Roger Gibbons (ex-Syar, Maineeaxe): "I feel quite privileged that we got to tour and put out albums"

One of the reasons I love NWOBHM is that it is an inexhaustible source. Even after 40 years there are still plenty of bands to discover. Most of them were obscure and released one album before calling it a day. Syar were one of them. Their only LP “Death Before Dishonour” is my personal favorite (hence the picture on the top of the blog), and I still believe that will see a deluxe re-issue of the album someday. For many years I wondered what happened to the band and how come that the three-fifths of Syar went to play in Maineeaxe. Finally we can learn more about both bands — a huge thanks to the bass player Roger Gibbons.

RUSSIAN VERSION

Tell me, please, about the very beginning of Syar. How did you meet each other? Were there any other musicians in the line-up or was it stable from the day one? 

Grant & I had been friends from around the age of 13, having played in school orchestras together. We formed several bands as kids, and eventually came up with the original line-up of Syar, which at that time had a different singer, Martin joined us later on.

By the way who came up with the name Syar and what does it mean?

When we were first starting off with the original line-up we were working with a promoter. At the time the band didn’t have a name. This guy fancied himself as a manager and liked the name the name “Sire”. We did one show with him, and quickly realized that he wasn’t someone we wanted to work with, but kind of liked the name. To lose his influence, and to come up with a name that didn’t have ANY meaning, we just changed the spelling.    

       

What can you recall from those pre-album days? Did you rehearse that often?

We rehearsed as often as we could. Unfortunately, in those days, there weren’t any specific rehearsal studios, and we were pretty damn loud, so we would rent rooms wherever we could. The most often used room was a cellar in a City owned place in Ripon, North Yorkshire called the Hugh Ripley Hall. The bad thing was that with our volume levels, we could only use that place when there were no other events taking place – many times we had to cancel rehearsals because the main hall had a Dog Show taking place!!

What was it like to be a heavy metal band in North Yorkshire back in the day? Were you friends with Black Rose and Dark Heart? Were there a lot opportunities to play live or get supporting slots for bigger bands? 

It was a great time for Heavy Metal from the North of the UK — bands like Saxon and the Tygers of Pan Tang had shown the quality of our area and genre. Unfortunately, there weren’t that many venues, and all of the record companies and major promoters/agents were still all London-based, so exposure was sometimes hard to come by…

Although different sources list “Death Before Dishonour” as your only record I believe there were some demo tapes prior the album. Is it really like this? Were there any songs which didn’t make it to the album?

There was a 4-track cassette that was self-financed and produced which we sold at gigs, however, all of those songs did eventually make it on to the “Death Before Dishonour” record.

Can you comment on the situation with your record deal? Did you sign with Mausoleum Records directly or was it a license deal from Future Earth Records? How did you get to know both these labels? 

It was kind of a bizarre situation. We went into the studio and recorded the album with a producer. What we didn’t know was that a lot of his promises were, in fact, complete bullshit. We found out about a month later that he didn’t pay for the studio, so they would not release the master tapes without payment. Luckily, we then hooked up with Mausoleum, who bought the tapes from Strawberry, and then released the album.

Most of the songs on the album were written by Grant Kirkhope while you co-wrote only three of them. Tell me, please, about songwriting process in the band. Was Grant the most productive writer or were others too lazy for that?

Grant was always the most talented and prolific writer, as can still be seen with his career now, writing scores for computer games and movies. But the rest of us had input too…

What were your impressions of Strawberry Studios where were recorded some of the well known albums? Did you get along with Richard Scott? Was there something significant during the recording of the album?

We all loved Strawberry. You have to remember that we were very young when we cut the album, and to be in a place associated with SO many major records, especially 10CC’s stuff, was incredibly exciting. All of the staff there were super cool, especially with 5 crazy Yorkshire guys running about!!

What do you think of the album these days? Is there something you’d like to redo or improve?

Looking back, there is always something that you would want to change, from lyrics, to songs, to tones, etc. but on the whole, it accurately reflects where we were as a band at that time.

 “Kerrang!” said about the album that it was highly influenced by Saxon. Was it an accurate description of your music? What bands from the era were your favorites?

Saxon were a huge influence — we loved those guys. At the time it was them, Judas Priest, Scorpions and going back a little further it would be Thin Lizzy and UFO.

The album has such a brilliant cover which was done by Eric Phillippe. Did the band get a chance to voice an opinion about what had to be on the cover? 

Actually, no — but after all of the grief trying to get hold of the masters, and get the album out, I really don’t think we cared that much…

Were you satisfied with Mausoleum Records? Did they help you to promote the album by bringing you to the Continent?

They were a small company and, as such, didn’t have the funds to support any extensive touring. Most of us were still working regular jobs in order to make ends meet!!

It seems that you, Grant and Nigel left Syar as soon as the album came out to join forces with Mick Adamson and Zeff Stewart in Maineeaxe. Why was that? Did you think that Maineeaxe were more promising?

The Mausoleum deal was only for the “Death Before Dishonour” album. After that we signed with Power Station Records. We were in pre-production for our next record, as were another of their acts — Maineeaxe. Neither project was going that well, and after a few meetings it was decided to form one band out of the two. So Grant, Nige and myself from Syar joined forces with Mick & Zeff from Maineeaxe. The decision was made to keep the Maineeaxe name, as their first album had caused a buzz in the industry…

By the way, were you aware of what happened to the previous line-up of Maineeaxe?

No, apart from Mick and Zeff, I never met them.

Did you stay friends with Kevin “Buzz” Nixon and Martin Berkeley who later appeared in The Storm?

I think you are mistaken with the first name — “Buzz” was Mark Bosomworth, the original guitar player from Syar — I still stay in touch with him. Kevin Nixon was the owner of Power Station Records, and produced the “Going for Gold” album, and now lives in the USA, and I occasionally speak to him. I don’t have any contact with Martin.

By the way, why didn’t you record such songs as “Alone Again” and “Get Up, Get Down” with Syar? Were they re-arranged in Maineeaxe or did you record them in their original forms?

As I mentioned before, they were originally intended for the second Syar album, but ended up on “Going for Gold”.

Would you say that your experience with Maineeaxe was better than with Syar? How was it to write songs and work in the studio with Zeff and Mick?

Both bands were fun to work with, but I think that Maineeaxe was easier, as there were no personality clashes with that line-up.

What do you remember of the recording of the album “Going For Gold”? Where was it recorded and who was the producer? 

I remember that it was recorded incredibly quickly, as we had been playing the songs live for quite some time. Nige and I did all of the drum and bass tracks on pretty much the first day, with most of them being first takes. The album was recorded at Ric-Rac studios in Leeds, with Kevin Nixon producing, and the genius Frank “Uncle Bastard” Mizen engineering.

“Going For Gold” was released in different countries. Were you able to tour properly to support the album? Was Steamhammer any better than Mausoleum Records in terms of promotion? 

We toured the UK, opening for Magnum, and wanted to do more, but finances would never permit it.

Why did Maineeaxe call it quits?

I think we all realized that it wasn’t progressing, and we also had other things in our lives, outside of the band that were pulling at us.

Tell me briefly about your career after the band split-up. Are you still an active musician?

I was always interested in the technical side of the touring industry, and after, I moved into audio & lighting production. I ended up on the road as a designer/operator for Judas Priest, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, The Cult, etc. Eventually I came off the road, and moved to the USA where I helped run several companies providing production equipment and crew for many major touring artists. I lived in Los Angeles for 9 years, Las Vegas for 6 years, and then Nashville for 10 years, before relocating back home to the UK in December last year. I still play, and write songs, but pretty much just for my own amusement.

What about the others? I know that Grant worked with some video games companies but that’s all I could find.

Grant is living in California now, as a freelance composer, and Mick, Zeff and Nige are here in Yorkshire.

Did you ever talk about possible reunion of Maineeaxe or Syar? Is there a chance that “Death Before Dishonour” will be re-issued?

It would be nice to do a few gigs, but I don’t think that anything long-term would be practical, or that much fun!! “Going for Gold” was re-issued a few years ago, but I can’t see “Death Before Dishonour” seeing the light of day again.

Would you say that Syar and Maineeaxe is something you still proud of and something you want to be remembered for?

You know, it was a lot of fun… So many folks start bands when they are kids, but not many get to put out records or tour, so I feel quite privileged that we got to do that. I am proud of the music, especially when I play it to some of my young clients in the music business and they are impressed.

Feel free to leave your message to your fans.

To any fans out there who bought the records, or saw us live, I want to say a BIG thank you… Although we never got to the levels that we wanted, we did get to live some of our dreams, and certainly in my case, it set me on a path where I have made a living in the music industry, and I can’t imagine doing anything else now.

Cheers,
Roger