Welcome one and all to the latest episode of
Signals from Mars. Episode 440 features Bones
and Rhea from the band Tailgunner. They've just
released the album Midnight Blitz. It was produced
by the legendary K .K. Downing of Judas Priest
fame. We're going to talk about the album. We're
going to talk about all things Tailgunner up
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message and I will gladly accept your list. For
this episode, once again, Bones, who's the main
person behind Tail Gunner, and Rhea, who, if
I'm not mistaken, is the latest member to join
the band. We talk about the album Midnight Blitz.
We talk about a lot of different things along
the way. I do hope that you enjoy the episode.
If this is the first time that you've heard about
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out your podcasts or if you follow us on YouTube,
help us get to a thousand subscribers. Welcome
everyone to the latest episode of Signals from
Mars. I'm joined today by Bones and Ria from
the band Tailgunner. How are you guys today?
Good, how are you? Doing good. So to kick things
off here, you guys worked with KK Downing on
Midnight Blitz. Whenever someone... famous works
with a band that's outside of the band like instantly
you'll have reviewers and people say oh well
this sounds just like in this case judas priest
how many people have mentioned to you so far
that have heard the album and said wow i can
definitely notice the priest influence in this
i think for us people would say that regardless
of if we work with kk or not um but we'll never
shy away from a judas priest comparison they're
one of the greatest bands of all time so if people
want to say that we Judas Priest, then. So be
it. How did KK work with you guys? How engulfed
was he in the work? Did he point you guys in
the directions of improving riffs, improving
lyrics? How did he work behind the scenes? He
was... He had quite a hands -on approach and
we're really grateful for his input when we were
in the studio with him. He was suggesting...
a lot of different ideas that we wouldn't have
thought of ourselves like he's the one that told
us you should write a ballad and i think the
biggest thing we learned with him was that no
detail is too small and that's definitely the
biggest thing i learned because he was always
just suggesting like let's put a dive bomb in
this verse section let's add something else to
this and so it really helped bring the tracks
to life okay um How did the pairing come about
initially? Was that, I mean, I know you guys
toured with him at one point with KK's Priest.
Did you approach him? Did the label suggest it?
He had our debut EP Crash Dive that came out
in December 2022. Someone got that EP to him
and he heard it and loved it. And he invited
us to open the first KK's Priest show alongside
Paul D 'Anno. Perfect lineup for us. Wow. You
know, we stayed in touch and did the UK tour
with him in the summer of 2024. And when it came
time to make this new record, we knew we wanted
a producer. We wanted someone with that experience.
And obviously KK co -produced all those classic
Priest records alongside Halford, Tipton and
Tom Allen. And, you know, we found ourselves
in this very cool, surreal scenario where it's
like, well, we're friends with KK Downing. Why
don't we just... call him and ask. And, you know,
I did and spent a couple of days back and forth
on the phone with him and he was into the project.
And, you know, we're very grateful for that.
I think it turned out really cool. Cool. Was
there any hesitation initially? Were you guys,
you know, scared that he might not? want to work
with you guys or was it always just positive
from the start you know we're going to get this
guy he's going to work with us pretty much i
mean the first time we met kk he said he'd been
waiting for a band like us to come along since
early death leopard and you know that's exactly
the vindication that we need is exactly what
we're trying to achieve and i think he really
sees what we're trying to do and wants to be
a part of it and You know, in my eyes, he's the
true defender of the faith because he cares about
heavy metal and he cares about the longevity
and the legacy and having new bands come along.
So I think he was just same as us, just waiting
for a band like us to come along to be a part
of something like that. It's interesting that
you bring that up because I've interviewed a
bunch of bands over the years from the UK that
have said, you know. There's no other band that's
doing this right now. So we need to do this.
And all those bands have one way or another come
apart, disappeared. Members have gone on to other
projects. What do you think sets Tailgunner apart
from some of those bands that will give you guys
the longevity to carry on? Pure, unfiltered stubbornness.
you need that you do it's like lemmy said the
best way to keep going is to not stop and it's
absolutely right right now that's perfect i mean
that's i mean i think with anything like what
you guys are doing you need that you need to
want to continue to go because it's not easy
i mean obviously we hear all the stories nowadays
oh well you know we're a young band we can't
forward we don't we can't make this much money
like they did back then but there are bands that
are still making it you know not to the same
extent but you know there are still bands that
are able to carry on and and create a career
out of this so i mean i agree with what you're
saying i think for me and i'm sure rare will
be able to relate to this is when i was growing
up you know i was from day one into Maiden, ACDC,
Dio, Priest, Motorhead, Saxon, you name it. And
I remember being 12 years old and wearing, you
know, leather jacket and studs and playing a
BC Rich Warlock bass and whatever. And you're
deluded at that time anyway, because you're a
kid and, you know, yeah, I'm going to be a rock
star. And then you turn up and you play a local
show. you know, there's, there's people there.
And in those days at that stage, you'll be a
rock band and you'll play alongside a band that
sounds like Oasis and a band that sounds like
whoever, you know, I remember people going, Oh,
they've got long hair. Oh, they play pointy guitars.
Oh, you know, it's a bit of a joke and whatever.
And I think spite is a hell of a motivator. And
I look back at those people now and I just think,
yeah, whatever. Yeah, that's pretty true. That's
the nonsense of the various scenes. I think if
you're a good band, you're going to carry on
either way, regardless of image, regardless of
whatever. If you don't have the music to go with
it, in the end, you're not going to move forward.
You guys released the EP and you guys released
Guns for Hire. starting to record the material
or starting to write the material for midnight
blitz was there anything that you guys said you
know what i want to do this on midnight blitz
i want to take it to this level by doing this
specific thing um well for the second album especially
with the title track of the album we we needed
something that was just a massive step up from
the stuff that we wrote on the debut album And
that's what we wanted to sell across in Midnight
Blitz. And you can hear it in all parts of the
track, really, for me, the guitars, the solos
anyway. I mean, I know I didn't write the first
album, the guitars in the first album, but even
so, the solos I was putting forward for Midnight
Blitz, Tom was constantly like, no, it needs
to be better, it needs to be faster. And so I
was pushed, I was pushing myself to write something
like that. And then everybody else was doing
the same thing. And that's the theme for the
entire album, not just the first single. It's
just a massive step up. So for you, Ria, how
important was it to be the first time that you're
writing with the band, to be recording with the
band, to put your stamp on the music itself?
It was really important. I wanted to do the best
that I could do. I mean, I definitely pushed
myself and I'm really happy with the results
from it. Yeah. Okay. There's definitely a British
heavy metal influence on the album, but there
are other things instantly from listening to
it. I instantly get a vibe of like old Halloween,
for example. Yeah, you're smiling. But yeah,
that obviously is an influence. If you're smiling
back, I'm picking up, you know. Where you're
coming from. Halloween are the reason why I started
Tailgunner. Obviously, everyone thinks with the
name that it's Maiden. And of course, Maiden
are huge for us as our priest, as are so many
bands. But Halloween really changed everything
for me. When I heard those first three albums,
The Walls of Jericho and The Two Keepers, totally
blew my mind. I went to see them live on the
Pumpkins United tour. And, you know, I already...
wanted to be a musician and everything but that
was the moment where i said god i need to put
together a band in this kind of style and you
know we're definitely a british heavy metal band
i think you know no one can be mistaken about
that but halloween a huge influence for us and
it's always nice when people recognize that through
the music oh yeah those those first two keepers
albums uh being someone that grew up in the states
and would spend their summers in europe i mean
there was no coverage in the states at that point
for halloween and then coming over to europe
and then having a friend say you need to listen
to this and just changing so many things and
a lot of times for me nowadays i listen to bands
that try to do the same style And it just forces
me to go back to listen to those Keepers albums
to say, yeah, that's cool. But and and I think
then the neat part about what you guys have done
with Midnight Blitz is that, yes, you notice
the influence, but it's not a direct copy. That
was really important to us, actually, just from
day one. And, you know, I think the thing with
Halloween and the Keeper records. And why they're
so incredible and why I love Halloween so much
is that they're not just doing one thing. Those
records really prove to me that you can play
epic power metal tracks of, you know, however
many minutes long. You can write commercial radio
kind of hits in metal. You can write the thrash
songs. You can write the ballads. You can be...
so creative and it coexists and be one concise
thing on one record like it is on the keepers
albums and that was really a big like i say a
huge moment for me and what we're about as well
as a band is we can do whatever we want to do
we can be whoever we want to be but at the heart
of it it's always tail gunner and you know i
have halloween to thank for that okay and You've
been the catalyst to get all this together. You
just mentioned it. How challenging was it for
you to get four members that were going to see
your vision that you were going to be able to
get along with and to be able to put this music
together? It was extremely challenging. Extremely
challenging. It took two years to get the first
lineup together. And, you know, I posted all
over social media. I posted flyers in metal bars
and guitar shops and spoke to people from the
UK and all over Europe. And it took a long time
to put it together. It's very difficult. And,
you know, I knew what I wanted and I knew what
this band had to be in terms of the ability of
people, in terms of, you know. characteristics
and you know how we get along and how we operate
and and also you know people don't like to say
it but the look of a band is important you know
i wanted people that embodied what we're trying
to do as a heavy metal band so took some time
okay ria how did you get involved with the band
i supported tail gunner um on their uk tour with
my old band that i was in at the time in liverpool
in the uk and then i saw that they fired their
old guitarists and they had a festival to play
in like a matter of like three days so i messaged
tom i reached out and i said that i'll be happy
to learn the set and fill in for the festival
um and so i did that and then i filled in for
a few more dates over the summer including this
steel mill gig with paul diano and kk and then
they kept me long term Was there ever a doubt
at the beginning to keep her in the band or were
you still contemplating maybe other moves or
did you know from the start that musically she
could do it, but you wanted to make sure that
she was kind of going to fit the rest of the
band's vibe? I think we were in such a rush at
the start. You know, when, like Ria said, we
had to fire the first guitarist on a Monday and
we played the festival with her on a Sunday.
And then I said to Rhea, you know, we were going
to hold auditions just because, you know, you
don't marry the first person that you sleep with.
And it's the same in a band, you know, so we
had to see how does it sound with other people?
And then we realized very quickly that Rhea was
quite far beyond anyone else that we auditioned.
So once we played with a couple of other people,
we knew very quick that she was definitely the
right choice. Okay. Rhea, how many years had
you been playing out with? semi um serious bands
before joining tail gunner um i started i'm playing
in bands since i was around like 13 um and so
that's eight years eight years i've been in and
out of bands i've been before tail gunner i've
been in and out of a lot of a lot of different
bands have you found it challenging to be in
the metal scene being a female has that never
really mattered uh with bands no it doesn't it's
not challenging um in the way that like i never
feel like i have to prove anything but it's challenging
sometimes people other people are challenging
um and how they can treat you um but in general
um i haven't have quite lucky i've not really
had much of that um and to be fair ever since
i was growing up playing guitar i've always been
in bands with men because you know it's a male
it's a very male dominated area so it doesn't
feel weird for me and it's never felt weird to
be in a band full of five men um it's just how
it's just how it is a lot of the time and yeah
that's it really and bones you were in and out
of bands uh previous to tail gunner as well um
how you know you mentioned that halloween show
is kind of being the point that made you want
to start this band uh previous to that were you
still just kind of finding your way figuring
out exactly what you wanted to do or did you
already have like an idea in the back of your
mind that this was a possibility. Tailgunner
is the band that I've always wanted to be in
since I was a kid, but it took years to get that
together and to actually even realize that it
was possible. I think until it really came together,
I didn't know if it was possible, but I got to
the point where I thought, well, I might as well
try because I played in different bands and all
sorts of different styles. And yeah, like I say,
after the band I was in before this one, well,
I was going to say split up. They didn't split
up. I left. I was really at a point where it's
like, well, I might as well just try and do the
thing that I've always wanted to do. And, you
know, that's how this really came to be. So it's
been in my mind since I was a little kid. But
yeah, it took a long time to to realize that
it was possible. OK. And you guys have done a
bunch of shows with Hammerfall. You've been doing
a bunch of shows. We mentioned before we started
recording that you've got another date left.
How has their audience treated you guys? Amazingly,
the tour we've just done with them was... Probably
the greatest tour we've been on in terms of the
crowd reaction for us as a support band. I think
being on the road with Hammerfall was a perfect
fit for us. Their audiences were unbelievable,
especially in Spain. Just amazing. Felt like
we were headlining every night, which was really
cool. Hammerfall as a band themselves and their
crew, the bus driver, the tour manager, looked
after us incredibly well, made us feel so welcome
and helped us to be on the road. so much and
you know we never felt like a support band it
felt like there was two bands out there together
to just go kill every night and to help each
other in any way that we could so we love those
guys and you know we hope to do that again very
very soon yeah that's what i was going to ask
you does this kind of help uh facilitate a future
tour with them uh due to how well these shows
went down definitely we spoke about it already
so you know i can't say too much but let's wait
and see yeah hopefully we'll be back out on the
road with them yeah because for a band like that
i mean if if you guys are going down like that
with their crowd going over well and again when
it comes down to personalities and everything
else you guys are getting along there's nothing
behind the scenes i mean those types of bands
are going to want to work with you because they're
like all right well um we know them there's no
mysteries And they're going to bring it every
night. So we know that when we hit the stage,
our crowd is going to be hot for us because of
them. Exactly. We definitely got those crowds
nice and warmed up every night. And we added
something new to our set. Rhea wasn't actually
on the road with us, but she'll find out. But
we've got them nice and boozy every night as
well in the last song. So it's a lot of fun.
Cool. You also have a bunch of festival dates
this summer. You're playing a lot of pretty big
festivals from Sweden Rock to Download and a
bunch of others. And I know that followers of
my podcast are going to be at some of these shows,
specifically Sweden Rock. And I know that a few
of them tend to be at some of the UK festivals.
How different is it to see you guys on a big
stage like that at a festival as opposed to seeing
you at a club show? Well, for a start, with the
big festivals, we can go a bit more all out with
the production and we can have fire, which I'm
pretty sure we can't do with club shows, legally
anyway. But with the club shows, for me, how
it feels for me is it's a lot more intimate,
especially when there's no barrier. You know,
you've got people jumping up on stage, you've
got people stage diving. It's a lot more chaotic.
I prefer club shows for that reason. um it's
a lot more intimate with the fans and then festivals
especially open -air festivals feel a lot more
like you can kind of sit back and watch the crowd
and it doesn't feel as intimate it's not a bad
thing it's cool and it looks really cool as well
and it's nice to play outside and not be sweating
um as the clubs are just like horrendously warm
but i um i prefer the club shows okay yeah um
Are there any of these festivals that you guys
have seen from the other side where before playing
in Tailgunner, you've been at them to see other
bands and now you're kind of going to be on the
other side? i've no i've not actually been to
many festivals i'm not really i didn't really
go to much festivals at all really apart from
i've been to download once when i was younger
and i know we're playing that in june so that's
going to be really really cool to play i'm looking
forward to that one okay um you guys have after
the festival you have the rest of the year to
go so that's i mean just up until the summer
If you guys could put any tour together where
you guys could open for anyone, who would you
want to go out with? Well, we have a big tour
actually to announce for post -summer. So I'm
looking forward to getting that out into the
world. And it's definitely one of the bands on
my bucket list, one of my favorite bands. i'll
say them and you know it remains to be to be
seen by everyone who who it is that i'm talking
about but it'll be there pretty soon uh makes
sense and uh so oh okay uh you guys covered metallica's
hit the lights on a recent compilation uh how
did that come about and why that song That came
about because we played, there's a legendary
club in London called The Underworld. And we
virtually sold it out, touring the debut album.
And to do that on a debut is pretty cool. And
people really paid attention to that, including
the label that put out that Metallica compilation.
And it was really as simple as they just asked
us if we wanted to be a part of it. Wanted to
take the opening track, hit the lights. And of
course, you know, to be on an album alongside
the likes of Saxon and Diamondhead and Raven
and so many cool bands, you know, Motorhead as
well, of course. And to have the opening song,
I mean, there's no way we could say no. And I
think it's really cool that Metallica came up
worshipping the new album and British heavy metal.
And now years later, you know, here's a British
band covering Metallica and really paying it
back. And it's kind of like a full circle moment.
So it's really cool. Yeah, and it actually doesn't
stray from what you guys do either. I mean, it's
not as if you were going to throw that into your
set list that it wouldn't fit right in because
it's, as you're saying, the influences are all,
you're all drinking from the same well. Yeah.
Yeah. Cool. Where can people go to pick up the
album and ensure? that the most amount of money
goes back into the band's pockets oh from from
anywhere that they usually buy their records
really i mean obviously we're with napalm and
the distribution is great it was something really
important to us so wherever people normally get
records go feel free to pick it up from there
and yeah i'm sure as long as it gets to them
we're happy okay and where should people go to
keep up with the band On social media and, you
know, Facebook, Instagram, or if you just Google
search tail gunner, you know, thank God we're
the first result. So we're pretty easy to find.
Awesome. I appreciate your time today. Was a
lot of fun talking to you and wish you guys luck
with 2026 and tail gunner. The album does come
out February 6th. So just. thanks again for joining
me here on the show. Thank you very much. Cool.
Thank you. Have a good one. Catch you later.
Bye. And subscribe to the show on all your favorite
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