NWoBHM Vault! - Reincarnate

The true reverence afforded today to the original REINCARNATE sole 7 inches single by many members of the underground true metal scene (bands, labels, fans, record collectors) is a testimony to its importance to the NWOBHM aficionados and to the whole movement in general.

However, still very little is known about this underground British metal act from the early 80’s (which shows how fantastic bands are often still waiting to be exposed to a wider audience) but the internet solves these problems sometimes. I’ve recently had the chance and honour to talk to REINCARNATE’s finest blade, guitarist John Guest, who told us everything about his old band.

JANUARY 2005

Hi John, it was about time to know a bit more about REINCARNATE, one of England’s best kept secret ! I’m glad to do this interview with you, nearly 20 years after REINCARNATE’s demise.
So REINCARNATE was formed in 1980 in the Staffordshire area. Who was in the very first line-up, as REINCARNATE initially started out as a quintet?
The two founder members of Reincarnate were Steve Birchall and myself, who met circa 1978. We both played rhythm and lead guitar and advertised for a vocalist, drummer and bass guitarist. We auditioned a number of guys and decided on Shane Barnett as vocalist and Dave Tye, drummer. Still without a bass guitarist Dave Tye asked a mate, Paul Farrington, to come for an audition. Paul had only just started to learn to play bass and we weren’t sure whether he was the one. However, Paul turned out to have a cracking sense of humour, this coupled with the fact that he was dedicated and learnt very quickly, meant he was an ideal choice.

Where does the name REINCARNATE come from?
The name initially came from a deep conversation Steve and I had. The name just seemed to fit with our dark discussions at that time and became what we wanted to build our band upon.

In the early years, prior the single release, your live set was built around cover versions and original compositions. What were the covers you were usually playing and how many original tracks had you got written by then in 1980?
We played covers that we were into at that time and coincidentally weren’t too difficult to learn! Paranoid by Black Sabbath was one of the first, along with No Class by Motorhead (what with Lemmy being a Stokie) and AC/DC’s Sin City. Our own compositions included Into the Night, Man on the Hill, Stand Your Ground…. we were just enjoying playing to anybody who would listen in those early days, trying to develop our own style.

What kind of music were you listening to in those days?
My early influences were heavyweight bands such as early Black Sabbath, later Deep Purple, (esp. the Made in Japan live album), some Led Zep and Queen, (early albums), along with newer bands like Judas Priest (first couple of albums) AC/DC (Bon Scott era) and Rainbow (Richie Blackmore’s lead guitar blew me away). Big fan of Randy Rhoads of the Ozzy Osbourne band, till he met his demise. Oh and Van Halen when they supported and gave Sabbath a run for their money. Not forgetting Lemmy’s Motorhead of course.

What kind of venues did REINCARNATE play in the early days?
We started off like many other bands, gaining confidence by playing a couple of youth clubs, followed by pubs, rock night clubs and town halls.

Was REINCARNATE the first band you joined or did you play in other bands before that?
I started off playing with a couple of friends, namely Chris Billings and his late brother Ivan. It wasn’t really a band as we played no gigs and didn’t have a name. But we practised regularly and made lots of noise. Steve Birchall kinda wandered into one of our rehearsals one night and as Steve & I had similar ideas we got together and Reincarnate the band was founded. Chris and Ivan lost interest in playing and became the mainstay of our road crew.

Who wrote the lyrics for REINCARNATE and what are they about?
In the early days circa 1978-80 the lyrics were a joint effort by Steve (Birchall) and myself. When Steve departed - or did we kick him out coz he overdosed on magic mushrooms, can’t really remember – we wrote more together as a band, although I wrote the lyrics for the single A & B sides, Take it or Leave it and Metal in Disguise, the ‘musical arrangement’ was a band effort of course. I’ve questioned myself to try and work out what the lyrics were about in the past, can’t really work it our now, but it was really important to me at the time and meaningful too. I like to think they mean different things to different people. Don’t you just hate it when you have your own idea of what a song is about then when you find out what was really meant it screws it up for you – or is that just me?

After the second guitarist’s demise, did you try to find someone else or did you just feel comfortable as a four piece?
We would have liked to recruit another guitarist, but it was a very time consuming process and we decided and adapted to being a four-piece band.

When was REINCARNATE’s first demo recorded, and what were the tracks on it? Do you still have it?
My own copy disappeared, but quite recently someone very kindly sent me a copy of it on CD-R. I can tell you that it was recorded onto tape at Red Ball Recording Studio, in Market Drayton, Shropshire towards the end of 1980 and included Into the night and Man on the Hill, Save me from the Darkness and Reincarnate.

I think the demo was quickly posted to various labels across the country, in order to assess their level of interest. What kind of response did REINCARNATE get from the demo?
The tape demo was our first attempt to get something recorded and we didn’t get much out of it except to listen what our sound was like and what we needed to develop. The 7” Take it or leave it and Metal in Disguise was the promo single and was posted around, distributed mainly through Bullet Records to some European countries, but also sold at our gigs and posted to Kerrang and others. The response wasn’t immediately positive, but we received letters from Belgium, Germany & France and it certainly helped to promote us and helped us obtain more gigs.

The good thing was that the demo got air played regularly on your local radio station, Radio Stoke, who even offered REINCARNATE to record a session broadcasted to the listeners at the end of 1981. Can you tell us more about this, what kind of response, if any, did you get from this session and does this session still exist somewhere? What were the tracks recorded for Radio Stoke?
Radio Stoke were promoting local bands around that time and we were invited to record a session. I remember the session being quite hurried and I don’t believe it did us any favours. I think they even pulled a couple of tracks. There must be a copy of this session somewhere, but I sorta hope that there isn’t – if you know what I mean!

Are there any gigs that you played with REINCARNATE that you have very fond memories of, please tell us some nice stories about some of your gigs? Any interesting support slot back then, did REINCARNATE get to play out of the Midlands?
We played some great gigs at the Iron Master pub in Telford, Shropshire. This was only a single story, newly built pub alongside a shopping centre, but it had a great atmosphere and I seem to remember Paul (Farrington) our bass guitarist falling backwards over a speaker and landing flat on his back during one of our songs, (probably pissed again). Fair play to him though, as he continued to play on his back for the rest of the track and got a great reception from the audience afterwards. Getting lost for hours in the depths of Derbyshire, looking for a village called Riddings, springs to mind. A fight between some of the band and ‘bouncers’ after a gig at the Wagon & Horses pub in Meir, in Stoke. One show in Blackpool, at a club right under the tower, I think it was called JR’s and was quite an experience. The club consisted of 3 floors, one floor dedicated to disco, another was a ‘gay scene’ club and the Rock club at the top. We arrived in Blackpool early in the day, played football for a while on the beach in the morning, drank ourselves stupid all afternoon and evening and by the time we went on stage at midnight we were completely wasted. We topped the event off by sleeping overnight on a local car park, very uncomfortably on top of the gear in our tour van, on what felt like the coldest night in history!

Your 7” single “Take it or leave it / Metal in disguise” was recorded in the summer of 1982, it was a self financed affair. Looking back now in 2004, many of the best bands from the NWOBHM were left with no other solution than releasing their own products (while the majors were looking for the next quick cash in Iron Maiden or Van Halen clone).Was it so important for you to release a single that you wanted to spend all your money on it? How many copies were pressed of this first and only single? Did you have a distribution deal to help you spread the release across the country?
We financed the record to further promote ourselves and we felt, at that time, that this was a necessary next step to attempt to get ourselves noticed. It was released on the Zipp Records label and distributed by Bullet Records, as previously mentioned, to various European countries. I believe there were only around 500 copied pressed at that time.

Who were behind the ZIPP label?
We recorded the single in a Studio in Oxford Road, Stoke.
One of the guys there went by the name of Les Hunt who mixed and mastered the tracks, but I’m not sure who else was involved with Zipp.

I heard some promotional copies of the single had a biography and some live pics inside the paper sleeve. How many copies got these inserts? Where were the live shots taken?
There were very few promotional copies that included a bio and photos. Any that we did produce would have been sent to bigger venues or to magazines such as Kerrang only. The photos were taken at a rehearsal studio in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.

REINCARNATE’s two tracker is truly one of the highlights of the NWOBHM, a classic that stands above most of the releases from the period, with both songs being incredibly powerful, energetic and outstanding efforts. How many copies of the single did you sell back then?
Very difficult to put a quantity on this as some were sold at gigs and others sent out as promos with Bullet distributing the remainder. I would think that anyone who owns a copy has quite a rarity on there hands. (Not a great monetary value, but rare all the same)

The “Take it or leave it” single was reviewed in Kerrang if I’m correct.
Yes it was reviewed by Kerrang magazine, I don’t have a copy of the review, but would be interested in obtaining a copy if anyone can help. I don’t remember it being anything too exciting a review, but what the hell!

Did REINCARNATE share the stage with some other local NWOBHM bands?
I seem to remember playing a gig at, what was then, Tiffany’s night club in Newcastle-under-Lyme, with a few other bands, no one band names spring to mind though.

Did REINCARNATE wrote anything else and when did the band finally call it a day for good? Did you join another band after REINCARNATE?
We split late 1983, as I remember it. I did toy with the idea of forming another band for a few months after, but family commitments took over from my ambitions. I think I was in a rut musically and felt quite disillusioned with the music scene at that time too.

I always thought it was really a great shame that REINCARNATE never went any further and failed to get a major deal. Do you think things could have been different if REINCARNATE would have been based in London?
Yes, I think probably things would have been different, but nowadays I’m sure a band with enough determination and ambition could make it from anywhere.

Songs like “Reincarnate” or “Take it or leave it” combine the heaviness of Sabbath with the metal attitude of Priest. Did these two bands influence your music a lot?
Amongst others yes, certain periods of both Black Sabbath & Judas Priest were my personal favourites at that time.

Back to the present day now. I would like to know if you’re still playing guitar today and what did you do since the REINCARNATE days.
I occasionally play an acoustic guitar, but only for my own pleasure and certainly not for public performance. Since leaving the band I spent time developing a career and raising a family, including 2 marriages and 1 divorce. More recently I’ve enjoyed travelling to America, Australia & various European cities, family life and working to keep a roof over our heads for the rest of the time.

Who are your favourite guitar players?
Richie Blackmore’s strat & Tony Iommi’s SG and their style of playing made a big impression on me, but also Angus Young. & Randy Rhoads gave me extra inspiration at that time.

Are you still in touch with the other band members? I know that Shane Barnett (vocals) helped out with the REINCARNATE page of a well known metal internet website.
I wasn’t aware that Shane had been involved, but then I haven’t seen any of the other band members in years, not that we really fell out at all, just went our separate ways.

The REINCARNATE single is now a very scarce and sought after piece of Metal history. When did you realize that the name REINCARNATE remains highly regarded to this day by NWOBHM enthusiasts across the world ?
Only quite recently after doing a random search on Google and finding the NWOBHM site. It has sentimental value for me, as for being a ‘sought after piece of Metal history’ well that surprises me!

Would you be interested in releasing on CD all the REINCARNATE material still available? Have any REINCARNATE live shows been recorded on tape?
Yes, I would certainly consider any invitations to release Reincarnate material on CD. I am not aware of any recording of any live Reincarnate shows.

John, anything to add to end up that first REINCARNATE feature in years, the last words are for you.
Just a thank you to you Frederic for your kind words and interest and everyone else who has shown an interest in Reincarnate over the years.

Interview by Kiss of Death.

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