Uriah Heep celebrate their 50th anniversary this year. An anniversary tour, like pretty much everything else this year, has now been rescheduled for 2021 but Greater Manchester Rock Radio’s Tony Charles recently caught up with Heep’s Mick Box to reflect on the band’s past half century.
In a fascinating hour-long programme that GMRR have shared with me for this blog, Mick and Tony takes us through the band’s entire history starting with the very early days and the band’s formation. The classic David Byron-fronted years of the early to mid 70s are discussed in some detail, of course, but Box’s reflections on the years that came after that are definitely worth hearing.
Talking about the late 70’s and the band’s temporary implosion following the release of the Conquest album in 1980, Box reflects: “I’ll tell you what it was. I think the writing got a bit too poppy. We started off as a rock band and then you got songs like ‘Free Me’ and ‘Come Back To Me’ and although they were good songs we didn’t really associate them with Uriah Heep if you like and I think a lot of fans fell by the wayside because we lost that rocking edge.”
Uriah Heep bounced back in 1982 with a new line-up and the Abominog album. Box looks back on that now as: “Very much an album of the 80s in its production, in its writing and everything and we had great success with it.”
In more recent years the band has returned to a more classic sound with the last album Living The Dream receiving heaps of praise. Box: “With Living The Dream we had a great producer Jay Rushton and what he did was he kept the heritage of the band and all the trademarks that the band is known for – with the five-part harmony and the wah-wah guitar, the solos, the Hammond organ – and he kept all of those elements but he had a wonderful way of blending them to make them sound very modern.”
Thanks to Tony Charles and Greater Manchester Rock Radio – you can listen to the full hour-long interview on soundcloud here:
Related posts:
Uriah Heep at Giants of Rock 2018
Are you an aspiring Radio DJ? Introducing Greater Manchester Rock Radio
Darren's music blog 
Love the Heep! Saw them live last in 2018 at the Arcade Theater in St Charles, Illinois. They had a history with the owner/promoter of the venue from his support of them in the early ’70s, so as a special treat, they agreed to do a Q&A session before the gig, and it was a hoot. Mick Box is a treasure, both as a player and as a delightful human being. And their last album was one of their career highlights, so they’ve still got it going on. Looking forward to listening to this interview later tonight!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh what a treat. Seen them several times and bumped into the band in a fish and chip restaurant before a gig a couple of years ago!
LikeLike
Love them and was lucky to see them live and meet them backstage on the Equator tour in Birmingham UK. Really friendly guys and happy to chat and sign autographs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fantastic yes I met them all in a restaurant before a gig a couple of years ago – exactly same scenario as you describe
LikeLiked by 1 person