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Trevor Bolder was born in Hull UK
on June 9th 1950. The first band experience Bolder had was with the
CHICAGO BLUES STYLE BAND. In 1968 he founded the band RONO with MICK
RONSON (ex-Rats). The same year RONO recorded the single 4TH HOUR OF
MY SLEEP/POWERS OF DARKNESS, but Bolder does not appear on this one
although his name is printed on the sleeve. He was replaced by TONY
VISCONTI. RONO recorded a complete album which has never been
released. In 1971 Bolder played bass on DAVID BOWIE’S album HUNKY
DORY. Some of the other musicians then were: MICK RONSON guitar and
RICK WAKEMAN piano. In 1972 he did his job on BOWIE’S anthem THE
RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST & THE SPIDERS FROM MARS.
In 1973 Bolder played on DANA GILLESPIE’S
album WEREN’T BORN AS A MAN together with MICK RONSON, RICK WAKEMAN, DAVID
BOWIE, CHRIS REA, and RAY COOPER. In 1973 Bolder joined the MICK RONSON
BAND. Other bandmembers then were MICK GARSON and AYNSLEY DUNBAR. A year
later SLAUGHTER ON 10TH AVENUE was released.
In September 1974 the band splitted. As a
farewell gift PLAY DON’T WORRY was released in 1975. In 1975 THE SPIDERS
FROM MARS were formed. With Bolder, WOODY WOODMANSEY (drums), DAVE BLACK (guitar),
PETE McDONALD (vocals), and MIKE GARSON (keyboards), and the album with the
same name was recorded, being released in 1976.
The ten songs show a high musical level,
especially the Bolder songs such as PRISONER and RAINBOW. RED EYES, I DON’T
WANNA DO NO LIMBO and STRANGER TO MY DOOR were written by Bolder and
McDONALD. But after this album the band stopped in early 1976. In September
1976 Bolder replaced JOHN WETTON in URIAH HEEP. He stayed there until March
1981 and played on the following albums: FIREFLY (1977), INNOCENT VICTIM
(1977), FALLEN ANGEL (1978) and CONQUEST (1980).
Bolder did his part in songwriting. From
SAVE IT of FALLEN ANGEL to NO RETURN, FOOLS, WON’T HAVE TO WAIT TOO LONG and
IT AIN’T EASY from CONQUEST. Although CONQUEST got bad critics, many fans
say Bolder was on his best on this one. Maybe the funky style was
responsible for it. When at the end of 1980 things went wrong with Uriah
Heep (Hensley left the band) Bolder and Mick Box visited DAVID BYRON trying
to bring him back as a frontman. They were stunned as Byron refused, and it
seemed to be the last action that could save Heep from disaster. Later
Bolder admitted the band probably should have changed its name after
Hensley’s departure. In 1981 Bolder played with Ken Hensley on his solo
album FREE SPIRIT. In April 1981 Bolder changed Heep for WISHBONE ASH,
however his heart was with Uriah Heep. In WISHBONE ASH then were ANDY POWELL,
LAURIE WISEFIELD, and STEVE UPTON.
There again he replaced JOHN WETTON, like 5
years before with Heep. So WISHBONE ASH could go on touring. In December
1981 WISHBONE ASH gigged in India as one of the first rockbands to ever play
there. Bolder did the singing parts in the band with ANDY POWELL. In 1982
TWIN BARRELS BURNING was recorded at the JIMMY PAGE homestudio for the
mini-label AVM. The band started touring again. There was unexpected success
with the album, and the 22nd place in the UK album charts was celebrated.
From the middle of 1982 until February 1983 WISHBONE ASH toured through
India, England, Italy, Holland, USA and Sweden. In April 1983 Bolder
returned to Uriah Heep in time for the HEAD FIRST TOUR.
He replaced BOB DAISLEY. From this point
Bolder never left Heep again. He became a factor of importance within the
band, as he wrote and writes great songs and he also worked eventually as a
producer. Since he’s back with Heep he demonstrated his high level bass
playing on 12 official albums: EQUATOR (1985), LIVE IN MOSCOW (1988), RAGING
SILENCE (1989), DIFFERENT WORLD (1991), SEA OF LIGHT (1995), SPELLBINDER
(1996), SONIC ORIGAMI (1998), FUTURE ECHOES OF THE PAST (2000), ACOUSTICALLY
DRIVEN (2001), ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN (2001), MAGICIAN'S BIRTHDAY PARTY (2002),
LIVE IN USA (2003).
After Mick Box and Lee Kerslake he’s the
one who's been more time in the band. For SEA OF LIGHT, the 1995 album
released by Steamhammer, Bolder wrote SWEET SUGAR, FEAR OF FALLING, FIRES OF
HELL and DREAM ON. This acoustic song was released as a single but due to
the lack of promotion it had no chance to achieve success. The 1998 album
SONIC ORIGAMI contains three Bolder songs: I HEAR VOICES, SHELTER FROM THE
RAIN and ONLY THE YOUNG. He co-wrote EVERYTHING IN LIFE, an older song which
was often played live but never recorded in studio before.
Besides HEEP, in 1995 the SPIDERS FROM MARS
were reformed just for a MICK RONSON tribute festival. The line up on this
tour was WOODY WOODMANSEY on drums, and the guitar was played by former
NAZARETH member BILLY RANKIN. In 1996 even a TRIBUTE FESTIVAL tour was set
up in the UK with Bolder. In July 1997 THE SPIDERS FROM MARS started a minor
UK tour. JOE ELLIOT and PHIL COLLEN from DEF LEPPARD also joined the Spiders
on a few occasions, and a live album was recorded under the name CYBERNAUTS.
URIAH HEEP are still going strong and right now they're in the Chapel
Recording Studios in the UK preparing their new studio album, scheduled to
be released in September 2007 on Sanctuary Records. A solo effort by Trevor
is also expected for some time soon.
So we can expect a lot of music coming from
Trevor and his Heep mates in the coming future. You can visit Trevor at his
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/trevorbolder
Trevor's Defender TB signature bass is produced by:
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