European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 17, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                It Dan vow Jweid All Taw what we had to Trover bolder the Groat producer Gerry Hes produced everything that the bands Ever except High and which was produced by the and then on firefly he we i got together and co produced he has a very Dif Ferent attitude toward Hes the one who really for the technical in sort of the artistic toe who Doest really know whether that particular noise mailers or if it seems to be besides the new teamwork behind the Hon item to pushing a new set of priorities for the weve been such a touring band that we we need an then everyone runs into the spends sour or five weeks making an Back out on tour weve always been a insuring so albums have taken a Back now the priorities Are innocent victim was made in six chiding the mixing and we did spend a Long Lime my belief is that the Mare Lime you spend preparing for the the less Lime you spend in studio scratching your head Whitfi is very expend you so pounds an the 18month task of recreating Uriah keep was a the big problem we thought we would have i getting people to accept the new identity of the band and the fact that David Byron was no longer standing at the we didst know How important he we would pretty much prejudge everything else but that was we thing we were still very nervous strangely enough thai was the least of our our problems were really just getting used to each the first hug we did was Cut firefly and take the straight out on the the concerts were very in 11 was pretty Lough Eor the first year Mode a Point of trying to play As much As Possi 1 figured that the Only Way we were really going to to know each by playing and playing and play we spent quite a lot of time rehearsing and we just towed every they played a Long series of dates in England Laic in we went to strange towns like which must people Haven really heard this was just liter we released the new single tree me and ii got Loli of airplay in so there was a lot of we finally broke Down this Barrier where everyone of Nollier Uriah Heep Tingle Iti Gonna be loud and Gonna be Hilt my it t Hensley has been widely misquoted even by his record company As attributing the Energy of us new band to John i dont know where this we come rum but i didst make the one thing thai often Overlook about the whole thing that s happened with the band is that the revitalization of Uriah keep a not because of John its poor old Trevor bolder who happens to be one of the Best Bass players in the business he gets no recognition at All because Hes a musician and Johns a front Singer who obviously has a lot of spotlight on poor old Trevor never gets a men it really is Down to John obviously contributed a vast amount to what we did in the reshaping of the band his voice alone is a tremendous but its important that we dont Overlook the fact that Trevor does add a lot to the band and that the work thai was done n the past 18 months in rebuilding the band was done by we All saw what we had to do and everybody worked hard to do Hensley is elated at getting gut of the and distressed at the general slate of English Rock n this is my argument f Kepi saying weve gotta change our Altitude because one Day Mil music is not going to be valid any suddenly out of the Hills will come a different kind of Rock n Roll which people Are going la be much More interested because till be so we have to be ready for that we i think people Are much More interested in melodic Rock n Roll and 1 think there Are so Many different ways of presenting Rock Roll so that its much More interest ing not Only far the audience but for the band As its a question of really having your priorities weve managed to get the emphasis Back to before it was going ail Over the it was on limousines and fancy Light shows and stuff like that flashes and Bangs and gelling Back to the basics that what its Punk came out of the Hills and is the big thing in the these Hensley is Adamant in his attitude its theres nothing valid to be said about it contributes nothing to music and nothing to Art its just an excuse for a Bunch of people to go out and do outrageous i resent the fact that anybody who Doest take the time and trouble to tune their guitar can weve managed to get the emphasis Back to it was going All Over the even gel mentioned in the id alone front it Doest even deserve one column you cant write very much about people who go around throwing up Over the can you except thai Treyve thrown Over the audience its really nothing he less we talk about it the America it the last and biggest step in developing the new image of the innocent victim was released Lis very much a situation if we have As much in Terest and activity with the album there As weve had in All the other markets then Well so there and do a we lost a lot of ground in America but in sure Well pick it up because in thai confident of the if Warners do the promotion Job on it which Treyve prom ised and it just gets airplay j think lha will be enough to help it on its but hats so Lhing weve gotta play much More we cant afford to just go there and tour to pro Mote the Warners Are quite excited about the album i and they must be gelling some feedback from wants happening in at the moment weve got no particular weve got things pencilled America is very difficult because of its size and be cause of just the number of bands that Are there and the number of hours thai go on la would be stupid for us to just go out and keep working and working and 11 would be much better for us to do it slowly theres no the whole thing really guts Down to your philosophy of you either just Lour for Sake o touring or you Lour for a reason ils gotta make nobody makes Money an the Road anymore so theres no Point in going out and spending vast amounts of Money just youve gotta know thai people want you to be there for a a lot of Louring that we used to do had very Little Point to we just changed our philosophy while there waiting to see what happens with inn cent victim in the new the band is Back in London working on a new single find Hensley is laying Down the first tracks of a Solo an australian tour a set for the studio is where a Lensley sees Uriah Heep happen ing More and i want to Cut Down on the touring this year and spend More time recording 10 we can really capital lie on the Success the innocent victim album and Ibe single have brought be if the freshness of the studio sound and live performance of the revitalized group is any there is still Hope for 60s Rock stars who find themselves wishing they wore 30 the stars and stripes Page 15