A group dedicated to the most loyal listeners of the ON THE ROCKS podcast, which can be heard @www.blogofsound.com<http://www.blogofsound.com/>. All new episodes air every Monday night at 7 PM Eastern and are available on demand after every show launch. And having now enjoyed a two-year, 100 episode run on the internet, ON THE ROCKS pays homage to its wonderful fans.

 Praying Mantis were aired on Overloaded Radio last Friday thanks to Dave. If you missed the show, you can catch it again here.

Overloaded Radio Show Podcast – 13/08/2010

http://overloaded.podomatic.com/

I recently had an e-mail from Dean Prezley who used to be in the band “Little Bo Bitch” that Steve Carroll was also a member of.  Dean would like to get in touch with previous band members. Sadly I have currently lost touch with Steve Carroll and I can’t recall who else asked me about the band some years ago so I thought I would add this note and then I can put members back in touch with each other if they are interest

Hello – Dear friends of PRAYING MANTIS,

‘ I hope all is fine.

At the moment I have some very fine exclusive artprints on canvas of my “Sanctuary” artwork available, which had been used by the band for their latest album (which I love )…
The prints are in the sizes 70 x 70 cm or 50 x 50 cm, on Hahnemuehle art canvas, stretched on a wooden frame, ready for hanging…

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n88/RainerKalwitz/posterimages/Sanctuary_canvasprint.jpg

70 x 70 cm canvas prints, EUR 168 (signed)
50 x 50 cm canvas prints, EUR 118 (signed)

Help wanted on the following queries

Are you or do you know a past member of the band? I am always looking for people to interview. Especially people like Jon Bavin, Don Garbett and Alan Nelson.

If you can help with any information (or questions) please E-mail Jon
Hinchliffe using the address below

Do you have any reviews of Praying Mantis that are not included in my pages?

The first album refers to Lovers To The Grave being on the original
Soundhouse demos. When they were actually released though, it was “The Ripper” that was the third track. Was “Lovers” ever recorded this early or is it just the incorrect sleeve notes that keep this error repeating?

History of Praying Mantis

Last Modified On

1974

• Tino Troy formed his 1^st band with Pete Moore another guitarist.

1976

• Somewhere around here Tino persuades Chris to join the band who are
  currently called "Junction". The band at the time were playing one off gigs in
  Youth clubs.

1978

• The band now called Mantis start to get dates in Pubs.


• The Band record the 3 track demo that would eventually be released in 1980
  as "Soundhouse tapes Part 2" (Part 1 being 3 tracks by Iron Maiden). A friend
  Paul Williamson (who was Lyricist for Johnny Cool and Praying Mantis) advises
  Tino to take the Tape to DJ Neal Kay at the Soundhouse Club.


• Neal Kay is impressed with the demo and asks the band to play the club.

Rare Mantis related Songs

Since putting up this site back in 1995, my knowledge of Mantis has increased
to about 5 times it’s pre-internet size. The biggest surprise to me is the
number of unreleased tracks and recordings from the early days. Most were
covered in Demorabilia but there are still some more potential tracks

“I Surrender” – This is the song released by Rainbow written by Russ
Ballad. Mantis recorded it but Rainbow won the right to release their version

“No Mercy” was recorded with Tom Jackson on vocals but were never
released

Other Sites of potential interest

The Praying Mantis myspace page is at

http://www.myspace.com/prayingmantisrock.

For Info on Bruce Bisland’s other band check out Andy’s Scotts version of The Sweet

For Tino and Chris Troy’s band check out the Paddy Goes To Hollyhead website

Total Rock Radio is a Mantis friendly radio station

AOR LAND is a reviews based site that wishes to become an useful source of information for all the fans. The latest releases plus bios, interviews, links and more can be found inside.

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