Granbretan Invasion!

Graham Oliver and Me playing some Saxon classics

Not long ago, Witch Cross were approached by our Metal buddy Bart Gabriel over at Skol records to see if we’d be interested in contributing a song to a new tribute album to the glories of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Needless to say the answer was a resounding “Hell yeah!”

The choice of song was a no-brainer for us. In our live show, one of our encores is the SAXON classic “Strong Arm of the Law”. Luckily I was over from Spain at the right time and we got the track recorded, but there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to have my long time friend Graham Oliver, Saxon axe-wielder extraordinaire on the track!

I drove up to Graham’s place in Yorkshire while I was in the UK and we headed up to Beat Street Studios in Leeds to record his parts. He’s the genuine article, the real deal, and his playing brought the song alive.

Graham working his Metal Magic

We’re really proud of our contribution to this fantastic project and can’t wait to hear what the other bands have done. Besides Witch Cross featuring Graham Oliver, it contains NWOBHM covers from Cauldron, Crystal Viper, Enforcer, Gatekeeper, Helvetets Port, Hitten, Ironflame, Martyr, Savage Master, Substratum, Twisted Tower and Dire. The album will be out later this year – stay tuned! Big thanks to my mate Jase Brooks at Beat Street for fitting in with our tight recording deadline!

L-R Kev Moore, Graham Oliver, Jase Brooks, Oliver Sekunda

Kev Moore

Dublin 2 – In search of Phil

I’d visited Dublin before – some fifteen years ago, if memory serves. I was there in a professional capacity, fronting the embryonic Oliver/Dawson Saxon, hot on the heels of their release “Victim You”, under their original name of Son of a Bitch. We were playing at the Temple Bar Music Centre, right in the middle of the district of the same name name. The gig was amazing I remember, and as we left through the stage door at the end of the night, I recall seeing people hanging over balconies, spilling out onto the street from bars, just having a great time. But we were not long there, and couldn’t spend a long time in the city, as we had to head across country to play Galway Bay.

Cut to last week, and my visit to Ireland’s capital is much more leisurely. This time, I intended to visit the grave of one of my major musical influences: Philip Lynott.  I needed to pay my respects to a man who was such a hero to me as I was growing up and discovering I wanted to be a musician, moreover, that I wanted to be a bass player/lead singer like him.  I ‘met’ him….very briefly, as the embryonic twin guitar line up of Thin Lizzy were relaxing in the refectory of Derby College, back in the 70’s about to promote the ‘Nightlife’ album. ‘Met’ constituted a mumbled ‘hi’ from a tongue-tied awkward teenager, and a nod from the man himself, but it was good enough for me.

We found his grave on the promontory East of Dublin known as Howth. A strange sense of a circle being closed came upon me. Phil was one of a triumvirate of bassist/singers who had a profound impact on me becoming a professional musician. In the 90’s, I had the chance to impersonate him on the UK TV show ‘Stars in their Eyes’ , and some weeks later, I met Eric Bell, Lizzy’s original guitarist, who confided in me that he’d seen the show:

In the intervening years, I’ve travelled the world, played on some of the biggest stages, and now I found myself on this windy promontory kneeling at the graveside of one of the men who most certainly set me on the path I tread to this day.  As I write this, his bassline to ‘I’m gonna creep up on you’ is pulsing out of my speakers, as alive as can be….and I realize that his music is his heartbeat, and that will never be stilled.

Me and Phil: The corner of Grafton Street, Dublin 2013

Afterword:

While we stood by the grave, Miki asked if I wanted to leave a drawing, and promptly produced her drawing pad and pen. I left this little sketch on his gravestone. It’s said that his Mother, Philomena, visits everyday. I hope she finds it:

Kev Moore