Blitzkrieg

Background

Blitzkrieg formed in October 1980 in Leicester when Brian Ross joined Split Image, a local group led by guitarist Jim Sirotto. The quintet also included bassist Steve English, drummer Steve Abbey, and guitarist Ian Jones.

Sirotto taught physics and assembled Blue Demon with singer Sarah Aldwinckle, English, and Abbey from a school band he assisted. The quartet played in March 1979 at Beaumont Leys School in Leicester, then adopted the name Horizon. They recorded five songs in September 1979 at Leicester Recording Studios under the name Split Image. Sirotto sought a male singer and a second guitarist as he developed heavier songs.

Split Image supported the British metal group Diamond Head on March 7, 1980, at Queen’s Hall, Leicester University. Jones joined the stage lineup on May 30 at the Fosseway Hotel in Leicester for the first all-original Split Image set. He came from Axe Victim, a Leicester group he formed with bassist Mick Moore. Jones developed “Bitch” with Moore from a misplayed rendition of “Hocus Pocus,” the instrumental by Dutch group Focus; Blitzkrieg subsequently retitled the piece “Blitzkrieg.”

Ross sang around 1972 at Wingate Youth Club in County Durham and later fronted the northeastern group Anvil. Manager Jez Gilman found Ross with English in October 1980 to replace Aldwinckle. Blitzkrieg recorded “Blitzkrieg,” “Inferno,” and “Armageddon” on November 15 and 16 at Humbucker Studios in Leicester for a three-song demo.

Neat Records owner David Wood invited Blitzkrieg to a two-day session in February 1981 at Impulse Studios in Wallsend with producer Mick Sweeney. The group paid for the recordings, and Neat issued “Buried Alive” in May 1981 (b/w “Blitzkrieg”). The label also included a studio version of “Inferno” on the compilation Lead Weight.

Gilman recruited Moore in 1981 when English left for London. Moore made his first Blitzkrieg appearance at a support show for the French group Trust at the Newcastle Mayfair; the band issued a tape of the performance as the cassette Blitzed Alive. In June 1981, guitar roadie John Antcliffe replaced Jones. Sirotto prepared reel-to-reel demos that the musicians learned on acoustic guitars, then rehearsed with electric instruments. Blitzkrieg taped further material in August 1981 at a converted stable on Hinckley Road and Q Studios in Queniborough. Sirotto chose to concentrate on his teaching post, and the group disbanded on December 17, 1981, after a final show in Tonypandy, Wales.

Ross returned to Newcastle and recruited Moore for Unter den Linden, a quartet with guitarist Malcolm Midwood and drummer Gary Young. Midwood rejected a second guitarist, and Ross formed Avenger in 1982 with Moore and Young. Avenger recorded “Too Wild to Tame,” the intended second Blitzkrieg single, for Neat. Ross joined the Newcastle metal group Satan in 1983 and sang on Court in the Act. He also sang with the northeastern group Lone Wolf on the 1984 Neat EP Nobody’s Move.

Ross initially planned a solo album in 1984 to answer letters about the unreleased Blitzkrieg material. He adopted the Blitzkrieg name when the music press reported a reunion. Moore joined the sessions with Satan drummer Sean Taylor and guitarist Mick Procter, a former member of Tygers of Pan Tang. Sirotto added guitar solos in December 1984 at Impulse Studios in Wallsend for the planned Neat debut A Time of Changes.