White Spirit (band)
White Spirit was a British band, which is considered one of the pioneers of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal ( NWOBHM ).
Band History
White Spirit was founded in 1975 in Hartlepool. For start-up Line -up of later Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers, Graeme Crallan belonged (drums), singer Bruce Ruff, bassist Phil Brady and Malcolm Pearson (keyboards). 1980 signed the group in the train of the NWOBHM boom a recording contract with Neat Records and released the singles there Backs to the Grind. The single reached # 3 on the Independent charts. The B-side Cheetah was also released on the compilation Metal for Muthas Volume II. Thanks to a cooperation deal of Neat Records with the major label MCA appeared alongside the debut of the Tygers of Pan Tang also the self-titled debut album of White Spirit on the label. The album was produced by John McCoy and recorded at Kingsway Recorders Studios from 19 to 24 July 1980. Then appeared another single called Midnight Chaser.
The group played at the Reading Festival in 1980 and played a tour with Gillan, the band of former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan. Following the singer Janick Gers began recruiting. The band structure of white spirit broke shortly afterwards. With the later Bad Company singer Brian Howe and Mick Tucker (later of the tank), the single Watch Out was recorded, after which White Spirit finally solved on.
After the split
Janick Gers in 1990 guitarist of Iron Maiden, and later in the band of Bruce Dickinson. Graeme Crallan, who was later to play with the tank, passed away on July 27, 2008 to the consequences of a fall injury. The heavily addicted to alcohol Crallan had his whole life trying to be rock star.
The debut album was released by Castle Music as a double CD in 2005, which contained more demo recordings and B- sides.
Music style
White Spirits Heavy Metal was very oriented towards the progressive hard rock of the 1970s. Musically, the group was therefore less of bands like Motörhead and Judas Priest, but rather influenced by Deep Purple. Although the group was indeed counted on the basis of their creation and publication time to NWOBHM, their debut album has therefore a special position.