URIAH HEEP Guitarist Talks About Making Of 'Wake The Sleeper'

Greg Prato of GuitarSite.com recently conducted an interview with URIAH HEEP founding guitarist Mick Box. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

GuitarSite.com: How do you compare URIAH HEEP 2008 to earlier versions of the group?

Box: Ah, that is a tough one. I would say though that this lineup has the same chemistry as the classic early version of the '70s line-up. I feel the 2008 version has the same creative output and passion for our music that we had back then. Good melodic rock songs and a strong lyric has always been important to us.

GuitarSite.com: How did "Wake the Sleeper" come about?

Box: Well, it has been a long time between studio albums. We have a saying here in England that is "wake a sleeping giant," and we thought that pretty much summed us up in the new album stakes after a 10-year hiatus. We shortened that to "Wake the Sleeper", and that became the title. Also, the cover by Ioannis fits perfectly with the female Buddha awakening from her meditative state with the glow of enlightenment in her hand. The first track on the CD comes in with immense power, passion, and energy, and sets the tone for the rest of the CD. Apart from the chant of "Wake the Sleeper", it is all pretty much instrumental.

GuitarSite.com: How about some standout memories of the "Wake the Sleeper" sessions?

Box: Standout memories of us all being in the same room recording the backing tracks as a band. We did not want to do this piecemeal — whereby the drummer gets his parts and you slowly build up the track, by adding each instrument as you go along. We wanted to play as a band on one pulse, and this captured the band in full flight. It was great as you had to be on top of your game because if you made a mistake, then you had to do the whole thing again — as the mistake could be heard on every microphone so there was no safety net. We chose a track and rehearsed it to the point where we were all happy with it. Pushed the record button, and between 1-3 takes we had it in the bag. Boy, it was loud in that room though. This was Mike Paxman, the producer's, idea, as he heard us in rehearsal and said that's the power he wanted on the CD. Mike did not sit in the control room like the usual producers do, he was in the room with us in the heart of it soaking up the vibe.

GuitarSite.com: How did the recent Rottenburg Prison gig (see video below) come about, and what are some memories of that show?

Box: We were headlining a huge show in Stuttgart, Germany called the Rock of Ages festival. The prison was 10 minutes from the festival site. The warden asked us if we would play in the prison the day before. As it was easy to arrange logistically, as all of the equipment was there, we agreed. It was a very strange experience because you cannot expect all of the prisoners to be URIAH HEEP fans. However, by the end of the show, they were all shouting for more, waving their fists in the air, and crowding the front of the stage. The memory that will always remain with me is that one of our most famous songs in Germany is called "Free Me". So we played that, and there was the warden standing by the prison guard, who was standing by the prisoners all singing "Free me" at the top of their voices. Bernie changed the lyric to "Free me from my cell," and they loved it. Such is the power of music. At least we gave them escapism of the mind for 1 ½ hours.

Read the entire interview at GuitarSite.com.