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In Words: Quireboys



- Spike Gray & Guy Baily - - May 2001 - Claudia Ehrhardt -


www.quireboys.com








Spike Gray & Guy Baily
- Dortmund (Germany), May, 29th 2001 -




In the late 80's when Mötley Crüe successfully build up their image as the bad boys of rock'n'roll in the UK a band was formed as The Queerboys. Mainmen of this band were singer Spike Gray and guitarist Guy Baily. Soon they found musicians to join. Awhile later their drummer left and for some reasons they changed their name into The Quireboys! With new members they recorded their first single and another line-up change followed. Result of this was a deal with record major label EMI which released in 1990 their debut A Bit Of What You Fancy. Their timing was good, coz at that days sleaze metal got more successful and it was the beginning of the fall of melodic metal / AOR. For the release of their debut in the States their name was changed (just for that territory) to The London Quireboys. On both sides of the Atlantic ocean the album was very successful and soon the band started touring. Also they played at some festivals with Whitesnake. Spike remembers "When we played with Whitesnake we also played at a festival at Iceland! It was amazing and strange at the same time. Late evening we still played at daylight!" I remember that as well, coz MTV's Headbanger's Ball showed it. At that time music TV channels still played hard rock and metal. Headbanger's Ball presented what's hot and was the most important TV show for metal heads in Europe. "Twice we headlined at the tour, coz David Coverdale was sick and so we took over the headlining spot while the Whitesnake band opened for us," Spike looked back in time... The show at Castle Donington was recorded and later released. Just called Live Album. After touring on their own they hit the roads with big names like Aerosmith and Guns'n'Roses. Then the band recorded their 2nd album Bitter Sweet &Twisted which was released in 1993, but couldn't keep the level of their debut. "We played the arenas with some bands and played successfully our own headlining tour." Guy told and Spike added "Playing live was what we wanted to do." Soon after Bitter Sweet & Twisted the band kinda broke up. "We never officially split" Guy mentioned. But grunge got big and the change of the music scene meant the end of many rock and AOR bands. So they spreaded all over the world and started their own projects. In 1995 Spike reunited the band for just one show, they played at Newcastle's Mayfair. Afterwards just a few compilation things brought the name back to limelight.
Now in a new millennium they are back with their 70's rock which is influenced by Ron Wood and The Faces. On their 2001 release This Is Rock'n'Roll they stick to their roots and some tracks sound like some Rod Steward songs, just a harder version. "Rod Steward is definitely an influence for me," Spike explains. And not a bad one! In May Rod Steward got an award from the music business which is based on album sellings, honored for his work through all the years. "Guy and I met again after awhile and kept in touch. We jammed and soon some songs were written. We got Nigel to listen to them and he was blown away." Guy mentioned "That was how we should have sound years ago! So we had the idea that it would be fun to play live!" After Sanctuary Records listened to the tracks and heard about their excellent live shows the offered a deal. "Now we were forced to do new material and we recorded the best album we ever done. This is how we sound live and for the first time we got that vibe banned on tape," Spike continues. It took longer than expected to release the album. "That was my fault," Spike explains "I broke my leg and we had to take a break. Now I'm back almost and we can start into the next part of the Quireboys history." This music has to be played live.... Guy agreed "Yes, and we already working on tour plans. At the moment I can't tell details, but we will tour! Per­haps as support, per­haps some club shows. Doesn't matter to us, we will get back on stage!"
And on stage we will see them again. In the meantime listen to their album This Is Rock'n'Roll!



Claudia Ehrhardt

 
 

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