Tytan (band)
Encyclopedia
History
Tytan was a BritishBritish people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band formed at the height of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal
New Wave of British Heavy Metal
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a heavy metal movement that started in the late 1970s, in Britain, and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. The movement developed as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black...
in the fall of 1981 by the former Angel Witch
Angel Witch
Angel Witch is a British heavy metal band which formed in London, England in 1977 as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement.-Biography:...
rhythm section, bassist Kevin Riddles and drummer Dave Dufort
Dave Dufort
Dave Dufort is a British rock drummer who has played with Ian Hunter, Kevin Ayers, Mike Oldfield and Screaming Lord Sutch, and was a member of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands E. F. Band, Angel Witch and Tytan...
(ex-E. F. Band), Scottish vocalist Norman 'Kal' Swan, and guitarists Steve Gibbs and Stuart Adams. The latter left within months and was superseded by Gary Owens (ex-A II Z
A II Z
A II Z was a heavy metal band founded in 1979 in Manchester, England by guitarist Gary Owens. The original lineup consisted of David Owens , Gary Owens , Cam Campbell , Karl Reti . For a short time they were one of the forerunners of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement...
, Aurora) before Steve Mann
Steve Mann (guitarist)
Steven Mann was an American songwriter and guitarist.-History:Mann broke onto the West Coast music scene in the 1960s. As a student at Valley State College in Los Angeles, Mann began to perform folk music at hootenannies and Los Angeles clubs like The Ash Grove and The Troubadour...
(ex-Liar, Lionheart
Lionheart (band)
-History:Lionheart was a British hard rock band formed in late 1980, originally featuring singer Jess Cox , guitarist Dennis Stratton , guitarist Steve Mann , bassist/vocalist Rocky Newton , and drummer Frank Noon .They made their debut one Saturday night at the Marquee Club in...
) settled in more permanently.
Signed to Kamaflage Records, a subsidiary of DJM, Tytan recorded their lone album at Ramport Studios in Battersea with Will Reid-Dick manning the boards. Former Judas Priest
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
and Lionheart
Lionheart (band)
-History:Lionheart was a British hard rock band formed in late 1980, originally featuring singer Jess Cox , guitarist Dennis Stratton , guitarist Steve Mann , bassist/vocalist Rocky Newton , and drummer Frank Noon .They made their debut one Saturday night at the Marquee Club in...
drummer Les Binks joined the band just in time for the recording in place of Dave Dufort. Jody Turner of Rock Goddess
Rock Goddess
Rock Goddess was an all-female heavy metal band from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal era that briefly enjoyed cult status in the early 1980s in Great Britain.-History:...
made a guest vocal appearance on the song 'Women On The Frontline.' Binks would be replaced by Tony Boden on the band's October 1982 UK tour with the Tygers Of Pan Tang
Tygers Of Pan Tang
Tygers of Pan Tang are a heavy metal band, formed in 1978 and originating from Whitley Bay, England. They are a notable band of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement...
who was gone shortly thereafter, replaced by Simon Wright (ex-Tora Tora, A II Z, Aurora).
Unfortunately, Kamaflage folded before the album had chance to be released but managed to release the single 'Blind Men and Fools' in both 7" and 12" formats in September 1982 before the band split up the following summer. Wright would join AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
and subsequently work with Dio
Dio (band)
Dio was an American heavy metal band from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Formed in 1982 and led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio, after he left Black Sabbath with intentions to form a new band with fellow former Black Sabbath member, drummer Vinny Appice. Naming the band Dio made sense from a commercial...
, Rhino Bucket
Rhino Bucket
Rhino Bucket is a hard rock band from Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California.The band was formed in 1988 by Georg Dolivo , Greg Fields , Reeve Downes , and Rick Kubach . This lineup played the Los Angeles rock scene for a year with contemporaries such as Junkyard, The Four Horsemen, Rage Against the...
, and UFO
UFO (band)
UFO are an English heavy metal and hard rock band, who were formed in 1969. UFO became a transitional group between early hard rock and heavy metal and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal...
. Vocalist Kal Swan moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, CA where he formed the band Lion
Lion (band)
Lion were an English-American rock band, best known for their theme song from the 1986 animated movie The Transformers: The Movie.A hard rock quartet, Lion were formed in Los Angeles in 1983 after ex-Tytan vocalist Kal Swan and former Lone Star guitarist Tony Smith relocated from Great Britain...
with former Lone Star
Lone Star (band)
-History:Lone Star were a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff, Wales in 1975. An embryonic line-up consisted of former Iona members, Kenny Driscoll and Tony Smith, former Quest bassist Ray Jones, and drummer Jim Mathews...
guitarist Tony Smith whose replacement was future Dio
Dio (band)
Dio was an American heavy metal band from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Formed in 1982 and led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio, after he left Black Sabbath with intentions to form a new band with fellow former Black Sabbath member, drummer Vinny Appice. Naming the band Dio made sense from a commercial...
and Whitesnake
Whitesnake
Whitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style...
axeman Doug Aldrich
Doug Aldrich
Doug Aldrich , is a Los Angeles-based hard rock guitarist, since 2003 a member of Whitesnake. He founded the band Burning Rain with Keith St.John in 1998 and has played previously with the bands Dio, Lion, Hurricane, House of Lords, and Bad Moon Rising...
. Swan and Aldrich went on to record a further 3 albums in the 1990s under the name Bad Moon Rising
Bad Moon Rising (band)
Bad Moon Rising were a rock band that rose to superstar status in Japan with a series of hard rock albums led by Scottish born vocalist Kal Swan and guitarist Doug Aldrich....
. Steve Mann
Steve Mann (guitarist)
Steven Mann was an American songwriter and guitarist.-History:Mann broke onto the West Coast music scene in the 1960s. As a student at Valley State College in Los Angeles, Mann began to perform folk music at hootenannies and Los Angeles clubs like The Ash Grove and The Troubadour...
returned to Lionheart
Lionheart (band)
-History:Lionheart was a British hard rock band formed in late 1980, originally featuring singer Jess Cox , guitarist Dennis Stratton , guitarist Steve Mann , bassist/vocalist Rocky Newton , and drummer Frank Noon .They made their debut one Saturday night at the Marquee Club in...
and recorded the 1984 Hot Tonight album with the band before joining the McAuley Schenker Group
McAuley Schenker Group
McAuley Schenker Group was a band featuring core members Robin McAuley and Michael Schenker , a successor to Schenker's earlier band Michael Schenker Group. McAuley was initially contacted to replace singer Gary Barden in MSG...
, The Sweet, and German prog rock institution Eloy.
In 1985, London-based label Metal Masters released the shelved Tytan tapes as the Rough Justice LP. A Japanese CD bootleg followed in the early 1990s, before Majestic Rock Records gave the album an official CD re-issue in 2004 and again in 2006, with 4 BBC 'Friday Rock Show' session live tracks ('Cold Bitch', 'The Watcher', 'Far Side of Destiny' & 'Blind Men and Fools') and a live DVD added as bonus on the second edition.
Discography
- Blind Men and Fools 7"& 12" (Kamaflage, 1982)
- Rough Justice (Metal Masters, 1985 / Majestic Rock, 2004 & 2006)