'Mascara Massacre', 'Stackheel Strutt' and 'Stakk Attakk' might not mean a lot to your average Uber Rocker here in 2011, but back in the early to mid eighties, these seminal releases by UK glam titans Wrathchild pretty much sound tracked our teenage (revolution) years, coming on like an explosion of Elnett hairspray, guyliner, Malibu, homemade platform boots and some the hugest glam anthems the UK had heard since the heyday of Gary Glitter, Slade and The Sweet - how could anyone not fall in love with the band's tacky charm?

Straight out of Evesham the mean muthafuckers known as Rocky Shades, Eddie Starr, Marc Angel and Lance 'Killer'' Rocket were larger than life iconic figures who not only walked it like they talked it 24/7/365 but also had a vision to take over the world and make as many people enlist in the Wrath Army as they could in the process.

One thing stood in their way "The Music Industry" but I'll leave my interviewee, the band's irrepressible four stringer Marc Angel to explain that to you in greater detail below.

Hey Marc firstly many thanks for taking the time to talk with us at Uber Rock its really appreciated.  What's it feel like to be in Wrathchild in 2011? And how's the line up working out?

Marc; Wrathchild 2011 feels good! But then Wrathchild always feels good. It's home - it's where the boys and me belong, musically and spiritually. The new band is 'kicking'. We're not interested in simply doing the rehash thing - this is a real band and we're still evolving. If 'Wrathchild' were a person and not a rock 'n' roll band that person would still be dressing up and wanting to turn heads y'know and not relying on the same ole clobber from the back of the wardrobe

Did you ever think the band would last this long?

Yes! Even when the band isn't 'active' so long as the riffs keep coming and the anthems keep spinning around in my head, the band 'exists'. Wrathchild will always exist. Somebody once told me that to leave a mark on the world is to leave something of yourself. Well I'm not sure that's happened yet and so the quest goes on. 

Can you tell us what happened about the situation regarding the two versions of the band that were around for a while? Is that all now resolved with Rocky?

There never were two versions of the band. There has only ever been "this" band and a set of circumstances, which can best be described as a "misunderstanding". That situation has been dealt with and the misunderstanding no longer exists.

Okay 'Stakkattakktwo' is out right now how do you think its stands up against your classic debut album?

'Stakkattakktwo' rokks straight off and doesn't let go. I played it to Gerry Bron, who managed us for a while back in the day. He's worked with some great bands over the years and there's not much anyone can teach him about records 'cos he's put out a load of great stuff on Bronze, and he told me that 'Stakkattakktwo' is one of the best albums he has ever listened to! That made my day.

What was it like writing with Gaz, Phil and Eddie? 

Phil (Volkins) is a great guitarist. He lives and breathes guitar and is constantly fiddling with his sound. He is never happy with it. But when he "connects" with the tune, everything clicks into place. Gaz has a great voice. We discovered him and I knew that his voice was what was needed to make the new stuff come alive. Nobody else could have had the impact on the new stuff that Gaz has had. And Eddie just does what Eddie does - looks cool and hits the skins in his own inimitable fashion. We love Eddie and Eddie loves Wrathchild. 'Nuff said!! 

And do you have any particular fave tunes? 'Psychophantic Suicide' maybe... which is the first Wrathchild ballad as such isn't it?  I'm not sure if you would include 'Long Way 2 Go'?

There's a few toons I would rather I hadn't come up with - 'Ring My Bell' for instance on 'The Biz Suxx...' album, but on the whole I'm happy with what we've created on all of our albums and this one especially. We thought long and hard about whether to include 'Psychophantic Suicide' on the record or not, then we didn't know where to put it in the running order. But it fits. You gotta realise the whole song writing thing is a process that has to carry everyone else in the band along with my own enthusiasm for a particular idea or song. Without that, the idea falls apart almost straight away. So anything that actually survives long enough to make it onto record is akin to the migration of a wildebeest; you would not believe the tantrums, sudden amnesias, loss of bodily functions etc, that go on between band members when somebody, actually, hasn't got the slightest enthusiasm for a riff or vocal line that I might have thought would make the next 'Stairway to Heaven' or 'Smoke on the Water!'. 

'All About You' (from the new album) is a pretty old school sounding Wrathchild tune and probably my own personal fave from what I've heard of the album, but there is definitely a new twist to the sound where does that come from?

I would say that Gaz's vocals have added a whole new dimension to the Wrath' sound.  All of our previous songs could have sounded like this in an alternative universe, but also as musicians, we have developed and improved and everything we do is the sum part of where we are as a band at a given moment in time. 'All About You' is an anthem that kind of sums up modern life, everybody in the UK appears to be self-obsessed and wanting instant gratification. Some people will achieve that, and worry about the cost later because these days everything, every possible human emotion and vice can be bought and experienced relatively cheaply. We're not saying that's a bad thing; we're simply commentating on it. There's some seventies style keys stabs in there too which I was determined to sneak into the mix.

And your old school Wrathchild bass makes an appearance in the video for that track, what was it like strapping on that old striped beast?

Yeah, gotta love the Guild B301. Haven't seen another one around for a long time. Mine got bust in the neck on tour when I was playing for Bang Bang Machine, when we played in Germany as part of a four week tour of Europe. I named myself 'Stan Lee' for my stint with BBM, although it lasted around eight years in the end! Put an 'a' before the 'T' in Stan and see what you get? For the duration of that tour I had just about every coven in Europe hunting me down - maybe they thought I was the 'antichrist' or something...

Touching on the old days for a few questions I've already asked you about 2011 but what was it like being a member of Wrathchild in say 1984?

Really non-plussed about the whole thing really. I played bass guitar, wrote some stuff that others liked and went about "business" coz I really didn't have a life plan at that time. Just like the majority of kids today I would imagine. The careers service after school was pretty crap. I was not in any way encouraged by my grammar school to go to university, even though my academic record was, at least until the fifth year, above average, and I'd told them I wanted to be a lawyer! I guess I thought the only way to teach the wankers who thought they knew better a lesson was to do my own thing and fuck everyone else off. When I wore make up in the streets of my hometown, my teachers would cross the road and pretend they hadn't spotted me. I guess that's why I did it!!

You were really a one of a kind band for us UK Glam fans, what do you think was the greatest achievement of the band the first time around?

Being English. Being different. We had an attitude, a look and a few anthems to back us up. Nobody else at the time could touch us.

And what would you say was the real low point?

Probably realising that the record company had stitched us up big time when we could finally afford a lawyer to look over the contract we had signed with them in '84. The bastards had tied up the publishing rights with the recording rights and basically so far as Wrathchild was concerned we could sing 'Dixie' till the cows came home but we would never earn a single penny for any creative effort!  So we sued, coz I'm a badass like that. Then we sued an American band called Wrathchild. Then we seemed to spend a hundred years in the courts and lawyers' offices instead of doing what we should have been doing which was bringing Wrathchild to the masses. At one time we hooked up with a manager of 'The Rods' and he said he would get us out of all of our legal wranglings. I don't remember exactly but I wouldn't be surprised if we probably finished up suing him as well! Jeezuz Christ, if only the wanky careers advisors had listened to me first time around. I 'should' have become a lawyer  - it would have saved a whole lot of time and money! 

Do you ever think to yourself "What if that RCA deal had happened?" and if yes what would you have liked the band to have achieved?

I don't get hung up on what might have been. I should think the then record company have more sleepless nights about that than we do! They were the dumb asses who couldn't realise that they might have made some money out of letting us go. I can't imagine what on earth prevented them from arriving at the sort of decision, a decision that even a five year old could have made!  

You had some great stage gear back in them early days with homemade platform boots and Blazooka and Battle Cars etc.  Were there any gimmicks that didn't make it to the stage? 

Ha! Eddie and me designed most of that stuff. At one time we convinced one of our crew to suspend himself on a rope from a gantry way above the stage dressed as a 'fighter' jet. The idea was to literally shoot him down with 'outdoor' rocket fireworks, which we were to launch from the backs of our guitars. The costume, which can only be loosely described, given that the whole effect was to have been seen from a distance, was simply made of cardboard, which is of course highly inflammable and it was only the timely intervention of the Cambridgeshire Fire Service which saved the crew member and prevented us from putting on what would probably have been the most infamous show of our careers!

At the time of its release 'Stakk Attakk' was lambasted for the production that Robin George did or didn't give it, but you know what it still sounds fresh to me...What do you think of it all these years on?

'Stakk Attakk' (one) is a great album. I was too naïve to tell Robin George (producer) how the stuff was supposed to come out!  At the time I was just grateful that anyone thought enough of the songs to consider them worthy to record in the first place. I didn't even own a record player at the time. I had to persuade my mum to buy me a record player so that I could play my own record once it was released, (imagine that!)

I remember my aunt visiting me at home, and she was rich and our family was relatively poor by comparison. And I was keen to impress my aunt with the fact that I had a career in the 'music biz' and showed her 'Stakk Attakk' the album. She flipped over the cover and saw all the 'tits' and stuff on the back and looked back at my mum with a withering sort of look that said - "your son might be famous but your 'stock' is not as good as mine!" And it struck me then that whatever I did should only be for 'me' and not for anyone else! It's a cliché but it really is not possible to please everybody.

It was our first proper studio experience.We speeded up the recording a notch to give the vocals a sweeter sound. Eddie's drums sounded like they were recorded on a Bontempi type drum machine. But the backing vocals were an inspiration, we suddenly realised what a difference some layered vocal tracks can make to a record. I don't remember much about the recording of it, but I do remember spending three weeks in a flat in London, sharing bunk beds with a succession of people we seemed to finish up with after each days recording. Oh, and a host who was generous above and beyond but who was convinced she was Dee Snider's love child.  Difficult to comprehend seeing as she was in her late fifties, at the very least, but who would insist she was having real "live" conversations with him, and that bloke from Manowar on the phone in front of us every suppertime, with a straight face! 

I have to admit losing interest in you guys a little during the 'Biz Suxx'/'Delirium' period of the band.  What do you personally think of those albums, and what was it that ultimately lead to the demise of the band first time around?

'Biz Suxx' was the album after our protracted legal period and naturally we just wanted to get the thing out and get back on the road. Guy Bidmead produced it and he had just come off working with the Motorhead. His ears were probably shot! He would come in the studio every day and spend an hour or so lining up all these lighters which he had collected or had had given to him over the years. Each one had a story, which he would regale us with at a cost of around £40 per hour! (It was a cheap studio). I bought him a box of matches at the end of our record! He got me to play bass through a "groove tube". I said I would probably never be able to afford a truly quality bass guitar. He looked at me all concerned, for a brief moment. Then he picked up the phone and ordered a new Jag (car) or something to be delivered to the hotel where he was staying for the duration (at our expense). That's rock 'n' roll' for you! 'Delirium' was a better record but by that point we'd consciously decided to sound more mature. At the end of the 'Delirium' tour, Rocky left the band. Thing was, we were working on setting up a tour of the States at the time - so that was twice we never got to go! 

You reunited with Phil Volkins and Eddie Starr for Psychowrath adding Gaz on vocals.  What was the catalyst for you guys returning?

People think we 'returned' like we went away or something but apart from a couple of spells in detox and rehab we never went away. We've all had spells doing our own thing but the Wrath flame has burnt bright and consistently in all of our lives. Even Phil, who went away, to play with Bill Ward (Black Sabbath) in America for a couple of years never forgot what was started back in 1980.

And what are the plans for supporting the release of 'Stakkattakktwo'?

'Stakkattakktwo' has had a tremendous reception worldwide. But there is no way we can take up all of the offers to perform in all of the countries so far. Touring is tough for us. We have all got commitments here at home. It will take a mighty offer to induce us to fly half way across the world to perform 'Stakkattakktwo'. I'm not saying it won't happen but mean time we're happy playing the odd gig here and there in the UK. The 'Stalkin the Earth Tour' will be huge, when and if, it comes off.

So what would you consider a success for this album release?

Well, I'd like to drive by Guy Bidmead's house, for starters, in a brand new Jag! (laughing)

Seriously, for this record to be received kindly and for the band to ditch the 'DIY' tag would be good for starters. The DIY thing has stuck with us simply because we set out to put on a full-bore stadium show in the 'Dog and Trumpet' or whatever. The 'Battlecar', the 'Blazooka', the OTT pyrotechnics, the marches on Downing Street, the edible panties, the topless girls and whipped cream antics - jeezuz this sounds like every true blooded rock fans dream - why on earth did we get slated for this? Just talking about it makes me wanna hit the road again, big style !!

OK on a little lighter note if we were to do the random five tracks on Marc Angell's I Pod/I Phone MP3 player right now what would come up? (No cheating OK !!!)

Nothing at all. I don't have an Ipod or MP3. But if I did have either, you would probably find something from Murderdolls, something from Black Veil Brides, something from 'Kiss' (of course), something from AC/DCand (no apologies) 'Trikk or Treat' from 'Stakkattakktwo' coz it rocks!

And any messages you would like to share with your fans worldwide right now?

Yes! - Your godz are amongst you! Be fearful but be grateful! Chant it! Chant it out loud!!

So on that note I guess we all have to agree that right here in 2011 - Wrathchild are very much back with a bang! Emerging from the flames of that band known all so briefly as Psychowrath the four icons are reborn albeit in slightly different forms via their new album 'Stakkattakktwo' out now on Perris Records.  Gaz Psychowrath may have replaced Rocky Shades on vocals, and Phil Volkins may have returned to his true spiritual home on guitar, but this is still very much Wrathchild - and it goes something like this!

http://wrathchildofficial.com/