Story by Shawn Perry
Photos by Joe Schaeffer, Charlie Steffens & Richard Stow
For the last 50 years, Mick Box has had one job: playing guitar for Uriah Heep. He’s also had a hand in the songwriting, notably co-penning, with original singer David Byron, the very first song on Uriah Heep’s debut album …Very ‘Eavy, Very ‘Umble. The song, “Gypsy,” defined the band’s early heavy and hard progressive edge. It’s a sound that has matured and changed here and there over years, what with over 20 members logging time within the group’s ranks. Even so, the “Uriah Heep template,” as Box calls it, is still “…very ‘eavy, very ‘umble.”
As the lone original member, the last man standing at it were, Mick Box has learned how to surround himself with good people. Singer Bernie Shaw and keyboardist Phil Lanzon have been members since 1986. Having a stable lineup, which also includes drummer Russell Gilbrook (since 2007) and bassist Davey Rimmer (since 2013), is a big reason Uriah Heep is still going strong and working today.
“We still got passion for what we do and I think that’s the most important thing,” Box tells me during a phone call. “That gives you the energy and drive to continue. We never stop writing, we never stop creating and having good ideas. it’s just part of our DNA. We’ve always got great ideas hanging about.”
There’s no better proof of that than Living The Dream, Uriah Heep’s most recent slab of new music. The album has all the makings of a classic Heep feast, with Shaw’s spirited vocals out front, Lanzon texturizing the measures with his Hammond organ, and Box’s holistic guitar work driving each and every track around the corner, through the tunnel, and over the bridge. Unlike albums by so many of Uriah Heep’s contemporaries, Living The Dream is very much a part of the band’s live repertoire.
The five-man unit, who play between 150 and 200 shows a year, is as active on the road as ever in 2019, with a two-month U.S. trek supporting Judas Priest, followed by dates all over Europe — where they are highly revered as hard rock pioneers — until the end of the year. Box couldn’t have been more elated about coming to America and playing the big barns with Priest.
“If you look at the big picture, you’ve got Judas Priest with a new album called Firepower, which people are saying is the best of their career, and Uriah Heep have one that called Living The Dream, which people are saying is the best of their career. So you’ve got two bands at the top of their game and you’ve also got 100 years of British rock and metal on stage. It’s fantastic!” He finishes with a jolly cackle.
Back in the 1970s, when Uriah Heep broke with albums like Demons and Wizards and The Magician’s Birthday, and saw “Easy Livin’,”, “The Wizard,” “Sweet Lorraine,” and “Stealin’,” become FM radio staples, it was a completely different scene.
“It was a very exciting time. The band was at its creative peak with that particular lineup,” Box remembers. “When we released our first album, the management put (out) a lot of money to advertise it with full-page ads in all the magazines. We got all new equipment and stuff.”
However, as the guitarist recalls, the pressure to record and play out was intense. “They want their money back, so they push you out there, and then they push you out there, and then they push you out there. Even though they’re paid back tenfold, they still push you out there because they want more, more, more, more.”
It all came to a head when Box fell off the stage in Birmingham, Alabama, on the first night of a sold-out American tour. Even though he dislocated his left arm and broke four bones in his right wrist, the sturdy, able-bodied Englishman wasn’t deterred, receiving three pain-killing injections before he went on and played.
Looking back, the guitarist chalks it up to experience. “It’s only when you start doing those sort of schedules that the wheels start falling off. It was tough times. We did nine-month tours, then stayed three months in the studio, then off again. I remember one time we finished a show in England, drove all the way down to London, worked through the night on something in the studio, jumped in cabs to London Heathrow Airport, then flew over to Chicago. When we arrived, the record company took us out for a big meal and had loads of press there. Half of us fell asleep with our faces in our food. We were just exhausted.”
These days, of course, things run a lot smoother in the Uriah Heep camp. The schedule is still full, but it’s manageable without the stress. Mick Box doesn’t seem to mind. He’s busy looking ahead. “We’re a forward-looking band,” he notes. “We look more forward than back.”
Still, there’s one milestone even he can’t ignore: Uriah Heep’s 50th anniversary. Although the band formed in 1969, Box insists that 2020 is the official 50th anniversary because Very ‘Eavy, Very ‘Umble came out in 1970.
“We’ve got a lot to celebrate,” he says. “There’s going to be a lot to pack in. There’s talk of going to South America. And the Rock Legends Cruise, which we do again in 2020. So hopefully we’ll get some American days out of that. And on we go mate…”
Before we end our call, I ask Box how much longer does he think Uriah Heep can carry on. “We’re winding up,” he laughs. “We don’t put any brick walls in front of us because I think that’s futile. As long as we’re passionate about what we do, we love what we do, and we’ve got our health, we’ll be out there doing it.”
Does he ever think about retiring?
“Retiring to me is when you work on your car when it snows. That’s about as close as I’m going to get to it.”
I can almost feel Mick Box grinning, as if we’re sitting in a pub, having a pint, before he bids me farewell.
