UFO Drummer Says Original Title Of New Album 'Sounded Like Some Kind Of Gay Porno Movie'

Scott Alisoglu of Teeth Of The Divine recently conducted an interview with drummer Andy Parker of British hard rock legends UFO. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Teeth Of The Divine: "Seven Deadly" is the title of the new album. So are we talking about sins or something else there?

Andy: No, it's just "Seven Deadly" [laughs]. I mean, it wasn't the first choice. You may have seen the debacle that happened when SPV announced that the album was going to be released and it was going to be called "Last Of The Bone Riders". Phil [Mogg, vocals] flipped back and forth with it for a while because he wasn't getting the feedback from it he wanted, especially from the rest of the band. [laughs] We had people saying it sounded like some kind of gay porno movie or something. [laughs] It was quite funny, actually. He was polling people on a regular basis to see what they thought about it. When we were in a hotel somewhere in the Midwest, we had a day off and were sitting down at the bar with a couple of drinks and something to eat and we were actually working on a short list of songs. On days off, that's what we usually do, we'll sit around the hotel and go through the songs and decide what ones we're going to go for and which ones we're not. And he actually asked the bartender when the title of the new album came up again because they're always good folks to ask. So he asked the bartender, "If I said to you 'last of the bone riders,' what would you think?" and I swear to god, the guy looked him straight in the face and said, "It sounds like a gay porno." [laughs] So we were done with that title and decided we'd come up with something else. So about two weeks later we were playing in St. Charles, Illinois. We had done Chicago the night before and it was a lovely day and we were staying about a block from the gig. We're walking down to the show in the evening and this guy and a couple of girls were walking in the opposite direction, and this guy had a t-shirt on that said "Bone Riders" with this picture of a skeleton on a motorcycle, which is what Phil's original concept was; it was more of a biker thing. Phil has a Harley and likes to ride and stuff. And Phil goes, "See, I told you it was about bikers!" So this poor guy had to trade shirts with Phil in the middle of the street. [laughs] So Phil got the shirt and the title was back on again because he felt vindicated. That was going to be the title until SPV announced it and we got some terrible feedback on the web site, so he decided once again that he would change it. It was funny because my drum tech, the guy I usually use who is out with MOTÖRHEAD right now, e-mailed me the other day and said he much preferred the "bone riders" title. [laughs] You can't please everybody, can ya? [laughs]. I really haven't spoken to Phil since he did his vocals for the album; he's back in England. He did his vocals just before Christmas and I was sitting out here in Texas. So it'll be interesting to find out where Phil came up with that title.

Teeth Of The Divine: My impressions of "Seven Deadly" after multiple spins — and I've been playing it frequently — is that it is very guitar-forward and riff-based with very little keyboards on it, a couple of songs aside. And obviously there is a lot of great soloing from Vinnie Moore, as usual.

Andy: Paul and Vinnie pretty much wrote this album between them with Phil. The stuff that Paul wrote was actually more centered around guitar. The first track, "Fight Night", is his and it has a serious guitar riff. You may think of Paul usually as a keyboard player with guitar on the side, so that's kind of interesting that two or three of the songs that he pitched this time were much more built around guitar. It's still got that blues thing going on, but it's more edgy this one I think, a little heavier to please some of the fans. Like I said, you can't please everyone all the time and we were getting some feedback from some of the diehard fans that we had gotten soft in our old age and gone to the blues or whatever. But what I always tell people is that UFO plays what comes from UFO's heart. It is not some kind of calculated thing; it's just where the guys are at the time. That's where the band is at. I personally wouldn't expect it to be the same thing that it was in the '70s or even the '80s because it isn't anymore. It's a different band, we're all older, and we've experienced more life. I'm real happy with where the band is and the album seems to be getting great reviews.

Those first two songs — "Fight Night" and "Wonderland" — definitely set a much heavier tone. The ending riff of "Fight Night" actually sounds like a teasing tribute to AC/DC's "Walk All Over You".

Teeth Of The Divine: Were you pleased with how "The Chrysalis Years" collection came out with all the extras and live performances?

Andy: Absolutely. From my perspective I think there are a lot of people out there that would love to discover this band, those that maybe didn't get to the first time around. Anything that will help that is good. Even though it is previous material remastered, repackaged and with extra tracks in there it creates attention and that to me is great because we are starting to see some younger people at our shows, which is very healthy for me.

Teeth Of The Divine: That's good to hear.

Andy: Obviously, in the past it was older fans bringing their kids or whatever, but now we're actually starting to see some new faces there. It's exciting to get discovered by a younger generation. I really do think this band has a lot to offer with not just the past material, but the present and future as well.

Read the entire interview from Teeth Of The Divine.