This feature originally appeared in Classic Rock 109. An illustration by Frederick Barnard from Charles Dickens’s novel David Copperfield (184950). The name Uriah Heep has become a byword for a falsely humble hypocrite. The drinks continued to flow in the hospitality tent – now without the pills, the physical jerks and the band’s superhuman efforts to accommodate an increasingly alarming ‘fan’. Is Uriah Heep a bad guy Uriah Heep, fictional character, the unctuous villain in Charles Dickens’s novel David Copperfield (184950). When the band's singer left, drummer Roger Penlington suggested his cousin David Garrick (who knew the band) as a replacement. It was, a laughing Box and drummer Lee Kerslake both agreed, the finest practical joke that had ever been played on Uriah Heep. The band's origins go back to 1967 when 19-year-old guitarist Mick Box formed a band in Brentwood called Hogwash, which began playing in local clubs and pubs. There was silence at first as the awful truth dawned, and then a sporting round of laughter. “Well, I’m glad about that,” he grinned, throwing down his spectacles, “because I’m Max Splodge. “You don’t survive in this business for 20 years without one.” Back at the tent, the band were still helpfully offering hospitality to their special guest, who kept up his preposterous performance for longer than was strictly necessary.įinally, Splodge turned to guitarist Mick Box and asked if the band had a sense of humour. To say that Uriah Heep must have been glad when it was over would be an understatement. There was one hairy moment when a friend, recognising Splodge as she wandered past, had to be shooed away before she blew his cover.Įventually appearing before the Reading audience with the mighty Heep, Martin could clearly be seen leaping insanely around the side of the stage with a blow-up guitar while security guards stood ready to grab him if he looked like ruining the gig. The band were obviously worried by Martin’s appetite for the free booze but, politely, they didn’t show it. Splodge turned out in a pair of over-sized black-rimmed spectacles, his denim jacket and baseball boots covered in graffiti such as ‘Demons And Wizards’ hastily scribbled on with a Biro, and his knuckles bearing the legend ‘Heep’.Īnd so he sat down to enjoy an audience with the band, who made a wonderful fuss of him as the camera rolled, presenting him with T-shirts and a baseball cap while he gobbled (harmless) tablets from a bottle and twitched violently. I was on hand to interview Martin and Uriah Heep for Melody Maker – hopefully which I could manage to do with a straight face. On the great day, Juliette arrived looking brisk, efficient and professional with a clipboard in her hand, and a couple of mates shouldering a video camera. Miracle finally announced that Uriah Heep would be happy to meet Martin at their hospitality tent backstage at Reading. One small snag – that Juliette didn’t have a fax machine – was resolved by a small team at Melody Maker, myself included, who sent off her correspondence from our office in High Holborn. Phone calls went back and forth, and so did faxes.
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