GORDON BONNAR - HEAVY PETTIN

#interview

GORDON BONNAR/Heavy Pettin

💿Hi, it's a pleasure for us to have on Hardrockheavymetal GORDON BONNAR of HEAVY PETTIN!! Welcome!!

The pleasure is all ours, you guys ROCK !

💿You've been busy in recent times performing at The Monster of Rock Cruise and Brofest..Are you satisfied with all positive feedback received?

Yes, we have been playing some great shows to awesome audiences, we have fans coming to see us from all over the world with many flying in to see us for the first time, thinking they would ever get to see us.

We headlined the awesome BroFest in Newcastle where many young Metal bands were playing and they were all stoked to be on the bill with us and they stayed to watch us and we partied with them after.

The Monster of Rock Cruise was off the scale for us, huge turn out for our shows and it was great to meet and talk with our fans there ... 5 days of drinking/rockin/partying in the Caribbean sunshine .. All good!

💿 Can you tell us somethin'about the birth and the name of your band?

I was fronting our band " Weeper" but was wanting a dedicated singer to handle lead vocal, a friend put us in touch with Hamie who we didn't know.

As soon as he walked into our dressing room at a gig, I knew he was our guy, Hamie came up with the name " Heavy Pettin" during a brainstorming session, people point out the UFO Album " No Heavy Petting"...but that wasn't the main inspiration for our name...we wanted something that would grab your attention and Heavy Pettin did the trick!

💿Which artists or bands impressed you the most as musician in your early times?

Growing up in the 70's as a young teenage rock fan was a fantastic time, so much brilliant Rock music, I had older sisters who would buy Rock records of Led Zeppelin / Bowie. I started listening to bands like Sweet/Slade and TRex to begin with and I went to see them at the Glasgow Apollo.

The first band that I got serious with was Status Quo then Wishbone Ash, both of which I started leaning to play in the guitar.

Then there was Thin Lizzy, I adored them !! then AC/DC...adored them too!...then I discovered Iron Maiden..Loved them. So many great bands to enjoy during that time.

💿 Your new EP 4 PLAY is out. We have the chance to listening to it and we were really impressed . Can you tell us something 'about its composition process and style?

Yes, keeping creative with new material is very important to us.. but it was also a daunting prospect when we got back together...as we have a big reputation to live up to.

So we decided not to rush into it and focus on our live shows instead etc.

This worked out well, as during that time, we reconnected with the Soul of Heavy Pettin

That was important for me when I started to write new material for the EP...and it flowed fairly easily from there.

I penned 3 songs and Hamie finished off some lyrics, plus we picked out one of Davo's songs ( Davo Aitken HP Guitarist ) which gave the EP extra dimension.

We recorded the tracks in SOR Studios in MK.

From its limited release so far it has been very well received with the common comment being it sounds like Heavy Pettin , new and energized !...we can't ask for more than that

💿 The demand and support for new HP material has been so overwhelming...Can you us tell somethin' about the new long-awaited full-length?

Yes, demand is high to say the least, but you can rest assured we are working on the new Album from now, we have the Title and the concept and many of the tracks written .. gonna be Awesome!!

💿 There's a great return of format such as vinyl and cassette. What's your thinking about these classic format..love for vintage or is it impossible a future for music outside digital?

I guess there will be a novelty aspect to it with younger people who never experienced it first time around .. can’t see it making a major comeback.

💿 37 years ago your debut album LETTIN LOOSE was out and it seems yesterday..Would you change somethin' of this album?

The album concept and songs have stood the test of time and is still considered one on the best NWOBHM Debut Albums of all time ! .. But many say the production of the album hasn't stood the test of time..it could sounds better in today’s world, so we are making some plans regarding this also .

💿 Inside your songs what's the role of lyrics in the composition process? Words follow music or vice versa?

I have always been the main songwriter in the band, I write about 70 / 80% of the song ie guitar riffs / Melodies Lyrics, arrangement etc

Then I would usually give to Hamie to finish, he would add and tweak lyrics and some melodies and make it fit his vocal style.

It always starts with a cranked guitar .. but from a song writing perspective, trying to fuse Music/Lyric and Melody at the same time is my goal

Davo is also an accomplished songwriter so you will see a lot more of his creative talent on our records

💿 Can you tell us somethin'about next live shows?

We concentrated on the UK during 2019 but we are planning selected shows throughout Europe in 2020, trying to connect with our audiences there

Next show in Barcelona - June 6th, 2020

💿 Thank you so much for your time! See you soon on Hardrockheavymetal!

Thanks so much, we love you guys and hope to see yall soon .. Rock n Rule ..

Gordon Bonnar