Artist:  Tygers Of Pan Tang 

Date:  18 July 2009 

What better way to while away the hours on a Saturday afternoon than to share something chilled and alcoholic with one of the true gentlemen of rock, Mr Robb Weir from the NWOBHM band the Tygers Of Pan Tang.  We catch up with Robb to find out what the band have been up to lately on the eve of the release of their 'Animal Instinct X2' album.

MM - Hi Robb, how are you today?
Robb- I’m fine thanks.

MM - I believe you’ve got a new version of 'Animal Instant X2' coming out on Monday?
Robb - Yes, it includes the original album that came out last September but this new version also includes five bonus tracks on it.  Three of the tracks are where we’ve re-done old tracks. They are 'Love Potion No.9', 'Gangland' and 'Raised On Rock'.  There's also a brand new track called ‘Don’t Say Rock n' Roll Is Gonna Die’, which is a real big anthem, sing-a-long chorus kind of affair,  It's tremendous I have to say. It’s very us, while at the same time it’s very not us, if that makes any sense? (laughs).  People will just have to listen to it and make their own mind up.  It's rock, it's got the voice box in it and basically it's just got all the elements of a great catchy rock song. 

There's also 'Live For The Day', which has been redone as 'Live For The Bay'.  Whitley Bay football club rang us up and asked if we could rewrite or remodel a song for them, for their FA Vase Final in May.  So Jack set about re-writing the words.  The words are all very football orientated. We did some research on the team, the colours of the strip, the manager and that sort of stuff.  That’s been tagged on the very end of the CD.  

The second disc is the full concert of the live web-cast we did at Berlin Studios.  Simon our manager had taken some footage from various shows and we’ve selected two songs from four different shows.  The ones included on the DVD are from the Birmingham NEC when we played there, there's also some from a show we did in Milan.  There's one from the Carling Academy in Newcastle and also one from the Gasworks in Bradford.  

We've called it the Scrapbook footage because some of the camera work isn’t crystal clear sharp footage that you’d get in a big budget shoot.  It is what it is though, it's a scrapbook footage of some of our recent show and it's very watchable and very listenable ... and it's most definitely live, there’s no miming! (laughs) 

MM - I think it's a fun thing for fans to have.
Robb - Oh yes, we think so too. 

MM - So what has the band been up to over the summer?
Robb - We have been in the studio for a week of it making sure the recordings were right.  A month ago we were in Athens headlining a festival there.  We were collecting our new t-shirts while we were over there because oddly enough they were made and designed in Greece.  We were approving the final designs.  The new t-shirts are very retro, they're actually modeled on two of my old Tygers t-shirts from 1980 and 1982.  One of them is a baseball shirt with the white body and blue sleeves.  

These new designs are available from our web site.  I haven’t even got one yet and I don’t think I'll get the chance because they're selling really, really well. 

Before Athens we were in Holland and Greece and in three weeks time we're off to Southern Italy to play with UFO in a festival out there.  That same week we're playing the 02 Academy in Newcastle at their Mayfair Reunion Night.  Then the following day we're playing Crook Bike Rally.  Two or three weeks after that we’re doing some shows where we play London, Paris, Holland and Belgium all in the same weekend!  So we'll be hitting a few continents and putting a bit of diesel in the tank.  Then the following week after that we’re off to Poland!  After that we're heading to Germany in November, so we've got enough to be thinking about. 

MM - Are the festivals indoor or outdoor?
Robb - It's a mixture really.  Poland is indoor, the Heavy Metal Maniacs in Holland is outdoors.  The Italian ones are definitely outdoors as it’s simply too hot to play indoors in Southern Italy in August. 

MM - What’s the Italian crowds been like with Jack coming from Italy?
Robb - Fantastic, absolutely fantastic.  Although he talks to them in English, he talks also to them in Italian as well when he introduces the songs.  He gets so excited, you can't shut him up really! (laughs). It was like trying to find his battery compartment to pull the battery out!  We ended up playing two hours there instead of an hour and a half set, that’s because we were all enjoying it so much. 

MM - I’ve noticed that in January you’re playing the Rock and Blues Festival?
Robb - Yes we’re really looking forward to that.  We’re playing with Praying Mantis and Marseille.  I'm very interested in seeing Marseille because I had both their vinyl albums back in the seventies.  The guitar player of course went on to do Art Attack.  I must shake his hand because me and my kids just love the show, and now he’s resurrecting the band. 

MM - The band are also set to perform at a NWOBHM Festival in March, what can you tell us about that?
Robb - THIRTY YEARS! Can you believe it's thirty years since this all started? Amazing!  It's going to be be a real good gathering of New Wave Of British Heavy Metalites. (laughs)  A coming together for all the right reasons to celebrate the movement that is still being talked about thirty years on.  Should be a great show.

MM - It just goes to show that even after all these years there's still a lot of interest in the whole NWOBHM scene.
Robb - Absolutely.  When we were in Italy there was a band who were sound checking, they were playing ‘Hellbound’.  They saw us do it and they weren't going to do it but I said to them that they had to keep in their set, but they said they didn't know how to play it.  Then when the guitarist was playing the riff and I said ... "Can I be very rude?" ... and he said ... "What?".   So I said ... "Can I show you how to play that riff properly?  If you're gonna do it, you might as well get to know how to do it properly" (laughs) ... and he said ... "Oh YES! show me!".  So I showed him on the guitar.  He said ..."Oh that’s how you play it, I could never get it right!".  So now he plays that riff right! (laughs).  He was very grateful even though in the end they didn't play it.

MM - I think is shows that there are all these young bands that still find the whole NWOBHM an important part of the music scene.
Robb - You know there were some fantastic guitarists to come out of the scene, I mean we were at the On Stage Club in Athens where we played, they had a NWOBHM party for us on the Friday night before and then after we played on the Saturday, the DJ was playing some great NWOBHM stuff.  Each one better than the previous.  I was standing there with my bottle of wine thinking ... WOW! I haven’t heard some of this stuff in thirty years, it sounds great.  I thought I must remember that for when I get back and write the next song, I’ll turn that riff around and it’ll be alright. (laughs). 

MM - Sometimes when you dig out the old NWOBHM albums you think yes that was way ahead of its time, and it still stands the test of time.  Even the Tygers songs that you’ve done recently in your live sets, I know you’ve tweaked them here and there but the main essence of that song and scene is still very much there. 
Robb - Yes the main core is still there.  Take 'Suzie Smiled', that's one of those songs.  It still goes down well with the crowds.  I couldn't do what I do now in those early days because I was by myself on guitar, but now with Dean, we play so well together and we’ve got that Thin Lizzy guitar harmonies going on.  That early sort of Lizzy sound where the two guitarist just nip in and out.  

We’re gonna do five or six songs, maybe one new one and five older songs, which we’ll bring out early next year to commemorate the thirty years of NWOBHM.  They’ll all be songs from 'Wildcat'.  'Suzie Smiled' will be on that, but we'll be looking again at those songs to re-do.

MM - How is Jack getting on with the older material is he going into the older albums?
Robb - He loves it, Jack's brief is to put his own stamp on the songs.  The melodies are still the same, but if he wanted to add a couple of words, or if the whole thing didn’t quite make sense then he’d change it and give it his stamp. 

MM - Yes the song 'Don’t Touch Me There' is one of those songs that I couldn’t get away with on the early albums, but the new version on which Jack sings, is just superb. 
Robb - Brian is our, what label can I give Brian, he’s our "Cream Flow".  He kind of really looks at things and say let's try this or let's try that.  We can go an hour and a half trying different things out, then all of a sudden we’ll find the right way, which didn’t happen in the past.  Back then it was more ... I’ve figured this song out in my bedroom, here you are.  Thirty five years ago we played and that was it and it was set in stone straight away, but now because of all the musical experience in the band, we're able to take a song and change it for the better.  Even thought we might change a song, we don't lose the essence of it.  We still keep that that sparkle that people expect but bring in some new dynamics.  Jack's singing is just fantastic, it's the cream on the top of the cake. 

MM - Yes the first time we saw Jack in the band was as Bradford Rio’s and my and my friend Dave were just amazed, we both said "WOW!, they’ve got a singer in the band now!".  No offence to Richie or Tony, he Jacks really does bring something to the band.
Robb - He’s the singer we’ve been waiting for since John Deverill really.  I have to say, Richie did a great job.  Richie’s very happy we’re he’s at now with Shadow Keep, he can sing in a higher register and it’s more Metal, more Manowar, and that basically what Richie was.  

MM - The band seem to have been flooded with endorsements lately ...
Robb - Yes their trusting us with their products, dear me scary! (laughs).  I've got a deal with Spear Guitars, who are a great company.  They’ve just built me a guitar, it’s one of their Tomcat models, but it's how I wanted it done.  They’ve sent me over some photo’s three days ago and it's on its way.  It looks fantastic and I will be playing that live with great pride very soon.

Dean uses Boogie stuff which he’s not endorsed by but you never know ...  I using Kettner and it’s a part endorsement, they're a great company as well.  It's a great set of gear and they're very helpful.  Craig’s got his drum deal, his cymbal deal and his case deal.  It's all going really really well.  I also had a deal before Spear with a company that made me a great Flying V, which I’ve only just got a case for.  So I will also be taking that on tour too.  I just love the feel of a V between the legs! (laughs). 

MM - When you first brought Jack into the band, did you think he’s going to take the band beyond what you’ve done before?
Robb - Yeh, Jack’s mere presence and influence had pushed the old truck further down the road.  I think Simon our manager has also had a big impact as well.  Had Simon not come along and Jack not come along I’m not quite sure I’d be talking to you right now.  They’ve put a whole new spark into the engine and I’m thankful to them. 

MM - That comes across on stage to, you really look like you’re really enjoying it now.
Robb - We run the band as a family, we're not colleagues we're a family and everybody would do anything for everyone else.  I think we’ve had one crossed word and that wasn’t bad in nine years.  That’s basically it and thankfully we're at the age where there are no ego’s, there are none of this ... I want do this, I want to stand in the middle when someone’s taking a photograph ... sometimes when someone’s taking a photo you can't get any bugger to stand in the middle! (laughs)

MM - Yes Brian always seems to runs away when I’m trying to take a picture of him ! (laughs)
Robb - You’re pushing people in there saying it's your turn ... no it isn’t. (laughs)  I said on the day when Dean, Brian and Craig and I got together with the idea to do it all again, that there would be no egos, there’d be none that.  It’s a great ride to be on, it's the best ride in the fair.

When the intro goes on and it's show time and you're supposed to have that modicum of sensibility and straightness, and thinking I’m going out there for an hour and a half to entertain, then Craig would crack a joke and there’d be tears running down our faces as we’re bungling out onto the stage in the darkness, trying to pull myself together.  I'm often wondering if I should go and get my inhaler as I’ve have an asthma attack because I’m laughing so much.  He’s our resident comedian.  We meet as friends and we leave as friends.

When we're flying there’s always me then Brian then Craig sitting together for some bizarre reason.  We’ve always sat in that order.  Brian’s a bit of a nervous flyer so when I just amble on the plane Brian’s waiting there saying ... Robb you sit at the window, I’ll sit in the middle and Craig you sit at the end ... and that’s the way he likes it.  I’m sure if he’d thought he’d get away with it he’d hold my hand during take off and landing!  (laughs).  Make sure when you're in a plane you sit at the back because no plane has ever backed into a mountain! (laughs). 

MM - Have the band ever thought of putting together a scrapbook history with press clipping old photo’s and that sort of thing? 
Robb - I think we're waiting for you to suggest that! (laughs).  The short answer is no, but perhaps something for the future.  I’d love to because I’ve got two scrapbooks in my loft full of all the original news papers cuttings from Sound’s, NME, Melody Maker, the charts we were in and Geoff Barton interviews, it would be fantastic to do something like that. 

MM - So where do the Tygers go from here, where would you like to go?
Robb - All over the place.  We shall keep playing, we shall keep recording, we shall keep on trucking on as long as people want that.  As long as the agents book us and the youthful spark is still behind the slightly older eyes, we’ll most definitely keep doing it.

Music is the worst disease you can catch, once you get music in your blood that’s it, you can’t get rid of it.  It’s there until they put you in a box.  It’s a fantastic disease at the same time because it can take you to all sorts of places you never dreamed you’d get to, both a performer and a concert attendee, because people don’t just go to their home town to see bands. they’ll take themselves off on a plane and go and do something mad. 

When we play abroad there’s always somebody from somewhere else, whether it's the UK or Australia or the States, when we playing in Norway last year there was a guy from Arizona who was a German living in America, he ran this Harley Davison part company.  He'd been a long time Tygers fan and when he saw we were playing this festival he came all the way from the US to Norway just to see us!  We spent a good couple of hours talking to him, so you never know, it's like that thing were you're in the middle of a beach in the middle of nowhere and your neighbour comes out of the water says "Hi!".

And wherever you go there’s always a Geordie with a bottle of Brown in his hand ready to party ...

MM - With that we bid Robb a fond farewell and leave him to enjoy the rest of his Saturday afternoon.  The band will be performing locally at the Mayfair Reunion Night as well as the Bike Rally in Crook very shortly, so all you local bods be sure to show our local heroes some support.  In addition to this they will continue to conquer the world so no matter where you're based, be sure to keep an eye out for shows as you're sure to hear these Tygers roar.

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