Easter Sunday saw Metalworks celebrate the special birthday of 30 years performing around London. Many residences have been held, including The Marquee Club in Leicester Square and Camden venues such as Dingwalls, Caernarvon Castle and The Monarch. Sally Newhouse reports for MetalTalk.
The Metalworks lineup, currently residing at The Underworld, has evolved over the 30 years, always attracting and discovering new talent. Original bands often kick off the night, or band members play a themed opening set, paying tribute to an artist, band or era.
The first lineup in the early ’90s featured founder and frontman Steff Vox and Tony Parsons, who was also part of an early Iron Maiden lineup. 
In the summer of 1994 at the age of 14, a young man called Richie Faulkner joined them for a jam of Jimi Hendrix’s All Along The Watchtower at The Queens Head pub, Green Lanes, North London. Faulkner was subsequently invited to join the Metalworks lineup. Richie has since moved on to Judas Priest but will still come back to play when he is in London.
Alongside Richie on bass, Dave Rimmer was an almost permanent fixture for over 10 years. Now with Uriah Heep, Dave loves to get back on the Metalworks stage if he is in town.
Voodoo Six guitarist Matt Pearce has just clocked up 21 years on guitar with Metalworks, playing every other Sunday as his touring schedule with other bands allows.
Session guitarist George Gt Stergiou, fondly called The Shredmaster, is another current guitarist who has stalked the Metalworks stage for the last 14 years.
Other regular band members have included the late Les Binks on drums (Judas Priest) and Pete Friesen on lead guitar (Alice Cooper, Bruce Dickinson, The Almighty), drummer Russell Gilbrook (Uriah Heep) and bassist Tony Newton (KK’s Priest). There are many more, but we just do not have the room here to mention all.
Over the years, many well-known names from the rock and Heavy Metal scene have attended the night and jammed with the band, having heard of its reputation as a quality night.
These have included:
Paul Di’Anno (Iron Maiden)
Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden)
Scott Travis (Judas Priest)
Adam Ant
Cobalt Stargazer (Zodiac Mindwarp)
John Norum, John Levén and Ian Haugland from Swedish Rock band Europe
Corky Laing (Mountain)
Nico Bereciatua (Black Crowes)
Nathan James (Inglorious)
Easter Sunday, Metalworks was held at The Camden Club on Chalk Farm Road, and Sally Newhouse was there with her cameras.
The evening began with a chilled acoustic set featuring Meltem on vocals, and George Gt Stergiou on guitar. Chris Burgham jumped up on keys for a few tunes too. Songs included Hold The Line, Soldier Of Fortune and Whitesnake’s Here I Go Again. 
Steff joined George for the last acoustic song, a cover of Iron Maiden’s Strange World. At the end of the acoustic set, I turned around and realised the place had filled up while I had been taking photos and filming.
Next up plugging in were our regular RetroWorks musicians, bluesy guitarist Santiago Periotti, Max Edwards on bass and our Rocky Valentino on guitar. Chris Burgham was back on keys and taking the drum stool for the night was James Wise.
Their varied set included tunes by ZZ Top, Aerosmith, and a bit of Hendrix. Meltem joined the stage for a hot rendition of The Cult’s Fire Woman.
Before the main set with The Colonel at the helm, we surprised Steff with a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday. He was presented with a plaque from band members and followers, paying tribute to the man who started it all 30 years back.
Other gifts included a box of his favourite cheese & onion crisps from Rocky and a coffee mug printed with the Metalworks logo.
For the last hour, Steff, his main men and guests amped it up with the classic rock and Metal headbangers we know and love to hear at Metalworks. George Gt Stergiou was back on stage on guitar, alongside Tony Parsons and Steve Parsons on bass.
Guests included the Prime Mover himself, Cobalt Stargazer (Zodiac Mindwarp And The Love Reaction) for some AC/DC, Andy Vozza (Elyn), Matt Young (Hekz) and Onur Sinan Togrul.
A big surprise for all was the return of singer Luca Ravasio from Greece after five years. Luca was a big part of Sunday nights back in The Monarch days. He instantly got the crowd going with a Deep Purple number.
Our regular guitarist Matt Pearce joined the finale alongside George and Tony for Zep’s Rock And Roll, a Metalworks favourite.
Many say Metalworks is addictive – once you have been, you just have to go back for more. That is certainly true for me. It is a great place to network and befriend fellow musicians and lovers of all types of rock, Metal and blues.
Long time Metalworker Pedro Andrada Ramirez wrote this in the Facebook group after Sunday’s event:
“‘I was at the first ever Metalworks gig in 1995-6 at the Red Eye in Copenhagen Street not far from King Cross Station. We used to go there to see Extreme Metal bands every Sunday and then we see this thing announcing Metalworks playing there doing covers of Maiden, Thin Lizzy, UFO, AC/DC, Judas Priest…
“From there, we followed them everywhere in London, The Standard in Black Horse Road, Queens Head, The Marquee, till the band established residences in Camden at Caernarvon Castle, followed by others.
“It has been a pleasure to see them almost every Sunday for so many years. Thank you to Steff for all these happy times.”
Metalworks next evening is a celebration of the life of Les Binks, Judas Priest and Metalworks drummer. This will be held at The Underworld on Sunday, 27 April 2025, from 7 pm. Entry is free.
