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Biography
distinguish|Saxon (band)Infobox musical artist | name = Samson| image =| caption =| image_size =| background = group_or_band| alias = Scrapyard (1976) McCoy (1976) Paul Samson's Empire (1994)| origin = England | genre = Heavy metal music|Heavy metal Hard rock | years_active = 1976& ndash;2002| label =| associated_acts =| website =| current_members =| past_members = See: #Members|Members | notable_instruments = Samson was a British hard rock band formed in 1977 by guitarist and vocalist Paul Samson . They are best known for their first three albums with future Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson , then known as "Bruce Bruce", and drummer Thunderstick (real name Barry Graham Purkis), who wore a leather mask and performed on stage in a metal cage. Drummer Clive Burr was also member of the band, both before and after his tenure with Iron Maiden. Drummer Mel Gaynor had a successful music career being a member of Simple Minds for over 20 years. Dickinson's replacement on vocals, Nicky Moore , performed with Samson throughout the mid-1980s and again from the late 1990s onwards; he has also been a member of the bands John McCoy (musician)#Mammoth|Mammoth and Nicky Moore and the Blues Corporation.
Career
In 1976, Paul Samson replaced Bernie Tormé in London based band Scrapyard, joining Bassist John McCoy and Drummer Roger Hunt. The band name was changed to McCoy, and they built up a busy gigging schedule, whilst also independently playing various sessions. Eventually, McCoy left to join Atomic Rooster. His replacement was the bands sound engineer and close friend of Paul's, Chris Aylmer. Chris suggested a name change to Samson, and recommended a young Drummer called Clive Burr, who he had previously played with in the band Maya. Clive joined, and Samson was born, although Paul used bassist Bill Pickard and drummer Paul Gunn on odd gigs when Chris and Clive were honouring previous commitments. Although various other people were tried out to expand the line up. Paul got in touch with an old bandmate, bass player Stewart Cochrane, and asked him to try out for a four-piece, with current bass player Chris Aylmer on second guitar alongside Paul. Only one gig was played in this incarnation, at The Nag's Head pub in Rochester, Kent on 11 March 1978, where it was decided that Paul and Chris's playing styles weren't compatible, so they went back to a 3 piece. Stewart Cochrane subsequently left and joined an avant-garde jazz rock band named Spanish Fly; he later continued his career as an orchestra-leader for Holland America Line and Windstar Cruises . In October 1978, Lead vocalist Mark Newman joined, but after about 6 shows Paul resumed lead vocals and they were back to a 3 piece again.
At the end of 1978, Clive Burr left, his last show was at The Bandwagon in North London on New Year's Eve. Paul and Chris auditioned over 60 drummers, and eventually decided on Barry Purkis to replace Clive. The band were offered a recording contract, but Chris wouldn't commit, so Paul and Barry decided that as John McCoy was producing, and had co-written much of the material, they would ask him to play bass on the album. The album was recorded for release on Lazer records, and given the title 'Survivors".
The band's second album, Head On (Samson album)|Head On , was released July 1980, and peaked at #34 in the UK Albums Chart cite web| url= http://www.everyhit.co.uk/ |title=UK Top 40 Chart Archive, British Singles & Album Charts |publisher=everyHit.com |accessdate=2008-12-16 The supporting tour was full of controversy and legal issues, due to problems with their management.cite web|url= http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Samson-Biography/C74A429BD38D32F848256D75002F88E0|title=Samson Biography-sing365|accessdate=2009 May 28 They kept writing and rehearsing for a new record. Ten songs had already been composed, by October 1980, and were ready to be recorded. At the same time, the band re-issued their debut album, Survivors , now with Dickinson handling vocal duties. The tour continued until the end of the year, when Samson entered the studio to record their third album, Shock Tactics . This was the last album Dickinson recorded with the band. Samson faced an innumerable amount of problems with their management.Cite web|title = The Bruce Dickinson biography|publisher = Book of Hours|url = http://www.bookofhours.net/bdwbn/bio.htm|accessdate = November 12, 2008 They were always being booked on ill-matched support tours. After leaving their management in 1981 they discovered that their record company was going bankrupt. Dickinson said they "made every mistake in the business". His last performance with Samson was at the Reading and Leeds Festivals|Reading Festival in 1981. This was recorded by the BBC and released in 1990, as the live album Live at Reading 1981 .
The group posted three entries in the UK Singles Chart . These were "Riding With The Angels (1981, #54), "Losing My Grip" (1982, #63) and "Red Skies (1983, #65).cite book | first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 480
In 1990 Paul Samson asked New York singer/songwriter Rek Anthony to write lyrics and melodies for Samson's studio reformation project. As a fifty-fifty writing collaboration, Rek wrote all of the lyrics, and Paul wrote all of the music. Rek wrote and recorded the lyrics and melodies for eight songs while in New York, and flew to London to re-record five demos at Picnic Studios. With limited time and a limited budget, the band could only record five demo songs, but due to band member conflict during the recording process, the project was never completed, and remained as rough demos. The Picnic demos were never picked up by Samson's record company, and sat idle for almost nine years. Rek and Paul toured throughout Germany, Holland and the UK, with Bassist Gerry Sherwin and drummer Tony Tuohy, under the name English Rogues, but never with Chris and Barry. Due to lack of money and record company interest, the Samson reformation project was shelved, and Rek went back to New York. In 1999, Paul Samson released a CD containing five of Rek and Paul's compositions from the Picnic Demos, entitled Past, Present and Future.
In 1999 the Samson-Moore-Aylmer-Thunderstick line-up reformed for a series of live dates, including a "25th Anniversary of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal|NWoBHM " concert at the London Astoria on 26 May 2000, which also featured Angel Witch on the bill. Samson's performance was recorded and released as a live album. The same line-up later appeared at the Wacken Open Air rock festival on 4 August 2000.
The group effectively disbanded with Paul Samson's death from cancer on 9 August 2002. Nicky Moore paid tribute to his late bandmate at the Sweden Rock Festival on 12 June 2004, with a set entitled "Nicky Moore plays Samson". http://www.paulsamson.co.uk/swedentribute.html Report of "Nicky Moore plays Samson" at Sweden Rock Festival, 2004
Bass player Chris Aylmer died on 9 January 2007 following a battle with throat cancer . He was reported to have been responsible for suggesting the band's name. He assumed the role of bass player, having previously been the band's audio engineering|soundman .
The band appeared in a short-movie Biceps of Steel in 1980, directed by Julien Temple , which was intended as the B-film to a major feature produced and promoted by the record company. The film featured two music-video type sequences which form the 15 minute film. Though it has been largely forgotten, clips from it were seen in the movie The Incubus (1981 film)|The Incubus (1981). However, in 2006, Biceps of Steel re-surfaced on Bruce Dickinson's Anthology (Bruce Dickinson album)|Anthology DVD .
DEFAULTSORT:Samson Category:English rock music groups Category:English heavy metal musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 1977 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2002
