GRAND SLAMSLAM are to play a full show of their originals such as “Nineteen,” “Sisters Of Mercy,” “Crime Rate” and “Military Man” and selected LIZZY classics as well as some of Phil Lynott’s solo pieces. There’s a string of live dates planned for June, to be announced on the under-construction grandslamband.co.uk. But how they did arrive at the resurrection idea and how will it go without one of the co-founders? That’s what I asked Stanway.
Grand Slam jouera un set complet composé de leurs standards comme Nineteen, Sisters Of Mercy, Crime Rate et Military Man, des titres de Lizzy ainsi que des chansons issues du répetroire solo de Phil Lynott.
Says Mark:
“I was approached by Johannes Lindstrom, one of the main organizers of the huge Sweden Rock Festival, and asked if I would be interested in putting GRAND SLAM back together for an appearance at the festival in June this year. I got in touch and spoke with Laurence Archer, and he was well up for it. I then contacted Micky Barker who has always been one of my favorite drummers, and he was well up for it, too. I thought about bass players and obviously it had to be a very good one, especially as it would be all of Phil’s bass parts etcetera, so I called my good friend Neil Murray, and again he was also right up for it. This left a singer!
Mark Stanway : " J'ai été approché par Johannes Lindstrom, un des principaux organisateurs de l'énorme Sweden Rock Festival et m'a donc demandé si j'étais intéressé par une reformation de Grand Slam dans la perspective d'une prestation au festival en juin cette année. J'ai contacté Laurence Archer et lui en ai touché mot. Il a accepté. J'ai ensuite contacté Micky Barker qui a toujours l'un de mes batteurs préférés qui a aussi accepté.
My first thought was another close friend and immensely talented Pat McManus, but he had far too many commitments with his own band, although he would have loved to have done it, This left me one choice and that was my Swedish friend Stefan Berggren. I have been asked why I didn’t approach Robbie Brennan, but he, by all accounts, had not been playing regularly, and for a drummer that is not good, so I didn’t call him. I did try to get hold of Brian Downey, though, who was really GRAND SLAM’s original drummer, but he had semi-retired. As for [guitarist] Doishe [Nagle], he was impossible to track down; all numbers I had and were given for him were all unobtainable.
J'ai pensé en premier à l'immense Pat McManus mais il avait beaucoup trop d'engagements à respecter mais il aurait bien voulu en être. Il me restait une personne à choisir et ce fut mon pote suédois Stefan Berggren. On m'a demandé pourquoi je n'avais pas approché Robbie Brennan mais selon les dires de certains, il ne joue plus régulièrement et donc pour batteur qui n'est pas très bon, je ne l'ai pas appelé. J'ai vraiment essayé de contacter Brian Downey qui était le premier batteur de Grand Slam mais il est quasiment à la retraite. Et comme guitariste, il lui était impossible de localiser Doishe Nagle. En fait, tous les titres avaient été un peu faits en fonction de lui.
With regards to playing without Phil… Well, it just could not ever be the same, but out of respect and indeed the effort put in especially by myself and Laurence with writing all the songs with Phil, it seemed to justify the reason for doing it. QUEEN will never be the same without Freddie but that doesn’t mean to say the rest of the guys can’t continue with their band.”
Concernant le fait de jouer sans Phil eh bien, cela ne pouvait pas être la même chose mais sans lui manquer de respect Laurence et moi étions partie prenante pour écrire les chansons avec Phil par conséquent, nous avons estimé que cette reformation était justifiée. Queen ne sera jamais les mêmes sans Freddie mais cela ne veut pas dire que les survivants ne peuvent pas continuer avec leur groupe."
As for the GRAND SLAM album, stay tuned.
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February 28, 2016
