UFO's & Rock - An interview with Scottish rock band CEIV
Philip Mantle
December 13, 2008
In 2007 I obtained an interview with American UFO rock band Element 115. I met one of the band members in Roswell in at the 60th anniversary events where they were playing live. But long before there was Element 115 there was the British equivalent and that being CEIV from Scotland. I must admit I´ve had the pleasure of sharing the stage with CEIV and seen them playing live. So, not to be out done by the Americans I recently caught up with Brian McMullen (senior), the founder of CEIV.
PM: Brian, when did you first become interested in UFO´s ?
BM: I´m sure my first interest in the possibility that alien life exists dates back to the TV Sci- Fi weekly ´Quatermass and the Pit´. I was about eight or nine years old and most of the time I was hiding behind the couch. The storyline was believable and the music extremely scary. I must have guessed then how important music was in creating an atmosphere for a particular film.
I was always interested in astronomy from an early age and soon got to know about the constellations and where to find them in the night sky. Over the years I got used to viewing various aircraft, satellites, etc and more recently, spotting the space lab/station. I fully understood the abundance and pollution of man made objects in the night sky but nevertheless still noted that there were strange objects up there performing even stranger manoeuvres. During the early 70s I began to hunt the night sky for these objects and admittedly lost a bit of interest in astronomy itself. I began to take note of newspaper reports on UFOs and I read a couple of books on the subject. I was wondering if others were seeing what I was seeing and I was surprised to learn that many were viewing similar objects and these sightings were worldwide.
I became even more convinced when hearing of a report of an incident in the grounds of a local hospital. Two witnesses viewed a craft above the hospital theatres and movement on the ground nearby. More details regarding this case will be made available on our website soon. That winter I became very interested in the possibility of the existence of UFOs and the realisation that they were not just small objects in the distant night sky. I was now hooked on the probability that these objects were a reality and were on the Earth.
PM: Not only are you interested in UFO´s but I believe you´ve also had your own sighting, could you tell us a bit more about that ?
BM: Our big sighting was definitely July 1985. It was a warm summer evening and we were leaving a band member´s house. We had phoned a taxi and as it would take a half hour or so, we decided to do a bit of sky watching in his back garden.
The sighting began with a small fuzzy amber coloured ball, not much brighter than a normal star, nevertheless it was very obvious. Three of us watched as the amber ball got bigger and closer to our position. We were at a high point in the north of Glasgow and could view the city lights and main buildings below us to the south. The fuzzy ball was now becoming a distinct saucer shape. It was getting lower as it passed over us heading south across the city. We used binoculars as we traced its flight. "Unbelievable", "fabulous", "fantastic" were some of the words I could hear in the background. The motion was slow skipping as it moved along its trajectory; we could see the underside then the topside. This must have lasted 20 to 30 seconds. The amber colour was beautiful and reminded me of a hot poker cooling as it is pulled from a fire. Another band member said he thought it was transparent. We traced its path as far as we could and later estimated that it would have been close to the ground near the Fenwick Moor, about 20 miles south of Glasgow.
The hours and hours we had spent sky watching had paid off at last, strangely enough while simply waiting for a taxi. We will never forget this sighting. The binoculars had taken us within metres of this unmistakable, unforgettable object. The full story of this experience will be posted on our website soon.
PM: So when was CEIV formed ?
BM: C E IV was formed in the cold winter months of 83/84.
In the late 70s and early 80s I would watch the night skies as often as possible. My son Brian would join me and became interested in astronomy and also the strange objects that appeared from time to time. In 1983 Brian jnr joined the school band choosing the drums as his instrument. He enjoyed this, took it quite serious and soon became proficient.
During the autumn of 83, my nephew and a friend of his wanted to start a rock band. He played the bass and his friend played keyboards. Since I had been in a band in the 60s they asked could I help out. I thought this funny as the age difference was quite a bit, but they convinced me I should join. I agreed but would only help out on practice nights. I soon realised it was handy being older than them as I could ´sign the papers´ for council officials to allow us to use an old school for practice. They agreed we could use the gym hall but the sound was terrible so we got to know the two watchmen and via a bottle of ´Grouse´ we ended up in the headmaster´s room, radiators, carpets the lot. Brian jnr had an old suitcase full of drum parts (a snare drum, hi-hats, etc), the suitcase itself being used as the bass drum. Everyone had a basic understanding of their instrument and we were soon belting out some cover versions of songs by The Stranglers and Gary Numan.
My nephew was also into the UFO mystery and on practice nights we would often discuss cases. We all agreed we should attempt to write our own songs and I think ´Starship Scrapyard´ was the first around winter 83. Eventually we got five songs of our own and two cover versions. Interest was high for the UFO subject within the band and our songs began to reflect this. The band name would be C E IV after Alan Hynek´s categorisation of UFO incidents. New equipment was purchased and the set was polished up at pro rehearsal studios. They convinced me to stay in the band and we got our first gig at the ´Star Rock Club´ Glasgow in June 84. We completed four gigs in Glasgow before heading to Warminster for a week´s holiday in September of that year, all due of course to the contents of Arthur´s book ´UFO Magic in Motion´.
The skies were clear most of the time and we put in quite a bit of sky watching. We stayed at ´The Old Cheese House´ cottage in Upton Lovell and played the odd game of darts in the local. It was well worth the visit.
PM: Are all your songs UFO inspired or UFO related ?
BM: Apart from ´The Witch´ all of the songs are related in some way to UFOs. They are written with particular cases and witnesses´ experiences in mind. We meet now and again with various witnesses and get a real feel for what they are saying. On one occasion a top record company manager told us ´If we did something other than that UFO stuff we might get somewhere´! The man obviously didn´t know us. It didn´t warrant a reply. We love the mystery of UFOs, meeting the witnesses, sky watching, attending conferences and best of all relating it all through our music.
PM: What has been the reaction to your music from the UFO community ?
BM: We have received a good reaction from some of the world´s top UFO researchers and many have become close friends with the band and their families. We got some great reviews over the years from within the UFO fraternity. I think anyone who knows us realises we are serious and it´s simply our way of highlighting this fantastic subject. We have some great memories meeting up at conferences and visiting our friends within Ufology. It´s usually during these visits that we also get to meet speakers on close terms and this opens up a whole new world for us. I will take this opportunity to say thanks on behalf of all here at C E IV, to all the researchers worldwide who understand what we are all about and especially during our early years a special thanks to Jenny Randles, Malcolm Robinson and of course yourself Phil.
PM: What has been the reaction from other musicians to your music ?
BM: We have lots of friends who are musicians. We got to know some of them when we had our own rehearsal studio in Glasgow; others are old friends from back in the beginning, or bands we performed alongside at various venues. Although not necessarily into UFOs they certainly appreciate what we are doing and enjoy the music. When we perform in the Glasgow area you will see them in the crowd. We attend their gigs when possible. One or two have made it to the top and all the best to them!
PM: Are any of your songs based on specific UFO events ?
BM: Most of the songs we write are based on events within Ufology. Some are obvious like ´Warminster Night´ others are written through influences like ´Without Consent´ after reading the book by Carl Nagaitis and Philip Mantle. Another example would be ´They Don´t Believe You´ - this was aimed at the true witness who finds it difficult to be taken seriously. ´C E IV´ is more or less talking about what we are doing and ´New Gods´ is hitting at a possible reason why we are being visited by extraterrestrials.
MIB Men´ speaks for itself and ´Down on the Outside´ is you and me and all who are bewitched by the UFO mystery.
PM: A question I´m sure you´ve been asked before but do you have a favourite out of all of those you´ve written ?
BM: It´s a tough question. A quick answer would have to be ´Small Town´.
I enjoyed doing the lyrics for this one, like a 50s Sci-Fi movie in song, if you see what I mean!
PM: Do CEIV have any new material in the pipeline ?
BM: We have loads of new material; it usually lies dormant scribbled in notebooks etc. Ideas are always coming in and sometimes we roughly record what we would consider ´interesting´. I write via the guitar and Brian jnr prefers using the keyboard, we share the lyrics. Problem is with us not being fully professional we have to put the band on the back burner now and then. ´Gabriel´s View´ is an example of this. The storyline is fantastic and was born out of a visit to NW Scotland. Arrangements and recording have started though and we are happy with results. Sorry to our fans for the delay but I´m positive this will be well worth the wait. We are critical of our work and more so with this one!
PM: Is there any chance of seeing CEIV performing live again ?
BM: Performing live is where the buzz is, any band will tell you this. Just recently we have had a new lease of life. This came about due to me logging all the bands material collected over the years, travels, letters, fan mail, photographs, etc. Even Gabriel and Brutus (alien mannequins) are getting a dust down. Brian jnr is working at the new website and in between we are both pushing the recording of ´Gabriel´s View´ but performing live is always on our minds.
The Glasgow gig scene is quite good right now but the venues tend to be quite small with some pushing for folk and acoustic nights. The medium to large rock venues would obviously be more suitable for a C E IV performance as we have a fair amount of equipment and prefer a bigger stage, plus of course Gabriel and Brutus take up room as they help with the visuals promoting what we are all about! And of course the fans love them! We have agreed though that spring 09 sounds about right. Various leaflets are also handed out at our gigs and are another way of promoting interest in Ufology. We have performed at various UFO conferences over the years and will be happy to continue to do so!
PM: If anyone is interested in getting hold of copies of your CD´s how can they do that ?
BM: To purchase any of our music visit our website at:
www.ceiv.co.uk – where you can also have a listen. All our material is available to buy on CD, or as high quality MP3 digital downloads through a secure PayPal ordering facility. Alternatively, contact us by e-mail for other ordering and payment methods.
Thanks Phil and all the best from CEIV.
END OF INTERVIEW
If you are looking for something a little different for a UFO conference then I would recommend CEIV to keep your guests entertained in the evening. However, if you are into UFOs and rock music then CEIV might just be right up your street. There 3 CD´s Abduction, Visions and One Dream are all excellent and are quite unique I can assure you. Why not give them a try ? CONTACT CEIV AT: www.ceiv.co.uk
PM: Brian, when did you first become interested in UFO´s ?
BM: I´m sure my first interest in the possibility that alien life exists dates back to the TV Sci- Fi weekly ´Quatermass and the Pit´. I was about eight or nine years old and most of the time I was hiding behind the couch. The storyline was believable and the music extremely scary. I must have guessed then how important music was in creating an atmosphere for a particular film.
I was always interested in astronomy from an early age and soon got to know about the constellations and where to find them in the night sky. Over the years I got used to viewing various aircraft, satellites, etc and more recently, spotting the space lab/station. I fully understood the abundance and pollution of man made objects in the night sky but nevertheless still noted that there were strange objects up there performing even stranger manoeuvres. During the early 70s I began to hunt the night sky for these objects and admittedly lost a bit of interest in astronomy itself. I began to take note of newspaper reports on UFOs and I read a couple of books on the subject. I was wondering if others were seeing what I was seeing and I was surprised to learn that many were viewing similar objects and these sightings were worldwide.
I became even more convinced when hearing of a report of an incident in the grounds of a local hospital. Two witnesses viewed a craft above the hospital theatres and movement on the ground nearby. More details regarding this case will be made available on our website soon. That winter I became very interested in the possibility of the existence of UFOs and the realisation that they were not just small objects in the distant night sky. I was now hooked on the probability that these objects were a reality and were on the Earth.
PM: Not only are you interested in UFO´s but I believe you´ve also had your own sighting, could you tell us a bit more about that ?
BM: Our big sighting was definitely July 1985. It was a warm summer evening and we were leaving a band member´s house. We had phoned a taxi and as it would take a half hour or so, we decided to do a bit of sky watching in his back garden.
The sighting began with a small fuzzy amber coloured ball, not much brighter than a normal star, nevertheless it was very obvious. Three of us watched as the amber ball got bigger and closer to our position. We were at a high point in the north of Glasgow and could view the city lights and main buildings below us to the south. The fuzzy ball was now becoming a distinct saucer shape. It was getting lower as it passed over us heading south across the city. We used binoculars as we traced its flight. "Unbelievable", "fabulous", "fantastic" were some of the words I could hear in the background. The motion was slow skipping as it moved along its trajectory; we could see the underside then the topside. This must have lasted 20 to 30 seconds. The amber colour was beautiful and reminded me of a hot poker cooling as it is pulled from a fire. Another band member said he thought it was transparent. We traced its path as far as we could and later estimated that it would have been close to the ground near the Fenwick Moor, about 20 miles south of Glasgow.
The hours and hours we had spent sky watching had paid off at last, strangely enough while simply waiting for a taxi. We will never forget this sighting. The binoculars had taken us within metres of this unmistakable, unforgettable object. The full story of this experience will be posted on our website soon.
PM: So when was CEIV formed ?
BM: C E IV was formed in the cold winter months of 83/84.
In the late 70s and early 80s I would watch the night skies as often as possible. My son Brian would join me and became interested in astronomy and also the strange objects that appeared from time to time. In 1983 Brian jnr joined the school band choosing the drums as his instrument. He enjoyed this, took it quite serious and soon became proficient.
During the autumn of 83, my nephew and a friend of his wanted to start a rock band. He played the bass and his friend played keyboards. Since I had been in a band in the 60s they asked could I help out. I thought this funny as the age difference was quite a bit, but they convinced me I should join. I agreed but would only help out on practice nights. I soon realised it was handy being older than them as I could ´sign the papers´ for council officials to allow us to use an old school for practice. They agreed we could use the gym hall but the sound was terrible so we got to know the two watchmen and via a bottle of ´Grouse´ we ended up in the headmaster´s room, radiators, carpets the lot. Brian jnr had an old suitcase full of drum parts (a snare drum, hi-hats, etc), the suitcase itself being used as the bass drum. Everyone had a basic understanding of their instrument and we were soon belting out some cover versions of songs by The Stranglers and Gary Numan.
My nephew was also into the UFO mystery and on practice nights we would often discuss cases. We all agreed we should attempt to write our own songs and I think ´Starship Scrapyard´ was the first around winter 83. Eventually we got five songs of our own and two cover versions. Interest was high for the UFO subject within the band and our songs began to reflect this. The band name would be C E IV after Alan Hynek´s categorisation of UFO incidents. New equipment was purchased and the set was polished up at pro rehearsal studios. They convinced me to stay in the band and we got our first gig at the ´Star Rock Club´ Glasgow in June 84. We completed four gigs in Glasgow before heading to Warminster for a week´s holiday in September of that year, all due of course to the contents of Arthur´s book ´UFO Magic in Motion´.
The skies were clear most of the time and we put in quite a bit of sky watching. We stayed at ´The Old Cheese House´ cottage in Upton Lovell and played the odd game of darts in the local. It was well worth the visit.
PM: Are all your songs UFO inspired or UFO related ?
BM: Apart from ´The Witch´ all of the songs are related in some way to UFOs. They are written with particular cases and witnesses´ experiences in mind. We meet now and again with various witnesses and get a real feel for what they are saying. On one occasion a top record company manager told us ´If we did something other than that UFO stuff we might get somewhere´! The man obviously didn´t know us. It didn´t warrant a reply. We love the mystery of UFOs, meeting the witnesses, sky watching, attending conferences and best of all relating it all through our music.
PM: What has been the reaction to your music from the UFO community ?
BM: We have received a good reaction from some of the world´s top UFO researchers and many have become close friends with the band and their families. We got some great reviews over the years from within the UFO fraternity. I think anyone who knows us realises we are serious and it´s simply our way of highlighting this fantastic subject. We have some great memories meeting up at conferences and visiting our friends within Ufology. It´s usually during these visits that we also get to meet speakers on close terms and this opens up a whole new world for us. I will take this opportunity to say thanks on behalf of all here at C E IV, to all the researchers worldwide who understand what we are all about and especially during our early years a special thanks to Jenny Randles, Malcolm Robinson and of course yourself Phil.
PM: What has been the reaction from other musicians to your music ?
BM: We have lots of friends who are musicians. We got to know some of them when we had our own rehearsal studio in Glasgow; others are old friends from back in the beginning, or bands we performed alongside at various venues. Although not necessarily into UFOs they certainly appreciate what we are doing and enjoy the music. When we perform in the Glasgow area you will see them in the crowd. We attend their gigs when possible. One or two have made it to the top and all the best to them!
PM: Are any of your songs based on specific UFO events ?
BM: Most of the songs we write are based on events within Ufology. Some are obvious like ´Warminster Night´ others are written through influences like ´Without Consent´ after reading the book by Carl Nagaitis and Philip Mantle. Another example would be ´They Don´t Believe You´ - this was aimed at the true witness who finds it difficult to be taken seriously. ´C E IV´ is more or less talking about what we are doing and ´New Gods´ is hitting at a possible reason why we are being visited by extraterrestrials.
MIB Men´ speaks for itself and ´Down on the Outside´ is you and me and all who are bewitched by the UFO mystery.
PM: A question I´m sure you´ve been asked before but do you have a favourite out of all of those you´ve written ?
BM: It´s a tough question. A quick answer would have to be ´Small Town´.
I enjoyed doing the lyrics for this one, like a 50s Sci-Fi movie in song, if you see what I mean!
PM: Do CEIV have any new material in the pipeline ?
BM: We have loads of new material; it usually lies dormant scribbled in notebooks etc. Ideas are always coming in and sometimes we roughly record what we would consider ´interesting´. I write via the guitar and Brian jnr prefers using the keyboard, we share the lyrics. Problem is with us not being fully professional we have to put the band on the back burner now and then. ´Gabriel´s View´ is an example of this. The storyline is fantastic and was born out of a visit to NW Scotland. Arrangements and recording have started though and we are happy with results. Sorry to our fans for the delay but I´m positive this will be well worth the wait. We are critical of our work and more so with this one!
PM: Is there any chance of seeing CEIV performing live again ?
BM: Performing live is where the buzz is, any band will tell you this. Just recently we have had a new lease of life. This came about due to me logging all the bands material collected over the years, travels, letters, fan mail, photographs, etc. Even Gabriel and Brutus (alien mannequins) are getting a dust down. Brian jnr is working at the new website and in between we are both pushing the recording of ´Gabriel´s View´ but performing live is always on our minds.
The Glasgow gig scene is quite good right now but the venues tend to be quite small with some pushing for folk and acoustic nights. The medium to large rock venues would obviously be more suitable for a C E IV performance as we have a fair amount of equipment and prefer a bigger stage, plus of course Gabriel and Brutus take up room as they help with the visuals promoting what we are all about! And of course the fans love them! We have agreed though that spring 09 sounds about right. Various leaflets are also handed out at our gigs and are another way of promoting interest in Ufology. We have performed at various UFO conferences over the years and will be happy to continue to do so!
PM: If anyone is interested in getting hold of copies of your CD´s how can they do that ?
BM: To purchase any of our music visit our website at:
www.ceiv.co.uk – where you can also have a listen. All our material is available to buy on CD, or as high quality MP3 digital downloads through a secure PayPal ordering facility. Alternatively, contact us by e-mail for other ordering and payment methods.
Thanks Phil and all the best from CEIV.
END OF INTERVIEW
If you are looking for something a little different for a UFO conference then I would recommend CEIV to keep your guests entertained in the evening. However, if you are into UFOs and rock music then CEIV might just be right up your street. There 3 CD´s Abduction, Visions and One Dream are all excellent and are quite unique I can assure you. Why not give them a try ? CONTACT CEIV AT: www.ceiv.co.uk