A Conversation with Uriah Heep’s Mick Box – HuffPost 8.22.14

Mike Ragogna: Mick, Uriah Heep has been making music for decades, your latest being the album Outsider. How does the band stay vibrant after all these years?

Mick Box: Simply because we have the same passion and energy for our music, that we have always had. 

MR: How did Outsider come together creatively and in the studio and were there any new approaches taken in technology, songwriting, etc., with this album?

MB: It was 95% written in the studio. Phil Lanzon our keyboard player and myself wrote all of the songs, so daily we presented ideas to the band and when they liked one, say a riff, a chord sequence, or a melody, we then put our heads together and wrote the song virtually on the spot. Phil and I are very quick writers, and we come to the table with many ideas musically and lyrically, so we basically finished off the song and rehearsed it with the band, and when the arrangement was to our liking, and to our producer Mike Paxman’s liking, we pressed the record button and we had our backing track. We play live in the studio as this works best for us and you get the band all on one pulse, and you capture the feel and excitement. We did the lyrics and fine-tuned the melodies as we went along. Usually, when the rest of the band and the Producer finished for the day, Phil and I started on sets of lyrics and melodies. 

MR: Would you say one of the secrets of Uriah Heep is your emotional vocal 
approach paired with Phil Lanzon’s aggressive playing?

MB: Phil is a very talented player and he can lay down aggressive keyboards but equally some very beautiful keyboards too. That fits into the musical template of the band’s sound extremely well. The vocal will go with that too, and Bernie excelled himself on this new CD Outsider. He bought a personality to his singing on this one which is great, and he does it so well. 

MR: Take us on a tour of Outsider, like what are your favorite songs and stories 
about the album.

MB: Too early to say right now. I am a Gemini and what I pick today, there will be another one tomorrow. “One Minute” is what the Germans call an “ear worm.” You hear it once and it never leaves you! It is getting a lot of airplay at the moment in Europe which is most encouraging.

MR: What does Uriah Heep mean to you and the other members after all these years and what do you think is its biggest contribution to rock? What’s your favorite 
Uriah Heep recording?

MB: Wow a triple whammy there! Uriah Heep is everything to us and we all give it 100% commitment. We tour in over 58 countries, and so we are constantly on the road which we all love. Our contribution has been immense, as we have inspired so many different genres as diverse as Iron Maiden, Queen, a-Ha, King Diamond, Blind Guardian, and many more. We have also had many first by being the first western rock band to play in Russia in December 1987. It was through our success that bands were allowed to follow in our footsteps, so you can say that we were true rock pioneers. We were also the first to play in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, before it split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, South Korea, East Berlin before the wall came down and many more. It is impossible to pick a favourite album, but a good marker in our career was Demons and Wizards, as this album put us on to the world stage. 

MR: Is there anything about Uriah Heep’s sound these days when contrasted with the early days that make you possibly want to revisit the band’s older approach 
either on the road or in studio?

MB: We have never changed our musical template. We just apply it to new songs. We have been pretty faithful to it all along, and as long as we have the Hammond Organ, my signature Wah Wah Guitar, 5 vocal harmonies, and a distinctive lead vocal, that is just about it. 

MR: What is your proudest Uriah Heep moments?

MB: There are many, but to still be playing concerts in over 58 countries after 44 years is still a major achievement to be proud of. A lot of our songs have stood the test of time that people still like hearing in the live arena and I am proud of that. I was certainly proud to be the first western rock band to play in Russia. That was immense. Of course hearing your record on the radio for the first time, and getting silver, gold and platinum discs is right up there, but on a personal level I am most proud when someone tells me that they were inspired to pick up the guitar and learn it, after either seeing me in concert or hearing one of our albums. 

MR: I don’t mean to be indelicate but how did Trevor Bolder’s passing affect you personally and also how did it affect the band?

MB: Big time! He was a big loss as a bass player, singer, songwriter and as a friend. We still constantly talk about him, and we miss his presence, but he wanted us to carry on, and by doing so we will keep his musical legacy going, which will inspire many bass players for years to come.

MR: What advice do you have for new artists?

MB: Believe in yourself and work hard at your craft. Try to be an individual and not one of the pack. I can best explain this by saying when the bands of the seventies came out they all had their own flavour and never two of them were the same. I never played guitar like Ritchie Blackmore–Deep Purple–and Ritchie didn’t play like Jimmy Page–Led Zeppelin–and Jimmy did not play like Paul Kossoff–Free–and on and on. That went for the bass players, drummers, keyboard players and vocalists too. It was the sum of the parts that gave each band its musical flavor. Unfortunately today so many sound and look the same, you cannot really tell the difference. 

MR: Where does Uriah Heep go from here?

MB: We are starting a world tour in support of our new CD Outsider, which is very exciting. As we travel the world doing this we will be collecting more ideas to go in and make another album. This is what we do, and this is what we love to do. A working band is a happy band, and if you come and see us, we will be smiling!