John Slater On His New Band
Our sister network Blazefans.com has posted an interview with former B L A Z E guitarist John Slater (who left the band together with Steve Wray earlier this week). John talks about B L A Z E, his upcoming projects and a fair lot of other things too.Here's a few excerpts from the interview:
You have posted on the forum recently about a new project you are working on with Steve. How did this come about?
"Well, we're still deciding on a name actually. As I said earlier, Steve and I still keep in touch with both Rob and Jeff and we always wanted to continue playing together so we decided to. During that break, Steve and myself got together on a couple of occasions to write some stuff which we did. We sent a copy off to both Jeff and Rob. Shortly after, Rob and Steve came over to my house where we laid down another idea down. We then had a call from this guy in London as we were looking for a vocalist. We knew what kind of voice we were looking for and when we last played Bradford Rio's Steve went home to find a demo on his doormat. He called me while I was in the bar saying, 'John, I think we've found our man.' He tried playing some to me down the phone but it was quite difficult to pick up. He brought the CD down to the venue and we listened to it before we did the gig. He fit the criteria perfectly. We're actually recording with [producer] Andy Sneap in October. It's great fun because it's like starting your first band again. We planned quite a few things and made deadlines for ourselves just to make sure we went through with it I suppose. We've had offers for gigs and at the time we'd not really looked that far. We don't even have a set. We will still be doing what we did 6 years ago and what new bands do now. Recording a few tracks, doing a few gigs, trying to get a deal. The advantage is that we have experience. We are aware what our limitations are and stick to what we believe is an achievable goal. It can go either way and we’re well aware of that."
We have to ask, if you are both involved in a band outside of BLAZE, does this signal the end of B L A Z E the band?
"You also have to ask yourself who B L A Z E 'the band' are. I'm certain that Mr. Bayley himself has no intention of calling it a day and to most people B L A Z E the band is Blaze Bayley which I can fully understand. It's no real secret that we were all going through a sticky patch. Personally, I feel that the level we reached is the highest we were ever going to reach unless somebody was prepared to back us. I always felt that the record companies did as little as possible and relied mainly on Blaze's connection with Iron Maiden to get us started. We were fighting for attention but were not being given a big enough platform to stand on. Unless anyone within the industry is prepared to support B L A Z E then I believe they'll continue to struggle where they are. It's a horrible thing to say, I know, but because I'm no longer in the band it doesn't mean I don't want our music to be heard. I still want Blaze himself to continue because it's what keeps him going. He is a great singer and performer and deserves more. He's always been grateful for every fan that's believed in him as the rest of us have. He sees everything from the fans point of view because he still is a fan himself. We all are. I will certainly miss writing, recording and performing under the B L A Z E banner but during the recording of 'Blood and Belief' I felt I wanted to move on. I'd been working on so many other things musically that I knew I couldn't put them in motion while ever I was working in B L A Z E. I've had my own personal traumas and problems to overcome as we all have and I want to know that there are other things I can succeed at doing."
Read the complete interview here
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The new band is formed. It's called RISE TO ADDICTION.
"Hello everyone.
The last couple of weeks have been a bit chaotic haven’t they. I hope no-one feels kept in the dark any longer. A lot of you have asked questions and I believe we have answered most them in a clear and honest way. If you have more questions then please feel free to continue and we’ll do our best.
We promised to keep you informed and that’s what I’m here to do. A lot of things are still under construction so please be a little patient with us. We have a lot of exciting plans underway, a great deal of which is in the process of being confirmed.
Our new band, ‘Rise To Addiction’ are:
H. Armstrong (Vocals) – Hangnail, End Of Level Boss
John Slater (Guitar) - Blaze
Steve Wray (Guitar) - Blaze
Rob Naylor (Bass) - Blaze
Ben Calvert (Drums) – Vex Red, Sack Trick
Our website is www.risetoaddiction.com, so make sure you add it to your favourites.
We’re in the studio this weekend to record our first batch of songs with Andy Sneap. At the end of October we start shooting the video for the track ‘Falling As One’.
We’re so glad to be able to officially announce it here first. Keep those ears peeled.
Thank you all for sharing your love for music.
Rock on! - John"
Cheers