THE QUIREBOYS

MEET THE QUIREBOYS: Following the band’s inception in London, UK in 1984 – originally as The Choirboys, then The Queerboys, before settling on the less controversial name of The Quireboys – there followed 6 years of hard graft and personnel changes before the inevitable happened – a UK number 2 album. Despite supporting a certain Guns N’ Roses at the legendary Hammersmith Odeon in London it was 1990’s A Bit of What You Fancy that brought the band to the attention of the public at large, and featured founder member Spike on vocals and new recruit Guy Griffin on guitar. The record showcased no fewer than 5 hit singles – including “Hey You” which peaked at number 5 in the US Billboard Rock Chart and number 14 in the UK Singles chart. Spike and Guy have been the backbone of THE quintessential British rock’n’roll band ever since – a journey that has seen them play to 72,000 at 1990’s Monsters of Rock at Donington with the likes of Whitesnake, Aerosmith and Poison – supporting The Rolling Stones that same year, and joining Guns N’ Roses again a couple of years later on their “Use Your Illusion” tour. Following their second studio album, 1993’s Bitter Sweet & Twisted, the band found the new mainstream rock landscape a difficult one – and it wasn’t until 2001 and the release of This is Rock’n’Roll that they found a new lease of life. The public’s appetite for The Quireboys had returned and hasn’t waned since – 3 further studio releases (Well Oiled, Homewreckers & Heartbreakers, Halfpenny Dancer) were released on various labels from 2004 to 2009 before the band found their new – and permanent – home on Off Yer Rocka – the label of the renowned festival brand Hard Rock Hell. The first 4 albums on Off Yer Rocka – Beautiful Curse (2013), Black Eyed Sons (2014), St Cecilia and the Gypsy Soul (2015), and Twisted Love (2016) – have not only grown the legacy of The Quireboys but have brought new fans to the fold. 2017’s White Trash Blues saw the band take a bold move – recording a collection of iconic blues numbers but with the signature Quireboys approach – a move that paid off with glowing reviews. Covering legends such as Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Freddie King and John Lee Hooker the album is a triumph of substance over style. The album produced a stunning single release – “Leaving Trunk” – a track written by Sleepy John Estes and made famous by the legendary Taj Mahal. The Quireboys are certainly enjoying a revival – selling out venues around the world – with 2018 also taking in The Monsters of Rock Cruise, HRH AOR VI, Sweden Rock and Stonedeaf festivals. 2019 will see a brand new studio album – their 12th – as part of a pledge campaign… so be a part of the never ending Quireboys party – as there’s no sign of Spike, Guy, Keith and Paul slowing down any time soon!

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Inspired by his older brother David to learn the guitar at 14, Brian Tatler eventually recruited school friends Duncan Scott, Sean Harris and Colin Kimberly to form Diamond Head in 1976.  At the age of just nineteen they became part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, gigging and performing their own material across the country. In 1980 they opened for AC/DC and Iron Maiden whilst recording and releasing their debut album Lightning To The Nations aka ‘The White Album’ on an independent label. This masterpiece is now a heavy metal classic, revered by bands such as Metallica and Megadeth who cite Diamond Head as one of their greatest influence. 
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The group signed to MCA in January 1982 and released Living On Borrowed Time which entered the UK album charts at 24. An appearance at Reading Festival and a UK tour at major venues including London‘s Hammersmith Odeon consolidated their burgeoning status.
 
The following year saw the release of the more progressive style Canterbury album. This was a difficult album to record and the pressure resulted in the departure of two original band members, Scott being dismissed and Kimberly leaving the group.

A new line up Diamond Head opened the Monsters Of Rock Festival in1983 and completed a 15 date European tour supporting Black Sabbath. This was followed by a further UK, Odeon sized tour. MCA now requested that management should be transferred from Harris’s mother and partner Reg Fellows but Sean refused and the label dropped Diamond Head in January 1984. That line up ended the following year but Brian & Sean reunited in 1990 adding new drummer Karl Wilcox and bassist Eddie Moohan. They released Death & Progress in 1993 featuring Megadeth ‘s Dave Mustaine on the track ‘Truckin’ plus a co-write and guest appearance from Black Sabbath ‘s Tony Iommi on the track ‘Starcrossed’. A release date was planned around Diamond Head opening for Metallica and Megadeth at Milton Keynes National Bowl. The group folded again shortly after. 
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In 1998 Metallica released ‘Garage Inc’ a double album of covers on Vertigo Records containing four Diamond Head songs, this went on to sell 5,000,000 copies and introduced Diamond Head to a whole new generation of listeners
Following a reconciliation of Brian and Sean in 2000, Diamond Head sparked back into life to tour the UK and perform for the first time in the US. Their partnership permanently ended after making an album, then Sean wanting it released under a new band name Host. In 2003 Brian decided to continue Diamond Head without Sean and recruited vocalist Nick Tart. This resulted in the 2005 album All Will Be Revealed. The band embarked on a 22 date European tour supporting Megadeth, which turned out to be a massive success, impressing long standing fans and picking up new younger ones along the way.  What’s In Your Head? Was released in 2007 on Cargo Records and saw the addition of Abbz on second guitar. Various tours and festivals followed, including opening for Thin Lizzy , Europe and the Big 4 (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer & Anthrax) at Sonisphere UK and France. Nick Tart emigrated to Australia in 2008 and although the band tried to make it work for five years it made writing, rehearsing and touring very difficult and expensive.

During a band meeting at the beginning of 2014 it was decided that the only way forward was to look for a new singer based in the UK. Recommended through a friend, Brian asked Rasmus Bom Andersen, a Danish born singer living in London, to audition for Diamond Head. Impressed by Rasmus’ vocal skills and range, the band offered him the role and embarked on a European tour including Headbangers Open Air Festival in Germany and Hard Rock Hell UK. Rasmus was quickly accepted by fans for his powerful vocal performances and onstage chemistry with the rest of the band. 

​Whilst on tour the subject of writing new material came up and Brian gave Rasmus 45 pieces of music he had been working on since 2007.  The band agreed that they wanted to make an album that was a homage to the early, golden years of Diamond Head, and in January 2015 settled in together to write from what they fondly called ‘the Brief’, which directed all of the songs, riffs and lyrics towards the sound and feel of seminal albums Lighting to the Nations and Living on Borrowed Time.

The self-titled album Diamond Head was released in 2016 to universal critical acclaim, hailed as a glorious return to form receiving some of the best reviews Brian has experienced in 40 years with the band, with high praise especially directed at the return of the classic Tatler riffs and the debut of Rasmus’ soaring vocal performances. “Diamond Head has never sounded better” Frenzy Fire.
 
​The new line-up of Brian, Karl, Abbz, Rasmus and new bass player Dean Ashton toured the UK and Europe plus US and Canada in a massive 27 date marathon over 33 days, quickly selling out of albums and merch at many venues.

​In early 2017 Brian and Ras started working through Brian’s extensive collection of riffs, from which they began formulating ideas for the next album. With recording completed in early 2018 Diamond Head completed 8 shows opening for Saxon plus a clutch of Festivals including Rock Hard, Rocklahoma & Metal Days. Finishing with Diamond Head’s longest ever European tour consisting of 38 shows across 10 countries. 
The band are all excited to be working with Siren Management and that the new album The Coffin Train will be scheduled to release via Silver Lining Music on May 24th 2019.

MASSIVE WAGONS

If ever there was a band that personified the phrase “good things come to those who wait,” it’s Massive Wagons. Whilst the Lancaster hard rock quintet have been active for a decade now, 2018 was the year the band truly made their mark on the music industry, touring with the likes of Status Quo, Dead Daisies and The Wildhearts, and landing at No. 16 in the UK Top 20 with their fourth LP, ‘Full Nelson’. “We’ve always been a band that wanted to be on some kind of upwards trajectory, and if it wasn’t going places, we’d probably knock it on the head,” begins vocalist Barry Mills. “The other years have all been brilliant, but this one’s been much more productive and professional. We’re really hitting our stride at the moment, it feels great.” Massive Wagons have come a long way since their humble beginnings as a pub band. Whilst they’ve maintained a keen work ethic and steady release schedule since day one (chalking up an impressive discography with 2011 debut ‘Fire It Up’, 2014’s ‘Fight The System’ and 2016’s ‘Welcome To the World’), the thought that they’d one day be sitting pretty in the charts alongside their childhood heroes seemed like a far-off pipe dream, even just 12 months ago. “Our goal when we started was to get a gig in the local rock pub we all drank in,” Barry beams with his trademark humility. “We used to go and watch cover bands in there every week and stand there, drinking beer and getting starry eyed and thinking ‘imagine playing in here! This would be amazing, wouldn’t it? Imagine writing some songs and playing to some people in the place we drink, wouldn’t that be incredible?’ It wasn’t even in the realms of imagination.” Fast forward to 2019, and not only have Massive Wagons managed to get numerous gigs in said local rock pub, but their ‘Full Nelson’ artwork has also been immortalised in mural form on the side of the building - much to the local council’s chagrin, who demanded it was taken down. As testament to the band’s loyal and growing fan base however, a petition to keep the mural garnered 10,000 signatures in a matter of hours. “The people round here have really got behind us, it’s absolutely amazing,” says Barry, clearly humbled by the huge amounts of support. “It’s really fantastic, the same faces from round here have been watching us for ten years. The difference now, is when we do play a home gig, there’s people coming from Scotland, London, the Shetland Islands or wherever, they turn up in Lancaster to watch us.” Whilst enjoying huge success with singles like ‘Under No Illusion’ and ‘China Plates’, an anthemic but biting critique of social media, the band’s initial breakthrough hit came in the form of single ‘Back To The Stack’, a triumphant but heartfelt tribute to Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt, who passed away in 2017. Having toured with Quo and after growing up on their music, the band felt a certain kinship with Parfitt, identifying with his no-nonsense, working class approach to hard rock. “The amount of high-profile deaths that year, they were dropping like flies; Lemmy, George Michael, Prince,” Barry sighs. “Rick was a massive shock. Prince and all these people were megastars, and they were so cool and just awesome, but Rick, you felt like you could relate to him. Whenever you saw them on TV with all the other megastars, they never looked like they quite fit in with them, and I liked that. They looked like they were the jokers that had gatecrashed the party, they never looked like they should really be there. They were fish out of water, they had their own little gang going on, and they just looked like normal guys, writing honest music and sticking to what they love. They got shunned by people left, right and centre - I think in the early days they got the respect they deserve, but then it became uncool to like Status Quo, and I kinda like them for that. They weren’t really bothered, they just carried on.”
It wouldn’t be a stretch to suggest Massive Wagons have picked up the torch Quo left behind. Unconcerned with being fashionable or jumping on the latest trend, the band share a similarly unpretentious outlook, and are eager to bypass any extraneous bullshit that gets in the way of what ultimately matters; the riffs. “This is the only band we’ve all ever been in. None of us came from other bands or already had any experience of the industry or what bands do. We were completely green from the word go, we didn’t know what a promoter was or how you got a gig, or anything, so the whole thing’s been exciting, we’ve discovered this all from nothing. We didn’t expect to get anywhere to be honest,’ Barry admits with a booming laugh. Unsurprisingly all their hard work has paid off, and the band have accomplished more than they’ve ever dreamed of in 2018 alone. And the key to their success? As far as Barry is concerned, it’s simple; good old fashioned hard work. “Things that are worth doing don’t happen overnight, they take time – and it’s taken a long time, but here we are,” he grins. “That, and write good songs. We’ve always just written what we liked, we’ve never tried to be anything we’re not, and we’ve landed on our feet. We’ve always stuck to our guns, and luckily, it’s worked for us.” And with a full German tour with Thunder in March, a UK headline tour in April, plus headline slots at major UK festivals like Steelhouse and Winter’s End, and a brand new album already close to completion, 2019 looks set to be an even bigger year for Massive Wagons. “When it’s going well, you’ve got to keep going, you can’t have a break from it. Especially when you’re working, you’ve got to be disciplined and keep going. If you stop for too long, you just sort of seize up,” says Barry. “You just gotta keep going, keep practicing, and keep gigging.