DEMON INTERVIEW
With Vocalist Dave Hill
By Bob Nalbandian

SHOCKWAVES: DEMON has been around for over 20 years now! How many albums has the band put out thus far?
DAVE: We've released ten studio albums, and a live album that was recorded in Europe, and we've done different anthologies and things. I believe 12 or 13 albums including the remastered catalog.

SW: I actually remember your first single, "Liar", that was released on Clay Records. Shortly after, the band signed with Carrere for "Night Of The Demon". How did that deal come about?
DAVE: That's right, we had met Mike Stone [the band's producer/manager - not the Mike Stone who produced the albums by Whitesnake, etc. in the '80s], he was working with a company out of London called Beggars Banquet. He also did a bit of photography and was working with Gary Numan. One day we met in his studio and played him some demos and he suggested we record a couple of tracks. So we did the song "Liar" and we all liked the way it came out, so he put it out on his label Clay Records. At the time, the New Wave [of British Metal] was coming forward and Carrere was picking up bands like Saxon and Rose Tattoo. So we did the deal with Mike, and it was licensed through Carrere.

SW: I bought "Night Of The Demon" when it first came out on vinyl ('81), I was really into the NWOBHM and was buying tons of imports. I remember being quite surprised on how "different" Demon sounded from all the other NWOBHM bands at the time. The production was superior to other indie releases on labels such as Neat, Ebony, and Heavy Metal Records. Most those releases were mere "garage recordings" but Demon sounded professionally recorded, more polished and radio friendly...it sounded like a major label debut.
DAVE: Yeah, I think looking back that is true. On the first two albums we really concentrated on making commercial, simple, uncomplicated rock music and I think some of the Neat Records stuff I thought was really good, but I think it was a bit more...I wouldn't say "industrial rock" but it was more on the ballsy side. Even though the name "Demon" sounds quite fierce, we were more melodic, even despite our album cover [with a hand coming out of the grave tearing open a cross with human intestines].

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