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Abominog

Artist Comments

Mick Box 1990 | Lee Kerslake | Pete Goalby | Mick Box 1997

MICK BOX
1990

At that point in time (after Sloman left), myself and Trev paid a visit to David Byron to ask him if he'd like to join the band again. We had the deals and the money in our pocket while he was still trying to put something together and we couldn't believe it when he said he didn't want to know.

(After Trevor left)...I locked myself in my flat for two days and drank myself senseless in complete self-pity. But I somehow managed to pull myself together and consider my options. Neil Warnock, my agent, was suggesting I go out and do the guitar hero thing, because the time was right, but I wanted to look at the possibilities of Heep still. I was getting a lot of mail from fans all over the world, saying how we had been a part of their lives, and also lots of kids just discovering us too, so I was encouraged by that quite a lot.

(After Lee and Bob joined)...I suddenly realized we had the basis of the new Heep. Then the name John Sinclair came up, who'd supported Heep many years ago while in the Heavy Metal Kids. We tracked him down working with a band called Lion in Los Angeles, brought him over and that was it, like it had always been.

...The spirit was there. We had some dynamite songs and the important thing was that we continued to look ahead. I realized that it was coming together when we were interspersing our new songs from Abominog with our old ones and they all sounded as if they belonged.

...Ashley Howe, our producer, had a very American head on his shoulders.

... That's The Way That It Is was really turning America around. It was lovely to see the new band accepted in that way.

(On their performance at Castle Donington Monsters Of Rock, the key concert of Uriah Heep's return and the performance of the festival)...We got a good response. I remember getting annoyed with my guitar going out of tune and I was rubbing it against the scaffolding and the head snapped off! I didn't mean it but the crowd loved it!


LEE KERSLAKE
1990

It was an embryonic situation. We obviously couldn't continue in our previous direction, i.e. Conquest, and we couldn't do any more Return To Fantasys, that era had gone. But with us all contributing to the writing we forged our new direction.


PETE GOALBY
1990

Mick wanted to avoid the previous problems of having one person make all the money, so that was part of the deal when I came in.

...I liked what Ashley was doing. He's a good producer and if Abominog had not been the way it was the band wouldn't have taken off again. Abominog opened all the doors.


MICK BOX
Tomsk, Siberia, Russia, March 11, 1997

I really enjoyed making this album and thought that Ashley Howe did a wonderful job on the production, which gave us a Top 40 slot on the USA charts with the song That's The Way That It Is. It was great having Lee back in the band and there was a lot of energy flying around and some great ideas. Bob Daisley had formed a strong working relationship with Lee in Ozzy Osbourne's band. Pete Goalby had a strong set of pipes and having just left Trapeze after a long American tour he was great to work with, and John Sinclair was wearing the keyboard hat with enthusiasm. I think that this album is really strong and to some people this was their introduction to the band. The reviews were all positive especially in the UK and the cover won second prize in the USA as the worst album cover that year... funny enough Ozzy took first place. I hope you like the re-mastered version and the bonus tracks.

'Appy Days.

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