Martin Walkyier
Best known for his distinctive vocal work with UK thrash godfathers SABBAT, Martin Walkyier has been something of a workaholic in various other musical projects over the years, and is now adding finishing touches to the hotly anticipated album of NWOBHM ritualists HELL, for whom he is the replacement singer [original frontman Dave Halliday sadly took his own life in 1987]. James Ashbey phoned Martin in May 2009 to discuss exploding Bibles, Fawlty Towers, and thrashing in one’s forties…
Hi Martin, could you start by filling us in on the musical projects you are currently involved with?
A lot of people think I’ve disappeared from the scene, when in fact I’m busier now than I’ve ever been in my life! In SABBAT we’ve been doing quite a few fests and gigs – we don’t plan anything new with that, but we just play the old songs for all the people who want to hear them one last time. Me and Andy Sneap are also currently working on the HELL album; they’re the band that inspired SABBAT back in the old days, and the album is sounding killer as you can imagine with Andy’s production. I’ve also recently got back from Argentina, where I was doing some SKYCLAD songs with a bunch of kilt-wearing Argentineans called SKILTRON!
I also read somewhere that you have started to work on new CLAN DESTINED material…
I’m writing some new lyrics. After practically being beaten into the dust with it all, I thought “bugger this I’ll do some more”, because the response to it has been really good. So I’m getting together with Jay Graham (ex-SKYCLAD) who played drums on the last CLAN DESTINED CD, and a young lady called Jackie Taylor who’s an absolutely brilliant guitarist. I’m basically trying to pull together the best group of fellow musicians I possibly can, to come up with something really quirky, off-the-wall and different.
I’m really looking forward to the release of the long-awaited HELL album ‘Human Remains’. How has the recording process been going, and what can people expect from the finished product?
The album’s nearly done actually, we’ve got about two more days worth of vocals to do, and then it’s down to Andy to mix it all. It’s going to be really epic; it features bagpipes, choirs, violins, some guest vocals from Dani Filth, and God knows what else. The songs were literally three decades ahead of their time, and some are up to 8 or 10 minutes long. The best way I can describe the sound is VENOM meets RUSH; progressive in places, and yet at the same time the lyrics are Satanic, dark, very gothic. Heavy stuff!
We’ve had no record company pressure either, so there’s no deadline and it’s a labour of love. We’re all doing it for the right reasons; we probably won’t sell many copies, but it’s going to be bloody brilliant.
The late Dave Halliday of NWOBHM coven HELL
So how have you approached the task of recording the vocals in the place of Dave Halliday?
Andy’s actually managed to lift some of Dave’s vocals off the original HELL recordings and filter out the background music, so there are places where I’m singing a duet with my hero who’s been dead for 20 years – that’s a really weird feeling! Dave was my main inspiration, and I’ve kind of copied his vocal style, his beard and his eyeliner! It’s strange trying to fill his boots.
I get the impression that HELL were a real spectacle live, and had a darker more theatrical edge than many UK bands of the time. What do you remember about HELL on stage?
They were brilliant! They were the first band I ever saw live, and I’ve got the ticket framed on my wall [goes to look]… In Nottingham: MOMMA’S BOYS headlining, with WITCHFYNDE, HELL and SHYWOLF. The moment I saw HELL and Dave Halliday on stage I thought “that’s what I want to do with my life”, and it had a profound influence. They did one song called ‘Macbeth’, and the band had a cauldron on stage which they ‘stirred’ with their guitars while playing them upside down! Imagine if KISS were crossed with VENOM and MERCYFUL FATE…
Haha, I’ve also heard stories about an exploding Bible during the song ‘On Earth as it is in Hell’! It seems that pyrotechnic stunts like that belong to a bygone age now though, which is a sad loss in my view.
Well you can’t do any of that any more, you have to get Health & Safety permits just to light a match on stage! In a way it does take some of the danger out of rock ‘n’ roll, but I understand the reason for it. Back in the old days SABBAT had a load of chipboard boxes nailed together and a home-made pyro detonation unit, which these days wouldn’t be let through the door of any pub or club in the UK! And quite rightly so, I wouldn’t even let it in my house, it was a death-trap waiting to happen! But hopefully if the HELL project gets to play some shows we’ll find a way to resurrect the pyro.
Let’s turn to the recent activities of your original band SABBAT. The reunion has been in full swing since 2006; was there any timescale in mind at the time, or do things look set to carry on indefinitely?
We’ll carry on doing it indefinitely, as long as the show offers come in. The whole reformation is Dani Filth’s fault; Andy had CRADLE OF FILTH in the studio, and invited everyone over for a birthday barbeque. We ended up completely trashed, and Dani was on to us all night about getting SABBAT back together. We agreed to do it, and the next morning he’d been on to his manager and booked us on the tour dates before we had a chance to say no!
We’re not planning any new songwriting; we were so young when we wrote that material that we were completely different people – 18 years old, full-on thrashers – trying to recreate those days would sound like a completely different band, so if we brought a new album out people would think it was a world apart. I don’t really see the point in doing that and neither does Andy.
Martin at the time of 'Dreamweaver'
Perhaps that’s why new albums from resurrected ‘80s bands don’t often go down very well!
It’s like Fawlty Towers – they did 12 episodes, and they’ll never do any more because they can’t actually recreate that vibe. I’m sure John Cleese and Andrew Sachs are more than capable of being Basil Fawlty and Manuel again, but it wouldn’t be Fawlty Towers would it?! We’re not out to prove a point, we’re not out to do a new album or change the world, but if somebody offers us a gig and we think it sounds like a laugh, or if someone wants to offer us a couple of grand for playing somewhere… yeah go on then!
I first witnessed the SABBAT reunion when you supported CRADLE OF FILTH at the London Astoria in 2006, and the magic(k) was definitely still there…
Oh that was horrible! My dad had just been taken into hospital for the last time before he died, so I wasn’t well prepared. It was grim, I’d been looking forward to it for so long, and then to be going out with a completely screwed throat was a bit of an embarrassment, so I’ve tried my best to make up for it.
I doubt anyone left disappointed! You’ve played in many countries with the reunion so far; do any shows stand out in terms of the crowd response?
The last show we played was in Athens with EXODUS and ENTOMBED, and it was absolutely wicked, back to the old school days, stage-diving everywhere. It’s great to see such a massive mix of ages in the audience, from 16 to 60. We like to play places we’ve never been to before, like going to North America in 2008.
At the end of the day thrash is heads down ‘going for it’ music, but at the same time it’s very technical and not easy to play. Calling something “thrash” makes outsiders think it’s a pile of noise, but if you lose concentration for half a second in a SABBAT song, that’s it – you’re lost. It’s a challenge to get out there and play it, especially when you’re 41 like me!
There has been quite a spate of young thrash bands emerging in recent years, and you’ve shared the stage with some of them (e.g. GAMA BOMB at the Scala in London). Do you have any advice for this younger generation of musicians, based on your experience with SABBAT?
Always try and do something that’s different. Follow your own heart. Don’t try and sound exactly like your favourite band; a lot of bands do that, and end up like a carbon copy of their heroes. You also have to be clever about the business side of music; keep your eyes and ears open, because there are plenty of managers and labels out to rip young bands off. You wouldn’t rush into a marriage, but in many ways it’s easier to get out of one of those than to get out of a record deal!
The real lesson I’ve learnt over the years is in merchandising. Even if you release a brilliant album, all it takes is for one person to put it on a fileshare website, and 9 out of 10 people will download it. You can’t download a t-shirt though! I’m a big fan of the internet and I run two internet businesses, but at the same time it can be destructive – a double-edged sword.
Do you have any final thoughts about the future of metal?
Heavy metal will always find a way, it always has. It’s here to stay, because it’s such an honest type of music. I got into metal because no other genre has so many enthusiastic people behind it. It’s all down to performance, attitude, dedication, and that’s why I’m proud to be a heavy metal musician, being part of such a great heritage.
That seems like a great note to end on. Thanks for the interview!
www.myspace.com/martinwalkyier
