Weapon

In March 1980 Danny placed an advert in Melody Maker looking for a band, at the same time Jeff had placed one looking for a singer. Danny auditioned and was offered the job in Jeff's band, Fast Relief. After several weeks rehearsal and one gig under their belt, Danny & Jeff decided to replace the rhythm section. Danny recommended his best friend, bassist Baz Downes (ex- Inner City Unit) who played along side him in Snatch. Jeff suggested drummer Bruce Bisland (ex- Lip Service) one rehearsal later and Weapon was formed. After doing a showcase gig for Laurie Dunn, then head of Virgin Publishing, the band were signed to Virgin. Whilst playing at The Venue, in London's Victoria, Eddie Clarke from Motorhead happened to be in the audience, he liked what he heard and put it to the rest of the band and management team that Weapon should support them on their forthcoming tour. A showcase gig was hastily arranged for the band at The Camden Palace, where Motorhead and their manager came to see them. There had been a lot of personal problems between band members during the day, to the point where they were on the verge of splitting up so by the time they went on stage they were full of aggression and really pissed off with each other. This of course made for a great show; basically they didn't give a toss what happened. In the words of Lemmy "any band that can have that amount of contempt for their audience have to tour with us". Weapon was offered and accepted the tour. The 32 date U.K. "Ace Up Your Sleeve" Tour started on 22nd October 1980 at Ipswich Gaumont and ended in November with a four-night stint at The Hammersmith Odeon. The band released one single "It's A Mad Mad World" b/w "Set The Stage Alight", which got to number 2 in the Heavy Metal charts. They also recorded several tracks for an album "Set The Stage Alight", which never saw the light of day until October 2003 when it was released by Zoom Club Records. This line-up of the band split in 1981 due to managerial/contractual problems but all the guys remained the best of friends so much so that in the summer of 2005 they plan to get together to celebrate what would have been their 25th anniversary by doing a few shows. Meanwhile Bruce is playing with Andy Scott's Sweet and doing some stuff alongside Jeff in Statetrooper. Baz had been with The Screaming Marionettes for several years, being one of their main songwriters, and is currently recovering from an illness, but he'll be back. Danny is still going strong with his band Paddy Goes To Holyhead. You should create your own MySpace Layouts like me by using nUCLEArcENTURy .COM's MySpace Profile Editor !