Voltz (band)

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Voltz
General information
origin Portsmouth , England
Genre (s) New Wave of British Heavy Metal , Hard Rock
founding 1979, 1981
resolution 1981, 1983 or later
Last occupation
Singing , later also electric guitar
Glen Leinster
Gary Leinster
Electric guitar
 Graham Bushell
Paul Hancock
former members
Electric guitar
 Rick over
Electric guitar
 Mark Fisher

Voltz was an English New Wave of British Heavy Metal and Hard Rock band from Portsmouth , which was active from 1979 to around 1983 with a small interruption.

history

The band was formed towards the end of 1979 and emerged from the decay residue of the airline group. Initially still working as a cover band and with Rick Over as the second guitarist, the band soon shrank to a quartet and wrote their own songs. This was followed by other appearances, with the band being mentioned several times in the local press. The first demo was also played on regional radio. In early 1981 the band broke up.

In the course of the year the brothers Glen (vocals, electric guitar) and Gary Leinster (drums) continued work on the songs that had already been started and wrote completely new ones without Voltz being revived. Towards the end of the year, the two reactivated the band with a changed line-up before the original members Mark Fisher (electric guitar) and Paul Hancock (electric bass) returned. Through a demo, the band got a record deal with Airship Records . She then went to the nearby Chestnut Studio and the Toucan Studios . While staying in the latter, former guitarist Rick Over stepped in as a producer. The album was released in the summer of 1982 under the name Knight's Fall . Songs from the album were played on BBC Radio 's rock program . The album sold quite well in local stores. This made it possible for the band to hold concerts further away. So she played several times in London and appeared together with Grand Prix and was seen at the Marquee Club and Hammersmith Clarendon . The album was also sold quite well outside of Great Britain , so that there was more interest in the group on the European mainland. The French label Amidisque Records became aware of the band. After lengthy contract negotiations, a record deal was finally agreed in 1983. In the months that followed, the band went into the studio and recorded a few demos so that they had enough material for a second album. During this time the group performed several times at the Rock City Club in Paris . For unknown reasons, however, the label broke the contract, which is why the second album was not released. The group then went back to England. Back again Mark Fisher separated from the band, whereupon Graham Bushell joined as a replacement. Voltz then played at South Parade Pier in Portsmouth, as they had reached the semi-finals of a Battle of the Bands. A few days later, the singer Leinster went to the hospital to undergo an often postponed vocal cord operation. This meant another break for the band, from which they never returned.

style

According to Malc Macmillan in The NWOBHM Encyclopedia , the band played primitive and typical NWoBHM music in their early days, which is "hard'n'heavy". The demo after the start-up tends towards hard rock and offers filigree, mature and profound material. Knight's Fall is seen by many as a classic representative of the NWoBHM genre, with influences from Black Sabbath and Def Leppard being audible. There are also similarities to Cracked Mirror and Quartz . In The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal was found that the band "earthy" heavy metal plays in the early 1970s when bands like Black Sabbath and his influence Uriah Heep have. Occasionally acoustic ballads would also be performed. Martin Popoff wrote about Knight's Fall in his book The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties that the music is progressive , " doomy " and full of surprises. It is comparable to that of Desolation Angels , Saracen , Legend and occasionally with Shiva and Sledgehammer . The arrangements are raw and thin, while the riffs are demanding but strange. The singing sounds mysterious and is empathetic. Add to that dark, New Wave influenced pop music , making the album sound like a garage rock version of Caress of Steel . According to Allmusic's Eduardo Rivadavia , the group was influenced by Diamond Head and Legend. The album offers a mixture of hard rock and metal influenced by fantasy , into which the group occasionally incorporated calm elements from progressive rock.

Discography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Malc Macmillan: The NWOBHM Encyclopedia . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-931624-16-3 , p. 635 ff .
  2. ↑ 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. 379 .
  3. ↑ 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. 401 .
  4. ^ Eduardo Rivadavia: Voltz. Allmusic , accessed June 17, 2017 .