Remember Blackmayne? A promising stint in the NWOBHM days resulted in a single album (but a dammed good one) then their shift ended. Now they are back. Oh yes. They are back. And with a record deal to re-release their old album and a new one in the works.
To give us the story, here’s an interview with Blackmanyne man Phil McDermott. He talks about the old days, getting the band back together and future plans.
1) Great to see Blackmayne is back and active. Casting you mind back to the “old days” would you like to give the readers a brief history of the band from the NWOBHM days.
Blackmayne was the amalgamation of several projects that both Phil and Julian were involved with in North Kent in the early 80’s. Phil played guitar for “Breeze”, a band that were included on Ebony Record’s compilation album “Metal Warriors” (1983). Julian filled in occasionally on Bass guitar for Breeze. Julian was fantastic at writing a metal-tastic riff, so between them they started writing together. They asked a mate Tony Haskins, who had a massive Pearl double bass drum kit (I’m talking Neil Peart!….minus all the bells n gongs n stuff), if he would help out with recording a couple of demos. We had a few people audition for singers, but none of them really gelled. We ended up recording a demo with 3 songs on it and a bloke called Steve singing his own lyrics. Musically these songs were great, but the singing was way too melodic and “nice”. We needed something different. But nonetheless, the recording was completed so Phil sent it off to a few people to see if any opportunities arose from it.
After just a couple of weeks Phil heard back from Daryl at Ebony Records, they were keen to get some more demos from us and verbally said if we had more songs like those we would be signed for an album deal. We sent them one more song (it turned out to be the song “Blackmayne”, but was called “Lost Sons” originally and had different lyrics)……and we were signed!
However, we actually only had Julian and myself as the “regular” members. So we bullshitted to Ebony and told them it was all in hand, and then quickly started putting the feelers out for some like minded individuals! We auditioned quite a few drummers in particular, but none of them really did it for us. Lots of hair, studs, and “the look” turned up, but not many of them could actually play that well! The original drummer Tony had too many other commitments on to dedicate time to Blackmayne, so the search continued.
Then, the planets briefly aligned, and we had several opportunities all come up at once. Tim Cooke was a mate of Phil’s and a very capable bassist and singer, and his mate Andy Terry, who was a great drummer, both told Phil that they were looking for a band. Meanwhile Julian had a guitarist mate called Richard Mathews who was interested…and the lineup was complete.
2) What was it like back then trying to break out of the pack with so many other bands tagged with the NWOBHM label.
Actually…..surprisingly easy! I’d love to tell you we hassled people and sat outside record companies waiting for the right people to walk by so we could stick a tape in their grubby hands……. But it was actually just a case of phone Daryl, post the demo tape – get the deal! Easy!… see how times have changed!? Nowadays you need to know Simon Cowell, have straight teeth and a pretty face, and mime well…… (oh how I hate the way garage bands are dying off for pop crap!).
Move on! ;o)
3) If I remember my history, Blackmayne recorded one album released on a small indie label. How did that go down. Was the album well received.
We were very naïve and young, and had very little business acumen, so we didn’t follow too much about how the sales were going. I would occasionally get a call from Ebony telling me they had sold loads in Europe in particular and we should tour out there, but we had no management, no money…..
The magazine write-ups we received were all very good. Mostly in European and Nordic region magazines. I’ve still got them somewhere. I’ll try to dig them out and scan them for you. One in particular suggested we should enter the metal charts the following week along with Dio and Maiden! Gawd knows who wrote that one – but thanks nonetheless! ….made my day.
4) Were there any plans for a follow-up before the band split.
Ha! – good question!….well, the band split after the first album of a 3 album deal. So – yes there were plans, and the deal was already signed!…….but it all fell to bits. There was no money coming in, we had no management, very few gig opportunities, and it just …stopped!…. I did tell you already, we were very naïve!
5) NWOBHM lives on with so many other bands from “back then” active again now. Good to see Blackmayne amongst that number. What was the catalyst for the band being reactivated.
The catalyst was Julian and me….. we both had an itch that needed scratching. Looking back , we were a signed band, with loads of opportunities in front of us….but we didn’t know it! Now we are older, wiser, and realise that we should have given it a better effort than we did. So we’re turning back the chapters a few pages to see if we can rewrite some of the book so far.
Julian and I went out for a few beers in 2012, and 3 weeks later we had written “Chosen Few” (you can find the demo on YouTube). This song will be re-recorded on the upcoming release.
Ed: Here’s the video:
6) Was the interest from Eat Metal Records a significant factor. That may be a rhetorical question……..
We actually had active interest from tworecord companies at the same time, which was really flattering. We might still do a compilation thing with the other company, so I can’t say too much about that one at the moment.
The enthusiasm from Greg at EMR was brilliant, and so we discussed a few ideas with him, based mainly around the concept of re-doing the original album (which has a terrible mix/mastering). So – yes, the record company interest fired it up considerably.
7) With Eat Metal set to re-master the old debut album is there a release date in the diary.
We’ve been told it will be Summer for the CD, and Christmas for the Vinyl. But we’ll see how that goes. These things are notorious for slipping.
8) And how about the new album. How is that coming along.
Really good! Julian and I are meeting weekly and we’ve got ideas falling out of us at an alarming rate. We’ve also got some exciting individuals joining us for the recording. We have Jay Duke from Chatham on vocals. He’s a monster singer and a really nice bloke. Look up a band called “Crow Lane” and you’ll see what he is capable of. And we’ve got ex UK Subs Drummer Pete Davies on drums. I play with Pete in punk band The Straps, and I love the way he plays and gets involved in all aspects of studio work. At the moment all guitar and bass will be looked after by Julian and me. But for live work we might need to look up a few mates to help out.
9) Any plans to promote the albums – some gigs perhaps.
Yes yes yes – but waaayyy too early to say more yet. We’re hopeful that Greg’s contacts in Europe could be handy for later this year or early next year. And as for 2017 – who knows!? Contact us if you want some original NWOBHM on your stage next year promoters!
We’re also going to print up some merch. The original album cover is iconic and would look great on a T Shirt.
10) Anything else to say to the readers?
Thanks for the support we’ve been receiving so far. It’s brilliant after all these years to know people are still into it. Keep it metal, and hopefully we’ll see y’all at a festival in 2017! \m/
My thanks to Phil for taking the time to participate. Do keep your eyes out for the albums appearing.