The Steve Grimmett band of course features former Grim Reaper, Lionsheart and Onslaught vocalist Steve Grimmett. The band just released their debut album “Personal Crisis” this past fall. It’s a killer solid heavy metal album very much in the mid-1980’s style. I recently got to interview the band and find out more about them and their future plans. The band answered the questions as a group unless otherwise noted. The band members are Steve Grimmett-vocals, Ian Nash-guitar, Richard Walker-bass and Pete Newdeck-drums.
MM-What has been the response to your album so far?
SGB-Very positive, the songs & production have been very well received by the music press with some reporting that in their opinion 'Personal Crisis' is the best album that Steve has ever done. Many reviewers have stated that the album was much better than they had expected it to be & that Steve's vocal's have, if anything, improved over the years.
MM-How and when did this band form?
SGB-The four of us initially got together in January 2006 to rehearse a full Grim Reaper set which we played at several European metal festivals during that year. The idea for the Steve Grimmett Band was conceived in April 2006 We were enjoying performing & touring together as a band so much, that we wanted a vehicle to enable us to write & record brand new material & also to allow us to incorporate Lionsheart and reaper material in to our live sets.
MM-Do you any tour dates set up for 2008? Any plans to play in the United States?
SGB-We are confirmed for some festivals so far, Puerto Rico Metal Thunder in March & Madrid Pounding metal in May.aswell as british festivals. Along with this, we are exploring the chance of an appearance at Rocklahoma for 2008. We are also in negotiations with various promoters for appearances at several other UK & European metal festivals & UK ,US and Japan tours We would love to get over to the States & play some shows, but nothing is confirmed as yet. Although there has been a huge amount of interest in getting us over there, the logistics mean that is is that much more difficult to make it happen. That doesn't mean that it won't happen of course..........
MM-How is this band different from other bands that you guys have been in?
SGB-Everyone is much older & much uglier. Seriously, we are all best friends. There are no conflicts in this band even after almost two years together. We all have different strengths & the music seems to come together by all of us just doing what we do best. Personal Crisis was not written & recorded under ideal circumstance by any means, we were all under a huge amount of pressure with very tight timescales & a limited budget but we all worked together & pulled the rabbit out of the hat. That could never have been achieved if there had been any conflicts or egos within the band.
MM-Where do you get the inspiration for your song topics?
Pete & Steve-Song topics have ranged in subject matter that includes………..people we hate, people we care about, people who have killed and other things that range from reaol life to fantasy.
Reading through the lyrics you will find that some are obvious and some are a bit more hidden and obscure. Depending on steve and pete’s given moods or aspirations.
Karma being a good example stating to a person that maybe they should keep looking over their shoulder….and I will leave that one for you to consider who it might be about!!!
MM- Question for Pete. What other albums have you produced and is it easier producing something when you are involved in the playing like with this album?
Pete-Other albums I have unofficially had an input into production, go back as far as ‘The Shock’ @PINULTIMATE@ album where a lot of the initial song writing structures and parts etc were given to myself for scrutiny……since then I have had much production experience with demos and recording other bands on a private basis. This however is my first official product and look forward to meeting the challenges for SGB album 2.
Being involved with the playing and songwriting has advantages but also can cloud issues when you can easily become ‘too close to something’
MM-Question for Steve. Grim Reaper seemed to have had a strong following here in the states back in the 1980’s while a number of other NWOBHM bands really had trouble breaking in over here. Is that accurate and if so then why do you think that was?
SG-It was all one giant piece of luck, the album got to the States as an import to a store called Zig Zag records who played it to a guy call Walter Obrien who was head of Combat records at the time he contacted Ebony records who said they only wanted to deal with a major label, he took it to Wendy Goldstine at RCA who signed us and Walter became our manager,it is right that most British bands couldn’t get a deal out there but I guess it was down to luck in the end.
MM-You do a cover of Grim Reaper’s Wrath of the ripper. Will you be playing that one live and will you play any other Grim Reaper songs live?
SGB-Hell yes!! Wrath of the Ripper is definitely one of our live favourites. We also play other tracks taken from all three Grim Reaper albums.
MM-What do you think about the metal scene these days? Is it getting better worse or about the same as in recent years?
SGB-Difficult one to answer that, probably about the same there has to be a lot more effort going into it but it’s still a very limited response al round.
MM-What’s the metal scene like in the UK these days?
SGB-Same as always really, the support is there but it's very difficult to generate much enthusiasm for our style of music. Well organised & well supported metal festivals are few & far between in this country.
MM-Are there any younger bands that have had influence on your music or do you generally have the same influences that you have had for years?
SGB-Looking at the Myspace communications we have around the world, it seems Steve’s voice has been inspirational to many people. Grim Reaper as a band again have had the same influence. It’s nice to know that you have been an influence and have helped change some lives. Personally our influences are pretty much the same as they were twenty years ago. Although we are aware of what a lot of the newer & younger bands are doing we still tend to refer back to the music we grew up with. That's not to say that we don't like what younger bands are doing, some of them are awesome, we’d imagine that a lot of them have many of the same influences as we do anyway.
MM-Anything else you want to say about your band or music?
SGB-Yesh, I really love you guysh.....*hic*...... you are my besht friends.....*hic*...... oh shit.....*hic*.....I think I'm gonna puke............. Blah Blah Blah and puke in the bucket this time and don’t shit your trousers again.
We would like to thank all the people who have offered the large amounts of kind words and encouragement, to make us believe in metal again!!!
http://www.stevegrimmett.co.uk/
Thanks to the whole band for doing this interview.
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