Battlezone

A

fter he was "asked to leave" Iron Maiden, Paul Di'Anno set out on a solo career. After playing in his own outfit Lonewolf (a name he changed to simply Di'Anno after another group using the same name complained), they recorded a self-titled debut that was bashed by the press. He took the hint and put together a new band that would become his Paul Di'Anno's Battlezone in London, England in 1985. Joining Di'Anno in this project were John Wiggins (ex-Tokyo Blade/ex-Deep Machine; guitar), John Hurley (guitar), Pete West (bass) and Bob Falck (drums).

They signed to the 'Raw Power' label and released their debut album, Fighting Back, in 1986. It featured hard and fast music in the British tradition that Di'Anno did best. The subsequent tours took them to Europe and America. But at the end of the tours Falck left to join Overkill. Hurley also decided to leave, and the replacements were Steve Hopgood (drums) and Graham Bath (guitar), both ex-of Persian Risk.

Their new label 'Powerstation' released Children Of Madness in 1987. The album was more American in style and was influenced by his Lonewolf days. It failed to impress the buying public. Not to be defeated that easily he reformed the group with Di'Anno (vocals), Graham Bath (guitar), Randy Scott (guitar), Mel Gibbons (bass) and Wayne Hewitt (drums). They would gig around but record companies were no longer interested, and they soon after split again. Di'Anno himself would trundle on with a music career. He would later appear as a guest vocalist with the re-formed Praying Mantis on a Japanese tour before forming Killers (a.k.a. Paul Di'Anno's Killers) with ex-members of Passion, Jagged Edge and Tank (namely Hopgood and Bath) and the only other relation he had with his Battlezone days was South American Assault, a live album in which he played mostly Iron Maiden songs, and four Battlezone songs.