Mick Box is a founding member and the only remaining original member in Uriah Heep. He’s weathered the death of original singer David Byron, the departure of Ken Hensley (keyboardist, songwriter and a major force in the band), a virtual revolving door of personnel changes, and the unpredictability of the music business. Now, after 45 years, he and the band have released Outsider, Uriah Heep’s 24th studio album and their first since 2011’s Into The Wild.
Since the mid 80s, Uriah Heep has had a solid core of players that includes singer Bernie Shaw and keyboardist Phil Lanzon. Drummer Russell Gilbrook joined Uriah Heep in 2007, while bassist Dave Rimmer recently came aboard, replacing the late Trevor Bolder, who passed away in 2013. Because the band has sold 40 million records and toured over five decades, visiting no less than 56 countries, Box has a clear idea of what Heep is and what it still should be. During the following brief exchange, the guitarist certainly came across as someone who still loves what he does.
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So is Uriah Heep on tour presently?
We’re constantly on tour. We take breaks during the year, but we’re always touring. We started in Turkey recently, did a mainstream rock festival in Europe with Joe Lynn Turner, among others, hit Russia, Brazil, Sweden, shows in Germany and are off to Romania tomorrow. A working band is a happy band and we’re always smiling.
How about hitting the States?
We’re looking at a new agent putting something together in the States for us now. We changed agents about a year ago, and this new guy is really reliable so hopefully yes we will get over there.
How has your relationship to the guitar changed?
You’re never master of it, but each time I open the guitar case, I still get that same thrill. It becomes a part of you, or with the very best players, it’s like a part of your body, rather than just something you strap across your shoulder. Not so many players have that, but you look at a guy like Jeff Beck, for instance, the guitar is part of him. That’s what you’re always trying to achieve.
For Outsider, I read that you went in and mainly recorded it live with the entire band playing together in the studio.
Yes, we recorded the old way — the band recorded all at one time. I think it’s very important to get the feel of the band that way. To be honest, we have had producers who want to do it piecemeal; there are those that want to sit around trying to get a snare sound for weeks. I’d end up in hospital waiting around for that! We just got in to do it quickly after Phil and I wrote the songs. We presented what we had to the band, they told us what they liked and what they didn’t — which is hard to hear sometimes as you work for six months on stuff and the band can veto it in six seconds — and when everyone jumps on something, we go into the studio, rehearse it and push record.
Forty years doing this with personnel changes and even, unfortunately, death, what keeps Uriah Heep going?
Well, surely the age comes into it, but we get out there and perform our live shows with the same passion we’ve had since day one. We’re not shoe gazers, we get out and have a good time and connect with the audience. The essence of being a musician is communication, and we work hard to make the audience part of the show.
