The UK-based Bailey Brothers recently caught up with TYKETTO / ex-WAYSTED vocalist Danny Vaughn. The following is an excerpt from the in-depth two part interview:

Q: Most fans actually think it was Tyketto that gave you your first big break but it was Waysted who introduced you to the big time. It doesn’t get any better than opening up for IRON MAIDEN and recording the Save Your Prayers album and shooting videos. Talk us through the process of how you got the gig with Pete Way and the gang? We want to know what the whole experience was like as Pete was one of our heroes in UFO - a national treasure and party animal.

Vaughn: "I had been playing in a covers band in the Rockland County area that was pretty well known and, unbeknownst to me, was seen by a guy that ended up playing keyboards with a band Paul Chapman had going down in Florida called D.O.A. They were putting together songs for Paul to take back to England to shop for a new band record deal when things didn’t work out with their singer. Somehow, they got word to people they knew in my area (this was all a long time before the internet) and, eventually, someone walked up to me in a club I was playing and told me about it. 'Do you know Paul Chapman from UFO? Well, he’s looking for a singer and asked me to contact you.' Of course, I thought it was a joke at first. I have always been a big UFO fan so I knew all about Paul.

Anyway, I made the hook up and was on my way to Florida for a few weeks. We recorded some songs and it all felt pretty exciting. Paul then told us he was off to England to get us our record deal and promptly fell off the face of the earth! We never heard from him again. Turns out, the first thing he did was run into Pete Way in a pub and, instead of encouraging him to get his band going he basically said, 'Never mind that bollox, come join me in Waysted.' And so, for a time, it was all over!

Fast forward a year and suddenly I get a call from the same keyboard player who is now in Waysted and he tells me that they are having a number of disagreements with their singer, Fin, and I should keep on my toes and prepare for a phone call from their managers if it doesn’t get smoothed out. Eventually, the call came though and I was asked to fly to England and rehearse for four days before being flown to Tel-Aviv, Israel to play a music festival there in Ramat Gan Stadium. I was told that if I did well, I’d get the gig. You can imagine the whirlwind adventure that was. Anyway, the next day all the local papers had my photo on the cover and I was the new man."

Q: We heard you got stung financially and got stuffed better than a Christmas Turkey regarding writing credits.Were you a bit naive at the time?

Vaughn: "Yeah, there’s no doubt that I was. But there was more to it. It was a real Spinal Tap moment. We were in Oslo, about to begin the first date of our worldwide tour opening for both STATUS QUO and then Iron Maiden, when the box of albums (still vinyl back in those days) arrived at the hotel. You can’t imagine how excited Johnny and I were (Johnny Dee, the drummer and still one of my favorite people) to be getting our first album. I opened the box and was happily enjoying the whole experience when I suddenly saw the song writing credits. 'All songs Way/Chapman.' I was furious and stormed into the manager’s room. I had written almost all of the lyrics on that album and some of the music with Pete as well. I was told by the manager, an evil, impotent wretch that should rot in a thousand fetid pools of hell, that I was never promised writing credit. Promised? You do the work you get the credit, right? Isn’t that the way it usually works? Not that day. They had published the songs right out from under me. Without batting an eye he told me to deal with it or he’d put me on the first plane back to the States 'and you can go back to playing fucking covers,' I remember him saying. So, I let him bully me. And I made my own choice to see it through and develop my own contacts and friendships out of it. But what a disappointment."

Go to this location for Part 1 of the interview. Click here for Part 2.