The only news I have is from
www.melodicrock.com and the Majestic Rock Records websitewhich I've attached below.
HEAVY PETTIN' SET TO RETURN:
Up through the ashes of an untimely split .. and after a 19 year hiatus, Majestic Rock Records are overjoyed to be able to tell the world that Heavy Pettin' - one of the handful of truly unique great British melodic hard rock acts of the 80's - are back!
Beginning with the release of a collection of previously unheard, unreleased tracks that includes the very first and the very last things the band ever recorded and then on through a limited edition box set and finally culminating with a brand new album from the band, this is monumental news for any fan of the band in particular and classic guitar driven hard rock in general.
"What can I say about this?" says Majestic Rock A&R director Geoff Gillespie. "How often do we get the chance to be a part of something this significant? Excited doesn't begin to describe the feeling
."
Of the previously unreleased Prodigal Songs collection, Pettin' guitarist Gordon Bonnar has this to say:
"After HP recorded the Big Bang, we were not happy with it, as we felt Polydor had pushed us into corner with bubble gum pop producers. We felt that only a couple of the tracks were OK, the others we did not care about. We wanted to scrap the record and start again and, to make this point; I managed to find some studio time -5 days in Marcus Studios that was already paid for but no longer needed. Kevin Maloney (who had just completed the No 1 single "Perfect" for Fairground Attraction) engineered and I produced the new tracks with the band. We recorded 3 new tunes but only completed 2; they were 'Break it down' and 'Hot Women'. With these tracks I went to Polydor with the band, put them on the table and said
"this is what we should be doing!" Polydor were not interested, so we walked out, and the band spilt a few months later. 'Hot Women' was the last track we ever recorded together
and this, in my view, is our finest moment!" If we would have been able to continue recording in this vain
. I am sure things would have turned out quite different for HP."
On hearing the Collection:
Vocalist Hamie: "The CD sounds fantastic. You know to be honest don't remember half of those songs, is that not crazy!.... Awesome .. Rock on!"
Drummer Gary Moat: "Best days of our lives!.... Rock aint Dead after all."
Guitarist Punky Mendoza: "It sounds great... lots of emotions running through me right now... Pettin' should have been huge!"
Bassist Brian Waugh: "I'm full of nostalgia at hearing these cool songs again
I'd forgot how powerful Gordon and Punky's guitar work was
Classic stuff."
You can be the judge of this when Prodigal Songs is released through Majestic Rock later this summer.
On the subject of the planned reformation album, Gordon says: "I am working on some new tunes with Gary (Moat, HP drummer), which we will spread out to Hamie, Punky and Brian and collect their tunes and ideas ASAP. To be honest, we have plenty of material .... need any killer tunes?"
That's something Heavy Pettin' were never short of. Remember, rock ain't dead
.and Heavy Pettin' are back to prove it!
Can't wait to see them myself. Saw them back in '83 supporting Kiss at the Apollo and then at the Barrowlands backing Magnum. Also bumped into Hamie and Gordon a couple of times at the old Shadows Bar and The Venue/Mayfair. Great band that should've been huge.