Uriah Heep

- For all of you eagerly waiting for Uriah Heep's new studio album, Mick
Box says that the "pedal goes to the metal" regarding it! (thanks to Mike
Taylor for this bit...)

- Details on the next gigs, especially on Festivals, can always be found at
http://www.uriah-heep.com/livedates/index.html !

- At http://www.classicrockfestival.tk , Uriah Heep is in the lead as far
as the poll is concerned. Heep got over 55,000 votes, and this might help
a bit to get Heep later in the schedule. It's a hard task with bands such
as Deep Purple, Status Quo, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Wishbone Ash, L.A. Doors &
Budgie contracted, but more votes will certainly help... so let's vote!

- In Italy it has been released a book titled "Guitar Heroes", subtitle
"Portrait of 100 legendary guitar players". A chapter is dedicated to Mick
Box and in general to Uriah Heep, a short history of the group is reported
and it is recognized that "Gipsy" (together with Black Sabbath's
"Paranoid") was the song that started the Hard Rock trend. The author of
the book is Paolo Battigelli, an Italian music journalist and photographer.
(thanks to Francesco Berri for the info)

- The "Uriah Heep Holland Promotion Team" organizes on July 5th a Heep
Party at the Langbroek (The Netherlands) Sheepmarket, which this year will
be announced as the Uriah (S)Heep market. Jan Hoogland & Evert Achterberg
are working on Heepy ideas for this event. More details shortly!

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MORE HEEP... AND RELATED!
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- As Ken Hensley is currently very busy recording his new studio album "The
Last Dance", a studio report was added to his website at
http://www.ken-hensley.com . Check it out! Soon photos from the studio
sessions will be added too...

- Tapio Minkkinen has added to his website a Chris Tetley interview with
Mick & Trevor from 1989 (including also a sample of David Byron interview
from ca. 1980): http://koti.mbnet.fi/htapiom/media/index.htm . Also, this
was released in 1990 as "The Uriah Heep Story" pic disc on vinyl & CD:
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~htapiom/search2\story.htm (and it's an over 25
minutes long Real Audio 3.0 file).

- Staf Pypen from Belgium started a Uriah Heep/John Lawton website.
Absolutely worth a visit: http://users.skynet.be/staf.p/staf.htm

- Remember Thijs van Leer of Focus, who played with Heep a couple of times
recently? OK, he will soon appear as a "mystery guest" in the BBC TV's
special "Never Mind the Buzzcocks". Turn on your TVs on February 23rd at
9.00 GMT.

- Here's a review of a gig happened the other night featuring one-time
Heepster, Bob Daisley, and Jon Lord (thanks to Michael Keating):

The Basement, Sydney February 7 2003
Jon Lord and the Hoochie Coochie Men

"There is something so satisfying about listening to a band of consummate
musicians effortlessly glide through a set of blues classics. Watching last
night's gig the smile never left my face. The band made it look so, so
easy. Joining Deep Purple's Jon Lord on stage were the Hoochie Coochie Men
featuring Tim Gaze on guitar, Jim Conway on harmonica, Rob Grossner on drums
and Bob Daisley, probably best known for his work with Ozzy Osbourne on
bass. And wasn't it a treat to see Bob play in a rare live appearance in
his native Australia. Classics such as "Green Onions" (which the personable
Jon confessed was in the set of his first ever live gig way back when) and
"Baby Please Don't Go" allowed the band to stretch their musical muscle.
Tonight wasn't about Deep Purple - it was about a group of veteran musicians
getting together and having fun. And their enjoyment was infectious. Besides a
version of the much overlooked Deep Purple ballad "When a Blind Man Cries"
featuring rock icon Jimmy Barnes on vocals, the closest tonight came to Deep
Purple was a few snatches of "Lazy" during one of Jon's intros. Barnsey also
contributed to "Hoochie Coochie Man" a song surely written with a character
such as him in mind. The band also showed their musical roots with a slow blues
version of Cream's "Strange Brew" from the Hoochie Coochie Men's latest CD and
a version of Willie Dixon's "I Need Love" as Willie himself recorded it rather
than the plagiarised Led Zeppelin version "Whole Lotta Love". Johnny Winter's
"Dallas" and Jimmie Smith's "Back at the Chicken Shack" continued the
down home blues theme. Sitting well in the set was the Hoochie Coochie Men
original "24/7 Blues". The night was originally meant to showcase the solo
side of Jon Lord's work. After treating Sydney to his Concerto at the Opera
House as part of the festival of Sydney Jon was planning to further delight us
with pieces from his other classically tainted solo efforts such as "Pictured
Within" and "The Gemini Suite". A recurrence of a hand injury meant the last
minute change of plans and thus the blues show. I'm sure there were no
disappointed fans tonight however. Jon Lord's virtuosity seems to shine in any
music style he puts his hand to. Let's hope he visits our shores again soon. A
classy gent with his musicianship is always welcome." - Michael Keating