On This Day 19/02/1980 Uriah Heep

On this day, 19 February 1980, rock band Uriah Heep played Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens. Support was provided by Girlschool. The band featured Cardiff’s John Sloman on vocals.

Ex-Lone Star John Sloman was brought in, a younger singer who played keyboards and guitar and was, in the words of Box, "an all rounder". But almost instantly, Lee Kerslake departed, after a row with Bron, whom the drummer accused of favouritism towards Hensley's material.

Several tracks of the next album had to be re-recorded with a new drummer, Chris Slade (of the Manfred Mann's Earth Band). Conquest LP was released in February 1980 (worldwide except the United States, where it was never released) and received 5 stars from Record Mirror, but, according to Box, "was a difficult album to record" and represented "a confused Heep", even "a mess" (in the words of Trevor Bolder).

The band went on the 10th Anniversary Tour with Girlschool as support and attracted respectable crowds. Hensley was very unhappy, primarily with Sloman, and he explained why:

“The band had chosen John and I had opposed that decision. He was a good musician and he looked great but I thought he had little going for him vocally. The way that he interpreted songs were totally different to the way I had written them. I could understand wanting to move on but this was like the difference between Black Sabbath and Gino Vannelli. We weren't addressing our basic problems, in that we weren't re-establishing our musical direction and John definitely wasn't helping us to do that.”

A meeting at the manager's office concerning the songwriting dissent was the last straw and, in September 1980, Hensley quit. Gregg Dechert, a Canadian who had worked with Sloman in Pulsar, came in and the band went on a 23-date tour of the UK. After recording an album's worth of unreleased material. Sloman left, citing musical differences for a reason. He would later go on to work with UFO, Gary Moore and Robert Palmer.

On This Day 12/12/1974 Uriah Heep

Images may be subject to copyright

On this day, 12 December 1974, rock band Uriah Heep played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre on their Wonderworld tour.

In June the band had released their seventh studio album Wonderworld, the last Uriah Heep album to feature bass player Gary Thain.

Formed in London in 1969, Uriah Heep were part of the early 1970s rock scene and have been referred to as major pioneers of the hard rock, heavy metal, and progressive rock genres.

Recorded in Munich's Musicland Studios in January, disappointed fans and band members alike. "Recording abroad disrupted the band's normal method of operation and that had a big negative effect on the group. Our communication was falling apart, we were arguing over stuff like royalties and we were getting involved in matters beyond music", keyboard player Ken Hensley said.

Guitarist Mick Box remembered weeks spent in the studio as "dramatic" for all the wrong reasons. "David (Byron) was drunk for most of the time, Kenny was having an emotional time of it and I was constantly trying to help them so it was difficult for me too. There was also a little bit of friction because (artistic) Kenny didn't like all the attention that (flamboyant) David was getting."

Gary Thain was in even more serious trouble. According to Blows, "A strenuous touring schedule, compounded by the bassist's heavy drug dependency (inherent even before joining Heep) was taking its toll, though matters came to a head while on tour during September", when the bassist received a serious electric shock on stage in Dallas during a gig at Southern Methodist University’s Moody Coliseum on 15 September 1974.

The rest of the US tour was then canceled and their UK dates rescheduled. Soon after going out of hospital, Thain, in Sounds, openly accused manager Gerry Bron of having turned Uriah Heep into a mere "financial thing" and was fired two months after the group's final gig of 1974 at New Theatre in Oxford on 14 December. A year later, on 8 December 1975, Gary Thain was found dead in his Norwood Green home, having overdosed on heroin.

On this day 22/10/1971 Uriah Heep

Images may be subject to copyright

On this day, 22 October 1971, rock band Uriah Heep played Cardiff University on their Look At Yourself tour.

The band had just released their third album Look At Yourself, the last Uriah Heep album to feature founding member and bassist Paul Newton.

Characterized as heavy metal and progressive rock, the album came to be viewed as a high point in the band's career and is regarded by many fans and critics as one of Uriah Heep's finest albums, along with Demons and Wizards, released the following year.

The title track and "July Morning" were released as singles in the UK and North America in 1971 and 1973, respectively.

The original cover art on the LP featured a single sleeve with a die-cut opening on the front through which a reflective foil "mirror" was seen, conveying a distorted image of the person viewing it. The idea, by guitarist Mick Box, was for the cover to directly reflect the album title, and this theme is carried through the band photos on the rear of the LP sleeve, which have also been distorted. The LP itself was housed in a heavy-duty inner card, complete with lyrics.