Andro Coulton - Witchfynde
When and where were you born? Are you originally from Derbyshire, England? What was growing up like for you? When did you first begin to fall in love with music and what was it about the bass that initially fascinated you? Do you have any siblings?
I was born in 1952 in the city of Derby England, so yes from Derbyshire, as all Witchfynde were from. Growing up was a bit difficult, at the time I didn’t understand why. I used to have only one friend at a time, I found out recently that I am on the autistic spectrum so I was a bit of a loner. My first recollection of music I liked was when I was 5 and I watched a TV progamme which aired in the UK at 6.05pm on a Saturday evening called The 6-5 Special. The two acts that had a lasting impression on me were Fats Domino singing Blueberry Hill and Jerry Lee Lewis singing Great Balls Of Fire. That triggered a love of music that has lasted all my life.My love of bass came about a lot later, via firstly wanting to play drums, then came my first guitar which was a catalogue special, which I bought in my teens. I was self taught listening and playing along with everything from the Beatles to Frank Zappa. I did however listen to bass players such as Jack Bruce, Andy Fraser and the first to really blow my mind was Mel Schacher of Grand Funk Railroad, his playing, often more lead than the guitar, just triggered something inside me. I picked up a bass for a friend around 1970 but didn’t get my first bass until I swapped my guitar for a Wem Sapphire bass with Rich (Butch) Blower, Witchfynde’s first bass player in 1974. I have one brother Dr Gary Coulton, he used to be a research doctor and lecturer before retiring and becoming a business mentor.
What was your town like growing up? What would you and your friends do for fun? Did you go to many local shows/concerts in your area? What was the music scene in your community like back in those days? Were there any groups you saw that made a huge impact on you and if so, who were they?
Derby was an industrial town, the home of Rolls Royce, there were many more factories plus a locomotive works and a separate carriage and wagon works. The air was polluted most of the time and in winter there often was thick smogs from all the factory chimneys plus all of the houses had coal fires. From 8 years old I lived on the edge of town in a suburb called Sunnyhill, there were fields opposite our house and an derelict second world war army camp behind the fields so that’s where we spent our time. When I was young the only place that had bands on was the Gaumont Theatre which doubled as a cinema. But by my teens the local council put gigs on at the Queens Hall a fairly large venue where I saw many many bands including Hawkwind, Judas Priest, Mahogany Rush, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and many more. I also used to go to Leicester De Montford Hall where I saw the Peter Gabriel Genesis and Lynyrd Skynyrd on their first UK tour.
Early photo with the first singer Neil Harvey at Wingfield Manor (where Mary Queen Of Scots was held prisoner.)
Original Witchfynde line up. L-R Montalo, Gra Scoresby (front), Neil Harvey and Richard (Butch) Blower.
Then in the early 70’s there was the Clouds Club that had bands on every Thursday, where I saw Status Quo for the first time in 1970. Clouds then morphed into Cleopatras and I saw many pro level bands there too. Witchfynde played there twice, the second time earning the title of joint loudest band to ever play there, the other being Pink Fairies. Loudest? Yes to order a drink from the bar you had to write down your order and hand it to the barman while we were on! Derby was always lacking when it came to home grown bands, there were couple of really good ones but all were covers bands. Groups that had an influence on me included, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Cream, Black Sabbath, and many more. Those that influenced my bass playing were Hawkwind (Lemmy Kilminster), Free (Andy Frazer), Grand Funk Railroad (Mel Schacher), Yes (Chris Squire), Black Sabbath (Geezer Butler) and later Rush (Geddy Lee).
Witchfynde promo shot before Steve Bridges joined with the original singer Neil Harvey. Taken at Wingfield Manor Derbyshire where Mary Queen of Scots was held for a while.
Did you participate in any groups prior to Witchfynde? Tell me about how the band came together. How did you initially meet your bandmates Steve Bridges, Gra Scoresby and Trevor Taylor? Where would you guys practice/rehearse and what was the overall chemistry like when you guys first started jamming together? When and where did the band play their very first live performance and what was that experience like for you?
I did participate in 2 other groups before Witchfynde, but I will answer about them after the next parts to keep in chronological order. Witchfynde formed out of a band of school mates called Mangalia. Then several members quit and that left Gra Scoresby drums, Richard (Butch) Blower bass guitar, Neil Harvey lead vocals and Rich Peach roadie. So in 1974 they went to see a band called Atiofel and approached the guitarist and asked if he would join them, that was Trev (Montalo) Taylor. They changed the name to Witchfynde and started to gig around Derby. I used to frequent a pub in Derby called the Seven Stars which was built in the year 1680. The Derby members of Witchfynde frequented it too. I became friends with them and I found out that Gra and Rich needed a house mate as someone had pulled out. So I moved in with them in Holmes Street Derby, I ended up as roadie/light man for Witchfynde. While Witchfynde was on hiatus Gra and I formed the Holmes Street Jug Band to play mostly folk rock songs, the line up was Gra on guitar, me on bass, Mangalia’s first guitarist Paul Aston and Steve Bridges on vocals.
Witchfynde promo photos.
I had known Steve since 1969 when we were both apprentices at the Locomotive Works Derby, we became good friends. Before the band could really get going Witchfynde started up again and we stopped playing. The next band was Albatross a band of various Derby band members plus Rich Peach and me on vocals we put it together as a support band for a local Witchfynde gig. Rich Blower had a car crash and was injured badly enough to have to quit the band. They decided to advertise for a bassist and got a guy from Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts, but he quit just before a gig and the guys said to me ‘you can play bass, can you learn the set before Saturday’. I said yes, so Friday evening I learnt the whole set of covers before playing the next evening. That gig was at the Meadows Pub Derby a venue that put a lot of local bands on at that time. Obviously as I had only learnt the bass parts the day before it was somewhat nerve racking. In Easter 1975 Witchfynde had a gig but had to cancel as Neil Harvey the singer had gone missing.
Witchfynde promo photos.
We were fuming, we found out that he and our new roadie Dave Flood had gone to Jersey one of the Channel Isles, for the holidays and whilst there got exeedingly drunk and eventually arrested and thrown in jail for a week. They were sentenced to a fine and a permanent ban from going back to Jersey. When they got back we sacked them, so we needed a new singer. I suggested Steve Bridges and when asked and auditioned joined the band this was April 1975 which is when the ‘Give E’m Hell’ version was born. We rehearsed at a church hall in Ripley Derbyshire 10am-5pm Saturdays and 7pm-10pm Wednesdays unless we had a gig. If we by any chance could not get that rehearsal place we sometimes used a school hall in Riddings Derbyshire, which was opposite a thatched roofed pub called The Moulder’s Arms. The chemistry in the band was sometimes tense and Trev made it plain at the start that I was only there because there was no one else.
Photo by: Gram Swan.
I wore glasses and was told not to wear them on stage or I was out. Things mellowed out somewhat after a while so I ignored it. Playing wise, after playing covers to get Steve used to singing live, we started to write our own music, of which the first five songs we recorded as demos in December 1975. These I eventually released around 2015 as The Lost Tapes Of 1975. We took them round the record labels and we were rejected by everyone of them; so we never played those songs again and started writing new ones in 1976, one of which was Unto The Ages Of The Ages which ended up on the Give ‘Em Hell album and Tetelestai which was recorded during the Give ‘Em Hell sessions but left off the original vinyl, due to having too many songs for a single album. It however made the CD and the High Roller Vinyl release last year along with Wake Up Screaming.
This photo features the band’s temporary drummer Rob Gilvary who took over from Gra Scoresby for about 6 months.
Photo form the Cresswell Crags photo shoot.
First in a series of old Witchfynde publicity photos taken by Andro’s brother Gary Coulton at Creswell Crags Derbyshire.
Can you tell me about writing as well as recording the band’s first single “Give Em Hell” that was released in ‘79? What was the band’s process and approach to writing as well as recording those tunes? How did the deal with Rondelet Music & Records come about?
Now the writing of Give ‘Em Hell like most of our songs at that time, were put together at rehearsals, someone would have the idea and we would all work on it; but the end section of Give ‘Em Hell had already been used on a song called Sisters Of Fate and incorporated into the new song. This and the B side Getting Heavy were written in early 1979. We had the songs both played live many times before we decided to record several songs at the same studio that Def Leppard had used for their first EP, Fairview Studios Near Hull in August 1979. We paid for these sessions over a long weekend. We recorded them very quickly, as they were by now well ‘worn in’ from playing live, so the 5 tracks were done, including overdubs and mixing in 3 days. We were given a master reel to reel tape and cassettes.
Witchfynde's first major London Gig circa: August 1979.
Witchfynde Live at the Birmingham Tavern circa: '79.Photo courtesy of Malcom Booth.
While Steve and I were at work Trev and Gra took the tape to Rondelet Rec cords or Round Records as they were called then. It was a record store owned by 2 ex EMI employees Mike Commerford ex Managing Director of EMI Malaysia and Alan Campion ex EMI A&R man mainly for the band Smokie. They came away and said they wanted to see us all and we all went up to their Mansfield Nottinghamshire store. They said they wanted to sign us not just as our record company, but management and publishing too. I thought the deal was bad, I didn’t trust them and the royalties at 9% of 90% of the gross both performance and writing divided by four was awful. But the other three wanted to sign, so it was take it or leave so I signed. This is when the cracks really started to begin in the band. That following year in ‘80 the band released its first full length that shared the same title. What was the process/approach to this album and what did you guys want to achieve and/or express on this record? Who did the amazing album art? Five of the songs used on the album we had already recorded as demos and Rondelet only paid for another long weekend to complete the album.
All the songs on this album had been written previously from 1976 to 1979 and had all been gigged, so the recording was just go into the studio and play it as we did live, then add overdubs backing vocals and anything else. The whole album only took 7 days in total, including the master tape copies and even time to record a long lost video of Give ‘Em Hell. This album was purely a statement of where we were at that time with a nod to the hard core fans, with earlier songs like Unto The Ages Of The Ages. By the time we recorded the album we were well worn ‘road warriors’ that were very tight. That is why we were invited on the Def Leppard tour in early 1980 to push them to be better. After the third gig on the tour Rondelet told us that EMI had wanted to sign us, but Rondelet wanted so much money to buy us out of the contract that EMI walked away. By the end of the tour every major label had wanted to sign us with the same result Rondelet’s greed finished us. The cracks were now wide open. The album cover art was done by my brother Gary’s then girlfriend Lorraine Hoyland, when they were both at Newcastle University. It is hand drawn and she drew it on their kitchen table!!! ‘81 saw the release of “Stagefright”.
Can you tell me about writing and recording this record? What did you guys want to achieve, or express on this record that maybe you couldn’t on the previous debut?
This one is a little complicated as when we signed to Rondelet we signed a one year deal with us agreeing to produce two albums. We signed in September 1979 but the first album didn’t come out until February 1980 five months later. With us touring and promoting Give ‘Em Hell, no recording started until June 1980. We had three songs ready to record in June 1980, these were a new version of Wake Up Screaming (which I didn’t like as I though it was too ‘over the top’), In The Stars and Wouldn’t Be Seen Dead In Heaven. I played bass on these three songs. The song writing had changed, as it was now Trev and Gra songs and Steve and I told what to play mainly. I wasn’t allowed any artistic freedom, plus I considered the last two of those songs pop filler at best and although we had agreed to always split the songwriting four ways, I hated Wouldn’t Be Seen Dead In Heaven that much I didn’t want my name on it. By now things in the band were getting worse between Trev and me and although I was involved in the songwriting process for Stagefright and at least 2 more I never recorded any more of the album. One day in June I believe, Steve and I were driving back from a band meeting and Steve said, ‘ They are rehearsing with another bass player behind your back’ I replied ‘Good, I’ve had enough’.
I wasn’t going to quit as I had signed a contract with Rondelet. In May 1980 I had an accident on the way back from rehearsal, I was driving down a country road and it had been raining, I turned into a left hand bend which got tighter halfway through; unbeknown to me, there was mud on the road and suddenly the car was now careering sideways down the road. There was a Mini coming the other way so I had to chose between hitting the Mini or the bank I chose the bank and then rolled the car over three times and ended up in a field with the car on it’s driver’s side I though I better get out and got out through where the windscreen used to be. I must have passed out as I woke up with a policeman looking down at me. I was taken to hospital and I was extremely lucky as I only sustained a broken elbow, torn thigh muscle and glass cuts especially as I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt! I just pushed as hard as I could with my arms on the steering wheel and feet pressed hard into the footwell. I missed one gig and played on the next Saturday at our home gig, The Brimington Tavern in Chesterfield Derbyshire. I played sitting on a bar stool as I couldn’t stand for long and threw up afterwards as the pain was intense however, obviously this wasn’t appreciated by my so called band mates. So after a gig in Wolverhampton in early July 1980 Rondelet’s Alan Campion asked me to go into the dressing room and said, ‘It’s not working is it?’ I said no it isn’t, I’ve had enough and I took my gear and left the band.
However that wasn’t quite the end, as I was still under contract, I hired a lawyer to ask Rondelet if I was released from my contract, for a copy of the Stagefright album and for a copy of the single In The Stars b/w Wake Up Screaming. Rondelet came back and said I was released from all contractual obligations and sent the requested records. However, on receipt I found that although I had played on 3 tracks, I was not mentioned as playing on them plus, there were derogatory remarks both on the sleevenotes and in a song; also the single has the second bassist’s photo on the cover when he didn’t play a note on either side. I went as far as to hire a barrister to take this defamation etc., to court but after his investigations he advised although I had a great case and would win, neither Rondelet, or Witchfynde had any money and his advice was to put it down to ‘water under the bridge’, as you can’t get blood out of a stone. This album was hurriedly cobbled together to make sure it came out before the end of the one year contract in September 1980. I’ve seen it put as witchfynde’s ‘experimental’ album, not a botched up, hurried mish mash of song writing which it really was. Then Rondelet dropped Witchfynde and demanded £25,000 from them, Steve Bridges left October 1980 and was replaced by Luther Beltz. Then the whole band ‘dissappeared‘ until reappearing in 1983 with Cloak and Dagger.
Can you tell me about creating ‘83’s “”Cloak and Dagger”? How did the deal with Expulsion come about? What had changed about the band both musically and personally at this point? With the band’s last release, “Lords Of Sin '' in ‘84, for quite some time, what eventually happened to the band after ‘85? What made you decide to leave the band after 5 years?
I can only surmise about the Expulsion deal as I wasn’t there, but again had to sign with a tiny label as they had lost all traction having been in the wilderness for a long time. Again it proved a wrong move as the label had no money and went bankrupt shortly after the album was released. Musically the band had completely changed, as the line up with Pete Surgey and Luther Beltz sounded as different to mine and Steve Bridges Witchfynde, as did the Dio Black Sabbath to the original Ozzie version. Luther’s Halford style of high vocals were so different to Steve’s and the music seemed generic 80’s rock/metal. In ’84 they signed to Mausoleum, another mistake as they too went bust, also during the recording Pete Surgey left and was replaced by Ed Wolfe. The album was received with bad reviews. On listening to it apart from bad mastering it sounded so different from the Witchfynde I was in. They then disbanded until they started up again in 1999. I was the only original member not to be asked to join in the reformation and I must admit it did rankle at the time.
They released an album with Harry Harrison on vocals in 2001 and Play It To Death in 2008. I left after 5 years for the reasons said above, the bad record deal, feeling of being an outsider and/or session musician rather than an equal member, and many other reasons including a clash of personalities. We could have been as big as Def Leppard, Saxon, or Iron Maiden but far too many bad decisions were made. I understand you continued with playing music, can you tell me about that? When you reflect back on those days, what are you most proud of? Do you have a favorite Witchfynde song/album? What have you been up to recently? Yes I carried on and formed a new band Malleus which ran until 1984 we recorded 4 songs but they weren’t released at the time. We struggled getting the right musicians and had at least four line up changes. I then left the music business until 2006. I can say that I was extremely proud of my time in Witchfynde and we produced some top notch songs. I got to play some famous venues and play on the bill with many great bands.
Give ‘Em Hell will always mean everything to me and it would be very hard to pick a song. In 2006 I found out that Witchfynde were listed as being an influence to such bands as Metallica and Bauhaus, this spiked my musical interest and I produced a solo album Dragonhead in 2006 and then formed a band with my wife Shaz called ZXY, this was me on 2 octave lead bass, Shaz on rhythm guitar and I think 7 different drummers!! We toured in 2014 with some old Malleus songs, some Witchfynde and some new ones. Things became sporadic as Shaz was diagnosed with breast cancer in summer 2014 and I was diagnosed with myeloma (bone marrow cancer) in 2017. However Shaz and I reformed Malleus in 2018 with Shaz on rhythm guitar, myself on now 3 octave lead bass, Gram Swan on vocals and Jake Weekes on drums. We recorded an album Your Nightmare Calls and this was released in June 2019 and we played at Mearfest in the same month. I then formed my own band Andro Coulton’s Witchfynde in the summer of 2019 and our first gig was opening the British Steel Festival in Fismes France.
We then produced a 40th anniversary re-recording of the Give ‘Em Hell single in August 2020 which was delayed due to the Covid outbreak and lockdown. In January 2020 I was contacted by the German record label Golden Core who released the Malleus album Your Nightmare Calls, plus the four demos from 1984. This year things have started to really go forwards with Andro Coulton’s Witchfynde. We have new management, a new line up (to be announced shortly) and plans for a new album and as many gigs as possible. Regarding the album I have enough old Witchfynde songs that were never recorded in a studio, or only crude demos to produce a new album of these unreleased gems. Also recently, the other Witchfynde has split with Luther Beltz and with rhythm guitarist Tracey Abbott quitting; leaving just Trev, Gra and Pete Surgey to record a Montalo solo album, so I am the last man standing recording and gigging as Witchfynde.
Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
I got to a certain level musically in 1980, my aim is to get back to that level as soon as possible and to then go as far as possible while I can to keep the Witchfynde music alive and to bring it to as many people as possible. We are hoping to tour the USA, Canada and Europe next year. I thank all the legions of Witchfynde fans young and old for making doing this worthwile.
