Interview with Praying Mantis

Praying Mantis were formed back in the 1970's by brothers Tino and Chris Troy in the mid 70's. They were very much a part of the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) movement. However the Troy brothers moved onto some other projects before reviving the band again in the early 1990's. They are still at and recently released an outstanding album called "Sanctuary". I recently had the pleasure of interviewing bassist Chris Troy.



MM-Hello. You guys have a new album out called “Sanctuary”. Tell us about it.

PM-I think its safe to say we are quite proud of it. When the songs are in their infancy its always difficult to know how exactly the final version will sound like. A few times I have had these visions of songs being classics and yet by the time they have gone through the recording process, they seem to fall by the wayside. Here it was the opposite and each track seemed to come up to the mark. We knew after all these years that if were going to release an album it had to be good and I think we have hopefully achieved that.

MM-How do you think “Sanctuary” compares with your previous releases?
PM-Personally I think it surpasses anything else we have done. I think by the reviews we have had for this album I think that the press and fans seem to think so as well.

MM-Did you approach the writing and recording for new album any differently than with your previous releases? If so then how?
PM-Not really. The songwriting normally starts with foundation of the musical format and then we experiment with the melody lines and this can be a long process. If the melodies do not make the grade then the chords are changed or the song binned ...we tend to be quite ruthless now to ensure that there is a high quality.

MM-Who are your musical influences?
PM-Believe it or not it goes back to two bands which were Thin Lizzy and Wishbone Ash , both which were big on twin guitars and great songs.

MM-You guys actually started out well before the NWOBHM started, but you normally get put in with that movement. So what were your early club days like in the 1970’s?
PM-The times were superb then , its like the rock clubs had such a brilliant buzz and people actually got on with one another. Nowadays they just seem to want to go out and fight over something. Utterly mad !!.

MM-Why do you think so many up and coming bands popped up at that time?
PM-There is no doubt that as the NWOBHM formed there seemed to be bands that were created to fall into it .I think that is a natural trend where people see an opportunity for fame/ money :-)....we cannot be part of that as we already existed !!

MM-Why do you think that you didn’t make it bigger in the early 1980’s than you did?
PM-That's the 64,000 dollar question ! ..suppose we will ever really know , but I still put it down to pathetic management that really did not have a clue about the business, how it worked or where they were supposed to be taking the band. During this time we lost all the momentum that was created. I am pretty sure that with better direction at the time we could have maybe carried on alongside Iron Maiden and the heights that they achieved.



MM-How did you come to do “Stratus” with Clive Burr? What do you remember about that project?
PM-Its a strange one that. I think when Clive joined us after having been with Maiden we thought we would take a lightly different direction and as such thought the name change would be more appropriate . It was good fun at the time and I quite enjoyed the new direction where we were going. however that project didn't really gain much steam and the Mantis aspect re-emerged.

MM-You reformed in 1990 (for the 10th anniversary of NWOBHM) with Paul Di anno & Dennis Stratton and recorded “Live at last”. Did you know going into this that you were going to revive the band for more studio albums or did that come as a result of this show?
PM-We were asked by a big promoter in Japan at that time to do this joint venture of mantis/ ex-maiden members where we would do songs from both bands. It went down an absolute storm !! from there it generated the Live at last album. Because of the success of that, there is no doubt that it regenerated the name of mantis and we have been going pretty strong since that time .



MM-Where did you come up with your band name?
PM-Tino came up with all those many many years ago. The band was originally called "Junction" -........Yuchhhh !! How on earth did we ever come up with that name . Anything would have been better than that , as it was I think its a great name standing the test of time !.

MM-How do you keep yourselves motivated at this point in your career?
PM-Sex and of course drugs !!....of course the music is a huge drug. Will never ever really let it go..

MM--What are you guys doing that sets or will set you apart from other bands playing this style of music?
PM-That's a hard one...hopefully the fact that the melodies and songs are strong enough to have continued this long. Some people say that on the new album there are no album "fillers "which I hope applies for most albums we have done.



MM-What else do you hope to accomplish in the remainder of 2009?
PM-Get back to japan !...I think we are back there in November and its a long time since we played there.

MM-If someone could only afford to buy one of your albums then which album would you recommend and why?
PM-Of all the albums we have ever done the two I would pick are Sanctuary :-) and Cry for the new world ....that to me is still a really good one even after 16 years.

MM-Pick the band from each of the following pairs that you prefer and tell why you picked them.

Thin Lizzy or UFO.........Ha ha ..Thin lizzy of course !!

Samson or Tygers of Pan tang..... Hard one that, but Paul Samson as he was a good friend and a great songwriter...Miss you mate wherever you are !.

Iron Maiden or Judas Priest..... suppose I have to go with maiden after all these years with that association with them!

MM-What are some of the best albums that you have heard so far this year?
PM-There is a Norwegian band called Jorn who i really like .

MM-Is there anything else that you would like to say about your band or your music?
PM-We have been here for some 34 years and will go on for as long as it takes to make the perfect album...however I think we are getting pretty close :-)
Best regards Chris Troy

www.myspace.com/prayingmantisrock