INTERVIEW WITH

coming live setlist changes: “It’s going to be a major change,” he declares, “probably one of the bigger ones that we’ve ever done. Seven songs out and seven songs in and that will start after the Hard Rock Hell show, when we will have two full days rehearsing the new set. There’s quite a few shows this year, and we have to start to introduce the new songs with the new album coming out.”

There is a tremendous amount of positive goodwill for the Tygers Of Pan Tang, and this was in evidence as the rock fraternity loudly hailed their recent single release Edge Of The World. With its heavy melodic rock sound, and the Tygers’ trademark guitar harmonies and knuckle busting riff whetting the hard rock palate for what can be expected on their upcoming Bloodlines album, Robb reveals his thoughts on this new music: “We’ve always had a pretty good guitar sound, but the new album has outdone everything people were saying about the last album, Ritual, it’s going to be hard to top that but I seriously believe that we have.”

Robb likens the Tygers Of Pan Tang discography to that of building a stairway! Insomuch as every new album and EP - such as last year’s A New Heartbeat four song (two new, two re-recorded classics) release - is a step up from the previous and builds upon the TOPT’s remarkable legacy. With the recording process being executed remotely by each band member, it was left to the production genius of metal maestro Tue Madsen (Meshuggah) to piece together the multiple stems of music delivered by each band member. During our zoom conversation, hilariously punctuated by his pet parrot mimicking a car alarm, it’s patently clear the high regard Robb Weir has for the remarkable results Madsen has produced: “He’s been producing for a long time and has a fantastic studio; very state of the art in Denmark. He has done work for more extreme bands than the Tygers and he was recommended to us by our record company, Mighty Music, because they’re Danish as well,” remarks Robb in his unmistakeable North East accent as he continues: “I think it was probably a little bit of a challenge