AIRFORCE – Interview with Chop Pitman (guitarist)

AIRFORCE is a British heavy-metal band, which dates back to 1987, and which has some connections with IRON MAIDEN, and what connections (?) … Read for yourself.

Hello! The beginnings of the band date back to 1987. That’s a really long time. I must admit that only recently did I know about your existence, at the occasion of the announcement of your concert at Radio Lublin in Poland, which took place in March this year…

Yes, Airforce has existed in various incarnations since 1987, with 3 of the original founding members now back in place: myself (Chop Pitman), Doug Sampson on drums and Tony Hatton on bass.

The concert in Poland, in Lublin is behind you. How are your feelings? As far as I know, people liked you very much…

We loved playing for the Polish people and we were very well-recieved. It was a great crowd and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We are really looking forward to playing in Poland again.

On the second day you also were in the Old Town of Lublin in a pub to meet with fans…

It was a great opportunity to meet with our fans in an informal setting, spend a bit of time with them and sign some autographs. We always love meeting new fans…they are the reason that we do what we do.

Who brought you to Poland at all?

This was all down to a meeting with Marcin Puszka so we owe all of this to him and of course to Radio Lublin for believing in us.

In addition, you have just returned from a tour of the USA. How was it? Tired?

Our tour of the USA was really successful; it was tiring but we had a great time travelling from state to state and meeting our loyal fans. We really enjoyed it. We also met a few promoters and radio stations, so it looks like a 2020 tour is in the works.

Or maybe now you are full of enthusiasm to work on your new album? I’m asking because You have only one full album in your discography.

We are well on the way to finishing our next album and are busy recording new tracks in-between our touring commitments. The promotors of the show in Poland did a great job for us – we are very pleased with the outcome and will be working alongside Radio Lublin for a possible release. For this we are now in talks with record companies to get things moving, so we are open to offers.

It seems that military themes dominate your inspirations. Especially military aviation…

I have personally had a strong interest in military aviation since I was very young, which may be the reason why the band is called Airforce. A lot of our lyrics do revolve around military themes; we feel it is important to honour those who have put their lives on the line fighting for their country and people. We do have a couple of ballads up our sleeves, though…

Did you hear about No. 303 Squadron RAF – one of 16 Polish squadrons in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. It was the highest scoring of the Hurricane squadrons during the Battle of Britain?

Yes, we know of the heroism and skill of the Polish pilots of Hurricane Squadron 303. They played a vital role in seeing off the Luftwaffe at the Battle of Britain. It’s a very important piece of history and is an example of the strong ties between Poland and Great Britain. I also dedicated the track ‘Finest Hour’ to all the Polish pilots in WW2.

During all these years of existence of AIRFORCE has made many personal changes. What is the current line-up of the band? Who is the current singer who sang in Lublin? Many people were delighted with him…

The current line-up is:
Chop Pitman – guitar & backing vocals
Doug Sampson – drums
Tony Hatton – bass
Ivan Giannini and Flavio Lino – vocals

Since both of our vocalists are based abroad, we have to work around their commitments when deciding who will sing at which shows with us. Flavio Lino was with us in Lublin, and Ivan Giannini was with us during our recent tour of the USA.

Of course, the band’s showcase also is the drummer Doug Sampson, who played in IRON MAIDEN (at the beginning of the band’s existence)… This fact probably attracts potential listeners…

Doug was with Iron Maiden from 1977 – 1979 and was on the legendary „Soundhouse Tapes” which was Iron Maiden’s debut EP. Naturally, fans of Iron Maiden are curious about us and they love the fact that Doug is still out there playing.

In turn, for example Paul Di’Anno (also known for his participation in IRON MAIDEN among others) lent his voice to the single from 2019 – “Sniper”. Is this just a one-time cooperation?

Paul Di’anno is a personal friend of the band. We asked him to provide guest vocals on the track ‘Sniper’ and he did a great job.

Paul Mario Day, who was the very first vocalist for Iron Maiden, was over in the UK recently doing a meet and greet so we decided to record a track with him, too. We released that track (‘Band of Brothers’) alongside ‘Sniper’ as a double-A side single.

Di’anno and Day are both very welcome to record with us again. In fact, Paul Di’anno has been in touch and spoken to us about doing another track, which would be a great honour for us.

And do you have any relations with current musicians of IRON MAIDEN?

We are still good friends with them. We meet up with Steve at times for a chat as we did when we played on the same bill as them at the Hills of Rock Festival in Bulgaria last summer; Steve harris invited us back to his hotel for a few beers and a chat. He also allowed us use of his recording studio, The Barn, for the track we did with Paul Mario Day.

What is your opinion for the current condition of Heavy Metal in the world?

We are pleased that heavy metal is still going strong and that there is a revival of the new wave of heavy metal which we think is fantastic. There is always a demand for live, heavy music across the world and we will always be there to fulfil that demand.

Thanks for the interview! Traditionally, I leave the end of the interview for the team…

We are grateful for the hospitality we got from the Polish people and we definitely want to return there as soon as we can.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!