A very interesting story with a great start, but not with the expected follow… Bronz had a hit with “Send Down An Angel” off the 1983 album “Taken By Storm”, which send them playing stadiums in the States with Ratt, until a series of unfortunate events lead to the band’s split. Shaun Kirkpatrick found the strength, and the guts to re-form the band and record an album, which meant to be released…25 years later, on January 1st, 2010… Interview: Yiannis Dolas

Rockpages.gr: How and when did you get involved in the first place?


Shaun Kirkpatrick: When I used to live in Bath, not long after school, I used to work in a music shop in the city, and I used to hang out with a lot of local musicians. A few years later, because I spent three years in the army as a musician, believe it or not, playing the trumpet. It was always my ambition to be in a band, so I left the army to do music professionally. So, I started jamming with some friends I had made earlier, when I was in Bath, which were Chris Goulson the guitarist, and the bassist Paul Webb. We started jamming in Chris’s farm and we went from there really, we wrote some songs, we recorded them in a studio in Bristol, and that was what got us our first record deal. We had a hit “Send Down An Angel” which got into the UK rock charts back in the ‘80s. We were very determined, and we wouldn’t take no for an answer, and ultimately we ended up playing stadiums in America, which was great…

Rockpages.gr:  Since you’ve been a musician in the army I have to ask you, is it difficult to march, when you are playing?

Shaun Kirkpatrick: Yes! I was in the light infantry where they march 104 paces a minute! Playing trumpet with 104 paces a minute gets you fit! It was hard work! But, it wasn’t my life, that was great fun. I spent two years in Hong Kong… Hong Kong when you are 17 it’s a lot of fun. Every bar was topless, you had loads of money, and it was a big party! Basically, I treated the army like I treat most things; I was trying to have fun.

Rockpages.gr: How was playing gigs in the States?

Shaun Kirkpatrick: That was amazing. When we were in America we were touring with Ratt, and they had a single in the charts at the time “Round And Round”. The tour started in 15 to 20 thousand seat venues, but while on tour the single went to No.1 in America, and the tour got upgraded to baseball stadiums, so we were playing to 30,40,50 thousand seat stadiums, and that was a real thrill, I thought it was better than sex! Playing to 50 thousand people who all have seen you on MTV, and heard your single on the radio you felt like one of the Beatles. Amazing! Unbelievable! An opportunity of a lifetime!

Rockpages.gr: What led to the band’s splitting up?

Shaun Kirkpatrick: Well, to be completely honest with you it was the wives! Have you seen the film Spinal Tap? We were that band! The same year that film was made, we were doing the stadiums in America. When I saw that film I couldn’t believe it, because that was more or less what happened to us. It was the backroom bittering between wives, girlfriends, it just got out of hand. The trouble is that when you become well-known a lot of jealousy comes in to play. Wives get very jealous of other people paying attention to you, and that causes problems between the problems to the members of the band. It wasn’t so simple that the band split up. What happened was that one of the members left while we were in America, because of having problems at home with his wife, and we tried to replace him. But, we decided to come back to England to do that. When we were in England looking for a replacement, Max Bacon, the singer, was head-hunted by GTR, which was the new super group (Ed, featuring Steve Hackett of Genesis, and Steve Howe of YES, and Asia) and they were looking for a singer. They offered him the job, and of course Max was in a shock, getting an offer from a supergroup. So, he left, and that left me basically looking for a new guitarist, and a singer! Many months went by, money was very tight, the record problem had problems, and the other members drifted away really. So, I ended up re-forming the whole band. So, I was the only original member from the original line up, and I had four new players. But, some great players! Clive Edwards on drums, great pedigree, fantastic drummer. Mickey O’Donoghue on guitar from Grand Prix, great player, and he played keyboards as well. Ian Baker, he was a new guy, but he was good looking, and had a great voice, and Lee Reddings who was a bass player I admired, and was known in London. SO, we had a new band.  The record company was backing me to make another album, so we got Max Norman involved who is a fantastic producer, he has worked with Ozzy, Megadeth, and other artists, and it was good fun to work with him as well. So, we had a great studio, a great producer, and a record company backing, but unfortunately, when we finished the album the record company didn’t exist anymore. They were bankrupt! So, the album never got released! It was very hard times for me, having reformed a band to make a record, that we’ve written, and recorded, and then not get released. That wasn’t good!

Rockpages.gr: What did you do after that?

Shaun Kirkpatrick: I went back to Bath, I put a recording studio together, a commercial 24-track recording studio. I ended up working  with Van Morrison on the “Enlightment” album. I have worked with many people in the studio, so I basically went back to producing music, and writing music for TV and film. Which is what I still do today, I still produce music for TV and film in my studio at home. That’s what I did when the band fragmented, but I always played. I formed a band we used to play festivals in England, and universities, Luscilastic, which was an R’n’B rock blues band.  Later on I formed The Truth… but, I’ve always continued to play, because playing is a very important part in being able to write. If you keep your mind fresh the ideas flow. Playng is my passion, I started playing because I loved playing, and I wanted to produce good music.

Rockpages.gr: So, that leads us to January 1st 2010, when Bronz’s second album got a proper release! What made you decide to put out the album?

Shaun Kirkpatrik: Well, I was talking with one of the guys in Switzerland that I work with, and we were saying how popular is ‘80s rock music again today. So, I mentioned that I got this record that never got released. He asked me to listen to it, and when we he did he got blown away! So, basically we started working to get that thing out there. I always knew that the album should have been released, but to be honest with you I almost had forgotten about it, because I was being busy with other things. When the ‘80s became relevant again I thought it was a good time. Also, now with the way you can promote things. The fact that we are connected is through the internet, and that’s great tool for promotion. That didn’t exist a few years ago with Facebook, MySpace, websites… it’s a different world now! It’s a good time to release a product, and it’s a strong album. it has a certain air of the ‘80s, but it’s good music, and good music is always good music, whatever period it comes from. It’s well-produced, and it’s radio friendly, it’s commercial rock. I am very proud of the album!

Rockpages.gr: Is there a chance that Bronz would play live?

Shaun Kirkpatrick: Yes there is! I still have a strong connection with all the members. I spoke with Ian Baker a few days ago, and he was very excited about everything, so the answer is yes, but what’s the question? The problem it that Lee (Reddings) died six years ago, he had throat cancer. Actually, in honor to him, it was one of the reasons I finished mastering the album, and compiling it, so that he could hear it properly before he died. So, in honor of him we are promoting this, and the answer is yes! We’d like to play live, if people want it enough we’ll do it!

Rockpages.gr: Also, in the album there is a list of some special guests. How did this come up?

Shaun Kirkpatrick: Well, various people like Mickey, who is the guitarist in the band now, he used to be in Grand Prix, well Phil Lanzon was the keyboard player in that band, now he plays for Uriah Heep, and was at the time with Uriah Heep, so when we wanted some keyboards, he was a fried, so we just asked him to come into the studio and record some keyboards. Living, and working in London in the music industry you make a lot of friends within the industry. There was a pub, or club “Frank’s Funny Farm”, where all the musos went in the evening. It would open at midnight, and closed at 8 o’clock in the morning! That’s where you’d meet most people in the industry. Gary Moore would drink there, Phil Lynott would drink there, the guys from Thin Lizzy, that’s where I met Chris Thompson (Ed, from Manfredd Mann), a great guy. That’s how he got involved. Max Norman was brought in by the record company, we quickly became friends, a very light-minded person. The backing singers were brought by Max, they were very good looking women, and great singers. Stevie Lang (Ed, Robert “Mutt” Lange’s –producer of AC/DC, and Def Leppard, to name a few- ex-wife). We’ve been involved with other bands through our record company, and that’s how we got to know her. She used to do a lot of TV ads. She was a very good backing vocalist… when you make friends, people are happy to help, if you piss people off, then you are not going to get anywhere!

Rockpages.gr: There is also a cover of a Russ Ballard song on the album, “Two Shilouettes”, how did you decide to cover that specific song?

Shauk Kirkpatrick: We had plenty of songs ourselves, that was the only songs that we didn’t write on the album. The reason that we did that was to include something that was very catchy, and radio friendly for a first single –given that it was 1985. We liked the song, and we thought we could make a great version of it. We were happy with the result, and that’s why we decided to use it. Although, I think that there are a few more songs on the album that are pretty catchy, “Maybe There’s A Reason”, or “Man Girl Machine”…

Rockpages.gr: I like “Figure In The Dark” a lot…

Shaun Kirkpatrick: Yeah, that’s a great rock track, it’s even better if you play it loud!

Rockpages.gr: It reminds me a lot of Triumph…

Shaun Kirkpatrick: Really? We were due to go on tour with Triumph in America, when the band broke up. We were booked on a 98-date tour with Triumph, but it never happened, because we came back to England to replace the guitarist…they are a good band!

Rockpages.gr: If you were going to make an album today, I mean nowadays, would you try and make it sound like the ‘80s, or would you go after a more fresh, and modern sound?

Shaun Kirkpatrick: Well, the reason albums sound the time they do is the nature of the beast… in the ‘80s you had ‘80s gear, now it’s all digital. There is so much you can do with digital recording that you couldn’t do in the ‘80s. so, I think you would struggle to make it sound like the ‘80s, you have to accept that is going to sound modern, because you are using modern tools. So, the answer for that is that I’d let it evolve naturally, and it would probably sound modern! What’s weird with“Carried By The Storm” is that it’s a new album, but it’s new retro. It’s a unique situation, where you got an album from the ‘80s that it has never been heard, and it’s a classic rock album that has never been heard. How is that possible?

Rockpages.gr: After some research on the internet I found out that the past members of Bronz formed a band under the name of Bronz, what’s that all about?

Shaun Kirkpatrick: Yes, that’s Chris the guitarist, who left while we were in America. He has recently resurfaced with a band called Bronz, with a website, and all that, but it’s a three piece, it has nothing to do with what Bronz were, in the sense of the commercial side of Bronz. I can’t do anything about that, it his choice! We are not in competition, but in my mind I am the one who kept the band going, so I am the band. He quit the band, and now he is using the name because obviously people know the name.
Posted by Shaun   @   4 May 2010

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