Andy “Greg” Gregson
Guitar
My early memories of music were early-70s glam rock bands, especially Sweet and Slade, followed by classic rock bands such as Deep Purple and Black Sabbath in the mid-70s and then onto harder rock bands such as Judas Priest, UFO, Scorpions and Thin Lizzy towards the end of the 70s.
I started playing guitar at 15 years of age and formed an original and covers rock band called Nazgul in 1981 with schoolmates in Lytham, UK that reached the final of the National TSB Rock School competition, which sadly we didn’t win. After leaving school we formed another original and covers rock band called Meanstreak and recorded a 3-track tape titled ‘Taster’ featuring original songs.
In 1990 Andy Saxon-Lamb, who originally played bass in Meanstreak, asked if I wanted to play guitar with him in a new metal band he was putting together, and Slander was formed. My initial involvement with Slander lasted two years during which time we recorded 8-original tracks that were packaged into a cassette titled ‘Initial Penetration’, and then included in the original 1991 version of the ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives’ album.
For the next 27 years I became a home-player as work and family took priority until 2018 when Andy Saxon-Lamb asked if I would like to join Slander on stage at a local gig to play some of the songs from the original recordings, and the buzz instantly returned. I was now ready to get back to gigging and played with two cover bands for the next couple of years until Andy contacted me again in 2021, once Slander had been invited to play the Keep It True festival in Germany, and asked whether I’d like to be involved in the next incarnation of the band. After a 30-year hiatus, I had no hesitation in agreeing to re-join my old guitar partner and over the next couple of months the rest of the band were recruited. We started rehearsing in summer 2021 in readiness for the festival which due to the pandemic has now been rescheduled to April 2023.
Post-pandemic, Slander started gigging and 2023 is already shaping up well with work of a third album already underway and further gigs planned. I can’t wait for audiences to see this new and exciting version of a long-standing band with a cracking back catalogue of power metal that we are all eager to show off once again.
Steve “Whitty” Whittington
Vocals
Whitty is ex-Captain Horizon frontman from Birmingham, UK who has been performing in bands for over 25 years. Starting out playing covers in the mid-90s he went on to co-found Brummie alternative bands, Final Redemption and, most notably, Captain Horizon. Releasing two full-length albums and numerous EPs from 2009 to 2018.
Looking forward to making new noise with Slander; he is ready to show his range and bring NWOBHM to the masses.
Jamie Brandon
Bass
Jamie Brandon is a bass player from Lancaster, UK. Jamie has played both guitar (badly) and bass in live bands for the last 20 years, playing throughout the UK and Europe on various tours and festivals. He is self-taught and takes most interest in traditional Heavy Metal music, currently playing in Slander (bass – since 2021), Eliminator (bass – since 2010). Jamie has also worked in gig promotion and tour management off and on for most of his musical career, which focussed on bringing USA bands to the UK for tours.
Jamie collects and plays rare and old MIJ basses – on the current rotation is an Ibanez Iceman ICB300, a Tune TXJ-4 and an Ibanez Roadstar II RB760 all equipped with Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky strings. For amplification Jamie uses an Aguilar Tonehammer 500 and a EBS Proline 2000 cabinet, he only has one pedal – a Boss TU-3 Tuner.
Andy Saxon-Lamb
Guitar
Andy started playing guitar at 7 years old after his grandfather made him a hand-made acoustic. Andy started formal lessons at the age of 10 with Mike Harvey in St. Annes, UK (who had played with Roy Harper, Jimmy Page, and other artists over the years). At 16 Andy joined Meanstreak as the bassist where he met Andy Gregson and they formed a life-long friendship. After Meanstreak disbanded, Andy went on to play with a Punk / Rock / Alternative cross over band called The Buggs for several years, where he learned a great deal about different styles.
In 1990 he co-founded Slander with Steve Slater & Andy Gregson. In 1993 after the first line up of Slander disbanded, Andy studied at the GIT in London where he attended many classes featuring some of the best guitarists in the UK / World during that period. In 2008, Andy reformed Slander and they he continued with them for a decade. In 2018, Andy played with Chemikill for a handful of gigs, then in 2020 left Chemikill to form a new Slander line up with his old friend Andy Gregson. Andy has recorded, written, and appeared on several recordings over the years. His main catalogue of work has been with Slander.
Andy plays in the main his trademark Gibson Explorer, but also likes his small collection of Jackson guitars. Andy has featured in many magazine articles and was recently asked to give a testimonial for an International Radio Rock Show. When not writing or gigging, Andy likes to spend time with his family, motorcycling & taking his 4 dogs out to play.
Will Brotherhood
Drums
Will got into Rock/Metal aged around 12 when his uncle bought him an 8-track cassette player from a car boot sale, this included a box load of cassettes ranging from ABBA to Elvis but also one very influential album; Deep Purples “Who Do We Think We Are” which he played to death and says “without this who knows how different my life might be!”.
After finding the local library hired out albums on cassette, he discovered (along with others); Judas Priest’s “Screaming for Vengeance”, Iron Maiden’s “Powerslave” and Metallica’s “Master of Puppets”, subsequently then searched their back catalogues, started listening to Tommy Vance’s Friday night Rock Show and that was it, totally hooked! Around then the same uncle bought him his first drum kit, an old Premier Olympic and the school band INTRUDER were formed.
Later influenced by the 80’s scene with the likes of Dokken, Queensryche, Skid Row, Helloween, Ozzy, Ratt, etc, he started attending many live gigs (first proper concert Def Leppard in 1987 this was only because Tesla were touring their first album “Mechanical Resonance” in support) and all the Monsters of Rock festivals thereafter.
Band wise next came SUNSET ROSE (very Dokken meets White Lion) before a hiatus for few years due to personal reasons, on return a couple of years later Will purchased a new kit and played with several bands including NASTY CATZ (yes with a Z), RONNIES BULLET, DISCIPLES OF SIN and ICEFIRE.
Will plays – DW Drums and Zildjian Cymbals and puts his main influences as; Tommy Aldridge, Randy Castillo and Mike Portnoy and favourites as; Chinese food, Alter Bridge, Beer, Chunky Riffs, Dream Theater, Metal and Drums.
