"Wichita s the most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas", says Wikipedia. "Points of interest: the Exploration Place science and discovery center, the Mid-America All-Indian Center, the Old Cowtown living history museum, and..." And to hell with that! The real points of interests for us metalheads are Manilla Road and Stygian Shore who put Wichita on the map of heavy metal. They were close friends and it was Greg Marshall, the Shore's bass player/singer, who christned Mark Shelton as Shark. But even without that Manilla Road connection Stygian Shore deserve your attention. They played that rare brand of metal which takes you by the throat from the first note and leaves you breathless in the end. The band remained unnoticed by labels but carried on despite everything. They worked hard and kept gigging and recording even when Greg Marshall lost his right arm — he just started playing bass with a hook. So here we are talking with Greg about all the ups an downs of his career wit Stygian Shore and other bands.
Malice. This band still means a lot to me. I remember how happy I was when I discoveerd them and how I almost wrecked my neck banging my head to "Air Attack", "Stellar Masters" and "Godz of Thunder". They had everything: awesome songs, cool image, incredibly talanted musicians, a deal with a major label. And yeah, they rocked like the greatest bands of the era. But after two outstanding albums they split, and it is probably the most unfair thing in the show business. There is also a very personal story. Some 15 years ago I was offered a chance to write an article for a printed music magazine. That was my very first attempt in writing. Of course, Malice was my first choice. That was the time when Myspace rulled the music world and I contacted Mark Behn via that platform to get some information about the band. He was very kind and answered my questions. Imagine, how happy I was! The article was done in time and I even got paid for it. 15 years later I decided to bother Mark once again to do an in-depth interview about Malice and to pay a tribute to the late Mick Zane. And here is the result — almost 3 hours long interview !
This is a story of a dedication to the dream and a true brotherhood. In the beginning of the 80's three young brothers decided to leave Fairbanks, Alaska, to conquer Los Angeles' rock scene. Simple as that. And they made it. To some degree. They headlined shows at the Troubadour, the Roxy, the Country club and all other famous venues. Metallica and Poison opened for them. They were on the very first "Metal Massacre" compilation and had a deal with Metal Blade Records. But unlike some other bands who also were on that album, Pandemonium never got a deal with a major label or a chance to tour the world. And not because they weren't good enough for that? But why?! David Resch, the eldest of the three Resch brothers, tells the story of Pandemonium.
Note: this interview was done in 2022.
Here is the last part of the gigantic interview with Jack Starr. (In case you missed previous parts here are the links: part 1 — about Virgin Steele, part 2 — about the first phase of Burning Starr, part 3 — about Jack's blues albums and his return to metal in 2000's) This time we touched such topics as the latest Burning Starr record "Souls of the Innocent", reissue of the band's back catalogue on Global Rock Records, recent triumphant show in Greece and some other stuff.
NOTE: this interview was done in 2019 for my printed zine.
While Atrophy enjoy a well-deserved success with their latest album "Asylum", let's dive in the history of this awesome thrash metal outfit and relive some fun and odd moments with the singer Brian Zimmerman!
"Bloodbound are celebrating 20th anniversary with the live album "The Tales of Nosferatu.Two Decades of Blood (2004-2024)!" This newsletter in my email hit me quite hard. Like what? I still vividly remember how I bought Bloodbound's debut album "Nosferaty" on CD and banged my head listening to the title track in a CD walkman while going home on a subway train. 20 years already? Other people's children apparently grow so quickly! A bit of a spoiler here: "Tales of Nosferatu" really rocks! Great footage, amazing performance, killer quality, lots of bonuses including a comic book... I've got in touch with the keyboard player Fredrik Bergh to discuss everything related to the upcoming live album and some moments from the band's history.
For many old school metalheads Jurgen Gruf is the guy who played on two extremely cool U.D.O. albums "Solid" and "No Limit" in the late 90's. This alone casted his name in the history of metal music. But his musical journey has began way before that and he made some noise with, a-hem, The Noise, Bullet and Sign. Unfortunatelly, after quitting U.D.O. disappered from the metal scene but he keeps on playing music with various bands and project. Some of them are/were quite unexpected for an ex-U.D.O. but Jurgen has always been more that just a rocker. Let's join him on his adventirous musical ride!
