AP: I’m full of cold

DH: Oh, that’s not good.

AP: That’s the way things go, you’ve just got to carry on haven’t you?

DH: First of all its good to see the album finally being released. Where did the idea for the title Razorhead come from?

AP: Okay the idea for Razorhead was conceived by myself and Dave Martin, guitarist and long term member of Marshall Law. It was conceived in a very bizarre place, many years age in Dave’s bedroom, and I know that sounds very dodgy, doesn’t it? We used to work through various concept ideas and we were quite into horror and a lot of sci-fi. While we were writing stuff for the album, what we didn’t know at the time was going to be Razorhead, we had this idea for a Razorhead character and Dave thought it was a cracking idea, so we started shaping ideas for what the concept would be, and the character. That came about one Sunday morning at about half eleven in Dave’s kitchen when we were drinking coffee.

DH: Cool. The album has taken a long time to surface, as you have had the sample online for quite a while. Why so long for a release?

AP: Basically we did an album around 2006 called Axis Of Power, which we recorded on our own budget and with our own equipment but when we listened back to the album we didn’t think it was a true reflection of what we were trying to do, to write and produce. There were 12 songs and we decided there was only 4 that would stand the test of time, so we kept those 4 songs and they surfaced on Razorhead. Myself and Dave did the album to the tune of a few thousand pounds and decided to go back into Madhat Studios where we’d done previous albums and we worked with Mark Stuart. So we knew we had some good songs and figured we’d put our money where our mouth was, recording took us into 2007 and then we had to look for a record deal. That took a good 6-12 months to hear back from all of the contacts. There were a few contacts that got in touch who we hadn’t even sent stuff to but they had heard on the grapevine that it was a good album, so we had to send albums to them and wait to hear back from them. One of those was quite a big German record label, and the other was Demolition. We weighed up the pros and cons of both labels and in the end decided that Demolition was the best way for us to go. A) They are a British label and B) They were really 100% behind the album. They felt that Razorhead was the best thing they had on their roster and they seemed very proactive. I’m glad we made the right choice and it really helps to have the right label behind us.

DH: You’ve made the right choice. They’ve got some great bands on that label.

AP: Yea, and I think they are going to be signing more great bands in the future. They’re an embryonic label and they’re doing really well. Excuse my sniffles mate.

DH: It’s okay. The press have ignored Marshall Law in the past. Has this changed now as there are more metal webzines?

AP: Yes. I’ve found that when Marshall Law recorded the last album there wasn’t so much internet stuff around unlike now, you’ve got your Rock Detectors and your Metal Team UK’s and the rest of it, and a plethora of other ones around Europe too. I think it’s fantastic. It’s almost like certain people have took it upon themselves to try and, you know how it is, you discover a band you really like and you like to think of them as your band and no-one else can like them sort of thing. There’s a lot of that going on as well. I think we’re getting some great critics. I mean, Power Play gave us a 9/10, it got a 5/5 in an American magazine. Someone gave a 7/10 but I think those ones have missed the point a bit.

DH: What about the main press?

AP: I believe there’s been interest from Metal Hammer and Classic Rock. Kerrang is still, well, I don’t know with them, it’s a bit of a mystery. I think one week they’re an indie mag, another they’re an emo magazine, and blah blah blah. They just care about trends and Marshall Law aren’t a trendy band really so you won’t see much of us in there. They have given us some good live reviews so I can’t knock them, and I don’t want to go burning bridges.

DH: That’s true. It’s nice to see you getting some good reviews anyway.

AP: It’s been great. I mean I’ve just compiled some stuff and we’ve got 32 pages of reviews.

DH: That’s cool. The album sound very modern and with traditional metal these days sounding dated how have you guys felt you have managed to achieve this?

AP: There’s been a bit of time between the albums, and I think one important thing with this album was the quality control. We don’t just bang out a song, we take it to pieces and really analyse it, almost like writing a journalistic piece or writing a book. You don’t just thrash it out, you have to read it first, re-draft it, do it again. We took that attention to detail in the way we wrote the songs. Also the sound, Dave Martin and Dave Rothan though it was important, not necessarily to have a different sound, but a more modern sound, so we looked into different amplification, different ways of tuning and in a way I’ve done a lot with my vocal delivery. You’ve got some gruff shouty bits, some smooth singy bits, some sweet bits. We’ve just tried to encompass all the years experience into this album.

DH: Do you feel that the new band members have brought different influences to the band?

AP: They have, but the main songwriters and me and Dave Martin. What Tom, Steve and Dave have brought to the band is knowledge in other areas, which has helped to contribute to the songs a bit, but primarily to the live work. One thing that’s really important is that they’re nice blokes. We get on with them. If we’re stuck on a tour bus together we all get on.

DH: That helps!

AP: Absolutely, cause we could have a fiery member in the band but I don’t wanna talk about that.

DH: That’s fair enough. There are some interesting songs on the album, such as my favourite, ‘The Chamber’ which after listing to it, sounds like it is about Hellraiser II.

AP: HAHA!

DH: It is, isn’t it?

AP: It is exactly. Well not particularly Hell On Earth or Hellraiser II, but it’s about the whole Hellraiser vibe. We were into a bit of old school horror and the macabre, and every song on the album is potentially a great music score or video and it says something. If you are close to any of the Hellraiser stuff then you would pick that up. That’s well spotted mate.

DH: So what other subject ideas have you based your songs on?

AP: Okay, well Razorhead is a character that rises from the depths of the Earth, and he seeks out mans souls and destroys them, and until there’s no men left on Earth the guy will keep on doing that. It’s kind of like the wages on the sins of man, that kind of vibe. Premonition is a kind of Nostradamus thing, about someone who can see the future, I’m not going to talk about that. Headtrap is influenced by the Saw movies. Gods Of Deception is about people who deceive and take advantage of people. Night Terror is all about 9/11 and it’s about a victim who was on one of the buses and could never go to sleep without being visited by these night terrors of what happened that day. Divide Us is similar to Night Terror; I teach as well, and at the school I was working at one of the guys was arrested on terror charges and was later sentenced to prison for 7 years, so it’s a poignant piece for me about how someone could come in and divide anyone’s loyalties. Nothing Lasts Forever is about Dave Martin and Andy Southwells fathers who passed away while we were recording, so that song has come from Axis of Power.

DH: It’s quite a powerful song.

AP: It is. The lyrics are lovely. It’s about losing your father at the end of the day, and I had known the guys for most of my life so it was just my swansong, a way of saying ‘bless you both’ and no matter what, the memories will always be there. Nothing stays the same, nothing lasts forever. Blood and Pain is about the gulf war. Another Bullet is about gangs in London. Blood Lines is about the blood lines of certain political leaders and if you follow their blood lines far enough back you find out they were all related to Solomon and weird things like that. And so on!

DH: Now you guys are signed to DR2 records, are there any plans on releasing your back catalogue and if so will all the albums be re-mastered?

AP: That is possibly being looked into but I believe that Sanctuary has the rights to those, but it could be up for grabs. Demolition have asked about it, because obviously they are very hard to find at the moment.

DH: You guys played this years Bloodstock in the Lava tent. How was that and how did the new songs go down with the fans?

AP: It was a very last minute thing. We only knew three days beforehand that we were playing. We thought we were being shortlisted for the main stage but that didn’t come into fruition. It was either Colin or Paul Gregory who got back in touch and said they couldn’t offer us the main stage slot but could we please do the party the night before. We thought there’d only be a couple of hundred people there so what’s the point? You know, I’ve been to Wacken before where there has been a couple of hundred people in the party tend and no-one’s really bothered. But how wrong can you be! There was anywhere between 1,500 and 2,000 people in that tent.

DH: That’s a lot of people in one tent!

AP: It was. From where I was standing I could see all the way back and they were bulging out the sides, and I thought we went down really well. The atmosphere was great, and there were a lot of people who had never seen the band before. Obviously it was a good chance to hear some of the new songs as well. I just thought it was a top night, absolutely brilliant and we went down really well. I use the analogy we ripped the roof of the tent that night.

DH: Finally is there any plans of a full UK tour in the near future?

AP: We’ve just been discussing that. I think we’ll be looking at around March/April time for doing some dates in the UK, which should coincide with us doing some dates in Spain and Italy. We’ll definitely be playing 6 or 7 dates in the UK, whether with another band on the label or another band, but it will probably be on the Carling Acadeny circuit. It’s being looked into, and obviously we’ve geared ourselves to play live shows. We have the live unit back up and running and we’ve started writing another album already. I mean we haven’t just done a one album deal with Demolition we’re there for the long term so…

DH: We can expect a lot more from you then?

AP: Well there’ll be at least another 2 albums on Demolition anyway. Maybe one of those will be a live album, and what we were talking about doing was re-recording some of the better old songs and getting them to put them out, like Saxon did.

DH: So you’ve got quite a few ideas for the long term then?

AP: Yea were planning long term because we don’t wish to go away this time. I think that’s been a failing of the band in the past. We were just about to make a bit of a break and then something happens, you know, an illness, someone’s parents dying of terminal illness. We had to cancel one tour because I had pleurisy and all sorts of weird shit, but I think we’re now better placed to succeed.

DH: Is there anything else you would like to add?

AP: Id jut like to thank MTUK - Luci and your good self. Thanks for the support you’ve given us over the years and the last two years particularly. It’s been great to meet you and you guys were really good hosts when you did the tour. I think the sites great, I regularly check it, and obviously the more that can be converted to Marshall Law the better and you guys are doing a great job.

DH: Hopefully see you very soon. Thanks a lot!

For more on the band check out http://www.myspace.com/marshalllawofficial

Interviewed by Dave Heward

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