2019
SCREAMING, MURDER, DEATH
FROM ABOVE: Live in Aalborg
RELEASED: 2019
LABEL: SPV/SteamHammer (USA/Euro)
JOHN'S NOTES:
So....a complete happy accident! Sometimes things .. just work out right y'know?
We we're in Europe as special guests on the
Dirkschneider tour...and November 27th in Aalborg Denmark was just one of the shows..but unknown to us the house soundman made a multitrack recording of our show! He gave a flash drive to our drummer Mike..he pocketed it..and basically forgot about it! Fast forward 6 months and I get a call from him as he had found it & fired it up... "You gotta hear this!!!!!"
And that's this album...as I broke a bass string at the start of " Hell Patrol" we had to fix that.. otherwise it's 100% authentic untouched live RAVEN!!!!!
Crank it up & enjoy!!!!!
JOHN:
Custom homemade flying V bass
Schecter 5 string bass (used on 2 notes lol)
Oktober custom 8 string bass on “River of No Return”
12 string acoustics on “Golden Dawn”
Synths and wacky noises
MARK:
Oktober custom MG telecasters
2015
TRACK LISTING:
EXTERMINATION
RELEASED: 2015
LABEL: SPV/SteamHammer (USA/Euro), Spiritual Beast (JAPAN), Die Hard (S. America)
PRODUCER: Raven with Kevin 131
ENGINEER: Kevin 131
MASTERING: Bob Wolf/Wolf Wolf Productions
RECORDED: Assembly Line Studios, Vienna, VA, USA
ARTWORK: Jay Sharpe
JOHN'S NOTES
One of those times where everything just came together, albeit with a lot of hard work! We put an inordinate amount of time into the writing, pre-production & rehearsal on this album..and it paid off in spades!
Writing & rehearsal took place at “The Etching Tin” Studios in Richmond VA (where we recorded the Party Killers album) which has a great vibe. We worked on material over (I think) three separate sessions.
Then, we went back to the scene of the “Walk Through Fire” crime – Assembly Line Studios & Kevin 131 ..who went above & beyond on this project!!!
The sounds are just better..and the performances have that live edge…and the songs kick ass - and are great to play live!
Just to note: ”Thunder Down Under” is our tribute to Bon Scott..and “Malice in Geordieland” is our tribute to our hometown!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Custom homemade flying V bass
Schecter 5 string bass (used on 2 notes lol)
Oktober custom 8 string bass on “River of No Return”
12 string acoustics on “Golden Dawn”
Synths and wacky noises
MARK:
Oktober custom MG telecasters
JOE:
Sonor double kit consisting of 2x24” kick drums, 10”, 12”, 13”, 14” mounted toms, 16” floor tom
Various cymbals of all shapes & sizes….and percussion odds & sods
2015
TRACK LISTING:
PARTY KILLERS
(Kickstarter Bonus for Lunatics Only)
RELEASED: 2015
LABEL: Self-printed
PRODUCER: RAVEN
ENGINEERING: Ian Whalen
MASTERING: S.A. Adams
RECORDED at Etching Tin Studios, Richmond, VA, USA
JOHN'S NOTES
When a song request at a party in Germany resulted in a emptying of the dance floor…the seeds of this project was born – songs to kill ANY disco!!
Near & dear to our hearts….these songs continue to inspire us – our roots !!! Recorded as a “perk” for our Kickstarter contributors, this album was recorded in a matter of days as was a great way to warm up for the “EXTERMINATION” recording!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Custom home made flying V bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo (intro to “OGRE BATTLE” & 1st solo on “TOO BAD, SO SAD”
Schecter 5-string bass
MARK:
Oktober custom MG telecasters
JOE:
Sonor double kit consisting of 2x24” kick drums, 10”, 12”, 13”, 14” mounted toms, 16” floor tom
Various cymbals of all shapes & sizes….and percussion odds & sods
2009
TRACK LISTING:
JAPAN EXTRA TRACK
NECESSARY EVIL
WALK THROUGH FIRE
Released 2009
LABEL: Metal Blade (US), SPV/Steamhammer (Euro), King Records (Japan)
PRODUCER: Raven with Kevin 131
ENGINEER: Kevin 131
MASTERED: Bill Wolf/ Wolf Productions
RECORDED at Assembly Line Studio, Vienna, VA, USA
JOHN'S NOTES
Well...after such a long gap between albums we had to pull out all the stops…this was amazingly satisfying to have this album come together…recorded in Vienna VA with Kevin 131 at the helm
We touch on our roots with a few songs & with the combo of killer sound & breakneck performances, but stretch out a bit without losing the “Raven” feel - we took time in the writing & final touches but got the live feel also!
Intro: we wanted a little “fiddly bit” to start off proceedings- jungle drums, guitars, sound effects and yes... violin (I tracked it at home to spare everyone else the horror...)
Against The Grain: rip yer face off!!! Love this one, great riffs, pummeling drums!! Breaking you down: already a live fave, a slightly more mid tempo beatdown!
Under Your Radar: upping the speed & no messing around, some fun unison bass/guitar runs in the middle and I get to scream…a lot!
Walk Through Fire: sums up the last few years nicely... sick riffs & breaks!
Bulldozer: opens with impending doom... then break out the swagger!!! Almost a blues shuffle beat - right in yer gut! And theres a 12 string bass solo..and why not?
Long Days Journey: atmospherics... love the way this builds…fun to play live also - great solo from Marcus Algerius...
Trainwreck: Brittany who? we wrote this just before we went in ..inspired by the tabloids..
Grip: a relentless churning rifforama... Joe destroys on this...
Running Around in Circles: a shade more melodic - but still kicks, one of the first ones we did!
Hard Road: very biographical lyrics... sick guitar sounds on this...
Armageddon: a bit of an epic mate... imagine if one of those “the end of the world is nigh” guys was actually right??
Attitude: title says it all - a forearm smash in the kisser...
Necessary Evil (Japan only): our glam roots are showing!
Space Station #5: during the end of the session... me: ”hmmm... can we do Space Station #5?”
Mark & Joe ” sure...’ then we tore it a new one…!
Montrose - the one & only!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Hamer 12 string bass
Conklin 7 string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo
Synths & Violin
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster guitars
Hamer Californian guitars
Veleno Aluminum guitar
JOE:
Tama kit with 2 x 24” kick drums, 12”, 13”, 14” toms, 16” floor tom, various cymbals
2000
TRACK LISTING:
ONE FOR ALL
Released 2000
LABEL: Metal Blade (US), Massacre (Euro), Pony Canyon (Japan)
PRODUCER: Michael Wagener
ENGINEER: Michael Wagener
MASTERED: Michael Wagener
RECORDED at Wireworld Studio, Nashville, TN, USA
JOHN'S NOTES
Magical!!! (which partly explains the throwback to the “All for One” in the album title!!!)
We hooked up with Mike Waegner once again & did the album in his studio - just the best!!! We were able to concentrate on the music - not the technology, which Mike uses brilliantly.
I feel this is the best album we have done in many, many years and captures exactly what we set out to do! Live, we’ve done “Seven Shades”, “Double Talk” and “To Be Broken” and have to break in a few more!!
Just a great combination of good songs, good playing & good sounds and attitude!!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Hamer 12 string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo
ESP custom bass with tremolo
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster guitars
Hamer Californian guitar
JOE:
Ludwig Hercules kit with 2 x 26” kick drums, 12”, 13”, 14” toms, 16” floor tom, various cymbals
1999
TRACK LISTING:
JAPAN EXTRA TRACKS
EURO EXTRA TRACKS
RAW TRACKS
Released 1999
LABEL: SPV/Fresh Fruit, Metal Blade
PRODUCER: Raven
ENGINEER: various
RECORDED: various
MASTERED: S.A. Adams
JOHN'S NOTES
This grew out of an idea from the company that put out the “Atlantic” cd’s in 1998. They wanted to do a “greatest hits” thing called “Stark Raven Mad”
The record company dropped off the planet and we decided to do a “box set without the rip-off” and complied this collection of demos/bootlegs/live & unreleased material!! Sound quality varies - but thats why its called “raw tracks”!!
Some great stuff here... the “Stay Hard” material sounds wild live…and the ‘89 shows are insane! “Move Over” was one of the 1st things we did with joe (why it never came out i’ll never know..) there are 2 versions of this cd with varying tracks for the last 2 tracks...!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Hamer 12 string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo
ESP custom bass with tremolo
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster
Fender Strat
ESP Strat
JOE:
Sonor 24" double kick kit
1997
TRACK LISTING:
EVERYTHING LOUDER
Released 1997
LABEL: SPV/Fresh Fruit
PRODUCER: Raven
ENGINEER: Kevin Barnes
RECORDED at ClearSound Studios, Manassas, VA, USA
JOHN'S NOTES
This is pretty much the '90s version of "Wiped Out" for us ..a little more varied - but after the success of the "Destroy All Monsters" 1995 live cd... we wanted this album to reflect the feeling on the live album... and we succeeded!
Highlights: "Blind Eye" with my air raid siren intro.. "No Pain, No Gain" easily THE most nuts song we'd done in years...although "Insane" gives it a run for its money.
Some mid tempo rockers like "Hungry" & the mini-epic "Wilderness of Broken Glass" round it out - look for the bit of Queen finishing "Get Your Finger Out"...Joe's take on 30's movie dialog...and the horror of our rehearsing!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Hamer 12 string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo
MARK:
Ludwig Hercules kit with 2 x 26” kick drums, 12”, 13”, 14” toms, 16” floor tom, various cymbals
JOE:
Ludwig Hercules kit with 2 x 26” kick drums, 12”, 13”, 14” toms, 16” floor tom, various cymbals
1995
TRACK LISTING:
DESTROY ALL MONSTERS
(LIVE IN JAPAN)
Released 1995
LABEL: SPV/SteamHammer, Zero Record (Japan)
PRODUCER: Raven
MIXING: Vinny Esposito, Split Decision Studios, W. Babylon , NYC, USA
MASTERED: Michael Sarsfield at Frankford Wayne, NYC
RECORDED at Live at the Club Citta, Tokyo, Japan on May 13, 1995
JOHN'S NOTES
I love this as its blistering!!!!.. although i’m not in good shape on the vocals(could not even TALK before we went on... so its a miracle i sing on this at all!)
Anyway, this ROCKS from start to finish & the “Glow” material sounds fine on here - great version of “Gimme a Reason” for instance... also the “Jaws/Nails/Allah” medley is outrageous! But my fave is the “Break the Chain” opus... as a lot of the middle was improvised!!! The whole trip was really amazing & the Japanese were so into the music - very special!!!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Kramer 8-string
Explorer (Red with trem bar)
Bass pedals (Moog Taurus knockoffs)
Fender precision fretless bass
Ibanez 8-string bass
ESP Precision bass
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster
Fender Strat
ESP Strat
JOE:
Sonor 24" double kick kit
1994
TRACK LISTING:
GLOW
Released 1994
LABEL: SPV/SteamHammer, Zero Record (Japan)
PRODUCER: Raven
ENGINEER: Ben Elliot
RECORDED at Showplace Studios, Dover, NJ, USA
JOHN'S NOTES
After 1993’s litany of woe (houses burning down... demos being damaged..guitars being stolen...) it was great to get in & get this done!!!
The studio was quite amazing, especially as you can walk through the recording room straight into a strip club!!!!!
Needless to say, it was tough rounding up people to listen to mixes!!
We tried a wide variety of styles on this... pretty successfully!! Everything from ballads(!!) to slow & heavy. And on a spur of the moment, did Thin Lizzy's “The Rocker”...one of our childhood faves!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Hamer 12 string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster guitars
Hamer Californian guitar
JOE:
ESP custom Telecaster guitars
Hamer Californian guitar
1991
TRACK LISTING:
HEAD'S UP (EP)
Released 1991
LABEL: SPV/SteamHammer
PRODUCER: Raven
ENGINEER: Detlef Mohrman, Heimi Milkus
RECORDED at Mohrmann Studio, Witten, Germany
JOHN'S NOTES
These were songs we didn't finish on “Architect” that we finished up & added some live material from soundboard tapes recorded on tour in 1991
Love Joe’s intro to “World Comes Tumbling”, taken from a band rehearsal tape!!!
“Stay Human” was a great song to do live... maybe we should bring that one back..! The cover art was a piss take on the death metal album sleeves... except we were the ones getting torn up!!!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Kramer 8-string bass
Hamer 8 string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster guitars
ESP M1 custom guitar
JOE:
Sonor 2x24” kick kit with 12”, 13”, 14” toms, 16” floor tom, various cymbals
1990
TRACK LISTING:
ARCHITECT of FEAR
Released 1990
LABEL: SPV/SteamHammer
PRODUCER: Raven
ENGINEER: Detlef Mohrman, Heimi Milkus
RECORDED at MohrmannStudio Witten, Germany
June /July 1990
JOHN'S NOTES
Wow - this was an experience!
We’d hooked up with Kreator’s management in Germany & they brought us over to do the album there... a very loonie month!!!
The studio was small but sounded great & Detlef & Heimi (singer from german band Risk) did a fine job.
I'd come down from singing & find Mark & Joe lost in horror movies on the VCR. A local English guy dragged his new synth in & we used it for a few bits here & there
This is one heavy album!!!!
Inbetween recording & mixing we went to Holland & did 3 gigs to blow off steam & play a couple of new songs - all on begged / borrowed and unpaid for equipment... we actually played the “cheese metal” festival in Gouda!!!!!!!!!!!!!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Kramer 8-string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster guitars
ESP M1 custom guitar
JOE:
Sonor 2x24” kick kit with 12”, 13”, 14” toms, 16” floor tom, various cymbals
1988
SIDE 1
SIDE 2
CD REISSUE BONUS TRACKS
LAY DOWN THE LAW (Live)
NOTHING EXCEEDS LIKE EXCESS
Released 1988
LABEL: Combat Records/Nuclear Blast (Reissue)
PRODUCER: Raven
ENGINEER: Bob Ludwig, John & Mark Gallagher
MASTERING: Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk, NY
RECORDED: UCA Studios, Utica, NY, USA
JOHN'S NOTES
Wow…amazing time doing this!
Rob had left back in ‘87... after some uninspiring auditions, we tried our old mate: Joe “hasnobladder”!!!...perfect!
Worked on these songs & got the Combat deal.
Little to zero budget & went to a studio.
I’d done a project in earlier that year in Utica, NY. Convenient in that we had a apartment above the studio…lots of fiddling with the board behind the engineers back...! Whoops!
A really good album (check out the remastered CD on Century media - sounds WAY better).
I remember Mark, actually playing “Die for Allah” all the way through off the top of his head into a tape recorder... totally improvised on the spot! Joe sneaking back in the studio at 4.00am chased by someone's boyfriend... nuts!!!!!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Kramer 8-string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo
ESP 5 string bass
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster guitars
ESP M1 custom guitar
JOE:
Ludwig Hercules kit with 2 x 26” kick drums, 12”, 13”, 14” toms, 16” floor tom, various cymbals
1987
SIDE 1
SIDE 2
CD REISSUE BONUS TRACKS
FINGER ON THE TRIGGER
LIFE'S A BITCH
Released 1987
LABEL: Atlantic Records
PRODUCER: Raven, Chris Isca
ENGINEER: Chris Isca, Thom Cadley
MASTERING: Dennis King at Atlantic Studios, NYC
RECORDED: Bearsville Studios, NY, USA
JOHN'S NOTES
A lot of tension in the air. Most of the album was written in the studio. It was becoming obvious Rob was becoming unhappy but still he played ferociously on this, possibly our most aggressive album!!
All our frustrations came out on this one. Some great songs & it holds together well; although our original track list was changed (savage & the hungry & overload were swapped... we wanted overload to start!)
At the time, they were pushing cassettes, so “Finger on the Trigger” was only on the cassette! It appeared on cd on the Mayhem 1998 re-issues)
Again, we were in Bearsville studios, Woodstock Ny.
This was in Nov / Dec of 1986 as I recall. I remember we lived in the “barn” a combination rehearsal / living area... pretty cool!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Kramer 8-string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo
ESP custom “flash” bass
ESP 5 string bass
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster guitars
ESP custom M1 guitar
Roland Synth guitar
ROB:
Tama 24" double kick kit with Roto Toms
1986
SIDE 1
SIDE 2
MAD (EP)
Released 1986
LABEL: Atlantic Records
PRODUCER: Raven
ENGINEER/MIXING: Nelson Ayres, Paul Higgins
MASTERING: Dennis King at Atlantic Studios, NYC
RECORDED: House of Music Studios, Pleasant Valley, NJ
JOHN'S NOTES
Licking our wounds after "The PACK is BACK" promo nightmare... we decided to do what WE wanted... and to celebrate & tie in with an upcoming tour with Twisted Sister(which unfortunately was canceled!)
Mark had kidney stones as we were mixing and was stretchered out in the studio... ugh!!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Kramer 8-string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo
ESP custom “flash” bass
ESP 5 string bass
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster guitars
ESP custom M1 guitar
Roland Synth guitar
ROB:
Tama 24" double kick kit with Roto Toms
1986
SIDE 1
SIDE 2
CD REISSUE BONUS TRACKS
THE PACK IS BACK
Released 1986
LABEL: Atlantic Records
PRODUCER: Eddie Kramer
STUDIO ENGINEER: Chris Isca
MIXING: Eddie Kramer, Larry Swisp at Bear Tracks Studios
MASTERING: Bob Ludwig
RECORDED: Bearsville Studios, NY, USA
JOHN'S NOTES
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times!!!!
What can i tell you? We did have a blast doing this although it took a little too long for my taste.
The album was done to a click track - 1st mistake as this effectively killed the “Raven” feel. The balance between heavy & melody was way too melodic.
Some great songs like the title track, “Rock Dogs”(Eddie Kramer on piano!!) and the too poppy but perverse “Gimme Some Lovin” not to mention “Nightmare Ride”.
Eddie was pushing to make it even more commercial... so it was done & Atlantic basically did zilch to promote it... thanks a lot!!!
So a major rethink was in order. Still, after all this time I have more perspective. It's a slick professional effort with state of the art sound for then... but...
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Kramer 8-string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo
ESP custom “flash” bass
ESP 5 string bass
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster guitars
ESP custom M1 guitar
Roland Synth guitar
ROB:
Tama 24" double kick kit with Roto Toms
1985
SIDE 1
SIDE 2
CD REISSUE BONUS TRACKS
STAY HARD
Released 1985
LABEL: Atlantic Records
PRODUCERS: Michael Wagener, Raven
ENGINEERS: Michael Wagener, Norman Dunn
MASTERING: George Marino at Sterling Sound, NY
RECORDED: Pyramid Studios, Ithaca, NY, USA
JOHN'S NOTES
Our first major label album... plenty of pressure to “sell, sell, sell” but still vintage Raven although the sound does not rip like the previous album. Still a lot of killer songs and some fun on “The Bottom Line” “Power & the Glory” we’d had from the “All for One” sessions.
Mike Waegner was brought in at the halfway mark to do a couple of songs over & remix the rest. Against our better judgement we redid “Hard Ride”... hmmm... and after a frustrating few days we finally nailed “On & On” - very hard to get that one right... other that getting the arrangement to gel, there were about 24 tracks of vocals on that I had to do! aggghhh!!! The songs were really good to do live... see the “Raw Tracks” album!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Kramer 8-string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo
ESP Precision bass
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster guitars
ESP custom M1 guitar
Squire Strat guitar
ROB:
Tama 24" double kick kit with Roto Toms
ROB:
Tama 24" double kick kit with Roto Toms
1984
DEFCON 4
DEFCON 3
DEFCON 2
DEFCON 1
LIVE AT THE INFERNO
Released 1984
LABEL: MegaForce Records
PRODUCERS: Raven
MOBILE ENGINEERS: Alex Perialas
STUDIO ENGINEER: Norman Dunn
RECORDED live on the USA tour 1984 (San Francisco, Chicago, NYC).
JOHN'S NOTES
In order to preempt our old record company putting out the inevitable “greatest hits”; we basically did this album live & was part of our deal in getting away from Neat Records.
A great snapshot of what we sounded like right there on that 2nd USA tour!!
Back cover shot is from the Roseland NYC show we did with Anthrax & Metallica - where all 3 bands got signed... my favorite? “Let It Rip”!!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Kramer 8-string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo
ESP Precision bass
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster guitars
ESP custom M1 guitar
Squire Strat guitar
ROB:
Tama 24" double kick kit with Roto Toms
1983
SIDE ONE
SIDE TWO
CD Reissue BONUS TRACKS
ALL FOR ONE
Released 1983
LABEL: Neat/MegaForce Records
ENGINEERS: Micheal Wagener
PRODUCERS: Michael Wagener, Udo Dirkschneider for Double Trouble Productions
Recorded at Pineapple Studios, London, UK
JOHN'S NOTES
We’d had enough of the restrictions of our old studio & insisted the next album was done in a real studio with a real producer!
We loved the sound on the accept albums “Breaker” & “Restless & Wild” so we contacted Mike Wagener who was now partners with Udo from Accept.
We did a week's worth of pre-production with them in this horrible basement rehearsal studio, and recorded at a studio in the west of London. This was all a big step for us. We’d consciously slowed down the songs & made the arrangements more powerful... Mike brought that out even more!! We persuaded Udo to guest on a couple of songs released on singles later.
Still possibly our fans fave album and I can see why!!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Kramer 8-string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo (solos on Run Silent Run Deep & Born To Be Wild)
Fender Precision bass
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster guitars
ESP custom M1 guitar
Squire Strat guitar
ROB:
Tama 24" double kick kit
1982
SIDE ONE
SIDE TWO
CRASH BANG WALLOP! (EP)
RELEASED: 1982
LABEL: Neat Records
ENGINEER: Keith Nichol
Recorded at Impulse Studios, Wallsend, England
JOHN'S NOTES
Basically we ran out of room on the “Wiped Out” album & thought it would be cool to put out an EP later on. The live photos are from a gig we did with Motorhead at Leeds Queens Hall in 1981. Mark sings lead on “Rock Hard” and sounds great!! The “Monty Python woman” rap on the title track was me & in an inspired moment was done in one take. The line that really killed everyone on that (and is probably buried under the guitar solo)is “sucking the brains out of dead turnips”... don't ask me!!!!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Kramer 8-string bass
Custom Explorer bass with tremolo
Fender Precision bass
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster guitar
Fender “The Strat” guitar
Sumbro copy Strat guitar
ROB:
Tama 24" double kick kit
1982
SIDE ONE
SIDE TWO
CD Reissue BONUS TRACKS
WIPED OUT
RELEASED: 1982
LABEL: Neat Records
ENGINEERS: Keith Nichol
Recorded at Impulse Studios, Wallsend, England
JOHN'S NOTES
Insane... did all this & the “CRASH BANG WALLOP” ep in just over a week... Wrote most of “To the Limit” as we recorded it…I remember “Hold Back the Fire” during the solo's peak... Mark standing on the piano stomping (whole track is live except the short 1st solo... as was 90% of the album). We really intended to go “over the top” but were never really happy with the sound - (the wrong mix was pressed as the album... ) although the attitude makes up for it!! A good representation of our live show at the time... f**in nuts!!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Kramer 8-string
Explorer Red with trem bar Chainsaw Intro
Bass pedals (Moog Taurus knockoffs)
Fender precision fretless bass
Ibanez 8-string bass
Classical guitar on “20/21”
MARK:
ESP custom Telecaster guitar
Squire Strat guitar
Sumbro copy Strat guitar
ROB - Tama 24" double kick kit
1981
Side ONE
SIDE TWO
CD Reissue BONUS TRACKS
ROCK UNTIL YOU DROP
Released 1981
LABEL: Neat Records
PRODUCERS: Steve Thompson, Raven
ENGINEER: Mickey Sweeney
Recorded at Impulse Studios, Wallsend, England
JOHN'S NOTES
Magic!! We were actually doing an album... although this was done off & on over a period of a few months whenever we could sneak in for half a day. That's why you can hear the band's sound evolving over this period.
Fave moments? Walking on plastic cups for the title track intro! Working title for “39/40"? “More ale landlord!!”
We knew it was a good album but it did so well, probably because it sounds like no-one else.
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Fender Precision bass
Fender precision fretless (on 39/40)
Ibanez 8-string bass(on Tyrant of the Airways)
Kramer 8-string (Rock Until You Drop solo)
Classical guitar (39/40)
MARK:
Fender Telecaster
No-name Strat copy
ROB - Tama 24" double kick kit
1981
Side A
HARD RIDE
Side B
CRAZY WORLD
HARD RIDE (7" Single)
RELEASED: 1981
LABEL: Neat Records
PRODUCER: Steve Thompson
ENGINEER: Mickey Sweeney
Recorded at Impulse Studios, Wallsend, England
JOHN'S NOTES
We wanted another single..Hard Ride seemed the obvious choice..(I remember a good review given by Bruce Dickinson in an English magazine..).
Crazy world is just that…another review described this song as “makes the Bad Brains sound like they are standing still” !!!
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Kramer 8-string
MARK- Fender Telecaster, no-name Strat copy
ROB - Tama 24" double kick kit
1980
Side A
DON'T NEED YOUR MONEY
Side B
WIPED OUT
DON'T NEED YOUR MONEY/
WIPED OUT 7" Single
Released 1980
LABEL: Neat Records
PRODUCER: Steve Thompson
ENGINEER: Mickey Sweeney
Recorded at Impulse Studios, Wallsend, England
JOHN'S NOTES
This was our first single & a song we were real happy with. It just has a magic feel that transcends the “low-fi” production... it just bursts out of the speakers! The b-side “Wiped Out” was also done the same day. If you turn up the very end of the track, you hear where we threw a garbage can down the stone steps of the studio & then one of our roadies screams “what the f**k was that?” - priceless!!! Initially both songs had extended mid sections that we were advised to ditch... and rightly so!
To save tracks, Mark & John did the harmony lead bit on "Wiped Out" together.
INSTRUMENTS:
JOHN:
Fender Precision bass (1972)
MARK:
Fender Telecaster, no-name Strat copy
ROB - Tama 24" double kick kit