After Adrian’s departure from Iron Maiden in 1990, he eventually formed a new band called The Untouchables, which he described in this way: “I was fronting it, but there was another guitarist, and bass and drums…It was like, sort of ZZ Top meets Bryan Adams kind of thing, you know. Songs with a little bit of balls, you know.”
Some initial recording sessions were done in 1991 with former Whitesnake bassist Neil Murray and drummer Fabio Del Rio (from Bruce’s Tattooed Millionaire line-up) that produced four songs said to be similar to A.S.A.P. in feel:
- So Much Love
- Judgement Day
- Break These Chains
- Singin’ The Blues
…but none of these were officially released (though “Judgement Day” and “Singin’ The Blues” were carried forward), and a band was formed with an initial line-up including:
- Adrian Smith (guitar, vocals)
- Huey Lucas (guitar)
- Jamie Stewart (bass)
- Bob Richards (drums)
This group apparently recorded an entire album’s worth of demos and at least one promo video for the track “City Of Dreams”:
There’s also a live recording floating around on YouTube featuring “Judgement Day”, “Singin’ The Blues”, and a song called “Big Trouble”, plus some interview segments. By this time it looks like Jamie Stewart and Bob Richards are out and Gary Liedeman (bass) and Mike Sturgis (drums) are in:
Adrian talks about how they’re playing “Wasted Years”, “Hooks In You”, and “Back In The Village” on the tour alongside his solo work, though the recording doesn’t feature any of these. There is a bootleg video of them playing “Wasted Years”, though:
Eventually Huey Lucas left the band, and Adrian recruited the Norwegian singer Solli, changing musical direction a bit and turning the group into the first version of Psycho Motel.
I’d really like to hear that album’s worth of demos based on the strength of what’s here. Maybe someday…?