- Intervista a Robb Weir dei Tygers Of Pan Tang -
- Interview with Robb Weir Tygers Of Pan Tang -
Hard'n'Heavy
: "Hi Robb, it’s a great pleasure to have a little chit-chat with you as I
consider Tygers of Pan Tang to be one of the truly great bands of the NWOBHM, a
band who’s been missed for more than two decades. So, for a start, would you
tell us how did you have the idea of reforming it a few years ago?"
Robb :
"I was asked to play at Wacken Open Air festival in Germany in 1999 to
mark the 20th anniversary of the Tygers. After we did this I got bitten by the
rock ’n’ roll bug again and wanted to carry on and produce new Tygers music and
tour again. 14 years out is a very long time! So I set about putting together
another band and putting out some new product. Looking back, Mystical was a bit
under produced and there are things on it I would change now, but hind sight is
a wonderful thing and we don’t have that luxury available to us!"
Hard'N'Heavy
: "Last year you released “Ambush” which I elected “Album of the Year”
It’s an album which is impressive in its great variety of styles. How was the
composition work shared by band members and how was it to work again the
legendary Chris Tsangarides?"
Robb :
"When I get a song idea, I record it in my studio at home, playing all the
parts and then I send it out to Craig our drummer first of all for an initial,
‘Ok.’ If it’s a runner Craig does some melody work on it and sends it back to
me. It’s also sent to Jack (Jacopo Meille, ndr) in Italy for his ideas as well.
We then jam through all the song ideas in rehearsal and Gav and Micky bring
their ideas to the party! All the songs are then re-recorded on a Mac at
rehearsal and we further develop them at home. We did about three months
rehearsal, to ‘knock,’ all the tracks together and travelled down to Chris
Tsganarides studio, ‘The Ecology Rooms,’ in Deal, near Dover on the south coast
on England. It’s where Anvil made the feature film and recorded there album.
The backing track recording was done in 4 days, we work fast! Then Jack went in
a few days later to record all the vocals and Craig and I went back about a
month later for Craig to put on extra percussion and me to do my guitar solos
and talk box and a bit of Spanish guitar! Chris was just a real pleasure to
work with, it was even better than the first two times in ’80 and ’81! Chris knew
we wanted a MONSTER album and boy did he deliver!"
Hard'n'Heavy
: "And what are you working on now? What can we expect from the Tygers in
the future?"
Robb :
"Ok, we start our first European tour on the 11th of April in Switzerland
and finish up headlining the, ‘Very Eavy,’ festival in Holland 10 days later.
There are various European festivals, the new, ‘Rock and Metal Circus,’
festival at Sywell aerodrome, Northampton, UK, in September and then off to
Europe again for more ‘Roaring fun!’ at the end of the year. We are always
writing and currently have 54 songs ready to choose from for our next album!
It’s going to be a MEGA MONSTER!"
Hard'N'Heavy
: "Will you play in Italy anytime soon? Possibly Florence?"
Robb :
"We have just played four dates in Italy, and we have plans to return
later on this year. I hope Florence is among those dates because I love going
to that city!" Hard'n'HeavyI’d like to tell you I’m very proud you have an
Italian singer in the band. Is from my town, actually. He teaches singing not
far from where I live and also plays Led Zeppelin covers in a band named,
‘Norge,’ with my former guitar teacher. Could you tell me about how he got in
the band? I know he auditioned almost by chance… I always get this question
wrong! I usually make Jack answer this as he knows the story off by heart! Back
in 2004 we approached an international talent agency and told them we were
looking for a vocalist, but they had to be a bit ‘Special.’ They recommended
Jack and we flew him over for an audition. After 40 seconds of ‘Hellbound,’ I
put up my hand, stopped the audition and said to Jack, ‘Job’s yours if you want
it?’ He is our secret weapon! Jack is one of the nicest people you are likely
to meet and what a set of pipes!
Hard'N'Heavy
: " I’d like to tell you I’m very proud you have an Italian singer in the
band. Is from my town, actually. He teaches singing not far from where I live
and also plays Led Zeppelin covers in a band named, ‘Norge,’ with my former
guitar teacher. Could you tell me about how he got in the band? I know he
auditioned almost by chance…" I always get this question wrong! I usually
make Jack answer this as he knows the story off by heart! Back in 2004 we
approached an international talent agency and told them we were looking for a
vocalist, but they had to be a bit ‘Special.’ They recommended Jack and we flew
him over for an audition. After 40 seconds of ‘Hellbound,’ I put up my hand,
stopped the audition and said to Jack, ‘Job’s yours if you want it?’ He is our
secret weapon! Jack is one of the nicest people you are likely to meet and what
a set of pipes!
Robb :
"I always get this question wrong! I usually make Jack answer this as he
knows the story off by heart! Back in 2004 we approached an international
talent agency and told them we were looking for a vocalist, but they had to be
a bit ‘Special.’ They recommended Jack and we flew him over for an audition.
After 40 seconds of ‘Hellbound,’ I put up my hand, stopped the audition and
said to Jack, ‘Job’s yours if you want it?’ He is our secret weapon! Jack is
one of the nicest people you are likely to meet and what a set of pipes!"
Hard'N'Heavy : "What
is your current relationship with the other members of the original line-up? Is
it likely to see you back with Jon Deverill, John Sykes, Rocky and Brian Dick
someday?"
Robb : "I speak to all
my former band members from time to time. Especially Rocky, who gives me his
thoughts on things when I ask him. The Tygers for me are the Tygers you see and
hear to-day; I can’t ever see that changing, the band has never been happier or
musically healthier, than now! Why change things when they don’t need
changing?"
Hard'N'Heavy : "What
were your major influences as a guitar player and as a songwriter?"
Robb : "Dare I say
let’s go back 50 years or so! Geeze, is it that long since I was listening to
Elvis and Little Richard? Well I guess that was it for me, good old rock’n’roll
and the blues. There were so many fantastic artists around in those days all
writing original material and setting in stone musical foundations for the
modern music of today. I remember my dad coming in from work and handing me a
beat up old Spanish classical guitar he bought from a junk shop. I loved it and
after the initial bashing the strings I set out to teach myself how to play.
(I’m still trying to learn!) By the way I’ve still got that guitar to this day!
I don’t have many musical heroes’ to be honest but, back in the day, Jimi
Hendrix, great song writer and performer. Mick Box, (Uriah Heep) Nice player
and songwriter, and Ted Nugent the ultimate showman! I have so many memories of
going to shows in the early 70’s watching and learning! Gathering ideas for
lighting effects, types of guitars, stage moves and everything related."
Hard'N'Heavy : "If
they’d offered you the job, would you have replaced K.K. Downing in Judas
Priest? I think it would have been great to have another NWOBHM legend filling
in; something like Slayer did; hiring Exodus’ Gary Holt to replace Jeff
Hanneman…"
Robb : "Let me let you
into a secret...When Fast Eddy Clarke left Motorhead, Lemmy and Phil came down
to see us play on the ‘Cage’ tour in 1982. Lemmy asked me if I would be
interested in the vacant position. I turned him down; I love the Tygers and
always will! So Judas Priest probably not, they are one of my favourite bands,
I wouldn’t want to spoil that!!"Hard'N'Heavy :
Which show
do you consider as the most important of your career?"
Robb : "Hey, every
show is important and every person that turns up at a show, listens to the
albums and talks about us are THE most important, because without these people
there would be no Tygers!"
Hard'N'Heavy : "What
do you think are the three best heavy metal albums of all time? And the three
best rock albums in general?"
Robb :
"AC/DC...........Let There Be Rock Led Zeppelin....Physical Graffiti Judas
Priest....British Steel, The Eagles.....Hotel California
Europe..........Prisoners in Paradise Deep Purple....Burn"
Hard'N'Heavy : "Thanks
for this interview, Robb; we're honoured to have you for the first interview of
our newborn webzine."
Robb : "Thank you very
much for letting me, “Have my say!” Keep rockin’ in the free world! X"
Intervista a cura di:
Niccolò Downing Nannucci
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