Tony Cummings caught up with Graeme Leslie and Andy Edwards from STAIRWAY

Stairway

When Midlands-based band Stairway step onto the stage at the Full Metal Osthessen in Germany next month they will have clocked up a staggering 34 years of hard rocking. Down the years the band have become stalwarts of the classic Iron Maiden/Black Sabbath sound. Stairway - now a three-piece, Graeme Leslie (vocals), Pete Jennens (guitar) and Andy Edwards (drums) - are currently getting close to finishing their new album and have posted a work-in-progress mix of their song "Lucy Fuhr" on their website. Graeme and Andy visited the Cross Rhythms studio where they offered some reminiscences of the lengthy Stairway history.

The last time Cross Rhythms spoke to Stairway was in 1993 when the band's highly regarded 'No Rest No Mercy' album received an international release. As it turned out, it was to be six years before the band released their 'Bleeding Heart' project. Remembered Graeme, "'Bleeding Heart' was the first album we'd done on our own. It was self-financed, self-promoted. We were basically starting from scratch and learning as we went along. When you're with a label the label promotes it and you don't really get involved too much with the background aspect of that sort of thing. It was very much a quick learning curve for us with the 'Bleeding Heart' album and we continued with the other albums as well."

Those other albums were 'On Hallowed Ground' (2002), 'The Other Side Of Midnight' (2006) and 'Interregnum' (2010), the latter being the last album on which longtime bass player Rob Jennens recorded. Intriguingly, the band decided to continue on as a trio with Graeme switching to bass. Explained Andy, "I think if we'd got a new member it would have taken longer to get where we are because I would have probably come back off the drums onto the bass so I'd have to learn the bass again and the drummer would have to learn the drum parts."

Graeme commented on the responses that most veteran bands encounter. "It's sort of come full circle really. In the early '90s we were getting 'Stairway? Are they still around?' Now in 2013 we are still getting 'Stairway, are they still around?' That's good to hear!"

Stairway's classic old school hard rock sound is some way from the output of the new wave of hardcore noisenicks. Admitted Graeme, "I like some of it, some of it is great. It's a bit painful for the ears sometimes."

Stairway are a band who have continuously proclaimed their faith in their lyrics. Said Graeme, "We've noticed over the years, particularly in the early days, that the 'secular' scene was more accepting of the message than the Church was. They appreciated the music. We believe in Christ and the message that the Bible gives us. They said fair enough, that's what you do. We'll take that. We've never really had that problem with that side of it at all."