By 1981, they had a strong local following playing a mixture of covers and original material but their original drummer, Mark Eason, decided that the rock world was not for him and decided to call it a day. Charlie Mackenzie was drafted in and the band continued gigging in the local area supporting the likes of Trust, Budgie, Saxon and Limelight. This was the start of the NWOBHM period when the likes of Iron Maiden, Saxon and Def Leppard were signed in a very short period. Rock began to dent the charts and, like the punk explosion, lots of people began forming bands, encouraged by the fact that you could release your own records quite cheaply and sell them to a very responsive audience. This also meant that there was a lot of "too'ing and fro'ing" as musicians were offered gigs with other bands. At this point, three things happened. Firstly, the band decided to change its name to Black Rose (being keen Thin Lizzy fans), and secondly Ken and Charlie opted for other bands and were replaced by myself (guitar/vox) and Malla Smith (drums/vox). Lastly, it was felt that a more exciting bass player was needed to take the band in a tighter direction. Marty was excellent at that AC/DC, UFO style of bass playing and, by God, did he look the superstar compared to the rest of us, but we were getting really excited by the Geddy Lee/Steve Harris style of playing and new bass player Mick Thompson had all that plus more. Mick and Malla, in my opinion, made this one of the tightest rhythm sections in the country and gelled amazingly. Marty went on to join Chinatown from the South Coast so everyone benefited in the end. The new band buckled down to rehearsals and started on, possibly, the most exciting era of the bands career.

This line-up began to get gigs out of the local area and travelled to the South to play places like The Marquee in Wardour Street, London as well as gigs in Scotland and Wales. We also got in the studio and did various demos that attracted some label interest. Our gigs were reviewed in Kerrang! and Sounds and we began to get some interest from Europe and America. All the time we were broke, having given up the day jobs to concentrate on making it happen.

Our first single, "No Point Runnin'", received a lot of positive reviews and won us a lot of fans in Holland, Belgium, Italy, Germany and even Mexico and other South American countries. Eventually, we secured a deal with Bullet Records to record an album and single and in 1984 "Boys will be Boys" was released as an album and single. It never garnered rave reviews (the metal "underground" mags from Europe being the most positive) but at the same time it was never slated. We began to fell "left-out" and wondered if it was because we were a Northern band (Raven, Venom and The Tygers of Pan Tang were the top dogs in our area but all had started very early on). Also the climate began to change as bands like Bon Jovi, Motley Crue and Cinderella began to attract the working class audiences to "glam-up". It soon became more pretty boy bands where jeans and t-shirts were looked down at and the audience started looking better than the band! The Iron Maidens and AC/DC's still had their roots audience but it got harder to be "ordinary" and the focus became as much on the look as the music. For somebody like myself (wearing a Damned t-shirt and Donkey Jacket on the photo on the back of the album!), this was a move in the wrong direction. I tried to do the "if you cant beat 'em, join 'em" thing but felt it was hard when you're unemployed trying to keep up. I left the band in 1984, very despondent that the album hadn't done better.

The band recruited another guitarist, Ian Iredale, who was excellent and the band started writing and recording again. I saw them at a gig and was really impressed-it was strange being on the outside looking in. I felt they had improved immensely and it could have been the spark that was needed to get back on track. Overall I felt pissed at myself for missing out on this new rejuvenated period. In the band however, things weren't as hunky dory as I seemed and Ian left one day never to be seen again! I jumped at the chance to rejoin and at this point also pushed to get Steve as a frontman and introduce a second guitarist with keyboard skills into the band in the form of Garry Todd, a local musician who had played in a few bands and was chomping at the bit to get into Black Rose. After more writing and rehearsing we went into Fairview Studios in Hull in winter 1985 to record three new tracks. They were:

1. Keep the bright lights burnin' Download Mp3 5.05 meg.zip
2. Want your love
3. (Get off Your) High Horse

This demo was, in my opinion, our finest moment (the other guys may disagree). I played my best solos ever and the sound was immense with only the bass slightly subdued. Steve sang his socks off; the keyboards added a new texture and the songs were good. We also did a Radio 1 Rockshow session at Maida Vale, London about a month later and though seasoned producer Tony Wilson was at the helm, it was not a patch on the Fairview tape (Mick was however happier with the bass sound!). Sadly, nothing happened with this tape. At the time, Atlantic Records came to see us about 9 times (!) without offering us a thing and I got very despondent again. About the same time, I decided to make a new start and moved "darn sarf" to get a job and get on. The band recruited new people (notably guitarist Pat O'Neill who was another excellent player) and continued until 1987 when after recording a second album and having problems with a band in the U.S. with the same name, decided to call it a day. It was a sad end to a band that showed much potential but never got the breaks. I enjoyed my time with Black Rose and miss them greatly. All the guys are still doing "stuff" and we keep in touch from time to time. You can find some photos from that era in the gallery and there are some Black Rose mp3's here. Also you can view my Black Rose press cuttings by clicking on this link- Press Cuttings. Also check out Black Rose Road Tales , tales of mishaps, danger, supernatural and much more