Forgotten Realms (Pavlos buddelt in den 80ern)

[Pavlos]

Bei vielen, ja eigentlich allen Bands dieses Threads stelle ich mir die Frage "Wieso sind die nicht größer geworden, wieso ging da nicht mehr?". Die meisten der hier vertretenen Metal Warriors kamen über das Demostadium nicht hinaus, und wir werden nie erfahren, zu welch großartigen musikalischen Reisen sie noch aufgebrochen wären. Die Spuren jedoch, die sie dabei hinterlassen haben sind pures Musik-Gold, aber eben auch klitzeklein.

Enter die USPMler Silent Scream aus New York, denn hier sah/sieht es etwas anders aus, but let me explain:

Mein Erstkontakt mit der Truppe war ein Video zu ihrem Song Don't Play In The Dark. Schaut man sich den Clip mal an, so will dieser nicht zum "demo only" Status der Jungs passen, da hier alles (Song, Outfits, Schnitt, Beleuchtung, Moves, Frisuren, ja sogar involvierte Schauspieler) auf hohem Niveau stattfindet und das Ganze schon recht profesionell wirkt. Höchstwahrscheinlich waren Silent Scream (neben den kultigen Kandiern Hateful Snake!!) somit die undergroundigste Band mit dem am hochwertigsten aussehenden Clip aller Zeiten. Ein absolutes Kuriosum, if you ask me. Und kultig noch dazu.

Anyway, da es im Netz extrem wenig Infos über die Truppe zu finden gibt, und ich diesen Zustand schier unerträglich finde, hab ich vor ein paar Wochen Schlagzeuger Chip Rainone kontaktiert....



As there are no dates on the internet about when and how long Silent Scream existed, would you please enlighten us. And could you please say something about who was involved, how you guys came together and who your influences were?
I`d say the band lasted about five years, 1987 to 1992. Originally Robert DeForge (guitars) and Anthony Deane (bass) were in a band called Innocence. They were in the recording studio producing a demo. I got a call one day from Anthony that they were having issues with their drummer getting the tracks done and the engineer/producer (Frank Carabetta, a music legend in/from Staten Island) recommended me. From there I jumped in and completed the tracks and did some live shows. Musically the band really connected but the feeling from advisors was that we needed a better vocalist. I had known Rob Casesse (vocals) from prior projects and we invited him down. Rob absolutely killed it at the audition. We did a few live shows and then had Rob re-track the demo tracks. As for influences, it was no secret that Rob was heavily influenced by Ronnie James Dio. Plus stuff like Black Sabbath, The Cult, Led Zepellin, Queen.

How was the scene in and around New York back in the late 80s? Was it an advantage or a disadvantage that you guys were active in such a huge city?
To be honest, we were more in the early 90's by the time the demo and video were completed. The scene was changing not to our favor with Grunge making a big impact as bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains were hitting MTV hard. NYC became very tough to get any kind of exposure. We have to remember that cell phones and social media didn't come into the game until 10 or 15 years later or so. Looking back now Los Angeles may have been a much better move for us but that never happened. Again we had some management issues and few meetings with record labels that didn't pan out.

My first contact with Silent Scream was the cool video clip to Don't Play In The Dark. When I watched it the first time I thought "Wow, this guys must have been huge!!" as it seems you guys had a decent budget for filming it. Everything looks professional, and the song is catchy, too. How did you manage to create such a clip?
I can't exactly remember how we met with the video producer. What I do remember is how cold it was dragging my drum kit up a mountain and recording with frozen fingers. But it was a lot of fun. Everything was done on film as there was no digital media at the time, splicing and editing was a task. I do remember we got a pretty good deal and were happy with the result. The clip definitely was a high point with the band for exposure and advertising.

Talking about your songs, did you guys only write and record the three songs that are featured on the demo or was there more stuff? Did you get some reviews or interviews back then?
Man, we had a ton of songs. Anthony Deanne (bass) was like a machine bringing songs to the table. Some things he would bring in complete and others we would finish together in a jam. Everyone was always involved with ideas and it was a great team to work with. I'd say we had over 20 more songs that never made it to the studio but made it to live shows.
The demo had tons of reviews. We were doing fanzines all across the world as well as some heavy metal magazines such as Hit Parader, Circus, ect. Also radio stations would ask us to do intros and stuff like that. There are some reviews online and some years ago a fellow by the name of Nate Dressel has reached out to me about the band because he was putting together a book of bands and interviews. I think it was called "Leather Knights - a recollection of interviews" or something. If you find it on facebook you can read my interview.

What was the reason the band split up? What did you guys do after Silent Scream?
We did get involved with a bad management company which led to frustration within the group because there was no moving forward. I personally went on with some of the other members to form new projects (Savior Servant for example). I do know Rob Deforge is still an active guitar player in his local town, Anthony Deanne and Rob Casesse have stepped down from the business for years now to my knowledge.

Looking at the quality of the demo and the professional video clip we already talked about, the final question has to be: why didn't Silent Scream become bigger?
Dude, I wish I had the answer to that. If I did, the questions here would be different, I imagine. Well, as I said, the band had a rough time once this whole Grunge thing took over plus frustration set in with our management. At the end of the day we were very passionate about our metal and certainly had some great times. I'll leave it at that.

[Pavlos]

Troll waren mir bis vor zwei Jahren kein Begriff. Als Jag Panzer 2019 in Mannheim spielten und ich vor dem Auftritt ein paar Minuten mit der Band reden konnte, erzählte mir Gitarrist Ken Rodarte eher beiläufig von seiner allerersten Band, eben Troll. Zu jenem Zeitpunkt gab es im Netz keinen einzigen Track des Demos zu finden und so verlor ich das Thema wieder aus den Augen. Scheinbar war ich nicht der einzige auf der Tour, der über Troll erzählt bekommen hatte, denn ein paar Monate später stand plötzlich das komplette Demo online, und aus den tiefsten Tiefen des Undergrounds konnte man, wenn man ganz genau hinlauschte, glücklich mitsingende US Metal Fans hören. Die ersten Kommentare ließen auf etwas cooles hoffen, and boy, does this sound great!! Hymnischer USPM mit eingängigen Gesangslinien/Refrains und hart angespielten Riffs. Ich also erstmal die Tracks runtergezogen, einen Song auf meinem YT Kanal hochgeladen und Mr. Rodarte zwecks Interview kontaktiert....und hier sind seine Atworten.



Absolutely nothing is known about Troll. Some months ago the demo was uploaded on YouTube and underground aficionados went nuts. Right now we only know that you were a part of it, but what about the other guys? Could you please say something about where and how the band came together and who was part of it?
Troll was formed in late 1984 by guitarist Ken Rodarte and drummer Mike Grant who both lived in Scottsdale, Arizona. We soon met Nick Rivero (bass/vocals) who lived in Phoenix. We recorded a six song demo cassette called ”Time tells no lies“ in 1988...and broke up.
Mike Grant currently resides in Georgia and is still an avid musician playing drums, guitar, singing and creating original music. I am currently in a band called Downhill Trend which is still active in Phoenix Arizona and has two recordings available on all popular streaming services. In late 2018, I was given the opportunity to play lead guitar for Jag Panzer doing sporadic US dates for the Deviant Chord tour, and eventually the European tour in 2019. Nick Rivero is also still a resident of Arizona and has various recordings available through Facebook and reverbnation.

Phoenix, Arizona spit out some very cool bands in the 80s, I'm thinking about legends like Flotsam & Jetsam, Sacred Reich or the always kind of underrated Icon, but also about some lesser known bands like Lurch Killz, Surgical Steel or the mighty Tension. What did the scene in and around Phoenix look like back in the late 80s, did Troll play live gigs (maybe with some of these bigger bands), how was the scene connected?
Well, the place to play in Phoenix back in the days was the legendary Mason Jar. Several famous bands before becoming big played there. From what I can remember, there were two schools – a school of Heavy Metal and a school of more Glam Metal. Troll belonged to the former.
We opened for the mighty Flotsam & Jetsam once back in the day, Sacred Reich at least two if not three or more times (once at a house party with a stage made out of milk crates), we played with a band called Kaiser that was fronted by Brett Kaiser from Madame X many times. We also opened for Omen, David T. Chastain, Manowar, and other lesser-known bands like Paradise and Little Cesar from Los Angeles.

The demo songs show a nice variety of styles. We have classic US Metal with epic vocal lines, we have speedy tracks with furious solos and we have the title track with about eight and a half minutes duration and almost proggy structures. Who were your influences when you started making music and who influenced you in the late 80s when you recorded the demo? And who wrote your songs?
Nick was and still is super talented and can sing/play like anyone he wants to. Mike was heavily influenced by Rush, I was heavily influenced by Randy Rhoads. Before we started writing original music, we all were also heavily influenced by Iron Maiden, often playing parties/shows with sets comprised with a huge percentage of Iron Maiden covers and also some Judas Priest. I did the guitar music, Nick wrote his own basslines and the vocals (and lyrics), and Mike wrote his drum parts with direction from Nick and myself.

The demo features six songs and was recorded 1988. Was this all you got or were there more Troll songs written by you guys? Did you get some reviews for the demo, what happened after its release? When and why did the band split? I know that you guys continued playing music in different bands like Axetra or Tynator and stayed true to Speed/Thrash Metal.
There are four more troll songs that are not on the six song demo, I would have to look around for them. We were very young and we were not of the mind to be sending our stuff out to magazines for reviews....which is why no one ever heard of us. The band split in late 1991 I believe, Nick decided he no longer wanted to be in the band and simply quit.

Revisiting your demo with this interview, what's your opinion about the songs in 2021? What are your thoughts about a possible reissue? How come that Troll were like a hidden secret all this years, were you guys never contacted for interviews, re-releases or stuff like that?
I think the songs on the demo still stand the test of time, even if it might be evident that they were recorded long ago. Random people have hit me up through the years asking about the band and copies of the disc/demo but we have never been approached by somebody that actually wanted us to reunite. Mike lives in Georgia so that would be our first problem. The second problem would be that after having posted crossroads of yesterday on my Facebook page, I immediately got a message from Nick asking me to take it down because he did not want it online. I think Mike and I are proud of the Troll material while Nick would rather see it buried forever. So as cool as troll was, it is definitely unfortunate that we never went any farther than we did. I understand we are in the Encyclopedia Metallicum.

We reached the "Any last words? part of the interview....
A very cool story is that on my 21st birthday, the local radio station played the longest song from the demo, the title track, clocking in at roughly eight minutes. We were a good band that broke up before doing anything, had no management, and quite frankly we were very, very young and partying heavily – making music and being a band was our thing, we did not have our eyes open for future opportunities which is why we have remained a relatively unknown secret.

[Angelus_Mortiis]

Der Grieche wieder: Danke!

Und warum man sich für solches Material so schämt, dass man es gar nicht veröffentlicht sehen mag, verstehe ich nicht....

[Hippie-Ben]

Geile Nummer hier alles, danke für die Mühe!

[thorondor]

Ich hätt mir noch die eine oder andere vernünftige Frage wie "Wie bist du eigentlich zum Metal gekommen?" gewünscht. Aber passt schon, les ich halt weiter die üblichen Printmedien. Aber der Song ist schon ziemlich geil

[Pavlos]

ALEXANDER NEVSKY (Russland)

- Русью вскормлен (Demo, 1987)
- Александр Невский (Single, 1988, Melodiya)
- Русью вскормлен (Album, 1988, offiziell nie erschienen)

ALEXANDER NEVSKY, benannt nach einem russischen Fürsten, Nationalhelden und Heiligen der russisch-orthodoxen Kirche aus dem 13. Jahrhundert, existierten leider nur von 1987 bis 1990. Leider kam es nur zu den oben aufgelisteten Aufnahmen bevor die Band im Streit auseinanderbrach. Der Orthodox Epic Doom Metal, wie man den eigenen Stil nannte, lebt von der (für die damalige Zeit wohl ziemlich einzigartigen) Mischung aus Heavy Rock Riffs, zahlreichen Elementen des russischen Folks und dem auch optisch stets präsenten Kirchenimage.



Ich finde diesen Mix extrem spannend, und kontaktierte vor ein paar Monaten den Sänger des ersten Demos und der Single, Vyacheslav Gorbachev, um mal ein bisschen Licht ins Dunkle zu bringen.

Vyacheslav, please give us a short summary of the band history.
"The band was formed in 1987. The participating musicians were Alexander Inshakov (guitars), Andrey Butuzov (bass), Andrey Shatunovskiy (drums) and myself. I was the main author of the music and the lyrics and I also came up with the image. We played Orthodox Epic Doom Metal, as we used to call it. We played a lot of gigs inside the russian borders. Stas Namin, a cult figure in the russian music scene, helped us a lot with gigs, tv and radio interviews and even with getting our record contract with Melodiya where we released our single. I left at the end of 1989, while the others tried to continue with a new singer. But things didn´t work out for them and the band split up in 1990."

Why did you leave the band in 1989?
"Right before we wanted to release our full length album, which actually was our re-recorded demo with a new track order, some discussions startetd about how we should sound in the future. I wanted to keep the BLACK SABBATH touch and mix it with russian folk elements, but the other band members, except drummer Andrey, wanted to head into a more commercial direction like THE SCORPIONS. Soon the discussions turned into ugly arguments and I decided to leave the band, taking Andrey with me. First we tried to keep the bandname for ourselves, but than we decided that a total new begining made more sense. So we formed Новый Завет (New Testament) and made the "Аллилуйя" (Hallelujah) album in 1991. This album should have been the ALEXANDER NEVSKY debut."

Were you ever approached by a record label about rereleasing the Alexander Nevsky stuff?
"No, not about the Alexander Nevsky songs. But Stormspell Records from america released our third Новый Завет album ("Apocalypse", 1991) back in 2009. It should still be available...."



Da bin ich jetzt hoffentlich nicht der Einzige, der hier Nachholbedarf von Seiten der Labels sieht. Leute, die ALEXANDER NEVSKY Songs gehören veröffentlicht!!!! Die Single scheint in Russland gar nicht mal so rar zu sein, denn dort wird sie z.B. auf ebay.ru immer wieder mal (für´nen Fuffi - ich weiß, indiskutabel) angeboten. Hier mal das von mir verwichtelte Lied, bei dem ich, dem Intro sei Dank, ständig an "The Holy Empire" von WARLORD denken muss.

Genossen!! Es ist an der Zeit, Hammer und Sichel aus dem Keller zu holen und die Wände rot zu streichen....das 1988er, bisher noch nie offiziell erschienene "Alexander Nevsky" Album wurde just von OldWise Records veröffentlicht!!



PS: Wem die oben verlinkte Nummer zu langsam/rockig/episch ist, der versucht sein Glück mal hier:

[Pavlos]

LEGIONED MARCHER (USA)

- Demo 1987

Eigentlich war an dieser Stelle eine andere Band geplant um diesen Thread weiterzuführen, aber nachdem ich letztens auf der facebook Seite des LM Schlagzeugers die Worte “currently recording Legioned Marcher” las, klappte mein Unterkiefer aber mal dermaßen schnell und hart auf den Boden, dass ich den Jungs aus Oklahoma City einfach den Vorzug geben musste.

Das Two Track Demo (Praise Thunder, Under Fire) aus dem Jahr 1987 wird im Netz vom harten Kern der US Metal Fans ja schon seit etlichen Jahren bedingungslos abgefeiert, und hier und da konnte man auch etwas über diese lange Zeit vergessene Formation in Erfahrung bringen, aber mir war das alles zu wenig, und so machte ich mich an die Arbeit um mal etwas Licht ins Dunkle zu bringen.

Vorher möchte ich noch kurz sagen, dass diese beiden Tracks für mich mit zum Besten zählen, was der US Metal jemals ausgespuckt hat. Instrumental gesehen ist das wahrhaft grandioser Stoff, der all das an den Tag legt, was wir am US Stahl so schätzen (Drive, Atmosphäre, Erhabenheit, hohe Vocals), aber die Sahnehaube auf diesen zwei leckeren Erdbeertorten stellt zweifelsohne Sänger Bill Dollins dar, der mit seinem Organ an keinen Geringeren als den jungen John Arch zu Zeiten des Fatws WarningDebüts erinnert. Ergo halten die Götter aus Connecticut auch als Vergleich her.



Nachdem ich mich wieder gefangen hatte hab ich dem Basisten der Band (Rev Jones, u.a. noch aktiv gewesen bei MSG, Forte, Black Symphony, Mountain) eine Mail geschickt und nachgefragt. Dass dabei noch die ein oder andere Frage bzgl. der alten Tage gestellt werden musste sollte klar sein...

Could you please give us a short biography about the band?
The band was formed back in 1986, the founding members were Bill Dollins (vocals), Ron Phillips (guitar), Everett Levingston (guitar), Rev Jones (bass) and Chris Packhorse (drums). Our influences were Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Dio, Ufo, Metallica and Queensryche. Later on, people often compared us to Crimson Glory and Fates Warning, but back in the days we really didn´t know about this acts.

I read in an interview (that you did back in 2013 with the Forotten Scroll fanzine) that Legioned Marcher actually were a product of two local bands disbanding, Xexeus and Metal Haven. What kind of music did this groups play? Are there any recordings available that we can listen to?
Both were cover bands doing Priest, Maiden, Metallica, Crue, Dio, stuff like that. XEXEUS was my first band, it was Rev Jones on bass, Ron Phillips on guitar, Bill Dollins on drums, and we had a couple different singers before moving Bill from drums to vocals and added Chris Squire on drums. But after about 2 months Chris had to move out of state so we had no drummer. We heard that METAL HAVEN (with Chris Packhorse on drums & lead vocals, and Ev Levingston on guitar) was looking for a bassist and singer, so we thought maybe if we (Rev and Bill) played a show with them we might be able to convince them to combine both bands to 1. So me and Bill joined METAL HAVEN for 1 show, then told them we wanted to combine and start a new band. They didn't want to at first, but once we got together and played we all knew it was right.
No recordings of XEXEUS. I know that the 1 show I played with METAL HAVEN was recorded on a reel to reel tape machine, I heard it once way back then but have no idea if anyone has a copy. Remember those days it wasn't easy to record shows, either it was real expensive to get recorders or you used a cassette player to record which sounded awful. We were all kids 15-19 years old so we had no money.

You guys recorded only the two well known demo tracks back in 1987, but what about more stuff. How many more songs did exist and how were they called? Did they sound similar to the two demo tracks and did you ever record them on tape?
We had a bunch of songs, trying to remember them, I know I'm forgetting a few but here it is the main songs we had: Under Fire, Praise Thunder, Soldiers Of Fortune, Coming Of The Storm, Instrumetal, The Chosen, Legioned Marcher, Resurrection, Shoot To Kill, Return Of The Knights, A.H. 5008 and My Love. They all sounded like LEGIONED MARCHER. I have a live recording and video with 5 songs that is great. I also have a live cassette player recording of a rehearsal that has 3 or 4 other songs that sounds ok, but it is a different drummer and only 1 guitar. I've talked to a couple of people about releasing all of it, video, live recording, rehearsal, pictures, 2 studio tracks (I have the only good sounding copy of the songs), and doing video interviews with each guy talking about the band. But they never got back with me or just wanted me to give them all the stuff free. I would put it all out now, but only if we were compensated for getting it together, and if each guy got so many copies and at least a little money or a percentage of sales. I would love to have it released, I'm the one that posted the lower quality studio songs on youtube so people could hear it. But I won't let someone have all of it without each guy involved getting something.

In the last few years a lot of people asked for a Legioned Marcher reunion but noone really thought that this would ever happen. Some weeks ago I read a facebook statement from Chris Packhorse stating “currently recording Legioned Marcher”. What can you tell us about this? And if this is really happening, would you please go into detail. What can we expect, old stuff, new stuff, live stuff?
I'm not sure what they are doing. Chris mentioned to me a while back that him and Ev were gonna record a couple of old songs, and I told him to send me the tracks and I'd play bass on it, but I never heard if they recorded or not. I heard they were jamming with a singer we've all known forever and I heard that Ron was maybe playing with them. But I don't actually know what they are doing. It wouldn't be LEGIONED MARCHER without the same original 5 guys. Before we disbanded in 1988, we had several lineup changes that didn't work, the last version had original FORTE singer Jimmy Randel. But we only did live shows with original 5 guys because that was the only lineup that was perfect. So thats why I say "It wouldn't be LEGIONED MARCHER without the original 5 guys".
I think it would be cool & fun to get together and do 1 reunion show or record all the old songs, and if all 4 guys agreed to do it, I would be there for sure. But anything else like writing new stuff or whatever, I wouldn't really be interested in.
The thing is about bands that people don't think about is that part of the chemistry is the perfect lineup, but a bigger more important part of that chemistry is the drive/personality/fire/attitude/influence of each person at that exact moment in their life, and all of those things change in everyone every year of life, thats why bands have a hard trying to recreate that special thing that once existed.
LEGIONED MARCHER was Rev Jones, Ron Phillips, Bill Dollins, Chris Packhorse, and Ev Levingston in 1986-87!!!!!

We all know that you joined the mighty Forte in the eraly 90s and that Legioned Marcher vocalist Bill Dollins followed you a few years later. But he left after only one album and to this day this is his last known stay with a band, which by the way is a pitty as his voice sounded so fucking strong in both of these bands. To me especially his vocals in Legioned Marcher were up there with the great ones of the US Metal genre and it´s a shame he disappeared into oblivion.
Yes I got Bill to join FORTE for the "Division" album and he was in the band until I left. He actually only stayed in the band because of me, he really didn't want to be in a band anymore but he didn't want to quit on me and leave us looking for a singer. I see him ever so often at a store or restaurant, we say hi talk for a minute. There are a couple of other bands that he recorded with. He was in a band with the guys from POWERLORD called AGENT X and recorded a demo that wasn't released (but you can probably find a copy online). He also did an album with SYMON SEZ which featured the original guitar player from XEXEUS Jimmy Skaggs, I can't remember if it was released or not, but I could probably get a copy for you since I still Jimmy often.

What are the members of Legiond Marcher doing nowadays?
Not sure. I talk to Ron not too long ago he said he was writing some songs and working. I talk to Chris every now and then, I think him and Ev are still playing together. And I ran into Ev about a year ago up at my old rehearsal place. I'm not sure what Bill is doing.
I'm still playing with STEELHEART (new album 2017), and LESLIE WEST (mountain), and BLASTED TO STATIC (new album 2016), and I still tour occasionally with MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP. I also have a REV JONES BAND album coming out in 2017, featuring Jeff Martin on drums, Jim Dofka on guitar, and Rev Jones on vocals/bass….


Rev Jones ist´ne coole Socke, soviel steht fest. Schnelle Antwort, ausführliche Statements, netter Kontakt. Und ich musste da auch noch etliche Kürzungen vornehmen, der Mann hat wirklich viel zu erzählen und tut dies auch gerne. Schade jedoch, dass er, warum auch immer, bei den momentanen Aufnahmen nicht berücksichtigt wurde. Als wichtiger Teil der Band und jahrelanger Hüter des LM-Erbes hätte er es mehr als verdient gehabt.

Mal schauen was genau da auf uns zukommen wird. Bis dahin gilt es weiterhin den mp3 und Youtube Versionen dieser wunderbaren Songs zu huldigen....und auf ein Happy End bzgl. eines offiziellen Releases zu hoffen.

Unfassbar, es wird tatsächlich wahr!!



Ich wusste, dass Kostas schon seit Jahren dran war, aber da er in Bezug auf einen zustandekommenden ReRelease immer weniger positiv auf meine Nachfragen antwortete, darf das jetzt als kleines Wunder angesehen werden. So kindisch wie das jetzt klingt, für mich wird mit den Legioned Marcher Tracks in etwas besserer Soundqualität ein kleiner Traum wahr.

All hail Arkeyn Steel Records!!

[Angelus_Mortiis]

Dem ist nicht hinzuzufügen! Das Teil muss in die Sammlung!

[Acurus-Heiko]

Bestellt! Wie alles sonst auch immer von diesem Traumlabel!

[Pavlos]

Tryckvåg (Schweden)

- Demo 1982
- Demo 1984
- Stay The Night (7", 1985)
- Demolition (Compilation, 1999)

Schweden. Heimat von Pippi Langstrumpf, Kommissar Wallander und ABBA. Aber auch Land der tausend Inseln (über 220.000!!) und mindestens genauso viel unbekannter Metalbands aus den 80ern, die es trotz starker Songs nicht über das Demo-Stadium geschafft haben. Tryckvåg waren eine dieser Truppen. Classic steel mit einem leicht epischen Touch und dieser typisch schwedischen Leichtigkeit, das Ganze hart, jedoch stets eingängig klingen zu lassen.

Die 1999er "Demolition" Compilation, auf der u.a. beide Demos der Band enthalten sind, schmückt schon seit vielen Jahren etliche Suchlisten. Leider ist die CD nicht silver pressed und auch recht rar. Immer wieder gab es Gerüchte, dass sich ein richtiges Label der Sache annehmen würde, aber bisher wurde leider nicht mehr daraus.

Als ich letztens für diesen Artikel hier im Netz nach weiteren Infos zur Band recherchierte, knallte mir die behaarte Kinnlade auf den Schreibtisch, da ich auf einen neuen Tryckvåg Song stieß, der gerade erst letzten Januar veröffentlich wurde. Mir war total entgangen, dass die Jungs wieder zusammen sind bzw. neue Musik machen. Ergo: gleich mal Frontmann Mats angeschrieben und ein, zwei weitere Fragen eingebaut...



Metal archives states that the band was formed in summer 1978 under the name of Trash. Is that right and what do you remember from that period? How did you guys meet and who was part of the band back then? Who were your influences?
Me and Zingo started it all in the basement of his house in the village Mora-Noret where we grew up. He knew all the Black Sabbath riffs and that made a huge impression on me. We joined up with drummer Bo Berglund, named ourselves Trash and started to rehearse in the village school. Our main Influences were Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and Rush, soon joined by the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, Accept and Ozzy Ozbourne. We played mostly Black Sabbath and Rush covers but also started to explore our own songwriting skills. Soon we (of course) realized that we needed a bassplayer, so we tried a few but that did not really work well. One evening we had a gig at a local venue in Mora and there we saw Mikael Höglund playing with another band and as he made an impression on us we immediately started talking about him joining us. We had the same views on music and what style we wanted to play, so he was in and the band was complete.

When did the name change to Tryckvåg come and who had the idea?
We got approached by wwedish television to perform in a popular TV show called Discotaket. We felt that we needed a better name for the band and that it would be better to have a swedish name rather than an english one so we changed it to Tryckvåg (blastwave). We played two songs at the show, 'Wild Zephyr' and 'White Wizard'. We were so excited to go from our little town to the big city of Malmö where this was filmed. The night before the show we sat on the floor in the hotelroom and shared a bottle of Whiskey while discussing who should talk to the host of the show. We really thought that we had "made it", haha. After that show they wanted to use our song 'White Wizard' which gave us a bit of airplay in Sweden.

But soon things changed...
Yes. Right after that event the band went into some differences regarding the music direction. Me and Mikael were all into Judas Priest and the NWOBHM while the other guys wanted to go a different direction. We knew drummer Thomas Broman and his excellent playing from rehearsing in the same space, so we talked him into start playing with us.
We made a few personel changes through these years. At one point for example we decided that we wanted a lead vocalist because I wanted to concantrate on playing guitar only, and a second guitarist to make our sound more in the vein of Judas Priest. The first one we tried out was Donald Burnette (vocals), a scottish singer living in Sweden at the time. He helped us straighten up our lyrics and brought Larsan Wilkensson (guitar) with him. But soon Donald quit the band and moved back to Scotland so we drafted Conny Lind (vocals), a good friend from Mora. He was more like a David Lee Roth kind of singer and I loved Van Halen so we stuck with that for a while playing gigs around Dalercarlia. There was a lot of coming and going and we couldn't really stabilize a line up so we went back to three piece as this was how the band always worked best.
 
In 1980 and 1982 you did two demos. How was the response, did you manage to get some attention from outside of Sweden or was it more a national thing for you? I always had the impression that you were something like a household name in your country but didn't get any press outside of Sweden.
During that time we started playing a lot of live shows in the region we come from (Dalercarlia) and we were very creative with our songwriting. We figured out the riffs in the rehearsal space at day and during the nights me and Mikael wrote the lyrics in my house. In order not to wake my mum I had a ladder from my room's balcony where we came and went, haha.
We recorded our first demo at the local musicstore (Pianonisse) wich had a studio in the basement and the second one in the nearby city Falun (Studio Trollton), but the exact timeline on this sessions is only vague in my memory.
We were not really a household name in the whole of Sweden, but we may have been in Dalercarlia though. At least the response we got for our demo recordings was positive. But we always felt that we had to make the "next step", which somehow never really happened.
 
In early 1985 you moved to Stockholm and released the „Stay The Night“ single that saw you guys moving into a more melodic and slightly poppy direction. Why that? Was that single a success?
The single was released before we moved to Stockholm and to this day I can't really explain and understand why we made the single so different to most of our older material. It was when Europe and all the similar sounding bands started to gain popularity with their softer approach so I guess we got caught up in that. But we soon regreted it and quickly turned back to old style metal while writing songs like 'Missing In Action'. 'Stay The Night' didn't do anything for us as it only got limited airplay.
 
No more infos on the net about Tryckvåg after that release. What happened with the band the following years? It is known that you reformed in 1999 and also did some shows here and there, but not a lot of information about that period. Please clear the smoke and give us some infos.
After that single release we met Björn Lodin (Baltimoore) and he had this idea for a band so we left Tryckvåg behind and started a new band called Ready Steady with Björn as the lead singer.We recorded a few demos but the project never really took off. Me and Mikael were approached by a band called Bang Bang and this was the start of what later became Great King Rat. Thomas stayed with Great King Rat and they had great success in Sweden while I moved to Los Angeles and joined Mogg.

During the last years the band members of Tryckvåg played with some of the best rock musicians out there. Michael Schenker, Glenn Hughes, Thunder, Baltimoore, to only name a few. How did you guys get involved with all this big names and what were/are your experiences with all this legends?
My claim to fame is very modest, I played with Mogg and Baltimoore and I still work with Björn Lodin sometimes but Mikael played with Thunder (UK) and Thomas played with a lot of celebs in the business. Mikael got a tip from Pontus Norgren (Great King Rat, Hammerfall) about Thunder (UK) needing a new bassplayer. He contacted their manager and went off to England for an audition. It was like 35 other bassplayers in line for the tryouts that also wanted the job. After a few days waiting in the hotel he found out that he got the gig, took the next flight home and learned all the songs in two weeks.
 
In early 2022 you put a new Tryckvåg song online called 'Pull The Trigger' (which I really do like!!). I wasn't aware of this and found out while I was searching the net for infos about Tryckvåg. There also will be a new album later this year, right? What can we expect from it, who's in the band right now?
Bored out of doing nothing musically during Covid, Mikael called me and said that it was time to write some new music rather than sitting around doing nothing. We called Thomas and tracked some drums. So 'Pull The Trigger' is the first result of that session. The album will be called "Legacy" and it will be us picking up were we left of in the 80s. The same vibe in the music but maybe a little bit more modern sound since the way of recording has changed a lot since then and we have of cause picked up a few new influences. We will put one or two rerecorded old songs on there to bridge over to the new stuff. 'Are You Receiving Me' will definitely be a part of it, because that song has started almost every gig we ever made and we still love the song and the positive vibe it brings.
 
Going back to your early stuff: in 1999 there was a anthology CD called „Demolition“, that included the two Tryckvåg demos plus some live stuff. Any chances to rerelease it ('cause it's damn hard to find nowadays and it was a CD-R), this time as a „real“ CD from a label?
That CD was released by our own label Haban Records and we printed it ourselves for our first reuninon gig back then. We sold it at our gigs with a very limited number of CDs. We have decided that what's out there is out there and we have no plans on rereleasing any old material as the process of making new songs is our prority right now. But who knows....

[Loomis]

Der Song klingt stark! Aber dass sie das alte Zeug nicht ordentlich releasen wollen, ist halt schon wieder ein übles Eigentor.

[Pavlos]

Troll waren mir bis vor zwei Jahren kein Begriff. Als Jag Panzer 2019 in Mannheim spielten und ich vor dem Auftritt ein paar Minuten mit der Band reden konnte, erzählte mir Gitarrist Ken Rodarte eher beiläufig von seiner allerersten Band, eben Troll. Zu jenem Zeitpunkt gab es im Netz keinen einzigen Track des Demos zu finden und so verlor ich das Thema wieder aus den Augen. Scheinbar war ich nicht der einzige auf der Tour, der über Troll erzählt bekommen hatte, denn ein paar Monate später stand plötzlich das komplette Demo online, und aus den tiefsten Tiefen des Undergrounds konnte man, wenn man ganz genau hinlauschte, glücklich mitsingende US Metal Fans hören. Die ersten Kommentare ließen auf etwas cooles hoffen, and boy, does this sound great!! Hymnischer USPM mit eingängigen Gesangslinien/Refrains und hart angespielten Riffs. Ich also erstmal die Tracks runtergezogen, einen Song auf meinem YT Kanal hochgeladen und Mr. Rodarte zwecks Interview kontaktiert....und hier sind seine Atworten.



Absolutely nothing is known about Troll. Some months ago the demo was uploaded on YouTube and underground aficionados went nuts. Right now we only know that you were a part of it, but what about the other guys? Could you please say something about where and how the band came together and who was part of it?
Troll was formed in late 1984 by guitarist Ken Rodarte and drummer Mike Grant who both lived in Scottsdale, Arizona. We soon met Nick Rivero (bass/vocals) who lived in Phoenix. We recorded a six song demo cassette called ”Time tells no lies“ in 1988...and broke up.
Mike Grant currently resides in Georgia and is still an avid musician playing drums, guitar, singing and creating original music. I am currently in a band called Downhill Trend which is still active in Phoenix Arizona and has two recordings available on all popular streaming services. In late 2018, I was given the opportunity to play lead guitar for Jag Panzer doing sporadic US dates for the Deviant Chord tour, and eventually the European tour in 2019. Nick Rivero is also still a resident of Arizona and has various recordings available through Facebook and reverbnation.

Phoenix, Arizona spit out some very cool bands in the 80s, I'm thinking about legends like Flotsam & Jetsam, Sacred Reich or the always kind of underrated Icon, but also about some lesser known bands like Lurch Killz, Surgical Steel or the mighty Tension. What did the scene in and around Phoenix look like back in the late 80s, did Troll play live gigs (maybe with some of these bigger bands), how was the scene connected?
Well, the place to play in Phoenix back in the days was the legendary Mason Jar. Several famous bands before becoming big played there. From what I can remember, there were two schools – a school of Heavy Metal and a school of more Glam Metal. Troll belonged to the former.
We opened for the mighty Flotsam & Jetsam once back in the day, Sacred Reich at least two if not three or more times (once at a house party with a stage made out of milk crates), we played with a band called Kaiser that was fronted by Brett Kaiser from Madame X many times. We also opened for Omen, David T. Chastain, Manowar, and other lesser-known bands like Paradise and Little Cesar from Los Angeles.

The demo songs show a nice variety of styles. We have classic US Metal with epic vocal lines, we have speedy tracks with furious solos and we have the title track with about eight and a half minutes duration and almost proggy structures. Who were your influences when you started making music and who influenced you in the late 80s when you recorded the demo? And who wrote your songs?
Nick was and still is super talented and can sing/play like anyone he wants to. Mike was heavily influenced by Rush, I was heavily influenced by Randy Rhoads. Before we started writing original music, we all were also heavily influenced by Iron Maiden, often playing parties/shows with sets comprised with a huge percentage of Iron Maiden covers and also some Judas Priest. I did the guitar music, Nick wrote his own basslines and the vocals (and lyrics), and Mike wrote his drum parts with direction from Nick and myself.

The demo features six songs and was recorded 1988. Was this all you got or were there more Troll songs written by you guys? Did you get some reviews for the demo, what happened after its release? When and why did the band split? I know that you guys continued playing music in different bands like Axetra or Tynator and stayed true to Speed/Thrash Metal.
There are four more troll songs that are not on the six song demo, I would have to look around for them. We were very young and we were not of the mind to be sending our stuff out to magazines for reviews....which is why no one ever heard of us. The band split in late 1991 I believe, Nick decided he no longer wanted to be in the band and simply quit.

Revisiting your demo with this interview, what's your opinion about the songs in 2021? What are your thoughts about a possible reissue? How come that Troll were like a hidden secret all this years, were you guys never contacted for interviews, re-releases or stuff like that?
I think the songs on the demo still stand the test of time, even if it might be evident that they were recorded long ago. Random people have hit me up through the years asking about the band and copies of the disc/demo but we have never been approached by somebody that actually wanted us to reunite. Mike lives in Georgia so that would be our first problem. The second problem would be that after having posted crossroads of yesterday on my Facebook page, I immediately got a message from Nick asking me to take it down because he did not want it online. I think Mike and I are proud of the Troll material while Nick would rather see it buried forever. So as cool as troll was, it is definitely unfortunate that we never went any farther than we did. I understand we are in the Encyclopedia Metallicum.

We reached the "Any last words? part of the interview....
A very cool story is that on my 21st birthday, the local radio station played the longest song from the demo, the title track, clocking in at roughly eight minutes. We were a good band that broke up before doing anything, had no management, and quite frankly we were very, very young and partying heavily – making music and being a band was our thing, we did not have our eyes open for future opportunities which is why we have remained a relatively unknown secret.

Yes Baby, auch hier konnte ich erfolgreich vermitteln, und am Freitag geht die Vorbestellung bei Cult Metal Classics an den Start. Sensationeller Stoff für alle US Metal Fans!!

[Angelus_Mortiis]

Troll waren mir bis vor zwei Jahren kein Begriff. Als Jag Panzer 2019 in Mannheim spielten und ich vor dem Auftritt ein paar Minuten mit der Band reden konnte, erzählte mir Gitarrist Ken Rodarte eher beiläufig von seiner allerersten Band, eben Troll. Zu jenem Zeitpunkt gab es im Netz keinen einzigen Track des Demos zu finden und so verlor ich das Thema wieder aus den Augen. Scheinbar war ich nicht der einzige auf der Tour, der über Troll erzählt bekommen hatte, denn ein paar Monate später stand plötzlich das komplette Demo online, und aus den tiefsten Tiefen des Undergrounds konnte man, wenn man ganz genau hinlauschte, glücklich mitsingende US Metal Fans hören. Die ersten Kommentare ließen auf etwas cooles hoffen, and boy, does this sound great!! Hymnischer USPM mit eingängigen Gesangslinien/Refrains und hart angespielten Riffs. Ich also erstmal die Tracks runtergezogen, einen Song auf meinem YT Kanal hochgeladen und Mr. Rodarte zwecks Interview kontaktiert....und hier sind seine Atworten.



Absolutely nothing is known about Troll. Some months ago the demo was uploaded on YouTube and underground aficionados went nuts. Right now we only know that you were a part of it, but what about the other guys? Could you please say something about where and how the band came together and who was part of it?
Troll was formed in late 1984 by guitarist Ken Rodarte and drummer Mike Grant who both lived in Scottsdale, Arizona. We soon met Nick Rivero (bass/vocals) who lived in Phoenix. We recorded a six song demo cassette called ”Time tells no lies“ in 1988...and broke up.
Mike Grant currently resides in Georgia and is still an avid musician playing drums, guitar, singing and creating original music. I am currently in a band called Downhill Trend which is still active in Phoenix Arizona and has two recordings available on all popular streaming services. In late 2018, I was given the opportunity to play lead guitar for Jag Panzer doing sporadic US dates for the Deviant Chord tour, and eventually the European tour in 2019. Nick Rivero is also still a resident of Arizona and has various recordings available through Facebook and reverbnation.

Phoenix, Arizona spit out some very cool bands in the 80s, I'm thinking about legends like Flotsam & Jetsam, Sacred Reich or the always kind of underrated Icon, but also about some lesser known bands like Lurch Killz, Surgical Steel or the mighty Tension. What did the scene in and around Phoenix look like back in the late 80s, did Troll play live gigs (maybe with some of these bigger bands), how was the scene connected?
Well, the place to play in Phoenix back in the days was the legendary Mason Jar. Several famous bands before becoming big played there. From what I can remember, there were two schools – a school of Heavy Metal and a school of more Glam Metal. Troll belonged to the former.
We opened for the mighty Flotsam & Jetsam once back in the day, Sacred Reich at least two if not three or more times (once at a house party with a stage made out of milk crates), we played with a band called Kaiser that was fronted by Brett Kaiser from Madame X many times. We also opened for Omen, David T. Chastain, Manowar, and other lesser-known bands like Paradise and Little Cesar from Los Angeles.

The demo songs show a nice variety of styles. We have classic US Metal with epic vocal lines, we have speedy tracks with furious solos and we have the title track with about eight and a half minutes duration and almost proggy structures. Who were your influences when you started making music and who influenced you in the late 80s when you recorded the demo? And who wrote your songs?
Nick was and still is super talented and can sing/play like anyone he wants to. Mike was heavily influenced by Rush, I was heavily influenced by Randy Rhoads. Before we started writing original music, we all were also heavily influenced by Iron Maiden, often playing parties/shows with sets comprised with a huge percentage of Iron Maiden covers and also some Judas Priest. I did the guitar music, Nick wrote his own basslines and the vocals (and lyrics), and Mike wrote his drum parts with direction from Nick and myself.

The demo features six songs and was recorded 1988. Was this all you got or were there more Troll songs written by you guys? Did you get some reviews for the demo, what happened after its release? When and why did the band split? I know that you guys continued playing music in different bands like Axetra or Tynator and stayed true to Speed/Thrash Metal.
There are four more troll songs that are not on the six song demo, I would have to look around for them. We were very young and we were not of the mind to be sending our stuff out to magazines for reviews....which is why no one ever heard of us. The band split in late 1991 I believe, Nick decided he no longer wanted to be in the band and simply quit.

Revisiting your demo with this interview, what's your opinion about the songs in 2021? What are your thoughts about a possible reissue? How come that Troll were like a hidden secret all this years, were you guys never contacted for interviews, re-releases or stuff like that?
I think the songs on the demo still stand the test of time, even if it might be evident that they were recorded long ago. Random people have hit me up through the years asking about the band and copies of the disc/demo but we have never been approached by somebody that actually wanted us to reunite. Mike lives in Georgia so that would be our first problem. The second problem would be that after having posted crossroads of yesterday on my Facebook page, I immediately got a message from Nick asking me to take it down because he did not want it online. I think Mike and I are proud of the Troll material while Nick would rather see it buried forever. So as cool as troll was, it is definitely unfortunate that we never went any farther than we did. I understand we are in the Encyclopedia Metallicum.

We reached the "Any last words? part of the interview....
A very cool story is that on my 21st birthday, the local radio station played the longest song from the demo, the title track, clocking in at roughly eight minutes. We were a good band that broke up before doing anything, had no management, and quite frankly we were very, very young and partying heavily – making music and being a band was our thing, we did not have our eyes open for future opportunities which is why we have remained a relatively unknown secret.

Yes Baby, auch hier konnte ich erfolgreich vermitteln, und am Freitag geht die Vorbestellung bei Cult Metal Classics an den Start. Sensationeller Stoff für alle US Metal Fans!!

Hast du hier jetzt die Vermittler-Rolle von Alex übernommen? Egal, Super-Sache!!!!

[Pavlos]

Troll waren mir bis vor zwei Jahren kein Begriff. Als Jag Panzer 2019 in Mannheim spielten und ich vor dem Auftritt ein paar Minuten mit der Band reden konnte, erzählte mir Gitarrist Ken Rodarte eher beiläufig von seiner allerersten Band, eben Troll. Zu jenem Zeitpunkt gab es im Netz keinen einzigen Track des Demos zu finden und so verlor ich das Thema wieder aus den Augen. Scheinbar war ich nicht der einzige auf der Tour, der über Troll erzählt bekommen hatte, denn ein paar Monate später stand plötzlich das komplette Demo online, und aus den tiefsten Tiefen des Undergrounds konnte man, wenn man ganz genau hinlauschte, glücklich mitsingende US Metal Fans hören. Die ersten Kommentare ließen auf etwas cooles hoffen, and boy, does this sound great!! Hymnischer USPM mit eingängigen Gesangslinien/Refrains und hart angespielten Riffs. Ich also erstmal die Tracks runtergezogen, einen Song auf meinem YT Kanal hochgeladen und Mr. Rodarte zwecks Interview kontaktiert....und hier sind seine Atworten.



Absolutely nothing is known about Troll. Some months ago the demo was uploaded on YouTube and underground aficionados went nuts. Right now we only know that you were a part of it, but what about the other guys? Could you please say something about where and how the band came together and who was part of it?
Troll was formed in late 1984 by guitarist Ken Rodarte and drummer Mike Grant who both lived in Scottsdale, Arizona. We soon met Nick Rivero (bass/vocals) who lived in Phoenix. We recorded a six song demo cassette called ”Time tells no lies“ in 1988...and broke up.
Mike Grant currently resides in Georgia and is still an avid musician playing drums, guitar, singing and creating original music. I am currently in a band called Downhill Trend which is still active in Phoenix Arizona and has two recordings available on all popular streaming services. In late 2018, I was given the opportunity to play lead guitar for Jag Panzer doing sporadic US dates for the Deviant Chord tour, and eventually the European tour in 2019. Nick Rivero is also still a resident of Arizona and has various recordings available through Facebook and reverbnation.

Phoenix, Arizona spit out some very cool bands in the 80s, I'm thinking about legends like Flotsam & Jetsam, Sacred Reich or the always kind of underrated Icon, but also about some lesser known bands like Lurch Killz, Surgical Steel or the mighty Tension. What did the scene in and around Phoenix look like back in the late 80s, did Troll play live gigs (maybe with some of these bigger bands), how was the scene connected?
Well, the place to play in Phoenix back in the days was the legendary Mason Jar. Several famous bands before becoming big played there. From what I can remember, there were two schools – a school of Heavy Metal and a school of more Glam Metal. Troll belonged to the former.
We opened for the mighty Flotsam & Jetsam once back in the day, Sacred Reich at least two if not three or more times (once at a house party with a stage made out of milk crates), we played with a band called Kaiser that was fronted by Brett Kaiser from Madame X many times. We also opened for Omen, David T. Chastain, Manowar, and other lesser-known bands like Paradise and Little Cesar from Los Angeles.

The demo songs show a nice variety of styles. We have classic US Metal with epic vocal lines, we have speedy tracks with furious solos and we have the title track with about eight and a half minutes duration and almost proggy structures. Who were your influences when you started making music and who influenced you in the late 80s when you recorded the demo? And who wrote your songs?
Nick was and still is super talented and can sing/play like anyone he wants to. Mike was heavily influenced by Rush, I was heavily influenced by Randy Rhoads. Before we started writing original music, we all were also heavily influenced by Iron Maiden, often playing parties/shows with sets comprised with a huge percentage of Iron Maiden covers and also some Judas Priest. I did the guitar music, Nick wrote his own basslines and the vocals (and lyrics), and Mike wrote his drum parts with direction from Nick and myself.

The demo features six songs and was recorded 1988. Was this all you got or were there more Troll songs written by you guys? Did you get some reviews for the demo, what happened after its release? When and why did the band split? I know that you guys continued playing music in different bands like Axetra or Tynator and stayed true to Speed/Thrash Metal.
There are four more troll songs that are not on the six song demo, I would have to look around for them. We were very young and we were not of the mind to be sending our stuff out to magazines for reviews....which is why no one ever heard of us. The band split in late 1991 I believe, Nick decided he no longer wanted to be in the band and simply quit.

Revisiting your demo with this interview, what's your opinion about the songs in 2021? What are your thoughts about a possible reissue? How come that Troll were like a hidden secret all this years, were you guys never contacted for interviews, re-releases or stuff like that?
I think the songs on the demo still stand the test of time, even if it might be evident that they were recorded long ago. Random people have hit me up through the years asking about the band and copies of the disc/demo but we have never been approached by somebody that actually wanted us to reunite. Mike lives in Georgia so that would be our first problem. The second problem would be that after having posted crossroads of yesterday on my Facebook page, I immediately got a message from Nick asking me to take it down because he did not want it online. I think Mike and I are proud of the Troll material while Nick would rather see it buried forever. So as cool as troll was, it is definitely unfortunate that we never went any farther than we did. I understand we are in the Encyclopedia Metallicum.

We reached the "Any last words? part of the interview....
A very cool story is that on my 21st birthday, the local radio station played the longest song from the demo, the title track, clocking in at roughly eight minutes. We were a good band that broke up before doing anything, had no management, and quite frankly we were very, very young and partying heavily – making music and being a band was our thing, we did not have our eyes open for future opportunities which is why we have remained a relatively unknown secret.

Yes Baby, auch hier konnte ich erfolgreich vermitteln, und am Freitag geht die Vorbestellung bei Cult Metal Classics an den Start. Sensationeller Stoff für alle US Metal Fans!!

Hast du hier jetzt die Vermittler-Rolle von Alex übernommen? Egal, Super-Sache!!!!

Nein, nein. An den legendären El Panzo kommt keiner ran.

[Acurus-Heiko]

Troll waren mir bis vor zwei Jahren kein Begriff. Als Jag Panzer 2019 in Mannheim spielten und ich vor dem Auftritt ein paar Minuten mit der Band reden konnte, erzählte mir Gitarrist Ken Rodarte eher beiläufig von seiner allerersten Band, eben Troll. Zu jenem Zeitpunkt gab es im Netz keinen einzigen Track des Demos zu finden und so verlor ich das Thema wieder aus den Augen. Scheinbar war ich nicht der einzige auf der Tour, der über Troll erzählt bekommen hatte, denn ein paar Monate später stand plötzlich das komplette Demo online, und aus den tiefsten Tiefen des Undergrounds konnte man, wenn man ganz genau hinlauschte, glücklich mitsingende US Metal Fans hören. Die ersten Kommentare ließen auf etwas cooles hoffen, and boy, does this sound great!! Hymnischer USPM mit eingängigen Gesangslinien/Refrains und hart angespielten Riffs. Ich also erstmal die Tracks runtergezogen, einen Song auf meinem YT Kanal hochgeladen und Mr. Rodarte zwecks Interview kontaktiert....und hier sind seine Atworten.



Absolutely nothing is known about Troll. Some months ago the demo was uploaded on YouTube and underground aficionados went nuts. Right now we only know that you were a part of it, but what about the other guys? Could you please say something about where and how the band came together and who was part of it?
Troll was formed in late 1984 by guitarist Ken Rodarte and drummer Mike Grant who both lived in Scottsdale, Arizona. We soon met Nick Rivero (bass/vocals) who lived in Phoenix. We recorded a six song demo cassette called ”Time tells no lies“ in 1988...and broke up.
Mike Grant currently resides in Georgia and is still an avid musician playing drums, guitar, singing and creating original music. I am currently in a band called Downhill Trend which is still active in Phoenix Arizona and has two recordings available on all popular streaming services. In late 2018, I was given the opportunity to play lead guitar for Jag Panzer doing sporadic US dates for the Deviant Chord tour, and eventually the European tour in 2019. Nick Rivero is also still a resident of Arizona and has various recordings available through Facebook and reverbnation.

Phoenix, Arizona spit out some very cool bands in the 80s, I'm thinking about legends like Flotsam & Jetsam, Sacred Reich or the always kind of underrated Icon, but also about some lesser known bands like Lurch Killz, Surgical Steel or the mighty Tension. What did the scene in and around Phoenix look like back in the late 80s, did Troll play live gigs (maybe with some of these bigger bands), how was the scene connected?
Well, the place to play in Phoenix back in the days was the legendary Mason Jar. Several famous bands before becoming big played there. From what I can remember, there were two schools – a school of Heavy Metal and a school of more Glam Metal. Troll belonged to the former.
We opened for the mighty Flotsam & Jetsam once back in the day, Sacred Reich at least two if not three or more times (once at a house party with a stage made out of milk crates), we played with a band called Kaiser that was fronted by Brett Kaiser from Madame X many times. We also opened for Omen, David T. Chastain, Manowar, and other lesser-known bands like Paradise and Little Cesar from Los Angeles.

The demo songs show a nice variety of styles. We have classic US Metal with epic vocal lines, we have speedy tracks with furious solos and we have the title track with about eight and a half minutes duration and almost proggy structures. Who were your influences when you started making music and who influenced you in the late 80s when you recorded the demo? And who wrote your songs?
Nick was and still is super talented and can sing/play like anyone he wants to. Mike was heavily influenced by Rush, I was heavily influenced by Randy Rhoads. Before we started writing original music, we all were also heavily influenced by Iron Maiden, often playing parties/shows with sets comprised with a huge percentage of Iron Maiden covers and also some Judas Priest. I did the guitar music, Nick wrote his own basslines and the vocals (and lyrics), and Mike wrote his drum parts with direction from Nick and myself.

The demo features six songs and was recorded 1988. Was this all you got or were there more Troll songs written by you guys? Did you get some reviews for the demo, what happened after its release? When and why did the band split? I know that you guys continued playing music in different bands like Axetra or Tynator and stayed true to Speed/Thrash Metal.
There are four more troll songs that are not on the six song demo, I would have to look around for them. We were very young and we were not of the mind to be sending our stuff out to magazines for reviews....which is why no one ever heard of us. The band split in late 1991 I believe, Nick decided he no longer wanted to be in the band and simply quit.

Revisiting your demo with this interview, what's your opinion about the songs in 2021? What are your thoughts about a possible reissue? How come that Troll were like a hidden secret all this years, were you guys never contacted for interviews, re-releases or stuff like that?
I think the songs on the demo still stand the test of time, even if it might be evident that they were recorded long ago. Random people have hit me up through the years asking about the band and copies of the disc/demo but we have never been approached by somebody that actually wanted us to reunite. Mike lives in Georgia so that would be our first problem. The second problem would be that after having posted crossroads of yesterday on my Facebook page, I immediately got a message from Nick asking me to take it down because he did not want it online. I think Mike and I are proud of the Troll material while Nick would rather see it buried forever. So as cool as troll was, it is definitely unfortunate that we never went any farther than we did. I understand we are in the Encyclopedia Metallicum.

We reached the "Any last words? part of the interview....
A very cool story is that on my 21st birthday, the local radio station played the longest song from the demo, the title track, clocking in at roughly eight minutes. We were a good band that broke up before doing anything, had no management, and quite frankly we were very, very young and partying heavily – making music and being a band was our thing, we did not have our eyes open for future opportunities which is why we have remained a relatively unknown secret.

Yes Baby, auch hier konnte ich erfolgreich vermitteln, und am Freitag geht die Vorbestellung bei Cult Metal Classics an den Start. Sensationeller Stoff für alle US Metal Fans!!

Hast du hier jetzt die Vermittler-Rolle von Alex übernommen? Egal, Super-Sache!!!!

Nein, nein. An den legendären El Panzo kommt keiner ran.

Egal. Ich knuddel Dich.

Edit: Hier ein Song in "restaurierter" Form: