Q. What got you into music? A. When I was a little kid I went to a Christmas party and there was a live band. They looked like the Beatles and had red guitars. After that I wanted to be in a band. It was really Robb Weir who got me into playing gigs. All the people I played with before Robb only ever rehearsed and never gigged. Robb got a van, posters, fly posting, gigs at local pubs and clubs, management, contacts with local radio. Really there would have been no Tygers without Robb.

Q. Who were your main influences? A. A German band called Can (very experimental) punk bands like the Pistols and later Hawkwind, ZZ Top, AC/DC and Cheap Trick. As a bass player it would have to be mostly Lemmy in Hawkwind and Tom Petersson in Cheap Trick.

Q. What memories do you have of Whitley Bay/Newcastle (rehearsing in the old church in Tynemouth for example)? A. In terms of the band they were the best times and the worst times (as someone once said!). We were a bunch of mates having a good time and there were no rivalries or jealousies. The main memories of Whitley Bay would be playing a residency in Mingles nightclub every Wednesday night (this was before John joined). This residency really gave us a following and loads of live experience. However, we overstayed our welcome and though it was great for about six months people got sick of us and it started to turn nasty. I remember getting headbutted in the face! Not pleasant. Newcastle was the same. As we started to get success some people resented it and we suffered a backlash. I think I found this more difficult to take than the others as the original local following of the Band was based on my biker friends some of whom also turned against us. However, what the hell, we were touring Europe and Japan! Rehearsing at Tynemouth was a luxury as we had given up jobs and rehearsed during the day. This was better than rehearsing at the church hall in Backworth at night as the locals would let our tyres down (and on one occasion stole the valves!). At Tynemouth we rehearsed 9 to 5 and went to the pub for lunch so it was a bit like having a job (but a really enjoyable job).

Q. How did you come to get John Sykes into the band? A. We advertised (in Sounds I think) and he came to the audition in London. He was the best candidate by miles both playing wise and looks though contrary to what was said afterwards by Jess Cox, looks were a secondary issue for us and the way John played he would have had to look like Quasimodo not to get the job. However, contrary to what has been reported there were only a couple of real candidates out of the many tapes we were sent and people we auditioned. We must have forgotten to put "no time wasters" in the advert as we got quite a lot of nutters.

Q. What do you think he brought to the Tygers that had previously been missing? A. The ability to play blinding lead guitar. In John we had a world class lead guitarist which is quite important for a rock band (or was at the time). Robb had a lot of talents but he was not in the same class when it came to lead guitar.

Q. What do you remember of Jess Cox's place in Cambridge Avenue, Whitley Bay (where John Sykes lived during his time in the band)? Any funny stories stayed with you?. A. I remember it was pretty squalid. When my mum and dad got a new sofa and chairs the old ones were donated to Cambridge Avenue. Green velvet with tassels. Not very rock and roll.

Q. How would you describe John Sykes as a person and a bandmate at the time? A. John was an amazing musician and a very dedicated guitarist. He could be very funny and we had lots of laughs. He was also pretty tough. I remember when we were out at Newcastle Mayfair and as was quite common a jealous boyfriend started having a go at John along the lines of "you think you are so great and can have any girl you like" after his girlfriend had been eying up John and John just replied "Yes I do, what are you going to do about it?". The guy backed down. However, John had a dark side and was unhappy and frustrated with the band quite a lot of the time. Really, the rest of us weren't in the same class as John as musicians and John found it frustrating. Obviously he was a better guitarist than Robb and didn't like having to put up with equal status. Also, John hated the fact that we had an "all for one and one for all" attitude to song writing credits and John wanted to be credited for his own work (though the band policy was explained to him before he joined). John wasn't by nature a "team player". In retrospect we could have handled the whole situation a lot better than we did. I have read that John thought we were lazy and didn't want to play. That isn't true. We desperately wanted to tour all the time but it cost money and our record company weren't prepared to pay what it cost. I don't think John knew that much about those aspects of the band and just blamed the management.

Q. How much input did John have in songwriting terms? A. Most songwriting started with guitar riffs or chords and this would usually start with Robb or John. Of course by the time John joined we had already done one album and so we had used up quite a lot of riffs and songs. In fact we recycled riffs by playing them backwards to make a new song! John was fresh and so he probably wrote slightly more songs than Robb by the time we got to Spellbound but generally it was about equal between Robb and John. John was capable of pretty sophisticated stuff by the time we got to the studio to do Spellbound (such as Mirror Mirror which he wrote in the studio). I think "Take it" was the only song Robb and John wrote together. John has said that he was doing most of the work around this time. This wasn't the case either. He was certainly being indulged more in terms of studio time and attention on his songs than on Robb's. I am sure he thinks this is because they were better songs and perhaps they were but as I have said Robb had already written a whole albums worth of guitar on Wildcat.

Q. What was it like working with Thin Lizzy producer Chris Tsandgarides on Spellbound? That album sounds impressively slick: how come he was not chosen to produce Crazy Nights? A. Chris did Wildcat our first album so we knew him pretty well. He was a really nice guy and did a pretty good job. Also he introduced us to Gary Moore who came on stage with us at the Marquee club (which was great for John as Gary was his hero). We weren't that thrilled with the production on Spellbound as it definitely wasn't as good as Def Leppard or Iron Maiden were getting. Also I think we just wanted a change with Crazy Nights and so used Dennis McKay who had produced the G-Force album for Gary Moore. I don't know whose idea this was. I wanted to use Gary Katz. Anyway Dennis was not the right guy for the job (though this was not his fault). We were all drinking heavily at the time (or at least I was) and I remember most recording sessions at Trident Studios started with a six pack of strong lager each at least. What we needed was someone to instil discipline but Dennis wasn't used to this. He usually produced jazz where the musicians are very disciplined. Also we needed someone to arbitrate on decisions like who was going to do the solo (you will notice that most songs on Crazy Nights have a solo by Robb and a solo by John - just to keep the peace!). The best recordings we did around that time were "Stormlands" and "Slip Away" which Dennis didn't produce and which were done as b sides. Crazy Nights was a flawed album.

Q. When was the last time you listened to Spellbound? A. I don't have a copy so I can't remember. A long time ago. However I have heard some of the tracks on a "best of" which I bought from Amazon!

Q. What are your thoughts on the album now? A. It is probably the best Tyger's album. Production wise I think it is a bit thin and mushy and so could be better but the songs and performances are the best we did. As you say, Spellbound is 25 years old. That is half my lifetime ago and it is brilliant that people are still interested and it kind of justifies it.

Q. What was the story behind the cover art for Spellbound? What is it supposed to mean - there's a tiger, fair enough, but (what's your interpretation)?! A. I designed it by doing a rough sketch which an artist turned into the actual cover. I think we had the album title (from the lyric of Hellbound - I think Spellbound as the title was Jon Deverill's idea) so, as we had to have a tiger (for obvious reasons), the idea was to have a tiger looking as if it was spellbound. Pretty simple really. I actually got the basic idea of a big moon and a rocky outcrop from the album Warrior at the Edge of Time by Hawkwind.

Q. What's the story behind John Sykes using some of Gary Moore's equipment during the recording of Spellbound? A. As I said we met Gary through Chris Tsangaridies and he let John use some gear which he brought to the studio. He also brought Peter Green's Les Paul which we all had a go on though I don't think it was used on the recordings. The really funny story is that on the album cover there was a credit for Gary, "thanks to Gary Moore …" and the credit was next to one song which Robb did the solo on and lots of people thought that Robb's solo was played by Gary Moore. John was pretty pissed off about that!

Q. What was your favourite track off the album to play live? A. I am not sure I had a favourite. Hellbound and Don't Stop By probably though we opened with Take It at gigs so that was always a good moment. I didn't like playing Mirror Mirror. For some reason (Brian?) we always played it too slow which was strange because usually we had a tendency to speed everything up.

Q. What was the feeling about the album in the band at the time? What hopes did you have for it? A. When we did the demos for the album and I first got home and played the tape from the recording studio I really thought we had cracked it and were headed for fame and fortune! When we made the actual album I thought it was in the same class as Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Saxon (who were the competition at the time). Perhaps if we had had the same backing from the record company as they had it could have done as well as they did and I wouldn't have needed the proper job and sensible haircut.

Q. How did you feel about the Tyger's management? A. They were our friends and were part of the big adventure. No one else wanted to manage us and I think they did a pretty good job given that they didn't have a great deal of experience. They had to put up with a lot managing us, especially Graham "Hog" Thompson who also came on the road with us. He was like Ian the manager from Spinal Tap - no sex drugs and rock n' roll for Graham! I think it was naïve of John to think that just sacking the management would have made any difference. If we could have got a new record deal that would have made a difference.

Q. Live at Nottingham Rock City is a hell of a live album, but it's rumoured that someof the band were ill at that gig. What is the story behind that? A. Yes some of us were ill, especially Jon D. We had had a couple of bad gigs at the start of the tour especially Stoke which was a real stinker though these first few gigs were not without funny moments. Firstly, when Jon D. walked on the stage at Cardiff (his home town) amid the dry ice, he shouted "Hello Cardiff" and then promptly fell over and disappeared completely in the dry ice! He didn't think this was funny but the rest of us did. At the Stoke gig when we came to play Mirror Mirror (which never worked very well live) a roady called Andy gave John an out of tune guitar and when he started playing the song it sounded horrible. At the end of the gig John went over to him and said in a deadpan voice "thanks Andy, you made me look a c**t" which was typical John and we all fell about. At Nottingham we were pretty down. We didn't think the recording had turned out well. In fact only John and Chris Tsangaredies heard it after the gig in the mobile studio and both said it was crap. No one ever listened to it again until years later. We were always too critical of our own performance! Hearing it now I think it is quite good and certainly was good enough to release. Perhaps the problem was that a few gigs later we really found our stride and the tour was a great success and we wished we had recorded one of the later gigs.

Q. The Tyger's summer tour of Holland in 1981 is alleged to have been a little wild: what are your memories of it? A. I can't remember touring Holland at all! We did do two festivals in Holland which were a week apart so we spent a week in Amsterdam. I don't remember it being particularly wild. In fact on the whole we were a quite well behaved band (believe it or not). We also played Holland as part of a European tour supporting Gillan but apart from the usual "band on tour" stuff I don't remember anything especially wild.

Q. What's the story behind John's departure from the band? A. He left without giving any notice to audition for Ozzy when Randy Rhoads died. He didn't get the job. Our management said he might be prepared to rejoin the Tygers as long as we didn't continue with the joint song writing credits. However, we didn't want him to rejoin.

Q. How did you and the rest of the band feel about him leaving? A. To be honest it was a relief. As I have said he was unhappy and frustrated a lot of the time and it was quite stressful having him in the band, despite his being a guitar genius. As the Cage was our most successful album loosing John did not hold us back. Though he obviously went on to have more success than the rest of us and I know I am writing this for a John Sykes website (there being no sign of a Rocky website anytime soon) honestly, in the Tygers at the time, John Sykes was no more important than anybody else.

Q. When JS quit he took some tracks the band were wording on that he had written with him. To the best of your knowledge, have any of those songs surfaced anywhere in any shape or form? A. We weren't working on any tracks as a band at the time so this is not correct. I can remember in what was his last rehearsal him briefly playing some ideas for songs which everybody thought were great. They were the sort of things he went on to do with Whitesnake but they were just his ideas and we didn't work on them. You are probably getting at the possibility that if he hadn't left he band we would have made the Whitesnake album as a Tygers album. Well that is a possibility I suppose but I don't think we would have done it as well as Whitesnake and I wouldn't compare myself as a bass player to Neil Murray!

Q. Have you kept track of John Sykes' career or did you no longer have any contact one he left the band? A. We met John backstage when we played Reading in 82 and he was very friendly and complimentary of our performance (then with Fred Purser) and we wished him well. I have never seen him since then. I was aware that he was in Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake and that he also had Blue Murder but had never heard any of it. However, I heard "Still of the Night" on the radio quite recently and bought the Whitesnake album which is superb and John's playing is outstanding though the production does not always show off John to the best advantage. I think his guitar sound was hard to produce and you can't always hear all the great stuff he is doing.

Q. What did you make of the demos for the never released 5th album penned by Jon D and Fred Purser? A. There was one track called "Square One" which I loved but (though I admit I didn't say it at the time) I didn't like the rest of it much. The direction was very much away from the heavy rock I wanted to play but by that stage Fred was dominating the band creatively as the rest of us were getting pretty fed up with the whole thing.

Q. Were you involved in the recording of those? A. Yes, I played on them and they were recorded in my bedroom using mattresses for sound proofing and with the recording machine in the box room next door! We did live drums and everything. Fred was very good at recording (and presumably still is!)

Q. Also, how did you feel about the Wreck-Age and Burning in the Shade album?. A. I have never heard the albums or wanted to. They aren't anything to do with the band I was in.

Q. There was an attempt to reform the early 80's band line-up a few years back. What factors prevented a full-scale reunion? A. Well no one asked me for a start! To be fair I wouldn't have done it even if they had. I wouldn't have time for rehearsals etc and whilst my kids think it is cool that I was in a band they think it is even cooler that I'm not still in one! I doubt that John Sykes would do it. He has not been particularly kind about his former band and I doubt would be prepared to play with the rest of us.

Q. How would you like the Tygers to be remembered? What do you think was the band's finest hour? A. Just to be remembered as a good and entertaining band would be good. I still find it pretty amazing that anybody is interested all this time after we split up. Our finest hour was probably Reading Festival in 82 (with Fred rather than John). We were second top of the bill on the night we played and we were petrified but it was an excellent gig. My favourite gigs were the times we played Middlesbrough Rock Garden. Hot, sweaty, an audience of bikers and us all getting electric shocks of Jess. What great nights. We did get our van's tyres slashed once but it was worth it.

Q. Do you have any contact with other former members of the band? A. No. This is a bit of a shame really but I think that despite all the water under the bridge there are still some issues and fragile egos.

Q. How would you describe each of the Tygers Spellbound line-up in one word each? A. I wouldn't. You can't describe most people in one word especially when you have been through so much together. I can't believe Brian Dick's one word to described me was "snob" which is something I am not nor ever have been. I haven't seen the guy for years and after all we went through together that is all he can say!

Q. How is life treating you now? A. Pretty good! I am 50 years old next birthday (and eligible for Saga holidays though no plans to go on one!). I am married and have three kids and two cats. I am a lawyer in the music business and live in East London. I haven't had an alcoholic drink since 1982 and I managed finally to give up smoking 5 years ago. Still have own hair and teeth and am relatively thin (though I could not get into the trousers I wore on the last Tygers tour!).

Q. What music do you like today? A. I still like guitar rock in all its forms and particular favourites are AC/DC, Motley Crue, Poison, Skid Row, ZZ Top and more recent stuff like Jimmy Eat World and Alkaline Trio and even some modern metal like Trivium and Bullet for My Valentine. I also like some rap metal like Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit, and Kid Rock.

Q. Finally, your favourite Tyger's song. A. Slave to Freedom. That was one of the first songs Robb and I wrote together and summed up what we were all about at the start of the Tygers. It was great playing it live once we had John on guitar as well.

Many thanks to Richard (Rocky) for taking the trouble to do this. Simon.