Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

Have any of you played in other bands?

Yes – quite a few. In order, they are as follows

Mad Pat

Oxymoron

Oxym

Paragon

Night Mission

Chase the Ace

Raid

Hair of the Dog

Universal Juveniles (a tribute to Max Webster)

Manalishi

Baz Oldale

Chayan

And back to Oxym

I think that’s it!

How is it that you started playing music? In 1976 in best mates Rob Rigby and Ross Halliwell were starting a band a needed a drummer, so I thought I’d give it a go.

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? 

In this line up in Oxym – we have:

Mike Wilson – Drums – 55

Nigel Tolly Talbot – Bass / backing vocals – 56

Doz McCarthy – Lead and Rhythm Guitar – 57

Peter Joe Hulmes – Vocals – 51

Pete Gardiner – Rhythm and Lead Guitar – 50

Have you had other previous members? 

Yes three other vital members of the OXYM family:-

Ross Halliwell on Bass guitar who died in 1979

Rob Rigby vocals, lead and rhythm guitar who died in 2011

Phil Lord on rhythm and lead guitar who has retired from play.

All three were significant contributors to writing and arranging the songs

Did you make music even when you were young? Not really, I only started playing drums at the age of 16 and prior to that I’d dabbled with other instruments at school, but nothing serious.

Where are you from? I’m from a small town in Lancashire, England called Accrington. Famous for its football team Accrington Stanley – one of the 8 founder members of the first ever football league !!

What year did the band form? 1976 – Ross, Rob and I formed Mad Pat, who became, Oxymoron, who became Oxym when Phil Lord joined us in 1977

What's your style of genre? Heavy Rock but as we were around in the late 70’s we became known as a NWOBHM band – which was great.

What inspires you? Music – mainly rock but I do listen to all kinds. I’m currently listening to a lot of prog bands, old and new and I try to get to as many gigs as I can. What we are doing with OXYM at the moment is also very inspirational – it’s great bringing the songs back and giving them a fresh feel after all this time.

How often and where do you reherse? Once a week every week, but as the launch of the album, our live concerts and in particular Brofest  approaches, we’ll at least double up

How have you developed since you started with the music? Personally I work hard to get my chops in place and practice at home (on my electronic kit) to be as good as I can be. I think I’m less frantic now and more controlled which reflects in the tightness of the band. It’s not all about fancy fills, and being complex for the sake of it, I do now play much more for the song and the rest of the band.

Do you have other interests of work outside the band? I do. My other great passion is Cricket and since I stopped playing I’ve now turned my attention to Umpiring. Not very rock and roll I’m afraid but I love it. 

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? Yes we are. The idea is to play a number of gigs to launch the album and just enjoy being on the road again. Someone to help us with that would be very welcome.

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? Again, we do struggle for time to concentrate on the business side of OXYM and the album (CD and Digital) “Passing through Gateways” (the working title being “March”) is self funded and will be self released. It would be great if a label could work with us to widen the promotional opportunities.  

What made you decide to make this music? It just came natural to us to write and perform this way. Phil joining the band was a big influence on us as he introduced us to bands such as UFO, Scorpions, Judas Priest and that obviously shaped us as writers and musicians.

What are your songs about? Usually about life and death, but looking at this from a different and unusual angle. Sometimes it’s from a third person perspective which gives the songs a different dimension.   

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? I tend to write the lyrics although not always, and the music comes from the guitarists – Ross in the very early days, Rob, Phil, Tolly, Doz. Everyone, including Pete contributes to the structure and melody. 

Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Usually – I’ll hand a set of lyrics to the guys and work on them. Sometimes it is the other way round or occasionally one of the guys will turn up with music and lyrics done.

Do you compose in a certain environment? No really, once the basic tune has been added to the lyrics we all work on the song at rehearsals. 

Have you done any covers live? Yes – we used to perform a number of covers at the end of a set, a selection of Priest, UFO, Van Helen, Kiss and a few more I’ve forgotten about.

What language do you sing in? English

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? Least  - about 6 – we still went through the set with vigour and most would be about 500 at mine and Robs 40th birthday party. We have played a number of open air concerts where the people attending probably exceeded that but it’s difficult to tell.

What ages are most of your concert attendants? Probably between 35 and 60, a number of people who followed us in the early days are still interested in seeing us live.

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We have about 20 original songs plus covers if need be to call upon, but there are certain songs that we do play at every gig – its expected !!

Do you have a regular place you play live often? We used to in the old days, but it doesn’t seem to be like that nowadays. So, there isn’t one place that we regularly play. 

What was your first gig like? Amazing, and it will be hard to beat from a status point of view  – it was Queen supporting Mott the Hoople 

What was your latest gig? Threshold on their last tour, a band I’ve recently got into and they are supberb

Have you had to cancel a gig? Not with OXYM that I can remember.  We have with my other bands for various reasons !!

Where have you played live this year? Nowhere yet, we’ve been concentrating on rehearsing and finding a replacement for Phil – we have how, Pete Gardner, so that’s taken up a bit of time. We’ll be out soon getting ready for Brofest in Feb 2016

Where do you plan to gig the coming year? We plan to do a couple of local gigs in East Lancashire and maybe one outside our area as a warm up for Brofest

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? We haven’t any Merch available yet, but this is the next stage. We should have T’s and other Oxym / Passing Through Gateways branded items available before the end of the year. These will be advertised on our website which is also being revamped.

Where can people buy your merchandise? Through the website www.oxym.co.uk (later on this year) and at gigs

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? I’d rather they buy the CD (and possibly a vinyl record also) but digital downloads do give you a wider audience much quicker. I still buy CD’s and records and thankfully there are a lot of people like me. The trick is to make the physical product worth the money by adding extras and making them collectable

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? It’s a lot tougher to make money as a writer and / or artist, as people do have access to your work without having to pay for it. The thrill of wading through records in a shop has gone for now, but it does seem to be coming back. Let’s hope it does

What do you think of my work?  I’m very new to it, to I’m afraid I can’t comment at the moment

How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? Hopefully it will give Oxym more exposure and help us to known by more people across the globe. It will help to give people access to our music.

Do you have any role models or idols? I’ve always liked Michael Schenker, from a drummer perspective, it has to be Neil Peart – great Rhythms and fills and a real inspiration. 

Why do you think that they exist? People always need to strive to be better and if there are musicians that they aspire to be like it can only be positive.

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? A bit of both I think. The older bands are there to provide a bit of comfort and familiarity, the newer bands provide a different approach and can challenge the way things are played.

What have been your biggest obstacles? Time. It used to be money. That’s not such an issue now, but finding time to do all the things you want to do, while you still can, is difficult and frustrating

What advice would you give other bands or artists? Do it now. Dont wait, just get on with it and don’t worry too much about what other people think, uless they are important to you.

How do you get psyched for a gig? I don’t get nervous, I never did really. I just do a few physical warm up exercises, practice a few rudiments to get my hands warm and flexible. 

Do you have any new material? We have a couple of songs in the pipeline and more coming soon, so writing new material is still important to us.

What are your web sites? www.oxym.co.uk This is currently being revamped – hence no updates for a while, but it should be ready by mid Dec 15

How can people reach you? [email protected] – Alison looks after the administration for us.

What are your plans for the future? Work as hard as we can to be red hot at Brofest. Release the album, see how that goes with a view to possibly doing another one. Perhaps release a live CD/DVD and just enjoy ourselves in this second lease of life as a band.

Do you have something to add? Only to thank you for the opportunity of being interviewed. It means a lot.