1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
The band was began life as Deceiver. After a number of line-up changes resulted in both myself (Neil) and John Stormont joining on guitar we decided to change the band name to Spartan Warrior as it was obvious that the band had become something different, so that's when Spartan Warrior began. The next few years saw some line-up changes with John leaving and being replaced by Paul Swaddle. That was the line-up that stayed together for the first 2 albums until we split in ‘85. Some of us stayed involved in music and others took a break for a very long time. It was 2009 when I decided I wanted to try and reform the band, so I started contacting people to see who would be interested. Once I had a band consisting of four members that had played on the first two albums I started to record the “Behind Closed Eyes” album, which was released in 2010. At that point the only plan was to record another album, but as we started to play live we decided to keep at it.
In 2011 there were more line-up changes with James Charlton coming in on drums and Dan Rochester on bass. Also at that point we had recruited a 2nd guitarist to play live with Mark Chapple joining. Unfortunately Mark wasn't able to continue as he lives quite a long way from the rest of us so he bowed out. The most recent change came with Dan moving over onto guitar and Tim Morton joined on bass. That line up has been together now since 2012.
In terms of recording it all began with us getting two tracks on the “Pure Overkill” compilation after meeting the producer/owner at Guardian Studios. That in turn saw us do a self-financed full length (“Steel n Chains”). Shortly after we had finished “Steel n Chains”, we signed to Roadrunner Records and we recorded the 2nd album pretty much straight away. Obviously nothing happened with Spartan Warrior after we split in ‘85 until we reformed to do “Behind Closed Eyes”. Most recently we’ve signed to Pure Steel Records to release our new album “Hell To Pay” as well as doing gigs and festivals both in the UK and abroad.
. 2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
Well as I said, line-up changes and a very definite change in the music we were playing because of that prompted the name change from Deceiver. Various names were put forward, though I can’t remember what they were. To be honest all the names went into a hat and Spartan Warrior got picked out. Rumour has it that our drummer had only put Spartan Warrior in there to make sure that it got picked. I seem to remember he was into reading about Greek history and was also quite into Manowar around then, but can’t be certain - it was a long time ago!
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
The band is based out of Sunderland which is a city in the North East of England. At the moment the music scene is very strong. There are loads of good bands and always a lot going on. Also there are a lot of reformed NWOBHM bands like us from the area that are active. Local bands I’d recommend? Avenger, Tysondog, Blitzkeig, Satan - I could go on forever, there’s loads.
4. How would you describe your style?
Our style would be described as NWOBHM as originally that was the time we were first active, but I would describe us as just a Metal band. I have always seen us as that really but ultimately a label isn't that important to me, we just do what we do.
5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
We have 4 full length albums so far. “Steel n Chains” (Guardian Records, 1983), the 2nd self-titled “Spartan Warrior” (or “Assassin” as we wanted it to be called) (Roadrunner Records, 1984), “Behind Closed Eyes” (Iron Age Records, 2010) and most recently “Hell To Pay” (Pure Steel Records, 2018). As well as that we’ve featured on various compilations alongside some great bands like Motorhead, Raven, Voivod, etc. Hopefully people will get good songs that are played well with feeling. Just traditional heavy metal. We try and make things varied to listen to which is why we include ballads.
Writing music is always an ongoing thing. We have various ideas but they need to be worked on.
7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
This year has been quiet to be honest, though we do have a festival in Scotland with an incredible line-up including our mates from Holocaust and Praying Mantis and also Gus G; we’re really looking forward to it. That's not until November so we’ll just have to see what else comes our way. It can be quite difficult because we have to juggle Spartan Warrior with people lives and other commitments, but I don't think that is something that's unique to just us - it’s just the way things are these days.
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
To be honest, just more of the same, keep writing and playing, but there’s never been any real strategy on where we want to go - just see how things work out. Personally I’d love nothing more than to play non-stop.
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Spartan Warrior can be found on all major online streaming services (Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, Deezer etc) and also at the following links -
Facebook - /spartanwarriorofficial
Twitter - /_spartanwarrior
Instagram - /spartanwarriorofficial
Bandcamp – www.spartanwarrior.bandcamp.com
Merch – www.spartanwarrior.bigcartel.com
10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
I think I’d probably - just like anyone listening to us for the first time - try to remember that what they’re listening to is genuine traditional heavy metal. We’re not a new band trying to sound traditional and we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel or update ourselves. We’re just being honest musically and doing what we do and what comes naturally to us but to the best of our ability. Hopefully they'll like what they hear!
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