Lawrence Paterson


Larry Paterson is a musician and author, best known as the drummer for Blaze Bayley during and British heavy metal band I.C.O.N.

Biography

Early life

Lawrence 'Larry' Paterson was born in Matamata, New Zealand, in 1967. By the age of 15 he had taken up the drums, influenced by the sounds of classic hard rock and heavy metal made by bands such as Motörhead, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and AC/DC. Several bands in New Zealand followed until by 1988 Paterson relocated to the United Kingdom.

Moved to United Kingdom

Once there he again found himself in several bands of different calibre and levels of achievement. In 1992 he was drumming with thrashers Arbitrater, who released two albums while touring with the likes of Xentrix and Acid Reign, before calling it a day in 1995. He completed a short stint with British Power metal band Shadowkeep in 2004.

Work with Cozy Powell

For a period of time Paterson helped out Cozy Powell's drum tech Eddie Naughton during the writing and recording of the Black Sabbath 'Forbidden' album. Striking up a friendship with one of his all time drum heroes left an indelible impression on Paterson who was devastated when he heard of Cozy's death in 1998. Cozy had had a profound influence of Paterson's playing style and attitude to both music in general and metal in particular and he now has possession of two of Cozy's Yamaha drum kits that he occasionally uses on stage. Cozy had even put Paterson forward as a possible replacement in the Peter Green Splinter Group, but ultimately he was unsuccessful.

Book authoring

Paterson has also written twelve books about a different kind of Heavy Metal. Since 2000 he has written non-fiction histories of Germany's Second World War U-boat service, inspired largely by his lifelong interest in the Second World War and working as a Scuba diving instructor, diving the wartime wrecks off France. During this period he also managed to severely break his elbow while falling off rollerblades. The doctors told him that even after a full recovery he would never straighten his arm again. This turned out to be incorrect and after weeks of lifting weights his arm was virtually as good as new.

Chokehold

More recently Paterson was the prime mover in Chokehold, who also released three albums. The first, 'The Killing Has Begun', was handled by Casket Records during 2006 while the second, 'The Sweet Sense of Genocide', and third, 'Eight Days in May' have become successful independent releases. Coupled with this Chokehold released a promotional video for the track Faith of Fear which featured on Scuzz and MTV.
The band appeared on Channel 4 as part of the Harvey Goldsmith series, featuring on the episode that revolved around the fortunes of British metal veterans Saxon. Impressed with Chokehold's performance, Saxon immediately offered them the opening slot on their UK 'Inner Sanctum' tour that took place in May 2007. However, despite some success during and after this tour, including the offer of a deal from Germany's Armageddon Records, Paterson decided that he had done as much as he could with Chokehold and moved on.

Blaze Bayley

This time he stepped up a gear by auditioning for Blaze Bayley, finally offered the full-time position after a London Clive Aid show on 28 October 2007. Blaze Bayley hit the road for remainder of 2007 before retreating to write material for their first album under the Blaze Bayley label.
The new Blaze Bayley album, entitled 'The Man Who Would Not Die' was finally released on 7 July 2008. The tours that followed included shows in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Croatia, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Brazil, Poland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy and Greece.
In 2009 the double live album and DVD 'The Night That Will Not Die' was released, the following year the band's second album 'Promise And Terror' also emerging. However, shortly after this, in May 2010, Paterson departed the band due to personal and professional differences with some of the other members.
In the meantime Paterson authored a book on the Blaze Bayley band's history entitled 'At The End of the Day', published in 2009, an updated reprint following in October 2010.

Iron Knights, Raven Lord and I.C.O.N

Paterson rotated through various bands including Iron Knights, Asomvel and Raven Lord before settling into Lancashire based band I.C.O.N.

Gear and endorsements

Paterson endorses the following equipment:
Mapex Drums and hardware; Wincent Drumsticks; Paiste cymbals; Aquarian Drumheads; Duallist Pedals; Hardcase cases; Carlsbro; Dreadmeister custom drum and bike parts.
Drums: Mapex Saturn series:
Heads: Aquarian:
Sticks: Wincent:
Cymbals: Paiste:
Current setup:
Cymbals circa 2014: