The picture is a bit rough but good enough to identify the line-up of Dundee's Satan's Empire.The band was - Derek Lyon, vocals - Bill Masterton, drums - Sandy McRitchie, guitar - Duncan Haggart, bass.
Heavy metal was their music of choice and this track below, called "Soldiers Of War", appeared on an album released in 1981 titled "Heavy Weight", a NWOBHM compilation.
They also had this track out earlier as a single (1980/early '81) but it seems to be extremely elusive, just as it is finding details about the band!
If anyone can add anything else, drop it in the comments.
Well they do say the devil has all the best tunes - so give this one a blast and see if you agree!
Thanx to Stephen.
They all lived in the Douglas/Craigie area if i remember correctly.
ReplyDeleteThey used to practice in the community centre at the same time as us.I'm sure they supported Budgie or someone of that time at the Caird hall
ReplyDeleteThe overdubs on the record make it sound like there are 3 guitars playing together in certain places, not just the one!
ReplyDeleteAnd who was doing the Roger Taylor high pitched wailing in the background?
Could be difficult to recreate that full sound live.
Supported Budgie at the dundee festival summer 1981 rather good live !
ReplyDeleteWe all lived around the Craigie/Douglas area and practiced at the Douglas Community Centre. We did support Budgie though the setup was crap! Yeh, Budgie were great as well and really good blokes.Derek Lyon, the lead vocalist did the wailing! Yes, there are 3 guitar parts in places, though live, we only played with two guitars.
ReplyDeleteI worked with Derek at the time, and operated the small bit of the lighting desk SE were allowed to use at the Caird Hall. My mate Jake took a bunch of photographs of the band performing their set too, if I mind right.
ReplyDeleteHi Nick, this is Sandy from Satan's Empire. If you still see Jake can you ask him if he still has any photos of us from that time. Email us on satansempire15@gmail.com just to keep in contact - Cheers, Sandy
DeleteNick if your mate Jake would still have those pics, do you think there is a possibility to scan them and mail them to me, would love to see em as i'm a huge SE fan, would be fantastic,
ReplyDeletecheers, Guido ( Belgium )
guidogevels@hotmail.com
There's a live recording on you tube....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joBy5a7jeP8
Hello! Just to let you know that Satan's Empire - "Soldiers Of War" & "Lead Weight" NWOBHM have reformed after 30 years with the London line up. We are having our first musical get together in 30 years on Sunday 25th October and we are looking for a drummer to complement the band for gigs and any recording projects. If you know of any drummers of any age that are available, can you get them to contact us at satansempire15@gmail.com. German band Roxxcalibur are a NWOBHM-Tribute band and are covering Soldiers Of War on their Latest Album. We are all honoured by this so please check out their web site.
ReplyDeleteAll the best with that, chaps.
ReplyDeleteGG
Cheers! We've got a chap helping us out for rehearsals and our first one went really well. Will try to keep you up to date or you can visit us on FB or email satansempire15@gmail.com - thanks for keeping us alive!
DeleteThe mysterise history of the band can be confirmed by the US Navy when in 1980(?)when they booked them to play on the base in Dunoon mistaking them for a country and western band.Interesting weekend,anybody seen the 'blues brothers'
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