Maillist
FOCUS ON: Waysted
- Official Website >>
- Label: Livewire >>
- Genre: Rock
This is British Hard drivin' Rock at its best.
It was in 1983 that Pete Way, the backbone of legendary rockers UFO, got together with Scottish vocalist Fin to form WAYSTED - a band which combined powerful guitarwork with Fins distinctive gravel-soaked-in-whisky vocals, and also had an endearing close-to-the-edge appeal which any project Pete Way is involved with automatically guarantees. Indeed, Pete Way is credited as the first to turn bass playing into a performance rather than just a part of the rhythm section. Steve Harris of Iron Maiden calls Way his inspiration - and Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) and Ozzy Osbourne both cite him as the ultimate rock'n'roller.
WAYSTED went on to put out three influential albums - Vices, the self-titled Waysted (mini-album) and The Good, The Bad, The Waysted - before Fin left in 85. The band has featured many musicians in its ranks including ex-UFOs Paul Chapman, Motorhead drummer 'Philthy' Phil Taylor, Humble Pie's Jerry Shirley - and Danny Vaughn (Tyketto) who sang on the Save Your Prayers album.
One of Fin's projects in the subsequent years was supplying the voice for the multi-award winning BBC TV show 'The Office' (Handbags & Gladrags), which played a big part in getting the 'Dynamic Duo' back together again. The new album 'The Harsh Reality' features a stunning new version of that song.
Pete continued to play with UFO, but the fans always kept a flame burning for the return of the high-energy rock'n'roll, which WAYSTED did, and still do, so well. In the summer of 2003 Fin and Pete met up again in Ohio and the next chapter of the saga began. Back in the UK, they recruited the remarkable Chris George who was voted Young Guitarist of The Year by Guitar Magazine at the tender age of 16. Chris has played in Greg Ridleys Humble Pie and is also Marshall Amp's main man when it comes to demo-ing their gear around the world. Then aged 23, Chris was playing with a maturity that many of his elders could only dream of matching - yet he had an energy and excitement that was completely at home with the vibe of the band. On drums was another part of the Marshall family - Paul R.D. Haslin - whose no-nonsense thundering approach to the skins fitted perfectly too.
This return to active duty was marked by the explosive and exciting, hard rocking and joyous Back From The Dead, which received excellent reviews including a 4-star review in Classic Rock Magazine, reaching No. 27 in their Album Of The Year charts for 2005.
WAYSTEDs live set is fast-moving and fuelled with attitude, and the amazing welcome they received the night they truly came Back from the Dead at Londons Mean Fiddler on February 18th 2005 is an indictment of how well-loved these rock'n'rollers are. That show was captured on an 'unofficial' bootleg, 'Boot From The Dead'. Later in 2006 they released an official live album, 'Organised Chaos', recorded at The Barfly in Glasgow.
Now we have the new album 'The Harsh Reality', recorded at Trinity Heights in Newcastle during August 2007. Insp. Fred Purser (Tygers of Pan Tang, Tom Jones) was recommended to the band as a producer, and as it turned out they couldn't have hand-picked a better man for the job. He has captured WAYSTED at their very best, from the opening driving riff of Propaganda, through the sure-fire classic Long Time Dead, to the heartfelt Song For Steve. The band has never sounded better. This is British Hard drivin' Rock at its best
'The Harsh Reality' features 10 new original songs and the aforementioned beefed-up Handbags & Gladrags. Also included is Waysted World (The Theme Park), which portrays the bands humour and will become a collectors item in time.
