Jamie Mallender

Early life

Jamie was born James Andrew Mallender on 2 February 1972 to a musical family playing many instruments . Influenced in early childhood by bands like Queen, The Beatles, Adam and the Ants, Michael Jackson, The Carpenters and lots of 70's glam rock such as T-Rex, Sweet, Slade, Mud, David Bowie etc.. When Jamie turned 14, he witnessed Queen live in concert known well as "Wembley 86." This was the turning point. "That's when I knew what I wanted to do. I just had to be in a band. My whole life changed right there. Football was out, rock music was in, and I started saving to buy an instrument. It didn't matter what, I'd have played anything!" Jamie's 1st instrument was a Hondo Les Paul copy which he wired into his stereo and began learning songs by Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Changing schools at 16, Jamie made new friends and met some budding musicians whom he formed a band with. The band already had a guitarist, so Jamie joined as a singer and rhythm player. The band played songs by Yngwie J Malmsteen, Rainbow, Dio, Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne. They also wrote several of their own songs and recorded a 3 track tape. The band became known as Aviator, but split up after their 1st gig. During rehearsals with Aviator, Jamie had his first taste of playing bass guitar. At one rehearsal, the bass player couldn't make it, but his equipment was there so Jamie switched from guitar to bass. Whilst Jamie is a proficient guitarist and does play a number of instruments, it is the bass guitar that he has concentrated on and is best known for. A number of different original bands followed featuring Jamie on bass guitar. Faith of Merchants being a notable one, being very popular on their home ground of Sheffield and Chesterfield. Jamie left Faith of Merchants when grunge happened and moved on to playing the UK's working men's clubs, cabaret venues, weddings, parties and holiday camps with anyone that was hiring. For 10 years, Jamie was nothing more than a local musician with a day job who played in cover bands for extra money. But his professionalism and dedication shone through, and in 2002 he was asked to join a signed band called Bailey's Comet. Bailey's Comet featured Dez Bailey, one half of the Bailey Brothers who were former presenters of Headbangers Ball on MTV and successful rock journalists and radio show hosts. The band also featured Tony Martin, the former Black Sabbath singer and 2 ex-members of Saxon – Nigel Durham and Fasker Johnson . Jamie Mallender then replaced Fasker Johnson.

Tony Martin Band

Bailey's Comet toured the UK in 2002, headlined a rock festival in Belgium and played The Gods Festival in Bradford with Hardline, Honeymoon Suite, Jeff Scott Soto, Ten, Bob Catley, Eric Martin and others. The band was short lived, but 2 years later Jamie and Danny Needham joined The Tony Martin Band and toured in support of Tony's 2005 release on MTM Records "Scream."

Tony Martin Band Tour

The first incarnation of The Tony Martin Band featured:-

Commencing in 2005, The Tony Martin Band played many gigs and undertook numerous short tours across Europe and the Eastern Block, having particular success in Russia. However, the initial success of these tours was marred by the collapse of MTM Records, leaving the band with no record company support and no further copies of "Scream" printed. The band did continue to perform live though, shifting the focus of the live set from Scream to more Black Sabbath material and 2 tracks from Martin's 2nd album with Empire were brought into the set to coincide with Martin replacing Fabio Cerrone with Empire's Rolf Munkes on lead guitar in November 2006. The band continued to tour perform live with this line-up until 2010 when Joe Harford left to pursue a different career and Rolf handled guitar duties alone. Then in 2012, Tony Martin announced that he would be performing just 1 gig that year, with a brand new line-up. Jamie Mallender and Rolf Munkes were dropped in favour of Magnus Rosen and Dario Mollo.

Raven Lord

Jamie joined Raven Lord in August 2011. He performs on the debut album Descent to the Underworld. On 15 April 2013, Jamie made a VLOG to make it clear to fans that he had decided to leave the band purely for creative reasons and that there was no bad feeling towards the band. He also announced plans to record new solo material and form new musical alliances. On 18 April 2013 it was announced that Jamie Mallender was replaced by Craig Gruber for the bassist's position.

Instruments

Mallender endorses Fret-King Basses and Guitars, Vintage Basses and Guitars, Danelectro Foot Pedals, Hartke Amplification, Snark Tuners and Rotosound Strings. Jamie plays Black Label Perception 4 and 5 string basses by Fret King.

2000s

2010s