12

Before I leave the subject of ex band members it might well be as good a time as any to add that Brian Cobbold or Mark Elliott could still have a major part to play in the final chapter of Pagan Altar.

Throughout their existence Pagan Altar were gigging on a regular basis and played all the notable ‘Heavy’ Venues in and around London. They always felt that they were heading in the right direction and that something would materialise at some stage. Needless to say, it never did. At least not at the time of asking!

Extra cash was earned by hiring their studio and P.A. system at prices other bands could afford and this allowed the band to make all-round improvements and upgrade equipment over and above their general running costs.
I mention this only because the band considered that to seriously compete with other bands that had an influx of real money you had to look, and more importantly sound, comparable. In the majority of small and medium sized Venues there is usually no inhouse P.A. so the options are, to use your own or hire, and this can create something of a financial burden to the relatively smaller bands.
Most people watching and listening to bands play never take into account the quality of the sound system or sound engineer and consequently judge the band by what they hear. If either of these critical factors is deficient it reflects on the band and tends to put them in a poor light.
Pagan altar had no intention of leaving this to chance and everything was geared to improve the sound at every opportunity. They did however have an ace card in the shape of sound engineer Phil Hearne, a friend of the band, but I shall come back to him later.

Even with the constant round of playing and self-promotion they couldn’t seem to break the shackles of limited acknowledgement. Reviews in the national music press were limited to a few lines and usually detrimental. This resulted in a few skirmishes with the music press and a stinking article followed that probably did the band no good at all. From this point on they were totally ignored and with no real way of responding the only option was to carry on under their own steam.
Pagan Altar continued to persevere and progress in terms of searching for stage and musical perfection of a music they believed in, and the visual stage aspect that accompanied it. To them it was the complete article.