The Uriah Heep veteran Mick Box is a humorous person on and off stage. No matter when and where I met or spoke to the musician personally in the last thirty years, he always had time for shakehands and a nice anecdote or two. Even if you criticize his band, he stays cool. Meanwhile he even reacts calmly when his counterpart talks about Ken Hensley, Heep's former mastermind. After all, it's now also a pleasant experience for him when Ken - like last year in Moscow - returns to the stage with his old band for a gig. But it's even more fun for him when he thinks of the early days of hard rock pioneers.
eclipsed: The back catalogue of Uriah Heep is not reissued for the first time. What's different this time?
Mick Box: Okay, not all of these re-releases came out with our approval, and frankly, I didn't think any of those re-releases were really good. Sometimes being a fan is hard bread. I remember being happy that Jimmy Page took care of the old Zeppelin stuff again. Also the remaster versions of Purple, supervised by Roger Glover, are great and still deliver some exciting bonus shots. And similar to Zep and Purple I finally wanted to release official versions of our old albums. When BMG made us the offer, I was totally happy, and I think now our fans are finally getting re-releases that are state of the art, but don't destroy the old magic of the recording. Plus bonus pieces.
eclipsed: Speaking of bonuses, on "Very 'Eavy..." you've excavated versions that you recorded before renaming them to Uriah Heep - as Spice.
Box: It was fun to dust off the old tapes. Then all the memories came back to the time when I formed the band with David [Byron; note]. David was a great singer and someone who could wrap everyone with his charm around his finger.
eclipsed: Keyboarder Ken Hensley only joined the band during the recordings for the debut. Nevertheless, he told me that it wasn't you and David who were the sole authors of "Gypsy", but that he had written the main part of the song. In some of his solo releases he is even mentioned as the sole author.
Box: Let me put it diplomatically: Ken just has his view of things. And so his very special truths emerge.
