A seriously interesting mix of prog rock, new wave, alternative, classic rock and pop. Souring guitars, thunderous bass and drums and power vocals. Its unique, you just have to hear it !!

11 MP3 Songs in this album (49:48) !
Related styles: Rock: Progressive Rock, Rock: Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Featuring Guitar

People who are interested in Muse Rush The Police should consider this download.


Details:
30 YEARS IN THE MAKING . . . BUT WORTH THE WAIT


Some of the biggest names in music have taken a surprisingly long time to produce a studio album.

There were 28 years between the Eaglesâ 1979 release Long Run and 2007âs offering, Long Road Out of Eden. Steely Dan fans had to wait a full 20 years between 1980âs Gaucho and Two Against Nature. Not far behind were Guns ân Roses, taking 15 years out between the Spaghetti Incident, (1993) and Chinese Democracy.

But Nato8 have them all licked!

And while they may not be as well known as the aforementioned stadium rockers, the Nato8 story is every bit as fascinating.

Formed in the UK in 1979, the four Tyneside-based musicians quickly made an impression with their edgy - and energetic - rock, proving a hit with music fans and generating considerable interest from record company A&R men.

For a while the band were managed by The Animals guitarist Hilton Valentine and produced a single âGanglandâ. It seemed it would only be a matter of time before the foursome - vocalist Dave Simpson, guitarist Mick Procter, bassist Graham Brown and drummer John Ward - secured a major record deal.

Yet just two years later, and despite building up a loyal fanbase, they disbanded, frustrated by the music industryâs obsession with new wave and its inability to find a suitable âpigeon-holeâ that the band could fit neatly into.

The guys went their separate ways with Dave becoming a successful businessman, John building a career in marketing and Graham working in the design industry.
Mick was the only one who stayed in the music industry joining ex Tygers of Pang Tang vocalist Jess Cox to record the album THIRD STEP.
Following the recording of an album with the Tygers that never got released for contractual reasons he then moved on to Blitzkrieg with vocalist Brian Ross. Here he recorded the album A TIME OF CHANGE, an album recognized for its influence on bands such as Metallica who recorded cover tracks from it.
Following a move to London and after a stint with Hearts of Darkness (with Roxy Music's Paul Thomson) he joined Spear of Destiny around the making of OUTLANDS, which featured the hit NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE, and 2 other top 40 singles ,he recorded 2 more albums with them OUTLANDS LIVE and LIVE AT THE BBC .
The next few years Mick played/toured with a number of bands including CRASH CLUB.
Following a few years off to travel and chill out he got the Dance music bug after attending clubs and festivals like Mega Dog, he soon (accidentally) found himself DJing which lead to 3 year DJing stint in Toulouse, France mixing Drum and Bass and Nu school Breaks with his own tunes.


So as far as Nato8 were concerned that could have been where the story ended.

However, 30 years after forming, Nato8 have finally released the studio album they always dreamed of making . . . a collection of 11 songs written between â79 and â81 but never, until now, committed to record. And, amazingly, although the band were influenced by bands like Rush, The Police, Led Zeppelin and Free and you can still hear hints of this in their music, the songs and the sound that has come out now is sounding very much of whatâs happening today with bands like Muse, Manic Street Preachers & Radiohead.

So how did this unlikely turn of events come about? It all began five years ago when bassist Graham was persuaded to help out at a buskers night at a local pub in Burnopfield, County Durham.

Up until that point, Grahamâs bass guitar had remained untouched in its case under his bed for some 20 years.

Having rediscovered his love of music with the Burnopfield Unsung Musicians Society - aka BUMS - he persuaded vocalist Dave Simpson to come out of retirement too.

Together with fellow musicians, they belted out rock classics to appreciative drinkers at the pub every Thursday evening. But while the friends had rediscovered their love of performing live, they had no plans to take it any further . . . especially as the other two former Nato8 members now lived in London and Milton Keynes.

Bassist Graham takes up the story: âJust before the third anniversary of the BUMS, it happened that all the Nato8 guys were in the North East and got together to sink a few beers and chew over the fat of the missing 30 years.
The great songs and tunes we had written and played all those years ago became the subject of intense discussion, so much so that it was decided we would âchuckâ a few together and perform them live at the buskers night.
After some frantic rehearsals â well, four hours â we did just that. The reaction of old friends and new ears alike was astonishing.â
Singer Dave recalls: âIt was the performance at the buskers night that set the wheels in motion. So many people came up to us afterwards telling us that the tunes still sounded strong and amazingly up to date, and that we had to record the songs.
It seemed a crazy idea first. But we soon realised it made perfect sense and we thought âwhy not?â . . . and so we hatched plans to record the album we always wanted to make.
We felt we needed a permanent record of what the band was all about. It was such a great time in our lives. And we decided we didnât want the songs to be lost forever.â

The band enlisted the help of former Penetration and Tygers of Pan Tang guitarist Fred Purser, now an engineer and producer running his own studio, Trinity Heights, in Denton, Newcastle.
They laid down the bare bones on the album in just three days, with Mick recording guitar licks later from his home in London and Dave and Graham adding vocals.
Mick said: âIt has been a joyful and ear-opening experience. We are delighted with the album and so pleased that the revised song arrangements have a real freshness.

John said âHats off to Dave for pushing this forward and for taking it from a vague idea to the realisation that it would have been tragic for these songs to have been left to drift only in the memories of four slightly regretful old(ish) blokes!â