NWOBHM Wednesday-Praying Mantis

Andy says-

Despite the fact that the Metal Archives decided that Praying Mantis wasn't "metal" enough for their site you cannot have a conversation about the New Wave Of Heavy Metal movement without mentioning this top notch act. Actually, Praying Mantis pre-dated the movement by a few years but wouldn't get noticed until appearing on the Metal For Muthas compilation in 1980 with their song, "Captured City". It wasn't their first recording though as that honor would go to the Soundhouse Tapes EP released in 1979. While "Captured City" raised awareness to the band it was their support slots for Iron Maiden and Ronnie Montrose's Gamma that caught the attention of Arista Records. With Arista Records behind them Praying Mantis went on to release the excellent Time Tells No Lies in 1981. Despite good reviews the band was done in by management problems and line-up instability. Dropped by Arista Praying Mantis seemed to vanish into thin air. While in reality they had signed to Jet Records even that would be short lived. After two singles failed to revive their early success the band folded. While many in England and America seemed to forget about Praying Mantis the band maintained a strong fan base in Japan. Thanks in no small part to that support the Troy brothers (always the backbone of the band) briefly reformed Praying Mantis in 1990. Nine years after the release of Time Tells No Lies the band released Live at Last. The following year the band would finally release a proper follow-up to their debut with the album Predator in Disguise. Since then the band has carried on although with frequent line-up changes. With their latest EP, Metalmorphosis the band collected re-recorded versions of classic songs and showed the world that they are capable of keeping with their classic sound while also keeping up with the current heavy metal scene.


Metal Mark says-
Okay, so I'm going through "Time tells no lies", "A cry for the world" and "Predator in disguise" as I write this. Not everyone in the NWOBHM scene sounded like Iron Maiden or Diamond Head although a few later to the scene bands did try to sound like them. My point is that the scene had a lot of bands that represented a number of different sounds. Praying Mantis were a combination of hard rock/metal and even a touch of AOR mixed in. It was the early 80's when they started so all these styler were going on so combining them seemed like a fine decision. I think "Time tells no lies" is their best effort. It's tight, it's catchy and had the band already establishing their own sound. It's unfortunate they couldn't follow up on it within the next year or two. I think their sound would have really hit had they done a quick follow-up and got a push around say 1983 or 1984. That's not the way it went though. Oddly enough they have done far more albums in the last twenty years than in the 80's which was of course the prime for the NWOBHM scene. Former Iron Maiden guitarist Dennis Stratton was a part of Praying Mantis having played on every album between 1990 and 2003 except for the old demos album. Kudos to the Troy brothers for making numerous efforts to restart this band and get it going again because as Andy says they have been the heart of this band. I actualy think that 2009's Sanctuary is their second best album. This year's Metalmorphosis EP is re-recorded tracks, but it's still the same line-up that did Sanctuary and the band sounds very focused. Here's hoping some new material is coming soon.

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

Praying Mantis-Sanctuary

Frontiers
2009



Often lumped in as part of the NWOBHM, but this band actually formed quite a few years before that scene erupted. Also rather falling under the usual metal sound of many bands from that movement, Praying Mantis leaned more towards a melodic approach. Their 1981 debut "Time tells no lies" still stands as a must hear from the early NWOBHM scene though. They have certainly gone through the lead singers over the years as Paul Di'anno, Gary Barden and Doogie White are just a few on the long list of vocalists who have recorded with this band. The current vocalist is Mike Freeland and here's hoping he stays for a while because he is a wonderful fit on this album. His voice reminds me at times of former Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske. He has an excellent range and a dynamic presence. The Troy brothers Tino (guitar) and Chris (bass) have always been the heart and driving force force of this band. Rounding out the line-up this time around are guitarist Andy Burgess and drummer Benjamin Reid. On "Sanctuary" the band plays a smooth and severely tight blend that draws on hard rock/metal and AOR. They remind at times of a mix of older Scorpions and Whitesnake although far more involved. Every song on this album is a work of a well oiled machine. I am not sure if the key ingredient was time, new members or a combination of the above, but whatever the reason they seem to have found the proper recipe for success. This was one of those albums where I immediately took to it on the first listen. Easily their best since their debut. Normally many bands who are 35 years into the game are doing well to just put something decent, but Praying Mantis have managed knock a fantastic melodic hard rock album. Okay, it sounds a lot like it could have been done in 1983, but nonetheless "Sanctuary" is certainly worth hearing.

Clash of the album covers

It's two NWOBHM bands this time around.


Praying Mantis-Time tells no lies

Vs.


Samson-Shock Tactics


***Which cover do you prefer?