Newcastle hard rockers Tygers of Pan Tang took their name from the Michael Moorcock novel Stormbringer. As part of the new wave of British heavy metal they signed to MCA. After three albums, guitarist John Sykes abruptly walked out. Following their biggest hit, a cover version of Love Potion No 9 reached Number 45 in March 1982, MCA insisted they release more cover versions as singles. Their fourth album, the AOR soft metal The Cage, proved to be their last. Where are they now, asks Kay Gelfman from New York? Richard "Rocky" Laws (bass): "Music is the best thing that any person can aspire to, but there comes a point where you have to draw the line and realise where you'll get with it. The band was pretty good in some respects but things happened so quickly, we didn't have time to develop the songwriting, and you need more radio-friendly stuff to take things further. I realised that things had run their course and I had better start on the path to something else." A Tygers lawyer had suggested that Laws would make a good lawyer "so I did A levels -1 was 27 - then university and law school, the whole nine yards. Five years total. But I worked pretty hard, having already done the 'misspent youth' bit." Because of his past. Laws thought he'd be accepted by firms with links to the music industry "so I wrote off to all of them, got accepted by Compton Carr, did my articles, and stayed another five years". He's now a partner at London firm Statham Gill Davies, representing independent labels (Warp, Gee Street, One Little Indian) and artists (The Auteurs' Luke Haines) - "the artier end of the business". Unsurprisingly, he doesn't miss band life. "I'm still working in the industry, where I have contact with musicians and go to gigs. It's almost ideal." Robb Weir (guitar): Post-Tygers, he returned to jewellery, "which I'd trained at before the band" and started a business with two friends. "It worked well for five years, then we went our separate ways." He next tried his hand at being a bus driver: "I was married with a baby, and needed the security. I didn't think more about it." After five years, he became an inspector on Newcastle's local rapid transport, the Metro. "That was OK too, again safe and secure. I was there seven years." Eventually he sought to work from home "to spend more time together as a family. My wife and I are now carers For people with learning disabilities. It's more satisfying and a reasonable living." Weir still has his guitars. "I sit in my workshop and twiddle away. I've written lots of songs and I'd like to record them. Who knows, you might have a grandad rock album." When a German promoter asked the Tygers to reform, only Weir and the band's original singer Jess Cox were interested. "We rounded up some others, and played a festival in Hamburg last month. We needed half a dozen rehearsals though." John Sykes (guitar): Sykes vanished at 2am one morning to audition for Ozzy Osboume's band. He didn't get the gig but ended up recording a solo single for Mercury, and got Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott to sing on it. Lynott responded by inviting Sykes to join Thin Lizzy, and he played on the 1983 album. Thunder & Lightning. Sykes, Lynott and Lizzy drummer Brian Downey played shows under the alias The Three Musketeers before Lizzy wound down and Sykes was snapped up by David Coverdale to join Whitesnake. The band recorded the Slide It In and 1987 albums before Coverdale sacked everyone. "The only reason I can imagine is that he wanted more control of things, certainly in the financial department" is how Sykes interpreted the situation. He restarted a solo career, signing to Geffen, and Mercury Japan, releasing solo albums Nothin' But Trouble, 20th Century, Loveland, Please Don't Leave Me, Out Of My Tree and Chapter One: The Best Of John Sykes, with a new album already recorded: "there's a bit of a hip hop feel on some of it alongside heavy guitars, so it's kind of interesting". A live version of Thin Lizzy including Sykes, Downey and guitarist Scott Gorham re-formed in 1994. "We're like a group of old veterans, we tell a few lies and have a few laughs, and we can pay our respects to Phil too." They still tour today. Jon Deverill (vocals): replaced Jess Cox (who formed Lionheart with ex-Iron Maiden member Dennis Stratton, and eventually worked for Neat Records, where he reissued the Tygers albums) after the Tygers' 1980 album Wild Cat. After The Cage, "things started sliding. We had problems with MCA and management. Don't get me wrong, it was great, but I didn't want to spend my life singing in a rock band. We agreed we'd had our fifteen minutes." Having always wanted to act - "before getting sidetracked by the band" - Deverill did three years at the Welsh College Of Music & Drama. "I've been acting for the last ten years, everything From panto to Shakespeare. I'm currently in Run For Your Wife in Bournemouth, playing the reporter and understudying the lead part. Ninety-nine per cent of my work has been in theatre, and one lives in hope for TV and film work, but I love live performance." Deverill's been recording with Sykes's replacement in the Tygers, Fred Purser. "It's been a really slow process, fitting in with each other's commitments, but they're really good songs. And there's always a market for those." Brian 'Big' Dick (drums): made inroads into the North-East's working men's club scene, hiring PAs and putting bands together and playing mostly chart hits. He wasn't able to make the Tygers reunion show in Hamburg because he'd accepted a six month contract as session drummer for Kid Creole & The Coconuts.