Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Angel was born and brought up in Birmingham, went to Walsall college and has put uni on hold to tour with the Gypsy Pistoleros and to dedicate his time to music and the band (and having a bit of a riot along the way).

The band members are Iggie, Lee J and Leeroy, they’re all from Worcester but I don’t hold that against them!
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I'd always been interested in music and had played in other bands, but last year I began looking for auditions online.

I stumbled across a website and found an ad that read "Nikki Sixx-like bass player required!".

Nikki Sixx is one of my idols so I was really intrigued. The ad also said how the band had a lot of potential, tours in the pipeline, management, album release etc so you can imagine I was pretty interested.

I replied and Lee J was keen to meet me. I learned some of the tracks, went and met up with the boys and played through the tracks with 'em.

After a couple of songs Lee asked me if I wanted to be in the band and I couldn’t have been happier. He came up shook my hand and said "you're in!"

Over the course of 6 weeks I learnt the remaining tracks, we took time in the studio to get the set tight and since then we've been out on 2 UK tours, a European tour and we've just played the biggest '80s Glam Rock' Festival America has ever seen!

What style of music do you play and do you have a fan base in the UK?

We play Flamenco Sleaze-Punk Rock 'N' Roll. A mix of Spanish/Latin-flamenco styles grinded up and smashed together with punk rock. It's like the Gypsy Kings meets Motley Crue!

Our UK fan base is pretty good and growing. We've done two UK tours now - one with Love/Hate and one with Faster Pussycat as part of the American Glam Slam Tour. The UK fans pretty much know who we are and what we're about. We've played most cities and have had a great response.

How did you get to be invited to a US Festival?

We heard about the festival while on tour with Faster Pussycat.

The festival would bring back all the great 80s bands such as Poison, Twisted Sister, Skid Row, Faster Pussycat, L.A Guns and plenty more.

A few weeks later we joined up with L.A Guns on our European tour. We asked them more about the festival.

When we got back off tour we put out an official press release. We caused a massive stir on the Rocklahoma official website forum by telling everyone about us and to look out for us - so now half of America were curious to know who we are and what we’re about!

A few days after posting on the forum the band received a call from the executives of Rocklahoma.

Because there was so much demand for more bands to play the festival, they were adding an extra day and we were included.

So we not only were offered a special guest appearance, but now we'd been invited to play a full set and share the same stage at the festival where some of the world's biggest rock acts will play!

The contracts were sent through, we signed them, booked our flights and were ready to go and rock!

What was it like playing there?

It was great, the stage was massive and I had a lot of fun up there, we played well and there's nothing better than playing a show and getting good feedback from press, the organisers and the fans.

We had such a great response that weekend, even when we weren't playing, if we walked around the festival grounds or were watching other bands, people would come up to us and ask for autographs and photos - it was an awesome experience.

We often hang out with the crowd after shows, and at the festival we'd walk around and meet people, we even jumped on the back of someone’s truck and got a ride down to the camping pitches where the fans were camping out. It was insane.

We had everyone coming up to us giving us free beer and talking to us it was just an all round great experience, we signed so many programmes, cd's, posters, t-shirts and erm... body parts! We had the best time.

Yeah, I met one of my idols funnily enough which was a kool experience!

I got to meet Vince Neil of Motley Crue, my all time favourite band, so you can imagine how good that was!

I met A.J Pero the Twisted Sister drummer back at our hotel, a few of the bands were staying there. I think Twisted Sister are a great, fun band, they can really put on a show and that's what Rock 'N' Roll's about.

I love the fact that Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) wears more makeup than most women I've ever met!

My funniest reuniting was with BulletBoys Marq Torien. I was in the middle of getting some food backstage when I felt a presence standing behind me. I was hoping it was a beautiful young lady but when I turned round it was Marq Torien with a big grin on his face!

Other "rock" stars I was happy to meet again were Randy, Johnny Monaco and Chip Z'Nuff (Enuff Z'Nuff). I had the pleasure of spending two weeks with these guys on the Faster Pussycat European tour.

Especially the Female Attention! We got a lot of attention from everybody there really, it's usually our drunken antics that people find amusing, you can guarantee we're never too far away from causing mischief!

It was pretty amusing when Lee J and Leeroy headed for the mechanical bull at the festival. Iggie got noticed for walking round constantly having a bottle of some sort in his hand. My funniest moment – I was drunk and decided to go for a walk and ended up in a massive mud patch.

There were lots of other incidents – probably not fit to mention on a Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ website! But hey what's Rock 'N' Roll without havin' fun hey?

What's next for the band?

We're now back home and our next stop is the Patriot Games 'Rock' Festival in Monmouth. It starts Friday 24th August and goes on until late Saturday 25th. It features quite a few UK bands. We play the Friday.

Our single is released on 5th November. We have a double A side: 1. Pistolero and 2. Livin' La Vida Loca (cover).

Also pretty much as soon as we walked off stage @ Rocklahoma we were invited back to play Rocklahoma 2008! So people can expect to see us there again next year.

What's your favourite venue in Birmingham and what do you think of the music scene at the moment?

My favourite venue in Birmingham is probably the NEC or NIA, although I do like the Birmingham Academy and also The Barfly. The Barfly is good for smaller intimate gigs - you can really feel a part of the show because it's a smaller capacity venue, but there's such a good atmosphere in there.

The music scene at the moment for me is a bit dull, mainly because I'm not influenced by anything that's going on at the moment, it seems the scene is "Indie", "Emo", "Alternative".

Am I stereotyping? If so I apologise but I'm not into that sort of music, it's all too similar and on one level and I just can't get into it.

I love bands that stand out, if you have a unique sound and an image that stands out then it really helps you get noticed and retain a distinct quality which people will always recognise.

The recent bands that have had an impact on me are mostly up and coming unsigned acts that are bringing back the old glam/rock scene. I can see a big revolution on the way because things are too dull in the music industry at the moment and Rock 'N'' Roll can liven the world back up and once again open up people's eyes.