Tygers of Pan Tang

Whitley Bay

The Tygers of Pan Tang formed in Whitley Bay in 1978, one of the bands of the new wave of British heavy metal, and took their name from the fictional archipelago of Pan Tang in Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone books. The founders were Robb Weir on guitar, Richard Rocky Laws on bass, Jess Cox on vocals and Brian Big Dick on drums. They began in working men's clubs and signed to the local independent Neat Records and then MCA. Wild Cat (July 1980, produced by Chris Tsangarides at Morgan Studios) reached 18 in the UK, and John Sykes joined as a second guitarist while Cox, after falling out with the others, was replaced by Jon Deverill. Goldmine called Wild Cat an early biker-metal classic.

Spellbound came out in April 1981, followed by Crazy Nights that year, after which Sykes left to audition for Ozzy Osbourne and later joined Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake and Blue Murder. The Cage (1982) followed a dispute with MCA over pressure to record cover versions after "Love Potion No. 9", and the band broke up. Deverill and Dick re-formed it for The Wreck-Age (1985, Music for Nations) and Burning in the Shade (1987, Zebra); Weir restarted the name in 2000 as the sole original member. Later albums include Mystical (2001), Animal Instinct (2008, the first with Jacopo Meille on vocals), Ambush (2012), Ritual (2019) and Bloodlines (2023). The box The MCA Years (December 19, 2016) gathered the four MCA albums and a BBC disc.