Back in the glory days of the NWOBHM the summer of 1980 looked like the
beginning of the end of Jameson Raid. As it turns out ? over thirty
years later ? it was just the end of the beginning; or so it'seemed_
_It was the summer of 1980_? recalls Terry Dark. _Acy and Smithy
gone... Phil and me still keen, still enjoying making metal music. Now
we had something to prove; that we, as singer and drummer, could replace
the exceptional guitar section of our band with all their abilities and
still do the business. So... New musicians required and a ?musicians
wanted_ advert is placed. Even though Birmingham is the true home of
heavy metal we didn_t know what to expect. All we had decided was that
we wanted experienced players who could quickly take over the guitar
parts and get us back on stage once more.?
It was not an easy situation for the two remaining members of Jameson
Raid to find themselves in. After all, _Acy and Smithy? were bassist
John Ace and guitarist Ian Smith who_d actually formed the band in the
first place. They_d first played together in Spectaté II at the school
they_d attended in Sutton Coldfield. Although they went their separate
ways it wasn_t long before Ace (together with his most recent act's
rhythm guitarist'stewart, whose surname has been lost in the mists of
time) persuaded Smith to return and with the addition of drummer Phil
Kimberley the band was ready to rock ?n_ roll. Their first gig took
place on 26th August 1975 as Notre Dame, and with a much-needed change
of name, the addition of Hoi Polloi singer Terry Dark in December 1976
and Stewart closing the door on the way out a few days later, Jameson
Raid was complete. Their first record, the well-received and, today,
highly collectable ?Seven Days Of Splendour_ EP, came out in February
1979 and featured three of the band's most popular songs ? ?Seven Days
Of Splendour_, ?It's A Crime_ and ?Catcher In The Rye_. Released in May
1980, the second ?Metal For Muthas_ NWOBHM compilation featured the
Jameson Raid track ?Hard Lines_, although having mixed the song to their
sat'sfaction the band were unhappy that EMI then completely remixed it
into something Dark, Smith, Ace and Kimberley barely recognised. Feeling
that the band were taking two steps forward and three steps back Smith
and Ace handed in their notice, playing their final gig in Birmingham on
31st July 1980. A second 7? EP, widely referred to as ?The Hypnot'st_
after its opening cut but actually knowingly titled ?End Of Part One_
was released at this time.
_Ian and Acy both left at the same time,? confirms Dark. _They simply
did not believe that JR could make it; they thought punk would last much
longer and metal would never recover. John Hinch, our manager (and the
former Judas Priest drummer), was able to persuade them to stay for a
while longer but to be honest their minds were made up: Acy wanted to
pursue a career, a proper job, and Ian wanted to sign up on off-shore
drilling boats and see the world. To be honest, Phil and I felt relieved
when they had gone. We felt we could manage better without them than
with them, and that their attitude to the music business was holding us
back.?
_We had spent'several years building an act and image,? adds
Kimberley, _and seemed constantly to be on the verge of making it
professionally, but we eventually reached a plateau where serious
investment would be required to go further. And that ?flat_ period went
on for a long time. I think it was simply a case of Ian and John giving
up hope sooner than Terry and I ? every little set-back seemed likely to
cause Ian and/or John to want to quit. So we spent a very long period
balanced on the edge of success and failure. Believe me, it's not
something to be repeated by choice! The actual break-up was a long
process. I seem to recall that Ian and John informed Terry and me
privately, but then we continued to play the existing bookings ? which
lasted quite a time ? while Terry and I were making our own plans. I
think it was definite right from the start that Terry and I would carry
on and that Ian and John would, almost certainly, not be persuaded to
continue. Shortly before the intended final gig ? or possibly even at
the last gig ? John Hinch introduced himself and offered to manage the
group. Somewhat reluctantly Ian and John agreed to give it a further
trial ? and that trial period went on again for a long time before they
eventually decided to call it quits for good. So it wasn_t a snap
decision on their part by any means. The funny thing is though that I
don_t remember that final gig at all. It really ought to have been a
very emotional occasion, so perhaps it has become a repressed memory,?
he laughs. _Or perhaps Terry and I were looking forward to making a
fresh start and, as a result, it wasn_t that emotional? I don_t know_?
He shakes his head. _I_m surprised to realise it, but I really do not
remember it at all.?
?End of Part One_ (featuring four tracks: ?The Hypnot'st_, ?The Raid_,
?Getting Hotter_ and ?Straight From The Butchers_) would prove to be
the band's Eighties_ vinyl swansong; not that Dark and Kimberley
realised this at the time. Hungry for success and determined to press on
the pair set about finding a new guitarist and bassist; after all, the
NWOBHM was starting to hit its stride and metal's popularity was on the
rise once more. The long and daunting process of auditioning new
recruits began_
_A procession of guys from indifferent to good passed through the
doors but were not up to Smithy's standard,? is how Dark remembers it,
_until finally Mike Darby arrived from God knows where with his unique
blend of heavy and melodic lead sounds, an ability to write great'songs,
and an attitude that almost every quality player needs in our kind of
band. We hauled him in as quickly as possible!?
So the hunt was now on for a bass player. _Not'so easy replacing Acy
though; it had to be someone very good, older, been-there-and-done-it,
but no such person came along,? continues Dark. _Just a few average
bassists with not much spark.? Seemingly, things were about to get
worse. _During one audition this guy arrived with his father; not an
auspicious start! Much too young, no experience, and a face to advert'se
baby products; but we thought, ?what the hell, let him play and then
send him home like the rest._ We watched him and his dad unload his gear
and hump it onto the stage with some boredom in our eyes. But then he
started to play this large white Ricky_ Phil was looking at me over the
top of his enormous drum set and we gave each other a wink. Pete Green
had arrived, and although he was only sixteen years old we knew he was
the replacement we_d been looking for. We gave him a second full
audition and signed him up there and then. Darby, Dark, Green and
Kimberley was a fact. I call it Jameson Raid 2; JR2 for short.?
_Yes, that was me,? laughs Pete Green. 'sixteen years old, baby-faced,
left'school with no results and had no money, no future, and just crazy
ideas about rock stardom with hair far too long to get any kind of job.
I had been playing bass hard for the last couple of years, the NWOBHM
had taken a firm hold on me and I had a few like-minded bandmat's at
school with the same crazy ideas. The problem was that they_d studied
harder in class than me and had the pass for a more traditional ? and
boring! ? life: jobs waiting, apprenticeships, a trip to the barber_ Me?
Well, all I had was a 100w bass combo, a Rickenbacker bass, and a
spine-ripping bass sound.
?So, the next'step was to start checking out the local papers to see
if anyone was brave enough to take me on. At this point I must mention
my late father whom I_d like to dedicate this record to. He was a great
inspiration and help to his rather wayward son throughout this period,
and it was he who spotted ? with a glint in his eye ? ?bassist wanted
for Midlands metal band Jameson Raid_. ?They won_t have me, Dad,_ I
offered rather nervously. Although confident in my playing I knew I
lacked the required experience. ?Go anyway, the experience will do you
good,_ he said, with more confidence than I.?
As a local lad Green had seen Jameson Raid, although had _no knowledge
of Ian and John leaving prior to my audition with the band. When I
asked Terry he explained that the guys had just had enough and felt it
was time to move on, and that it had been on good terms. I remember the
first time I saw then in action was at Bingley Hall alongside Samson,
Iron Maiden and Budgie ? I was still at'school at the time! It was a
great gig and it'struck me how unique these guys were and how
outstanding Acy was on bass. Next I saw them was at Birmingham Odeon
with Def Leppard, another great'show, and I remember Terry telling me
how he had a poor monitor sound on stage and only knew he was in key by
the way his vocal cords ?felt_ ? what a pro! Anyway, after seeing the ad
in the local paper in June or July 1980 ? St James Road Church Hall,
Edgbaston, Birmingham; it's funny what comes back to you! ? and with my
Dad's encouragement I decided to try my luck.?
People often talk about life-changing moments, but for the young
bassist this was the real thing. _I turned up, tuned up, and played my
ass off. Looks of pleasant'surprise on Terry and Phil's faces. Could I
allow myself a little confidence? Maybe... I was asked back for a second
attack, and then offered the job. In a state of shock I left with
tracks to learn and those ?crazy ideas_ of rock stardom coming into my
head once more. Along with Mike on guitar the next evolution of Jameson
Raid was to stride out into the world of metal ? and, needless to say,
we kicked some serious ass!?
But we_re getting ahead of ourselves here. _After the auditions comes
the hard part,? not's Dark. _It takes a lot of patience to rebuild a
band, especially if you enjoy a good reputation, and as always, it's all
down to the songs. Firstly, you need choose the old songs you still
want to play and ignite a new impulse within them. Then you need start
adding new ones with guts and some magic too. And that's exactly what we
did. ?Electric Sun_, something I_d been working on just before the
split was one of the first, followed by Mike's ?Trouble_. I presented a
new chorus riff to Mike to work on and he built ?Titanic_ around it. He
and Pete put ?Nev & Tim's Green & White Pick-Up Truck_
together for Phil (to replace JR1's ?Bricks On The Wall_), and then we
worked on an old idea of mine ? never quite finished but always very
close to it ? called ?Bulldogs_.
_Because of those final few mont's with JR1 we were happy to have new
people in the band, so the atmosphere was at once better. Mike and Pete
brought a lot of enthusiasm and we were delighted to have them. With JR1
songwriting was a real problem; for example, Ian and John at first
didn_t like ?Catcher In The Rye_ and had to be pushed into playing it.
This happened with other songs as well. We were being pushed by our
managers to be more commercial ? of course! ? yet trying to write
commercial songs for JR1 was little short of a nightmare.
'so Mike and Pete were much easier to work with, and my collaboration
with Mike produced songs like ?Titanic_ and ?Fortune Teller_ which I
rate as amongst the best JR songs. Pete was at the time too young to get
heavily involved in the writing but his playing added a great deal to
the finished product. JR2 did a lot less in the way of long solos than
before. Most'songs were more up-tempo with Pete's bass giving us a
determined shove. So we had more fun, wrote songs more easily and
generally got along better. Musically, Mike was more melodious than Ian,
and Pete was just a great talent whose style, as I said, pushed and
drove. Him playing together with Phil was an awesome motor in the band.
We also came very close to a major record contract with a top label:
time has eroded my certainty but I know it was either CBS or EMI who
were interested in us.?
_The arrival of Pete and Mike certainly introduced a subtle but
distinct difference in the band's writing style,? adds Kimberley. _It's
difficult to analyse the differences precisely, but the ?second
generation JR_ allowed me personally to explore a number of drumming
styles quite different to those I had been performing with JR1. ?Run For
Cover_, for example, combined a fast 6:8 beat on bass drums with a 2:4
tempo on cymbal and snare; the song Terry mentioned, ?Electric Sun_,
involved a series of breaks synchronised to support various guitar and
vocal phrases ? I never synchronised with Ian and John, they had to
fight their own corners!? he laughs. _And ?Fortune Teller_ (or ?Hall Of
Mirrors_ as it's sometimes called) was like nothing I had ever played
before. But although their writing styles were rather different, I think
the performances by Peter and Mike when playing JR1 numbers were very
true to the originals. And in those days Peter, although an
extraordinarily good bass player, was slightly more subdued (i.e. more
sane!) than John on stage, whereas Mike was already crazy like Ian.
Never worked out if it was it an act, or if he was always ?in
character_! We could never tell!?
_After several weeks_ rehearsals the first gig was planned at
Wolverhampton Lafayette club, in late December I think,? says Green.
_However, a twist of fate ? White Spirit being involved in a road
traffic accident of some kind ? had left a slot open at Walsall Town
Hall. At first, Terry was very reluctant to do this as JR2 were unt'sted
and, possibly, not ready, but we collectively decided ?what the hell_
and went for it. We played, we saw, we fucking kicked ass!? he laughs,
rather mis-quoting Julius Caesar. _My first gig ever, sixteen years old,
2,000 people. YES!? he roars.
_Ah yes, our first gig at Walsall Town Hall_? Dark's recollections are
a little less excitable: _we used more effects, played the songs
quicker and the two new guys were immediately over any nerves! Pete was
still a youngster and had never experienced anything like it. Mike's
more melodic playing, combined with heavy chords and Pete's raspy bass
sound ? he also played many more not's than Acy ? were very well
received. And you know what? Not one single person came round afterwards
and said, ?it wasn_t as good_. The fans loved it and we made many,
many, new friends too, a lot of whom never saw the previous line-up. Our
gigs were as good as ever and we were looking forward to more success.
This dream was broken when, far too early, Mike decided to leave the
band. Why? I can_t remember now. It was in 1982 but I can_t be more
exact. I know some of his reasons were a little ?indefinable_, and I
know his girlfriend at the time certainly played an inglorious role. It
happened fairly suddenly as I recall and Mike was determined about it'so
we didn_t try to persuade him to stay; Phil and I had done that with
Acy and Smithy and it wasn_t a happy situation. Once Phil and I had
noticed that their hearts were no longer in it everything became for
them a chore: rehearsals ? a chore; arranging gigs ? a chore, etc, etc.
And all the time there was the feeling that you were trying to persuade
them to do something against their will. That just didn_t work and made
everyone feel uneasy. Writing new songs with JR1 was always difficult,
but under those circumstances became much worse. We didn_t want to get
into that'same situation with Mike so we asked him several times if he
was sure, and then respected his decision. We had learned our lessons
well.?
_I don_t recall any great problems, just very slight differences in
attitude,? says Kimberley of Darby's departure. _Absolutely no criticism
intended, but three of us were devoting everything to the band whilst
Mike clearly had a life elsewhere. It was not a big problem and, if the
band had made it into the serious ?big time_ it would not have been a
problem at all. But as progress was slow I think Mike found that other
things were just as much fun. There was no cataclysmic break up
(assuming my memory is reliable!? he laughs. _Perhaps there was and I
forgot it!), just a slow drift until one day nobody (including Mike
himself) cared whether he continued or not.?
Green also _can_t recall why Mike left, or recall any bad feeling
until right at the end. I think Mike must have tackled his ?issues_ with
Terry and Phil alone. I recall some minor disgruntlement over expenses
after one gig, and the next thing Mike was announcing his leaving_ We
played his final gig at Frank F Harrison High School; that was where we
had a full scale dragon's head on stage, complete with fire breath and
firework flaring eyes... And that was that.?
By the end of 1982 it was all over. The memory did limp on for a while
longer as Green created a new band under the banner The Raid ? the
informal name by which Jameson Raid were known to fans and friends ? but
it was final throw of the dice and wasn_t to last long. Consigned to
the history books, nothing more was heard about Jameson Raid until their
much-welcomed reformation in 2010.
Green describes Jameson Raid as _an un-pigeon-hole-able band; always
exciting, surprising, intelligent, kick-ass and unique? and this album
presents irrefutable evidence of this. _It's kind of proof that we
succeeded in our goals,? not's Dark. _Although we weren_t able to afford
fancy studios these recordings show clearly what we were about. Roger
Brookman's excellent work at the mixing desk during rehearsals (his
nephew Sam Bollands is our sound man now) has once again proved
invaluable in making this collection and reminds me how delighted we
were that he decided to stay with us during the transition between JR1
and JR2. Roger is unfortunately long gone now but he will always be
remembered.
_And now we_re working on a new band. Pete and I have invited two new
guys to carry the torch forward with us. And I think we_ll make metal
music until we keel over, because we love it.?
