Artist:  Fury UK 

Date:  8 October 2010 

MM - How are you today?  It's good to see you back up here in Newcastle.
CA - I'm very well thank you.  It's good to be back up in Newcastle again.

MM - How's the tour being going so far?
CA - It's been fantastic.  We opened up in Manchester, which was great as it's our home town.  We had a great time last night in Leeds and here we are tonight in Newcastle.  The Y&T guys have been treating us really well on the tour, it's been cool and all the crew are really nice as well.  It's all going well.

MM - The band have developed quite an affinity with Blaze Bayley over recent times.
CA - Yes, he kind of took us under his wing from a very early start. He helped us out with a tour last year and helped to get us moving quite a bit.  We're also doing the European dates with him in Switzerland and Greece, and then with Luke deputising for David, that was our big foot in the door.  Then I ended up stepping in at the S.O.S. Festival, so it was two brothers for two brothers. (laughs) 

It's been really cool and we're still doing dates with him.  He's cool Uncle Blaze is. (laughs)

MM - I think it helps that the type of music you both play in comparison to what he plays will appeal to a very similar crowd. 
CA - Yes, we're similar but not alike.  We're similar in that we'll go down well with the same crowd, but not too alike to clash musically.  

MM - The band recently released their latest album 'A Way Of Life', how did the album develop along the way? CA - We recorded the album earlier this year.  We had all the material for it pretty much set in our minds while we were out touring with Michael Schenker last year.  We'd already started writing and rehearsing it quite early on.  Everything was set ready for us just to go into the studio.  After we'd recorded it, Martin and I were due to go out on tour with Dave Evans.  It was about a week after we'd finished recording in the studio that we had that tour to do.   Then we had a couple of months off in between before releasing the album last month.  The feedback we've been getting from everyone has been great and all the fans seem to really dig it.  From what press coverage it's received it's all been very positive, so we're all really happy with the finished album.  We're all really happy with the songs and the production on it.  We used a different studio and producer this time and he really got what we are all about.

MM - Although you've kept true to what your musical origins, you have developed a hell of a lot since those early days and seem to have found your own sound. 
CA - I think that's mainly down to the sound being of the three of us now, because when Luke joined us just before we went into the studio to record 'VR'.  Most of the material for that album had already been written, so although he had some input, it wasn't as much as perhaps myself or Martin did on that album.  For this album he's actually done the majority of the writing, so he's really put his stamp on in.

MM - Is that the musical side of it or the lyrical side of it?
CA - A bit of both.  Mainly the music though.  I think he's started on writing material for the fourth album already.  We keep saying ... do we not need to tour this album first? ... and he'll say ... oh but I've got these new riffs and these other new things ... It's all been really cool though.

MM - Is it too early to think about a live DVD from the band?
CA - Well, we have been thinking about it actually.  At the moment we're just concentrating touring 'A Way Of Life' and then we've got the rest of the Y&T tour dates.  After that we go out on the road again with our headline tour of the UK and then we'll be sinking our teeth into European at the back end of this year.  

We take January off religiously because it's a nothing month, it's the month we do absolutely nothing! (laughs).  After that we'll be back out on the road next year, hopefully with some more European dates.  Then we'll go back out on the second leg of the UK tour and visit some places we perhaps haven't visited before.  We'll wait until we get half way through next year and then we'll start to think about what we need to do next.  

MM - The band have already played quite a few festivals over recent tmes, how have the fans reacted to the band, as obviously at most festivals not everyone is going to be familiar with all the bands that are performing.
CA - One of our favourite UK festivals this year was Hammerfest.  That was a great show and they had fantastic sound and lights in there.  It was really well organised and we had a really early slot, something like 1.30 / 1.45 in the afternoon.  But we had a great turn-out because a lot of our fans had got down really early to see us.  There were loads of Fury UK t-shirts in the crowd, which was great to see and it was such a great gig.  

Also at Bloodstock this year we did a special acoustic set where we mainly played songs off the new album.  Again the reception we got there was great.  It was just fun to play at these festivals because people come to have a good time and travel from all over.

We did Wizzfest in Belgium earlier this year with label mates Nightvision and then we're due to play that again next year with Blaze.  That was a great festival, again very well organised and quite similar to the S.O.S. Festival that we did as well.  It was great to see a community festival that has spread it's wings and has now got a lot of different bands from different countries involved.  It was really nice to see and Wizz is a great guy as well.  

Other European things we've done, which weren't really festivals as such, but we played the Z7 club in Switzerland.  That was another venue that was really cool, the lighting rig was mega.  

MM - After this tour with Y&T you're doing your own headliner tour, how many dates have you got on that tour?
CA - I think it's about 18 dates on the headliner tour.  We're coming to Newcastle on 22nd October and will be playing Trillians Rock Bar so be sure to come along to that show.

MM - Taking a step back slightly now, it's been 3 years since we last spoke to you and over that time we've seen a couple of line-up changes in the band.  I think Martin was the first to join the fold, how did that come about?
CA - It's really weird actually because we've all known each other for quite a long time, through seeing each other at different venues in and around Manchester.  I had actually asked Martin if he would join the band before.  Dawson decided to leave the band and Adz really wasn't sure what to do.  From the day he actually left I think it was in the space of about 2 days and I phoned Adam Cropper up and asked if he'd be up for it, he came down and did an audition and was really up for it.  Then we phoned Martin and asked if he wanted to do it and he said yes.  

MMcN - I'd known Chris for years out and about on the music scene and at jam nights and stuff like that.  We have actually played together before I joined the band, but then when I got the phone call I said ... yeh, why not ... and the rest is history! (laughs)

CA - Then of course the new boy Luke came in and it all just went mental again. The first practice that we had with Luke, again this was all in a very short period of time as Adam left after we'd played at the Bulldog Bash festival, and then the following weekend we were due to play at Bloodstock festival 2008.  So we asked Luke and Luke just seems to learn everything by ear.  You give him something to learn for a couple of hours and during that time he'll have learned the full two hour set.  He picks up stuff so quickly.  The first practice Martin just turned around and said he felt like he'd been playing with us for 5 years as there was such a seamless change.  

MM - As a band you do genuinely seem to bond as one when you're performing, it's almost physic the way you all mash together so well. 
CA - I think it helps with Luke and I being brothers as well.  

MM - Yes but being brothers can sometimes work against you, because sometimes you can get these jealous niggles creeping in and competition between brothers building up.  You guys are lucky in that this doesn't seem to be the case with you two.
CA - No, we're not affected by stuff like that and we all get on really well together.  If anything I'm the moody one. (laughs).  

MM - How would you describe the bands sound to people who are only just starting to hear the buzz about Fury UK?
CA - We're quite an aggressive band but we're also quite melodic when we want to be.  We try to keep an inventive side to it along with including some progressive influences, but at the same time trying not actually moving away from having a song.  We always write songs that actually mean something to us rather than just nonsense.  I'd say an inventive Rock and Metal band ... and we like to have fun.  That's the main thing, if we're not having fun then no one else is going to, so we always make sure we have plenty of fun.

MM - Where do you get the inspiration from for the stories behind the songs?
CA - Usually we pick a topic so there is a background to it and then we know how the music will reflect that.  So even before we've wrote the music, lyrically we know what the song is going to be about and where it's going to go.  It's not really planned but we do cover different topics.

On 'A Way Of Life' there is a lot of gangland references, 'VR' had more of a futuristic feel to it, a bit like Blade Runner.  There's nothing specific theme all the time but there are definitely topics behind the songs.

MM - How old were you when you first started to play and have you always been a guitarist first and foremost?
CA - Oh yes, I was definitely a guitarist first.  I've been messing around with toy electric guitars from around the age of 3 or 4 but it wasn't until I was 9 years old that I actually started to play them seriously. When I first heard 'Highway To Hell' by AC/DC it was like something went off in my head and from there on I just knew what I wanted to do. 

I was never meant to be the singer in the band.  Right from the very start, when I was still in my very early teens, it was always a case that we'd get a singer in to audition and I'd be messing about with the mic and getting through a few gigs.  Then every singer we brought in seemed to be so terrible.  They couldn't sing a note and it got to the point that I said to the other guys that if the guys auditioning weren't as good as me then we're not making do.  We just never got a singer and I just kept carrying on with the singing and working at it.  

We developed the power trio and kept it like that.  It kept things simple and back in the day it was just another person not to have to worry about.  We wouldn't settle for just any old singers that weren't right for us and we've always seemed to gel better as a three piece.  

People have asked over the years why we haven't we brought in another rhythm guitar but there's stuff that we do that is kind of improvised at times and I don't think we could do that with another person in the band.  Everyone just knows what we're going to do next and I think if were had another member in the band that just wouldn't work the way it does, and does so well.  

MM - One thing I have noticed over the past 3 years is that your voice has really developed tremendously, and where as perhaps you weren't as strong a singer when you first started out, you're definitely a strong singer now.  Have you picked up any tips from other singers that you've toured with over this time? 
CA - Yes, I'm definitely a lot more happier and more comfortable with my singing now than I was back then.  Blaze helped me out a lot on that first tour and gave me a couple of tips, not vocal warm up tips, but tips on my stage presence and the way I talk to the crowd.  He taught me to talk a lot slower when I say things to the crowd and making sure everything's really clear for them so they can understand me.  

MM - You definitely seemed to have mastered how to control the power behind your vocals so they don't sound forced or stretched when you sing. 
CA - I think my vocal range has improved over the years as well, whereas 3 or 4 years ago my top notes were here, now I have some right at the top notes which I can reach quite comfortably now that I perhaps couldn't before.

MM - Martin, now it's your turn to get involved, how long have you been playing drums?
MMcN - I've been playing drums since I was 14 and I'm 30 now so that's 16 years I've been playing.  I started off back in High School playing in the school bands, playing in brass bands and stuff like that.  I went to Germany twice.  

MM - Any final words for our readers out there?
CA - Buy the album, come to see us live soon. 
MMcN - Our website address is www.furyuk.com .  Check it out blog.

MM - We'd like to thank Chris and Martin for taking the time out to chat with us this evening and look forward to catching them out on the road again soon.  If you haven't already checked these guys out be sure to do so as you're in for a treat.  Check out their new album as well, it's a stormer! 

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