TYGERS OF PAN TANG – Interview with Craig Ellis (drummer / lyricist)

According to Wikipedia – The new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) is a trend in Metal music initiated in the late 70s by British bands. NWOBHM allowed to revive Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Representatives of this species are, among others JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN, MOTÖRHEAD, DEF LEPPARD, ANGEL WITCH, DIAMOND HEAD, SAXON and also TYGERS OF PAN TANG, who will soon release his latest album and start a promotional tour…

On November 22, you’ll release your latest twelfth album, “Ritual”. Mighty Music will also release the album this time. The previous album has sold 10,000 copies worldwide. Do you have similar expectations this time?

Yes we do! And while that’s a bold statement, it’s down to a number of reasons. We know it can be achieved because we have an amazing team of people working with us. Mighty Music continue to be behind the Tygers one hundred and ten percent! They are relentless in their encouragement and promotion ensuring that anyone and everyone they can reach will see ‘Ritual’.

‘Ritual’ will be accessible around the world due to them signing deals with other territories including Japan and America. Mighty Music recently formed a partnership with SPV who together are doing an incredible job of promoting the album across radio stations, magazines, webzine, radio etc. so our voice is heard by many.

The album is made up of eleven great songs, each we feel is well written, well executed and very well produced. According to many reviews and comments we set the bar high with the last album, we know with ‘Ritual’ we’ve raised that bar higher.

“Ritual” is already the second album recorded in the same line-up. So it looks like you work well together?

The Tygers is five band musicians, five writers, five listeners, each with a pretty diverse taste in music yet it works! We collaborate together in almost every way imaginable and from there the rest of the band become involved and a song starts to take shape. The only rule we all adhere to is that a song has to have the Tygers stamp on it.

Is the band’s co-founder, guitarist Robb Weir (who is the only one from the beginning) a composer of majority your music? Or maybe each of you brings something to the music?

Not one individual in the Tygers writes a complete song, there’s always at least one other member collaborates. Robb is phenomenal at churning out idea upon idea, from which one of the other guys or myself picks up on and develops it further. As the idea is developed each members input encourages it to grow into a song; that song may not have been what it initially set out to be but it’ll certainly be a far better song because of the input from each of us. White Lines is a good example. I really liked a riff within a demo Robb sent to us and inspired me to write the verse almost immediately, I then wrote the bridge and chorus sections, presented it to the guys and we developed it from there to what you hear today. A really nice surprise was in the studio when Jack added his vocal ideas and took it to yet another level!

Another example is the song Destiny… Robb and Gav wrote the initial demo together, presented to the rest of the band and we each contributed to produce what you hear today.

The Tygers is made up of five songwriters who collaborate in many combinations yet all with the same goal in mind.

As for Robb being the only one from the beginning, I often feel like I’ve been there ‘from the beginning’ too, what with twenty years ‘Service’, having played most of the back catalogue live and played on ten albums!

Listening to “Ritual” I moved to the 1980s. I have not heard such an old school atmosphere for a long time… This specific rhythm, this pugnacity, these catchy melodies… However, there are also features of modern Metal…

All five of us have such different tastes when it comes to listening to music… I guess this comes out even in our songwriting. We are all aware and respect how a Tygers album should sound yet when we write the material we don’t live in the past, we listen to the radio, listen on-line, we go to the few existing record stores to check out new music… music is a ‘live thing’ and so is inspiration.

As there is no title track on the album, I will ask what “ritual” did you mean by naming the album?

Well… rituals are effectively actions that are performed regularly and something that gives us the freedom to take responsibility for the direction and purpose of our lives. Our task is to seize and shape this freedom, consciously and deliberately. Five band members uniting together to create and produce new music is exactly that… the album title defines what we have achieved together.

Of course I already know what the lyrics are about. I listened to the whole album… But probably readers wanted to know something about it…

When I collaborate with Jack I will of course explain what I have in mind, and even he is sometimes surprised, but it helps him to keep the lyrics in the right context. I prefer the listener to make their own decisions as to what the lyrics are about, I’d like to think it helps them bond closer with a song on a personal level as they relate to it. Lyrics may seem obvious but often they’re not at all so, here’s a couple of reveals …

“Rescue Me” was inspired by one of my all time favourite films Silence of the Lambs, I wrote the lyrics from the dark perspective of Ted Levine’s Buffalo Bill character. Jack helped complete it with the maddening chorus ”Rescue Me”.

And … the first verse of “White Lines” is about something I have done for what seems like forever and will continue to do, that being travelling the many miles on the roads I have done as a musician and of course eating up those white lines in the middle of the roads. The second verse is about a particularly crazy nine weeks I went through in 1998 during a gig-based visit to Nassau and indulged in an incomprehensible amount of cocaine!

“Words Cut Like Knives” is the beautiful ballad with life lyrics… I love such classic scheme, first a calm moody introduction, then a transition to hard hits, melodic solos…

I could give you my interpretation of the meaning but to get a true explanation you’d need to speak with Jack as he wrote the lyrics to Words Cut Like Knives. The backbone of the song was written by Micky and Jack in September of 2017 in Gateshead, Newcastle when they spent some time together jamming and sharing ideas. Those sessions together were very prolific as they came out with many great ideas, some of which have become part of some songs included in ‘Ritual’.

However, this was not the only balladic accent… “Love Will Find A Way”… Love in broadly understood rock and roll music will always find its place…

Love has and always will be one of the major subjects for a song, it’s part of everybody’s life, it connects people on different levels. Jack wrote these lyrics and as far as I’m aware there is nothing autobiographical about it yet I guess everybody at some time in their life has gone through such tough times and will relate to it. What I would say is that it’s always worth following your deepest feelings and to take the risk!

Do you think there are better and worse songs on this album? It happens that not every song suits for every musician. Sometimes there are even songs that the musicians don’t like…

Not at all, not with Ritual. As a band we all feel that every song is written and produced to the best of our ability and while some songs could be categorised, they all in fact compliment one another to come together to make for a concise piece of work.

The album was recorded in the studio of former guitarist Fred Purser at Newcastle Upon Tyne, and mixing and additional production was again led by Soren Andersen. And mastering was done by Harry Hess. How was the work on recording the album?

Time is of the essence when it comes to Recording Studios because as the clock ticks away its costing money! But, you want to enjoy the experience too and to do that it’s all about the preparation. Although writing the material for the album had begun over a year prior, regular, concentrated writing and rehearsal sessions started in January of this year right up to going into the studio in April. During that time we would video and record everything for reference. When a song is complete I also transcribe the drum notation so I get it completely under my skin. Both Jack and I write the lyrics/melodies to the majority of the songs and because of that I automatically absorb a songs structure. Because of all that preparation, in the studio we each completed our parts in a very short time. What also makes for a good recording session is the engineer and studio, and Fred Purser at Trinity Heights made the whole thing an absolute pleasure throughout. Soren and Harry did their incredible magic with the last album so it was a no-brainer to ask them on board to do it again with ‘Ritual’.

There are a lot of concerts ahead of you in November. You already have the show in March 2020. On some of them there will be a lot of stars of world format. But it’s probably nothing stressful for you, hehe…

I don’t mean to sound flippant or conceited because we are each genuinely humbled and honoured to be invited to perform at many amazing festivals and venues around the world, but no we do not get stressed or phased by being on the same bill as ‘other world stars’. Our sole purpose is to perform to the best of our ability and make sure the audience have a great time and as a result maybe consider investing some of their hard earned cash in our music.

I was intrigued by the plastic tube attached to Robb Weir’s microphone. What is this?

That is his much-loved ‘Voice Box’. The tube is indirectly connected to his guitar via the ‘voice box’. As the sound from his guitar travels up the tube he manipulates it with his mouth and voice. It’s a wonderful affect, probably made most famous by Peter Frampton on his live release ‘Show Me the Way’. Robb has used the voice box on many Tygers recordings over the years and as it’s become an integral part of the Tygers it’s featured on many of the songs on ‘Ritual’.

The band was formed in 1978. You were one of the representatives of the emerging trend of NWOBHM. You recorded a lot of good materials, you played a lot of good concerts… Why has the band never achieved such commercial success as other representatives of NWOBHM, such as IRON MAIDEN or JUDAS PRIEST?

It’s a tough question. I guess the bands you mention had a stronger Management who was able to guide the band through the good times and the bad times, the line-up changes and the whole unpredictable quest for success.

Thank you for the interview and I wish you a successful tour and of course the huge sale of “Ritual”!

It was a pleasure Pawel, thank you for your time and enthusiasm; both the guys and myself are always very appreciative of all support and encouragement.