The venerable British hard rock band UFO has been through a slew of lineup changes since its mid-1970s heyday, but vocalist Phil Mogg has been a constant presence. As his bluesy, keening vocals power classic stompers like “Only You Can Rock Me,” “Lights Out” and “Doctor, Doctor,” the latter of which will be deeply familiar to Iron Maiden fans – the metal act plays it before taking the stage at every single show.

At present, UFO’s roster includes three veteran members including founding drummer Andy Parker who recently returned to the fold and new keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Paul Raymond. Bassist Pete Way, who had been playing with the group before being sidelined by an unnamed liver disease, is not currently an active member, but Mogg hopes to see him back with the band in the future.

“We’re hanging on hope,” he says by phone from England. “I don’t know whether or not he will be able to return. I see him down the road here. There’s a small studio on the beachfront, and he’s doing something with a guy from The Damned, but every time I say, ‘Hey, how’s Pete doing?’ I get a nonplussed reply like, ‘Well, he seems OK. blah blah blah. ’ Whether or not he rejoins the band, I’m hoping he pulls back from the abyss.”

Mogg likes the personal familiarity that comes with having old members back in the group. “We’ve been together for so long, it feels comfortable knowing what drama’s going to come next. I’ve known Andy and Pete since the beginning of time, as it were, so if any drama’s going to happen, I know exactly what it’s going to be. Rather than if you’re playing with someone new, it’s the unexpected. You tend to think, ‘Oh, I’m not going to go through all that again.’”

UFO’s latest album, Seven Deadly, is a bluesier, somewhat heavier effort than their best-known work. It’s their fourth with American guitarist Vinnie Moore and it sounds more like hard-driving bands such as Cactus or Savoy Brown than the UFO of old. The prominent keyboards that drove songs like “Lights Out” and “Can You Roll Her,” which are the band’s songs a progressive punch equal to Deep Purple, are mostly absent.

“We don’t have a direction as such, where we sit down and say, ‘This album’s got to be like this,’” says Mogg. “They tend to come out how they are. There’s no sitting down and saying, ‘Could we make this one more like this or more like that? We tend to lean more toward the bluesier stuff – that’s just your roots coming through.”

There is one definite link between UFO 2012 and the band’s classic era, and that’s the surrealism of the new record’s cover art, which depicts a skeletal Mexican calavera. It’s an allusion to the Mexican Day of the Dead, according to Mogg, but it’s also part of UFO tradition to have album covers that bear little or no connection to the music contained within. Whether it’s the woman holding a monkey on the cover of No Heavy Petting or the couple screwing in a shower stall on Force It, it’s never been easy to look at a UFO record and predict what it’s going to sound like, and that’s something that Mogg is proud of.

“I generally think that the album cover should be a totally different piece of work from the album,” he asserts. “There’s an opportunity there to do a nice piece of artwork or something that’s not necessarily in keeping with the album. I don’t think it has to follow suit, or that the cover has to be a rock or heavy metal thing. Hopefully, it could be something you could pin on your wall. Or, to some extent, would look nice on a T-shirt. And this album cover – I’m quite happy with it.”

He’s also happy to have UFO’s former label Chrysalis – which just reissued the band’s best-selling albums in a boxed set, and gathered tons of live concerts into 2009’s Official Bootleg Box Set 1975-1982 – helping keep their name out there. And, of course, Iron Maiden’s nightly tribute doesn’t hurt.

“I think Pete’s matey-matey with Steve Harris,” says Mogg of the Maiden bassist, “and going back a long time ago, they were the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. I think there was a slight bit of influence since we were the band that was around. So it’s nice considering that they’re bigger than us now. Bastards !” he laughs.