Over the winter holidays the members of Uriah Heep took a few months off to tend to family
and personal stuff. Bernie Shaw, as he does every year-end, returned to Victoria, BC [Canada] where he [besides doing family stuff] took part in some more recordings with guitarist Dale Collins [see my interview with Dale about their previous recordings and 3 track CD release!]. I spoke with Bernie about the recordings he and Dale were trying to get done as he was preparing to head back to England.
We also spoke a bit about Heep, as well as a few other little projects Bernie's involved with.
Uriah Heep's currently on tour in Europe [see dates] and hopefully we'll see the new live disc before too long! [Can't wait to hear "Sunrise"].
For more info on Bernie Shaw and Uriah Heep check out www.uriah-heep.com
For info on his former band Praying Mantis, go to www.praying-mantis.com
Q:What did you get finished with Dale?
BS: 3 tracks definitely, and partials of about 3 more, so in total we've got 9 or 10 tracks, almost a complete album. I'd like maybe for Dale to an instrumental on there because he's such a good guitar player, and he writes some good stuff instrumentally. We have 'in the can' I would say, a complete album.
Q: when do you plan on finishing it?
BS: When time permits, unfortunately, which, because of the schedule of Uriah Heep it means it might not be ready until next year. But we're in no hurry.
Q: Anything you can tell me about any of the tracks?
BS: Some are co-written with me, some Dale had in the can already and just wanted a melody line for the lyrics. He's got me writing a lot more, which is really good, and I'm feeling more confident in that. Good melodic rock again; lots of harmonies. In the writing from last year to this year I think Dale's really excelled a lot. He's had a lot more time in the studio, and the tracks sound really good, very powerful.
Q: Are you using a bass player and a drummer?
BS: We're using Don Ristal on drums. The bass right now is a 'guide bass' is what Dale's done himself. Now if we can find somebody who can play better - we'll probably go that route, although Dale's a damn fine bass player as well. And he's done a lot of the keyboard programming as well; he's a pretty well all round musician.
Q: Did you do any more covers this time?
BS: Nope.
Q: A few words on the 3 - Track - what did you think of it?
BS: I think it turned out really good. The mastering, I think when it gets time around to doing the whole album, we might remaster it, but as it turned out as an Ep I'm very proud of it.
Q: What did you think of the songs individually? Do you have a favorite?
BS: I really like "Here We Go"! "Hey Jimi" was cool, because I liked the fact that it was an influence from Hendrix, and is almost a tribute to him. But Here We Go I thought was a really cool song. We tested a lot of harmonies, like different approaches to harmonies, and they turned out really really cool, and little question - answer lines rather than just a straight lead vocal all the way through. So, it was more experimental, and it turned out really good; every time we'd try a new idea - we'd go "OH God - let's try that then!" It happened even more when we did "Rock On". There's like 5 part harmonies through that song, and I did all of them by myself. And the more they started stacking up, the more the grins on our faces smiled.
Q: Do you think any of the writing will continue on with your Heep work?
BS: I hope that it will lead on to some more work, yeah! Phil and Mick write a lot together, and i know that Mick's got some songs that are very very guitar oriented songs that he's already kind of hinted that he'd like me to do the lyrics for.
|
Q: What's the status of the 'live' album?
BS: Right now it should be being mixed, as far as I know. We were leaving Pip Williams in the driving chair, and let him listen to the tapes of the nights and literally let him put it together and mix it. So, hopefully we'll have something to listen to when we get back.
Q: In retrospect with the whole Sonic Origami thing, and all of last year with all the cancellations - your feelings or any thoughts?
BS: I was pretty gutted; I think we all were! We were really let down and disappointed with Eagle Records. We'd thought that we'd signed with a new growing company that were eager and vibrant and ready to really make a mark on the music scene, and here we delivered one of the best albums Uriah Heep's ever recorded and get rave reviews from everybody and then for the record company to basically do a non - promotion I felt was the biggest insult I've ever had! They screwed up majorly in every single territory! They released in Germany, the first territory - our biggest territory in the world, and did very very little promotion. It didn't sell nearly what it should have. And then we thought - 'OK, Scandinavia will be better because we've got a really heavy tour lined up!' [which was last February - March], and we went up there and they did exactly the same - Nothing! I can't believe it. I can't put in to words the feelings I have against this record company...or this non-record company! If they fall apart and went bankrupt tomorrow - it'll be the best thing that ever happened to them.
Q: "Across The Miles" - who's idea was that?
BS: The band as a whole were looking for a good cover song; a song to be radio friendly in case the record company said "Oh well - there's no real single...." especially for the American market. So we were listening to up to 300 CDs that were submitted with different songs on them. And we got this one in the mail, I think Pip actually brought it in, and it had 3 tracks on it, and all 3 tracks were written by the same 2 people in Nashville. When we listened to Across The Miles everybody just went - "Oh - My - God -- we've got to do this song!"
Q: In retrospect do you think you would have been better off going with another track over here?
BS: No, I think we would've been better off getting another record company, from the very beginning. But, how were we to know!? It's like Uriah Heep's had such bad luck over the last 10 years I can't believe it! We've signed to 3 small companies, hoping, because in the old days that's the way they did it - sign with a small company and they grow and you grow, everybody grows together. Maybe we just had too high expectations that this was the way to go, because we're a family orientated band in the way that we work as a unit, and with a small company we'd be friends and grow together and line everything out - promotion, distribution, and it just fell on it's ass.
Q: What can you tell me about the Whitesnake tribute you're involved in?
BS: I did 2 tracks on a Whitesnake tribute album just before I went on tour in November. I did "Hear I Go Again" and "Love Ain't No Stranger". And out of the 12 tracks that were picked, i think i got the 2 best songs! Ha ha ha. I think i was lucky enough.
Q: Who put that together?
BS: Lea Hart.
{*brief chat on Lea Hart's work.....}
BS: We're also doing a new one; I've already been contacted to do a Thin Lizzy Tribute. I'll probably only be doing 1 song, but I'll do that as soon as I get back.
Interview Copyright Kevin J. Julie
Conducted January 2000.
|
