One of the finer things about operating this blog is when an email arrives (as it does from time to time…..) from someone else who was around in the halcyon days of the original NWOBHM era. The latest example of that is being contacted by Gerry Turner was a member of Welsh NWOBHMers Mirage. Gerry’s kindly put together a few paras (and sent some pictures) about the band so I hope you enjoy reading a bit about Mirage from all those years ago…..over to Gerry:
“Mirage formed in the Autumn of 1983 from the ashes of two Welsh Rock/Metal bands – ‘Rough Justice’ and ‘Exit’. Ritchie Price was the exception, a very talented young lead guitarist, joined Mirage from West Midlands rockers ‘Nova’.
The band were based in the south-east Wales valleys, a surprisingly fertile region for Rock and Metal in the early 80s, (Samurai, Persian Risk, Preacher (pre-Kooga), No Quarter, Tredegar and Traitors Gate were all active in the region at this time).
The bandmates shared a common love of classic 70s rock such as Deep Purple, Van Halen, UFO and Rainbow, regularly including covers by these bands in their early live shows besides their own material.
Within six months of forming, Mirage had developed a great live show, reaching its pinnacle at ‘Midsummers Night Rock’ open air gig in South Wales in the summer of 1984. The set list now included a new number ‘Blind Fury’ which the band had recorded in May of that year for the ‘Notepad Productions Vol 1’ local band sampler.
The band were so pleased with the response to their debut recording that they entered the studio again within two months. Two more tracks were recorded – another heavy rocker, ‘Twilight Zone’ and the lighter more commercial ‘Runaway’ but these tracks were never released and only exist in demo form.
By 1986 the band had relocated to Birmingham with a new identity (High Society ) and a new ‘experimental’ sound which was far removed from their NWOBHM roots.”
My thanks once again to Gerry for getting in touch and putting this together.