This is a Transcript of the interview on

…………………………

“Total Rock Radio”

06/02/2010

with Shaun and Ian of Bronz

being interviewed by Malcolm Dome

on the Saturday show

(Doom and co).

Female:                      The true voice of  Rocking’s Metal TotalRock.

Malcolm:                    We’re going to move on because I’m delighted to say Shaun and Ian from Bronz – 2010 Bronz – are here. Gentlemen, welcome to you.

Shaun:                       Thanks very much guys.

Malcolm:                    Nice to see you here after just 26 years, Shaun, you finally followed up the début album.

Shaun:                       Exactly. Yes, it’s been a while coming, this one. But –

Malcolm:                    Certainly has.

Shaun:                       Yes. There’s a lot of work went into this record. Reformed the band in the 80’s and got some great players. Spent months in rehearsals writing, got a great producer, Max Norman – I’m sure a lot of guys out there know who he is. You know, Megadeath, Ozzy, some of the great albums of the 80’s. And 90’s actually. Some fantastic production. And a great new singer to come in and –

Ian:                             Thank you Shaun.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Ian:                             No, it’s great to be back, I mean, it’s, well we believe in letting things mature, don’t we?

Malcolm:                    Yes, it makes Guns ‘n Roses seem hyper fast.

Ian:                             We’re like a good wine. A good wine. But no, it’s fantastic, it’s very exciting and you know, we’re all really fired up about it. We’re sort of doing some writing at the moment, trying to sort of get some more stuff together.

Malcolm:                    Right.

Ian:                             And we’re very excited. Yes, Shaun’s done a great job in terms of –

Shaun:                       Well what’s been amazing for me is I mean, whilst this album’s taken forever to get out, for all sorts of reasons, it’s getting such great reviews and feedback. And it’s really exciting, you know, to have put so much work in all those years ago and finally get the fruition coming out. And there’s some great song-writing, some great playing. Got Clive Edwards on drums – his pedigree is –

Malcolm:                    Enormous.

Shaun:                       Enormous, exactly. Mickey on guitar, and writing and backing vocals. Mickey was in Grand Prix, which is where the connection with Phil Lanzon came in, who did some keyboards. Phil’s with Uriah Heep. Lee, the bass player, God bless him, he’s no longer with us. He died about six years ago from throat cancer. Ian could probably –

Ian:                             Yes, you know, Lee, it’d be lovely if he could hear it now, but he was obviously an integral part of it, and I think he performed fantastically.

Shaun:                       Aah, his bass playing’s enormous. I mean he just wandered straight in there and he earned this place, and mucho respect to you Lee, love you guy.

Ian:                             Yes. If you’re listening, good on you.

Malcolm:                    Well let’s hope he is. Should be. (Laughter)

. If they can get it up there.

Shaun:                       Exactly.

Malcolm:                    He’d be chuffed.

Shaun:                       Yes, more than chuffed. You know, and actually funnily enough it was – when I heard Lee was dying, that was what spurred me on to finish this whole project. I had been sitting on some massive mixes for forever, and I wanted Lee to hear it finished in the way that we would have hoped it would have been at the time, had the record company not gone bankrupt.

Malcolm:                    Aha.

Shaun:                       So I spent some time in my studio putting the whole thing together so I could send it to him, and he came back to me, I could hear the tears in his comments, you know, “Shaun, it’s just amazing to hear this record the way it should have been.” And that’s when it got to a stage that I suddenly realised, hang on a minute, why am I just doing this for Lee? Let’s do it for Lee the whole way, let’s get it out there. And it’s been a long slog but it’s starting to pay off.

Ian:                             Well there was always a sense of unfinished business really wasn’t there? We know it was really good at the time and we played it to so many people, and you know, we got great feedback from it. And it just, it’s been very frustrating that no-one’s ever heard it, and now it’s fantastic that people are hearing really what’s still a good record.

Shaun:                       Well it still sounds fresh as well. I mean, you know, we talk about it being 25 years old. It does not sound like that.

Malcolm:                    No it doesn’t, no.

Shaun:                       It was digitally recorded. It was well recorded at the time, done in the Roundhouse and Power House studio, Power Plant sorry, in London. Max Norman: great producer and engineer. Max engineered this album as well as produced it. And he is phenomenal, I mean –

Malcolm:                    He certainly is.

Shaun:                       Hats off to you Max. Wherever you are. I know he’s in America now.

Ian:                             Yes.

Shaun:                       But you know.

Ian:                             We got Pete Solly to do the -

Shaun:                       Pete Solly produced track one.

Ian:                             The track that he loved, didn’t he?

Shaun:                       Yes he produced the first track.

Ian:                             John Parr

Shaun:                       He worked with John Parr on all sorts of things. You know, the whole thing hangs together and I think it’s a strong album. Great radio album.

Malcolm:                    Well we’re going to play a track right now to prove how much of a radio album it is. This is a song called ‘Can’t Live Without Your Love’.

Shaun:                       Good choice.

Malcolm:                    Which you might know.

(Song plays)

Malcolm:                    From what’s just been described by Shaun Kirkpatrick as a lost classic album, ‘Can’t Live Without Your Love’ from ‘Carried by the Storm’, the new album as it were by Bronz, new as in an old sense, and Shaun and Ian Baker the singer are in the studio right now.

How difficult was it to go back and revisit these songs and think, “You know what, should we just scrap the lot and completely start again with a whole bunch of new songs?”

Shaun;                       Not at all, Malcolm. You know, whenever I looked at this material, every time I listened to it, it put hairs on the back of my legs, you know, adrenaline pumping. I knew this was too good to just throw away.

Malcolm:                    Right.

Shaun:                       You know, good music will out. If I’d felt at any point, you know, what am I doing with this pile of shit, you know, then I would have thrown it away. Flushed it down the toilet. Why would I do that? This is a strong album. You know, we have a lot of faith in the production, the writing and the playing on this album, and all the people involved. There’s some great people. We’ve got Chris Thompson backing vocals on that track we just heard. Chris out of Manfred Mann.

Ian:                             Stevie Lange.

Shaun:                       Stevie Lange sings backing vocals on –

Malcolm:                    Suzie O’List as well.

Ian:                             Yes.

Shaun:                       Exactly. Suzie O’List. Scott Gorham out of Thin Lizzy was heavily involved in the pre-production of the album, because at the point when we were early days of putting a new line-up together, I didn’t have a second guitarist, so Scott stepped in.

Malcolm:                    Wow !

Shaun:                       Ian on vocals, Scott on second guitar and myself on, well, guitar as well, I wouldn’t say Scott was second guitar but –

Malcolm:                    (Laughter). Joint first.

Ian:                             That was a great time.

Shaun:                       And Clive on drums. You know, that was a great time. Scott was well behind what we were doing.

Ian:                             Yes, he loved it.

Shaun:                       Yes he did.

Ian:                             But you know I think at the time he was involved in a project, wasn’t he, in the States that was perhaps fairly sort of –

Shaun:                       Yes, he had his own career path, but he was happy to help us out.

Malcolm:                    Right.

Shaun:                       And I respect him for that, you know, which is why I’ve given him a credit on the album. So you know, why would I throw that away? There’s no reason at all.

Malcolm:                    Just to put everyone in the picture, what year are we talking about?

Shaun:                       We’re talking about ’86.

Malcolm:                    ’86.

Shaun:                       ’85, ’86.

Malcolm:                    ’85, ’86, yes.

Shaun:                       So it’s 25 years effectively since this album was finished at that point . I mean obviously it’s been mastered and digitally edited since, and brought up to date in terms of amalgaming the recordings that I had, you know. But we haven’t changed anything, we haven’t added to it, we haven’t done overdubs or, you know, we couldn’t remix it because these were finished mixes. The mixes were all done by Max. So –

Ian:                             I also think it’s quite interesting, I think at the time because it’s such an eclectic sort of mix of stuff going on when you listen to it. Some people didn’t get it, you know, when we kind of played them something, it’s like “What’s this all about? You know, is this like a rock band? Is it a -” or even what they were trying to achieve. And we’re sort of, we’re quite proud of the fact that we were a little bit ahead of the game really.

Malcolm:                    Well you were really because a couple of years later bands like FM started to come through.

Ian:                             Absolutely.

Malcolm:                    Doing something very similar.

Ian:                             Yes.

Malcolm:                    But you were ahead of the game.

Shaun:                       But also, Malcolm, is that the time we’re talking about, CD’s were not that prevalent.  They were about making records that had two sides. So you had two first tracks and two end tracks, so the album kind of had two halves in the sense of, there’s a very very radio friendly commercial side to this album, and there’s a really out and out rock side of this album. You know, tracks like ‘Dangerous Game’ is a seriously great rock track. You know, it’s heavy, well, and also, there’s that one we’ve just heard, ‘Can’t Live Without Your Love’. But there’s also the tracks like “Maybe There’s a Reason”.

There’s “Man Girl Machine” which is a very, you know – got brass section on it, very commercial. So it’s kind of, it’s an album with two halves, but that’s the way it was made. Because in those days you had the A and a B side.

Malcolm:                    Yes of course.

Shaun:                       Now you have, you know – in fact you don’t even have CD’s really. You have like, “I downloaded tracks”.

Malcolm:                    Well yes, exactly. Technology’s changed everything.

Shaun:                       Yes.

Malcolm:                    Since that was recorded.

Shaun:                       Exactly. So that mindset’s gone. You know, it was made with a different head.

Malcolm:                    Right.

Shaun:                       Which is great, because we couldn’t make that record now. Because, you know, the whole process is different. And we didn’t have the tools you have now. You just had to get down and play the bloody thing.

Malcolm:                    Well absolutely. There’s no substitute. (Laughter). You know, if you can’t play, it ain’t gonna happen!

Shaun:                       Yes. Tough. Get on with it. Get over it.

Malcolm:                    And of course having people of that ilk and stature involved with you, meant there was a real sense of this was a big one.

Shaun:                       We had a ball making this record. Do you remember –?

Ian:                             I have to say, well I sort of do, I mean I’m the sort of youngest            member of the band. I was a little whippersnapper then.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Ian:                             Of a mere 21. So all this kind of going on around me was like, I’ve got Scott Gorham wandering in and you know, we’re rehearsing and Tina Turner’s borrowing my kettle.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Ian:                             John Henry’s and she never gave it back.

Malcolm:                    Well there you go.

Ian:                             And I said to them, “My mother will never forgive her for that.”

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Ian:                             So she’s still got my kettle but you know I’m sort of trying to work, and it was wonderful. You know, I kind of – because my influence is that I was listening to sort of Led Zep one minute and then like the Eurythmics and you know, my tastes were so kind of diverse. And this one comes out a little bit on the record, like listen to “Figure in the Dark”, one of the tracks on the album, and it’s like – you know, it’s slightly Annie Lennox-y kind of stuff going on, and there’s Shaun and Mick giving it loads on the guitars and me sort of cooing away, you know. But this kind of hybrid style is really, it’s really punchy. And I listen to it now and I just love it. I think –

Shaun:                       We had a great engine room there. I mean you’ve got Clive on drums, rock solid as they come. You know, and Clive is great fun to work with. Great sense of humour, you know, he’s a lovely guy,………. but don’t tell him.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Ian:                             He still owes me a fiver for that.

Shaun:                       Fiver !He still hasn’t given you that fiver?

Ian:                             With interest. It’d probably be about nine pounds.

Malcolm:                    Think what you could get for that. Not a lot really but there you go.

Shaun:                       Well you could buy a copy of the album.

Malcolm:                    You could buy the album, yes, absolutely. Incidentally, talking about that, before we move on: how do people get the album? Is it freely available?

Shaun:                       Okay. At the moment you can get it on Amazon, I-Tunes, all those download sites. It will be available in about a week’s time. Funnily enough, there was a screw-up at Amazon’s side. The guy dealing with the album is called Jesus. Can you believe that?

Malcolm:                    Well there you go.

Shaun:                       Jesus screwed up again.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Shaun:                       You know. He seems to be making a habit of it, but never mind. So in about a week’s time it will be a physical unit you can buy from Amazon. But go to the website, you know, www.Bronz-music.com. We’ve got stuff up on ‘You Tube’. Go to ‘Facebook’, you know, sign in on ‘Facebook’, join the clan, you know. We’re happy to talk to anybody who wants to know more about the band. You can listen to it online, should you want to hear more. You know, we’re accessible, we’re friendly guys.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter). But it’s amazing because you just summed up just how the music industry’s changed since that’s last recorded, because back then you’d have given it to the record company, shoved it out with marketing, you’d have done some interviews, blah de blah blah. Now you do it all yourselves, don’t you?

Shaun:                       Exactly. Well actually this is a great time to be doing what we’re doing, you know. This album. It’s a lot easier to market and promote stuff now than it has ever been. With the internet, having a website and blah blah blah. At the end of the day, you know, the public decide: is the music any good, do we want it? Do we want to hear it? Do we want to own it?

And you know, we’re proud of this and we think that there’s a lot of people out there who would love to hear this, and yes, it won’t just be a lost classic. It will be a classic.

Malcolm:                    That’s the best way to look at it. Well indeed, absolutely. You don’t want it to end up being, now it’s out there, being a lost classic.

Shaun;                       It’s the classic.

Malcolm:                    Yes. Or the discovered classics, actually, because it’s never had a chance to be rediscovered if it’s never been there before. What sort of state were the tapes then, because you obviously must have recorded on tapes?

Shaun:                       Okay. Some of it was on DAT, which was very early days for DAT,  and some of it was on quarter inch.

Malcolm:                    Right.

Shaun:                       From the Roundhouse. So yes, I mean the masters were in good state. You know, I kept them properly in an environment that would keep them safe, but I mean, nowadays everything tends to be digital. So I think the album, whilst being recorded digitally, had largely been transferred to analogue and then back to digital. So a kind of ADA situation. Or DAD sorry.

Ian:                             It is very easy to listen and go, “Oh well we should have done this or we should have done that”, but at the end of the day, it kind of works, you know. And you can always change it and do things to it, but really it’s like, let’s leave it alone and then, warts and all, it’s a lot of great stuff on there.

Shaun:                       You know, Michael, what’s weird is for me, I actually produce a lot of music still nowadays in my own right for all sorts of situations, and what I’ve noticed over the years is that the mediums have changed. There’s a lot more technology now, but the music isn’t that much better.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Shaun:                       At the end of the day, it’s down to can you play a bloody instrument, can you write a tune? Can you organise a band? You know, there’s a lot of key things that need to happen to make it great.

Michael;                     Oh sure.

Shaun:                       You know. If it was easy, and a lot of people may think it is; you know I’ve heard people say, “Oh write music, that’s easy.” Okay. You have a go.

Ian:                             Yes. (Laughter).

Malcolm:                    Well it’s like everyone says, AC/DC, anyone can play that –

Ian:                             Oh it’s only three chords!

Malcolm:                    But why is it no-one can do it like them, if anyone can do it? That’s the point, isn’t it? I could play ‘Stairway to Heaven’ when I was seven. And Jimmy Page didn’t write it till he was 25. I think it says it all, yes.

Shaun:                       But did you think of it? Yes.

Malcolm:                    Yes, all that sort of nonsense. But now it’s there. Are you going to get an opportunity to go out and tour on the back of that album?

Shaun:                       Wouldn’t that be great? We’re all up for it.

Ian;                             Totally up for it.

Shaun:                       The answer’s yes. What’s the question?

Malcolm:                    (Laughter). Right.

Shaun:                       I’d love to do that. Honestly, I mean all of us, we’ve all spoken about this – you know, who knows where it could lead – but the answer is yes, what’s the question? People want to hear us, we’re out there.

Ian:                             Yes.

Malcolm:                    Well let’s play another track on the album. In fact, what about the title song?

Shaun:                       ‘Carried by the Storm’. Yes.

Malcolm:                    Yes. Or carried by the storm.

Shaun:                       Exactly.

Ian:                             It sort of gives you a totally different –

Shaun:                       I mean this is kind of why I began with the track you’ve already played, featuring some great sax playing –

Malcolm:                    Gary Barnacle, Kim Wilde’s -

Ian:                             Yes, excellent feller.

Shaun:                       Great. Fantastic –     Play it Malcolm, it’s a lovely track.

(Song plays)

Malcolm:                    Those days, looking back to the mid 80’s when you were tipped by a lot of people, myself included, to be one of the bands of that period: do you look back now and think, “It was a wonderful time”, or do you look back and think, “If only”.

Shaun:                       Well you know, obviously over the years I had a mixture of feelings about it. It was a fantastic time. I mean, to be in a top, you know, stream rock band in the 80’s with heavy promo, major radio play in America, M-TV, Emma Thompson featuring in the video, you know, big promo in America – we were lucky. When we hit America, we were doing 10 to 15 thousand seater auditoriums, with a band called Ratt.

Ratt went to number one at the same time we were on tour with them. The “Round and round” single went to number one in the States. The tour got upgraded to 50 thousand seaters. So suddenly we’re running up huge ramps, getting handed guitars.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Shaun:                       With people holding their lighters up as we run on stage. They’ve heard us on the radio, seen us on telly. We were already – and it felt like, you know, you felt like you were one of the Beatles. It was an amazing experience.

Of course, when everything fragmented – as invariably things do, at that level, unless, you know, you’re hugely lucky – it takes a lot of getting over, to come back down to reality. You know, because you go from essentially superstardom in a foreign country to on the dole in England.

Malcolm:                    Right. Which is a bit of a shock.

Shaun:                       That’s how it was, a shock. It’s a shock for you and your family.

Malcolm:                    Well yes.

Shaun:                       (Laughter). It was not easy, but it was a time I wouldn’t swap for the world. If I was given the choice to relive my life, I would still do the same things. You know, I’m sure there’s plenty of people out there who would love to have that chance.

Malcolm:                    Absolutely.

Shaun:                       You know, it was an amazing time.  It was a great experience. Funnily enough, it influenced the writing of this album, because this album was written with that remit in mind. You know, when the band fragmented over in America, we came back to England to reform, and over a period of months it fragmented further. Max Bacon, the singer, ended up going off and joining the super group GTR with Steve Hackett –

Malcolm:                    That’s right.

Shaun:                       And being very successful in his own right.

Malcolm:                    And then trying out for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Shaun:                       Max did some strange things after that. He was on ‘New Faces’, which I thought –

Malcolm:                    Tried another one, yes.

Shaun:                       Well he’s, you know, I don’t know which face it was that was new.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Shaun:                       (Laughter). It wasn’t the one I recognised.

Ian:                             A very old craggy face.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Shaun:                       Great singer though -

Malcolm:                    He certainly had a tremendous voice.

Shaun:                       I got on like a house on fire with Max. I have a lot of respect for him.

Ian:                             He was a tough act to follow. I mean, he’s a great singer, a great singer.

Shaun:                       Yes, but you do a great job, Ian. I mean, you know – the bottom line is that everybody that came into the band was brought in for their own strengths, not to imitate who had been there before. You know, at the end of the day what makes a good band is originality and commitment, not to – you know, if you’re forming a band, don’t try and sound like another band.

Ian:                             No. No point.

Shaun:                       Use the influences of those bands, but develop your own style and sound. That’s how you’re going to get on. The industry needs fresh sounds, fresh faces. You know, Metallica, funnily enough they used to – when we used to come off stage in America, Metallica would be hanging around our dressing rooms, nicking our sandwiches and beers.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter). Well at that time they nearly signed to the same label didn’t they?

Shaun:                       Exactly. Gerry turned them down.

Malcolm:                    That’s right.

Shaun:                       Which apparently, also, Gerry also turned The Police down…., and The Ambulance service and the AA.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Ian:                             (Laughter).

Shaun:                       (Laughter).

Malcolm:                    Well, I think you go with sort of –

Ian:                             Shaun, that’s just terrible. On record. That’s a terrible joke.

Malcolm:                    But I’m glad you said it and not me. But there was a point when new record company executives were signing bands or declining bands, and every one of those has success and fai- you know, “Why the hell did you turn them down now?” How many people turned the Beatles down?

Shaun:                       Well exactly. But the days of guitar bands was over. You know, that’s what the Beatles were told. I mean, how wrong can you be? The guitar is still as strong – stronger now than it’s ever been.

Malcolm:                    Well, thanks to things like Guitar Hero.

Shaun:                       Exactly. But there are more guitars sold nowadays than there’s ever been in the history of the planet. And there’s more kids want to be guitarists, you know. Personally, I’m not into Guitar Hero, you know, I think it’s ‘a shame, I think you’d be better off buying a guitar.

Malcolm:                    Well I think the one thing Guitar Hero has done, and we’ve talked about this before, is introduce a lot of kids to older music they would never have heard of otherwise. These kids go, “Oh that sounds great!” And it’s revived and resurrected so many bands because 12 and 13-year-olds have heard of them for the first time through Guitar Hero. So in that respect I think it’s done a great service.

Shaun:                       That’s a fair comment. I don’t know what Ian’s –

Ian:                             I do as well. I mean, my daughter, she’s eight, my eldest daughter, and she gravitates towards anything with a string on it. Rather than plinky plonky. I mean I’m trying to get her to play the piano at the moment but she’s not up for it at all. And she keeps wanting to sort of do guitars or violins or anything where you go “ding, ding a ling ling”, so I think it’s, yes, I totally agree with that.

Shaun:                       I think, you know, the fascination for stringed instruments is that by default and by the –

Ian:                             It looks a lot cooler.

Shaun:                       Well they’re so much more expressive. You can do a lot more with a string, you know, in terms of expression. What you can get from a guitar is endless isn’t it? I mean the styles and sounds you can get from a guitar are so enormous. It’s such a draw. I mean, you know, I’ve even played guitar now for 30 odd years, and I know enough to know that I know nothing.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Shaun:                       If that makes any sense. Because the more you learn, the more you realise you don’t know.

Malcolm:                    Yes.

Shaun:                       It’s endless, you know, and that’s the fascination for it.

Ian:                             Do you remember that, Shaun, because when I first joined the band, Shaun was actually playing – what was that thing called, that Roland –

Shaun:                       The guitar synth, It features on the album actually. There’s a fair bit of guitar synth on this – the Roland GR 707.

Ian:                             Yes. Well that’s an amazing thing wasn’t it? Because -

Shaun:                       It was a bloody nightmare actually.

Ian:                             Because it used to kind of play halfway between [cross-talking 0:27:20] . It used to sound like Ravi bloody Shankar.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Ian:                             Sort of most nights, you know. And Les Dawson on [cross-talking 0:27:25].

Shaun:                       It was like going on tour with the ex-wife, you know. You can’t Control it.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Shaun:                       It was, yes.

Malcolm:                    Yes, well that’s the weird thing because when keyboard players were freed up to wander around they looked daft.

Ian:                             Yes, yes.

Malcolm:                    Whereas guitarists look great wandering around.

Shaun:                       Yes.

Ian:                             That was a cracking thing, that. I mean that was in its infancy, that stuff, but it did sound – and it gave you the freedom to sort of play guitar –

Shaun:                       Well ‘Figure in the Dark’ actually, which is one of the tracks on the album, features that instrument. You know, all of the keyboard sounds on that track are guitar synths.

Ian:                             Yes.

Shaun:                       Which is unique to that particular guitar. You know, that synth anyway, the Roland guitar synth. And it was a very odd-looking thing. You know, you get two necks.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Ian:                             That’s true actually. IT did look very very stange indeed.

Malcolm:                    Well shall we play the next track –

Ian:                             It looked even stranger with Shaun wrapped around it.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter). I’ll bet.

Shaun:                       Yes, let’s hear another track.

Malcolm:                    I think we should play the last track in the album. This is ‘Dangerous Game’, which you mentioned earlier, because that’s a damn fine way to finish the album.

Ian:                             And a great guitar solo from Mick –

Shaun:                       Yes, Mickey, great guitarist.

Malcolm:                    Well let’s hear it.

(Song plays).

(Advert plays)

Malcolm:                    This is Total Rock and me Malcolm and Bronz, Shaun and Ian from Bronz. And we’ve just heard two tracks back to back from the new album ‘Carried Away by the Storm’: ‘Dangerous Game’ and your cover of Russ Ballard’s ‘Two Silhouettes’. And as we were talking off air, that has a very strange fade at the end. And it still puzzles me.

Shaun:                       (Laughter).

Malcolm:                    Because I think the version’s excellent, but it’s –

Shaun:                       Well the thing is, Malcolm, what you have to understand is –

Malcolm:                    It’s two things, isn’t it, sure.

Shaun:                       That we were making an album on the Titanic, and after it hit the iceberg, you know. Because the record company was going down the pan, we knew that, but we tried to get as much down as we could before it was too late. And I think basically if I remember rightly, well we just ran out of tape.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Shaun:                       And Clive needed to go to the toilet

Ian:                             And Clive needed to go –

Shaun:                       So a combination of those two factors.

(Laughter).

Shaun:                       Those two factors: Clive needing a pee, and we ran out of tape. We couldn’t do any more with it.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Shaun:                       But what you hear is what you get.

Malcolm:                    Fair play. You left it exactly as it was, you didn’t think about: “Shouldn’t we record an end or something?”

Ian:                             Do you know, less is less.

Malcolm:                    Yes. (Laughter). Less is a lot less, yes.

Shaun:                       Less is the new less.

Malcolm:                    Can’t get much less than less.

Shaun:                       Less is the new less.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Shaun:                       That’s crazy. I like that. But true. No, honestly, you know, it was just, that’s the way it was. You know, I mean gear literally was leaving the studio daily. We’d go in in the morning and something we were using the day before was no longer there. Some mad old gear we were using to compress the vocals or whatever, it just wasn’t there anymore. The fruit stopped – you know, there was no fruit, no coffee; it was like making a record on the Titanic. You know, but we just kept ploughing on.

Ian:                             I think Max didn’t turn up a couple of days –

Shaun:                       Yes, Max had had enough because it was getting pretty tight. He stopped turning up at one point. I took over the production reigns at that point, Mickey doing some of the guitar work. And then I remember having a conversation with him about, “Come on Max, we need you.” Because I mean, you know, it’s difficult if the producer suddenly isn’t there anymore.

Malcolm:                    Yes, of course.

Shaun:                       You know, he was at the helm. I mean, he wasn’t just the producer, he engineered the album. He’s a fantastic engineer.

Ian:                             He was great. I mean, Max was, you know, because at the time I was a relative, pretty inexperienced, and Max was a great –

Shaun:                       He knew how to get such fantastic guitar sounds, you know. He just knew –

Ian:                             He was a stickler, he was a bit of a one for kind of pinning you down and making sure you got it right. But you know, you listen now and you think, “I’m glad he did really.”

Shaun:                       You know, there was points when we were doing some of the backtracks, and Clive would be down in the main room banging the drums for hours, and there was one – I can’t remember which track it was, but there was one point where his hands were bleeding – and Max was just like, “Well stick some gaffer tape on them and carry on.”

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Shaun:                       You know. “We’re making a record. Just get on with it, you know.” But that was it – spit and blood.

Ian:                             Yes, no, he was. And he did that because Clive was – you know, he was playing well, but we were just right near the one, weren’t we, and he knew that it was in him, Clive, and it was just one more take and then –

Shaun:                       Exactly.

Ian:                             And we got it, you know. Clive’s fabulous.

Shaun:                       Great drumming, great drumming.

Malcolm:                    Yes, absolutely.

Shaun:                       And Lee’s bass playing. The great engine room, the bass and drums on this album are fantastic. So we were very lucky to be able to overdub to that, you know, and at the end of the day you cannot beat live drums. There’s a lot of music nowadays who uses drum machines, drum loops, all sorts of programmes out there that you can produce music with not using – I mean, yes, real drummers, you know, sampled. Okay, it’s real performances, but it’s not performances for that particular piece of music.

Malcolm;                    No, not at all. No.

Shaun:                       So you know, at the end of the day, as far as I’m concerned, real music is real people playing together. Sure. And that’s the end of it really.

Ian:                             Absolutely, absolutely.

Shaun:                       All the great records that we all love and buy are like that.

Ian:                             Yes, yes.

Shaun:                       All the classic rock albums. The home team don’t use loops.

Malcolm:                    The home team! Oh my God. (Laughter). That’s a phrase I only hear once a month, thank you for that. Yes that’s true. They certainly don’t. I was going to ask you, when you decided to resurrect the album as it were, did you contact Max Norman and say, “Do you want to – “

Shaun:                       I have tried everything. But I haven’t managed to – he’s gone off the radar. It’s really weird.

Malcolm:                    Really?

Shaun:                       Yes, completely. Max, if you ever get to hear this, get in touch, you know. The website or whatever, just get in touch. I’d love to hear from you.

Ian:                             I mean from what we gather he’s got some computer business or  something –

Malcolm:                    He’s totally given up producing?

Ian:                             I think so, yes.

Shaun:                       Out of the industry at that level. But I’m sure he would, he’d love to know that this is happening, because you know, he was the George Martin of this project.

Malcolm:                    Right.

Shaun:                       Major influence on the end product.

Ian:                             And a damn good fellow as well, wasn’t he? [cross-talking 0:39:31]

Shaun:                       Oh we had some fun.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Ian:                             Well if you can’t have some fun -

Malcolm:                    Well maybe we’ll keep it a little quiet on air. (Laughter).

Shaun:                       I mean basically we had a party and every now and then someone pressed ‘record’, you know. It was crazy. Crazy times. I remember one time there was Clive turned up – he’d done his drum tracks, so largely when the drummer’s finished, he’s off. Off the hook, you know, Clive was out partying and he dragged in Robbi. He and Brian had been down the pub.

Malcolm:                    Oh no!

Shaun:                       That was the end of that session.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Ian:                             (Laughter).

Malcolm:                    Well, not the drinking session.

Shaun:                       The recording session. That was the end of that. Forget it. Goodbye.

Malcolm:                    No way, Jose. I mean they called them wild horses for a reason.

Shaun:                       Exactly, yes. Bloody wild horses.

Malcolm:                    Which is one of Clive’s bands.

Shaun:                       Exactly.

Malcolm:                    It’s just in case people don’t know. What about Clive: did you get him involved with the new version?

Ian:                             What, the record –

Shaun:                       Oh yes, Clive, I mean Clive would have been here tonight but he’s gigging.

Malcolm:                    Oh right.

Shaun:                       And unfortunately couldn’t. In fact he’s gigging with Lawrence.

Ian:                             Lawrence, he’s still doing some stuff with them.

Shaun:                       Who are actually – I think Clive’s in the process of doing an album with at the moment.

Malcolm                     That’s right, he is, yes.

Shaun:                       I’m sure there’ll be some pick up on that at some point, I mean, and quite rightly. Clive’s still, you know, he’s still out there, doing his best, playing drums. He’s a great drummer, you know.

Malcolm:                    Yes, tremendous drummer.

Shaun:                       They’re in demand, you know. As they should be. You know.

Ian:                             It’s very weird isn’t it Shaun, because I mean we’ve – well like we’ve obviously said a few times, this is a long time ago, it’s 25 years ago. We still – I talk to Shaun, I haven’t seen Shaun for about five years, six years, and it still is – it’s strange, you kind of meet these guys, and I spoke to Clive the other day and we’re still saying the same stupid things we said 25 years ago.

Malcolm;                    I should hope so.

Ian:                             And it’s really – it’s great, isn’t it? It’s fantastic to still –

Shaun:                       We were having a quick pint before we came on air and we were just discussing: is it us or does nobody grow up?

Malcolm:                    (Laughter). Well, I think being involved with rock music ensures you don’t have to grow up.

Shaun;                       Exactly.

Ian:                              No intention of ever doing so whatsoever.

Malcolm:                    No. No-one ever does.

Shaun:                       Well I mean I think that’s actually one of the reasons I got involved with the music business was, when I was a kid, I looked at it and thought, “Well that looks like a great way of not having to work for a living. Ever. “

Malcolm:                    (Laughter)

Ian;                             My wife says -

Shaun:                       Where do I sign?

Ian:                            My wife says to me, she says, “Men, [when will you grow up” I said, “You didn’t read the small print.”

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Shaun:                        You should have read the small print. We don’t do that.

Malcolm:                    That’s not part of the contract. Let’s play another track from the album. This is a song called ‘One More Time’, which I hope you quite like.

(Song plays).

Malcolm:                    Bronz, ‘One More Time’, from the album ‘Carried By the  Storm’ right here on Total Rock. Ian and Shaun are still here for a few more minutes before we kick them out. Let’s move into the present and the future then. You have a line-up right now, don’t you?

Shaun:                       Yes, of course.

Malcolm;                    And you’re writing songs, you said?

Shaun;                       Yes, because basically with the advent of this album coming out finally and the interest that it’s stirring up, within the band as much as the way that people are receiving it, we’re looking at, you know, basically producing more  material.

Malcolm:                    Right.

Shaun:                       We’ve got a formula that works, you know, the chemistry between the guys involved is great. So why waste that opportunity, you know? We’re looking at where we can go from here. We’ve been throwing ideas around. I’ve got a studio, and all the guys are still playing and they’re available, so you know, we’ll see where we go from here.

Ian:                             We’ve still got the time, I mean you know, obviously things have moved on in our lives, and we’ve got kids and wives but we’ve still got time to do this. And we’d love to do it. You know, I was speaking to Mick the other day. Mick’s absolutely –

Shaun:                       Well yes, I spoke to Mickey last night, he was –

Ian:                             Clive is as keen as mustard. You know, because we know it’s unfinished business and it’d be lovely if people could hear it. And I think also if we’re brutally honest, we would love to get out and play it. If we got the chance to do that, we would love to play this stuff. It’s cracking music.

Malcolm:                    So do you actually have the paraphernalia business wise in place here – booking agents, etc?

Shaun:                       Well –

Malcolm:                    Or are you doing it yourselves?

Shaun:                       Well, Malcolm, the honest answer to that is that at this point in time, no, we don’t have an agent because we’re not actually looking at doing live gigs. We’re looking at producing more material.

Malcolm:                    Right.

Shaun:                       And you know, and our main focus at the moment is to promote this product. This album, ‘Carried By the Storm’, you know, let’s get this out here, let’s get people listening  to it, let’s get some feedback, let’s get people hearing it. And like I said earlier, the answer’s yes, what’s the question. We’ll see where it leads us.

We’re all up for it, you know. If the world wants more Bronz music, we’ll produce more Bronz music. We’ll probably produce it anyway, to ram it down their throats, you know, but we’d like to do it politely. But yes, you know, I don’t see why not. We’re all bloody up for it, that’s the bottom line.

Ian:                             Absolutely.

Shaun:                       The adrenaline’s pumping. You know.

Malcolm:                    It’s just a case of what direction it goes to.

Shaun:                       Exactly.

Malcolm:                    Where it takes you.

Shaun:                       Yes, exactly.

Ian:                             And that’s an interesting thought, because, you know, we’ve obviously, we’ve all got kind of 25 years of influences to take on board and that makes for a really exciting kind of project.

Malcolm:                    It does.

Ian:                             Really, because I think we’ve all matured, you know, we could all bring a huge amount to the table now if we decided we were really going to make a crack at it. And it’s really, now you guys listening, buy this, get involved, you know, show us you want us and we’ll do it. It’s as simple as that.

Malcolm:                    Do you want to go through the various routes that people can find out more information about Bronz from?

Shaun:                       Yes, sure, I mean there’s the website which is www.bronze-music.com. There’s a ‘‘Facebook’’ site for Bronz, there’s a ‘You Tube’ site for Bronz, and all the ways that you can get in touch with us directly via email or whatever, are all on those sites. We’d love to hear from you, you know. If you hate it let us know, if you love it let us know.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Shaun:                       Well, you know, it’s good to hear what you have to say. You know, you’re the guys out there who make the difference. We’ll make the difference for you if you want us to make a difference. Let us know. Come back at us. Tell us to shut up if you hate it. You know, we won’t shut up but we’ll listen.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter). You’ll shut up long enough to listen.

Shaun:                       Yes, we’ll –

Malcolm;                    And then carry on.

Shaun:                       Possibly. But you know, come on guys, we’re a good rock band, and –

Ian:                             Still a good rock –

Shaun:                       - this is a bloody good album, you know. I put my heart and soul into putting this finally out there.

Ian:                             I must say, actually, cutting Shaun off in his pride there, but you know, if he’ll still fit out the door after I’ve said this, but you know, he’s been instrumental in getting this back together. We all love it and whatever, but you know, it’s taken one of us –

Malcolm:                    Yes, one driving force –

Ian:                             And Shaun, you know, to his absolute credit, has pushed this through. And the reason we’re sitting here now with you Malcolm is obviously because Shaun’s done this.

Shaun:                       Well thanks Ian.

Ian:                             Good on you Shaun. And we’re all chuffed.

Shaun:                       It’s respect from my end to the guys involved.

Malcolm:                    Right.

Shaun:                       And that’s down to everybody involved. Lee, bless him, you know, Max, producer. And Gerry actually, Gerry Bron, you know, he was behind us all the way, he gave us the studio time. And he was in trouble at the time but he still backed us, gave us the opportunity to finish this record to the point we did, you know. So respect to him. I gave him a credit for that reason: I have respect for him. A very successful record producer in his own right over the years, Uriah Heap records, etc. You know, some great people involved in this album. And it’s worth people getting off their arse and checking it out.

Ian:                             Yes, certainly.

Shaun:                       So it was great when you were playing it. I mean I’m sat here, I’m loving it.

Malcolm:                    (Laughter).

Ian:                             In fact I’m going to buy it.

Malcolm:                    Well that’s one copy sold.

(Laughter).

Shaun:                       Have you got that fiver off Clive for this?

Malcolm:                    At last, we’re in single figures. Get the kettle back from Tina Turner, sell that on –

Shaun:                       Tina, if you’re listening [cross-talking 0:51:00] four seven three six.

Malcolm:                    What’s actually on your ‘You Tube’ channel out of interest? Is it old footage or –

Shaun:                       Yes, there is on the ‘You Tube’ channel, there is the video we did with Emma Thompson with ‘Send Down Angel’, the first single, but there’s also a new video for ‘Man Girl Machine’ which is a track off this album, and there will be other videos going up there soon. The record company are looking at doing one for ‘Can’t Live Without your Love’. But hopefully we’ll be up on air soon.

But it’s just a great way of connecting with us and you know, giving us your feedback. That and the website. Probably the best way is the website, you know, bronz-music.com. And you could email us from there or you can listen to the album, and read a bit more about how it came about, who was involved. There’s some photos, and just some background information really, you know.

Ian:                             Get in touch.

Shaun:                       Yes, get in touch. It’s, you know, feedback is the lifeblood of why we’re doing this.

Malcolm:                    Fair enough. Can’t say fairer enough than that. Well Shaun, Ian, thanks ever so much for coming in. Good luck with the album. I don’t think you’ll need much luck. I think it’s all there; it just needs people to listen to it, people to realise how good it is, and it’ll go from there.

Shaun:                       Thank you so much, Malcolm.

Malcolm:                    See you at Wembley Stadium in about a year. (Laughter).

Shaun:                       That long?

Malcolm:                    And one more track from the album before we finish this particular segment. This is ‘You and Me’.