Marseille

Marseille were a British heavy metal band from Liverpool, England, formed in 1976 by Neil Buchanan, Andy Charters and Keith Knowles. Marseille were the first band to win the "UK Battle of the Bands" competition at Wembley Arena in 1977. Marseille were the first new wave of British heavy metal band to secure a major recording contract and to tour in the United States, as well as the first NWOBHM band to release an album there. History Marseille was formed in Liverpool, England in early 1976. Original members were Paul Dale (vocals), Neil Buchanan (lead guitar), Andy Charters (second guitar), Keith Knowles (drums) and Steve Dinwoodie (bass). The band was originally called AC/DC, during the time that the Australian rock band of the same name was gaining success in the UK, forcing the band to change their name in mid-1976 to "Marseille". Marseille won the first ever "UK Battle of the Bands" with the finals judged by Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen at Wembley Arena on October 31, 1977. This led the band to secure a five-year recording contract with Mountain Records in late 1977, and the band released their debut album, Red, White and Slightly Blue in 1978, which included the songs "The French Way" and "Can Can". Marseille became the first new wave of British heavy metal to play at a big festival in Europe: the Bilzen Festival in Belgium, supporting American rock band Cheap Trick. Marseille gathered a small fan base while promoting their first album as support for other groups such as Judas Priest, Nazareth, Whitesnake and UFO. Keith Knowles stated: "I was the drummer on all albums and an original member of Marseille. We took the name because 'Marseille' was a French rough seaport like Liverpool and to be honest we were struggling to rename ourselves as we were originally called AC/DC but had to change for obvious reasons. All tracks on this album were recorded 'live' so what you hear is not manufactured in any way. We all have great memories of touring with UFO who were absolutely brilliant with us and made sure we had sound-checks every night. Phil Mogg and Pete Way were like a double act and such great blokes... to stand in the wings listening to Schenker's lead break on Love to Love will live with me forever... and what a nice person he was." Their debut album contained very raunchy lyrics but suffered somewhat from lack of promotion and limitation of release.