For an utterly ludicrous Samson Special!
Yes, Samson! The band formerly known as “that band that Bruce Bruce was in before he shaved off his silly moustache, gained a surname and joined Iron Maiden”. TBTBBWIBHSOHSMGASAJIM for short.
Of course, they existed before the advent of Bruce Bruce, when Paul Samson took care of the vocals, alongside long time bass player Chris Aylmer and future Iron Maiden drummer, Clive Burr. So it seems only fair to start at the beginning with ‘Mr Rock’n'Roll, which featured Gillan bass monsta, John McCoy. (and yes, I know it was their 2nd single). Pedants;

MP3 one – Samson – Mr Rock n Roll
Their first album, “Survivors”, came out in 1979, by which time notorious drummer Barry Graham was in the ranks. He was better known as Thunderstick, replete with rapists mask, which actually made him look more like Kendo Nagasaki than anything else. Bruce Bruce still hadn’t arrived, although later pressings of the album had his vocals added. WHo cares when it contained that most awesome of tunes, ‘I Wish I Was the Saddle of a Schoolgirl’s Bike’.

MP3 two – Samson – I Wish I Was the Saddle of a Schoolgirl’s Bike
By this time, they were hitting the heady heights of;
Northampton MFN Club July 3
Wolverhampton College of Further Education 5
Scarborough Taboo 7
Blackburn St. Georges Hall 8
Portsmouth Locarno 10
London Marquee 11
West Runton Pavilion 12
Bristol Granary 14
Yeovil Johnson Hall 15
Wakefield Unit Hall 16
Blackpool Norbreck Castle 17
Middlesbrough Rock Garden 18
Peterlee Festival 19
Arbroath Condor Club 20
Aberdeen Music Hall 21
Inverness Caledonian Hotel 23
Edinburgh Nite Club 24 (me! me! I was there)
Hull Wellington Club 28
And soon it was time for another record. “Head On” it was. And frankly, it was rubbish. No-one could be surprised at Bruce Bruce jumping ship, when they were coming out with pants like ‘Too Close To Rock’;

MP3 three – Samson – Too Close To Rock
Strange to say, with Bruce Bruce gone to Iron Maiden and Thunderstick off to a solo career (no, don’t laugh, go here, Samson somehow, miraculously, became a bit good! The addition of fat fella Nicky Moore on vocals and future Simple Mind Mel Gaynor made “Before The Storm” a great, great record.

MP3 four – Samson – Life On The Run
Samson soldiered on with assorted lineups and a few hiccups here and there until Paul Samson’s death from cancer on August 9, 2002. Bass player Chris Aylmer later died on January 9th 2007, also from cancer.
Finally, here’s a bonus track for you.

MP3 five – Samson – Losing My Grip 12″
There stuff is stupidly out of print, although you can get an anthology of the non Bruce Bruce stuff from Amazon. Buy it here.
However, if you really want a laugh, check out the Bruce Dickinson DVD anthology which includes the classic 15 minute short, “Biceps of Steel”, which I remember seeing in the Friday music night slot at the local mucky cinema, The Classic, when it toured as support to “Breaking Glass”. We left before Hazel O’Connor appeared. You can get it for under a fiver at here.
And as yet another treat, here’s the Russ Ballard original of ‘Riding With The Angels’!



























