Band Interviews

Handsome Beasts

 

Midlands based Handsome Beasts have become a legend of their own with their memorable album sleeves and fantastic bluesy NWoBHM hymns. Not mentioning their frontman’s distinctive size ! I don’t think I ever saw any Handsome Beasts interview anywhere, so with the band being now again as much active as they were in the early 80’, this is a good opportunity to ask legendary frontman and singer Garry Dalloway to go through the history of The Handsome Beasts.

First of all, please give us some background information regarding how you discovered music, favorite bands in your youth and what led you to singing ? Were you in some other bands before fronting the Beasts ?

I didn’t discover music, music discovered me. Ever seen Bart Simpson sing at Moe’s tavern? I sang for my family from a very early age, well as a distraction actualy, for the patrons of the local hostelries in my local area in Birmingham whilst my nimble-fingered family relieved them of any excess cash or goods that they would only have had to carry all the way home, and probably would have lost anyway as they staggered drunkenly away from the pub. I served an apprentice-ship in a cabaret band doing other peoples music in working –men’s clubs up and down the country, but my hair got longer and my temper got shorter, and i got sick and tired of taking second place to a bingo machine.

How did it all start with The Handsome Beasts ? In which year was the band originally formed ?

The Handsome Beasts were formed in 1972 in a small town with a big hole, called Nuneaton, by “Porky”(no other name)….guitar. Pete Malbasa….drums. Steve Hough….bass . who informed me that they had had a collective vision one night of a large, strange looking singer, with a thing about pigs. Was it a heaven sent message from on high which they could not ignore ? or was it the result of rehearsing in an unventilated small room with a faulty calor-gas heater and a virtually unlimited supply of Merrydown cider. we’ll never know. Porky, the guitarist, no sooner clapped eyes on me than he immediately christened me flabby, and called the band The Handsome Beasts , getting the name from an impeccable literary source… The Dandy..(a childs comic) . specifically the comic strip “Lord Snooty”. Having accomplished this feat Porky, taking nothing but a years supply of socks, and very little else, went to seek his fortune in the West, leaving nothing to mark his passing but an occasional pair of socks hung from motorway signpost, and even these petered out around Aberystwyth.

By 1980, Paul Birch was the manager of the band and after failing in getting a record deal for the band, he founded Heavy Metal Records to get some Handsome Beasts vinyls on the market right ?

We never knew what Paul Birch was up to, if you find anyone that did, hold him for questioning !

Who were the musicians involved in the Handsome Beasts line up at that time ?

Pete Malbasa…………...drums
Steve Hough……………bass
Phil Aston………………guitar
Garry Dallaway………...vocals

Can you give us a bit of explanations about what was the “tum solo” ?

On a few songs where the toms were being played, in an intro, for example, I would drop the mic’ onto the belly, and slap along like a maniac.

Since the beginning, The Beasts play a great balance of british metal with some blues influences. Robert Plant obviously had a great influence on you.

If you are at all interested in being a rock singer, how could you not be influenced by Bob Plant?

The band must have gained a bit of attention as you were invited to record a “Friday Rock Show” session which gave the band national exposure. The session featured “David’s Song”, “Sweeties” , “Another Day”, “Local Heroes” and was broadcasted on the 10th of July 1981. What particular memories do you keep of this BBC session with the late Tommy Vance ?

Tommy Vance was a ROCK D.J. He loved rock music and the people who played it, he not only loved rock music, he knew it, you couldn’t fool Tommy, he had insight and the music world is a poorer place with him gone. I don’t remember much about that session at Maida Vale for various chemical reasons, but I do remember sharing a jug of surprisingly good B.B.C. coffee.

Was the band touring extensively across the UK back then, or did you keep playing in your native Midlands mainly ? Any particular good memories of these early days shows, did the band play with some other local heroes of the time you may remember ?

The band toured constantly, the only contact with other bands was we would look at the posters and see them playing where we were last night, or where we were headed tomorrow.

The same year the first LP, “ Beastiality” hit the streets showing a tasty and now legendary sleeve, depicting you together with a pig in a trough. How did the idea of this odd artwork come together ?

Paul Birch, he was even in there with me, organising the shots , posing me this way and that. and then he tried to do the same with Edna, well, even pigs have standards, I didn’t know Paul could run that fast… across a muddy field,20-25 yards and over a 4 foot fence in the blink of an eye! very impressive.

The single was also included in the “Munsters of Rock” 3 singles pack alongside Shiva and Soldier. I have this 3 singles pack and there are some inserted pictures in it, one of those being a different picture of the Sweeties single photo session. Do you know if the 7” single also had 2 sleeve variations ?

Yes it did.

Unfortunately this first album would remain the only one for many years to come, what happened ? While Heavy Metal records was still signing loads of new bands, why didn’t they release the second expected Handsome Beasts album ?

The second album took so bloody long to come out for the very reason you gave in the question, H.M.R. was signing loads of other bands, and that’s all they were doing.

Under what circumstances did the band call it a day and when did the first split happen ?

I don’t recall the exact circumstances , it just ground to a halt, you can’t run an organisation on fresh air and promises.

A second album was released in 1990 on Heavy Metal Records again : The Beast Within, both on LP and CD format this time. Showing another funny “animal friendly” picture sleeve, the band sticked to their bluesy NWOBHM style , however I find the album is not as good as Beastiality, apart from the lenghty and brilliant title track. How would you rate it today ?

The album is what it is, you have no idea how hard that L.P. was to record. It’s a book on it’s own, and only thanks to the efforts of some stalwart friends , was that ever finished.

I heard that the band was active during the nineties playing to local crowds in the Midlands ?

Yes, off and on, difficult when “you’re on your own”.

There are rumors of the band having recorded a third album called “Little Sister” during that time. Is that true, and was this album completely recorded ? Why has it remained unreleased ?

There is a recording out there some where, and if we can find the masters , we will release it. No-one has heard it except the band.

2004 was the year of the real comeback for the band with the release of what I consider to be the true follow up to Beastiality : the “04” album. I was highly impressed with the whole album, the song writing is of very high standard and your voice is still as powerful as ever. Who was the main songwriter for this long awaited album ?

The album was the result of various collaborations

I can only agree with some reviews of the album I have read, saying this is the kind of album AC/DC would love to record if they were still able to write some real rockers.

AC/DC ain’t got nothin’ to worry about, unless we support ‘em,maybe we’’ll see someday, who knows ?

I don’t think Heavy Rock did a good promotion for the album as I remember very well that some european distributors failed to order the CD from Heavy Rock as the label answered they want to “promote the band themselves” and literally refused to sell the CD to these distributors ! The Handsome Beasts never had much luck with their record labels did they ?

You got that right ! We got the songs, we got the soul , we got the fuckin’ rock ‘n roll ! but if you’re surrounded by shit heads……. And we ain’t on our own, it’s happened to loads of other bands.

However things seem to take off recently with the band launching their own internet website http://www.thehandsomebeasts.co.uk and “my space” band page . It is finally possible for the fans to get in touch directly with the band. Are you aware that Handsome Beasts has nowadays gained a cult status and a worldwide fan base ?

This is all down to the present line up, there’s a new belief within the band, and it will become more and more obvious as time goes on,especially in our music. I am actually looking forward to recording this upcoming album, which makes a pleasant change for me.

The band is now playing gigs regularly again (they recently opened for Waysted) , what kind of response do you get from the audience these days ?

We don’t get many old fans as yet, so we are a bit of a shock to these people who haven’t seen a real rock band for years, if at all, we ain’t for the faint hearted , we play old school and don’t give a fuck.

Interview by Fred Dronsrt - Jan 20, 2006