NWOBHM Legends
Diamond Head
25th Anniversary Tour
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Gameboy Camera Diary
Preparation
Thanks to regular viewings of the offical Diamond Head web site I knew all about the four date nationwide Diamond Head tour. I was particularly excited, because these shows were to be fully electric and one of the dates, in Milton Keynes, was within travelling distance of London.

The venue's website at www.zakslive.com had below average directions for travel, but they were just enough to reach the venue without getting lost.

In addition to a printout of these, frankly awful, directions I also selected the following items for my night at the office. As a hardcore raver I believe in doing these things without compromise:

In order to be the coolest dude at the gig I decided to wear the t-shirt of obscure German art-rock band Bodenstandig 2000, but no one noticed.


All tooled up and ready to rock ('n' roll)

Zaks
Leaving the motor in the carpark of nearby supermarket 'Tesco' Zaks was less than a minutes walk. The outside of Zaks looked like this:


I love the way GB Camera makes wicked effects at night!

Zaks is split into two parts - a 'music bar' which is actually a medium size pub, serving a good selection of drinks at reasonable prices, and the actual venue. The doors to the gig opened at 9pm, so to kill time we had drinks in the bar.


A sign on the door declares that no travellers are allowed into Zaks music bar

The customers in the bar were a mixture of regulars to the pub, old rockers, and nu-metal kiddiez. Plus there were some pretentious-London-art-wankers. The duke box played old jungle tunes and hard-rockin Michael Jackson hits such as Billy Jean. Decor included an excellent montage of pictures taken at the venue. The old rockers realy knew how to turn themselves out for the occasion, with heavily customised leather jackets, such as the one shown below:


Check the phat upside-down cross on this guys jacket

Of course there was the obligatory chalkboard sign, with skillful artwork:


The chalkboard had a list of all this months events, and a new-age web URL

The only other points of note were badly photocopied Diamond Head posters, which adorned the walls:


These homemade posters were photo-copied on a variety of different coloured paper!!

The Gig
At five to nine we went outside to join the queue to enter the gig. Some old rockers in the queue exchanged some great rock'n'roll stories, which were clearly lies:

"Yeah, of course I was this authentic-style roadie back in '79. I remember I was so pissed up and on this super heavy belgian speed. The lead guitarist from the band asked me to get him a pint from the bar, and the quickest way to get to the stage was off this eighty foot balcony. I was so mashed that I jumped off the balcony straight into the middle of the lighting rig!! Despite being electrocuted by the high voltage supply I was fine, and not a drop was spilt from the guitarists pint! Shame only a cat turned up to the gig, and even then it didn't stay long."

Diamond Head like to treat their fans mean, by making us wait for half an hour whilst we listened to their sound check through the closed doors of the venue. To be fair they probably didn't realise it was quite so cold outside.

Once we got let in there was a merchandise stand selling T-Shirts and un-plugged acoustic EPs, (at 12 and 5 pounds respectively). My raving jacket had ample room for these fan items. Tickets cost 6 pounds on the door - and the venue eventaully filled up to a full-ish capacity, with nobody being turned away.

The venue was of small to medium size, similar to 'The Water Rats', but was plushly fitted out, and with an excellent sound system - most impressive! Before the gig started I took a shot of the stage setup:


The stage setup before the gig. You can distinguish a weird 5-string bass guitar, and the drum kit.

Diamond Head dispensed with warm-up acts, prefering a mix of classic rock tunes played through the club's PA. All I can say is the guys certainally have taste, which such bands as Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Billy Idol being rinsed.

I made a note of the band's set list, by sneakily looking at the sheets of paper which were gaffa-taped to the stage. During the set I noticed that a couple of tracks were missed off this order, but I forget which ones:

The band kicked off at about 10:30, and as it turned out scarcely needed a warm up act at all. I stood close to the front of the stage, at the side furthest from the bar.
The Set

The band looked like this as they performed. You can make out Sean Harris in the center of the picture, and Brian Tatler hammering his Les Paul to the right

The line up for the night was not the classic one, however the two most important personnel (Brian and Sean) were present, and the other band members were well practised, faithful to the originals, and played really tightly.

Sean still has his /excellent/ singing voice, and really played to the crowd, building up the atmosphere. The only time his voice cracked was right at the end of Am I Evil - but it was at the end of the set, and it was a difficult note to reach.
I thought Brian was the man, he really can do all those hyper fast finger licking solos. At points his guitar was slightly out of tune, but you couldn't really tell. Brian used a Marshall head and cabinent, with Yamaha rack effects, Ibanez Tube Screamer and Jim Dunlop 1mm pick.
Karl was a really impressive drummer - really tight, and did alot of difficult tempo changes. He did a short drum solo in one of the tracks, but it wasn't overly self indulgent.
Bass player Eddie seemed quite reliable.
Floyd, the rhythm guitarist, also plays in Diamond Head's acoustic set. He looked like a bit of an indie kid, but nobody's perfect. Floyd played a modified Fender Stratocaster, with Fender head and cabinet. For effects, Floyd used a Mesa Boogie preamplifier and Boss floor fx board.

The sound they made was really professional, and you have to respect that.

High points of the set included an acoustic version of Sucking My Love, Am I Evil (of course), and a hybrid acoustic/electric arrangement of Lighting to the Nations. But my favourite track of the night was actually 'The Prince', because it was a really well played rendition, with guitar feedback effects substituting the organ sound on the original.

I was dissapointed not to hear 'Shoot Out The Lights', which my band - The Gwemettes - do a cover version of ;-<

I found their new song 'Dont You Ever Leave Me' to be excellent.

The set finished just after midnight.

Afterwards
So far I had had an excellent night, but the best was yet to come. The band retired to the bar for drinks, but I couldn't really talk to them because there was a big crowd around them. At this point I took another picture of the stage setup:


The stage setup after the gig. Check out the luminous drape and Brian's Marshall!

I had a chat with my mate about the gig, and how much our ears were ringing, then we decided to leave.

I saw Brian Tatler on the stage quietly packing up his gear and I felt really sorry for him, after all he is one of rock's legendary guitarists, and he had just given it up on stage - someone else should be doing it for him.

In the lobby Sean Harris was signing autographs and having pictures take, making crap jokes, and generally acting the fool. This is completely in his persona, so I wasn't too alarmed by his apparantly wankerish behaviour. I laughed at the old guys getting him to sign their rare records, I have a better selection than most of them - and my mate has a copy of 'Shoot Out The Lights' (their first self financed single), so quite why they were handling these records like gold dust I don't know - their stuff isn't that hard to get.

Anyway I finally got a chance to take a snap of Sean with my GB, or as he put it 'Super Pokemon Gameboy Advanced' (hoho):


Sean looks surprised, as I "zap him with my lasers"

After this coup for Gameboy photography I decided to go for gold with a piX0r of Brian! Thankfully he was still packing up his gear and I was able to talk to him and take this amazing picture:


This man wrote the killer riffs to 'Am I Evil?', 'Sucking My Love' and 'Shoot Out The Lights'!!!

He was actually really into my GBCam, and showed it to his mate and obsessed about how good it was!! I had lots of questions I was aching to ask him, so I didn't waste this oppertunity to g33k out with one of my biggest influences:

G: When you played 'Am I Evil?' just then it sounded really deep, how many steps do you detune for it?
B: Just one - its all in E-Flat
(I guess that the deep sound was caused by the use of his Les Paul, and thickish strings)
G: Thanks for the tip, but what happened to that V you used to play?
B: Oh I don't play that live anymore - it was too unreliable, cutting out and going out of tune
G: Thats a shame, but you've still got it?
B: Of course!
G: What about your Les Paul?
B: I love playing it, its really solid and I hardly ever have problems with it
G: What year is it?
B: 1979
G: And you've kept the original pickups?
B: yeah!
G: Thats proper! Well thanks for that chat, and I'll let you get on
B: No problems, it was nice talking to you

That probably not a completely accurate transcription, but its near enough.

Brian and Sean both had impressive Black Country accents, which you cant fake - they must be authentic Rock'n'Roll stars!!

Then there was handshakes all round and we left. On the way back to the car I just couldn't believe what a nice guy Brian was, really down to earth and happy to chat. I should have given them a copy of our EP but I didn't realise the band would be so accessible - they certainally look after their fans!

One day on...
...my ears are ringing so much that I cant hear my alarm clock go off and I'm late to work.
Two days on...
...and my ears are still ringing slightly, thanks for damaging my hearing guys!

(c)gwem 2002
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