First Strike - Love's on Fire (ft. Mick White, Billy Kulke, Dee Dowling, Dave Anderson)

Опубликовано 5 июня 2020, 19:34

Towards the end of 1988 ex Samson vocalist and ex Jagged Edge bass player Billy Kulke decided to put a band together.

Recruiting talented guitarist Dee Dowling and extrovert drummer Dave Anderson in of January 1989 First Strike was born.
The band very quickly went into the studio to record their first demo with Fastway vocalist Lea Hart producing.
Three songs were recorded 'Nasty', 'Always on my Mind' and 'Dangerzone' which showcased the songwriting partnership of Mick and Gav as well as starting to define the sound that First Strike were looking for.
A video was shot for 'Nasty' and was aired on the Power Hour to much acclaim.

They did some brilliant support slots at the Marquee with Saraya, Midnight Blue and Giant (who they supported throughout the whole UK tour). They also did some dates with Uriah Heep as well as supporting Shy at The Astoria and Slaughter at The Hippodrome.
First Strike started headlining their own shows at The Marquee to very respectable crowds and the buzz around the band really started to gain momentum.
Manager, Dave Shack secured the band a production deal which meant the next studio recordings at J.A.M. studios really took things to another level especially as the studio in Finsbury Park in North London had been used for the Bon Jovi – Born to be my Baby video.
After touring all year as a four piece the band were tight and slick and had a lot of confidence.
They also had the benefit of road testing all the material and everyone agreed that Girls of the World was a hit single in the making so that was recorded alongside Down and Dirty which was a ballsy hard rocker co-written by Mick and Billy that was a massive live favourite. The third song recorded was the power ballad Hold Tight written by Mick and featuring Dee on the piano and synth as well as all the guitars.
The band decided that any venue good enough for a Bon Jovi video was good enough for First Strike so everything was filmed during the recording sessions and finished off with some live footage at the Marquee.
This became the Girls of the World video which was again featured on the Power Hour this time with an interview with Mick and Billy and included a re run of the Nasty video also.

The band decided to have another try adding a further guitarist and on the recommendation of Lea Hart Dave Senczak was recruited in September 1990 The band went into Maida Vale studios early in 1991 to record four further tracks:
Love's on Fire, Nasty, Just Another Night and Long Way From Home with this line up which were produced by Mick & Billy.
THis line up also recorded a live video.

With the onset of Grunge in the early nineties the band started to fragment.
In 2019 Mick and Dee remastered all the First Strike tracks for a release on Steelheart Records as part of the 'Lost UK Jewels Collection'. ‘First Strike - Just Another Night’ features twelve tracks recorded in 1989-1991,.
#FirstStrike #LovesonFire #MickWhite #BillyKulke #DeeDowling #DaveAnderson