THEY may be close to picking up their pensions but British legends Uriah Heep are still rocking hard.
While their heydays alongside 70s stars Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple may be a distant memory, the heavy rockers, who have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, have no intention of hanging up their guitars and are set for a UK tour, including a gig at the Holmfirth Picturedrome.
Speaking from his home in Kent, keyboardist Phil Lanzon, said the band was very much looking forward to some domestic gigs after spending a lot of time promoting their latest album overseas.
The tour has seen them lapping the world with multiple visits to countries in Europe and America along with appearances in Australia, Russia and Scandinavia.
Phil joked: “We haven’t played this much in England for quite a long time, it’s going to be kind of strange, like playing in a foreign country.
“We’ve had a seriously busy year up to now, we’re in the middle of a world tour which ends in England, promoting the new album and it’s going really well.
“We’ve been promoting all over the place and having very little time at home.”
Having released three albums in the last four years Phil said the writing process for their 2011 album Into The Wild had gone well.
He said: “We had a lot of material that I’d written over the years and stockpiled. Me and (lead guitarist) Mick (Box) got together and knocked up a few new ones and I put my stuff with it and we started working on those two elements together.
“While we were recording we did come up with two or three brand new ones as we had too much of one element and not enough of another and we needed some more rocky stuff.
“There was a little bit of pressure but sometimes things work out really well under pressure.”
Phil said their loyal fanbase had taken to the new stuff really quickly.
He added: “We’ve had some seriously good comments and reviews and all the shows we’ve been to a lot of people have been singing the lyrics of the new ones, which is encouraging, we’re obviously on the right track here.”
With such positive reviews and plans for a busy 2012, Phil said they hoped they would be appearing at lots of UK festivals next summer and would keep rocking for many years to come.
“The ball’s rolling and there’s no point stopping it.
“If there’s a problem and one day we don’t have fans anymore then it’s time to quit.
“But as long as they’re out there banging their heads and screaming out the lyrics of the songs there’s reason to tour, to work and to keep at it, and to make another album.”
Uriah Heep play The Picturedrome on Friday, December 2. Web: www.picturedrome.net
