Sacrilege: Another NWOBHM Band Finally Comes Of Age!

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These are exciting times for Sacrilege, a band whose very first incarnation saw the light of day back in the early 1980’s. A new studio album, the band’s very first live album and a European tour….these are but a few of the projects Sacrilege have lined up for 2017!

Bill Beadle (Sacrilege lead vocalist, guitarist and founding member) sounds particularly upbeat about the future:

“We are looking to play to as many people as possible as we are having requests from literally everywhere. California, we are always being asked if we could play there for instance. In 2017, we are playing Malta, Belgium, France, Holland and of course the U.K. It would be nice to play to our German fans especially as we are with a German record label and are always being asked to play there. Keep it True festival would be awesome. Denmark is another country we haven’t played and Metal Magic would also be good. If you want us to play near you please let us and the venue’s promoters know on their forums.”

SACRILEGE was formed in 1982 in the south eastern outskirts of London and, through relentless gigging and a handful of demos, earned themselves a loyal following. The band was one of the very few bands from the NWOBHM movement that could fall into the doom category. Sacrilege split up after 5 years but 25 years later, in 2012, the band reformed under auspicious circumstances. A productive recording period followed, culminating in the album Six6Six, released by Pure Steel Records in 2015.

We caught up wth Sacrilege mastermind Bill Beadle and quizzed him about the past, the future and everything in between!

What’s new in the Sacrilege camp?

Bill: “Lots at present. We have a tour of Belgium and Holland plus Malta later in the year, we are recording our 7th album called “Court of the Insane” and hope to release a live album as well. Our new single “Lies” got 6,000 plays in the first two days of its release and it’s going down well when played live so all good.

Did you think you’d still be active 35 years after originally forming?

“Gosh no. When I decided to stop playing back in 1987 I thought that was it for me. It was only in 2007 that I decided to build a studio and re-record old sacrilege stuff plus write some new stuff that I got the bug and even then I didn’t plan on playing live…just recording. But I was persuaded by a friend to play live once more and enjoyed it so much I got Sacrilege back together again and now we have been back playing just over 4 years and loving every minute, wish I hadn’t stopped.”

The NWOBHM (not that it’s ‘new’ anymore but the moniker fits) seems to be going from strength to strength. What do you think has happened to elicit such a strong response from the old (and new) fan base?

“It was such a popular style of music, crunchy catchy riffs, make up, stage show it had the lot so not really surprised it has come back with a vengeance.”

When you were initially coming through the ranks, which bands stuck out as the ones who would make it ‘big’?

“The ones that always got me going to their shows were Saxon, Demon, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden but I saw a whole host of great bands and sometimes it’s just a bit of luck that can make the difference. Even at that time I was still heavily into Sabbath and Priest but it was great as you could see a new Metal band every week sometime two or three times a week if we weren’t playing, sadly venues are closing and people seem to want covers or tributes rather than originals which is sad as there are some great bands out there.”

How would you best describe Sacrilege’s sound and influences to anyone new to your band?

“Crunching Sabbath-style riffs, with a more upbeat tempo like Priest and with choruses to get you singing along. One acclaimed journalist once said to us: “you sound like….. actually I’m not sure who you sound like, there’s so many bands you could try to say you sound like but all that gives you an original feel”, which just about sums us up right I think. We get similar comments wherever we play…a sound guy at a festival we headlined only last Saturday said: “I really enjoyed that, so many different changes in your music yet something to like about every song yet I hadn’t heard any of them before.”

You’re given one chance to introduce Sacrilege to the entire world, which song do you blast them away with?

“What a hard question! Personal favourite or one I think people like? Ok I’ll say “Ashes to Ashes” (our 2015 album released by Pure Steel Records). Powerful, catchy, extremely heavy and a favourite every time we play it.”

We’ll be honest, there’s too many bands named Sacrilege out there (UK Crust-punk thrashers – Sacrilege / Italian doom band – Sacrilege / Sacrilege B.C – U.S. thrashers). Have you ever had an unfortunate encounter with a fan/promoter who has mistaken you for one of the other acts with the same name?

“Yes I’m afraid it has happened a few times but I’m pleased to say whether they were expecting a thrash band, a doom band or whatever they have been pleasantly surprised by us. In fact we played a festival in Dorchester (England) where the Birmingham thrash band were in attendance and they came over to say hello and also apologise for using the name Sacrilege as they hadn’t realised we had used it first back in 1982/83 and even been on TV, which was nice of them. Unfortunately it can work in the other way as well and I’m sure we have missed out on many NWOBHM Fest’s as they see the name and think thrash not NWOBHM, Brofest and HRH are two we never get on yet fans ask us to play them all the time. I can’t see another reason as promoters put shows on for what the fans want don’t they?”

Going for a silly one here, name the ultimate NWOBHM 4-piece super group.

“I’d like to say:

Tony Vanner
Jeff Rolland
Neil Turnbull
Bill Beadle

Hahahaha just joking, gosh that’s hard really hard and I can’t really choose any stand out performers so many great guitarists, drummers, bassists and Vocalists in their own right. You want me to fall out with them? Haha”

What does the future hold for Sacrilege?

“We play because we enjoy what we do, we would love to play to more people further afield. This year we are playing a lot of new countries and venues and in 2018 we hope to be confirmed on a show or two in Athens. America would be great to play especially California as we get so many people ask when are we coming?

On top of all that we have the new album to play to everyone, videos to shoot and the live album. Hopefully 2017/18 will be great years for us and we’ll continue to make the progress we have been doing over the last 4 years. After such a long lay-off it’s taken time to get our fan base back and let everyone know this Sacrilege are not the ones mentioned earlier.”

In 2017, SACRILEGE released a video-clip for “Lies”, a song taken from the forthcoming album Court Of The Insane. Another, more ambitious, clip is planned for later in the year.

Confirmed tour dates:
o 29/April/2017 – The Patriot’s 20th Anniversary, Crumlin, Wales.
o 11/May/2017 – ‘Titans club’, Lens, Belgium.
o 12/May/2017 – ‘B52′ Music club’, Eernegen, Belgium.
o 13/May/2017 – ‘The Rocking Bull’, Antwerp, Belgium.
o 14/May/2017 – ‘De Meister club’, Geleen, Holland.
o 01/July/2017 – ‘The Carlisle’, Hastings, England.
[Sacrilege, Hundred]
o 27, 28/October/2017 – ‘Malta Doom Festival’, Buskett, Malta.
[Sacrilege, Hell, Witchwood, Atlantean Kodex, Desaster, et al ]
o 11/November/2017 – ‘A Day of Rock’ festival, Kettering, England.

For tour updates see: http://www.sacrilegenwobhm.com/gigs