Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon rapanzel » 18. MĂ€rz 2019, 10:09

Pavlos hat geschrieben:

Acurus-Heiko hat geschrieben:Einer der schönsten Threads hier im Forum. Hat Pavlos seinen Spaten verlegt? Wann geht es weiter??


Nein, der Pavlos hat seinen Spaten nicht verlegt. Vielmehr stand er Ende 2018 wochenlang in Kontakt mit Jeffrey Bruno, seines Zeichens SĂ€nger und Chef der genialen USPM Formation Blacklist. Allerdings sind das nicht die Blacklist aus Milwaukee/Wisconsin, die 1984 die The Sign Of 4 EP veröffentlicht haben. Diese Blacklist hier waren Mitte/Ende der 80er in Memphis/Tennessee aktiv und hatten mehrere saustarke Tracks geschrieben, die es leider nie ĂŒber das Proberaumtape-Stadium hinaus schafften.

Wie gesagt, stand ich in regem Kontakt zu Bandchef Jeffrery Bruno (der ĂŒbrigens einen eigenen youtube Kanal am Start hat(te), wo er ein paar dieser Songs hochgeladen hat), und Kontakte zu hellenischen Labels waren auch schon hergestellt, aber leider, leider ist der gute Mann Anfang dieses Jahres ĂŒberraschenderweise verstorben.

Der Rest der Truppe ist entweder nicht auffindbar, oder blockt Anfragen bzgl. Blacklist ab. Wir haben wochenlang versucht, da nochmal was anzuleiern, aber das wird wohl nichts mehr. Was verdammt schade ist, denn wer die Tracks hört, wird sie definitiv lieben. US Metal, der sich hinter den Genreklassikern nicht zu verstecken braucht.


Irgendwo hab ich letztens gelesen, dass hier ein Rerelease den kompletten Materials in Arbeit ist.
An obscene invention of twisted minds:

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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon Pavlos » 1. April 2019, 23:01

rapanzel hat geschrieben:
Pavlos hat geschrieben:

Acurus-Heiko hat geschrieben:Einer der schönsten Threads hier im Forum. Hat Pavlos seinen Spaten verlegt? Wann geht es weiter??


Nein, der Pavlos hat seinen Spaten nicht verlegt. Vielmehr stand er Ende 2018 wochenlang in Kontakt mit Jeffrey Bruno, seines Zeichens SĂ€nger und Chef der genialen USPM Formation Blacklist. Allerdings sind das nicht die Blacklist aus Milwaukee/Wisconsin, die 1984 die The Sign Of 4 EP veröffentlicht haben. Diese Blacklist hier waren Mitte/Ende der 80er in Memphis/Tennessee aktiv und hatten mehrere saustarke Tracks geschrieben, die es leider nie ĂŒber das Proberaumtape-Stadium hinaus schafften.

Wie gesagt, stand ich in regem Kontakt zu Bandchef Jeffrery Bruno (der ĂŒbrigens einen eigenen youtube Kanal am Start hat(te), wo er ein paar dieser Songs hochgeladen hat), und Kontakte zu hellenischen Labels waren auch schon hergestellt, aber leider, leider ist der gute Mann Anfang dieses Jahres ĂŒberraschenderweise verstorben.

Der Rest der Truppe ist entweder nicht auffindbar, oder blockt Anfragen bzgl. Blacklist ab. Wir haben wochenlang versucht, da nochmal was anzuleiern, aber das wird wohl nichts mehr. Was verdammt schade ist, denn wer die Tracks hört, wird sie definitiv lieben. US Metal, der sich hinter den Genreklassikern nicht zu verstecken braucht.


Irgendwo hab ich letztens gelesen, dass hier ein Rerelease den kompletten Materials in Arbeit ist.


J. Bruno selbst hatte mit der Rerelease-Arbeit angefangen, deshalb auch der relativ gute Sound seiner yuf YouTube hochgeladenen Videos. So mein letzter Wissensstand.....
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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon Pavlos » 6. Mai 2019, 23:20

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Diesmal steigen wir in die tiefsten Tiefen des 80er Obskurstahls hinab. Über Arsin aus Modesto/Kalifornien hab ich hier im Laufe der Jahre schon desöfteren geschrieben. Das Trio hat 1985 zwar nur ein Demo mit lediglich zwei Tracks aufgenommen, aber diese beiden Lieder haben es in sich. Dominantes Riffing, eingĂ€ngiger Gesang und abwechslunsgreiche Instrumentalpassagen - US Metal Fanherz, was willst du mehr?!

Arsin gingen aus Prophet hervor, die der ein oder andere vom legendĂ€ren Metal Madness Sampler kennt. LegendĂ€r deshalb, weil die Platte der erste Release ĂŒberhaupt auf New Renaissance Records war und deshalb die Katalognummer NR01 trĂ€gt. Nachdem die darauf enthaltene Nummer Black Raven gut ankam, bot man Prophet einen Plattenvertrag an. Bandchef Jayme Minson (Gitarre, Gesang, Songwriter) krempelte daraufhin die Besetzung um und benannte die Band um.

Warum es dann, trotz Killersongs, doch nicht mit der großen Karriere funktionierte darf er selbst sagen....

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You were in a band called Prophet before you founded Arsin. Why the change?
Well, I received a two album & two year contract from the Greenworld Distrubution underground label back in 1982 when I was fronting Prophet. I accepted and decided to change the bass player and the drummer plus the bandname, too. It had to be changed as another band had just come out with a full length album here in the states with the name Prophet so we decided on Arsin. Enter Karl Niederberger on bass and Rex Duke und drums, who by the way died one year after we released our demo.

Your demo came out in 1985, right? Did you guys only wrote these two tracks or were there more Arsin songs? And by the way, how many copies of Catch The Wind were made?
Wow, Catch The Wind was only a demo, so the fact that you even heard of it is remarkable to me. Yes, 1985 is correct. Not many copies were made, in fact i made them myself. There are more songs recorded by both bands, Arsin and Prophet, but they are extremely hard to find nowadays, especially the Catch The Wind casette. Prophet also was on a compilation album called Metal Madness (1985) by New Renaissance Records with a song called Black Raven. Some of the other bands on that album were Hellion and Shok Paris!!

One song from your demo (Dying To Live) also appears on a demo from a band called Scratch. This band was fronted by the famous Carl Albert and they released their demo Beyond The Fear in 1986. How did this happen, did they steal your song?
Yeah that's funny. The bassist from Prophet Eric Shaffer started Scratch and thought he would use a couple of my songs. Actually he did that twice with another song, too. I guess some people seem to think if they are in a band with me, that the songs I wrote are theirs too. But no money was made so I never made an issue of it. And Carl knew nothing of it as far as i know. We met once, he was a great singer.

Why did Arsin split? What did you guys do after the split?
We split completely at the end of 1985. Mostly because of label problems and my desire to carry on as just a guitar player and to stop singing. After Arsin I had a lot of other musical things going on. I almost got a gig playing with Ronnie Dio but i was only 17 at the time and that didn't work for him or his manager. I went on to many other things you can check out on you tube like Avion Cross and Jade Helm.

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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon Pavlos » 16. Februar 2020, 22:20

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Mir ist schon klar, dass der Ersteindruck, egal ob in Bezug auf Frauen oder Plattencovern, wichtig ist, und wir dĂŒrfen wohl getrost davon ausgehen, dass Inherent Sin aus Köln das nicht ganz so eng gesehen haben, aber wenn man mal das höchst minimalistische Cover, die unglaublich schlechte Aussprache (in Sachen "th" lĂ€sst SĂ€nger Reiner Hummel Eloys Frank Bornemann wie einen Muttersprachler aussehen!!) und die relativ schlichten Texte weglĂ€sst, dann bleibt da eine richtig starke Melodic Metal Platte aus dem Jahre 1989 ĂŒbrig, die ganz viel Charme versprĂŒht, und die man als Genrefan nicht verpassen sollte - trotz all den möglichen Vorurteilen. FĂŒnf Kölsche Jungs mit einem feinen GespĂŒr fĂŒr hervorragenden Melodien, starken Gitarren und einem SĂ€nger mit einem hervorragenden Organ (minus das Englisch).

Szeneurgestein Stefan Riermeier sprach zum "Release" der bösen 3on1 Bootleg CD (ich komme spĂ€ter nochmal auf dieses Thema zurĂŒck) von "einem deutschen Metal-Klassiker" und "vier Songs zur metallischen GlĂŒckseligkeit", und ich wĂŒrde ihm tatsĂ€chlich nicht widersprechen wollen. Hooks am laufenden Band, fĂ€hige Musiker - ein kleines Juwel, wenn ihr mich fragt.

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Da ich schon seit geraumer Zeit mehr ĂŒber die Band erfahren wollte, das Netz jedoch nicht gerade viel herbigt, kontaktierte ich Gitarrist Dieter Glowatzki - der dann auch ausfĂŒhrlich Auskunft gab.

Zu Inherent Sin findet sich so gut wie keine Information im Netz, lediglich die Namen einiger Bandmietglieder und der Standort (Köln) sind bekannt. Was gibt es zur Entstehung der Band zu sagen, wie und wann kamt ihr zusammen?
Die UrsprĂŒnge von Inherent Sin liegen im Jahr 1985, damals aber noch in einer komplett anderen Besetzung. Nach unserem ersten Gig im Oktober 1986 gingen wir ins Studio und nahmen drei Songs auf, die jedoch besser niemand zu hören bekommt, haha. Es dauerte dann auch nicht lange und wir gingen getrennte Wege. Ich habe dann den Bandnamen weitergetragen und habe mir neue Leute gesucht. ZunĂ€chst bin ich auf Reiner Hummel (vocals) gestoßen und wir haben beide schnell gemerkt, dass wir gut zusammen arbeiten konnten. Im Anschluß kamen dann Gundolf Milz (bass) und Thomas Hengstler (drums) dazu, wobei Gundolf die Band bald wieder verließ. Als Ersatz kam Christian Leinen, der auch gleich seinen Bruder Hansi (keyboards) mitbrachte. Das passierte alles im Jahr 1988.

Schon im Folgejahr kam die Children Of The Night EP raus. Wie kam es so schnell dazu, und warum wurde das eigentlich als Eigenproduktion veröffentlicht? Wie hoch war die Auflage?
Nach ein paar kleineren Gigs im Bonner Raum kam ein Produzent (Louis Niestegge) auf uns zu und fragte, ob wir denn nicht mal etwas zusammen machen möchten. Dass die Platte eine Eigenproduktion ist, stimmt also nicht so ganz. Sie wurde richtig produziert und wir, d.h. Rainer als Texter und ich als Komponist, hatten einen gĂŒltigen Vertrag mit Music Area Records Cologne. Allerdings ohne Labelcode, deshalb steht da auch Lingo Records drauf. Die Auflage betrug 600 StĂŒck. Allerdings war es nicht einfach die Scheibe an den Mann zu bringen, da hĂ€tte sich die Plattenfima einfach mehr drum kĂŒmmern mĂŒssen. Im Metal Hammer bekamen wir fĂŒnf Punkte und im RockHard haben wir auch nicht schlecht abgeschnitten. Wir sollten im Vorprogramm einer grĂ¶ĂŸeren Band, die Plattenfirma nannte keinen Namen, auf Tour gehen, aber dazu kam es nicht. Und das war es im Großen und Ganzen dann auch schon in Sachen Promotion.

Zum Titeltrack der Platte findet sich auf YouTube ein kultiges Video. Ein richtiger Clip war fĂŒr eine Band dieser GrĂ¶ĂŸenordnung damals ja nicht unbedingt Standard. Wie kam es dazu, wo wurde gedreht und wie verlief der Dreh?
Unser Produzent hat den Vorschlag gemacht dieses Video zu drehen...und da waren wir doch gleich Feuer und Flamme. Gedreht wurde an zwei Tagen. Der erste Dreh fand bei einem Gig in der Bonner Jazz Gallerie statt, der zweite Teil ereignete sich ein paar Tage spĂ€ter in einer alten Fabrikhalle in Köln-Kalk. Es waren viel Leute am Set, gedreht wurde bis spĂ€t in die Nacht. Das Video ist ganz gut gelungen, hĂ€tte jedoch ruhig etwas heller ausfallen dĂŒrfen.

Danach kam es zur Auflösung der Band. Wieso um Himmels Willen?
ZunĂ€chst entschieden wir, dass wir einen neuen Mann am Mikrofon brauchten, da Reiners Englisch nicht so gut war. Der neue Mann hörte auf den Namen Carlos Ferra und kam aus dem SĂŒden der Republik. Kurz danach erwischte es auch mich und ich musste die Band verlassen. Als GrĂŒnde wurden mir die gestiegenen AnsprĂŒche an die Band und mein damit verbundenes Gitarrenspiel genannt. Thomas musste ein paar Wochen spĂ€ter auch gehen und das war es dann ganz mit der Band.

Über das Label Revenge of True Metal Records kam vor vielen Jahren eine Bootleg CD raus, auf welcher Eure EP, sowie zwei weitere Bands (Exodo und Iron Hawk) illegal gepresst wurden. Wusstest Ihr davon?
Ich weiß davon nichts. Soll man so etwas tolerieren oder eher nicht? Ist immer eine gute Frage. Auf der einen Seite gilt es natĂŒrlich den Urheber zu schĂŒtzen, was auch wichtig ist, denn sonst könnte ja jeder machen was er will. Andererseits verstehe ich den neugierigen Musikfan. Aber: Durch illegale Downloads wird die Musikindustrie schon genug geschĂ€digt und dadurch auch die Musiker und ihre Musik, was dann zur Folge hat, dass z.B. Konzertkarten immer teurer werden und mann icht mehr jedes interessante Konzert mitnehmen kann. FrĂŒher waren Gigs so`ne Art Eigenwerbung fĂŒr die Band, heute sind sie eine Notwendigkeit um Geld einzunehmen. Doch in unserem Fall spielt(e) es ja keine große Rolle, von daher: viel Spaß beim Hören!!

Zum Schluß die obligatorische Frage dieses Threads: Existieren von Inherent Sin noch weitere Songs und Aufnahmen? Hat Euch ein Label schonmal bzgl. eines Rereleases kontaktiert? Gibt es da seitens der Band ĂŒberhaupt Interesse?
Es gab tatsĂ€chlich nur die vier Songs von der EP, das ist alles was wir damals aufgenommen haben. Einer Neuauflage wĂŒrde ich sicherlich meinen Segen geben....

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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon Mirco » 17. Februar 2020, 12:08

Sehr interessant, vielen Dank fĂŒr die interessanten Zeilen. :yeah: Die Band sagt mir nichts und gerade Riermaiers Geschmack deckt sich mit dem meinigen nur in den seltensten FĂ€llen. Nach deinem Beitrag wird aber in jedem Fall mal reingehört.
"Wir wollen eure Hirne aus der SchÀdeldecke nehmen, ein wenig mit ihnen herumspielen und sie dann verkehrt herum wieder einsetzen."
(Chris Reifert, Autopsy)

Zum Protzen: https://www.musik-sammler.de/sammlung/minimeini/
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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon Killmister » 17. Februar 2020, 14:01

Mirco hat geschrieben:Sehr interessant, vielen Dank fĂŒr die interessanten Zeilen. :yeah: Die Band sagt mir nichts und gerade Riermaiers Geschmack deckt sich mit dem meinigen nur in den seltensten FĂ€llen. Nach deinem Beitrag wird aber in jedem Fall mal reingehört.


Ich habe seine BĂŒcher und Artikel immer gern gelesen, er kann ja seine Begeisterung ganz gut in Worte kleiden. Am Ende fande ich die gefeierten Exoten sehr oft strunzlangweilig. Ausnahmen bestĂ€tigen die Regel, Exodo z,B, :yeah: .
Wenn man etwas nicht mag, ist einem weniger davon lieber.
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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon Mirco » 17. Februar 2020, 14:14

Killmister hat geschrieben:
Mirco hat geschrieben:Sehr interessant, vielen Dank fĂŒr die interessanten Zeilen. :yeah: Die Band sagt mir nichts und gerade Riermaiers Geschmack deckt sich mit dem meinigen nur in den seltensten FĂ€llen. Nach deinem Beitrag wird aber in jedem Fall mal reingehört.


Ich habe seine BĂŒcher und Artikel immer gern gelesen, er kann ja seine Begeisterung ganz gut in Worte kleiden. Am Ende fande ich die gefeierten Exoten sehr oft strunzlangweilig. Ausnahmen bestĂ€tigen die Regel, Exodo z,B, :yeah: .


Ich finde seine BĂŒcher ebenfalls super. So wie Du es hier schreibst war es von mir auch gemeint. Dazu kam ja im Osteuropa-Buch noch plumpes Slayer-Bashing.
"Wir wollen eure Hirne aus der SchÀdeldecke nehmen, ein wenig mit ihnen herumspielen und sie dann verkehrt herum wieder einsetzen."
(Chris Reifert, Autopsy)

Zum Protzen: https://www.musik-sammler.de/sammlung/minimeini/
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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon Pavlos » 10. Mai 2020, 19:53

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FRENZY (Lancester, UK)


- This Is The Last Time/Gypsy Dancer (1981) 7"
- Without You/Thanx For Nothing (1981) 7"
- Blackburn Rovers/Up The Rovers (1981) 7"

Frenzy wurden mir vor ein paar Jahren von YouTube vorgeschlagen. ZunĂ€chst fand ich die Tracks der Band recht unspektakulĂ€r, und mit den Großen der Welle und all ihren KabinettstĂŒckchen konnte und kann das nicht mithalten, aber mit der Zeit wurde mir klar, dass Frenzy das auch gar nicht wollten. Das hier ist Stoff aus der Arbeiterklasse fĂŒr die Arbeiterklasse. Die Art straight forward Mucke von der Straße, die nach Dreck und Schweiß stinkt, einen aber sofort mitnimmt und in die frĂŒhen 80er des UK zurĂŒckschleudert. Dazu dann auch passend u.a. eine Single fĂŒr einen Fussballverein, mehr dazu weiter unten.

Frenzy waren sicherlich keine Band aus der ersten Reihe, aber allemal ein (auch musikalisch) interessantes Beispiel dafĂŒr, wie schnelllebig und abenteuerlich es damals wĂ€hrend der NWOBHM zuging. Solche Truppen, die immer noch oft und gerne ĂŒber ihren lĂ€ngst vergangenen Glanz berichten sind ein Traum fĂŒr Metal-ArchĂ€ologen. Letztes Jahr kam die Band endlich zu sowas wie verspĂ€teten Ehren als ein Track fĂŒr den ersten Teil der coolen Jobcentre Rejects Samplerreihe (On The Dole Records) verwendet wurde. Leider konnte ich SĂ€nger Larry Lee Lehmann nicht zu diesem Release befragen, da wir das folgende Interview im Vorfeld des Samplers gefĂŒhrt haben. Aber er hatte auch so genug zu erzĂ€hlen....

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When and how did Frenzy come together? In his NWOBHM encyclopedia Malc Macmillan mentions a band called Anniversary, what can you tell us about this?
Yes, Anniversary were the pre-runners to Frenzy. They were from Lancester and recorded a seven inch EP on the Aerco label including tracks like Prostitution, Flight 24 and Tales For A Tune. After that release the band disbanded. Me and my brother were running a night club called Styx at that time and some of the Anniversary guys were regular guests. One night we ended up drinking at the same table and decided to form a new band which became Frenzy. Since we didn't have a real rehearsal room at that time I offered a huge room above my night club. And this is how Frenzy was born in late 1979. Great memories.

Soon you started playing live and supported a lot of well known bands. How was that?
Yeah, we did a small tour with the Tygers Of Pan Tang in 1980, supported Praying Mantis at the London Marquee, were double headliners with the famous Bernie Marsden and played some gigs with another NWOBHM band called Spider. But my favorite memory is when we openend for Thin Lizzy, what a great evening that was. By the way: We gave ourselves stage nicknames like Johnny Macho, Pedro Gringo, Romeo Boddington and Max von Blitz (which was mine as my father was german).

1981 was a busy year for the band as you recorded three singles within twelve months and continued playing a lot of gigs. Why didn't you go for a full length instead of recording three singles? And please tell us more about the legendary Blackburn Rovers single.
Yeah, we did three singles that year, two of them double A-sided. The first one was This Is The Last Time and Gypsy Dancer which was pressed with a white labeled center from the Songwriters Workshop label (belonging to Smile Studios in Manchester). The second single was Without You and Thanx For Nothing, this time with a yellow center label and also made by the Songwriters Workshop label. And then there was a third release which brought us a lot of money, the mentioned Rovers single. First we wanted to enter a studio and do a full album before we did this project but than we decided to do this single first. Due to my father being a huge fan and season ticket holder of Blackburn Rovers F.C. and some players knowing that his son was playing in a band we were approached for making a promotional single for the 1981 season. Due to many Rovers players and fans being big supporters of Frenzy they convinced their board of directors and bosses, so the club wanted us to compose and record two songs for their way back into the first division. We did Blackburn Rovers as the a-side and Up The Rovers for the b-side. The background cheering you hear on that tracks was me recording the crowd on a home game against West Ham. We sold approx. 83.000 copies. Chelsea, Manchester Utd., Liverpool, Arsenal, West Ham, they all had their own records but they all went for folk and pop songs, so we actually were the very first to represent UK football with a heavier song. A great experience but in my opinion also the start of the Frenzy downfall.

So the release that put you in the charts and brought you money was the begining of the end, right?
We broke away from our true roots as we added keyboards which took us miles away from what we did before. Combined with the money greed by some band members (who wanted to pursue the new direction) that ended Frenzy, only a matter of weeks away from the big major signing as a label had shown interest due to the soccer single. Before being approached by the Rovers bosses we were on tour with the Tygers Of Pan Tang and were really on the edge of the big breakthrough, believe me. We already had enough material for a debut album and also for a follow up but the Rovers experience just totally killed it. We tried to continue but couldn't, the end came in early 1983.

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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon Pavlos » 13. August 2020, 14:42

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LAZARUS (New York, USA)

- Demo 1989 a.k.a. The Advanced Casette Demo (1989)
- Episode One, EP (2007)

Lazarus sind hier im SMB kein unbeschriebenes Blatt. Bedient man die Suchfunktion, spuckt diese einige BeitrĂ€ge bzgl. der New Yorker aus. Schaut man sich diese dann chronologisch an, trifft man schon 2008 auf Postings, in denen die Band in diversen Playlists lobend erwĂ€hnt wird. Im selben Jahr hatte unser Michael sogar einen Bandthread gestartet, dazu jedoch spĂ€ter mehr. Mein erster Kontakt mit der Band war dann 2009 das fantastische "Tale Of Tomorrow" auf dem legendĂ€ren 4CD "Ages Of Steel" Wichtelsampler vom Texas Instruments. Wow, was fĂŒr ein Song!! Heiko schwĂ€rmte dann vor einigen Jahren wĂ€hrend seines Kreaturlaubs nochmal ganz dolle vom Demo, und ich nahm das dann zum Anlass mich endlich intensiver mit der Band zu beschĂ€ftigen.

Das muss so Anfang/Mitte der 2010er gewesen sein, aber leider gab es zu diesem Zeitpunkt nur einen Song auf YouTube zu hören, das unten verlinkte The Distance. Die spĂ€ter erschienenen Songs der tollen EP waren mir da schon bekannt, aber nachdem alle immer vom Demo schwĂ€rmten, wollte ich das dann natĂŒrlich auch unbedingt hören. Vor ein paar Monaten war es dann endlich soweit, das komplette Demo wurde hochgeladen und Dutzende Underground-Fans konnten es endlich in seiner vollen Pracht genießen. Was soll ich sagen, was fĂŒr ein Hammerteil!! Und dann noch Chris Collins (u.a. Majesty, Oblivion Knight) mit seinen markanten Screams am Mikro - WAHNSINN!!

Weitere Recherche brachte die Erkenntnis, dass aus Lazarus mittlerweile Awaken geworden waren, und diese wohl auch ganz gut im GeschĂ€ft waren, aber bzgl. Lazarus gab und gibt es immer noch extrem wenig Lesestoff. Ergo: ein Fall fĂŒr den hiesigen Thread!!!

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Nachdem mir zu Ohren gekommen war, dass ein griechisches Label Interesse an einem Rerelease gezeigt hatte, dieser jedoch (noch?) nicht zustande kam, dachte ich mir, ich schreib mal Bandkopf Glenn DeGrossa an um nach dem momentan Stand der Dinge zu fragen.

There is not a lot of information on the net about Lazarus, so please tell us when and how you guys got together. How was the New York metal scene back in those days?
 Lazarus was a band that began in high school in the early 80s. Rich Angora and myself were best friends and guitarists who started Lazarus. We actually came up with the name by opening a dictionary and pointed to the first thing and it just so happened it was Lazarus. After we learned who Lazarus was, we realized it was a cool name and kept it. We always jammed out and wrote songs leading to Lazarus with Freddy Villano our bassist and Nick D'allessandro our drummer whom we also met in school. We rehearsed often and soon started writing our own songs.
The NY Metal scene was incredible!! Every weekend was great shows and Lazarus was one of New York's premier metal bands of that time through 1991. We would sell out clubs and toured with many of the big bands of the 80s. We were all friends and would chill with each other until we hit the stage and then ego and competition took over, everyone was trying to be the best. That was a great thing because in a time of no internet, no ipads and cell phones to distract we were all very focused.

How did you manage to get Chris Collins into the band, did you know about his work with Majesty before?
Dream Theater let Chris go when we were doing shows with them. We were always crossing paths at shows or parties, we also rehearsed at the same studios, so we all knew each other well. It was a frustrating time for Lazarus because we were holding auditions for singers and after many disappointing auditions we finally auditioned Chris. We knew about the Majesty demo and we had heard his voice before, so we knew he would fit. He wowed us from the start. His voice was just what we were looking for at that time around 1987. So we asked Chris to join and immediately hit the studio to record. In 1989 we parted ways with him but he and I still are friends today. Chris had some personal issues he was dealing with at that time and we just felt it was better to make the change.

How were the reactions to the demo, did any record label show interest? Between the demo and the following EP there was an eight years gap. Why was that?
We played live constantly, touring throughout the east coast and we also were featured on the radio often. We played with acts like Hittman and Hellicon. The reaction to the demo was very positive. We were Kerrang's best unsigned band and we also had label interest but time was becoming our enemy. I was studying in college and other members were becoming more serious in their lives. We were growing up. Decisions had to be made and so we decided the right thing to do was to take a break in late 1991. In early 2004 we reformed Lazarus and released the Episode One EP. Besides the three known tracks from the demo we used songs that were also written back in the late 80s (Wings of Avalon, Dream Away, The Hour Glass, Glass World).

For the EP you switched from lead guitar to doing vocals, which is a rather unusual move. How/why did this happen? The EP tracks headed into a more straighter and melodic direction (with still enough power parts included), who was resposible for this change of style?
After the split with Chris I took over the vocal duties and put the metal guitar down but continued my Guitar studies on classical and jazz of which I hold Bachelors and Masters Degrees in. It wasn't an easy decision because I loved being the lead guitarist for Lazarus. I was compared to guitar players like Ronnie Letekro (TNT) and Randy Rhoads, but I also had a great voice, so we decided that it was easier to find a new guitarist if I took over the vocals. So I did it.
The change to the music was my decision. I wrote the music and lyrics with Rich but in 2004 I made those decisions to give the music a much needed face lift without changing too much. The hit song during our late 80s period was On the Wings of Avalon which in 2007 had a huge radio presence .
 
In 2009 you changed the band name from Lazarus to Awaken (and since then released two albums where you play a much proggier style). Why the name change? Since then you managed to share the stage with some great musicians and bands (Fates Warning, Queensryche, Kamelot and many more), any cool stories about this? What is the current status of Awaken?
In 2007 I was already writing new music with Rich Angora who was no longer an active player but we still wrote together. I decided to release a new Lazarus CD but had some reservations continuing with the name Lazarus. I felt that Lazarus was the old me and in order to show how far I had progressed as a musician compositionally, musically I had to shake that name. Awaken was born!! The music I was writing was more progressive but still had the melodic hooks. It wasn't Lazarus and needed new musicians, more current players who could handle the complexity of the music. So Awaken took shape and we released our self titled CD on Mausoleum Records Belgium in 2012.
Since then we toured extensively with bands like Fates Warning, Queensryche, Kamelot, Uriah Heep, UFO, Adrenalin Mob, Symphony X, Pain of Salvation and many more. And yes, we met some nice and cool people on the road. Don Dokken was maybe the most complimentary to me and the band. He watched us every show and would come out afterwards to the party to tell everyone how great we were, which I thought was cool. Todd La Torre (Queensryche) also loved us. Between a long musical part of one of our songs I ran back to take a drink and catch my breath and Todd ran down from the rafters and gave me a hug and said we were awesome. He also heard us doing sound check and left his tour bus to listen to us. He was an incredibly nice person. Reb Beach from Winger was very cool and friendly, too. Roy Khan and Sean Tibbetts from Kamelot were great, Sean and I still talk. Uriah Heep were the coolest and nicest dudes ever. They even shared their food buffet with us.
Awaken currently completed its second CD, a double CD called Out of the Shadows. We reached out to a number of labels to sign us and the one we wanted did: we signed a four year worldwide record deal with Pure Steel Records Germany. Out Of The Shadows features some cool special guests including guitarist Eric Gillette (Neil Morse Band) and percussionist Gumbi Ortiz (Al Dimeola Band). Still on board are Mike Marrone (drums), Eddie Jucious (bass) and Andrew Colyer (keys), plus our new guitarist Eric Wirsing. I couldn't ask for better people and musicians to make music and share the stage with. We are hoping that Europe will invite us to perform, so if you know of any festivals/shows: put me in touch and maybe we could make it happen.

Back to the Lazarus days. Did you guys only write/record the three known tracks from the 1989 demo tape or were there more tunes? What are your thoughts about rereleasing the Lazarus stuff (demo + EP)? I think it would be easy to find a suitable record label as a) your songs were really strong, and b) there is a huge interest in such lost gems nowadays.
As I said, back in the 80s I wrote the three demo tracks and then wrote some more stuff after the demo recordings. All this other stuff I wrote is on our Episode One CD (plus a remake of The Distance). Actually, we have one more song called Dream Away that was also recorded in 1989 but didn't make it on the demo. We redid this one for the EP, too.
To be honest, I have been offered to release the Lazarus material on CD with a label in Greece. I still might do that. I also was thinking of rerecording The Distance and Wings of Avalon with Awaken to release them as a B-side for the next CD. Let's see what happens....

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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon Clontarf » 14. August 2020, 08:41

Cool! Das Demo lÀuft gerade via Tube. Die beiden anderen Songs stehen Distance in nichts nach. Hammer! :yeah:
"Like birds of a feather we'll always flock together
We want you to know we'll always thrash forever!"
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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon Angelus_Mortiis » 14. August 2020, 10:20

Ohja, das brauche ich! Hoffen wir mal, dass es mit dem Rerelease noch klappt.
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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon Acurus-Heiko » 16. August 2020, 12:41

Das Lazarus-Demo mit seinen drei SahnestĂŒckchen ist natĂŒrlich exakt mein Stoff. So was am Strand zu hören, kann echt gefĂ€hrlich werden, weil man liegend bangend die Sonne vergisst. "The Distance" wirkt dabei wie ein lost Song von Queensrychs "The Warning". Von allen Alben, die ich mit Chris Collins kenne, hat das hier seine besten GesangsqualitĂ€ten. Danke Dir Pavlos fĂŒr das Buddeln. Die Demo-Songs haben eine SoundqualitĂ€t, die sicherlich noch verbessert werden kann. Ein Release regulĂ€rer wĂ€re wirklich schön.
Metal is "orchestrated technological Nihilism" (Lester Bangs) and "heroical Realism" (me)

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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon Pavlos » 22. August 2020, 11:35

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Das hier ist eine Herzensangelegenheit. Das lĂ€sst sich natĂŒrlich ĂŒber den kompletten Thread sagen, aber das hier ist etwas, auf das ich tatsĂ€chlich lange hingearbeitet habe, ergo wird dieses Posting etwas lĂ€nger und persönlicher als die anderen, also bitte nicht böse sein. Da es zu ENCHANTER extrem wenig Informationen im Netz zu finden gibt, und dieser schmerzhafte Zustand sich irgendwie schrecklich antagonal zur QualitĂ€t der Musik anfĂŒhlt, freue ich mich sehr, endlich etwas Lichts ins Dunkle zu bringen. Und nein, das hier sind weder die "Defenders Of The Realm" Enchanter aus Michigan, noch die "Symbols In Stone" Jungs aus Rhode Island. Diese Enchanter hier stammen aus Des Plaines, Illinois.

Mein Erstkontakt mit der Band war vor knapp zwei Jahrzehnten im Heimaturlaub, als ich mir zusammen mit meinem Cousin an einem der zahlreichen kleinen, versifften Athener Kioske ein halbes Dutzend Bootleg CDs aus der Convicted To The Avant Garde Serie kaufte. Auf dieser Anfang der 2000er erschienenen Bootleg Split CD Serie gab es verschiedene Alben und Demos zu hören, die damals megarar waren bzw. nur den ganz harten Insidern bekannt waren. Die SoundqualitĂ€t war unterirdisch, aber damals, in den frĂŒhen Jahren des Internet, waren wir extrem froh, solch obskuren, uns komplett unbekannten Kram ĂŒberhaupt zu Gehör zu bekommen. Ergo klapperten wir jahrelang in jedem Griechenlandurlaub die Kioske, FlohmĂ€rkte und Second Hand PlattenlĂ€den ab, stets auf der Suche nach neuen, uns unbekannten Veröffentlichungen dieser Serie bzw. auch der Hot Metal Serie. Dass das alles illegale Pressungen waren hat uns damals nicht gestört, wobei man sagen muss, dass dieses Thema in Hellas generell nicht ganz so eng gesehen wird....aber um diese Frage soll es hier nicht gehen. Tja, und so hielt ich eines Tages die CD mit den hier thematisierten ENCHANTER in den HĂ€nden. Ich kann mich erinnern, dass wir abends am Strand lagen, uns die Songs per Discman anhörten und total auf den Thrash/Speed der Jungs abfuhren, der nach Testament, Overkill und Heathen klang. Supertighter Stoff mit harschen Vocals, fetten Riffs, catchy parts und hier und das technischen Spielereien. Am Ende jenes Urlaubs machte ichden Fehler und ĂŒberließ aufgrund der billigen Aufmachung und des schlechten Sounds die CDs meinem Cousin....und vergaß ENCHANTER dadurch komplett.

Enter die Cyclone Temple ReReleases auf Divebomb vor einigen Jahren, in deren Booklet der Name Sonny DeLuca bzw. ENCHANTER fiel. Es machte sofort Klick in meinem Kopf, ich suchte nach dem Demo im Netz, fand es auf eienem der zahlreichen Blogs und tauchte nach all den Jahren erneut in den Stoff ab - diesmal jedoch bewaffnet mit dem unendlichen Wissen und den wundebaren Vernetzungen des Internets. Ich fand heraus, dass die Truppe nach dem Demo noch ein komplettes Album eingespielt hatte, dies aber nie rausgebracht wurde. Die ĂŒblichen Anlaufstellen gaben fast keine weiteren Anhaltspunkte her, lediglich das unten verlinkte Lied war vor ein paar Jahren online zu finden, also machte ich mich auf facebook auf die Suche nach den beteiligten Musikern. Der Stoff durfte nicht in Vergessenheit geraten. Nicht in einer (Metal-)Welt, die aus dem PappmachĂ©-Panzer heraus mit Symphonic Power Metal im Vollplayback erobert wird. Nein, der rĂ€udige Dampfhammerstoff ENCHANTERs musste reanimiert werden....und zwar JETZT!!! Schließlich war es tatsĂ€chlich Sonny DeLuca, der sich bereit erklĂ€rte mir Auskunft zu geben.....und das tat er dann auch super ausfĂŒhrlich.

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Let's start with an obvious question: When and how were Enchanter formed? Who was part of the band in the beginning and which bands and musicians were your influences? 
Enchanter formed in 1985 with the three original members being myself (vocals), Frank Chiappetta (lead guitar) and Brian Pristelski (bass). We all went to Forest View High School in Arlington Heights, IL.  I had met Brian the year before when a mutual friend introduced us believing we looked alike. Oddly we found out we both shared the same birthday and instantly bonded. During this time Brian started playing the bass, and joined a band called Squirrel. I think perhaps I may have been jealous of this band taking my new best friend from me so I wanted my own band. I had a guitar, but let's just say it was something that looked cool in my bedroom more than sounding good in my hands. But that wasn't going to stop me. I talked to friends from my old high school and one guitar player seemed interested. Enter the start of my sophomore year, I spy Frank in my art class with long hair and an attitude. Later that week Brian and I questioned him about being in a band. He said he was a guitar player and we told him what we had going. Frank however being a Randy Rhoads fanatic wanted to be a solo guitar player. We went back to Frank and I said "Hey listen, I suck at guitar and the other guy goes to a different school". We asked him to my house to audition, he accepted, then Frank proceeded to play both vinyl sides of Blizzard of Oz flawlessly. I remained composed, but inside I was thinking "HOLY SHIT!!". Let's face facts here, there may be many unbelievably talented youngsters out there with guitars nowadays, but in 1985 finding a sixteen year old who could play Randy Rhoads like that was like finding a winning lottery ticket.
So we started playing in my garage, looking for drummers all the time. Our first drummer was actually Michael Mooshey, from 7th Heaven but that only lasted for one practice session if I remember correctly. I don't recall exactly why we went our separate ways after this practice, but Mike was already in 7th Heaven at that time and that likely had something to do with it. 
We found Mike Piazza thanks to Frank, who would hear Mike playing drums in his garage as he walked passed his house on the way home from school. Mike seemed uninterested, likely due to the fact that we had all just transferred to Forest View from elsewhere and he had no clue who the hell we were. He eventually submitted to Frankm, who by the way had a way of getting people to do what he wanted. Mike brought his drums to my house and we officialy became Enchanter, named after Tim the Enchanter from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Franks previous band had been named this and he insisted that Enchanter had to be the name. We did not care.
The last true original member of Enchanter came along not long after Mike. Still one of the coolest motherfuckers I know, John Tolczyk a.k.a. Toll-Zack (guitar). This was actually Frank's idea as Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Queensryche all had two guitar players and playing those covers was difficult to say the least with only one. John was not with us very long and I have no memory of why we went our separate ways. 
You've had a taste of our influences above. I cannot speak for everyone, but my influences are gigantic, from Tchaikovsky to Slayer, Cream to Pink Floyd and lest we forget the women who unwittingly taught me how to sing, Annie Lennox & Ann Wilson. I sang Eurythmics & Heart songs relentlessly trying to mimic everything as well as harmonies above and below. It was of course mimicking the Metal God Rob Halford that taught me to scream and I'm sure much more, but I attribute my vocal ability and range to Annie & Ann.

Moving on to 1989 and your demo. The Gates Of Insanity was produced by Phil Bonnet, a famous producer, engineer and mixer in the Chicago area who also worked with acts like Syris, Squadron and Aftermath. How did you manage to get him for this job? What happened after the demo, how were the reviews? Did you guys play many live gigs? 
Phil worked at the studio we booked. We found it in the back of a local rag called the Illinois Entertainer. Just the luck of the draw I guess. R.I.P. Phil. 
Incidentally, whereas I engineered and the band collectively produced seven of the eight songs on the unreleased Patterns Of Violence album, we'll talk about that in a minute, Phil engineered and produced the song No More. Which is why it sounds leaps and bounds better than the other seven recordings. I was taking an audio engineering course at the time.
By the way, The Gates Of Insanity was actually our third demo, it just was the only one we mass produced. We had some very positive (local) reviews but it basically went unnoticed by the industry as a whole.
We played live as often as we could sometimes even paying to be on the bill of larger shows. We had no idea what we were doing, and had no one to help us.

There are two different covers for the demo circulating on the internet. A painted one with a gate and a version showing a gate with a church behind it. Which is the original one? 
This part should be called "The lawsuit". I'm betting you can guess why, too. We were not authorized to put the image of the Serbian Orthodox Monastery of St. Sava on our cover, nor did they appreciate the title being associated with their church. So we went to Frank Pusateri (All Enchanter art work with the exception of the original t-shirt and Mike's bass drum skins which were done by me, were the works of the incredibly talented Frank Pusateri) and he drew the 2nd cover with a pencil. We had that made in to stickers and stuck them right over the image of the gates. The lawsuit went nowhere, plus they did finally read the lyrics and once finding out that we were writing about drug abuse (Never Too Young) , prolonged life after brain death (Coma), war (D.O.L.) and a movie (Progressive Entrapment is about the movie Witchboard) everything calmed and just went away.

Besides the original tape version there also exists a bootleg CD of The Gates Of Insanity which comes as a split release (with The Second Death from False Prophet as part of the Convicted To The Avant Garde series in the early 2000s) from a greek bootleg label. Were you aware of this and what do you think about it?
I was aware because through the years a lot of Enchanter and Cyclone Temple fans from Greece contacted me through facebook about it. Speaking only for myself, I couldn't care less. We were writing about things we believe in,  the point to me, is to have those things heard. I sent most of the people who bought that and contacted me about it a link to download "Patterns Of Violence".

Your second output Patterns Of Violence was never released. I read that you guys recorded eight tracks for a release but this never happened. Why? There are some live videos from Enchanter on YouTube performing songs like My Last Breath, Gimme A Break, Patterns Of Violence, Never Too Young and No More. Are these some of the songs you wrote for the album? These songs sound more aggressive and less melodic than the demo stuff, was that on purpose?
It was never released because we kicked Frank out of the band. He had gotten a bit overly aggressive with us (in our heads anyway) and then the band came to me saying Frank wanted to kick me out. So I retaliated (childishly). What I had done was to effectively remove the driving force behind the band, and I know not all the guys agree with this, but it is what I believe. Frank was our "band dad", he made us practice, he made us write, it was a bad move that I regret. 
The new sound was just us growing up, becoming more technical players and getting angrier. You must understand, we did not have the money to record songs as we wrote them, some of the songs on our recordings were written years before being recorded. Also, No More, Gimme a Break, and Endangered Species initial guitar parts were written and arranged by me, and I wrote melody first, rhythm after. Frank had become enamored with Testament and Overkill, so his writing got faster and more technical. Dan Sebo also contributed a song in there called Reign of Terror, so it was basically a compilation of our different styles.

You joined Cyclone Temple in 1993 if I'm right. Was this the reason Enchanter fell apart? What did the other guys do after the split? It's a shame that all these talented musicians never created music again. At least there is no information to be found on the net.
Cyclone Temple came after we had replaced Frank twice so not really, but sort of. Frank's first replacement Dino, was an outrageous player but also a drug addict who sold my one of kind, tree of life guitar, for drugs. Enough said about that. Frank's second replacement was none other than Joe Pettinato (who had huge international success with local grunge heroes From Zero).
This is where I make apologies. I do not regret my time with Cyclone Temple, I do however (through 20/20 hindsight) regret leaving Enchanter (renamed Terror Firm at that point) to do it. I knew Joe was a good player, I liked Joe and he fit well with us, there was a lot about Joe that I did not know. He has perfect pitch and is very likely the best musician I know. But at this point I was disenchanted. I hadn't lost hope in the band, but had started to not care anymore. It became more of a thing I did with my friends. So when I got the call from Shawn Glass (Broken Hope, Soil, Dirge Within, Repentance and the indomitable Sindrome) that Cyclone Temple was looking for a vocalist I jumped and that was that. Joe obviously went on to found From Zero, Karl joined a band called Prisoner for a time, Mike entertained joining Zoetrope (but didn't) and Dan joined a blues band. Frank joined Stygian for a time but then let go. I am happy to report that Franks younger step brother Anthony Nasselli started playing drums and they formed a cover band together. They play some shows here and there and I can tell you he's still got it.

I wonder if Enchanter ever were approached about doing a proper anthology release (demo, unreleased album, extra stuff that can be found on Youtube), which by the way is loooong overdue. Were there such talks in the past and what are your thoughts about it? 
Yes, but it wasn't an approach. In 2012 Cyclone Temple signed with Divebomb Records to rerelease the entire discography and I sent the label the Enchanter stuff. They were excited and willing, but Frank said no. So, I guess you or a label should better talk to Frank about it. 

THANX for doing this, Sonny. It was nice to finally hear some valid information about ENCHANTER, this long forgotten wonderful band....and now let's see what we can do about the mentioned rerelease!!

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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon Storming the Gates » 22. August 2020, 12:00

Das klingt sehr gut, kann man die restlichen Demo Songs auch irgendwo hören?
TOP 5 2020
1. Hittman – Destroy All Humans
2. Glacier – The Passing Of Time
3. StĂ€lker – Black Majik Terror
4. Cirith Ungol – Forever Black
5. Megaton Sword – Blood Hails Steel
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Re: Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

Beitragvon Pavlos » 22. August 2020, 12:15

Storming the Gates hat geschrieben:Das klingt sehr gut, kann man die restlichen Demo Songs auch irgendwo hören?


PN!!
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