SEVENTH SON

Seventh Son were formed in early 1980 in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England and played their first gig at the 'Speakeasy' in Wakefield West Yorkshire in July 1980. The band's Barnsley debut came in the Autumn of the same year at the Civic Hall Centenary Rooms, a venue above the main Civic Hall with a smaller capacity and the scene of many a riotous gig. The band would graduate to the main Civic Hall headlining in the summer of 1983.The band was put together by brothers Kev and Bri Shaughnessy. Kev had previously put together two other local outfits under the names of Aura and Misadventure. The idea for Seventh Son was hatched in the King George Hotel in Barnsley, which in the Seventies/early eighties, was the hangout for Barnsley's 'different' crowd who listened to the pubs excellent 'jukebox' pumping out Zeppelin, Purple, Floyd, Hendrix, Bowie, T-Rex, Pistols, Clash, Damned etc. Kev persuaded art student brother Bri to take the lead vocalist role, recruited bass player Rob White and with drummer Bill Mc Neish (who had played in Kev's two previous bands) became the first incarnation of Seventh Son. The Punk explosion had stirred people into forming their own bands as Seventh Son became part of Metal's answer to Punk 'The New Wave of British Heavy Metal' or as we have come to know N.W.O.B.H.M. for short! The first line up set about gigging and building up a following locally a notorious stonghold being The Drum (Darton Hotel) as well as regular gigs in the town centre at the Civic Centenary Rooms. The band picked up a support slot with fellow N.W.O.B.H.M. act WITCHFYNDE with dates in Blackpool and Derby. The band also headlined a festival in Locke Park Barnsley in August 1981. This first line up never ventured into the recording studio but after a change in the drum department with the arrival of Jon Shaw the band recorded their first demo at Streetlife Studios in Barnsley in July '82, a four track effort which included: 'Dark they Were', 'Killing Yourself to Live', 'Red Procession' and 'Alive by Night'. The band now felt ready and strong enough to record their first single on vinyl and did so at Fairview Studios, Hull, Yorkshire in November 1982. The single produced by Roy Neave included ‘Man in the Street’ and ‘Immortal Hours’ and was released in December 1982 on the band’s own Rising Son label gaining reviews in Kerrang! (a short, sweet rocker) and Sounds as well as numerous fanzines home and abroad. The band continued gigging throughout the North and Midlands of England. A change in the bass guitar department occurred in April ’83 with Rick Gregory from Sheffield joining the band after seeing an advert in Virgin Records on the Moor in the city, showing Bri Rocking-Out! With a mass of hair while brother Kev wielded a ‘Flying-V’ and after meeting Bri at Sheffield’s legendary Wapentake Bar (where a few rounds of drink were consumed!) Mr. Gregory was recruited. The band were now invited to record their first session for Sheffields Radio Hallam ‘Hallam Rock Show’ after the shows producer Colin Slade had heard the bands first demo.The first session was broadcast in april 1983 with the band going on to record two further sessions for the station in 1984 and 1985 the bulk of the material recorded can be heard on this album (Immortal Hours). In 1984 there was another change in the Seventh Son line-up with drummer Jon Shaw leaving the band to be replaced by John Talbot. This line-up recorded the bands next single (in August 1984) the double ‘A’ side ‘Metal to the Moon / Sound and Fury’. Once again the band recorded at Fairview Studios in Hull with Colin Slade of Radio Hallam producing and John Spence engineering. The non stop gigging continued with the single again being reviewed in Kerrang! And Sounds and Metal Forces. Fanzines in Europe, The USA and South America also picked up on the single. After recording the single the band added a second guitarist, Kerry Scott in order to broaden the sound of the band becoming a five piece for the first time but this version of Seventh Son was short lived and in 1986 Andy Frost replaced Kerry Scott on guitar maintaining a five piece line-up. In 1986 the Seventh Son track ‘Stage Crazy’ (Recorded at Fairview in Hull at the ‘Metal to the Moon’ single session) saw the light of day on a Yorkshire band’s compilation entitled ‘Torn in Two’ released on the ‘Torment’ label. A deal was secured with South Yorkshire label Music Factory in 1986 with a single ‘Northern Boots’ being released in the autumn of 1987. After working on an albums worth of material for the label a tour of the South of France was completed in the Summer of 1987. The single ‘Northern Boots’ (a re-working of Nancy Sinatras ‘These Boots are Made for Walking’) gained the band much media attention appearing in the ‘Daily Mirror’ newspaper and on Yorkshire Televisions ‘Calendar’ news programme, Kerrang! reviewed the single Chris Welsh commenting: “ Here’s a rocking version of the old Nancy Sinantra hit ‘These Boots are Made for Walking’ with howling guitars and raving vocals, I bet it goes down a storm in Barnsley pubs’. After the French sojourn, and back in England, gigs with Demon (Retford Porterhouse) and Shy (Sheffield Locarno) took place, a concert at Barnsley Civic Hall in November ’87 was filmed and released on video under the title ‘Alive by Night in Yorkshire’ the band also headlined at Rotherham’s Clifton Hall. The ‘ Dangerous Kiss’ album was eventually released on the German Iron pages label late 99 early 2000! Partly due to the album not seeing the light of day in England (an American label ‘King Klassic’ had been interested before the band signed to Music Factory) and contractual difficulties, this lineup fractured in 1988. Kev emigrated to Australia after a support slot with the Dog’s Damour (Nottingham Mardi Gras) and a farewell gig at Barnsley Civic Hall in October 1988. Andy and John also left. Bri kept the band going with Rick on bass and various guitarists and drummers, going on to release a twelve inch 4 track EP entitled ‘What More Do You Want?’ in 1989 and another 7 inch single ‘Factory Girls’ (both recorded in Sheffield) in 1991. The ‘What More’ twelve inch received favourable reviews in Kerrang! the week ‘What More Do Your Want?’ was reviewed saw Jeff Waters of American band ANNIHILATOR comment: ‘What More Do You Want? Has a nice growly, raunchy, raw production on it, good messy guitar sound; it suits what they’re doing. Kinda like KISS around ‘Hotter Than Hell’. The singer sounds better than Vince Neil…’ Coburn Pharr also of ANNIHILATOR said: “He sounds like Phil Lewis from L.A. GUNS, they didn’t have a big budget but they made the best of what they had” , while Martin Walkier formerly of SABBAT but then in SKYCLAD added : “ I prefer Bitter Ashes and the harmonica, it’s all a bit Aerosmithy.”In METAL FORCES (the band appeared in the very first issue in 1983!) Jerry Ewing said of the other two tracks on the EP “Sister Strange” and “Give Me Everything” are both highly appealing melodic rockers that display strong songwriting talent within their catchy framework, with musicianship of a highly competent standard.”‘Factory Girls’ when also reviewed in Kerrang! gained a favourable response from two of the members of WOLFSBANE: “Yorkshire rockers with more bite than Krushers false teeth !” said Steve Danger with Jeff Hately going one better “A lot lot better” (Krusher was the Kerrang! single’s reviewer!) In 1992 the band supported the legendary NAZARETH with a full house at Barnsley Civic Hall. There were further changes in the guitar and drum ranks with the band moving back up to a five piece in 1995. There was a period of inactivity up until 1999 when Iron Pages in Germany picked up on the band and released the ‘Dangerous Kiss’ album. (At Last!) The band were back in live action in 2000 and 2001 (Listen to the bonus track Immortal Hours Live 2001) and back up to a five piece with a new members Dave Fox on guitar and Chris Jackson on drums with ‘old boy’ Andy Frost returning on guitar! to join mainstay Bri Shaughnessy on Vocals and long serving Rick Gregory on bass. The bands first single on CD was released in late 2000 ‘Dangerous Kiss’ (the title track from the album) along with ‘Rebel Angel’ ‘Welcome to the Western World’ and a live version of ‘Dirty But Sweet’ recorded live at Barnsley Civic Hall in 1987. The band’s current line up have already recorded four new songs, and when the album is completed it will be the first new material from the band in over eight years! There are also plans for Kev Shaughnessy to guest on a couple of the album’s tracks.A review of one of the tracks ‘Kiss the Dead’ from the as yet untitled album stated: “Like the title!! Love this song. Very catchy from start to finish. Opening intro is excellent and so are the grunge induced guitar’s. It really feels like it’s moving. Again good guitars and vocals. Good chorus – very melodic. You can remember it for a while even when the song has done. It sounds very 90’s rock but could still stand up on it’s own today with the likes Nickleback, Linkin Park and even Iron Maiden making a comeback. Very good quality sound. Well it sounds as good as anything on my system and I listen to a LOT of stuff. Also it doesn’t tire on the ears at louder levels. I’m not really sure what else I can say but this is a great track. I like it”: Sean, HMV-zine Sheffield) A glimpse of the future…… ‘Immortal Hours’ takes a look back to the beginning’s of Seventh Son’s recorded output with some classic ‘Son’ cuts from the prime era of ‘ The New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ Turn Up and Enjoy!{}
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