Album Anticipation- House of Lords Precious Metal

In keeping with Chris and Aaron's theme this week, an album I am anticipating is the new one from House of Lords, Precious Metal. Due out on February 25th, this release has flown somewhat under the radar as has the band for most of their career.

Formed in 1987 by Gregg Guiffria, the band was signed to Simmons Records by Gene after he heard the demos for what would have been the band Guiffria's third album. He had one stipulation, and that was they had to replace singer David Glenn Eisley. Enter singer James Christian and in 1988 House of Lords released their eponymous self titled debut album. The band was always somewhere between AOR and glam metal, however despite having a major hit with the song "I Wanna Be Loved",they were a little late to the party that so many glam metal bands had enjoyed. In 1990 they released Sahara that also spawned the hit singles "Can't Find My Way Home", and "Remember My Name" to a lukewarm response. At this time the musical climate was changing and by the time they released their third effort, 1992's Demon's Down, the world was full on into grunge. They disbanded by 1993.

Flash forward to 2000 and James Christian and Greg Guiffria put together a bit of a reunion line up together and begin plans to reboot with a new album. Not until 2004 does the newly reform House of Lords finally release The Power and the Myth, but by this point Guiffria has decided to retire from the road only to take on a lucrative business the casino world. The Power and the Myth really did not sound very much like the AOR gold they had spun in the 80's, sounding more like prog rock instead. At this point James Christian takes over the band and completely replaces the members. The new line up consisted of Jimi Bell on guitar, Chris McCarvill on bass, and B.J. Zampa on drums.

Now here is where I find a bands history gets interesting. This particular line has released, in an eight year history, five studio albums and one live album. Whereas the "original" line up only released 4 proper studio albums in technically was only a five year career. Who is the real House of Lords? Its up to the individual sure, and for me I say the second version is the stronger of the two.

So where does Precious Metal stack up compared to this impressive body of work? For me, its up there with the best of them. I feel like creatively they have stretched their boundaries a bit more, but still maintain the classic sound maybe even an bit heavier. The album opens with "Battle" which is the perfect opening song. A fast, heavy track that sets a good tone. Next is "I'm Breaking Free" which settles in as a solid AOR track which is followed up by "Epic". This song is a good idea, but I feel the words let it down a bit. "Live Everyday(Like It's the Last) follows as a true power ballad as only HOL can do. The fifth track is probably my favorite, "Permission to Die". Great guitar riff and you hear Jimi really start to show his chops. Here's a guy you never hear about, but can wail on his guitar-very underrated. The title track is next, and it is the second ballad on the album, "Precious Metal". To be honest, this song caught me by surprise as I was thinking based on metal being in the title that is would be a balls out rocker. Instead you get a tender love ballad that has a terrific vocal harmony that blew me away. If this were a two sided album then "Swimmin' With the Sharks" would open side two and it is a great choice as it is another solid rocker. Next is "Raw" which for me, I like the verses and the guitar work but the chorus doesn't do it for me. Track nine is called "Enemy Mine"and this is where they go off their formula a bit and it works. Good song with backround vocals from James' wife Robin Beck. The next three songs really finish the album out well, "Action", "Turn Back the Tide", and "You Might Just Save My Life". They just seem to go together well one right after the other. All have good guitar work in them, James' really sings on "Turn Back the Tide", and I love the chorus idea in "You Might Just Save My Life".

This album is a strong release and I strongly recommend this album to everybody. If each song was worth one point I would rate this release as a 9.5 out of 12.

Now Hear This: All Things Must Pass

     I know, poor George Harrison, right? Oh, it must have been so hard, being the guitar player in the most popular and successful rock band in history. The world's smallest violin gently weeps. But try to imagine how George Harrison, who developed into quite a talented songwriter in his own right, felt to find himself, understandably, entirely overshadowed by two insanely gifted and prolific geniuses named John Lennon and Paul McCartney. How triumphant then that arguably the two very best songs on the last album that The Beatles recorded together, Abbey Road, were written and sung by George. "Something" and "Here Comes The Sun" are timeless classics and set the stage for Mr. Harrison's first real solo album (let's ignore its self-indulgent predecessors), a triple album called All Things Must Pass (it's really just a double album since the third LP contains a mostly improvised jam session--okay, this one's a tad self-indulgent as well).

     John Ono Lennon had announced he was leaving The Beatles a week before Abbey Road was released in September of 1969 (that album would go on sell four million copies in the first three months). George Harrison's song "Something" was released as the album's second single and went to number one in both the US and the UK.

     Harrison began recording All Things Must Pass with Phil Spector at Abbey Road Studios in May of 1970, mixing was completed in October and the album was released at the end of November. Several of the songs on the album had been rejected by The Beatles when the band were recording the aborted Get Back album, which was eventually released posthumously as Let It Be right around the time George began recording All Things Must Pass. Upon its release All Things Must Pass would sit at number one on the Billboard charts for the first seven weeks of 1971. The album spent longer at number one than either Let It Be or Paul's first solo album McCartney had the previous year.

     All Things Must Pass opens with a mellow tune George co-wrote with Bob Dylan called "I'd Have You Anytime." It's a nice song but far from the best on the album and perhaps an odd choice to place at the beginning of the record. Up next is the first single, "My Sweet Lord." Harrison had originally given the song to Billy Preston, who included it on his second album for Apple Records, Encouraging Words. 

     George Harrison's version of the song became a number one hit but soon after Harrison was sued by music publisher Brightunes, who owned the rights to a song called "He's So Fine" which was written by then deceased songwriter Ronnie Mack and a hit in 1963 for a girl group called The Chiffons. Harrison and The Beatles were certainly familiar with the song and Brightunes won the lawsuit and pocketed more than 1.5 million in royalties.

     The third song on the album is a fun tune called "Wah Wah" but the "fun" atmosphere is misleading since Harrison composed the song about the demise of The Beatles as the band was imploding. Phil Spector's wall of sound is in full effect on the song, there's a lot going on and it's a tad bit overwhelming but like I said, fun.

     Harrison actually wrote the final song on side one, "Isn't It a Pity," in 1966 but it was rejected for inclusion on several Beatles LPs. It's a great song and would have worked well on The White Album or Abbey Road, perhaps not quite as much of a dirge but in the context of The Beatles maybe a sorrowful ballad?

     Side Two opens with a masterpiece of songwriting and in my opinion the best solo song by any Beatles member, an avalanche of power pop called "What Is Life." The song was a top ten hit in the US but still, that's not enough. It should be a standard, a song that everyone knows. The song certainly transcends the more famous "My Sweet Lord." It's a brilliant tune, absolutely infectious. 

     After a nice cover of a Bob Dylan song called "If Not For You" that Dylan had only released his own version of a few months prior side two closes with three excellent ballads, "Behind That Locked Door," "Let It Down," and "Run of the Mill," my favorite of which, "Run of the Mill," is a touching lament about the demise of The Beatles.

     Side three opens with another ballad called "Beware of Darkness," it's nicely recorded but personally I prefer all three of the preceding songs that closed side two. Up next is perhaps my second favorite song on the record, an upbeat ditty called "Apple Scruffs" that Harrison wrote in tribute to The Beatles' die hard fans.

     "Apple Scruffs" is followed by a great song called "The Ballad of Frankie Crisp," Frankie Crisp being a previous owner of the Victorian mansion Harrison purchased in early 1970. The song is a sort of ode to the house and its history. Up next is a Phil Spector wall of sound called "Awaiting On You All," a really good song that gets a bit buried within Spector's effects. It's another spiritual song from Harrison with an obvious gospel influence.

     Side three closes with the title track, "All Things Must Pass," a song that was attempted by The Beatles but rejected for inclusion on the album that became Let It Be. Inspired by The Band's Music From Big Pink and a poem by Timothy Leary called "All Things Pass," Harrison set out to write a cinematic song that might play over the opening of a Hollywood western. While it's a nice song it's not one of my favorites on the record.

     Side four opens rather tepidly with my least favorite song on the album "I Dig Love" but it is followed by one of the best songs on the album, a very cool rocker about reincarnation called "Art of Dying." Eric Clapton and the rest of the guys that would go on to form Derek and the Dominos (Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle, and Jim Gordon) play on the track.

     The album closes with an alternate version of "Isn't It a Pity," a song that appeared on side one, and then a great ballad called "Hear Me Lord," one of the strongest songs on a strong album and another song that Harrison presented to The Beatles only to have it passed over. It's a spectacular album closer, heartfelt and quite effective.

     Of course the album technically is not over, there is a third LP, but for our purposes here, let's pretend it's a double album, a great double album, one of the best.

     

Episode 124 - Heavier Side of the Beatles

With the majority of the world celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles landmark first performance on the Ed Sullivan show, Aaron and Chris decided to dip their toe(s) into this renewed Beatlemania.

The guys discuss and spin some of their favorite 'heavy' Beatles tracks from albums such as The White Album, Yellow Submarine, Sergent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Abbey Road and more.

We also hear from Podkisst host Ken Mills with his picks for favorite heavy Beatles tunes. If you didn't already know, Ken hosted a fantastic look back at the Sullivan show appearance in a special entitled Beatles Invade America. We highly recommend it!

We hope you enjoy this look/listen to The Heavier Side of the Beatles.

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Meister's Monsters of Rock Cruise 2014 #7-Threesomes

The time is steadily winding down, now under 50 days or just over a month to go until we set sail on the Monsters of Rock Cruise 2014.  A little less than that for many of us who will be heading to Miami a few days earlier to partake in the warmth and sunshine that Miami offers after harsher winter weather than we've experienced the past few seasons.  The clock ticks down on every cruisers, veterans and newbies alike, personal countdown and if any are like me their co-workers have had it up to here with hearing all the cruise chatter that I spew forth.  This Monsters of Rock Cruise has basically ruined me for any other vacation and "lowered work productivity but certainly increased
daydreaming by 110%" (a phrase coined by a fellow cruiser friend of mine).  Facebook friends, that I have made from all over the world as a result of this cruise, statuses are afire with cruise related postings covering everything from packing, the days in Miami before the cruise, after the cruise, layouts of the ship, pics from years past, chatter about fave bands, advice for first timers to getting into "cruise shape".  The latter is certainly a big one, many are surely worried about getting into "cruise shape" and I know that I should be as well.  Normally being one of those "night before" style of luggage packers, let's face it most guys need only a plastic shopping bag with change of underwear, pair of shorts and a couple t-shirts (unless of course you're one more fortunate than I, still have your long hair and therefore require those style products) I caught the fever and dug the shorts out of the drawer.  OMG!!!  I knew that I had slipped in the healthy eating and gym attendances, but I didn't even notice that I had succeeded beyond my wildest dreams at packing on a staggering 20lbs!  Time to put a regiment into action and shed this winter blubber prior to cruise time.....who knows my future wife may be aboard.....lol.  Never-the-less the camaraderie on the MORC Facebook page is awesome to see and I'm proud to be a part of the community spawned by the greatest floating party vacation ever!

Let's go over a quick re-cap of some of the bands returning for their third Monsters of Rock voyage, this year aboard the MSC Divina at the end of March.

Tesla hails from California, came to attention with their debut album, Mechanical Resonance, in 1986 and have since issued several studio, live, acoustic and cover records during their career.  The band is currently comprised of vocalist Jeff Keith, guitarist Frank Hannon, drummer Troy Lucketta and bassist Brian Wheat all having been with the band since prior to that initial release.  Guitarist Dave Rude has been a

Jeff Keith-2013's Sail-away

member of Tesla since 2006, taking up Tommy Skeoch's former position.  There are rumors that Tesla is planning to release an album of all new material soon and the single "Taste My Pain" was issued on I-tunes in June of 2013.  Tesla is a band that I own all the albums for and enjoy them all, some more than others of course, but I have never considered myself a big fan and their music is rarely chosen to grace a playlist of mine.  That being said to see Tesla live is truly something to behold as they sound near note perfect identical to the recordings.  Tesla have, both years now, been awarded the coveted position

Snapped at 2013's Tesla sail-away

 of the sail-away concert as we set sail and head out into the wild blue yonder to start our cruise.  Usually most bands play two sets aboard the ship and I will say that both years now I have skipped their second set as it's acoustic, something I've never been a fan of, choosing the louder more aggressive sounds of electric performances for my style of poison.  This year I will make it a point to see their acoustic show.  I wonder if they'll be escorting us out to sea once again....thoughts on your pick for the sail away concert?

Tesla Official Website     Tesla on Facebook

Cinderella is back for their third voyage....well almost their third.  Last year Tom Keifer, afflicted with illness (Strepthroat, maybe, I can't really remember) did not make the boat.  I was rather disappointed as Cinderella was a favorite of mine in my youth, the Long Cold Winter album being a staple in the soundtrack of my car and having seen them several times in their appearances in Toronto.  Not having seen them since my youth, I had only been able to catch parts of both of their performances during the premiere excursion in 2012 and was looking forward to a full show.  In a testament to the phrase "the show must go on", something magical took place in Cinderella's time slot.  Many of the other artists aboard all pitched in featuring a couple of surprise guests in what turned into an all star jam

Cinderella & Friends - MORC 2013

with a few Cinderella songs and some other great classic rock.  With John Corabi acting as a host Jeff Keith (Tesla), Spike (London Quireboys) and more, including cruise passenger Johnnie Dee (Doro/Britny Fox) all took turns on stage with the rest of Cinderella, Jeff LaBar, Eric Brittingham and Fred Coury as the back up band.  Cinderella formed initially in the early 80's, issuing four studio albums between 1986 and 1994 starting with Night Songs in 1986, Long Cold Winter in 1988, then embracing a more bluesy sound for Heartbreak Station in 1990.  Still Climbing was released in 1994 and would serve as their last studio album, due at least in part to the impending doom of the grunge era.  Not having seen a full Cinderella show since the early 90's they are fairly high on my hit list for this year's excursion.

Cinderella Official Website     Cinderella on Facebook

Maryland USA born band KIX are returning for their third voyage again this year.  I was originally not a huge KIX fan, mediocre I guess you could say, only possessing the Blow My Fuse and Hot Wire albums.  All that changed in 2012 when I saw them play live for the first time as the vessel gracefully floated away from the port of Key West.  KIX were absolutely incredible live led by charismatic front man Steve Whiteman.  That performance had me searching for and acquiring their entire CD collection in preparation for 2013's shipboard shows which I'm happy to say only served to solidify my new found KIX mania.  KIX were formed in Hagerstown Maryland by guitarist Ronnie Younkins, guitarist Brian Forsythe and bassist Donnie Purnell in 1977.  By 1979 vocalist

"Girl Money" - MORC 2013

Steve Whiteman (one of the funniest and most charismatic front men I've seen) and drummer Jimmy Chalfant had signed on and the debut album, KIX, followed in 1981.  Four more albums, Cool Kids 1983, Midnite Dynamite 1985, Blow My Fuse 1988 and Hot Wire 1991 all came before the final release of $how Bu$ine$$ in 1995.  Some sources have cited plans for a new KIX record in 2014 and I for one eagerly look forward to that as well as the 2014 Cruise KIX live show.....hey guys, ever hear of a club up here in Toronto called The Rockpile.....would be a great place for a live KIX show!

KIX Official Website     KIX on Facebook

Y&T out of California were one of the bands that I was most looking forward to seeing on the inaugural voyage of MORC as Black Tiger 1982 and Mean Streak 1983 were among the earliest hard rock/metal albums that I'd ever heard!  Sadly, in a conundrum of schedule change confusion and alcohol

Meniketti-Pool Deck 2013

consumption, I completely succeeded in missing them during that initial excursion.  Heart broken and having only the t-shirt I had purchased to show for it I sorely hoped that I'd get another chance to see Y&T live as at the time they hadn't played in Toronto in something like 26 years.  Luck was with me and they not only appeared in the ship's registry for 2013, but stopped in Toronto for a packed house in April (Y&T-Enjoy the Ride).  Y&T led by Dave Meniketti, the only original band member still with the outfit is simply mesmerizing and something to behold live.  The band  played for a whopping two and a half hours at the Toronto show (which unfortunately won't happen on ship

A drink with Dave Meniketti

 as everyone has shortened set lists)!  Y&T's extensive discography includes the latest release, 2010's Facemelter, along with eleven other solid rock efforts.  Y&T now consists of John Nyman on rhythm guitar, drummer Mike Vanderhule and Brad Lang on bass guitar and I eagerly await seeing them, not only on the 2014 cruise, but when they stop at The Rockpile in Toronto for two back to back performances in April as well.  Last year I had the opportunity to share a few drinks with Dave Meniketti and I hope this year that I'll be able to do the same and maybe even show him the Y&T logo that makes up a part of my tattoo.

Y&T Official Website     Y&T on Facebook

Faster Pussycat could be considered the house band for The Rockpile Bar & Nightclub in Toronto as they have a habit of stopping in there for shows an average of three times a year!  Last year I started the partying early by heading to Edgewater Florida to catch their show at The No Name Saloon the same night I arrived in Florida from Toronto.  Faster Pussycat has had a bit of a revolving door of lineups since it's inception in the early 80's with Taime Downe being the sole original member in this 2014 incarnation.  At one point there were for a short time two versions of Faster Pussycat touring at the same time.  Faster Pussycat began in 1986 in California releasing the debut, Faster Pussycat, in 1987 with a line up of vocalist Taime Downe, guitarists Greg Steele and Brent Muscat, drummer Mark Michals and bassist Eric Stacy.  That album was followed up with Wake Me When It's Over in 1989 and Whipped! in 1992, the latter with Brett Bradshaw replacing Michals behind the

Faster Pussycat @ The No Name Saloon 2013

kit.  After that release Faster Pussycat disbanded in 1993.  2001 saw Downe, Muscat and Steele back together, releasing an album of industrial flavored remixes of classic Faster Pussycat songs, but before too long Steele had left and in 2005 Muscat was sidelined with oral cancer.  In 2006 while Taime Downe soldiered on with bandmates from his post Faster Pussycat outfit, The Newlydead's, guitarist Xristian Simon, bassist Danny Nordahl and drummer Chad Stewart, Brent Muscat also led a version of Faster Pussycat consisting of himself alongside Eric Stacey and Brett Bradshaw.  Muscat has since relinquished his claim to the Faster Pussycat moniker and now performs under Sin City Sinners.  Downe's version has added guitarist Ace Von Johnson and continues to tour.

Faster Pussycat Official Website

Ted Poley in my humble opinion could easily be nick named "Mr. Cruise", there's just something about his charisma, persona and performances that this Monsters of Rock Cruise would just not be the same without.  As I mentioned in my Tesla paragraph and probably on many more occasions, I'm not a big fan of the acoustic performances, but there are

Poley-MORC 2013

some exceptions to every rule.  I caught Ted Poley's only set during the inaugural voyage in 2012 in the Bar dei Poeti lounge early on the Sunday morning while the majority of the cruisers were ashore exploring Nassau, Bahamas.  At that time I really only knew the Danger Danger song, "Naughty Naughty", but Ted and his guitarist Maz with the assistance of Gary Corbett (Cinderella/KISS) on keys absolutely won me over at that show.  For 2013 I was better prepared, catching Ted Poley's electric show at the Rockerz Gone Wild Pool Party prior to cruising and at least portions of both performances aboard ship.  In August he rolled into the Rockpile with the 80's Invasion Tour and I was there with about 30 other Canadian Cruisers for a countdown photo (The Story of the

Ted Poley in Toronto by Brain Ronald

Countdown Photo).  By a twist of fate and issues with the Canadian border patrol, something that we were treated to at Toronto's 80's Invasion Tour was Ted Poley drumming for his own band with a broken wrist!  Originally Ted was drumming (and sometimes vocalist) for Prophet and appears on their debut release, Prophet, in 1985 when he was approached and offered to front Danger Danger.  Finding himself out of the band after three albums (Danger Danger 1989, Screw It! 1991 and the third, Cockroach, which was not released until 2001) he performed in a variety of other projects including Bonemachine, Melodica and performing solo until re-joining Danger Danger in 2004 resulting in 2009's Revolve.

Danger Danger Official Website     Ted Poley on Facebook

John Corabi became a household name when he filled the front man/vocalist shoes in Motley Crue left vacant by Vince Neil's departure.  Corabi was with the Crue for two releases in 1994, the full length Motley Crue, and an EP, Quarternary, both showcasing a departure from the band's traditional sound.

Corabi-MORC 2013

  The Crue recruited Corabi from The Scream, an L.A. based hard rock band that released their debut album, Let It Scream in 1991.  Following his short tenure in Motley Crue, John Corabi partnered up with former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick to form the band Union who issued three albums, Union in 1998, Union Live in the Galaxy in 1999 and The Blue Room in 2000.  After being involved in several other projects including Brides of Destruction and MORC 2014 shipmates Ratt, John Corabi is concentrating on a solo career, touring behind the release of John Corabi: Unplugged in 2012 including a visit to Toronto in December 2013 (No Regrets-John Corabi Interview and Show Review).  John was not high on my bucket list of performers during the 2012 excursion of the Monsters of Rock Cruise, but I did catch a little of his set in the acoustic lounge, albeit it a drunken fog.  Again I was won over, made a point to catch his full set in 2013 and his stop in Toronto.  John Corabi's emotional performance is on my radar again in 2014....hhhhmmmm maybe I do like acoustic shows more than I'd like to admit.

John Corabi Official Website     John Corabi on Facebook

Heavy Mellow is back aboard with their Spanish flamenco guitars.  They were aboard in 2012, but then sailing under the moniker of Flametal and now switched to Heavy Mellow, playing metal classics on Flamenco guitars for 2013.  I purchased Flametal's 2008 release, Master of the Aire, to explore their music in preparation for that 2012 cruise and I'm sorry to say it's not my flavor at all.  This is in no disrespect to the musicians or their obvious talents it's just not my personal preference or choice of poison.  I am however in the minority as they are quite popular amongst many of my cruise friends/fellow cruisers and I have taken some flak for saying different.  In any case I say that if you're unfamiliar with them, they definitely warrant checking out their set aboard the MSC Divina and let me know what you think.

Flametal/Heavy Mellow Official Website

And now in what could be considered a "saving the best for last" move is Keel.  I'm cheating a little here maybe as for the first two years we had the thrilling experience of the entire Keel band and this year Ron Keel is performing an acoustic solo gig while the rest of the band stays home.  In

MORC 2013

 addition to Keel last year, vocalist and namesake Ron Keel also squeezed in a solo acoustic gig which I unfortunately missed.  Even with holding fast to my dislike of acoustic performances this is one that I would not have wanted to miss for the world, especially after catching the full band's electric sets on the cruise and my awesome day with Keel (Meister's Right to Rock With Keel), but tragedy struck and this gig somehow slipped from my radar that day....probably over medicated with a plethora of adult beverages.  This will NOT happen this

Singing "Right to Rock" with Brian Jay

 year and I will definitely be in the crowd to support Ron, a talented singer, musician, all around great guy and I sincerely hope that he will play some selections off his new Metal Cowboy album (Meister's Metal Cowboy Review) alongside the Keel classics.  I'll be able to get my full band electric Keel "fix" in my first attendance at Baltimore's M3 Festival this year at the end of April..........until then we all have "The Right to Rock".

Ron Keel Official Website     Ron Keel on Facebook

Those are the bands that are making their three-peat alongside The Meister on the Monsters of Rock Cruise 2014: Escape to Monster Island.

Cheers,
The Meister ("LIKE" The Meister on Facebook)

Injecting the fear......an interview with Toronto based band Mortal Fear

With a mission statement of “Keep it heavy, keep it real, keep it metal” the old school metal assault of Toronto's Mortal Fear has returned to the arena to take on all contenders.  Originally the band began back in 1985 with vocalist Ken Munro and guitarist Steve Turrer playing sludgy, doomy type metal songs.  By 1987 bassist Pete Turrer, (Steve's younger brother) and drummer John Currie had joined the fold bringing with them a more technical approach to the music based on their Rush and Yes influences.  Mortal Fear became known in the Toronto area and made a reputation for themselves playing only original material.  Two years later it was all over as they had begun to grow apart and decided to disband and move on to various other projects.  Steve Turrer recorded with another popular Toronto based band, Savage Steel and Ken Munro with The Blacklist while Pete Turrer went on to play in Frantic Waltz and Marshall Birch and the Swampmonster along side Steve Turrer in both of those bands.

Mortal Fear

In 2012 all four original members of Mortal Fear got together for a jam session, sparking the chemistry alive once again they decided to reform.  Recording a CD in 2012 they were set to begin supporting the release with live shows when drummer John Currie decided to depart the band for personal reasons.  After extensive searching a new drummer, Steve Scott, was selected and inducted into the tribe.

  

I've mentioned Mortal Fear previously in a couple of other reviews (DWaRfS & Diemonds / Back to Back Nights With Coney Hatch), and have become more and more of a fan every time that I've seen them.  These guys are impressive delivering an assault of old school, Judas Priest-like, heavy metal.

My third outing with their old school heavy metal assault was back in early January when they set the stage for a Canadian heavy metal show including Hamilton Ontario's Varga and Toronto's Entropy.  While all three bands delivered some great metal it was Mortal Fear that stole the show for me.  Arriving shortly before the night was to begin, I had the opportunity to acquire myself their self titled début CD and briefly meet drummer Steve Scott, vocalist Ken Munro and bassist Pete Turrer.  It was here that Steve Scott informed me that they had only performed three shows prior to tonight, the only one I'd missed was their opening slot for Anvil!  Mortal attacked the stage 

Kate Injecting the Fear!

promptly at 9pm, ripping through their entire eight song CD, some of the highlights being "Left to Die" and "Inject the Fear" (fan recorded video).  The latter song has been getting airplay through on-line college radio.  Two songs into the set and friends were nodding heads, looking suitably impressed and a bit shocked, agreeing with me on how great Mortal Fear sounded live.  I had said to fellow Decibel Geek writer Kate Campbell prior to the show "don't be late, you won't want to miss Mortal Fear".  Well, she was late, but only missed about half of Mortal's set coming in on the song "Folly of the Priest".  The first words out of her mouth were "Holy shit that guy can sing!"  Pay attention to me people, I told you not to miss Mortal Fear!  I for one have “Injected the Fear”, Mortal Fear that is…will you join me?

Vocalist Ken Munro and guitarist Steve Turrer took the time to give me a call recently and chat about all things Mortal Fear.  The energy was high and I could tell the love these guys have for the music through their tones of voice.

The Meister:  Why don't we start out with the history of the band, tell me how Mortal Fear came together.

Ken Munro

Mortal Fear (Steve): It basically started right at the end of high school.  We had a lot of time hanging out in the cafeteria and me and Ken were in a classical guitar course at school and we just played rock songs in the caf.  We just started writing songs at school and after we finished school we just said we have no future plans right now so why don't we just try to write some songs and see what happens.  That's basically how it started, we would work day jobs and write a few originals, the main thing back then was just trying to get a set down of 8 or 10 songs so we could play a gig.

The Meister:  Did you guys have many shows back then?

Mortal Fear (Steve): We only had 4 or 5, I mean real gigs like bar gigs, but we played in basements and stuff in front of people and everything.  That's where we got our feel for what we actually wanted to do.  And then we kinda disbanded and went our separate ways, but we never stopped playing music in different bands.  Me, myself as the guitar player never clicked in a cover band.  For some reason I tried playing in cover bands and it just didn't feel right.  It didn't feel like this is why I started guitar to start playing Angus Young.  I knew right away, right from day one that I wanted to write my own stuff, whatever that is.  Kinda the opposite from what everyone else does, most learn everybody else's music first.

The Meister: True. Most bands start out doing covers to get themselves known a little bit and get themselves a gig before they can start to slip their originals into a set.

Steve Turrer

Mortal Fear (Steve):  Yeah, for sure.  But what I found with a lot of people that do that, it might be good for your ear training and might make you learn guitar better because you're learning from a professional song but by the time you do that and you start writing your own stuff, you always think, oh geez, I sound like this band or this guy.  And a lot of my friends lost interest in music because of that, they were great at cover songs, but they couldn't write an original song.  I was the opposite, I was terrible at learning cover songs.  It was hard to get it to sound like the artist intended it to sound.

The Meister:  It's never gonna sound the same as the original artist, right.  So you're always holding yourself up to that.

Mortal Fear (Steve):  Ya, and I was always disappointed, so I would get frustrated within 20 min or half an hour and we'd just create a song on our own.  And that's how it started and Ken said "screw it, screw what the rest of the world is doing, let's just write our own songs".  But it's so hard to get known writing your own stuff.  You can't get any exposure, especially back then with no internet.  Because of the internet and things like Facebook there's people contacting us from as far away as the Philippines, that's really cool.

The Meister:  The internet has changed the landscape for sure good and bad.  It's a lot easier to get your music out there, but harder to make money as everyone just downloads it.

Ken & Steve

Mortal Fear (Steve):  Exactly, we've never ever made money playing music.  We're still working guys and everything.  We just do this for the enjoyment of doing it.  If down the road something would happen and we would get some killer gigs and make some money that would be a bonus, but we're not doing it for the money at all.  We're just doing it to write our own music.

The Meister:  That's what makes it so good.  I think that shows through, you guys are doing it for the love of it, you're not compromising yourselves.  You're not bending with what needs to be done for a hit, you're doing what you want.

Mortal Fear (Steve):  Exactly!  Those days of "oh I wanna be a rock star" and all that, that's totally out the window.  We missed the boat to do that already.  If something would happen in the future that would be great, you're never too old for music.  It's in you 'till the day you die.  Even the old jazz musicians and country musicians do it right till the very end.  Rock and roll and heavy metal, you might have your prime years of doing it and then you slip off but I mean we never got to our prime years so, our prime years are now and we're late 40's!  We'll just ride it out and see what happens.

The Meister:  As long you guys are all having fun that's the main thing, right.

Steve Scott

Mortal Fear (Steve):  That's the main thing, if it wasn't fun we wouldn't bother with it.  It's like what you said, you've seen us three times and with this lineup we've only played four gigs and every gig is getting better.  Like I mean we're starting to feel more comfortable on stage.  Our next gig is not for like three months....

The Meister:  Opening for Y&T right?

Mortal Fear (Steve):  Yeah opening for Y&T, so we're going to work on new material between now and then.  On that CD we did a couple years ago we only have eight songs on it so now we're working on new material.

The Meister:  With that first CD are those songs that you wrote for that or are they from the back catalog from when you first started in the late 80's?

Mortal Fear:  Basically it's a mixture of everything, I think two songs on there are brand new songs and the rest of them were older songs but we ripped them apart and added a lot of new parts.  We've got tons of brand new stuff now that we're working on it's just a matter of getting it down together with the whole band now.  So from now until the end of June we're strictly just working on new songs and so hopefully by late fall early winter we can go in and record them.

The Meister:  So what was it that brought Mortal Fear back together?

Mortal Fear (Ken):  It was weird, just one of those summer nights where our original drummer came over and we were just shooting the shit and decided to jam just for the hell of it.  And it just sounded good.  We did that for three or four weekends just carving out songs and it felt really good so we said let's just keep doing this.  So we just kept playing and then we recorded the CD and our original drummer decided to leave as he was busy with work and his life and couldn't devote the time to it.  So we found Steve Scott for our new drummer and we just kept going....all by a fluke that we got together for a few beers and decided to play that day.

Peter Turrer & Ken

The Meister:  Well, thanks for calling today guys and I'll see you at Y&T on April 11th at Rockpile West, but don't expect a review out of that one as it's the day after my birthday so I'll still be partying....(laughs).  Anything else you'd like to say?

Mortal Fear (Steve):  Maybe we'll get a cake (laughing).  Just that basically we're an older band, but really a new band and from this day forward we're working on brand new material.  Our next 8 or 10 songs that we will record will probably be heavier than the first CD.  We're just gonna try to keep it as real and as heavy and as metal as possible.

"Down Below" Official Video     "Inject the Fear" Official Video     "Left to Die" Official Video

Mortal Fear on Facebook     Mortal Fear Website

Cheers,
The Meister ("LIKE" The Meister on Facebook)

Episode 123 - Album Anticipation

As we proved in our Best of 2013 episode, last year was a pretty cool year for hard rock and metal. That kind of standard has Aaron and Chris thinking this week of how 2014 will shape up.

This week the guys play some tracks from bands/artists that are possibly releasing music this year. Tracks by Sebastian Bach, Overkill, Helix, Ted Nugent, Sixx A.M. and many more highlight this week's episode entitled Album Anticipation.

Sixx A.M. continued on the tradition of creating catchy-yet-heavy rock music in 2011 with the release of 'This is Gonna Hurt.' A companion piece to the book of the same name penned by Nikki Sixx, the album combines elements of new and old. Sixx confirmed in a late-2013 interview that the band was putting the finishing touches on their new album.

The Cult are on schedule to release new music in 2014. They had a very busy 2013 as they crossed the U.S. performing the classic 1987 album 'Electric' in full. We prepare for this year's new material with a track from the aforementioned 'Electric.'

Ted Nugent seems to be a real lightning rod these days due to his very divisive comments that he always seems to be making in the press in regards to politics and gun laws. What do we think? Who cares? We hope for new music from Uncle Ted this year and, while we wait, blast out a track from the epic 1978 'Weekend Warriors' album.

Black Label Society are slated to release 'Catacombs of the Black Vatican' this April. Zakk Wylde and company will surely continue their tradition of brutal riffs that also contain a hint of melodic sensibility. While we wait for April, Aaron spins a track from the equally heavy 2006 release 'Shot to Hell'.

Formed in 1974 in Canada, Helix have been in the music industry for 40 years. While new music is scheduled for release this year, Chris plays a track from their commercial peak and the 1983 album 'No Rest for the Wicked.'

One band that's definitely no stranger to the Decibel Geek podcast is Overkill. After 2012's awesome 'The Electric Age' expectations are high now that's known that Bobby Blitz and the boys will be putting out new material this year. We take a listen to a left-field track from 1997's 'From the Underground and Below.'

The Darkness is a band that's been through just about every rock music cliche imaginable. The fact that they are still producing great old-school-inspired hard rock is a testament to their work ethic. The band has stated that they are working on a 2014 follow-up to their 2012 'Hot Cakes' release. Chris takes things all the way back to the 2003 debut album with a track from 'Permission to Land.'

Ace Frehley finally gave KISS and guitar fans new product back in 2009 after a 20 year wait with the release of 'Anomaly.' While many remain skeptical about new music from the original Spaceman, there has been reported activity of Frehley doing some recording over the past year with some well-known musicians. The hope of new music from Ace inspired Aaron to pick a smoking track from 1989's 'Trouble Walkin.'

Scheduled to release a new album entitled 'Give 'em Hell' in 2014, Sebastian Bach is expected to continue releasing solid music as his past few solo albums have proven. Closing out his picks is Chris' choice of a rocker from 2007's 'Angel Down' album.

Hell seemed to freeze over in 2008 with the long awaited release of Guns N' Roses' 'Chinese Democracy.' After a ridiculous amount of lineup changes and delays, the album didn't exactly set the world on fire but did contain some notably great songs. As impossible as it seems, rumors have swirled recently from reliable sources that Axl and the gang might actually put out new material this year. Aaron closes out this week's show with the ultimate in anticipation as he spins one of the 'better' tracks from GNR's previous release.

This week's show sponsor was JTB's Groovy Record Room in Cottontown, TN. If you're in the area, it is HIGHLY recommended that you check it out!

Buy Music!
(click artist name to purchase)

Sebastian Bach
The Darkness
Helix
Ted Nugent
Ace Frehley
Guns N Roses
Overkill
Sixx A.M.
Black Label Society
The Cult

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