In
anticipation of the impending release of their 25th studio album, Living the
Dream, classic rock icons URIAH HEEP embark on a North American tour in early
2018. The tour officially kicked off on
February 6th and will run through this spring, with more dates to be announced
soon!
Founding
member and lead guitarist Mick Box states, "The mighty HEEP are ready to
rock North America. We have waited so long to put a tour in place and now we
have one set, it is an incredibly exciting feeling to know we will soon be
playing to our fans out there. We are counting down the days and our set list
will be a musical journey that takes us from our first album 'Very 'Eavy, Very
'Umble to the last one 'Outsider.'' Appy days!"
In
addition to the tour announcement, the band have launched a pledge campaign to
crowd fund Living the Dream, their forthcoming studio offering, making it the
25th in their storied career. Fans who contribute will have access to exclusive
behind the scenes footage from the recording sessions as well as other perks
such as playing with the band during a soundcheck, a signed copy of the album,
and much more!
ABOUT URIAH HEEP:
URIAH
HEEP debuted in 1970 with the release of one of hard rock's
milestones, "Very 'eavy... Very 'umble" and have since sold in excess
of 40 millions albums worldwide. They constantly tour the world, playing up to
125 shows a year to 500,000+ fans. The band's live set features the classic
tracks from the '70s and is a musical journey from the band's beginnings to the
present day.
Along
with Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, Uriah Heep helped invent a
decorative and uniquely British form of heavy metal with their debut album,
Very 'Eavy, Very 'Umble, offered as a self-titled on American shores, but
whatever the titling, historically massive in the invention of a music format
that would rule the '70s and only intensify in the '80s.
Uriah
Heep have been responsible for the most elevated and intelligent use of vocals
in a heavy metal context amongst the major bands inventing the genre in the
1970s. It is for this reason Heep were coined the Beach Boys of Heavy Metal,
and their influence is there for all to see in other bands including 'Queen.'
They were also one of the forerunners of using the Hammond organ along with
Micks signature wah wah guitar and this became the template for their sound.
Success
has followed the forging of such an audacious formula. Across 25 studio albums,
along with myriad live releases and compilations, Uriah Heep have managed to
sell 40 million records worldwide, four million of those in the US. Impressive
American numbers, but that leaves 36 million records to be sold in the rest of
the world, underscoring the fact that Uriah Heep have become, through their
relentless dedication to touring, a truly global band, with particular success
in Germany, Scandinavia, Japan, Eastern Europe and Russia, where they were the
first Western rock band to play live in Moscow in December 1987 to 180,000
people.
Through
their success as Rock n' Roll pioneers this enabled other bands to follow in
their wake and Russia is now part of every bands touring schedule.
URIAH HEEPis:
Mick Box: Guitars,
Vocals, Phil Lanzon: Keyboards,
Vocals
Bernie Shaw: Lead Vocals, Russell
Gilbrook: Drums, Vocals,
Dave
Rimmer: Bass, Vocals
For
More Info on the band and concert dates visit:
By Ray Shasho
An Interview with Uriah Heep's Mick Box
Legendary British guitarist Mick Box has devotedly performed with his quintessential hard rock band Uriah Heep for nearly 45 years. Box is the only original member of the band that remains since its inception in 1969, but the mastery of Uriah Heep endures while preserving its rightful place in rock and roll folklore.
1972 thru1976 became Uriah Heep’s most successful era worldwide. The band was spearheaded by their manager and producer Gerry Bron. All of Uriah Heep’s albums through 1983 were released on Gerry Bron’s ‘Bronze Records’ label in the UK. Bron had been producing Uriah Heep for Vertigo Records before starting his own record label.
Heep’s essence became David Byron’s majestic vocalizations and showmanship, Mick Box’s commanding guitar riffs, Ken Hensley’s keyboard wizardry, while culminated by amazing instrumentalists like Gary Thain on bass guitar and Lee Kerslake on drums.
Sadly, Thain died in 1975 from a heroin overdose and was replaced with King Crimson’s John Wetton. New Zealander Gary Thain was 27 years old.
Notable tracks during their heyday period include … “Gypsy” (written by Box and Byron) it’s the bands heavy metal anthem and fan favorite, “Lady in Black” (written by Hensley), “Look at Yourself ” (Hensley), “July Morning” (Byron, Hensley), “Tears in My Eyes” (Hensley), “Traveller In Time” (Box, Byron, Kerslake), “Easy Livin’”(Hensley), “Circle of Hands”(Hensley), “Sunrise” (Hensley), “Sweet Lorraine” (Box, Byron, Thain), “The Magicians Birthday”(Box, Hensley, Kerslake), “Stealin’” (Hensley) and “Return to Fantasy” (Byron, Hensley).
Uriah Heep’s fourth studio album Demons and Wizards became their most successful release selling over three- million copies worldwide and spawned the hit single “Easy Livin’” (#39 on Billboard’s Hot 100). Although Demons and Wizards (1972) was considered the bands breakout album, it was actually their double live LP, Uriah Heep Live (January1973) that launched them into superstardom status.
The Uriah Heep Live album was
recorded in 1973 at Town Hall in Birmingham, England. The double-live
album featured gatefold sleeves with picture pages resembling a concert
program of the band performing. The idea was for the listener to receive
the full concert experience while relaxing at home. (Kiss Alive! mimicked the format of the Uriah Heep Live
release.) The album’s immaculate sound engineering was equally matched
by the bands impeccable live performance and the vitality of the
audience. It was the Uriah Heep Live album that enabled the group to headline and sell-out the huge arenas worldwide.
In July of 1976, the band fired their lead singer David Byron.
Byron’s alcohol abuse became relentless, and to satisfy the bands better
interests was let go. Bassist John Wetton also announced he was leaving
the group. Trevor Bolder (David Bowie/The Spiders from Mars) replaced
Wetton on bass. Uriah Heep auditioned several singers for the lead role
on vocals, including David Coverdale, who recently relinquished his frontman duties from a dismantled Deep Purple.
Uriah Heep finally decided on John Lawton
(Lucifer’s Friend). Heep’s choice inadequately satisfied a
distinguished rock and roll legacy left my Byron, but Lawton’s pipes
were exactly what they needed at the time. A new scheme materialized as
Uriah Heep recorded their tenth studio album Firefly (released in 1977) and began touring as the supporting act for Kiss. The track “Wise Man” was their first successful single with the new lineup.
The bands distinct hard rockin’ reverberation was abandoned with the ‘poppy’ release of their single “Free Me.”
But the tune became an international hit. Friction between Hensley
and Lawton developed and escalated to the point where Lawton was forced
to leave the band.
Uriah Heep brought in Lone Star singer John Sloman to replace Lawton. Longtime Drummer Lee Kerslake left the band and was replaced with Chris Slade (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band).
In 1980, longtime keyboardist and songwriter Ken Hensley quit the
band. After a 23-date UK tour, Sloman quit. The following year, with the
band in turmoil and quickly crumbling … Mick Box and Trevor Bolder made
an urgent appeal to David Byron
to rejoin the band. Byron refused. Then Bolder left to join Wishbone
Ash. After Heep’s newest keyboardist Gregg Dechert left, Mick Box stood
alone with a contract and the rights to the Uriah Heep name. Mick Box miraculously compiled a new lineup from the falling ashes. Box convinced drummer Lee Kerslake to return and hired Peter Goalby (Trapeze)
as the bands new lead singer. Box also hired John Sinclair (The Babys,
Black Sabbath) on keyboards and Bob Daisley (Ozzy Osbourne’s band) on
bass guitar.
Uriah Heep released the critically acclaimed album, Abominog in 1982. The album produced by Ashley Howe, spawned the U.S. Hits, “On the Rebound” and “That’s the Way That It Is,” which became the band’s highest charting single at #25 on the Billboard charts. Howe and Heep followed the success of Abominog with Head First in 1983. Bassist Bob Daisley left to rejoin Ozzy Osbourne, but Trevor Bolder rejoined Uriah Heep for good.
The band regained much of its popularity and toured the U.S.
supporting bands like Rush, Def Leppard and Judas Priest. During this
period, Bronze Records collapsed and the band’s financial condition was
in question. They secured a new deal with CBS’s Portrait Label. They
also hired Harry Maloney to replace Gerry Bron their longtime manager
and producer.
In February of 1985, legendary Uriah Heep vocalist and frontman David Byron died of alcohol related complications including liver disease. David Byron was 38 years old.
After the release of the Equator (1985) album, more lineup
changes ensued. After incurring voice related issues, Peter Goalby left
Uriah Heep. Then John Sinclair left returning to Ozzy Osbourne’s band. Stephen “Steff” Fontaine was briefly brought in to be the band’s new lead singer but wasn’t disciplined enough to remain with the band. From 1986 thru 2007 the Uriah Heep lineup
remained unscathed. The second consistent Heep lineup became leader Mick
Box on guitars, Canadian rock singer Bernie Shaw (Stratus) on lead vocals, Trevor Bolder on bass guitar, Lee Kerslake on drums and Phil Lanzon on keyboards.
While changes were happening in the American music
scene …Uriah Heep shifted their principal touring circuit to Germany,
the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Japan and Russia. The band returned to
Britain in 1988 to play the Reading Festival and eventually toured the
UK.
Ken Hensley and John Lawton rejoined the band for a reunion gig in London in December of 2001.
Drummer Lee Kerslake left Uriah Heep due to health reasons in 2007.
In October 2009, Uriah Heep released their 40th anniversary celebration album.
It’s the bands 22nd album and features re-released classics by the
group as well as two specially recorded tracks for the album.
The band performed at The High Voltage Festival in London’s Victoria Park in July of 2010. Today Uriah Heep periodically plays U.S. dates at the smaller venues. The band’s latest release is entitled … Into the Wild (released in 2011) on Frontiers Records.
Uriah Heep is Mick Box (guitars, vocals), Trevor Bolder (bass guitar, vocals), Bernie Shaw (lead vocals), Phil Lanzon (keyboards, vocals) and Russell Gilbrook on (drums, vocals.)
The band is currently touring dates in Europe and will eventually join forces with Status Quo. John Lawton is temporarily filling in on lead vocals for Bernie Shaw while he recuperates from a medical procedure.
It may seem like ages since Uriah Heep’s first American show in
Indianapolis supporting Three Dog Night, but Mick Box and Uriah Heep
have affirmed that the band can withstand the test of time.
Box says, “I came in to be a musician for life …that was my focus, it’s been a brilliant ride so far and long may it last.”
I had the rare pleasure of chatting with guitarist Mick Box recently about his incredible journey with Uriah Heep.
Here’s my interview with legendary guitarist/ songwriter/ singer/
philanthropist/ longest member of classic rock legends Uriah Heep …MICK BOX. Ray Shasho: Mick thank for being on the call today. Mick Box: “Thanks for having me mate” Ray Shasho: First, I’d like to say congratulations on
recording 23 studio albums and celebrating nearly forty five years with
Uriah Heep, that’s quite an amazing accomplishment! Mick Box: “When anybody tells it like that, it’s
almost like it’s someone else. (All laughing) It’s just amazing because
it feels like that time has just flown. To be still doing it is the
best feeling in the world. You can’t get a better job anywhere in the
world to do something you love, so we really appreciate that more than
anything. Plus, we play over fifty six countries, and our friendship is
all over the world, which is wonderful.” Ray Shasho: John Lawton will be rejoining the band for some dates? Mick Box: “Bernie will be going into the hospital
for a little bit of surgery. So I asked John …What are you doing mate?
He said he was doing a thing in Bulgaria and could move some things
around. I said will you fancy coming on and having a jam with us, and he
said yea, fantastic! So we’re going to go out around Wednesday and then
start, I think its Holland, Germany, Austria and Italy. It will be
great fun. We had one rehearsal and we’re doing all the Byron stuff up
to when John was in the band, so no new music at all, but we’ll be
hitting nostalgia very hard.” Ray Shasho: I’m finding many classic rock bands that are
based overseas either stopped coming to the U.S. or are performing very
limited dates. Some examples are … Deep Purple… and Status Quo and
Golden Earring never come to the U.S.? Mick Box: “We’re trying to come; it just doesn’t
always work out. I think the dynamic of touring in America … most
American bands only work Friday, Saturday, Sunday and then fly home. But
we’d have a whole crew out there and the expense of having them go into
hotels …and financially it gets quite difficult. Therefore we’d have to
fill in those gaps where we’d be doing the weekend work and also work
the midweek dates. And it doesn’t always get pretty; you end up in some
very strange places. It’s not to say that we’re giving in, we’re still
looking at the U.S.A. as a viable market. The last three times we’ve
been there it proved to be very successful.” Ray Shasho: Mick, I’ve been a fan of Uriah Heep since 1972.
My first Heep concert was back in Baltimore around 1973, Uriah Heep was
the headliner and supported by Earth Wind and Fire and a new and
upcoming band called ZZ Top … Strange lineup? Mick Box: “You know what, I remember that vividly.
We used to have a great promoter down there and used to book us in those
areas. When I tell people nowadays, they can’t believe that sort of
lineup. In those days it was just good or bad music. There were no
genres or pigeon holes, you went along and enjoyed it all. And the
beauty of it all was you turned-on the Earth Wind and Fire audience and
visa versa. So you widened your audience each time. It worked very well
on all levels but of course you can’t do that today.” Ray Shasho: I’ve been disgruntled with the music scene for quite a long time. Mick Box: “It’s changed with the business end of it.
The internet explosion and there’s less heart in it now, it’s all very
disposable. Listen to it today and gone tomorrow. Where we used to buy
albums and live with them forever. And you bought an album perhaps
because of the one track, but by the time you dug into the album, that
track fell by the waist side and other ones grew on you and became your
favorites. That doesn’t happen nowadays people just go for the front-end
of things.” Ray Shasho: When I saw Uriah Heep that first time in 1973,
the arena sold-out over 13,000 people. A few years later the band played
the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland and sold-out over 18,000
people. What do you think was the turning point in the U.S. when Uriah
Heep stopped drawing those kinds of numbers of people? Mick Box: “Just different times, the whole music
industry has gone through quite a few changes along the way hasn’t it.
In those days, especially in Europe, people only got involved in three
things … sports, fashion and music. Those were the interests. It was
really those three things that people got involved in. But things are so
diverse now where in those days it was quite defined.”
“The other big change of course is we go into the studio and record
something and spend a ridiculous amount of money to get the best
possible sound we can, and it gets squashed down to an MP3. (All
Laughing) But it’s our art and we chose to do it that way.” Ray Shasho: Mick, what musicians got you interested in playing the guitar? Mick Box: “Going way back, I liked jazz … Django
Reinhardt, Tal Farlow and Barney Kessel …people like that. Then I sort
of grew into Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, The Shadows and Hank Marvin.
Moving on from there … Jeff Beck was a turning point for me. He has been
my favorite guitarist for many-many years and above all the others who
have come along. He’s just amazing, he’s the type of person who puts the
guitar on and is absolutely one with the guitar. It’s not a guitar and a
person, they are just one. And he ekes sounds out that nobody else can
get. He does with one note what others do with a thousand notes. Music
is meant to move you and he does that to me. The hairs stand up on my
arms and I get shivers down the back of my spine and that’s what music
is all about.” Ray Shasho:I made the mistake of asking
Robin Trower if he’d ever play acoustic guitar. Of course he said no
way, I play electric. But you’ve adapted well in playing the acoustic
guitar. Mick Box: “Since our first album …Very ‘Eavy …Very ‘Umble ,
the reason it was called that because the very early song was called
“Gypsy” where we’re pounding at a hundred miles an hour and then we’ve
got something as beautiful as the acoustic “Come Away Melinda” which is
just as powerful but on acoustic. So it’s always been something we’ve
always done.” Ray Shasho: I thought the Uriah Heep Live album is
what I remember turning the band into superstars in the U.S. It was an
incredible double-album release, engineered perfectly, great photos of
the band. I’d definitely rate the Uriah Heep Live album in the top three of all-time! Mick Box: “Even Kiss said they copied the idea and
loved the album too. It was recorded exactly the way it was that night.
Nowadays people will go in and change things and it sounds less than a
live album than ever. It was recorded at one date at Town Hall in
Birmingham in 1973. It was unbelievable. Actually we did have three or
four shows booked to record and after each one there was always a
disaster … microphones have gone down or the mobile truck hadn’t
recorded something properly, there was always a technical fault, just
one after another. We got to Birmingham Town Hall which was actually the
smallest of the dates and I think everyone started to relax.
Afterwards I know the people who were sitting in the truck were saying …
this is it, the mikes are up, this is sounding fantastic and we’ve got
it. So it was very exciting to hear it all played back. It was real and
that’s where it wins out. And the idea of having the gatefold like that
on the album was almost like you were sitting down at a concert and
reading a program, which was a good idea too.” Ray Shasho: Mick, imagine a DVD of that live performance. Mick Box: “That would have been amazing wouldn’t it? But in those days of course we wouldn’t have even think that far (All Laughing).” Ray Shasho: After experiencing the live album, I was like a little kid waiting for the Sweet Freedom album to be distributed to my local record store. And when “Stealin’” was played on Top 40 radio stations, I was ecstatic. Mick Box: “It was on Top 40 radio for awhile and then it got taken off because people started complaining about the lyric … I’d done the ranchers daughterand I sure did hurt his pride.
It was a radio hit but then taken off the radio rather quickly. But we
still play it today. Ken wrote some tremendous songs in that time, very
powerful.” Ray Shasho: What happened on that day when Gary Thain got electrocuted? Mick Box: “He went up to the microphone to sing, it
was live, and don’t forget in those days there were no testers like we
have nowadays, so the crew had no idea that it was going to be live.
Quite often you got static shocks, but when Gary went up to sing he put
his mouth right on the microphone, got thrown backwards and landed into
the drum riser and damaged his knee. He was a very frail person so it
didn’t mode very well with him. Gary was such an innovator and a great
bass player.” Ray Shasho: That core lineup during the heyday of Uriah Heep was incredible. Mick Box: “In our eyes we were unbeatable; you had
the power of the drums with Lee who was very John Bonham-ish if you
like, and you had Gary coming in with the power bass lines and melodic
bass lines that other people weren’t playing at the time. Ken was at his
writing peak and the band was just on form. We felt when we were
onstage, we were untouched and unbeatable.” Ray Shasho: How difficult was it for the band to fire David Byron? Mick Box: “It was very tough but you get to a point
where you couldn’t handle it anymore and it had to happen. You’ve got to
move forward. If not, it was just going to drag everything down. With
the difficulties he was having, you can sit up all night and talk with
someone and agree with you and go out and do it, and you know what
you’ve said. It was only him that could ever put it right at the end.
But I do feel our management let us down a little bit because we were
pushed very-very hard with all the touring we were doing. We were doing
nine month tours and going three months in the studio, then straight on
the road again. Sometimes we’d do two albums a year, so it was immense
pressure all around and also to get that level of performance every
night onstage.”
“I think if the management wasn’t chasing the almighty dollar like it
was and we could have just come off the road, give us some thought to
ourselves and our families, I think it might not have ended like it
ended. I can give you an example … Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. Somebody
took the time to put them somewhere to get sorted out and here they are
today still rockin’. ’It’s just that someone cared enough. I think the
people looking after us were going away from the band and into other
areas.” Ray Shasho: When David Byron was fired, did you guys interview David Coverdale? Mick Box: “We did indeed, yea. David wasn’t sure
which direction he wanted to go with his career at the time and he came
down and jammed with us. He was a fantastic guy; he brought a bottle of
Remy Martin down and we jammed. David has a very powerful presence on
that microphone and apart from that a fantastic voice. I think he would
have fit very well. So before we could make up our minds, David got the
offer to put Whitesnake together, which was always his first love. So
that’s obviously what he wanted to do.” Ray Shasho: What was it like playing with Kiss? Mick Box: “Great fun, it was a situation where Kiss
supported us throughout America and I think it wasn’t long before where
we were supporting Kiss years later. We made one major mistake once. We
were using pyrotechnics at the time and I think Kiss convinced our
management that we weren’t able to use pyros on the tour. But in this
particular instance, Kiss did all there explosions and they were about
ten times more than ours and we were headlining. But it was quite funny
really. There’s was a fireworks display and ours was a damp squib in
comparison. (All laughing) But the guys were great fun. As far as Gene
and Paul were concerned, they were just so focused, it was frightening.” Ray Shasho: What happened when Bronze Records collapsed… did that hurt the band? Mick Box: “It did to a certain degree, that whole
era was when Gerry Bron was losing interest in the band and all the
things that made him successful in the first place. He started
diversifying into having his own airline. He started an airline where
people could fly it from England to say Zurich, do a day’s business and
fly home. It was very innovative but he just didn’t get the business. He
also got into the computer world but didn’t have the finances to follow
through. So at the end, what happened were those two things and a few
other ventures he was involved in just dragged it all under ,‘the whole
lot,’ along with all of our royalties and everything else. He filed for
bankruptcy and we were stuck on the outside saying goodbye royalties.
Because there’s nothing you can do when someone declares bankruptcy. So
it was a very hard time.”
“In fact … Richard Branson used to look up to Gerry because he had
Bronze Records, the publishing, the agency, the recording studios,
Girlschool, Sally Oldfield, Manfred Man … and to let all that die was
shameful. Because he should have been as big as Richard Branson is
today. But he took a few wrong turns.” Ray Shasho: How’s Lee Kerslake doing, I heard he was ill? Mick Box: “He’s doing fine and we’re still the best
of mates. We play all the time and have a good ol’ laugh. I think he’s
in Scandinavia now. He’s got a friend in Sweden or Norway who he’s
writing an album with. So he’s pretty active. Nothing concrete, he goes
out and does a few shows. He couldn’t possibly do the touring that we do
now. But he’s out there doing it and he’s here with us, which is
fantastic. And he sounds better than ever. I’ve always loved him like a
brother, he’s my mate and that’s it. But he’s doing great.” Ray Shasho: What inspired you and David to write “Gypsy?” Mick Box: “We were in a rehearsal studio, where it used to be us in one room and Deep Purple in the other room rehearsing. It
was a hell of a racket. I came up with a riff and it was very-very
powerful. In those days we were working around using harmonies as an
instrument. In the 60’s harmonies were always very sweet and they just
sang along with the chorus … just following the melody line and singing
harmony to it, were as we wanted to use it more as an instrument. So we
came up with the idea of the block harmonies that are on “Gypsy.” And it
came together rather quickly. David was always intrigued with Gypsies
anyway because there was a big Gypsy culture in Europe. So it just came
together very quickly.” Ray Shasho:Mick, Here’s a question that I
ask everyone that I interview. If you had a “Field of Dreams” wish, like
the movie, to play or collaborate with anyone from the past or present,
who would that be? Mick Box: “Oh my God, only one? … Django Reinhardt,
Buddy Holly and Jeff Beck ... all three. Django just to see how he
played like that. And the year that he grew up in and all those jazz
clubs were just amazing. Buddy Holly’s writing was tremendous and still
stand the test of time even today. Jeff Beck has been there every decade
and has always done something to blow me away.” Ray Shasho: Mick, talk about ‘Shirt Off My Back’ auctions for Cancer. Mick Box: “I started this awhile back, I lost my
wife to Cancer, my guitar tech, lots of friends, my mother …many-many
people. I started this little thing on my website and call it ‘The Shirt
Off My Back.’ And mostly a shirt I’d wear on a tour for a few months
and there would be a lot of pictures showing me wearing it, I’d auction
it off and put the money towards the Cancer charity. The Nightingale
Cancer Centre in London and they do such great work and its all unpaid
workers there. So I started with that and then started putting
wah-wah’s, signed guitars and all that sort of thing. So it started with
my shirt and now it’s anything but. Now its Bernie’s old microphones,
wah-wah’s, amps, bits and pieces and it’s grown now and really cool.”
“We’re going to Holland Wednesday, on Thursday’s show day we’re
having a fan meet and I’m auctioning off lots of shirts, guitars and
things so the fans can buy it and we’re flying in the lady from
Nightingale to oversee it. So it’s fantastic. It’s just one of those
things that mean a lot to me. Cancer is very indiscriminate in age and
everything else and you don’t know when it will strike or how severe it
will be. So every little bit helps. My mother used to say, “Mick, every
little bit helps.” Ray Shasho:Mick, thank you so much for
being on the call today and more importantly for all the incredible
Uriah Heep music you’ve given us and continue to bring to all of us. Mick Box: “Thank you for your support mate, and I just hope we’ll be able to see you out there in that sunshine. Thanks Ray, bye-bye!
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