Weapon
This sadly neglected metal act were formed in March 1980 by guitarist Jeff Summers (ex-Snatch) and vocalist Danny Hynes, along with Bruce Bisland on drums (ex-Lip Service) and bassist Barry ‘Baz’ Downes (ex-Inner City Unit, Snatch). After only a handful of gigs they were spotted by Fast Eddie Clarke from Motorhead, who offered them the support slot on their ACE UP YOUR SLEEVE tour. Weapon accepted and rushed into the studio to record two tracks, It's A Mad Mad World and Set The Stage Alight, to be released as a single through Virgin. After the tour they recorded enough demos for an album but found no record company interest. Live, however, they excelled, with strong material such as Take It Away and Remote Control. In 1981 Bisland left and was replaced by Jon Phillips who had been playing with Megaton, and the line-up was also boosted by ex-Iron Maiden/Praying Mantis guitarist Bob Angelo. After a series of rehearsals at a studio in Lotts Road they set out on tour but became dogged by problems which came to a head at the Granary in Bristol where the audience could see the group in its death throes as the set progressed. Summers joined Bisland with ex-More members in Wildfire, Angelo returned to the club circuit with High Roller and later Nitro Blues, while Hynes surfaced in 1986 with ex-Sweet members in Paddy Goes To Hollyhead. In 1986 Summers and Bisland joined Statetrooper before later going to Japan as part of the British All Stars/Praying Mantis supergroup.