Welsh five piece Celtic Pride certainly seem to be doing things right, having been championed by the one and only Tony Iommi on previous album ‘Warzone’ and now having Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith as a special guest on new album ‘Light Up The Sky’. I recently caught up with founding member and lead guitarist Don Williams to find out how things stand in the Celtic Pride camp right now.

 

Don, cheers for taking time out to talk with us today. First of all could you tell us who’s in the band and how did you guys originally come together?

 

We have Bob Richards on drums / backing vocals. Dominic Hill on bass. Justin Matthews lead vocals. My brother Rob Williams on rhythm guitar / backing vocals and myself on lead guitar / backing vocals. We’ve been together as this line up for around two years but the band has been together a lot longer just with different line ups. Rob and myself being the original members.

 

With a name like Celtic Pride you’re clearly proud of your roots and heritage. Do you feel that reflects in your music at all?

 

It doesn’t really reflect in our music too much. Apart from a section in our title track where maybe there is like a drum beat that you could say has a Celtic feel, we’re all very proud of it.

 

So which bands/artists would you cite as the main influences on both the attitude and musical style of Celtic Pride?

 

The lads all have that classic rock influence from AC/DC, Rainbow, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Led Zep and loads more. Basically 70s – 80s influences.

 

You’ve built up a strong fan base over the years you’ve been together. What would you say are some of the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome to get the band where you are today?

 

We worked really hard over the years. A lot around Wales but also Bristol, Swindon, Oxford and London to build up a strong following. A lot of those fans have stayed with us, either coming to the gigs or showing their support via the media sites. It’s getting harder out there to get our music played live due to a lot of places closing down so it’s a challenge to keep getting gigs but we keep rocking whatever happens, we’re really proud of our latest CD.

 

 

What about the recording of ‘Light Up The Sky’. Where did that take place and how was the experience?

 

We recorded it at Stir Studios in Cardiff with Paul Durrant and Nick Palmer at the helm. We had a great time there, we got a lot of work done in a short space of time. We can’t wait to get in the studio to record our next CD.

 

You have a special guest on the album by the name of Adrian Smith. How did you go about getting Adrian involved?

 

Bob Richards was in his band, The Untouchables, in the early 90s and remained in contact. It was a real honour to have a rock God on ‘The Patriot’.

 

Could you talk us through a couple of your favourite tracks on the album?

 

For me it’s the title track, ‘Light Up The Sky’. There’s a lot of different parts going on in that song. It was also the first song we wrote and it’s a real favourite with the band and crowd live. Also ‘Shine On The World’ has got a great chorus to it. I suppose you could call it a bit of a rock ballad.

 

You touch on a few different styles throughout the album. The thumping Sabbath-esque ‘Light Up The Sky’ title track to the almost Southern groove of something like ‘Bar Room Brawl’. I’m wondering how the writing within the band comes together. Do you have established writing partnerships between certain members or is it more of a group effort when you’re all together?

 

We all have our input between the five of us. When writing our songs if I come up with a few riffs I just email them to the band and we keep our ideas going back and forth until we meet up for a rehearsal to tighten them up. Then we go out and play them live so it’s very much a band writing team for us. It works well.

 

You’ve already made a video for the title track but what other plans do you have to back up the release of ‘Light Up The Sky’?

 

Louise James did a great job for us with the video putting together our live concert and our live footage in the studio. It was all kept all natural, what you see is what you get with us, very raw. We are going to be making another video soon, we haven’t decided which song yet but I’m sure it will be out soon. Other than that we just keep pushing our CD at our gigs and on the internet and hopefully we’ll get signed soon.

 

You’ve picked up a few famous fans along the way. Most notably Tony Iommi who championed previous album ‘Warzone’ on his Planet Rock radio show. I’m sure moments like that rank highly in the Celtic Pride history books but above all else what would you say has been your proudest achievement with the band so far?

 

That was great from Tony, only wish I had a recording of that show. What an honour that was, and being left handed like myself, that’s hard to beat. Back to our new CD having Adrian Smith on it is amazing but overall it’s our ‘Light Up The Sky’ CD I’m most proud of. A great bunch of musicians and friends I’m privileged to work with and long may it continue in the name of rock n roll.

 

What is the most valuable lesson that you have learned so far in your time together that you think sharing would help young bands just starting out?

 

Stay true and believe in what you are playing. Rock music is here forever, there’s always fans out there who will support you throught thick and thin so enjoy it.

 

And finally. We love gig from Hell tales here at Uber Rock, do you have any that you have either done or witnessed that you could share with us? Painful, hilarious or just outright embarrassing?

 

Oh God, I can’t remember half of what’s gone on but one springs to mind. Many moons ago we lent our van to a band so we all pile in to go and see them somewhere in the valleys. The van door was falling off on the way home so Ken, our drummer at the time, was trying to keep it shut from the inside. We came to a roundabout and all of a sudden there was Ken and half the other bands drum kit in the middle of the road. Luckily the road was quiet at that time of night. We all rushed to see him, sitting in the middle of the road, with blood streaming out of his head, smoking a fag and asking for a can of Strongbow and all he said to the other drummer was “Your drums are ruined, I told you to put cases on them!” That’s a painful and hilarious story for all Uber Rock fans.

Thanks for talking the time to talk to Uber Rock today and best of luck with ‘Light Up The Sky’.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/CelticPrideRocks

 

To pick up your copy of ‘Light Up The Sky’ – CLICK HERE