by Mark Kadzielawa

Uriah Heep needs no introduction. The band is a well-known and respected all over the globe. Many of their songs are solid staples of the classic rock radio. Their history is very interesting, a fair share of success as well as drama. Much can be said about Uriah Heep.
Wake The Sleeper is Uriah Heep’s latest record, and it’s an absolute winner. The band made the fans wait nearly a decade for this recording, but it’s an absolute must have. (In case you got this far, and still are not listening to it, a trip to a record store is in order.) The band sounds fresh, songs are catchy, and it’s Heep to the core.
Despite not releasing a new studio record for a long time, Uriah Heep was very active on other fronts. There were many DVD releases that surfaced in the meantime. The band reunited with many of its alumnus for special performances. Finally, Lee Kerslake, a long time drummer left Uriah Heep for health reasons. Kerslake’s seat behind the kit was filled by Russell Gilbrook.
Guitar player, Mick Box, is chuffed about Wake The Sleeper. His excitement and enthusiasm is unstoppable. Phoning from England, Box, shared his thoughts on the new record, and the recent activities in the Uriah Heep camp.

Let me just say that when I listen to Wake the Sleeper I get the same feel as I did when I listened to Abominog back in 1982.
Mick Box: That’s fantastic. Abominog was a straight ahead rock album, and so is this. So, you impressions are correct. There is a definite similarity between the two. I’ll tell what we did to get that feel. We went back to basics. We were rehearsing in our practice room, and Mike Paxman came out to see the band. He was gonna produce the record. After he saw us, and he heard the songs, he said what I heard here has got to be on the CD. I don’t want to record the instruments separately. We really need to crack this one as a band. He wanted to get the recording of the band playing in one pulse. I think that’s why it sounds so fresh. W e went in there and did it as a band. And when you record piece by piece you’re really not a band anymore, or you pretend to be a band. When you do record as a band you get the feel of it too. You see everyone smiling and you see their reactions. If someone is gonna go somewhere with the music, you can follow in one pulse. It’s wonderful. So, we packed our gear, and we found a studio in Lincolnshire in English country side. It was a place called the Chapel Studios which was an old church. We set up our gear there. Everyday we went in there selected one track, and rehearsed it until we were really happy with our performance. Pressed the record button, and in one, two, three takes we had it. It was great. Mike Paxman was the real inspiration for the record. It feels really weird to be saying this, but he used his ears to mix the album. And let me explain what I mean by that. He didn’t sit with the pro-tools, and played with it too much. Once you choose a take that you really love most producers then spend five hours putting the guitars and the bass drum, bass and the bass drum, keyboard and the bass drum, and so on. They do this until the recording is perfectly in sync. Mike Paxman used his ears and said if it sounds this good now, it will sound this good ten years from now. We leave it as it is, and that was music to my ears. In search of the perfection, many of these producers loose the magic that’s there in the first place.
I think what you just told me explains such naturally sounding instruments on the record.
Well, that was the reason why it was done this way. And the other thing was, we didn’t use any synthesizers, we went straight back to using Hammond organ, wah-wah guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. That’s where all the colors come from, and the harmonies as well. I think that was a very important issue that we didn’t use any synthesizers. I think you’ve got the power of the band, and that’s the same power that speaks when you see the band on stage. It’s great to have that on a CD.
It’s been nearly a decade since the last record. Haw many years did these songs take to develop?
Well, it’s really funny. We have plenty of music that we write. You see, we write all the time, but not everything we do write necessary applies to Uriah Heep. So, we started to look through all these songs that we collected over the years. But, we were like, why are we putting ourselves through this? Let’s write some fresh stuff. The first five songs were written in one rehearsal. We just put our heads down, and went for it, and went with the momentum that we had. And it was great. We always had the wall of ideas to fall back on of course, but we had no need to go there.
So, this material is as fresh as it gets.
That’s right. I mean “Wake The Sleeper” for example. I just had the riff and a verse that I was playing with, and Russel came with a double bass drum. It sounded lovely, and that was just pieced together within minutes.
On the other hand, why did it take so long?
Ahh….. a good question. No answer. We had our last album, Sonic Origami, about a decade ago. The record company loved it, and the fans loved it. We went and toured the world, promoted the record the best we could. The record company didn’t live up to their promises. They didn’t promote it properly, they didn’t put the ads. They didn’t do anything at all, other than getting it to the shops occasionally. It was very disheartening. We came back after 18 months on the road, only to see very little done. We decided not to give them another album, they messed up our lives. It just wasn’t fair. So, we went to the lawyers, and it took a couple of years to get out of the contract. You know the legal wrangles always take a long time. We got away from it. At the same time, the industry changes very much. As you remember, they attacked the Internet. They thought they were gonna police the Napster, but you could’t police a thousand Napsters. So, they had to do the rethink and embrace the Internet. After that, the record industry was never the same. Many record companies folded up, got smaller, merged with others. It was like a free for all at the moment. We could’t find a home. So we did what we do best. We went to two/three companies. We released few DVD's that we never released before. We put whole acoustic show together, and played that all over the world. We got Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull and Thijs Van Leer from Focus to come and join us on stage. It was really exciting time, and the tours were great. And we also did this thing in London called Magician’s Birthday. For those shows, we invited former members of the band to come and join us on stage, so the fans could see the different incarnations of Uriah Heep. That was quite good too. Then we got to the point where Sanctuary Records, who owned our back catalog, wanted to release a box set of recordings. As they were trying to do that, they asked if we’d be interested in doing a new album. I thought that would be great since they know all of our history, and it would be good place to be. So, I cut the deal. We did the record, they loved it. And just when they were about to release it they were taken over by Universal. So, then, we had to wait another year for the record to be released. You see, when these takeovers happen there are a lot of firings going on, reshaping, and what not. So, we never knew where we stood during this time. It was a very frustrating time because were not know for being a big rock label, so we didn’t know what to expect. Once they heard our record they told us it’s great, and they were willing to go with it. We breathed a huge sigh of relief. They started to promote the record heavily, and I’m very happy, and now I’m talking to you as a part of that promotion. It was a strange time. But it was great to finally get the albums to the fans who’d been waiting all these years for it.

It seems like a lot of classic bands experience low record sales, and lack of media attention, despite still being relevant musically. Why do you think that is?
It’s a very strange think, especially with radio. They tend to stay with the old stuff. We think this new record is very relevant, and hopefully we’ll be able to break some of these radio barriers. We get a little bit of airplay recently, which a lot more than we had with any other of the recent albums. The signs are good, but it seems like everyone is just stuck in the past, and they love playing those old songs. There are songs on the new album that would completely fit the radio formats, and I think they would do great.
It will be difficult to fit so much good material with already established classics when you play live.
When we play we have to do a lot of the classics. We obviously have a history, but we want to play as many of the new songs as possible. We want to always give a good mix of the old and the new songs. If you go out and just do the new album, a lot of people would be disappointed, so it’s important to combine the two. I think our set is really strong.
Wake The Sleeper is a first record without one of the founding members, Lee Kerslake, who left the band for health reasons.
It was very strange. Let me tell you. I thought me and Lee would be in the band for the rest of our lives. It wasn’t to be. We did some tours recently, and at the end I sat down with him, there are some health issues he had to deal with. We had a long talk, and decided that Lee must take care of himself. I said to Lee we’re mates first, but if you haven’t got your health you haven’t got anything. So, we had a discussion about it, and he was quite relieved actually. He decided to stay off the road and take care of himself. We’re still the best of mates, and I speak with him every week. We have a good relationship, he’s at good space at the moment, and it was a good move to make. If we’d continued like that I’m not sure what would’ve happened.
I think the most surprising factor on the new record is the quality of Bernie’s vocals. I’d say it’s his best performance to date with Uriah Heep.
I think it’s his best vocal to date, and you’re absolutely right about that. But, I also think we’ve delivered good songs to sing too. I hope to think that. Bernie really liked the songs and he put his heart and soul into them. If you sing a good song you’re gonna do great, and if you sing a song you are not quite sure about then maybe you won’t perform as good. We’re very pleased with his vocals.
One thing about Uriah Heep is that I couldn’t believe how friendly the band is. The great relationship is very visible, and it projects itself the same way towards the fans.
We are. We’re very much so. We spend a lot of time in each other’s pocket when we tour around the world. We’re best mates first, and we love playing music all over the world. So, it’s a great feeling, and a great place to be. Back in the 80s when I reformed the band, prior to the Abominog, I made a vow that I’d never work with anyone I didn’t like. That was in regard of musicians. I couldn’t stand any friction among musicians. We just get along great, and make great music. That’s what a band is supposed to be. That was the same with the crew member, agents, and managers, and everyone else. It was very important to me to have great relationship with everyone. I wanna smile at you, hug you, get a beer with you, and that’s great. That’s how it should be. I bring that to the table, and everyone joins in, and it’s great. We really have great band together.
Finally, how do you maintain the enthusiasm to keep it going for so long?
I have the same passion for it as I did when I was 18. The passion and the will are still there. It’s something I have to do. It’s never seen as a chore, or job, or anything. It’s just something that I do because I love. You think about it, I’m really a lucky man. I mean I’m blessed that I was able to make this hobby a career. 38 years later you, after you’ve seen the world, you still have the drive. Recently, I did something with one of the guitar magazines, and they were asking me about the time when we came out in the late 60s. They were talking about the time when John Mayall and Eric Clapton were on top. Asking me why didn’t I play the blues like they did. I said I was too happy to play the blues. I was having a time of my life mate. We were flying in jets, riding in the limousines, having the time of our lives. Where is the blues in that? So that was me saying to the interviewer that I was too happy to play the blues.
One other surprise is the kindness of the British press to the new record. Normally they are hostile calling bands like Uriah Heep granddad rock or professional geezers. But this time, they’re much more respectful.
Honestly, it’s unbelievable. I just hope that bubble doesn’t burst. Well, we managed to stick around for this long.
Any particular highlights then?
I think hearing Gypsy on the radio for the first time was absolutely great. Getting some of the gold and platinum records was wonderful. Playing the Royal Albert Hall was just unbelievable. You see my dad passed away when I was a little boy, but my mom, blessed her heart, had to put up with the rest of the family trying to answer when is he ever getting a proper job for many years. But, when we played the Albert Hall they stopped saying it. That was the pinnacle to them. One of the highlights that I also have to mention was being one of the first bands to play in Soviet Union. We played in Moscow in the1980s, and we were the first western rock band to play there. It was just really great.

Links:
http://www.uriah-heep.com/newa/index.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_2q1Do8Yb4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYUJi4Kfko8