ulti-Story
are a band from the South East corner of Wales, formed in 1981 after the meeting
of Rob Wilsher (keyboards) and Paul Ford (vocals), in a multi-story car park, in
Newport, Monmouthshire. They had previously worked together in the late 1970’s
in Dolphin, a cabaret type band, but had lost contact with each other. As a
result of this meeting, they decided to get together with a view to writing and
recording their own material.
Once they had the songs, Rob and Paul got together with Roger Nasey (bass),
Keith Millard (sax), Steve Byrne (drums) and sisters Yvonne McGrath and Krish
Hardulac (backing vocals) to record five songs in March 1992 at Loco Studios,
Usk. The tracks were Breaking Free, Maria, Star Traveller, Tutankamun
and Compulsive Gambler. The studio had been suggested by Steve, as he had
used it only a few months earlier. He had recorded a four-track demo, from which
two tracks were released as a 7" single, Dawn Raid / Take It Or
Leave It with the UK rock band Boulevard. This was the first record to have
been released which was recorded at Loco and it is a much sought after NWOBHM
(New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) collector’s item.
Once recorded, the five tracks were released on cassette and the name
Multi-Story decided upon. Such was the interest that Rob and Paul appeared on
local radio stations, doing interviews and promoting the cassette. Once they had
sufficient material, the band then decided to go out and play live to further
the interest. Due to other commitments, only Rob, Paul, Roger and Steve could
make the scheduled dates, and so the nucleus of the band was created.
In 1983, this four-piece then recorded a 7" single, again at Loco
Studios. The tracks were Cutting Close and a reworking of Star
Traveller, two of the band’s most popular songs being performed live. In
early 1984, auditions were held for a lead guitarist to give a greater depth and
versatility to the band’s overall sound. Andy Carney was selected to join the
band, renewing an old acquaintance with Steve, who had originally suggested Andy
for the position, as they had played and recorded in bands together in the past.
In the summer of 1984 the new five piece line up went in to record some new
tracks, these being Come Alive, Ahead Of Your Time, Breaking
New Ground, I Marcus, Tutankamun, Star Traveller (new
recording/arrangement) and The Willow & The Sun. This recording
became the cassette album Chimes, which was a big success for the band.
This managed to open several doors for the band, gaining interest from record
companies and from Radio 1’s Rock Show, then hosted by Tommy Vance.
The band were invited up to the BBC Maid-a-Vale studios in London to record a
session for the Rock Show. Three tracks were recorded with engineer Dale Griffin
(Buffin ex-Mott The Hoople drummer). The tracks were, Ahead Of Your Time,
I Marcus and The Willow And The Sun, which were then broadcast on
the show a few weeks later and have been subsequently repeated.
The band signed with Heavy Metal Records to feature on their new FM label,
which was to be a label to promote their more melodic bands. Liam Sternberg, who
had worked on the successful debut albums for rock act Ratt and pop starlet
Rachel Sweet, was chosen as producer of their debut LP. His other claim to fame
is, during the production of the album, one of his songs was chosen to be
recorded by The Bangles. So Multi-Story were privileged to hear firsthand an
unplugged version of what was to become one of The Bangles biggest hits, Walk
Like An Egyptian.
A further demo was recorded at Loco, so all the band’s material was
available for selection on the album. Three tracks were recorded: Carrie,
Further Than Now and East West. The album was recorded during
February and March 1985 in Monmouth’s famous Rockfield Studios. Ted Sharp, who
has worked with so many famous artists, engineered the recordings. The tracks
that were eventually chosen to be put on the album were East West, Breaking
Ground (Breaking New Ground), Traveller (Star Traveller),
Ahead Of Your Time, Carrie, Come Alive, The Wire (Willow
& The Sun) and Heroes (I Marcus), with East West
being chosen as the title for the album. All of the songs underwent major
surgery and facelifts, hence the reason for new titles in some cases, but from
the original demo versions, only Carrie in almost unrecognizable from the
version that ended up on the album.
Shortly after the band had finished recording the album, they were asked by
Dennis Nash, a local promoter and someone who become close friends with the
band, if they would perform at Pontypool Leisure Centre for a big local
fundraising charity event. Several bands appeared at the event, with Multi-Story
headlining. The event also included a guest appearance by Raiders Of The Lost
Ark’s bad German Ronald Lacey, who lived locally. That event raised over
£1000, which was quite an achievement in 1985.
After several warm up dates, the band were then put on fellow FM label-mates
Magnum’s On A Storyteller’s Night tour as their opening act, which
comprised 20 dates in 21 days. This included such venues as Cornwall Coliseum,
Birmingham Odeon, Manchester Apollo, Edinburgh Playhouse and London’s Dominion Theatre.
The tour was a big success, resulting in the band securing a headlining slot
at the Marquee Club shortly afterwards. All looked set until “musical
differences” appeared to disrupt the band, which resulted in Steve being
replace by Gary Davies, former Jaguar drummer. This line up then appeared on
HTV’s music program Rock Steady, although their performance was very
heavily edited before being broadcast. The band played a storming 20+ minute set
in front of a very enthusiastic audience. In the end though, only some 3 minutes
were shown at the end of the show, including the closing credits.
Towards the end of 1986, the band went into Loco Studios with producer Kit
Wolven, who had worked on Magnum’s successful album On A Storyteller’s
Night, to record their second album for FM Records. A series of demos was
recorded for track selection and arrangement purposes, but during this time,
further musical differences appeared which resulted in singer and co-founding
member Paul Ford leaving the band. Singer Grantley Nicholas, from local band
Silent Partner, was drafted in to complete the album and redo all the vocals and
in some cases rewrite the lyrics to suit his style.
The tracks on the second album Through Your Eyes are Hold Back The
Night, All Out Of Love, Through Your Eyes, Rub It Off, Heart
Of Mine, Hot Seat, Further Than Now, Spirit Of Love, Turn
Me Onto. The album was released in 1987 but without any backing from the FM
label, due to all the personnel problems encountered prior and during its
recording. The band subsequently parted company with FM by mutual consent and
were attracting a lot of interest from other labels. The band did several
showcases in Britain and a memorable festival appearance in Holland with Pallas.
Although things were starting to move for the band, new vocalist Grantley
decided he wanted to pursue a different musical direction than that which the
band were taking and subsequently left. He has since gone on to find chart
success as Grant Nicholas, the lead vocalist/guitarist with the rock outfit
Feeder. Faced with having to find another vocalist, the remaining band members
decided to call it a day and so the group disbanded.
