. 147 .
  2. ^ A b c Malc Macmillan: The NWOBHM Encyclopedia . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-931624-16-3 , p. 635 ff .
  3. ↑ 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. 354 .