Helloween’s history

Helloween’s history dates all the way back to 1978 when Kai Hansen and Piet Sielck formed a band called “Gentry“. Around 1981 Kai and Piet changed the name of the band to “Second Hell” and recruited drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg and bassist Markus Großkopf who at the time had been playing in a band called “Traumschiff. In 1982 Piet Sielck leaves Second Hell to become a record producer and sound engineer and the band changes their name to “Iron Fist”. Michael Weikath of the band Powerfool tries to lure Kai Hansen to join his band, but in the end decides to join Kai’s band Iron Fist.

1984 comes around and an upstart independent label called Noise records invites the band to record two tracks on their new “Death Metal” compilation alongside bands such as Running Wild, Dark Avenger and Hellhammer. The band, still not satisfied with the name “Iron Fist” changes their name to Helloween. Ingo Schwichtenberg comes up with the idea to not only replace the “o” in Helloween with a pumpkin, but to also come up with pumpkin artwork which would later become one of Helloween’s biggest trademarks. The band contributed to the Death Metal compilation with two songs, a slower and sloppier version of “Metal Invaders” ( a song that would later appear on their debut full length Walls of Jericho) and the track Oernst Of Life.

In 1985 Helloween goes into the studio with producer Harris Johns and releases their debut, a self titled 5 track EP also known to many fans as “The Mini LP”. In October of 1985 the band then releases their first full length album, “Walls Of Jericho”, also produced by Harris Johns. The band also recorded the “Judas EP” which contained a new non album track entitled “Judas” and a compilation of live cuts. Helloween captured the media’s attention and received great reviews all over the world. In November of 1986 while the band toured, Kai Hansen found it difficult to sing and play guitar at the same time so when the tour was over the band began searching for a new singer. The band recruits 18 year old ex-Ill Prophecy singer Michael Kiske and begins work on a new album. The band decided that they wanted to release a double album, however Noise records said that they did not want Helloween to release a double album and therefore Helloween began work on the first part of a two part concept album.

Helloween 1987-1989">

Helloween 1987-1989

1987’s Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1, produced by Tommy Hansen and Tommy Newton, puts the band on the map. Helloween received rave reviews everywhere around the world including America where they embark on their first US tour with Grim Reaper and Armored Saint. The following year the band released the second part of their concept album called “Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II” which is even more successful than part 1. The band embarks on the Pumpkins Fly Free tour which takes them all over Europe and they even become one of the headliners at the Donnington Monsters of Rock festival in England along with bands such as Kiss, and Iron Maiden. In late 1988 Kai Hansen decides to leave the band because of the long touring schedule. In 1989 Helloween recruits former Rampage guitar player Roland Grapow and the band then embarks on their second Headbanger’s Ball tour in America with Anthrax and Exodus. Helloween also releases two best of albums, “The Best The Rest The Rare” and “Pumpkin Tracks“. They also release a live album from their Pumpkins Fly Free Tour of Europe. In Japan the album is called “Keepers Live”, in the USA it’s called “I Want Out Live” and around the rest of the world the live album is entitled “Live In The UK”. Helloween, unhappy with their current contract with Noise records decides to break their contract and sign to EMI records. Noise filed a lawsuit against the band for breach of contract and the band fights a major legal battle with Noise records which would last a long time. In the end, Helloween loses the legal battle and must not only pay Noise records a huge sum of money, but they cannot release any material outside of Europe or Japan. This left many people around the world wondering….”What happened to Helloween?”

Finally in 1991 the band releases the “Kids of The Century” single which contains a message from the band telling fans where they have been for the last 3 years. They then release their next album “Pink Bubbles Go Ape” which was not received well by the press and fans alike. Although the album does contain some great songs, especially the ones written by Roland Grapow, tensions inside the band begin to build up between members over which direction musically the band should take.

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Helloween 1993

1993 sees the release their next album “Chameleon” which becomes the band’s most unsuccessful album to date. The band begins to endure even more trouble on the Chameleon tour as tensions build up even more while drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg begins to have problems with his psychological condition and cannot finish the tour. Richie Abdel Nabi replaces Ingo on a temporary basis and finishes the tour. After the tour EMI releases the band from it’s contract they fire singer Michael Kiske, citing musical and personal differences.

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Helloween 1994-2001

In late 1993 Andi Deris, former Pink Cream 69 singer, joins the band along with former Holy Moses and Gamma Ray Drummer Uli Kusch, a new lineup for Helloween is born. The band signs to Castle records in 1994. Their next album “Master of the Rings” was released and became what many people called a great comeback album! The band went on a successful tour and new singer Andi Deris surprised many fans with his versatile and powerful voice. The album was released a year later in North America with a second disc containing all 7 b-sides from the album. Tragedy also struck the band as former drummer Ingo Schwichtenberg committed suicide in 1995.

Helloween went back into the studio and released “The Time Of The Oath” in 1996, which was hailed by the press as their best album since the Keeper era. The album contained songs loosely based on the writings of Nostradamus. Helloween was back on top as The Time of The Oath earned them many gold and platinum albums throughout the world. Later that year they released the double live album “High Live” and was elected best band of 1996 by the Japanese magazine Buurn.

While the band began to write for the next album, Andi Deris released his first solo album “Come In From The Rain” and Roland Grapow released his first solo album “The Four Seasons of Life”. 1998 brought along the album Better Than Raw which was yet again released to rave reviews throughout the press. The band combined modern elements with their traditional Helloween sound which made for quite a unique album and went down well with fans. Roland Grapow also releases his second solo album. 1999 saw the band take a break and release a covers album entitled “Metal Jukebox”. This album contained a variety of rock, pop and metal classics which influenced the band. The band then set off to write their next album.

The band signed a two album deal with Nuclear Blast in the year 2000. Their next album entitled “The Dark Ride” , produced by Roy Z and Charlie Bauerfeind was released shortly after. The album became one of Helloween’s worst selling albums ever as the band took a darker and more modern sounding approach. Reviews of “The Dark Ride” in the press were mixed along with many fan reactions. Some liking the new direction and most wanting the Helloween of old. Tensions between members of the band began which led to the firing of guitarist Roland Grapow and drummer Uli Kusch. The band also released "Treasure Chest", a 2 disc best of release that also had some older Helloween songs remixed. The best of also came as a limited edition with a bonus disc called "Buried Treasure" which contained some rare b-sides.

The band then recruits former Metalium drummer Mark Cross on drums and former Freedom Call guitarist Sasha Gerstner. In 2003 the band began to record for their next album, however their new drummer Mark Cross was diagnosed with mononucleosis and could only complete two songs for the recordings and thus was forced to leave the band. Former King Diamond and current Motorhead drummer Mikkey Dee is called in to complete the band’s studio recordings on the drums.

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Helloween 2002-2005

Rabbit Don’t Come Easy was released and drummer Stefan Schwarzmann is called in to join the band for the tour. The album sold well and the band completed a very successful tour around the world. Stefan Schwarzmann decided to leave the band after the tour but stayed throughout the preproduction for the next album until the band found a replacement. Dani Löble, ex-drummer of RAWHEAD REXX turned out to be the perfect drummer for Helloween and the band began to record the follow-up to Rabbit Don’t Come Easy.

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Helloween since 2005

On October 31st 2005 the band releases a follow-up to their legendary Keeper albums entitled “Keeper of The Seven Keys - The Legacy”. The album brought more critical acclaim to the band and was received well throughout the world. The success of the album and it’s subsequent tour was so strong the band released a double live DVD and double live CD. In 2007, to commemorate their last two years of success, Helloween released a double Live CD entitled "Keeper Of The Seven Keys - The Legacy World Tour 2005/2006 - Live In Sao Paulo" and a double live DVD entitled "Keeper Of The Seven Keys – The Legacy World Tour 2005/2006 - Live On 3 Continents".

The band has just released their newest album "Gambling With the Devil" to great reviews. It's an album that takes them down a much heavier path and is described by singer Andi Deris as a mixture of Walls Of Jericho and Master of The Rings". The band will be embarking on a world tour that kicks off in Europe with Gamma Ray and Axxis.

-Tony Webster 10-23-2007

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1968 - 1970

Apple, the Rooftop and Abbey Road. And in the end, these last years were a time of plentiful confusion a time to break down and a time to build up.

The Beatles started their own company, Apple Corps with five creative divisions – records, films etc – and then went public with an offer that anyone with an artistic need could come to them and get help. Is there, even now, a machine to count such numbers?

The promise was that all sincere supplicants would be given encouragement, succour, a contract and maybe an envelope full of money. At the same time, the Beatles flew to foothills of the Himalayas to learn meditation. There, between sessions with the Maharishi, they wrote songs for what would become The ‘White’ Album.

When recording started, the songs had come in such profusion that, famously, The White Album had thirty of them – enough for two high-class musicals. They sped from one track to another, content that the unity of the album would transcend the disparity in the style and content of the tracks. It was always their strength that they wrote bewitching singles.

New songs were written to suit themselves; sometimes written alone. This new work could virtually be recorded solo, spontaneously, simply.

Following the White Album(and the magnificent Hey Jude) they made Let It Be and with the final regal glory of Abbey Road they left their grieving fans a legacy that will never be matched.

In the inevitable breaking down of old liaisons, there was room for growth. John met and married Yoko; Paul met and married Linda. George matured far beyond his years, settled into his spiritual space and expressed himself writing classic songs; Ringo was now writing his own numbers and was widely acknowledged as a supreme drummer and a very good actor. To everything there is a season.

That the rift between The Beatles, evolved with much public angst was a pity but this is not a perfect world is it?

Relationships anyway, were repaired long ago.

And in the end, the equation between the love they took and the love they made was intact into infinity. They still represent the twentieth century’s greatest romance.

D.T.

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’65, ’66, ’67: The Years of Dash and Daring’

These were the years of dash and daring. Sweeping out of the final (and wonderfully old-fashioned) 1964 family Christmas Shows into the wider world of 1965, The Beatles would soon find themselves figureheads of a movement far beyond “pop” where a counter-culture / alternative society was made flesh. National boundaries were presumed to be doomed. Millions of minds were to become expanded and many trousers would soon be spandex.

...though the music would continue to pour out of them breaking in great waves over uncharted, challenging Reason and warming the heart, the Beatles would tire of those great sweating stadiums where they now played to screaming crowds who could no longer hear them.

In the studio years (1966 onwards), supported by the steady hand of the great George Martin, they would produce songs which would be forever fresh and which still set the standards against the newcomers have to test themselves.

Greatly turned on by the Spirit of the Age and by the “tea-parties” of those times, the Beatles provided a sound-track for the plottings of the baby boomers – millions of them – whose enlightenment (however compromised it may have been by the material world in the harsh times since) still provides a hedge against humankind’s grosser instincts.

They... go into the studio which brings an amazed world the mighty whirligig of Sgt Pepper, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields here on the screen in surreal and glorious colour. They sing Baby You’re A Rich Man and they all are, but they don’t buy an island in Greece.

It was the great glory of The Beatles that they could absorb and transmute so much, first in those tiny houses in Liverpool, listening to eclectic 1940s wireless, then to r’n’r and r&b and to Dylan and the poets and soon to music and messages from India.

Unafraid of growth, dogged individuals with a powerful devotion to the group ethic, the Beatles accepted each other’s offerings and really “cooked” to make each record a feast that left us breathless with admiration. They never stood still.

D.T.

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1964 – 1965. USA, Films, Touring, MBEs

’The Beatles sweep through the great US cities, drawing tens of thousands to airports for the merest glimpse.

They play for no more than half an hour per concert. A Hard Days Night has guaranteed them star status in the cinema and they laughed their way through Help! in Technicolour. Paul dreams that he has written Yesterday – and has. They are the first band to play a baseball stadium, Shea in New York, breaking records for crowd fever, numbers and good cheer. Oh, and they go to Buckingham Palace to receive medals from the Queen and, by now, more or less accept it as their due. They are, however, as happy and polite as can be.

’Wherever they went, they brought Beatlemania with them. They couldn’t help it; it was a form of real love. George would say many years later that the world used them as an excuse to go mad and then blamed it on the Beatles, but there is a parallel theory that it was time for the world to go that sort of mad – get down a bit, loosen up, and like Uncle John in Long Tall Sally, have some fun tonight. The crowd scenes are awesome and, in retrospect awful. How did no-one get killed?...

D.T.

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1963 – 1964 Beatlemania builds in the UK

“They’ve got something! From Liverpool, I hear, of all places.” “From Liverpool uber alles!”

They leave their Cavern Club and within months they take the ascendancy in the British pop world, and start to live the life of Riley in London. They play the Palladium, the Royal Albert Hall, The Royal Variety Show, sing Moonlight Bay with Morecombe and Wise, give a spare hit to the Rolling Stones, play hundreds of concerts in Britain, nip over to Sweden, invent Beatlemania, record I Want to Hold Your Hand (their 4th British number one in a year) and, as if in a dream – while their conquering Paris – the record goes to Number One in America three weeks before the Ed Sullivan Show in New York.

If there had been no Beatles, no one would have had the imagination to invent such a story.

D.T.

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The Days Leading to 1963

“The story began in Harold Macmillan’s “never had it so good” ’50s Britain. It should be fiction: four teenagers with no more than eight O’Levels between them, running and biking and busing and busking all over Liverpool in search of new chords and old guitars and half-decent drum kit and any gig at all.
The Beatles
The Beatles

Six years later, they were the four most famous and musical men on earth, the best dressed and on a good day the most captivating people anyone can remember. The narrative that began where Paul met John and clicked at a garden fete in leafy Liverpool, and ended in high dudgeon in high-end London, is so far fetched that it needs the power of a song punctuating every page to remind you with a joyous jolt that it was all true.

We didn’t dream it... though it came out of John’s dream of the “man on a flaming pie” who said “You are Beatles with an ‘A’”. It did all happen. The whole wonderful thing did happen, a long time ago, on the Mersey, on the Elbe, by the Thames and the Hudson River.

Amazing and marvellous and, nearly forty years on, forever young.

D.T.

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Introduction

“I have never seen anything like it. Nor heard any noise to approximate the ceaseless, frantic, hysterical scream which met the Beatles when they took the stage after what seemed a hundred years of earlier acts. All very good, all marking time, because no one had come for anything other than the Beatles...

Then the theatre went wild. First aid men and police – men in the stalls, women mainly in the balcony – taut and anxious, patrolled the aisles, one to every three rows.

Many girls fainted. Thirty were gently carried out, protesting in their hysteria, forlorn and wretched in an unrequited love for four lads who might have lived next door.

The stalls were like a nightmare March Fair. No one could remain seated. Clutching each other, hurling jelly babies at the stage, beating their brows, the youth of Britain’s second city surrendered themselves totally.”

Derek Taylor (From his book “Fifty Years Adrift”)

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Metallica History (part 4)

…the “St.Anger” era kicked off on April 30th/May 1st with the small matter of a video shoot at San Quentin prison for the same-titled track, and continued in earnest with an MTV Icons tribute show a week later, where peers such as Korn and Limp Bizkit lined up to pay tribute to the chaps. The guys also performed live, marking the first ‘official’ live appearance of Robert Trujillo (and the last in which he wore long trousers!) as well as James Hetfield’s first public performance since his stint in rehab.

Then came the small matter of rehearsals…which Metallica chose to do in front of their loyal fan club members over 4 nights at the historic Fillmore Theatre in San Francisco…and then it was off to Europe in June for the start of what would end up being 19 months of touring, with the festival circuit taking the early brunt, Metallica successfully playing to multiple 60,000-plus crowds. “St.Anger” saw it’s release on June 5th, a raw, feral, unrestrained slab of molten Metallica stuffed with abrasion, aggression and the overspill of four years excitement, anger, frustration and ultimate fruition. For those who thought it would signal a radio-hohned band, “St.Anger” was a big, fat slap in the face. Indeed, it was actually too heavy for some! Oh, and as if to prove that this ‘new’ Metallica were not a bunch of ginger-snap panty-waists, the boys played three shows in three different Parisian clubs in one day during mid-June, each venue harboring a temperature of not less than 100 degrees.

In the US, Summer Sanitarium followed, with Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit amongst the support acts on another series of stadium sell-outs. In the meanwhile, the fervor was slowly building for ‘Some Kind Of Monster’, the documentary film by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky about the world of Metallica between 2001 and 2003. Ostensibly slated to be about the making of an album, the filmmakers found a whole new project developing when James went into rehab, and thus having been projected as a marketing tool, the end product ended up being an incredibly revealing 2 hour 20 minute documentary.

As the Mighty Metallica continued ploughing on through the world (going back to Europe, Japan and then onto Australia in January), SKOM was debuted to enormous critical acclaim at the 2004 Sundance Independent Film Festival in Utah during January.

And the year continued in the way that you’d imagine a Metalli-year does, deciding to play (seemingly) every single town capable of hosting a major arena gig in North America (some 80-plus dates) with Godsmack in support. Result? Oh well, the usual sell-outs you’d expect for this ‘in-the-round’ two hour thirty minute set which saw no song off limits and many a fan favorite raised from retirement for a gleeful airing. (p.s….there was another Grammy in February for Best Metal Performance – ‘St.Anger’).

July saw the theatrical debut of ‘Some Kind Of Monster’ which opened to enormous critical acclaim and went on to hold it’s own in North American theaters for three months before going through Europe. And August also saw the release of the first official Metallica book, “So What! The Good, the Mad, and the Ugly”, an edited compilation of the band’s fan club magazine spanning 10 years from 1994 to 2004.

And still the ‘Madly In Anger With The World’ tour continued, selling out venues right through to it’s final date in San Jose, California on November 29, 2004…

A busy spell? By many’s standards most certainly.

By Metallica’s?

Business as usual.

They did publicly state that the majority of 2005 would be spent re-charging those creative and mental batteries, and true to their word it was a quiet year, except for two little hometown gigs with the Rolling Stones at SBC Park in November. We all knew an entire year would not pass without at least a sighting of the guys!

With batteries re-charged after the two shows with the Stones, the guys hit the studio in early 2006 to start writing a new album and were excited to announce that they would be working with a new producer, Rick Rubin. The spring and summer found them escaping from the studio once again with shows in South Africa (their first ever visit to the continent!), Europe, Japan and Korea. “The New Song” made its debut in Berlin, Germany on June 6 to give us all a little taste of things to come in 2007 with the remainder of the year scheduled for more writing and jamming.

Before they had even played 'The New Song' on that 07 summer jaunt, Metallica had decided to take a different approach to the studio, now working with Rubin. Having availed themselves of long-time twiddler Bob Rock's expertise and unifying qualities, the band wanted to see what happened when working with the decidedly hands-off Rubin. His message, when the band entered the studio in April of 07 to record, was simple; don't be afraid of your past, don't be afraid to rediscover your roots, embrace the ethic of performance over editing and get back to what Metallica essentially is. Thus began months of work with hands-on engineer Greg Fidelman handing the daily duties and Rubin overseeing and dropping in for tete-a-tetes to make sure matters remained on course. In essence, Rubin removed himself from the process as an ally to anyone and forced Metallica to find their own solutions and resolutions. He also made everyone re-record entire parts if they were unhappy to avoid a pro-tools dominated approach to creation, the idea being that it was always about the performance. Ironically, Rubin would later comment in the band's magazine So What! that the bulk of the album was recorded in a month, despite the fact it finally saw light on September 12, 2008, celebrating the release with two low ticket cost charity shows in Berlin and at London's O2 Arena.

The popular response was enormous, with the album smashing the charts at #1 and critical acclaim acknowledging that this was, indeed, the return to business that Metallica had threatened for so long. The groundwork had been laid with St.Anger and the fruit was abundant with Death Magnetic, cuts such as "The Day That Never Comes", "Broken, Beat & Scarred" and "All Nightmare Long" becoming instant fan favorites. Aside from the Death Magnetic album, on March 29, 2009 the band also saw Guitar Hero: Metallica released in North America, with international releases coming in the following couple of months. An Activision game, GH:M features 28 Metallica favorites and 21 songs from bands Metallica like, as well as guest appearances from King Diamond and Lemmy from Motorhead.

As well as all these releases, the band of course hit the road, the World Magnetic Tour starting on October 20, 2008 in Glendale, Arizona. It is a tour that keeps on giving, keeps on coming, and will flow deep into 2010, the band hoping to perhaps play in some places they've never been before. Gone, however, are the grueling days of 8-10 weeks at a time on the asphalt, instead the schedule ensures Metallica are never on the road for longer than a couple of weeks before taking at least a week off back at home. It is a highly effective solution to the problem of making the road work with family and home life, and as such the tour thus far has seen some of Metallica's best performances ever as 'burn-out' is not even a factor. Indeed, with shows selling out left, right, centre and sideways, an appearance at the legendary British site Knebworth on August 2nd as part of the Sonisphere Festival, plus three sold-out nights in Mexico City, it is fair to say that this portion of the story is most certainly to be continued...

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Metallica History (part 3)

In the summer of 2000, Metallica took yet fresher steps towards establishing freedom from convention, proving that it was possible to assemble, and headline, your own stadium tour without promoting a record. Summer Sanitarium, Hetfield's back not withstanding, was a huge success, and anticipation grew as to when the band would hit the studio again.

The anticipation was replaced by fear at the turn of 2001 when, after several rumors, Jason Newsted departed the band. No one reason can be fairly the cause, more several long-standing issues that silently grew beyond their initial molehills. Of course many assumed that this would precipitate the break-up of the band, when of course it merely provided a conduit to newer levels of creativity and understanding.

The band realized there was much work to be done on both their personal and creative relationships, and spent the first part of 2001 investigating spontaneous avenues of discovery both in and out of the studio. They set up shop at an old ex-Army barracks called The Presidio, jammed together at length and made a decision not to rush the process of finding a new band member, opting instead to have producer Bob Rock do all bass parts.

In the middle of 2001, James Hetfield reached a place in his life where he felt rehabilitation, rest and re-focus were necessary for him to not only continue but also flourish. It meant that for many months, the members of Metallica embarked upon various levels of deeper discovery about themselves, the band and their lives both as a band and human beings. The results were to manifest themselves two-fold: when they came together again in the Spring of 2002 there was a deeper respect and appreciation for each other than ever before. And they were finally ready to make a new album, free of outside expectations, free of inner expectations and independent of anyone.

Settling into their new HQ, the band set about making 'St Anger' with Bob Rock. Those early Presidio sessions had certainly helped shape the freeform thinking and expression that was to come, but no-one, least of all the guys themselves, could've known just how fierce, raw and passionate the 'St Anger' material would turn out to be. With Rock always offering prompt and support, lyrics were written by everyone, writing was shared and performance was off the cuff, spontaneous and a 180 degree turn from the months of cut-and-paste which had become a part of the Metallirecording process in the past.

This Metallica was proud, confident, appreciative, humble, hungry, edgy, angry and also happy. Nervous? Sure, a little bit, but that too was good, yet another driver to new places and creative achievements that Metallica were enjoying.

It was in the Fall of 2002 that the band decided it was time to search for a new bassist, and after some closed auditions with personal invitees over a few months, ex-Suicidal Tendencies/Ozzy Osbourne bass player Robert Trujillo was chosen to be the new member of Metallica. Note, member. Not bassist or hired gun or replacement. But a band member. His whole demeanor, happy, relaxed, warm, enthusiastic blended with over 15 years of experience and a ferocious finger-picking style made Robert the only natural choice.

And so it is that as you read this, 'St Anger' has been completed, expectations are reaching heights that even the band cannot believe and there is the excitement of the first proper tour since Summer Sanitarium 2000. Looking at them, listening to them and seeing them, Lars, Kirk, Robert and James look like excited, eager children, men who cannot wait to be let out of then house to go and wreak aural havoc. Why? Because they can't! Metallica are about to hit a whole new level...and this is a story that will most DEFINITELY be continued...

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Metallica History (part2)

On September 27th, 1986, that dream was given the most shattering of blows. Somewhere in Sweden on an overnight drive, the bands' tour bus skidded out of control and flipped, killing Cliff Burton. His influence on the musical growth of the band was enormous. Burton combined the DIY philosophies of jamming and experimenting with an acute knowledge of musical theory, and Hetfield in particular found a lot in his playing and personality. It was impossible to imagine Metallica without him. Yet Cliff would equally not have cared for people throwing in the towel because he wasn't around. And so it was that after a brief yet intense mourning period, Lars, James and Kirk decided to fight on. Jason Newsted was chosen from over 40 auditions to be the new bassist, the Michigan-born four-stringer leaving Arizona based Flotsam & Jetsam to take on the chance of a lifetime. The quartet immediately jumped into a tour, and then quickly recorded an EP of cover tunes titled Garage Days Re-Revisited (the band literally did the dirty work in Lars' garage!).

With Jason fully established, the band went back to record their fourth full-length album, ...And Justice For All, released in August 1988. The explosion that had been threatening for sometime finally happened. It reached #6 on the US charts, received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal/Hard Rock album, the band blew headliners Van Halen off-stage during the Monsters Of Rock tour and subsequently embarked upon an enormous worldwide tour. It was even the moment they finally delved into video territory, although the footage for 'One' was most certainly the most 'anti' video video of it's era.

The band took the show back out on the road and toured extensively to all parts of the world. ...And Justice For All produced two US singles and the band's very first venture into music video for the song One.

In 1991 Metallica released the self-titled 'Black' album, and saw their popularity soar to stratospheric heights. With new producer Bob Rock, this album was a subtle departure from the previous album with shorter songs, a fuller sound and simpler arrangements. It went straight to number one all over the world, stayed there for several weeks and ended up selling in excess of 15 million copies worldwide, spawned several legitimate singles as well as earning a Grammy and MTV/ American Music Awards. The band toured for close to three years, playing a solo arena tour in 'An Evening With Metallica', with Guns N' Roses on the duos' joint-headline stadium tour, and as headliner at many festivals. It meant that by the time the fall of 1993 rolled around, the four members were shattered both physically and mentally. Save for some Summer Shed action, there was little major activity as the band allowed their real lives to catch up with their rock lives.

Nearly four years would pass before the next Metallica album saw the light. Called Load, and recorded at The Plant in Sausalito California, it was the longest Metallica album to date with 14 songs, and signaled some significant changes for the band. Produced by Bob Rock, the material was loose, powerful and eclectic, the sound thick and punchy and the image one which screamed out change and freedom from enslavement to the Black album era. So many songs came from the sessions, that a second album titled ReLoad, followed in 1997. The Load tour was spectacular, encompassing cutting-edge technology, stuntmen, two-stages and an epic two-plus hours of performance. What ever doubts people might have had were swiftly blown away, and whilst Load could never match the heights of the Black album sales wise, it became a phenomenally successful album in it's own right.

In 1998, they re-packaged all the old B-sides, covers and the two previous Garage Days sessions and ran into The Plant to slam down 11 new covers. Electric, exciting and raw, the double-disc Garage Inc. was great reminder that for all the success, Metallica's heart still lay in the music. This point was further proven in 1999, when with conductor/composer Michael Kamen, Metallica embarked upon collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony to bring new dimension to classic material. Any potential skepticism of the project was blown away by two nights in April at the Berkeley Community Theater which proved to be epic milestones in the group's history. Far from their material being compromised, the arrangements of songs such as 'Master Of Puppets' gave symphonic instruments the chance to explode into the spaces and fill them with greater, heavier power than ever before. Having recorded and filmed the shows on the off-chance it might turn out alright on the night, Metallica released the S&M double-disc and DVD in late '99, marking yet another significant chapter in a Hall Of Fame - like history.

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Metallica History (part 1)

It's the sort of story that scriptwriters would get laughed out of conference rooms for entering. The sort of story that illustrates perfect synchronicity between hunger, passion and time. The sort of story that only happens every 30-odd years. And the sort of story that would approximately 500 pages to do it true justice.

Metallica. A household name. The 7th biggest selling act in American history.

Who'd have thought it when, on October 28th, 1981, drummer Lars Ulrich made guitar player/singer James Hetfield an offer he couldn't refuse: "I’ve got a track saved for my band on Brian Slagel's new Metal Blade label."

The truth is, Lars didn't have a band at that time, but he did that day when James joined him. The two recorded their first track on a cheap recorder with James performing singing duties, rhythm guitar duties and bass guitar duties. Lars dutifully pounded the drums, helped with musical arrangements and acted as manager. Hetfield's friend and housemate Ron McGovney was eventually talked into taking up bass and Dave Mustaine took lead guitar duties.

The band adopted the moniker Metallica after a suggestion from Bay Area friend Ron Quintana, and they quickly began gigging in the Los Angeles area opening for bands like Saxon. Eventually recording a fully-fledged demo called No Life Til Leather, Metallica quickly saw the tape whistle around the metal tape-trading underground and become a hot commodity, with San Francisco and New York particularly receptive.

Metallica performed 2 shows in San Francisco and found the crowds friendlier and more honest than LA's "there to be seen" mob. They also caught up-and-coming band Trauma, and most importantly their bass player, Cliff Burton. Cliff refused to move to Southern California: it was enough to convince Metallica to relocate to the Bay Area, and Cliff subsequently joined Metallica.

In New York, a copy of No Life Til Leather made its way to Jon Zazula's record shop, the aptly named Metal Heaven. Zazula quickly recruited Metallica to come out east to play some shows and record an album. The band made it to New York in a stolen U-Haul. Dave Mustaine, at that point the band's guitarist, was proving to be more problematic than even these loose young chaps could handle. Thus a few weeks after arrival, Mustaine was sent packing, roadie Mark Whitakker suggesting Kirk Hammett from Bay Area thrashers Exodus. Two phone calls and one flight later, on April 1, 1983 Kirk Hammett joined Metallica.

Metallica's first album, Kill 'Em All, was released in late 1983 and some ferocious touring which saw the band's reputation soar both in the US and Europe. In 1984 they went to work with producer Flemming Rassmussen in Copenhagen at Sweet Silence Studios on their second album. 'Ride The Lightning' proved that Metallica were not some thrash-in-the-pan one trick pony, the writing and sound illustrating a growth, maturity and intensity which saw them immediately targeted by major management in QPrime, and a major label in Elektra. Both deals were done by the fall of '84 and their reputation continued to grow worldwide.

Returning to the same studios in 1985, the group recorded 'Master Of Puppets', mixing in LA with Michael Wagner and releasing in early 1986. They quickly secured a tour with Ozzy Osbourne, and that stint (plus a top 30 album chart position) saw their fan base and name take a quantum leap. What had seemed so unlikely was nearer than ever to coming true; world domination.

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Deep Purple History

Purple prose

Deep Purple has surrendered to the ‘Rapture’; now it’s your turn
By Jeff Miers


























The first time I heard Deep Purple – or perhaps felt Deep Purple is a better way to describe the experience – it was the mid-70s. I was 8, and Ritchie Blackmore’s sinewy, sinister riffing on the “Made In Japan” version of “Child In Time,” coupled with Ian Gillan’s dramatic, gorgeous howling, Jon Lord’s ominous neo-classical Hammond organ, and the dynamic interplay of the Roger Glover-Ian Paice rhythm section, tore the top of my head off.

It was unlike anything else I’d ever heard. And it quite literally changed my life.

30 years later, I’m still hearing Deep Purple for the first time.

“Rapture of the Deep” is the spot-on moniker for the disc you hold in your hands, and I’ll stand on any classic rock radio programmer’s desk in my cowboy boots and scream it loud, proud and Gillan-esque; “This is the best Deep Purple album there is, dammit! Forget ‘Machine Head’ – that was then; this is most decidedly now!”

This is the fourth record created by the revamped and rejuvenated Purple following the umpteenth departure of the mercurial Mr. Blackmore. The guitarist – one of the most significant in British rock history - had ceased to be a contributing force and was in fact draining Purple of its collective spirit when his ship finally set sail for good, a bit over a decade back.

Blackmore's exit is, in a sense, where our story begins, for the surviving band members left to pick up the pieces in his violent wake – Gillan, Glover, Lord, Paice – agreed unanimously on only one six-stringer, the soon to be knighted Steve Morse. Hardly scraping the dregs from the bottom of the barrel with that choice, boys.

Morse accepted, writing commenced for what would become “Purpendicular,” on-stage work-outs were seized upon with relish, and the band breathed the heady air of rebirth. When “Purpendicular” was delivered, it astonished. Rather than going softly into the long goodnight of “classic rock” middle-age, Deep Purple had reinvented itself. It took no more than a cursory listen to the likes of “Ted the Mechanic,” Loosen My Strings” and “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming” to drive this point straight into the skull.

Morse brought a funkiness, a depth as guitarist and writer, an unparalleled fluidity as a soloist, a startling aptitude as foil to Lord, and an arsenal of influences – country, folk, jazz, what they’ve sadly labeled “fusion,” and an inherent understanding of blues-based riffs – that meshed effortlessly with the immaculate Glover-Paice sense of swing and Gillan’s seeming capacity to go anywhere at any time, full-throated and eyes ablaze.

”Purpendicular” was a celebration of both remembrance and reinvention. It at once acknowledged Purple’s estimable history and tradition, and a musical wanderlust not content to repeat the past. As such, it laid the template for a new Purple. And it all, it seems, was paving the way for the mighty metamorphosis that is “Rapture of the Deep.”

With Morse, Purple toured the world to accolades from the cognoscente. “Abandon” cemented the band’s on-stage prowess on record, and reminded us that Purple was, yes indeed, the heaviest of heavy rock bands. “Bananas,” the first record following Lord’s retirement from touring and his replacement by exquisite ivory-tinkler Don Airey, brought elements of pop to the table, grafted on some of “Purpendicular’s” ambition, and encapsulated the ensemble-riff power of “Abandon.” Tours behind both of these albums revealed this still-young band’s continued growth as a performing unit. By the end of the "Bananas marathon, Airey had marked his apotheosis, from "replacement" to fully-integrated band-member.

”Rapture of the Deep” marks yet another new beginning, however. And it, more than any other record this side of “Perfect Strangers” and “Purpendicular,” offers a snapshot of the band transitioning into bold, uncharted territory. It’s as if all the pieces fit, not for the first time, of course, but in a manner that reveals a more pure portrait of just what this band is capable of. The whole transcends the sum of its parts, which is fitting for a record that seems to be, in a very real sense, about transcendence.

”As we all know, it’s hard to breathe/When something spiritual has taken place/We don’t know how, we don’t know why/We’ve been transported to a state of grace,” sings Gillan during the album’s title track, and this verse can be seen as indicative of the over-arching ethos behind “Rapture of the Deep.” Lyrically, it speaks of a spirit not content with the status quo in terms of interpersonal, social and political relationships, and this irreverent yearning is matched by the searching nature of the music itself, which also refuses to be ordinary.

The album opens with “Money Talks,” a hook-heavy rocker with several twists in its tale, most notably Gillan’s harmony vocals during the chorus, his uber-hip sing-speak during the verses – recalling both “Fireball’s” “No One Came” and his own “No Laughing In Heaven” – and the manner in which the tune flirts with an Eastern modality before erupting into a searing Morse solo. “Wrong Man” slaps the listener in the face straight out of the gate with a strutting riff that can’t miss, as Glover and Paice exploit the pocket for all it’s worth, and Gillan kicks against the pricks in the voice of a character whose greatest crime seems to be having been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Both of these – like their siblings on “Rapture,” elegant and refined rockers steeped in blues and chomping at the bit, with names like “Back To Back,” “Girls Like That” and the hit single in waiting “Don’t Let Go” – are brilliant Purple tunes, estuaries from a river that never seems to run to dry. Ah, but the surprises… they’re many and varied here, and they elevate “Rapture” toward the rapturous upper echelons of the Purple canon.

“Before Time Began” takes the form of a threatening march, an abscess dying to burst. Paice offers a dark subterranean shuffle, as the band lays down a series of melancholic chords, and Gillan, in a voice drenched in pathos, bemoans a world in which “Every day of my life I discover/Someone murdering my sisters and brothers/In the name of some god or another.” No mere political polemic, this, however; Gillan’s touch is too light, and he’s a master of “leaving things out,” so that his lyric is suggestive, rather than mere vitriol. “All of those bad ideas became the law/And we’ve forgotten what we’re looking for.” Indeed.

And again, the Purple engine room is in full overdrive mode here, as an expansive call-and-response between Morse and Airey - who has made replacing Lord look easy, when we all know it is in fact far from it; Airey has made his mark on Purple, to be sure, by respecting what came before him and having the fortitude and chops to take it all somewhere new and exciting - leaves one feeling breathless and vulnerable. This is “progressive rock” in the most positive sense of that much-maligned term.

The centerpiece of “Rapture” also happens to be one of the finest tunes in the band’s history – no small claim, that. “Clearly Quite Absurd” is clearly quite sublime; a piece with a melody that simply hurts to listen to, in the way that first love is painful because it’s ephemeral and fleeting. Thankfully, your disc player has a “repeat” button, so this is a love that will never abandon you.

Gillan sings of escaping the snares of the mundane and commonplace, the accepted reality which deadens us to the potential one above and beyond it. Again, harmony vocals – Beatle-esque ones, in this instance – help set the mood, and an ascending chord progression led by Morse spreads its arms heavenward, eventually settling into a circular pattern that becomes one of the more moving codas not just in Purple history, but, yep, in the history of heavy rock itself.

This is Deep Purple, 2005 version. Intense, fearless, full of fire, and wit, and passion. Marked by serious virtuosity, but never a slave to it. Still finding new meaning in a medium they all but single-handedly created. Grab ahold of this, and don’t let go.

- August, 2005
Buffalo, NY

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