Weapon UK

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Weapon UK
General information
origin London , England
Genre (s) New Wave of British Heavy Metal , Rock
founding approx. 1978 as Fast Relief, 1983, 2011 or earlier as Weapon (renamed Weapon UK in 2012)
resolution 1982, 1983
Website http://www.weapon-uk.com/
Current occupation
Jeff Summers
Danny Hynes
Darren Lee
Tony Forsythe
former members
Electric bass
 Pete Armitage
Electric bass
 Barry "Baz" Downes
Drums
 Lindsay Broadbridge
Drums
 Bruce Bisland
Electric guitar
 Kevin Ingles
Drums
 Ron "Rebel" Matthews
Drums
 John Philips
Electric guitar
 Robert "Angelo" Sawyer
Electric bass
 Billy Kulke
Electric guitar
 Malcolm "Mal" McNulty
Electric guitar
 Ian Simmons
Electric bass
 Gavin Cooper
Electric bass
 PJ Philips
Electric bass (live)
 Kevin "Skids" "Big Kev" Riddles
Drums
 Ian Sweeting
singing
 Brian Keeting
Electric bass
 Pete Armitage
Electric bass (live)
 Gary Summers

Weapon UK is an English New Wave of British Heavy Metal and Rock band from London , which was founded around 1978 under the name Fast Relief , renamed itself Weapon in 1980 and dissolved in 1982. In 1983 the company was re-established for a short time. The group had to change their name to Weapon UK a few years after the second reunion in 2012, as the name has since been claimed by a Canadian band of the same name .

history

After the Irish singer Danny Hynes had placed an ad in Melody Maker for a suitable band, Jeff Summers became aware of him, who was looking for a singer for his band Fast Relief, which had been active since around 1978. (Other sources say Hynes responded to a Melody Maker ad from Fast Relief) Singer Brian Keeting had previously left the band, along with guitarist Kevin Ingles, bassist Pete Armitage and drummer Lindsay Broadbridge. The band played a song called Fast Relief in their early days , which was later renamed Set the Stage Alight . After several weeks in the studio and a few gigs, Summers and Hynes decided to reorganize the rhythm department. Through Hynes, Barry "Baz" Downes was added as the new bassist, while Summers brought in the Scottish Bruce Bisland. Bisland had previously played with Jeff's brother Steve Summers in the band Lipservice. The line-up then consisted of Bisland, Downes, Summers and Hynes in 1979. After a rehearsal, it was decided in March 1980 to rename it to Weapon. The name goes back to Hynes, who referred to situations as "Weapon" when they were particularly positive or when something fundamentally good happened. (Other sources say that the term was originally used by Iron Maiden's Robert "Angelo" Sawyer, but Hynes also used it) The members had already been active in various groups in the 1970s. The band had already performed under the name Weapon before the rhythm department was changed.

The band rose to prominence through a number of club appearances in London. Since she had a pretty good contact with Virgin Records , as Hynes' girlfriend at the time worked there, and the label was looking for a band in the style of Weapon, she reached a release contract (not a real record deal) with this after the label broke live with the group had convinced. After only a handful of appearances, the band came into contact with Eddie Clarke from Motörhead . Contact had been re-established through Hynes' friend and her friend and colleague, who had introduced the band and Clarke to each other during a performance by another group at The Venue in London . Clarke then proposed the group to participate in the upcoming UK Motorhead tour. During another appearance at The Music Machine in Camden , the management and the other Motörhead members were able to convince themselves of Weapons suitability. The 32-part tour began on October 22, 1980 at Ipswich Gaunt and ended in November with four night performances at the Hammersmith Odeon . For these four appearances the group released the single It's a Mad Mad World with the B-side Set the Stage Alight in a 1000-piece edition on November 13th on their own label, Virgin Records only acted as publisher. The B-side was a reworked version of the old Fast Relief song. The songs The Townhouse , The Manor , Liar , Take That Bottle Away , One Night Stand , Midnight Satisfaction , Olivia and Remote Control were also mastered in Virgins Beautiful Studios , but they were never released. The recordings for this had taken place in Virgins Manor Studios in Oxfordshire and the Townhouse Studios . The three sessions took place in 1980, about a month after Downes and Bisland joined the cast, in the hope of an album release. Specifically, the band planned to name this set the Stage Alight , but the songs did not appear until years later on the compilation of the same name . About a year after signing the contract, the label boss Laurie Dunn, who had signed the band, left the company to start his own company. The band now had the problem that other labels could not sign them without having to buy the band out. Ultimately, the band bought themselves out of their contract. The band had previously been given the prospect of a tour with their label colleague Gillan , but this did not take place. The band had also been offered a tour with Samson by agent John Giddings , for which the members had quit their jobs. When she arrived in Wolverhampton on the first day of the tour , she found that she was only one of four other bands that had been considered for the tour. Weapon was ultimately unable to snatch the place. After the tour, the group hoped in vain for an offer for a record deal. For the next 18 months after the Motörhead tour, the band persistently continued to perform consistently. In the second half of 1981 Robert "Angelo" Sawyer joined as second guitarist and John Philips as new drummer. After rehearsals in a studio on Lotts Road, they went on tour. Issues arose during the tour which culminated at the Granary in Bristol . In addition, John Philips was replaced by Ron "Rebel" Matthews (a founding member of Iron Maiden). Before the end of the year, the band broke up. Summers and Bisland took part in the creation of Wildfire a little later .

1983 tried Hynes with the guitarist Malcolm "Mal" McNulty, the bassist Billy Kulke and the guitarist Ian Simmons to revive the band. The Wildfire member Bisland first stepped in as a backup producer until Ron "Rebel" Matthews was available again. After about six appearances, the band broke up again. Before that, the band had recorded a few demos that were funded by Andy Scott .

Because the band can be heard on Lars Ulrich's sampler New Wave of British Heavy Metal '79 Revisited in 1990 , the group's fame continued over the following years. In 2003 Set the Stage Alight was released , a compilation of old recordings and demos that were remastered.

In summer 2005 the members got together again for the 25th anniversary of the band. After appearing on July 1st at The Standard Music Venue in Walthamstow and on July 6th at The John Bull in London , the band played at Headbangers Open Air on July 8th . In these performances, the cast consisted of Hynes, Summers, Downes and Bisland. Then the group broke up again and the members devoted themselves to other music projects. Only Downes could no longer play music live due to illness.

A few years later, Hynes and Summers discussed reviving the band permanently. Since Bisland was unable to attend due to his engagement with The Sweet and Downes had retired, the drummer Ian Sweeting and the bassist Gavin Cooper came as new members to the cast. This was followed by an appearance at The Peel in London and the band was offered participation in the Hard Rock Hell Festival . In January 2011, the band went to Scream Studios in Croydon with a different line-up to record a single. A promotional video was filmed on the roof of The Harlequin Theater in Redhill before the song Ready 4 U was released digitally on June 6th. As a result, the group was able to participate in the Aero Rock Starz Festival in Bulgaria on July 9th. Since Gavin Cooper was unable to attend, Jeff's brother Gary Summers stepped in for him after a rehearsal and a warm-up performance. Since Cooper was still unable to participate in the band action, Hynes suggested a friend named PJ Philips. The band then performed in Italy at the Diversemente Festival , in Belgium at the Negasonic Festival and in Great Britain at the Denim & Leather Festival and the British Steel Festival . After that, the group went back to Scream Studios to work on a new album. One day, Downes and Bisland joined in to re-record the song Killer Instinct . The songs were then mixed, but the album release was delayed by about a year due to a legal dispute over the band name. As a result of the dispute, the group lost its management and the interest of the record companies. As a result of the lost legal battle, the group changed its name to Weapon UK in 2012.

The album was then released in April 2014 under the name Rising from the Ashes . For the release, the band performed at The Purple Turtle in London. After further appearances in Great Britain, they separated from the drummer Sweeting, who was replaced by the Australian Darren Lee after a two-month search . Further UK concerts followed in 2015, and after performing at the Matarock Festival in Barcelona , the band played live in the Netherlands , Germany and Belgium. Then the bass player turned his back on Philips Weapon UK. On February 21, 2016, the group could be seen at the Brofest . Since the search for a new bass player was still unsuccessful, the good friend of the band Kevin "Skids" "Big Kev" Riddles took over this position. In 2017 he was replaced by Tony Forsythe, who made his debut on January 26th at The Bomber Bar in Motala during a series of concerts in Sweden . After further appearances in Great Britain in March, the band went back to Scream Studios to re-record the 1980 song Set the Stage Alight , and a cover version of the Thin Lizzy song The Rocker was also recorded. After that the band went to Norway for concerts . The two newly recorded songs were released digitally on October 28th. A number of UK appearances ended with an appearance on October 1st at the Grimm Up North Fest in Bury . On October 23, a record deal was signed with Pure Steel Records .

style

Malc Macmillan wrote in The NWOBHM Encyclopedia that the debut single contains medium-paced rock music, with the B-side being more energetic. The music is comparable to that of Sapphire , Black Ax and Le Griffe . The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal found the band to play metal that sounds "thrashing" and "flogging". Allmusic's Eduardo Rivadavia stated that while the band wasn't as influential as Raven , Venom and Jaguar , they are occasionally referred to as the NWoBHM band that pioneered speed and thrash metal .

Martin Popoff described It's a Mad Mad World in The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties as an important NWoBHM release. He drew a comparison with the Holocaust . The B-side offers less inspiring music that goes in the direction of speed metal and offers convincing vocals. Giorgos Tsekas from metalinvader.net wrote in his review of Set the Stage Alight that the music is very "heavy", it is based on "dirty" rock 'n' roll and offers a kind of proto-speed and thrash metal that Metallica (especially Lars Ulrich). The songs are raw and you can almost smell the alcohol and sweat of the early 1980s. Kersten Lamers from crossfire-metal.de described the group in her review of Rising from the Ashes as a rather unknown representative of the NWoBHM. There is classic heavy metal to be heard in a modern package. Occasionally, influences from hard and melodic rock can also be heard.

Discography

  • 1980: It's a Mad Mad World (single, self-published)
  • 1981: Demo '81 (demo, self-published)
  • 2003: Set the Stage Alight (compilation, Zoom Club Records )
  • 2011: Ready 4 U (single, self-published)
  • 2014: Rising from the Ashes (album, self-published)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Malc Macmillan: The NWOBHM Encyclopedia . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-931624-16-3 , p. 711 f .
  2. ↑ a b c d e STATETROOPER. Interviews. metallian.com, accessed on August 17, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Info. Facebook , accessed August 16, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k WEAPON. Interviews. metallian.com, accessed on August 17, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Biography. (No longer available online.) Rockdetector.com, archived from the original on December 22, 2016 ; accessed on August 17, 2018 .
  6. ^ A b Colin Larkin: The Guinness Who's Who of Heavy Metal Second Edition . Guinness Publishing, Enfield, Middlesex, England 1995, ISBN 0-85112-656-1 , pp. 385 .
  7. ↑ a b Chris Leibundgut: Weapon, It's a Mad Mad World . In: Rock Hard . No. 66 , November 1992, rarities. Oldies, promos, demos, p. 121 .
  8. ↑ Weapon . In: Rock Power . incl. Ardschok. July 1984, Short & Strong - News, p. 32 .
  9. ^ A b Eduardo Rivadavia: Weapon. Allmusic , accessed August 16, 2018 .
  10. ^ Weapon-UK. Facebook, accessed August 17, 2018 .
  11. ↑ 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. 382 .
  12. ↑ Martin Popoff : The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2005, ISBN 1-894959-31-0 , p. 409 .
  13. ↑ Giorgos Tsekas: Weapon - Set the Stage Alight. metalinvader.net, accessed August 17, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Kersten Lamers: WEAPON UK - RISING FROM THE ASHES. crossfire-metal.de, accessed on August 17, 2018 .