TITAN

Chapter One.

My name is Steve Hayes, and I’m going to give you all, my best version of the memories I have of (“THE TITAN STORY”) So here we go then…

In 1978, Steve Hayes and Steve Scott met for the first time after Steve Hayes answered an advertisement for a rhythm guitarist, ((wanted to join a drummer and lead guitarist)) to form a rock band. Steve Scott was the drummer and Kelly Hewson was the lead guitarist. Kelly was already an accomplished lead guitarist who was a great guitarist and a big Jimi Hendrix fan. Steve Scott was a big KISS fan and a great young drummer who wanted me in his band simply because I had very long hair and I could play guitar, but I had only been playing my guitar for 6 months and was only a very average guitarist who had never been in a band before, but I did have a lot of original music and songs with lyrics that I could play for my new band mates.

Now someone correct me if I’m wrong, but when I was 16-17 years old, the lead guitarist in an Adelaide band called “THE DUKES” showed me how to play bar chords. I used to go to watch “THE DUKES” practice at the drummer Tommy’s place. He had a great band room at his parent’s house, and they sounded awesome. The guitarist who showed me how to play bar chords, his name was Bruno, and I can’t thank him enough for teaching me how to play bar chords, because he had opened up a very massive musical learning process for me and I just grew from that.

Anyway, when I met Steve and Kelly, I was new to this band scene, so Kelly taught me how to play a few songs, and then we got a bass guitarist named Peter Mallious, who finished our band instrumentally. One day I said “Let’s go and practice at my Mums place” and we set our gear up in my Mums kitchen. Hahahaha, we were playing and my brother Mark came home and said “I know this song, do you mind if I sing it with you” and we said “sure why not” so Mark Hayes became our singer. So our band became “NO TACTICS”.

We began to play a lot of shows around the Adelaide circuit for a couple of years until Steve Hayes and Steve Scott decided to break free of “NO TACTICS” and form their own hard rock band, and this became a great stepping stone for the development of “BLACKHAWK”, who later auditioned and hired bassist Grant Thiele in about 1979. Grant became the band’s bassist from that point onwards.

In 1980, Steve Hayes, Steve Scott and Grant Thiele were ready to audition a singer, and we put an Advertisement in the music section of “The Advertiser” and “The News” BAND LOOKING FOR A VERSATILE SINGER, SO…. I had convinced his best friend, and childhood best mate Craig Pfeiler, to audition as the lead guitarist for “BLACKHAWK”. Craig was unsure whether he could do it, but I knew he was going to be better than just good. Craig finally agreed and he was pretty bloody good, so we started auditioning singers. We settled on a guy named Peter Marsella, who as a singer was only average, but later on he did become an excellent bassist and played with some of Adelaide’s best known musicians.

NOW, when Peter Marsella left, we started to advertise again for a serious Vocalist. We were looking for a singer, then better still, we scored a “VOCALIST” and his name was Mick Petruzelli. We asked Mick “Do you know PARANOID, by BLACK SABBATH” and Mick said “Well, let’s give it a shot” then we proceeded to play “Paranoid” and Mick began to sing… “Finished with my woman, cause she couldn’t help me, with my mind” and the moment Mick started to sing, Steve, Grant and I, LOOKED AT EACH OTHER AND WE KNEW “WE’VE GOT OURSELVES A VOCALIST” and after we played the song I said to Mick “Well, you’ve got the Gig mate” and Mick was unsure and said “Well, you guys should think about it overnight” and I just laughed and said again “WELL, YOU HAVE GOT THE GIG, IF YOU WANT IT MATE” but Mick didn’t realise how fucking GOOD he was at his craft.

I remember thinking that HE HAD THE BEST VOICE I HAD EVER HEARD IN ADELAIDE. But Mick had brought one of his friends along for moral support, and his name was BILL LUCIANI. In fact, one and a half years later, BILL LUCIANI was to replace our drummer, Steve Scott, when he left the band and joined another band. Bill Luciani became the perfect fit for “BLACKHAWK”. So, that was the point in the band’s history that we all decided that we needed to change the name of our band because “BLACKHAWK” was the name that Steve Scott had come up with, and while he wasn’t in the band anymore we thought it was fitting that we should change the name. After many hours of naming and describing our music, I came up with the name “TITAN” and so we started to get known as “TITAN”.

END OF CHAPTER ONE…

I need to thank all TITAN fans for listening to my music and for supporting my songs over the past 14-15 years on N1M. Titan subscribers have been amazing over the years and I can’t thank you all enough for your messages and comments about the music I created since 1978. Keep listening and never give up on your dreams of becoming the people who make a difference in this crazy world and at this critical time in human history, Steve Hayes (Titan)…

Hi Titan fans,
I’m showing you the earliest Titan show I can find, and it’s from December 1983, with our original lead guitarist, Craig Pfeiler. He taught himself how to play lead guitar, and he had a very high link, he was a genius. I myself took a 5 year break from playing guitar and taught myself how to play drums. Within 6 months I started a Heavy Rock band with “Titan” bassist Grant Thiele and incredibly talented musician and lead guitarist Paul Kaiser, and as a 3 piece band we pumped out some amazing Rock Songs. Then, in the year of 1990 I switched back to playing guitar to restart TITAN and our next lead guitarist became a young man named Ward Purcell, who was a fantastic lead guitarist, but was nowhere close to the skills, speed and technical abilities of Paul Kaiser. But, Craig Pfeiler was the most original and the BEST I have ever played with, he was a phenomenal guitarist for his time. Steve Hayes, (Titan)

YouTube

I found the only Titan gig with the original lineup. Craig on lead guitar, in December 1983, just before we left Adelaide for Sydney. We lost the front wash of lights, but you can still see my earlier songs. Steve Hayes (Titan) YouTube

Thanks to all Listeners of My Music, I'm very Grateful. Steve Hayes (Titan)

Thanks to all the great Titan fans of the world. Turn it UP, PLAY IT LOUD…

TITAN, is an Original guitar driven band who played from 1980 - 2009. Titan songs were written by Steve Hayes, who had been influenced by music from bands like Masters Apprentices in the late 1960’s through to AC/DC, Scorpions, Aerosmith, Bad Company, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and so many more Classic Hard Rock Bands through to the 1990’s. TITAN music will definitely Rock You, and send chills throughout your body and mind. Listen now and TURN IT UP... Steve Hayes ;-)