{"id":1309,"date":"1983-10-01T00:00:25","date_gmt":"1983-10-01T00:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=1309"},"modified":"2012-02-18T02:15:39","modified_gmt":"2012-02-18T02:15:39","slug":"feature-diamond-head-mf2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-diamond-head-mf2\/","title":{"rendered":"DIAMOND HEAD – Canterbury Tales (MF2, 1983) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

DIAMOND HEAD – Canterbury Tales<\/strong><\/span>
\nSteve Hammonds<\/span>
\nMetal Forces, Issue 2 (1983)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Diamond Head (l-r): Sean Harris, Brian Tatler, Merv Goldsworthy and Robbie France<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nA lot has been said about Diamond Head\u2019s past; small gigs to festivals, independent LPs to a record contract with MCA. Their first major label LP, Borrowed Time<\/em>, was released last year to critical acclaim. But in my opinion it was poor, when compared to previous efforts. Still, it managed to put them on the map rock-wise. At the Donington Monsters Of Rock bash this year, I managed to have a chat to guitarist Brian Tatler.<\/p>\n

I first asked him if they were changing their direction music-wise, as their latest single seemed to show a marked change? \u201cA bit more classy (who says they weren\u2019t?) and original.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you regard yourselves as forerunners of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal? \u201cOne of the first, I suppose. But we didn\u2019t pick up the same sort of publicity that Def Leppard and then Iron Maiden did, and we were out at exactly the same time. In fact, before most of them, but we didn\u2019t quite get the exposure. They all got deals two years before us and now we\u2019re around two albums behind most of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

You recorded an LP off your own backs in 1980, that must be a bit of a collectors item now? \u201cYes, the White LP<\/em> (commonly known as Lightning To The Nations<\/em>).\u201d<\/p>\n

Will you every put it out again? \u201cNo, never. Well, there were only 2,000 copies with a white label on them and only 1,000 with writing on them (autographs etc.). If we become famous, it\u2019ll be the rarest LP of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you think it would sell that well when you put it out? \u201cNo, we thought we\u2019d sell about 2,000, but we sold out in a few days, so we did some more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you hold out for your record deal or just rush into it like other bands seem to? \u201cYes, at the beginning we were only offered single deals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like \u2018Sweet And Innocent\u2019 on Media Records? “That was just a Wolverhampton-based label, who promised us they would make us big (new wonder boy Robin \u2018Boy\u2019 George produced it). Not one of the majors wanted to commit themselves to a big album deal, so we went to MCA who offered us what we wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

I heard you had gone to A&M? \u201cNo, a couple there wanted to sign us, a couple didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

What did you think of your first MCA LP (Borrowed Time<\/em>), I thought the production was a bit weak? \u201cIf you think the production on that was weak, then the new one\u2019s weaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

The producer seemed to ruin the song \u2018Borrowed Time\u2019 with all the harmony vocals? \u201cWell, the class came over. It\u2019s not all thunderous AC\/DC-type riffs, it\u2019s more soft and subtle. On the new LP, there\u2019s tons of different moods and a lot of emotion. There\u2019s no \u2018I\u2019m pissed off\u2019 attitude, more like \u2018this sounds magnificent\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why did you change the title of the LP from Knight Of The Swords<\/em> to Canterbury<\/em>? \u201cBecause we thought \u2018Canterbury\u2019 was a better song.\u201d<\/p>\n

You haven\u2019t put any older pre-Borrowed Time<\/em> songs on the new LP? \u201c\u2018To The Devil His Due\u2019 is two years old and we\u2019ve been doing \u2018Knight Of The Swords\u2019 live for 18 months. Anyway, we thought heavy metal was fantastic then, now we don\u2019t\u2026 we\u2019ve changed since then. I think bands who keep churning out the same stuff must have a lot of willpower.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the story behind the departure of Colin Kimberley (bass) and Duncan Scott (drums)? \u201cCol just didn\u2019t want to do it anymore, he thought it was too much like hard work. There\u2019s a lot of pressure on bands and some people just don\u2019t want that pressure. I don\u2019t like it at a gig like Donington, but it\u2019s all part of being in a band. You can\u2019t wimp out, and he wimped out a bit in a way on the LP.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Duncan? \u201cWe were spending such a lot of time on recording. After a fortnight, we\u2019d got six drum tracks down, so we thought why the hell should we bother? You wouldn\u2019t know the hassles we\u2019ve been through to get the LP to the state it is now, and now it\u2019s still not as we wanted it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is it like? \u201cIt\u2019s really adventurous, we\u2019ve not just banged down a few songs like we did for the frst LP. I mean, we\u2019d been doing those songs on the road for a couple of years. This LP, all but two of the songs – \u2018Knight Of The Swords\u2019 and \u2018To The Devil His Due\u2019 – had been written just before recording.<\/p>\n

What about \u2018Makin\u2019 Music\u2019? You\u2019d done that live before. \u201cIt\u2019s totally different. The whole verse is different and a different bass line, it\u2019s a totally different song.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the two new members (bassist Merv Goldsworthy and drummer Robbie France), do you think you\u2019ve gone into a new phase? \u201cYeah, we never used to worry about the image. We\u2019d just model ourselves on our favourite bands, but now we\u2019re projecting ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did you get your new drummer? \u201cWe auditioned over 110 drummers and he just blew everyone else away, he comes from an Australian band called Big Red.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the addition of keyboards have you become more orientated that way? \u201cThey will set the mood more. They, of course, won\u2019t be as upfront as with Magnum, Grand Prix and bands like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was it your idea to have interviews on the B-sides of singles as you\u2019ve done twice now? \u201cWe always said we\u2019d do an unreleased track on the B-side, but we haven\u2019t been able to do it this time. The interview wasn\u2019t the band\u2019s idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whose was it? \u201cNo comment!\u201d<\/p>\n

What happened to the Flying V, so long your trademark? \u201cI think the Les Paul\u2019s better, the V\u2019s more of a metal guitar. At one stage it was just me and Michael Schenker with them, and now the guy in Saxon\u2019s got one and all the European metal bands like Accept have them. Anyway, the Les Paul\u2019s got a better sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, what plans have you to tour? \u201cWe\u2019re doing a UK tour in October, as well as Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about America? \u201cWe\u2019re signed to MCA America, so we will be going, though I don\u2019t know when?\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you think there\u2019s more of a market for Diamond Head over there? \u201cOnly in terms of its size\u2026 much more records to be sold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. Canterbury<\/em> is a good LP, even though it does take a few listens to get used to it. I look forward with anticipation for their next move.<\/p>\n

Interview taken from Metal Forces, Issue 2 (1983)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DIAMOND HEAD – Canterbury Tales Steve Hammonds Metal Forces, Issue 2 (1983) Diamond Head (l-r): Sean Harris, Brian Tatler, Merv Goldsworthy and Robbie France A lot has been said about Diamond Head\u2019s past; small gigs to festivals, independent LPs to a record contract with MCA. Their first major label LP, Borrowed Time, was released last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diamond-head","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1309"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1316,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions\/1316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}