White Spirit

WHITE SPIRIT - BACKS TO THE GRIND 7"
Neat
NEAT 05
1980
Malcolm Pearson (K)
Bruce Ruff (V)
Janick Gers (G)
Graeme Crallan (D)
Phil Brady (B)
Backs To The Grind
Cheetah
White Spirit, whose single 'Back To The Grind' on Neat Records is in the Alternative Chart, play;
Bristol Granary June 12
Shildon Club 20
Retford Porterhouse 21
Shildon Club 22
Birmingham Romeo And Juliets 23
Barnsley Cudworth Hotal 25
Warrington Lion 28
Thornley White Hart Hotal 29
(Sounds, 14/06/80)
Fist/White Spirit/Raven
Newcastle
Now here's a thing. A short time after my NENWOBHM (North-East New Wave Of British
Heavy Metal) article sees print three of the bands featured therein appear on the
same bill, in a venue that none of them would have a hope in whatsits of filling
previously. Quite a coincidence that.
If ever a combo played like they 'meant it' Raven are that band.
The standing two-thirds, Mark and John Gallagher, throw themselves so totally into the
performance I almost suspect immediately they strap on their axes their psyches are
taken over by a colony of devils the better part of the way through an epileptic fit.
There's no edge, no finesse, no guile to what they do. Purely and simply, Raven are all
passion.
John's Nooky Broon bottle shattering voice, Mark's hydraulic guitar mauling and their
limitless energy are the meat here, making the songs virtually incidental.
It's the fire that counts.
Behind me, a couple of White Spirits disagree and reckon that Raven are rather forced.
Which, as it turns out, is a bit of the kettle calling the pot black job.
Spirit are a lot more calculated than Raven and a good deal less convincing.
Their act is so obviously staged and pose-wise brings to mind Uriah Heep,
who I wouldn't have thought would be the most fashionable HM hams to emulate in this day and age.
Vocalist Bruce Ruff can holler well enough but as a presence be doesn't quite make it.
It's hard to imagine the short stocky, almost retiring Ruff stirring up a crowd like a Gillan or a Coverdale.
This doesn't stop Spirit from sounding Purply,
of course, especially on 'Cheetah', which even to a Philistine like me is so obviously
'Fireball' part two.
Otherwise, the numbers are too long and disjointed and SO BLOODY LOUD that everything is painfully distorted.
On the plus side they did go down very well and I was rather impressed with keyboard player Malcolm Pearson.
He's easily the best thing about the band, reminding me of Don Airey as he holds
everything together. He'll go far but I'll be surprised if it's with White Spirit.
White Spirit, the Newcastle heavy metal band who support Gillan on their autumn tour,
have lined up a series of dates to promote their debut album for MCA 'White Spirit'
set for September release. The band play
Sheffield Top Rank August 8
Nottingham Boat Club 9
Surrey Agincourt 11
Swindon Brunei Rooms 12
London Music Machine 13
Croydon Greyhound 15
Guildford Civic Hail 16
Burton On Trent 76 Club 22
Leeds Fforde Grene Hotel 23
Barnsley Stain Cross Working Men's Club 24
Liverpool Gatsbys 27
Grimsby Community Hall September 4
Lowestoft Talk Of The East 5
Hertford Corn Exchange 6
Bradford Princeville 11
Rayleigh Crocs 12
Cambridge St. Ives Centre 13
Port Talbot Troubadour 18
Carmarthen Trinity College 19
Bristol Granary 20.
(Sounds, 09/08/80)
WHITE SPIRIT - MIDNIGHT CHASER 7"
MCA
MCA 638
1980
Malcolm Pearson (K)
Bruce Ruff (V)
Janick Gers (G)
Graeme Crallan (D)
Phil Brady (B)
Midnight Chaser
Suffragettes
WHITE SPIRIT - HIGH UPON HIGH 7"
MCA
MCA 652
1980
Malcolm Pearson (K)
Bruce Ruff (V)
Janick Gers (G)
Graeme Crallan (D)
Phil Brady (B)
High Upon High
No Reprieve
Arthur Guitar
WHITE SPIRIT - WHITE SPIRIT LP
MCA
MCF 3079
1980
MCA
MCA 4108
1980
Spanish
Malcolm Pearson (K)
Bruce Ruff (V)
Janick Gers (G)
Graeme Crallan (D)
Phil Brady (B)
Midnight Chaser
Red Skies
High Upon High
Way Of The Kings
No Reprieve
Don't Be Fooled
Fool For The Gods
+ Insert
So Barton says to me "How about something on White Spirit then?"
He'd seen them strut their live stuff and come away impressed.
"Hokay" says I, but this does present a couple of problems.
Like the last live review I gave the 'Artlepool technoheavies
ran something along the lines of 'Deep Purple' clones with Uriah Heep choreography'
and contained such trigger words as 'forced' 'going' and 'nowhere'.
Problem deux is that on this occasion Spirit are part of a package headlined by Gillan,
a band and a man who've been on the icy end of my biro not once but twice.
And like most of my journalistic bretheren I'm a natural coward and would rather hit and run and live to criticise another day.
So, with more reservations than a pack of Cherokees my tape recorder
and I arrive at the gig. I bump into Spirit bass player Phil Brady at the door and attempts
at small talk are met by a disdainful grunt.
As he stalks away like he's just run into the man who's screwing his mother behind dad's
back my special heightened perceptive abilities and well-honed newshound instincts tell me that a good start this isn't.
Pondering on the accessibility of the nearest exit in case of emergency I watch Spirit go through their paces.
Happily (so I can at least say hi with an approximation of cheeriness) the performance is a lot less off-putting than last time.
Having both the mega-gear of Gillan and Quartz's backline alongside their own on the relatively small stage of Sunderland Mayfair means that while frontman Bruce Ruff
could probably have got away with swinging a cat,
a medium-sized dog would definitely bring hardware avalanching down on top of him.
The extravagant posing of (mainly) Brady and guitarist Janick Gers is drastically reduced
because of this and the whole thing is a darn sight more convincing.
The usual prancing around is just too much like the Benny Hill Show version of a heavy metal band.
Set over I squeeze backstage past Atilla the Hun lookalike and Gillan bassist John McCoy,
keeping my fingers crossed that my picture hasn't been in the paper often enough for him
to recognise me as the funster who, about this time last year, described him as 'a walking absurdity'.
On arrival at the broom cupboard that for one night is home for White Spirit it's more than
a slight relief to find that spokesmen of the day Janick Gers and drummer Graeme Grallan
are a lot more talkative and friendly than their bass player had been.
The conversation starts with the review and stays there for a while.
Gers defends my right to say what I thought but then goes on to tell me why I shouldn't think what I think.
One of the major objections was the Heep comparison but the identi-kit Purple jibe doesn't bother them at all.
"If it sounds half as good as Purple we'd be pleased!" offers the guitarist by way of semi-explanation.
"We're not trying to recreate Purple although I thought you were right when you said that."
Now, this strikes me as being a bit on the dangerous side.
Any band so unashamedly derivative have got to be in trouble.
What price the Jags or the Pleasers?
The most blatant offender is 'Cheetah' the B-side of the 'Back To The Grind' single and first cousin to 'Fireball'. But Gers thinks not.
"Since you said that in the review I've listened to them both and I've asked everybody.
One kid thought it sounded like Rainbow because of the Eastern type feel in the lead break.
Maybe that was my fault. Maybe I shouldn't have done that.
But then again, if I can do it, why hold back?"
Spirit's sincerity in all of this isn't to be questioned.
The fact that they are totally into what they're doing is borne out by their willingness to
slog around the country, sleeping in the back of the van and drawing £15 a week wages as they go.
The Gillan tour meant not having to hump their own gear and the relative luxury of boarding houses.
Janick says that it makes them feel like princes.
When they go out on their own again Spirit will probably be back to the grind but they don't mind.
The music really is the thing (man).
The dedication is admirable, the short sightedness a bit worrying.
Especially record company-wise.
Having graduated to MCA from Neat, Janick and Graeme defend their escape from the wilderness to the hilt.
On the somewhat less than spectacular job MCA have done on the band Grallan is overly tolerant.
"You can't slag people off for doing their best for you. I'm not too interested in the business side of things . . ."
Except that it goes a little like this . . .
Nothing much was happening at MCA when they picked up on the Tygers Of Pan Tang at the start of the year.
As they achieved some success light bulbs must have gone on over MCA's collective heads.
"Ah ha! Heavy Metal! Neat Records!" On the assumption (always dangerous, assumptions) that the lads down at Wallsend had their finger on some sort of pulse
every band to appear on 'Britain's number one independent heavy metal label' and old Brum stagers Quartz were signed on the dotted line.
The result is that MCA UK have got what looks suspiciously like a roster over-balanced with heavies.
"Is that wrong?" questions Grallan when I put it to him.
"They don't have to know about music but they're not supposed to. They're businessmen."
Oh yeah?
"They obviously know about business because they're going where the records sell."
Except they aren't. When, in these austere times, an album can make an appearance
in the Top 20 with sales under 20,000, LPs that don't show up in the 75 (i.e. Spirit, Quartz and Fist)
probably have a circulation only slightly wider than the Kama Sutra at a Festival of Light garden party.
And any heavy metal biased label that can let Raven (who I've got this feeling are going to
be immense) slip through their fingers must have their stuff somewhat less than in order.
"The moment MCA don't give us their all is the moment we say something. As far as we're
concerned we&..39;ve got an album out now and kids can buy it.
That's because of MCA and that's great!" concludes Janick.
Worrying.
(Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 06/12/80)
Thanks to Tim Gale and Bernd Hofmann for help with this page.