Is available for direct download
here. I'm currently working on making the Podcast available via I-Tunes. But enough of my yakkin' - let's boogie!
This week's episode features
Jaguar and Xero.
Picture of the recalled Xero 7":
Interview with Barry Fitzgeraldhi bill, its barry...drums with "xero. heres some backround: i first met bill "bird" liesegang" thru his old bassist from school days (steve"ballcrush"jeffries). we then formed xero in 1979 and promptly toured austria of all places("birds" old band "malformation' came from there). when we got back we started out playing pubs in south east london (white swan, blackheath, tygers head, lewisham, j arthurs, catford, tramshed, woolwich, etc) then we got more gigs in the west end (like crackers club in wardour street which was building up a big following of "mettle" fans). also we played the marquee club, wardour st., music machine, camden town.
by now were starting to be recognised a bit...especially after a certain mr neil kay of "the neil kay bandwagon" started playing a tune "cuttin loose" at hes gig in sidcup i think it was. really it was neil kay, and later tommy vance (god bless him) who really were pushing for us to be signed to a major(or minor come to that! label)
we done 2 stints for tommy vance friday night rock show...and the response was terrific!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we also were gigging regularly with iron maiden at the ruskin arms.east ham...we done 3 albums(compilations): "metal for muthas" on emi, "brute force" on mca, "best of friday rock show" on bbc records, and a single on brickyard records
"oh baby" with bruce on the b side which was to cause such a fufore.and with rod smallwood/emi sueing us and making us take all the pressed copies off the shelves........our career was over before it began!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
anyway now to your questions(and bear in mind after 25 years my recollection of events and dear old bill "birds' may differ slightly!!!!!!!!!!!!NWOBHM Podcast: Your music definitely fell on the bluesier side of the spectrum. It's a far cry from the Satan and Dragons approach of bands like Witchfinder General and Venom. Do you feel that, in that sense, you were unfairly labeled a NWOBHM band, or does that designation appeal to you?
Barry: Yes, we were more bluesy-rock than outright "mettle" due to Moon being a Soul/R and B vocalist, really. So the flavour of the records was more hard blues!NWOBHM Podcast: What happened with the "Lone Wolf" track? Did Iron Maiden's legal team actually come after you guys for including a song you did with Bruce Dickenson?
Barry: The "Lone Wolf" fiasco was due to our old manager releasing it on the B side of the first single. It was a song recorded with Bruce Dickinson on vox and was with Bird's previous band "The Shots". As I mentioned earlier, EMI didn't take kindly to their license being used without permission!!! 'nuff said!!!!NWOBHM Podcast: What was performing live like back in those days? What are your fondest (and not so fondest) memories of being on the road?
Barry: Performing live then was really exciting. We used to rehearse down at a place called "Woodwharf" Greenwich, and we became great friends with Angelwitch, who used to rehearse next door. Also, Kate Bush was there...before the big time - and Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits, Eddie and the Hot Rods, etc. And the local club was The Albany where Jools Holland and early Squeeze were!!! One moment I recall to this day which still makes me and The Bird laugh is...we were performing at Crackers Club and all the lights went out!!! So our bass player Steve "Ballcrush" pulled out he's lighter from he's pocket and held it up on stage. Suddenly all the crowd quite spontaneously did the same thing...and all the club was lit with hundreds of little lighters waving in the air!!! So funny and quite moving, actually (poor old "Ballcrush" now passed on). And I'm sure Bird would agree we would dedicate this Podcast to Ballcrush - 'cos if it weren't for him, "Xero" would never have happened. And I'd never have met Bird!!!!NWOBHM Podcast: Which region of the UK had the craziest fans?
Barry: We only done London gigs apart from Austria!!!NWOBHM Podcast: The production on the EP is pretty impressive.
Barry: Yeh, the EP was quite good stuff. I think it was engineered by John Strudwick if my memory is right.NWOBHM Podcast: What kind of gear did you use on the demo?
Barry: My drums back then were 12 piece "Tama Swingstar Kit", double bass drums and lots of cymbals. Just like Cozy Powell (a big Favourite).NWOBHM Podcast: What are you up to these days?
Barry: These days I've got my own little place where I do music - with Bill "Bird" quite a lot - and also with my old band from even further back from the 60s would you believe!!! We do some gigs around London from time to time, and I've just finised a CD with Bill Bird Liesegang, Laurie Garman (harp), Eric Ranzoni (piano), Moon Williams, some vocal trax...it's sort of like early Jeff Beck band - from "Truth"/"Maggie May" era.Thanks a million to Jaguar for granting permission to use "Back Street Woman". Extra special thanks to
Bill Liesegang and Barry Fitzgerald of Xero for granting permission to use "Hold On" and taking the time to answer my questions.
