Firefly

KEN HENSLEY
1977

It is measurably better and more significant than the last album.

On leaving Spiders From Mars for Heep:
It wasn't the bands fault, it was finances, we couldn't afford to keep it going.

I knew Heep were the right band for me - we hit it off immediately. I'd always been into heavy rock before joining Bowie anyway.

Image-wise he (John Lawton) wasn't quite what we were looking for, but his pipes were perfect and so we went for the music end of it.

All the songs were there so basically I just had to go in and sing it. As soon as that was ready we went out and toured for 6 months.

I remember first hearing the song Firefly written by Ken, and I thought that it was a terrif number with all the Heep trademarks and dynamics. We first did a demo of this in his studio, "Dodgy Demos", at his home in Henley-On-Thames, England. With the vocals of John Lawton added, I knew we were entering into a new Heep era.

We released Wise Man as a single in the UK, and as I remember, we were having a band break and I had flown to the USA to be with my family. I had flown to Chicago and then on to El Paso, Texas. I was halfway home to New Mexico by car when it broke down, and we had to stay in what can only be described as a one-horse town. In the morning, whilst in reception trying to get someone to fix the car, I had a call from our manager's wife, Lillian Bron, who was phoning from the UK saying we had a spot on Top Of The Pops, a very important show to do with a recently released single. How she tracked me down, I will never know, but she convinced me to do the show. Then suddenly, I was surrounded by police cars. She had arranged for them to escort me back to El Paso and put me on a flight to London once again, via Chicago.

I did the show and I was in camera-shot for all of thirty seconds. Then they put me back on a plane to Chicago, then on to El Paso, and eventually, after I had been flying for what seemed to be forever, I arrived home with a severe case of jet-lag. I guess that's Rock 'n' Roll, and of course what becomes of having a very understanding family.

I enjoyed making this record, and I felt that we had finished a strong album by the end of it. I hope you enjoy this re-mastered version with added bonus tracks.

I can still remember the first time I saw a firefly (or "lightning bug" as they are sometimes called). I was eating dinner on the deck of my former in-laws' house in New Jersey, and saw this glow in the bushes (the glow is the firefly's mating signal!). It was spooky and amazing, and I ran into the house and started scribbling words down. From that came the title track and the idea for the cover. I like this record. It's a little light for Heep purists, but they never were into growth anyway! Other items you might find interesting... Rollin' On was born in Alvin Lee's (of Ten Years After) studio near my house in Sonning Common, and Gerry Bron actually thought I wrote Wise Man about him!

Content Copyright © 1997 Jay Pearson

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