NEAT records

CHAIRMAN WOOD OF WALLSEND  in conversation with ex Impulse Studio/Neat records bigwig David Wood

/ Alikivi

The last time I met David was in October 2019 he talked about starting up Impulse Studio in Wallsend and the legendary record label Neat.

David exclusively revealed how the success of North East comedian Bobby Thompson kick started the label which went on to spawn chief headbangers Raven, Venom, Blitzkreig and Tygers of Pan Tang who in turn were a huge influence on American bands Metallica, Anthrax and Megadeath. Read the interview here >>>

THE FIXER – in conversation with former Impulse Studio and Neat Records owner David Wood | ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK CULTURE

We’re in The Customs House, South Shields chatting over a pot of tea and David is in a talkative mood. We talk about North East music and how influential live music show The Tube was, and how it outclassed other music TV. I was lucky to be in the audience of the ground breaking show and being exposed to different genres of music that opened my eyes and ears.

I remember The Tube. I took Venom to the studio they weren’t playing they were there to highlight the type of music they were doing and getting their name out. On that occasion Madonna and Cliff Richards were also on recalls David.

I knew Geoff Wonfor and his wife Andrea who both worked there. I was surprised when it was shut down it was a beautiful studio. Andrea worked on the Lindisfarne film in our recording studio in Wallsend, that was for local news. Unfortunately, a lot of that footage and much more has been lost. Andrea done really well she ended up an executive at Channel Four.

However, my interest in music goes back to when I was 16 year old, a long time ago I’m nearly 80 now. I remember asking a bank manager for a loan to open a recording studio ‘A what?’ he replied. There was a drummer from Howdon came to see me, he looked around ‘Is this yer studio is it. A recording studio in Wallsend? Ya must be f***in’ mad’. That just gave me a push to get on with it.

Councils weren’t interested. Music wasn’t taught much in schools then. We had only one school from Blyth who had enough sense to come down and get the kids to know what it was all about. If you encourage people to find out about things it works on all parts of their life rather than trudging about.

At Impulse I ended up recording every Tom, Dick and Harry in the North East. There was John McCoy and his band. John ran the Kirklevington Country Club near Stockton on the A19. His brother was chef in the restaurant downstairs while bands played upstairs, the club booked in a lot of big acts including Jimi Hendrix.

I have the recording here that I did for them at Impulse in Wallsend, I was 21 we had just started the studio. This must be from 1967 or 68 the time they opened for Jimi Hendrix. They were some band, I tell ya the Real McCoy could really play.

John was a nice bloke, he must be in his 80’s now, he was a really good musician (I’m in touch with John his stories will be added to the site soon). I saw the band at Middlesbrough Town Hall that was always a good gig. I used to go to the Country Club because the food was amazing – charcoal grilled fillet steak in red wine sauce with all the trimmings …beautiful.

We had bands coming to Impulse like The Sect, Half Breed, John Miles – he was brilliant, a class act, a great songwriter, it’s very sad he’s not around now he was such a nice bloke. As a studio it was how basic can you get really but we were all trying to learn new things – that’s how you start.

All the stuff we were working on in the studio was original songs – folk, alternative, punk. We had The Carpettes and Penetration from down Durham way, and from your doorstep in South Shields who else but the Angelic Upstarts! Yes, they were a wild bunch! I didn’t do an LP with them at Neat records it was only the first single ‘Liddle Towers’ and ‘Police Oppression’.

Cover for Angelic Upstarts 7″ single ‘The Murder of Liddle Towers’.

I remember years later they were on Warner Brothers and I got a phone call ‘I need the tracks you did with them to put on an LP, can you mix them and send them to us’. In the archive I had the 16 or 24 track tape they had done so it was possible. ‘When do you need it for‘? ‘Tomorrow morning’. I was up all night I couldn’t get the engineer so had to set it all up but got there in the end and they paid the bill for re-mixing.

But thinking back the Upstarts were fine lads I got on with them. I went to see them at the Guildhall in Newcastle and out comes the pigs head with a helmet on which they start kicking around the stage! I could see what they were doing. People like a bit of edge to things I see it now when you watch TV. A band wouldn’t be able to do that now – probably get them locked up.

There was a lot of musicians who really worked at it and built themselves up, there was even my milkman. Well, it was his son Gordon who used to work weekends to collect the money with his brother Phil. Thing was I used to frequent the Peoples’ Theatre in Newcastle’s Haymarket, this was around 1970, ‘71. My friend Andy Hudson talked about a Newcastle Big Band, around 20 of them – there was sax, drummer, trombone all sorts and of course the bass player was Gordon Sumner or Sting as he became.

They played all this American big band stuff there were some professional players in there like Ronnie Pearson the drummer. But sometimes they weren’t taken seriously as there were members who had day jobs or on the dole – it was a real mixed bag. Andy used to lead it and it was really good, the place would get packed out, a good atmosphere.

I used to go on a Sunday and had the idea to record them at Newcastle Playhouse. I took up a portable kit, a Revox quarter inch tape recorder and made a record which we put out, just a few hundred copies pressed. We sold them at the gigs, ironically the bands do things like that now to make money which is the only way for most bands.

Andy had good contacts and one of them was the airline to Holland. He fixed up a gig for the band to play for the Mayor of Amsterdam, it was some kind of twinning town or similar. We all got on the plane with the instruments for a 7.30am flight to Amsterdam it was only a short flight. When we got to the town hall we set up and had a bit practice. The Mayor turned up and we met him and he gave us a few drinks….within an hour we had a good skinful and were bladdered.

The flight back after the show was much later in the day so Andy suggested a walk around town. Not everyone went just the hardcore were left walking around. We eventually ended up in the red light district with its little bars and clubs. There was a few of us so we negotiated a cheaper admission into a live show.

Some lads still had their instruments with them as we sat down to watch the show. A couple got on stage and started doing their act and got well ‘at it’. One of our lads got his trombone out and waited for a certain movement by the act then played a short burst – it didn’t go down well. The lass on stage gave them ‘what fettle’. ‘We are professionals, this is our job’! The lads were thrown out by the manager. You’d have to ask Sting if he was there.

Andy then arranged a visit down to Pau in France near northern Spain. I went with my recording equipment and we took the gear in a transit van down through France. Part of the road was Le Mons race track it was so smooth you couldn’t hear the tyres. In all it took about two days.

We had a member of the band with us in the van and he had an accident in his underwear, so he chucked them into the back of the van. When you went abroad you used to have a carnet which was a document listing everything in the van to make sure you brought everything back. Everything was listed down to the name of the instrument, serial number, colour, value – you had to sit down and type out pages of it. Then apply for it, then get it stamped before you go anywhere.

We get to the border and the customs officer checked the carnet. ‘So, you are a band, open the doors and just step out the van’. We open the back doors the smell hits them. Holding their noses they quickly say ‘Hurry up, close them and be on your way’! Touring at its best.

We then went to Pau municipal casino. It was like a big echo chamber in there, I remember they played ‘Hey Jude’ with everyone singing along to the chorus. That was a good recording, we spliced it with a version from a Newcastle recording, it came out great.

We sorted out digs at the university because hotels would have been expensive for all the band and crew. As we tucked in to our first meal it was ‘What’s this? – it’s a bit tough’. It was cheval – we all had horse steak for the first time.

We crossed the border and travelled to San Sebastian, there was a jazz festival with big names on, Last Exit played in the town square, I don’t think the Big Band played there. I remember Sting played bass in Last Exit and other members of the Big Band were also in Last Exit.  

When it was all over, we headed to Bilboa and jumped on the ferry. The crew found out about the band travelling over to England so invited them down to the Pig and Whistle bar in the bowels of the ship.

It was a great atmosphere with jam sessions going on, laughter, food and a few drinks – well more than a few drinks. At the end of the session as we were coming into Portsmouth, I went to the bar to pay but the steward said ‘no, nothing’. I insisted ‘Come on the boss told me to sort it out you’ve been really good, we’ve enjoyed ourselves, how much do we owe?’ ‘Ok’ he replied ‘One pound’. Wasn’t that a great gesture.

You know it was 2011 when the Borough Theatre in Wallsend where Impulse studio and Neat records were based was eventually demolished, it had been lying empty for years. Looking back, it was a great time but to be honest I just wanted to hoy the keys away. I worked there from 1966 to 2001. The years since then have passed very quickly.

After I sold Neat records I ran a Theatre group which went well until Covid destroyed the numbers involved so we are building it back up again. I kept a lot of the group together through ZOOM. I was also on the local club committee at Cullercoats on the North East coast here.

Now I’m writing short comedy scripts for a podcast. I’m trying to get them on local radio. Problem I have is some of its adult humour you might laugh your socks off but not sure you’ll hear it on the radio.

What else do I do? I’m also on a committee for wine tasting because I like my wine. That’s been going for 40 years. We also like our holidays, we have a few planned this year. We look after our Grandchildren and dogs and take them out to the country each weekend, yes you just get on with things don’t ya. I’ve also been involved with a few compilation CDs with the Cherry Red label, I’ll let you know all about that when we catch up next time.

Alikivi   February 2025.

I WILL GO BACK– with songwriter & former Neat records producer Steve Thompson

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Steve Thompson first dipped his toes in the North East music scene in the early 70’s as bassist with rock band Bullfrog who played the working men’s clubs and opened for Vinegar Joe and Wishbone Ash.

By 1977 Thompson was house producer at Wallsend’s Impulse recording studio and helped set up the legendary Neat records working with Raven, Venom and Tygers of Pan Tang earning him the title ‘Godfather of the North East New Wave of British Heavy Metal’.

Steve worked with top female vocalist Lorraine Crosby, also with producer and songwriter Gus Dudgeon of Elton John fame. He went on to write songs recorded by mainstream artists Elkie Brooks, Sheena Easton, Celine Dion and Wavelength who appeared on Top of the Pops with top 20 hit Hurry Home.
That was incredible, I had quit producing records to concentrate on my song writing career said Steve. I was 24 year old at the time and just quit a waged job to live on fresh air and follow a dream. I was either very brave, very stupid or both. I quickly began knocking out songs and pitching them all over the place. I knew I needed some action or I was going to starve.

One day I was at the dentist in Wallsend. I’d been called upstairs to the surgery when the receptionist called me back down and said ‘there’s a call coming in for you Steve’. It was my publisher they tracked me down to tell me ‘Hurry Home just entered the charts at 63’. You could’ve knocked me down with a feather, that was the break I was looking for.

From there on in incredible things happened it climbed the charts over a period of three months and peaked at 17. Here I am top 20, I had arrived! Then all sorts of things started to happen, the lyrics were printed in pop magazine Smash Hits, people singing it in the street, all the airplay on Radio One, name checks from DJ Mike Read on the Breakfast show, and of course Top of the Pops.

All this was happening but I was still broke. I went to the bank to draw out a fiver. The bank teller knew me and knew I was a songwriter – obviously the only one they had on their books – he said ‘one of those payments you get has come in’. I’d not received notification so I had no idea of this.

He asked if I wanted him to go check how much had come in and I said yes please. I waited with intrepidation. The largest royalty I’d received to that time was £500. I wondered, could it be more than that or just a 20 quid brush off?

The bank teller came back and gave me the figure. I almost passed out. It was an absolutely huge sum of money and this was just the first of many royalty payments to come. He said do you still want to draw that £5? As I walked home, in a daze I thought to myself “Stevie, you’ve arrived”.

Steve was also on the books as songwriter with MCA records working with Pete Waterman. The Tygers of Pan Tang top 20 single Paris by Air came from those sessions.

But it was while Steve was at Impulse Studio that he came across a young guitarist from the seaside town of Cullercoats who went on to achieve world-wide fame.

Andy Taylor and Steve Thompson.

Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor invited me to his homecoming show in Newcastle September 2021. We had a good catch-up backstage at Wylam Brewery and talked about the two tracks that I’d produced with him back in the day that are soon to be released on the Cherry Red label.

I also mentioned I had a new album in production and talked about him guesting on a track I thought would be suitable called ‘I Will Go Back’. The song is about going back to the place where you belong.

Later Andy’s assistant told me he had said to her “Whatever you do, make sure Steve Thompson is at that show.” I thought that was a bit strange, but just let it go.

A week or two later Andy announced his cancer diagnosis and then went completely off radar. So, I ended up singing the song myself. Surprisingly for the first time in many years, I sang in tune. 

Link > ‘I Will Go Back’  https://vimeo.com/643038136 


Other people were pleased with the vocal so it gave me the confidence to do a couple more tunes on the album. There are four in total with me singing on the ‘Distant Destination’ album.

The final song, ‘The Parting of the Clouds’ is basically my life story and people who are anonymously referred to in the lyrics recognise themselves in there. I sing the final verse from beyond the grave.

Then totally out of the blue I heard from my nephew Martin who is also a singer songwriter as well as a rock show promoter “Uncle Stephen, this would be a good show for you”.

He was talking about a solo performance of my songs with acoustic guitar and vocal. I said don’t be daft I can’t possibly do that. But five minutes later I messaged him back “Oh okay, go on then”.

Then I thought, how the hell am I going to do this? I’ve never done anything like it before. Then Barry Race, percussionist on the album track I mentioned that I had sang, messaged me and offered to play percussion on the show, I was glad of the company.

Later my regular keyboard player Richard Naisbett mentioned that he had seen I was doing a show at The Carriage in Jesmond. He said it was his regular haunt and that he would be along to see me. I suggested he bring his keyboards and watch the show from the stage which he did.

Until the very moment I sang the first note of the first song I had no idea whether or not I could do it. It turned out I could do it so I arranged another show at the White Room in Stanley and for this I prepared an extended set.

It turned out to be a well received show and I was pleased with it. I’d gone from being a non-singer to singing a full 90 minutes on my own. It took me two days to recover from that show, so I decided a change was needed.

You will find a link to the Stanley White Room show via You Tube.     

I invited two great singers to join the lineup on backing vocals, Jen Normandale and Kirsty Forster. They have a couple of featured slots as well. Rehearsals with this new line-up have sounded great.

I’m doing all the songs I wrote for people like Celine, Elkie, Sheena as well as stuff from my last two albums, including a hit I wrote for Tygers of Pan Tang and a whole bunch of other artists.

Although we are now a five piece it’s still basically an acoustic show with cut back versions of the songs I wrote for all kinds of people. And this line-up creates a really nice sound with an emphasis on vocals. We’ll be back at the White Room in Stanley on June 9th 2024.

For more information contact the official website >  

https://www.bit.ly/room2024

Link > ‘Distant Destination’ album 

https://bit.ly/2023Destination

Link > Cherry Red albums with Andy Taylor’s tunes:

https://bit.ly/nortoniron

https://bit.ly/nortoniron2

Alikivi   May 2024

BLOOD TIES for the GODFATHERS OF THRASH – RAVEN

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After 50 years in the business what gets you up in the morning?

It’s in our blood. We love being on the road and the whole process. But it’s really all about those few hours on stage. We may have been doing this for 50 years but believe me, it never gets old and we never take it for granted. We are incredibly lucky and humbled by the fact that we get the opportunity to go out and play our music all over the world! …explained Chief headbanger John Gallagher (bass & vocals)

Released in June 2023 All Hell’s Breaking Loose is Raven’s latest and 15th album.

The new album has been received incredibly well, possibly the best reviews ever and the fan reaction has been equally manic!

This year the trio are preparing for a road assault on the USA and Europe. Sharing the UK bill are Girlschool, that will bring back memories from 1982 when Raven opened?

Yeah looking forward to the UK dates in February. It’s a triple headliner with Girlschool and Alcatrazz so that’s gonna be fun as we are all mates and of course we’ve toured with Girlschool a few times!

What songs are on the set list – any surprises?

We are slotting in more new songs as we go and hope to add at least one or two oldies that we’ve either rarely or never done live too.

Are there any venues/cities that you haven’t played before?

We’ll hit the usual stomping grounds of Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, London, Birmingham and Southampton – which I think we only did once before in 1982 which was with Girlschool!

Following that is the US tour in March through to May which will be a stormer and Japan at the end of May followed by a brace of Euro festivals!

Check the official website for albums, merch & tour dates >

https://ravenlunatics.com/

Alikivi    January 2024

THE HISTORY OF ROADRUNNER RECORDS – with Film Maker Bill Saxton

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Launched in Holland in 1981 and focused on releasing  Heavy Metal records, the label then expanded and opened offices around the world including UK, USA, Germany, Japan and Australia.

A documentary about the company is currently in production, the idea for the project started during lockdown when 34 year old Bill and his friend from Leeds started a podcast called Temple of Bleh.

The idea for the podcast was for the pair of us to reconnect with heavy music in a more meaningful way explained Bill.

This would be done through projects such as The Hunt for the Secret Channel 4 Metalhead, then we finally arrived at looking at The History of Roadrunner Records.

Being a metal guy of my age, I noticed a thread that connected my favourite bands – Trivium, Killswitch Engage, Sepultura, then the likes of Mercyful Fate and Type O Negative. So I toyed with the idea of a book on the subject.

After writing a brief report on the topic for the podcast, by complete chance, I crossed paths with former PR for Roadrunner UK, Michelle Kerr. She told me she’d like to see the finished product.

This was a sign to take this project to an academically accurate standard – so as not to look a complete twat in front of Michelle, who had kindly taken an interest.

I spent about a month creating a monster spreadsheet, detailing every original Roadrunner release since its formation in 1981 – conventional wisdom says Roadrunner formed in 1980, this is a lie.

After finishing this, I set about contacting every band, with mixed success, for a Zoom interview – which would be put up on the Temple of Bleh podcast and You Tube channel.

Then the idea was to roll them up into three documentaries of 60-75 mins each and detailing the three core ‘eras’ of the record label – 1981-1986, 1987-2001 and 2002-2012 explained Bill.

Andreas Kisser of Sepultura, pic Bill Saxton, 4th November 2022, at KK’s Steel Mill, Wolverhampton.

Research can always bring up a number of unusual stories, and Bill found a few about Roadrunner.

A good story I found is that Roadrunner’s first Gold single wasn’t metal at all – it was a 1995 gabba song called I Wanna Be a Hippie by Technohead. 

Also, in this period Roadrunner was trying to edge away from heavy metal, and in the UK specifically were trying its hand at Britpop.

If you were to ask Franz Ferdinand singer Alex Kapranos who first signed him, he’d say Roadrunner, with his early outfit The Karelia.

Another story is the range of artists Roadrunner licensed to Europe from the rest of the world. There are albums from Sinead O’Connor and Cliff Richard bearing the Roadrunner label.

Bill emphasised that the main point of the documentary is to illustrate that once upon a time, death metal hit the top of the Billboard charts, and had a seat at the table with the perceived top industry ‘players’.

It’s important to my generation to understand exactly how that came about. Who better to ask than those responsible at Roadrunner Records.

It’s also insanely convenient that you can’t answer the ‘how’ question without showcasing the stories and legacies of the key artists on the label such as Mercyful Fate, Type O Negative, and Slipknot – as well as the less mainstream bands like Deicide, Gruntruck and Blue Mountain.

Madball being interviewed, pic by TheFinalCut, 7th February 2023, at Manchester Club Academy.

After six months, 150 hours of interviews, one mini and one full documentary complete, Bill was contacted by Mrs X – who would prefer to remain anonymous.

She favoured the project so much she came up with the finance to form a production company and elevate the quality to broadcast standard.

Big thanks to our Mrs X where would I be without her! said Bill. So far I’ve filmed 32 interviews for the project, across six countries, both artist and Roadrunner personnel alike. I’ve still got a lot to go before I can call this thing even close to complete.

Bands from North East UK are represented by stories from Battleaxe and Dark Heart. It’s a dense mix of music business learnings, interwoven with rock n roll regalia.

As it stands at this moment, ‘The History of Roadrunner Records’ has no distributor or broadcaster interest as yet– so this will likely be hitting YouTube.

The documentary is being exclusively filmed in the UK and I’m managing the time with my day job, so I can’t put a final deadline on the production. I’m considering crowdfunding to quicken it up.

For more info or if you dealt with the Roadrunner label contact Bill at templeofbleh@gmail.com or @HistoryOfRoadrunnerRecords on Instagram.

Alikivi   July 2023

THE RISE & FALL OF BOBBY THOMPSON

/ Alikivi / 2 Comments

When it’s finally time to leave the stage all entertainers would love to go out at the top and Sunderland born comedian Bobby Thompson was no exception.

At his peak performing in North East clubs, punters were packed in like sardines and in 1985 Bobby was interviewed on BBC TV’s Wogan Show.

But is there a reminder of his achievements anywhere in the North East, and what happened to Bobby? There is a story that he had a statue given to him by The Little Waster pub in Wallsend after it closed down.

One night Bobby was broken into, cash, jewellery, and gold records were bagged, but after opening a cupboard and seeing his statue the burglars fled empty handed after realising who the house belonged to.

The life of Bobby, aka The Little Waster, features in A Private Audience by Dave Nicolson. The book is packed with interviews from fellow performers, managers and family members, with a foreword by comedian Ken Dodd…

‘To have an audience in uproar, to help them forget their everyday problems and worries, if only for an evening, is an experience to treasure’.

Former manager Brian Shelley remembers…

‘At the height of popularity his fee in the clubs was between £300-£500 a night. He did theatres for £1,000 for an eighteen minute slot. He was riding the crest of a wave. Bobby had it all going for him in 1978 with his record out’.

Some people interviewed on this site have mentioned seeing Bobby’s act or working with him. Back in October 2019, David Wood, boss of Wallsend’s Impulse studio, told me a story with a surprising ending.

I knew his manager Brian Shelley, he said Bobby is doing really well around the clubs do you fancy recording him ? I thought yeah we’ll give it a go.

We recorded him in Rhyope Club and Newcastle Mayfair around 1978. It was around an hours recording we put out and got Vaux breweries to sponsor it. Ironically Bobby didn’t drink then and there he was on a promo poster with a pint of beer.

Soon as we put the record out it took off, straight to number one in the local charts. Every shop was selling bucket loads, they couldn’t get enough off it. It was phenomenal.

With the profit from Bobby’s album the studio came on in leaps and bounds. We started the Neat heavy metal record label as an alternative to what we were doing.

We released a couple of singles then the Tygers of Pan Tang, Raven and Fist came along and suddenly we’ve got what became a New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Venom added to that and before we knew it we’ve built up a library of heavy metal singles. So yeah we’ve got to thank Bobby for Neat records.

Actor & musician Pete Peverly

In September 2019 I talked to actor and musician Pete Peverly who performs as Bobby in a tribute show. If he had a posh accent would he have appeared a lot more on TV and topped the bill on UK tours ?

His accent wasn‘t just Geordie it was Pitmatic, that’s very strong, and yes it was a barrier but one of the reasons why he didn’t make it outside the region was because I think he didn’t want to, he had everything up here.

He might have had more ambition in the early part of his career when he was doing Wot Cheor Geordie for the BBC. Maybe he thought about pushing it further but certainly not during the ‘70s.

All the other regional comics and entertainers who made it nationally were all-rounders, actors, comedians, song and dance men, Bobby wasn’t. He was a pit comedian from the Durham coalfields talking specifically to that community.

Actor, writer & theatre producer Leah Bell

One performer who worked with Bobby was actor, writer and theatre producer Leah Bell. I talked to Leah back in July 2021 and asked her what was he like to work with?

I worked with Bobby Thompson a lot, he was a nice man. His act was of its time, the poverty, the war – very funny.

We done a panto in Newcastle Theatre Royal with David Jason (Only Fools and Horses). David didn’t know Bobby Thompson at all, Bobby never rehearsed with us, there was no interaction.

So Bobby done his cabaret piece at the start of act two, and afterwards backstage would shuffle around saying hello to people.

David used to say to me ‘What a shame for that old fella, fancy having to work at his age, I’ve just given him some money for a cup of tea’. I said ‘What ! He gets dropped off in a limousine (laughs)’. 

One night David said ‘He’s never in the finale, it’s nice of the theatre to let him go early, he must be tired’. Really, Bobby was doubling up and playing the late spot at Newcastle Mayfair.

Bobby had great delivery, clear, distinctive and not draggy. It can sound like he’s just talking along but it’s not, it’s very precise. He was a one off.

Comedian, Bobby Pattinson

Another North East comedian, Bobby Pattinson, is interviewed in the book.

‘Over the years I gave him bookings at my club. I never saw him as a rival, but regarded him as a friend even though people told me he didn’t have a good word for me’.

‘Most North East comics were content to go on stage in any order, Bobby always wanted to be last, he interpreted that as top of the bill. But he wasn’t as successful as I hoped when I booked him in December 1981 and had to cancel sixteen shows’.

In his detailed introduction, author Dave Nicolson tells us…

‘Bobby had success and money through the golden years, but he also had loneliness. The last few years were embarrassing for him, empty tables and chairs told him the harsh truth. Even the examiner at his bankruptcy hearing in 1986 was kind and considerate’.

‘Having lost the company of an audience his feeling of loneliness and isolation intensified. Spending late nights at Newcastle’s Casino Royale and the roulette wheel provided his nightly stage’.

Sadly, Bobby died on Saturday 16th April 1988 in Preston Hospital, North Shields. Family and friends attended his funeral with a fellow comedian adding a one liner that summed up Bobby Thompson…

’He’s late because he’s found out there’s another funeral after this and he wants to go on last!’

Alikivi   May 2023

Research: Bobby Thompson, A Private Audience by Dave Nicholson.

Printed & published by TUPS books 1994.

Links to full interviews:

‘Take a Bow’ with Leah Bell 21st July 2021.

TAKE A BOW – writer, actress & theatre producer, Leah Bell | ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK (garyalikivi.com)

‘Centre Stage’ with Pete Peverly 16th September 2019.

CENTRE STAGE in conversation with North East entertainer Pete Peverly | ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK (garyalikivi.com)

‘The Fixer’ with David Wood 13th October 2019.

A NEW HEARTBEAT with Tygers of Pan Tang guitarist Robb Weir

/ Alikivi

In the early 1980s the North East New Wave of British Heavy Metal included the big five of Raven, Fist, Venom, Satan and Tygers of Pan Tang. After a load of gigs played, records made and over 40 year experience in the music biz you’d think Tygers guitarist Robb Weir had seen it all.

The last three live shows the Tygers played were back in March 2020 when we went to Holland, Belgium and in Germany with Saxon. When we returned back to the UK a national lock down was imposed and that meant no more live appearances for a few months, or so we thought.

Here we are in February 2022 nearly two years on and our live shows are still being postponed, what is really going on? If you know please tell me as I have run out of patience!

The new Tygers line-up left to right Huw Holding (bass) Jaco Meille (vocals) Robb Weir (guitar) Craig Ellis (drums) Francesco Marras (guitar)

How did you handle the lockdown ?

I write music all the time so when we were confined to our ‘living spaces’ I took the opportunity to demo some of the ideas I had with thoughts of the next album in mind.

Along with all this lock down caper we changed our guitar player and welcomed the amazing fretboard talents of Mr Francesco Marras into the Ambush – if you didn’t already know an ‘Ambush’ is the name for a gathering or group of tigers in the wild!

What was the recording process ?

I demoed about twenty songs and sent them to Francesco to get his input and fresh ideas on them. Francesco re-recorded them in his studio and with his musical additions took them to the next level. The only problem we had was deciding which ones were going to make the final cut onto the new album as they were all contenders.

At the same time we also decided to record an EP to give everyone a taste of what’s to come, also to showcase Francesco’s ability to play a lovely melodic guitar solo, so two new tracks were written.

We also asked Francesco which was his favourite track from Wildcat our first LP in 1980. He said ‘Killers’ was always one of his favourites and I had a bit of a passion to re-vamp ‘Fireclown’. 

We set about recording these four tracks remotely in our own studios, I recorded my parts in Gav Gray’s studio as mine is out of the ark. The finished tracks were sent to Marco Angioni, at Angioni Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark to be mixed and then across to Harry Hess in Canada to be mastered.

Is there a release date for the record ?

‘A New Heartbeat,’ is officially released World Wide on February 25th with an accompanying video but can be purchased pre-release online now from the Tygers web shop (link below) also our record company’s web shop Target Records.

What’s next for the Tygers ?

Gav Gray (bass) decided he wanted to visit ‘pastures new’ after we finished the new recordings so we have now welcomed a new bass player into the Tygers family, Huw Holding.

I’m very excited about the new Tygers material as I feel it’s the strongest yet, but we’ll let you be the judge of that….best Tyger wishes to you all!

Tygers Of Pan Tang – The Official Site 

Interview by Gary Alikivi January 2022

MIDNIGHT MELODY MAKER in conversation with songwriter Bernadette Mooney

/ Alikivi

When you’re young you have energy, you’re fearless and full of passion and drive. I didn’t realise how different I was being a female heavy metal singer – there wasn’t many about in the UK. I loved that time.

When I think back to the ‘80s playing live we’d have all our gear in a tiny venue plus we had pyro all around the stage, you wouldn’t get away with it now. We came on stage to a big explosion then the crowd were shocked to see a female at the front for a heavy band called War Machine.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

It was my 21st birthday and I remember it well. The band were travelling to a gig in Yorkshire I always sat in the front and the rest of the band and roadies piled in the back with all the gear. But the van broke down and we spent the whole night at the side of the road drinking cans of lager. We eventually got back to the bassist’s house and all he had in to eat was tins of beans (laughs).

Things were really happening around then, Neat records had released our demo tape and the track Storm Warning got a lot of interest. Someone got in touch with Kerrang and they asked me to come down to the London studio for a photo shoot, the photographer was Ray Palmer. We were also busy recording the album Unknown Soldier so it was great timing.

HEAVY METAL TREATMENT

Neat had just got a new mixing desk and you could add samples so a lot of our songs had a foghorn, sound of chains on, a few other pieces – yes we were their first band to do that.

All my songs tend to be laid back and moody and I write from life experiences. Storm Warning was wrote on an acoustic first like most songs. I wrote the lyrics and melodies on the War Machine album then Steve and Les put it all together – they were given the heavy metal treatment with guitars and drums.

But we felt rushed in the studio, Venom were the main band at Neat so they got the most time, we would go in around 10pm till 2am. In all it took a couple of weeks.

NEVER SAW A PENNY

Being young and naïve about contracts we didn’t realise that we signed everything over to Neat so when the album sold, and it done well over in Europe, we never saw a penny – it still sells now.

We also featured on a Neat records compilation album and never received anything from that. People say I should be loaded ‘Never seen a penny’ is my answer.

Les Fry & Steve White

HOT ‘N’ HEAVY

Our bassist Les Fry handled all the promotion and used to send tapes all over that’s how it got popular on European radio. I once remember doing an interview on French radio.

I used to co-host the Hot ‘n’ Heavy Express show with Alan Robson on Metro radio here in Newcastle, done that five or six times plus he interviewed the band.

We had a following in America but now it tends to be the European market where there’s still a big culture of ‘80s heavy metal bands – I still receive messages and requests for autographs.

War Machine have still got a big fan base in Germany, Poland and Russia and the photo session from Kerrang is still about (laughs).

Lady Killers photo shoot for Kerrang magazine.

MIDNIGHT MELODY

People search for the War Machine heavy metal songs from 1983 but also hear my new stuff which is a different style. When I’m song writing a lot of times the lyric comes first then I pick up the guitar and a melody comes, sometimes it’s strange as the song is just right there when I pick it up.

Being creative is in our blood, I’ve got an Irish Catholic background and a lot of Mooney’s came over from Ireland to Wallsend in the North East, my uncle was a guitarist and my Mam and her sisters were singers and used to go out on tour.

When I was 14 I used to write lyrics and poems all the time then bought a guitar to put melodies to them. I was self-taught and started joining bands at 15 to sing and play rhythm guitar. It always felt natural to do, and a compulsion really.

HUM THAT TUNE

I record on an old eight track Tascam but sometimes if I’m in the supermarket or somewhere I use my phone. It can be embarrassing when you’re on the metro humming in a tune to a voice recorder (laughs).

I remember for the song Still Waters I woke up around 2am and had this tune in my head I don’t know where it came from. I recorded it and finished by 4 in the morning. I record during the night as I’m more of a night person for my music, I’m more creative then and my ideas come together.

I wrote Rush for a DJ called Tony Devino, that done well and last year I wrote Soul of Me. I have another three songs which I hope to get in a studio to record.

I’ve always been song writing wherever I am, in the ‘90s I was working in London as a theatre designer doing costume and props for stage and when I moved back up North, I was doing a lot of studio backing vocals and guitar for different musicians.

In the 2000’s I played a few gigs and wrote some songs including Still Waters. Some are available on Reverbnation and I’ll be uploading more onto Spotify soon and will send you the link.

A LIFE IN SONG

At gigs people would prefer to watch a full band so I spend more time writing and recording as my songs are more laid back – I’m planning to contact some musicians soon to go in the studio and record them on better equipment.

My passion is song writing and that’s what I continue to keep doing, I’m comfortable and happy doing that. I’m still in touch with the other members and would love to get up on stage and play a War Machine song, not sure if my vocals are strong enough for heavy metal though (laughs).

A previous interview with Bernadette from April 2018

LOST IN MUSIC – with North East musician Bernadette Mooney. | ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK (garyalikivi.com)

Interview by Alikivi  November 2021

IRON MAN OF NORTON – with Teesside songwriter & producer Steve Thompson

/ Alikivi

Thompson releases two compilation albums this month, the first Iron Man of Norton on Friday 20 and another to follow, Second Shipment  on 27 August.

‘Iron Man is my cycling name and it speaks of the prowess of my ability to go for miles and miles (laughs)’.

Toward the end of last year Thompson signed a licensing deal with Cherry Red Records and since the turn of 2021 has been busy releasing his back catalogue of songs.

‘The Bullfrog stuff (Steve’s first band) gave me the idea of a boxed set, then tracks I produced for Southbound 30 odd years ago, plus some stuff I did with Alvin Stardust and other bits and pieces’.

Thompson first appeared on the radar working at Impulse Studio in Wallsend, the home of Heavy Metal label Neat records – he produced the first singles by Raven and Tygers of Pan Tang.

‘When I quit as Godfather of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal I moved out of Impulse Studio and needed somewhere to create. Luck would have it six month later I had a massive hit with ‘Hurry Home’.

Not long after that an even bigger one with Celine Dion – that’s a whole other story’.

After the band Wavelength went on Top of the Pops with ‘Hurry Home’, the royalties started piling in and Thompson bailed out of Wallsend and set up a new base further along the North East coast in Whitley Bay.

Demo’s were made of the Tygers of Pan Tang albums ‘The Wreckage’ and ‘Burning in the Shade.

‘That studio became the ‘Brill’ building in Whitley Bay for several years with a lot of muso friends dropping in and adding bits and pieces. A lot of tracks have ended up on these two compilation albums’.

‘We recorded a bunch of tracks with a guy who became Baby Ford. There was one track from those sessions, I don’t know what it referred to but it got us a BBC ban – although it didn’t stop it becoming a chart hit.

Actually Lorraine Crosby (who sang on the Meatloaf hit ‘I’d Do Anything for Love’) sang a lot of backing vocals on those’.

Tygers fans will be interested in the original version of Paris By Air that appears on the Second Shipment album. The Tygers covered the song and had a hit with the track, it also appeared on their top 20 album The Cage.  

‘On the second album is the original sung by Toni Halliday, she was only 16 at the time. There was another young 16 year old guy who hung around the studio called Andy Taylor. He played on some Toni Halliday stuff, he was one of my session guys. You could see he was soaking it all in’.

Recently, Taylor recorded an interview on Planet Rock radio where he gave credit to Thompson for giving him his first break in production.

‘It’s really nice of him to do that as it was a while ago’.

(link: www.bit.ly/andyplanet)

‘I was 25 then and Andy used to call me and the other muso’s around who were my contemporaries – boring old farts. He said he was going to be a major rock star. He wanted to cut a couple of tracks on vocals and guitar’.

‘Toni Halliday talked a lot about her life and ambitions while living a hum drum life on a council estate in Washington. Out of that the story of ‘Paris By Air’ emerged…..

‘I don’t know a soul in this neighbourhood, who can afford the fair, and I’m stuck here for good’.

‘But I didn’t know much about Andy’s background other than how ambitious he was’.

‘A guitarist friend of mine, Stu Burns, God bless him he’s not with us now, was in a band called The Squad. I was taken by their ballsy, Phil Spector type songs. They had a song ‘Hey Gene’ and I thought that would be good for Andy’.

‘It was written by John Farmer of The Squad. Stu engineered the session for me in the bands makeshift basement studio’.

‘Hey Gene’ is on the Iron Man of Norton album, the original b side of that record Catch a Fast Train can be found on Second Shipment. Thompson remembers one unforgettable day in the studio with Andy Taylor.

‘He looked in The Melody Maker and he saw a notice bigger than all the others and said… ‘I’m gonna audition for this’. So he went to Birmingham to audition for this band. He came back and said…

‘I got the gig’. We said ‘what they called ?’  

We all fell about laughing saying ‘you’re going to get nowhere with a band called Duran, Duran’. How wrong can you be.

Both compilation albums contain a couple of tracks by Tony McPhee of The Groundhogs.

‘Tony called me up one day to record in the studio. He wanted me to record two songs in one day but also wanted a drummer and a bass player for the session.

I got in Paul Smith who I used a lot, I played bass, we were the Geordie Groundhogs. He paid Smithy, and for the day session. I played and produced for free’.

‘When the session was over he said have you got a bed to put me up for the night ? I phoned up my wife and said we’re going to put this guy up but he says he’s a vegetarian. We hadn’t a clue what he ate’.

‘Anyway he did sleep over but next day he woke up and just pissed off without saying goodbye – I might hear from him when these tracks come out (laughs)’.

Find both albums here:

Iron Man Of Norton: Boxed Set out on Friday 20 August 2021.

http://steve-thompson.org.uk/iron-man-of-norton-boxed-set-various-artists/

Iron Man of Norton: ‘Second Shipment’ out on Friday 27 August 2021.

http://steve-thompson.org.uk/iron-man-of-norton-second-shipment-various-artists/

Alikivi   August 2021

CHEWING THE FAT WITH THE HEAVY MOB: Nalbandian, Gallagher, Pepperd & Leatherby

/ Alikivi
Shockwave podcast from top left Bob Nalbandian, on his right Garry Pepperd, below him Jarvis Leatherby & John Gallagher.

I asked Bob Nalbandian, host of the Shockwave Skullsessions podcast, who have you featured on previous shows ?

‘I’ve had tons of guests from classic rock and metal, icons like Bill Ward (Black Sabbath) Bob Daisley (Ozzy) Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Scott Gorham (Thin Lizzy) to record industry vets like Monte Conner and Brian Slagel to new metal artists’.

‘Generally the feedback is very good. We have a loyal fan base of avid metal fans that particularly love classic ‘70s and ‘80s hard rock and metal’.

Bob remembers being a 16 year old American kid reading Kerrang and the ‘Armed n Ready’ section which highlighted emerging bands, Raven, Venom, Diamond Head and Def Leppard, and being introduced to a new punky metal sound labelled the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

So for the new episode he has lined up a Heavy Metal special with two of the big players from the NWOBHM.

Raven’s Chief Headbanger, John Gallagher said ‘It was 1979 and in the music papers you start seeing stories about Iron Maiden, Sansom, Neal Kaye and New Wave of British Heavy Metal and think what’s all this about’.

‘Most of the bands had been plugging away forever because we loved the music. We were just playing the music we liked and all of a sudden we got swept up in it’.

Jaguars Garry Pepperd added ‘There was very few rock and metal bands from our part of England. The only people who didn’t have a job in Bristol were us musicians who didn’t want one’.

Nalbandian also invited Night Demon’s Jarvis Leatherby to the table.

‘I’m a bit younger than you guys and I was introduced to NWOBHM by listening to the NWOBHM ’79 Revisited album. It done it for me because I heard everybody in one shot’.

‘It had on ‘Back Street Woman’ by Jaguar and ‘Don’t Need Your Money’ by Raven. Coming from a thrash metal kid who listened to the Big Four of Anthrax, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeath, it was great to hear how melodic these bands were’.

The heavy mob chew the fat about early days of NWOBHM, Sounds newspaper, Kerrang, the Marquee and being studio virgins.

‘In 1979 when Jaguar started we done a demo and sent it off to a Battle of the Bands competition and got through. We played three songs but were beaten by a funk band from Swindon’.

‘Then we linked up to the Heavy Metal label and done ‘Stormchild’, a track for the ‘Heavy Metal Heroes’ compilation album’ remembers Pepperd.

Gallagher added ‘Famously we played a show in Newcastle with Tygers of Pan Tang and their manager Tom Noble loved the show and came up to us and said do you want to make a single with Neat ? Err, no (laughs).

They talk about touring and how they persisted in dragging their bands over the music biz obstacles to still be a force today.

Leatherby said ‘Raven took us on our first ever tour and we played more than 60 dates on the shows around the world and on festivals, so we’re forever connected. I was able to fill in as guest vocalist for Jaguar so I got to pinch myself for how much we’ve done together’.

Pepperd added ‘We played anywhere in those days but like most places now they are long gone. We were going to support Spider at Bristol Colston Hall but in the afternoon the lighting rig collapsed so we never got to play’.

Gallagher chipped in ‘We once done a show with the Tygers at the Guildhall in Newcastle and in the dressing room there was some girls brushing someone’s hair and we thought who’s she, she looks hot. They turned round and it was Jess Cox’ (Tygers vocalist)

For more stories watch the full show at :

SS #120 | New Wave of British Heavy Metal Special: w/John Gallagher, Gary Peppard & Jarvis Leatherby – YouTube

You can check out all the Shockwaves Skullsessions podcasts at ShockwavesSkullsessions.com

Alikivi July 2021.

GUARDIAN RECORDING STUDIO #7: Battleaxe – Burn this Town

/ Alikivi

Guardian Sound Studios were based in a small village called Pity Me in County Durham, North East UK.

There are various theories on the origin of the unusual name of the village – a desolate area, exposed and difficult to cultivate or a place where monks sang ‘Pity me o God’ as they were chased by the Vikings.

Whatever is behind the name it was what happened in two terraced houses over 30 years ago that is the focus of this blog – they were home to a recording studio.

From 1978 some bands who recorded in Guardian were – Neon, Deep Freeze and Mike Mason & the Little People.

A year later The Pirahna Brothers recorded a 7”, 1979 saw an E.P from Mythra and releases in 1980 from Hollow Ground, Hellanbach and a compilation album, Roksnax.

From ‘82 to ‘85 bands including Red Alert, Toy Dolls, Prefab Sprout, Satan, Battleaxe and Spartan Warrior made singles or albums.

On this blog there is a number of musicians who have memories of recording in Guardian including stories of a ghost of a young girl who was knocked down outside the studio.

Dave King (vocals, Battleaxe): Yeah, still remember the story of the Guardian ghost sitting at the piano. Terry would say can’t you see it lads ? No was our answer (laughs).

He told us to be quiet and still and then go and sit on the wall outside while the ghost was sat at the piano in the live room playing a silent tune. He would then disappear for half an hour to his other house next door. He was recently married at the time so was a young virile bloke like all of us back then (laughs).

His stories were great, he told us he had been given a guitar from Paul McCartney, and an old flying jacket of John Lennon given to him from the Beatles. Terry liked nowt like taking the piss (laughs).

I found him a really nice guy, very helpful with young and naive bands. But for recording he could never get the drum sound we were asking from him and that was with all the fantastic gear he had in there – although we did have a crap kit at the time. 

We never stayed overnight as some bands did cos we only lived a few miles away.

We recorded our single Burn This Town and Battleaxe in one long day and Terry took half a day to mix it. Think it cost us around £200, we all chipped in £50 quid each and Terry pressed 500 x 7 inch singles.

It was an amazing feeling to have the band’s music published and out on vinyl.

Roger Lewis, a great Heavy Metal DJ pioneer at Radio Tees, was first to let rip Burn this Town over the airwaves. For some unknown reason Alan Robson from Radio Metro never took a shine to us at all, in fact blatantly slagged us off live on his Hot and Heavy Radio show.

However that single and the Burn This Town album got us a BBC Radio One session with Tommy Vance and interest from a host of other radio stations.

Read more Guardian stories here:

Guardian Recording Studio stories #4 Metal on Tyne with Mythra, Saracen & Hollow Ground | ALIKIVI (garyalikivi.com)

If anyone has any information about Guardian or recorded in the studios get in touch.

Interview by Alikivi  May 2021.