Firstly, can I say that you are one of my favourite vocalists. Your singing is very distinctive and emotive - dramatic even.
Thanks very much for your kind comments regarding my voice. To sound distinctive was always a priority. I've always been drawn to the dramatic. I'm now an actor so that speaks for itself!
Can you tell me about the circumstances that led to you joining the Tygers? You were previously a member of Cardiff-based Persian Risk that featured future Motorhead guitarist Phil Campbell…
I formed Persian Risk with Phil Campbell in 1979. We're both from the same small town in South Wales and had known each other since childhood. We were gigging locally and writing songs. It was a good band and I felt we had a lot of potential. Towards the end of 1980 I read in the national music papers that the Tygers were looking for a new singer. I'd seen them live twice, once supporting Magnum at the Cardiff Top Rank and that Summer at the Reading Pop Festival. I liked them but I wouldn't have classed myself as a fan. I got in touch and was asked to audition in Newcastle and to my absolute delight I got the job!
Were you familiar with the Tygers music / the Wildcat album? What did you think about their style and what did you think you would bring to the band that was different?
I hadn't heard Wildcat until about a week before the audition. My first impression was good. I liked it's rawness and energy. It was honest. Kind of punk. It had an anger. I felt completely different to Jess as a singer and hoped to bring more range to the vocals and more melody to the songs. Not lose the dynamic but make it more varied and interesting musically. I felt the songs on Wildcat were a bit samey.
What was it like moving from South Wales to the NE of England? What were your impressions of Whitley Bay and Newcastle?
I instantly felt at home in the North East and loved Newcastle and Whitley Bay. It was such an exciting time for me and Newcastle was a very vibrant and happening city. I do like to be beside the seaside! The sea has always drawn me and still does. One of my favourite tracks is Tides from The Cage album.
What are your memories of being a Tyger in Whitley Bay? Were the locals/people on the music scene hostile or supportive? Are you ever nostalgic for the Whitley Bay/Tynemouth area?
It's strange thinking back to my Tyger days. Nostalgic. But not unpleasant. Yes. I'm very nostalgic for the Whitely Bay/ Tynemouth area. On my wall I have a really atmospheric photograph of Tynemouth Priory taken by a local photographer called Andy Mackey. I spent a lot of time walking the coastline. We had some stick from people that felt we were a bunch of posing big heads….they were right!….but most were great and supported us.
The contrast between yourself and Jess Cox as singers was quite marked. How difficult or not was it to handle his material - and is it true that he gave you tuition on how to approach singing the Wild Cat songs?!
Ha, ha, ha….this question did make me laugh! I wonder who told you Jess gave me tuition on how to sing the Wildcat stuff? Come on! It's of course a total lie. He most certainly did not! I didn't want to sound anything like Jess and the band didn't want me to either. Yes. We are very different singers and I brought my own style to the old material. But when a band changes it's singer the emphasis is on the new not the past.
How did you find the other guys in the band? In particular, what was John Sykes like as a bandmate/person? I've heard you socialised with John a bit.
I liked the other guys in the band a lot and was grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to work with them. John and myself were new so we had an immediate bond and got on very well. We shared a flat together in Whitley Bay and he kind of became my best mate. I'm not in touch with him anymore which is a shame. We had some wild times and it was great working with a musician of his talent.
Which lyrics were written by you on the Tygers albums? Would you care to share some of your inspiration for the lyrics? Mirror is one of your's I believe: the lyrics have that romantic/dramatic ingredient. Running out of time (on Crazy Nights) seems to be influenced by environmental concerns/the threat of nuclear war (e.g. "don't meddle in creation / the result is frightening")...
All the lyrics on Spellbound and Crazy Nights were written by me with the exception of Hellbound, that Rocky wrote. Whenever I'm credited on The Cage it's for the lyrics and vocal melodies. Of course, that album contained several covers. At that time I started working with Steve Thomson, a local songwriter and brother of Graham, one half of our management team. We wrote a lot of songs together. Mirror is my favourite track on Spellbound and my best vocal on the album. It's about self obsession, how we can love and hate what the mirror shows us, our reflection is "Between living and ghost". The nightmare of being trapped in a mirror, mentally perhaps? "No, you couldn't stay, you, you were gone to soon". How youth is fleeting, how our reflections change. We age. Running Out Of Time is about the nuclear threat. But also the fact that we're destroying the planet through pollution and greed. Raping our natural resources. I'm passionate about environmental issues. Good lyrics have to be personal, the truth as you see it. Your take on things, your comment.
Was Tyger Bay about the band's attitude towards Whitley Bay ("gotta get out, gotta get away…")?!!
No. Tyger Bay wasn't about Whitley Bay, although I can understand you thinking it was. It's in fact an actual place in Cardiff. The docks area that in recent years has been completely redeveloped. It's now called Cardiff Bay. But back then it was a run down, rough place where I used to do gigs in front of sailors, prostitutes, pimps and other extremely dodgy people. I loved it though! It had a real character. Dame Shirley Bassey was born there…God bless her!
What were your hopes for the Spellbound album and tour, and what do you think about it now? It has to be one of the best British heavy metal albums, but it doesn't seem to get the plaudits it deserves…
Thank you. I agree Spellbound is kind of special. It's my first album and it was an amazing experience recording it. Gary Moore, a hero of mine and John Sykes, was recording in the same studio complex, and so was Rick Wakeman, another hero, I love Yes. It was incredible to socialise with them and Gary lent John his famous Les Paul guitar, which used to belong to Peter Green and Jeff Beck respectively, to play on certain tracks. I still listen to some songs. It was very well received by the music critics and got excellent reviews in all the major papers. It made the top twenty and Hellbound was single of the week in Sounds. It was like a dream and the band started to be taken seriously. We were happening! Expectations for the tour were huge.
When was the last time you listened to some of the old Tygers songs? What was your favourite to play live?
I've got quite a lot of Tygers stuff on my iPod and I listen to it now and then. I have to be in the mood. All the material I did later with Fred Purser is on, I have to say it's my favourite. I absolutely love the songs. It was never released of course.I enjoyed doing Gangland, Love Potion No.9, Making Tracks, Mirror, Don't Stop By ,amongst others , live.
What are your memories from touring the Spellbound record? You contracted laryngitis at one point. The Nottingham Rock City live album still sounds pretty impressive though!
My memories of my first British tour with the band to promote Spellbound are mixed. I'd never toured before and my lack of experience led to vocal problems early on. We opened in my home city of Cardiff and it was an amazing gig. All my friends and family were there and we went down an absolute storm. I stayed up very late after the show drinking with my mates. Not a good idea with tired vocal chords and a performance the next night. Needless to say, I ended up with laryngitis and that took all the pleasure out performing. But it didn't last too long and by about the middle of the tour things improved immensely vocally and we started to reach our potential as a live act. By the end we were hot! A lot of lessons were learnt and I'm glad I went through what I did. I'm pleased you think the Nottingham stuff is ok. I'm singing about 60% but it's mostly in tune at least. Mostly!!!
Were you frustrated by the lack of backing from the record label (MCA)?
M.C.A. are the reason the Tygers ended. They were a poor company to us and didn't commit the way they should have. We always had a lot less than our rivals. Iron Maiden and Def Leppard had much better deals and far more money spent on them. Yes, it was extremely frustrating being with them and when we tried to leave they pulled the plug and down we went.
How did you feel when Sykes quit the band? Did you have any inkling that was going to happen?
Yes. I knew John was going to leave. He hadn't been happy for a while. It was still a kind of shock when he finally quit. I was very sorry to see him go. Not only was he a brilliant guitarist but also my friend. It was a great loss to the band but I wished him huge success with whoever he eventually joined.
Apparently Sykes tried to rejoin the band when he was not taken on by Ozzy Osbourne. How did you react to that?
Yes. I believe John would have come back but by that time we'd already replaced him with Fred Purser. It would have been totally unfair to Fred to change our decision and to be honest, Fred was an exceptionally gifted musician and songwriter, so we were delighted to have him. He added a whole new dimension to the band. I knew it was going to happen for John, if not with Ozzy then with some other mega stars. I was right!
Did you remain in contact with Sykes in the years that followed and would you have been tempted to work with him again? I could easily imagine your voice suiting some of his Blue Murder tracks very nicely!
No. Unfortunately I didn't stay in touch with John. Our paths crossed a few times and I always enjoyed seeing him. I of course followed his rise to the top and was genuinely delighted for him. I would have worked with him again, who wouldn't, but it was never on the cards.
You recorded some demos for a 5th Tygers album with Fred Purser and Richard in 1983. What became of those songs - there were one or two decent tunes amongst those (Square One, Travel the World etc.), and why did the band deteriorate following the success of The Cage?
The demos we recorded for our 5th album eventually did reach completion. Fred and myself finished recoding an album in his studio (I'm sure you know Fred now owns and runs his own studio in Newcastle called Trinity Heights. And very successful he is too!) in the early Nineties. It's called Square World and I'm extremely proud of it! It's my best vocal work. As yet, it's never been released. It's a very long story regarding the band folding after The Cage. But in a nutshell, we wanted to leave M.C.A., we tried too, took bad advice from our new management and it all imploded. I still feel our record company were to blame and they destroyed something just when it was reaching it's full potential.
What motivated you to continue (with Brian) as the Tygers of Pan Tang in the mid-1980s and record two further albums? How do you feel that others associated to the Tygers do not regard those albums as true Tygers records?
When the band folded after The Cage, for a while I was kind of in shock! I couldn't quite believe that at our most successful point, it was suddenly taken away. Yes. There was a feeling of being robbed. It didn't feel over for me. I couldn't walk away at that time. Unfinished business and all that! Fred and myself tried to get our Square World project signed, possibly under a new name, but it didn't happen. We split from each other for a time. I then got involved with John Sykes step father, Ron Sharples, who owned a recording studio in Blackpool. We decided to record an album of material that I'd written with Steve Thomson, at that time it wasn't decided whether to use the Tygers name. Eventually we did because Brian Dick had got involved , on my invitation, and he was an original member. So we both felt it was not unreasonable to continue as the Tygers. I like The Wreck-Age album a lot. Of course I can understand people feeling it's not a true Tygers album and that's fine by me. I really don't care. It's what they think about the music that interests me.
I've read that you collaborated with Fred on some songs in later years. What became of those endeavours? Do you still harbour any ambitions in a musical direction?
As I've previously mentioned, Fred and myself finished an album called Square World in the mid Nineties. For me, it's my best work. I'm very proud of it and Fred is an incredible musician, songwriter and producer. I still hope one day it may get released? Who knows? It deserves to be heard but we don't always get what we deserve! I'm still very much a singer. I've done a lot of musical theatre since becoming an actor and I love singing. I'd like to record a solo album but it's very unlikely. I'm working pretty non stop as an actor and enjoying it tremendously. I've no desire to be in a rock band again. The Tygers was an amazing experience but it's over and I moved on a long time ago.
Are you still in contact with any of the other Tygers guys / management / entourage other than Tom Noble?
Fred Purser and Tom Noble are two of my best friends. We see each other fairly regularly. I've just been in the North East in Blood Brothers at the Sunderland Empire and Billingham Forum Theatres. They came to see it and we had a booz up in Newcastle! I'm not in touch with anyone else unfortunately but I do wish them well.
How is life treating you these days? You are touring the UK in a production of Blood Brothers: how do you find the actor's life? It must be a pretty nomadic existence.
I'm very good at the moment thank you. I've just finished the national tour of Blood Brothers and it was a fantastic time. It's possibly my favourite musical. Being an actor is what I always wanted. I still find myself living out of a suit case and it is a nomadic existence, I have to go where the work takes me, but I love it! Being creative. I've been very lucky.
Some great answers - my thanks again to Jon for taking the time and trouble!