Uriah Heep Interview - Mick Box "personally, coming to Australia is coming home."

Uriah Heep has been fortunate enough - through their last two studio albums, Wake the Sleeper and the latest Into The Wild - to be able to escape their history and be recognised as a current band who is releasing brilliant material, and not just one with a celebrated record. The focus of this interview is not really looking back on this rich history - as this is still the focus of many interviews with guitarist Mick Box - but looking at a band of musicians who are standing tall on top of their well documented and renowned past and moving forward as a relevant and compelling group who still has something important to say after 40 years of recording and touring.

The new album is a very rich and quite a complex piece of work; however, it is also a rock album with memorable melodies. Can you explain the writing process for Into The Wild?

Mick Box: Most of the album was written by myself and Phil Lanzon (keyboards). Basically the scoop was the record company wanted a new album. Half way through recording they make it clear that they wanted a more rock album. After Phil and I hone our initial ideas the guys come and record them straight away, with no real rehearsing and this gives the recording a real freshness. Into the Wild is a really straight ahead rock album and in my opinion it is a lot more accessible than recent recorded material.

As an experienced songwriter and someone who is acclaimed as a songwriter, how do you come up with fresh ideas and do you feel any pressure when writing new material?

Mick Box: No pressure, we do what we do and no thought goes down this road. We write every day and always think in these terms. We have played in over 53 countries and so we soak up ideas as we tour and put them into music and this is always a fresh approach. It is just plainly what we do and I couldn’t do anything else!

Phil Lanzon is highly represented within the writing credits, how many of the initial ideas for compositions came from him and what as a musician does he bring to the band in your eyes?

Mick Box: Phil a very talented musician and writer. He has been in the bad for 26 years and fits into what the band is about. The songs he brought along this time “Freedom” and “Southern Star” and then I gave them the Heep treatment. The start riff on this (Southern Star) is very 70’s based. What he brings to the table is a multitalented, great ear, and an all rounder.

Bernie Shaw is an amazing vocalist. He really is in a role enviable by I am sure, thousands of vocalists, but at the same time he is fulfilling a role that would also scare just as many. What does Bernie bring to Uriah Heep as a vocalist and a musician?

Mick Box: When David Byron passed away and Bernie eventually came along, fans believed that they have a Heep vocalist again. Bernie has the same range but he also has his own identity removed from David’s. Now when I write, I write for Bernie, knowing the keys and range that suits him. Bernie puts heart and soul into it all and sells the material so well. I love working with him!

For me the highlights of the album are "I Can See You", "Trail of Diamonds", "T-bird Angel" and "Southern Star". What are they for you?

Mick Box: Oh blimey that is a tough one! Into the Wild is going down a storm live world-wide, it has captured people's imagination and they are really relating to. I would say that we are having a great reaction to “Trail of Diamonds” and this song is very Heepy, that real stand out.

"I Can See You", lyrically is about your parents who have passed away but they still guide you – what we tried to do is make it more worldly and this I think is what people are relating to.

Is there anything on the album, listening back on it, that you feel you should have done differently?

Mick Box: Do you know what, I don’t look at things like that and we move on from there. The point is that is we can’t change anything after the recording and I am happy when we leave something. You have to put yourself back to when it was written and recorded.

Looking back to our first album I can still hear all of the innocence and that was that time and the experience we had. I guess technically you can look back and go "wow that could have been better", but really it couldn’t - that was us at that time with the experience and skill we had. This is still how I look at things, I don’t look back and go "I wish".

Celebration [2009] is an album that not only highlights the amazing amount of classic songs that Uriah Heep has written, but also highlights a fresh and engaging group of musicians. What do you see as the key differences between the original versions of this collection of songs and those on Celebration?

Mick Box: I mean to be honest - that was never to be a battle with the originals, but more to show that the band is still alive and passionate and to project what this band does now, and it works. For fans, if you don’t know anything about the Heep of today or the classic hits it is a good document. But it was also a celebration of what Heep are about rather than just a remastering of the original songs. There are also originals on there to give it a more modern relevance as well.

What was the impetus of Celebration and how did the other members of the band feel about recording it?

Mick Box: They were totally in to it. I would never make anyone do anything that they didn’t want to do, as this isn’t right and the project wouldn’t work if people’s hearts aren’t in it.

The important thing for this was to record most of it live including vocals and solos. And what you hear is basically this! As I said it is a representation of the band now and Heep’s history and that is how we do it live. No piecemeal approach just a live feel, a freshness and energy.

Compared to Into The Wild, Wake the Sleeper [2008], is a much harder album, in my eyes. What are the main differences in these pieces, in your eyes?

Mick Box: To me it is an extension. With Awake we hadn’t had an album out for a while because of the internet thing and the NAPSTER and we just did what we do best and did some live albums until the industry settled down, virtually a ten year slumber – hence the title Awake The Sleeper, waking everyone up. The title track, pounding riff and double bass and we woke everyone up, woke everyone up to Heep!

As a live band, we are not tired and we won’t come out to anything but hittin’ the audience straight between the eyes. We are livin’ it, and we love what we do and we are back with a big sound and a big statement! This is what this album is about.

Mike Paxman as a producer has really established himself with Uriah Heep and I love the sound of the last three albums. What does he bring to the recording process for the band?

Mick Box: He is an inspirational person, and has heaps of ideas and he is always up. He is very unique as a producer as he doesn’t sit in a control room, but he stands in the live room with headphones on and gets the vibe of the recording.

When we choose a take that we like he doesn’t go to protocols, he leaves, and his philosophy is, “if it sounds that good now it always will”, he bring a true honesty to our sound. He has involvement from the first note to last, and he digs the music. He gets excited by being with us, he likes our music and this brings out the best in each of us. He isn’t a microphone behind a mixing desk he is one of us!

I was fortunate enough to see Uriah Heep at the Enmore Theatre earlier this year in Sydney, and the main thing that I noticed was the fact that the band was having such a good time, what does playing live mean to you after all of these years?

Mick Box: I think that playing live is everything to be honest. Before we even go into the studio we make our way around the world playing live. The interaction and communication is everything. We spend a lot of time traveling the world and the one peaceful time is on stage and that is why we do it. This is us, our thing, nothing more and nothing less!

The more experienced songs (I am not going to say old because this implies that they are no longer relevant) stood alongside the newer material and it just all worked. As a band, how do you decide on your set lists and their order?

Mick Box: This is very difficult as there is always an era that misses out so we kind of flex it around a bit. There are obvious classics that people want to hear, we have to do them and then we throw them alongside the new tracks. And it proves that the Heep template has not strayed, but it is still fresh.

We are not prisoners to our history, we love our classic songs and the audience energizes us and they also love our new material and what more can we ask for really?

How is Uriah Heep being received during your current US Tour? What sort of venues are you playing over there?

Mick Box: Doing fantastically well! Have played large clubs, festivals and casinos, everything really. Playing to over 15,000 people to 7,000 ranging through this, everything really.

How extensive is the touring for Into The Wild going to be and for what length of time do you tour for as a band, at a stretch?

Mick Box: Well to see out 2011, and some of 2012, as long as people want us we will play. Three tours to America this year has happened, but it is a big country and it takes time to get around it. There is always a natural time for a tour I think, it isn’t forced, when the dates dry up and promoters aren’t requesting us, the tour finishes and then we start writing.

Where in the world do you find the most devoted Uriah Heep fans?

Mick Box: Hopefully worldwide, but I guess Germany over the years. In Europe there is a loyalty from the audience media and industry it is a very big market. But Germany would be the one country that we have played more than any other. The first country to take us into their hearts and it has floated to over to other countries.

What is the future for Uriah Heep? How many albums and how many tours are left?

Mick Box: We don’t actually look too far ahead to be honest, we enjoy the moment and touring and we are really enjoying ourselves at the moment.

I’ve always said, a working band is a happy band, and we are. At present we will we just continue and finish the current American tour and then move on to Spain, Holland, Belgium, Scandinavia, Russia, back to America and then on to a UK tour after Christmas. Then into next year, tour for a bit and then start writing and do a new [album]. We look no further ahead than this. As long as we have our health and the passion to continue we will.

When you were in Australia earlier this year Bernie stated that the band would be back here later in the year, are there any plans to return to Australia soon?

Mick Box: We hope so, a lot of interviews and a lot of interest is buzzing down there for us at the moment. We are hoping that by spreading the word another promoter will pick us up. I actually lived out there for 9 years first at Bondi Beach and then I moved to Marrickville. For me personally, coming to Australia is coming home and I have a lot of family and friends there.

Into the Wild is the twenty-third studio album from Uriah Heep and was released in April of this year through Frontiers Records.