STAIRWAY have their long awaited debut album released through Kingsway Music. Andrew Long spoke to the band.

Stairway

Waiting 11 years for your debut album is some indication of how few opportunities there are for a British Christian band when their chosen musical forte is metal. But Midlands-based Stairway have toughed it out and now that long dreamed of album 'No Rest No Mercy' is out through Kingsway's White Metal label. I spoke to the band's lead vocalist and songwriter Graeme Leslie about the life and times of Stairway.

Graeme originally formed a three-piece band with schoolmates Rob Jennens on bass and Pete Jennens on drums. The band was then known as Stormtrooper. What prompted the name change?

"Unfortunately, there was a band in Scotland with the same name who got a recording deal, so we had to change the name," Graeme told me. "We chose Stairway from the Led Zeppelin song 'Stairway To Heaven'. Then in 1982 we recruited Andy Edwards on drums and Pete moved on to guitar. We knew Andy from his time with a reggae band called Delayed Action who split up, so he joined us and the line-up has remained the same ever since."

The schoolboy dreams of rock stardom never came to fruition for the band, they slogged their way around the Midlands pubs and clubs up until around 1988 when their direction began to change. "We were challenged by the local minister that perhaps we should dedicate our music to the Lord," explained Graeme, "so we prayed about it and I started writing songs with a Christian feel and from then on it really blossomed. We don't preach at our gigs now, we used to at first but it got the cold shoulder from the punters so we decided against that and let the songs speak for themselves. We were criticised for doing that but we prayed about it and discussed it and realised that God can speak through the music itself."

Over the years Stairway's musical style has changed quite radically too, Graeme told me that they started out as a country-influenced rock band with an Eagles-type sound. I was momentarily caught up in a vision of a country rock band called Stormtrooper but decided to let sleeping dogs lie. They have now settled into the heavy metal/hard rock vein. Graeme describes their influences as being Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Saxon with a little bit of AC/DC "thrown in for good measure". 'No Rest: No Mercy' has that traditional British power metal sound that originated in the early 80s.

It is interesting to note that most of the bands Graeme mentioned are British, the Brits can legitimately claim the credit for inventing heavy metal and many of our home-grown bands have had tremendous worldwide success, yet when it comes to white metal Britain is not even in the same league as the USA. We are left way behind both in quantity and quality and can count the signed British bands on the fingers of one hand. I put this to Graeme and asked him what he thought were the reasons for our lack of serious bands. "I think that the British Christian culture is scared of heavy metal. It's always been classed as the Devil's music whereas in America there is a more liberal attitude. I think the Church should really get behind British white metal bands."

What advice would he offer to struggling white metallers who may be meeting a lot of opposition? "Pray! God tends to work in his own time, but he will answer your prayer and if you've got good intentions and faith then nothing can stop you. Talk to the people in church who are somewhat afraid of what might happen, explain your motives and I don't think they can criticise, if it's for God's Kingdom it can't be wrong."

'No Rest No Mercy' was recorded at White Rabbit studios in April 1992 and, after the inevitable record company delay, was released in June this year along with the debut album from Gethsemane Rose and the second Detritus release. "We were slightly miffed by the delay," Graeme said, "because we wanted to get the album out as quickly as possible. We'd like to tour Europe or America with this album and get our music more widely known outside the UK."

The members of Stairway are currently still holding down full-time jobs but would ultimately like to become a professional band. Graeme believes that they need more mainstream recognition to do this. "I think the Christian market has a niche," said Graeme, "but I don't think it goes far enough, you have to go with the secular side of it to extend what you want to do."

The cover of 'No Rest No Mercy' sports an extraordinary Rodney Matthews illustration of Satan bound in chains and being cast into the Pit, while above the Pit a blonde angelic warrior raises his fist in triumph. I found it very reminiscent of Stryper's 'To Hell With The Devil' album. "I hadn't thought of it in that context," said Graeme. "The first track on this album, "Battle Of Heaven", is based on Isaiah 14 v 15, so I rang Rodney Matthews and asked him to design a cover around that verse."

Most of the album's lyrics deal with Revelation imagery - a favourite and perhaps over-exhausted subject of white metal bands - "The Great Whore Of Babylon" for instance is a direct paraphrase of Revelation Scriptures. I wondered whether this was a particular concept for this album. "When I began writing songs for the album it was obvious that a theme was coming through based around the end times and the final defeat of the Devil," said Graeme, "but I shall probably change the idea for the second album because I think there's more to say than just dwelling on one particular point in the Bible.