How UHAS Started.

 

Dave Owen tell's us

In 1973 I first go into Heep shopping
MJ's Rocking Robin 7" for The Wizard , boy did I get a good deal !! and my
friend still goes around wearing one glove !! I  brought everything I could
up until marriage in 1981 and saw as many shows as I could too although at
that age and not driving I couldn't do many , wow , what a drain on
resources marriage is !! So is the divorce !!!!

In 1991 I saw an ad for Heep at Wolverhampton , I went taking a load of
sleeves etc. and waited patiently and got backstage and ........ well, the
rest is I think the same as everyone , they were so nice ,so down to earth
and I had just missed the Central TV gig :-( Miracle didn't tell me
although I was on their list !

I was hooked , I sold my guitar , told the wife I was off to get the paper
, and found myself on a ferry on the way to Germany with a list from
Miracle of dates , long weekend 2 dates , I drove to the first , all
excited I went in only to find an OAP beer festival taking place . No Heep
gig in sight  AHHHH ! stuck in Germany , wrong tour dates , Sunday , no one
to contact , I was well and truly stuck ! I thought the best thing I could
do was drive to the next gig and see if Heep were going to be there . I did
a little shopping and found a Shepperton 74 CD which I already had , but ,
well I guess you've all done that too !:-)

Four hour drive , I circle Koln 4 times , lost !! eventually arriving in
Aachen , found the venue and there was a poster , I went in and brought a
ticket . I now felt safe .Next day I spent the time shopping and checking
the venue to see if any trucks had arrived. 4pm and there was the truck, I
spoke to Jim and showed him the itinerary , he showed it to Howard Menzies ,
the tour manager and they said the list had been altered , Heep had
actually played in Koln last night AHHHHH ! I saw ALL of Koln !They offered
to get me in free , but I had my ticket and while I waited outside to get
in I met new friends too , it was great .

The show was up to the usual standard , it was a small venue , Bernie
jumped on stage and hit his head on the ceiling ! Anyway , back home and
unpacked , I'd had all these wonderful ideas about a club or a newsletter ,
I just wanted to tell everyone how brilliant everything was and it  wasn't
going to be much work, after all I was the last Heep fan in existence , the
only one (heard that before somewhere ?) In the Wanted section of record
collector that month was an ad from someone wanting Shepperton 74 on CD , I
wrote in and gave a phone number for contact . The phone rang a week or two
later , it was Alan , he thought HE was the last Heep fan , all of a sudden
we were not a dying breed , he had wanted to do a mag also and we had
basically the same ideas . We approached Miracle , who liked the idea but
basically wanted to use it as a promotional tool , to sell the merchandise
. But they said to do it properly we had to make money and it had to be
done with the full cooperation of the band , I wasn't going to argue .After
I think 4 or 5 issues Heep split with Miracle and we went on our own , the
money we made went to Miracle for the merchandise and we have ridden the
costs to make sure we don't lose money ,but we don't make any either . But,
we both love Heep , and that is why we are still going , it's a privilege
to call Mick and co. friends and now, through that, I have many, many
friends around the world............ you lot !! No other thing in my life
has ever done this for me and never will, I can spend 5 nights a week
working on the mag and with Alan not working on this mag , I tell you , my
work is cut out !!! but I love it.

Well there you go my first contribution for the Heepnet , now pick out the
faults and fire it back at me :-) I'm wearing my Heep armor . For the
record , I like Conquest ,although Firefly is my all time fave and the
worst concert I ever saw was the Dechert line-up , it was so distorted and
you could see the unrest on stage .
But i'm a member of the" all Heep is good Heep " club each line up had it's
merits and each line-up brought with it a new dimension to Heep .

Cheers  Dave.