Our manager Mike Shannon got us on the bill at the Dynamo Festival in Holland in 1986 with Satan, Angel Witch, Onslaught and a few others. It was a great day. We travelled over in our van and were on the ferry drinking with Paul D’Anno’s Battlezone and Angel Witch.

On stage we did an hour set and went down well. During one song I put my guitar down on stage to get the crowd singing along. But I was so drunk I couldn’t remember where I put it until the roadie pointed towards it (laughs).

Chariot were based in London and formed in 1980 by John Smith (bass) Scott Biaggi (lead guitar) Jez Denyer (vocals) and Oliver Le Franc (drums) and guitarist Pete Franklin…

Scott and John formed the band and the rest of us answered adverts in the music weekly Melody Maker. Our first gig was at The Ruskin Arms, the same one that Iron Maiden were playing.

We went on to release two albums. The Warrior in ‘84 was recorded at Old Barn studios in South London by Mathew Fisher from Procol Harum.

We also filmed a gig at the famous Marquee club in ‘86 which was released on VHS called Sweating Blood. Things were really happening for us.

Then we recorded Burning Ambition at Lodge Studios in Cambridge owned by Prog rock band The Enid. That was also the time we were interviewed by the Heavy Metal magazine Kerrang and supported Manowar on a UK tour.

Any stories from that tour ?

Manowar were all nice guy’s, great players. But we got an eye opener when we played Queen’s University in Belfast at the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland. We had to stop the show three times because of bomb scares, the place had to be emptied.

Then we’d go back in and start again. They also had about 15 Marshall speakers and they were all plugged in. So loud.

Jonathan King, the guy that discovered Genesis, was our co-manager and we nearly signed to Atlantic Records but unfortunately the deal fell through and that was that.

Our bassist was looking to start a family, so we split in ‘89. Looking back, we did have great times.

When did you get the band back together ?

When we reformed in 2003 our line-up was the same as 1983 with John Smith, Jeff Braithwaite and Paul Lane. Unfortunately, Scott Biaggi lived too far away to contribute. We’ve recorded a few albums since reforming.

Behind the Wire was recorded in 2004 at Rockridge Studios produced by my old band mate Tony Newton in Dirty Deeds. Then In the Blood was mixed by Tony Newton at Steve Harris’ Barnyard Studios in Essex. Then Demons & Angels was recorded in 2014.

The new album New Horizon Dawns was recorded in my home studio in East London and took us about a month to record. It come out really great, we’re very happy with it.

What are your plans for 2019 ?

Hopefully we’re playing lots of European festivals this year and going out to South America to do some shows for the first time. All very exciting.

 Contact Chariot at https://www.facebook.com/Chariotrocks/

 Interview by Gary Alikivi    February 2019.