MYSPACE PROFILE FOR THE BAND 'NEW TORPEDOS' (ALSO INCLUDING INFO ON FOLLOW-UP BAND 'THE TORPEDOS')
Before we begin, a few important points:
1) Both bands formed and split in the 1980s, so please don't send emails asking when the next gig is :-)
2) I now realise that although i spelt it 'torpedoes' (with an 'e') on the URL for this page, the band in fact spelt it 'torpedos' (without the 'e'). My mistake, I knew I should have tried harder to fail that English exam haha!
3) As you can probably tell by now, this profile isn't administered by anyone from the band, but if you have any messages or questions then bass player Dave Birch can be contacted via www.myspace.com/bluemojo1
If anyone has photos, reviews/clippings, flyers, MP3's, or stories to contribute then it would be great to hear from you. The aim of this page is to be a useful archive/resource for anyone with an interest in the band (s) as well as a point of contact for everyone.
Okay, let's begin......
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New Torpedos was an English band whose first line-up featured singer Phil Lewis (ex-Girl), bassist Dave Birch (ex-The Winders, Sidewinder, and 720), drummer Paul Edwards (ex-The Winders, and 720), and guitarist Gary Shaw, briefly until Rudi Riviere (ex-Sapphire) "came along/finally caved in to joining".
According to an interview with Phil Lewis in Kerrang! Issue 75 " “I was going down the Funny Farm (a notorious ligging parlour) a lot and I met up with Dave Birch who was the bass player in 720. We talked about putting a band together and found that our ideas for writing commercial modern rock ‘n’ roll songs were similar. Dave roped in drummer Paul Edwards who he knew from 720 and we started rehearsing. Finding a guitar player wasn’t so easy, but I remembered being knocked out by a black guy who used to be in Sapphire –Rudi Riviere. I kept ringing him up and eventually he gave in.â€
Phil Lewis biography provides further insight: "Back in London I tried putting something new together with my guitarist friend, Rudy Rivera, recruiting the drummer and bass player from the band 720 (The Speed of Sound 720 mph). They had just lost their singer, Paul Young, who now has huge chart success as a solo artist covering Hall and Oats songs. Sadly we never got to release anything, but we did have some very productive demo sessions and some awesome gigs in tiny basement clubs in London's Soho district."
However, another source close to the band remembers things slighty differently "720 had been split for a while, and Paul Young was not in the band (I went to "most" of the 720 gigs, so I'd have noticed!)" although it was true that Paul Young had been in a band called Kat Kool and the Kool Kats with New Torpedoes drummer Paul Edwards. Another link is that the band woud later work with the horn section from another of Youngs bands 'The Q Tips' (see below).
New Torpedos gigs typically involved other well-known faces on the London club circuit, such as Marionette (a great rock n' roll band who opened for New Torpedoes on at least one occasion) whose line-up included Kerrang! journalist and creator of the 'Pandora Peroxide' cartoons Ray Zell, who recalls "I remember thinkin' how great the Eddie Van Halen-esque guitarist was."
New Torpedos recorded about an albums worth of demos, including songs such as 'Casualty' and 'Animal Beat' (originaly by 720), and two tracks which would be recorded by Phil again when he joined LA Guns on their 'Hollywood Raw' CD ('Midnight Alibi' and 'Guilty' - hear the LA Guns versions at http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,306839 3,00.html). During demo sessions for Bronze Records, Dave Birch left and Phil Soussan (later of Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol, Vince Neil, etc) joined "for about a week" according to Phil Lewis, which, according to another source involved "some rehearsing in Nomis Studios" before it was decided that things weren't working out ("didn't have the chemistry that our Birchy did"). Birchy was swiftly reinstated and the sessions went ahead. Although the proposed record deal didn't materialise, the sessions were very productive and the recordings have been popular with CD traders for a number of years, particularly with LA Guns fans.
Towards the end of 1984 Gary Shaw returned as second guitarist, but shortly after (maybe one gig) Phil Lewis left to join the band Tormé on a full time basis (and would later join Hollywood rockers LA Guns, a band closely related to Guns n' Roses).
Dave, Paul, and Rudi decided to continue and recruited female singer Misty Jervis, who made her live debut at the begining of 1985 before Rudi Riviere left too, joining Terraplane (the band which would evolve into Thunder a couple of years down the line).
Two 'new' guitar players joined - Andy Barnett (Visage, 720, Corey Hart, later of FM, ASaP, Barnstormers et al) and Dave "Bucket" Colwell (another ex-720 member, later to Samson and Bad Company). So things had come full-circle and The New Torpedos was now the old 720 line-up, with Misty singing!
A number of songs were demoed (see song list blog), and a radio session was recorded for the BBC, at the BBC studios in London's Abbey Road. For this session, band were backed by The Q-Tips horns (as mentioned above, this was the horn section from singer Paul Young's former band).
'The New Torpedos' shortened their name to simply 'The Torpedos' and in May 1985 The Torpedos appeared on UK television show ECT (aired on 5/31/85) with the line-up: singer Misty, guitarist Dave Colwell, guitarist Andy Barnett, bassist Dave Birch, and drummer Paul Edwards. This was recalled by Classic Rock magazine in February 2007:
"During its brief run ECT provided several notable highlights. Among them: Cronos of Venom stage-diving and landing nose-first on the floor when the audience parted like the Red Sea. Magnum’s Bob Catley being hoisted up in the cradle of a crane-type-thing and getting lodged in the studio rafters. And best of all: Misty, singer of the New Torpedos, losing her skirt during a high-kicking routine. She retrieved said item only to have it torn off again by grasping headbangers at the front of the stage" (see the video clips below!)
- Some info adapted from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Torpedos"
- Videos from youtube
- Additional band history info/quotes direct from Dave Birch, Phil Lewis, Rob Grain, Ian "Jeremiah" Clements, and Ray Zell, especially for this website, cheers guys!!
- Thanks to Sam (Dr Loaded) for the MP3's
Latest::
- Phil Lewis still sings with LA Guns (although 2 line-ups of the band now exist!)
- Dave Birch plays bass for Blue Mojo (www.myspace.com/bluemojo1)
- Dave Colwell plays guitar for Bad Company
- Andy Barnett plays guitar for FM
- Phil Soussan has released a solo album
Anyone know what the other guys (and girl) are upto? Get in contact!
