Second Heat
Second Heat is the second studio album by the American heavy metal band Racer X, released on February 11, 1987 through Shrapnel Records. In a contemporary review, Rock Hard defines Second Heat "a convincing piece of work, which can boast an unusually impressive production" and predicted that Paul Gilbert would be "the first Shrapnel guitarist, who will make a name for himself beyond the circle of guitar freaks."Andy Hinds at AllMusic considered Second Heat superior to its predecessor and described it as having "some of the most amazing dual-guitar work recorded" thanks to the addition of second guitarist Bruce Bouillet in accompaniment with Gilbert. The rhythm section of drummer Scott Travis and bassist John Alderete was praised as being "one of the most formidable around." Highlights listed included "Hammer Away", "Living the Hard Way" and the instrumental "Scarified". However, criticism was directed at the band's cover of "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie: Hinds dismissed it as a "backdrop for more shredding" at the expense of "all the charm and subtlety of the original".
Canadian journalist Martin Popoff found the album "hobbled by the rudimentary, New Jersey rock club tones" and cited as the "most memorable thing about this album" the cover of Judas Priest's "Heart of a Lion", "apparently given to the band by Halford without Downings's or Tipton's knowledge."In 2005, Second Heat was ranked No. 480 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time. Racer XJeff Martin – vocals Paul Gilbert – guitar Bruce Bouillet – guitar John Alderete – bass Scott Travis – drumsAdditional musiciansMike Mani – keyboards on tracks 4 and 6ProductionSteve Fontano – producer, engineer Dino Alden – assistant engineer George Horn – mastering at Fantasy Studios, California Mike Varney – executive producer Guy Aitchison – cover art In Review: Racer X "Second Heat" at Guitar Nine Records
Drum Workshop
Drum Workshop is an American drum kit and hardware manufacturing company based in Oxnard, California. Drum Workshop was founded in 1972 as a teaching studio by Don Lombardi, it offered private lessons and the occasional workshop. However, along with student John Good, began a small drum equipment sales operation to cover the facility's operation costs; this operation soon created the first-ever DW product: The height-adjustable trap seat, envisioned by Lombardi. The demand became so great that, after accepting an offer to purchase all of Camco's manufacturing equipment, the primary focus of the DW operation became drum hardware manufacturing. DW's Camco origins can still be seen on their drums today. Following this, the next big product introduced by DW was the 5000 series nylon strap bass drum pedal; this pedal was soon joined by the double bass pedal, the rotating-base, cable remote hi-hat stands. DW expanded into larger facilities in Oxnard and grew to oversee a new company, Pacific Drums and Percussion, a value-oriented company offering quality lower-priced drumsets for any individual.
DW pioneered the timbre-matching technique of grouping a set of drumshells together by listening to the note each shell holds before it is sanded. Each shell that comes out of the Oxnard DW factory is stamped with the note of that shell on the inside. DW offers pre-made standard sized sets as well as custom drums made to customer specification. For a brief period, DW opened a facility in Ensenada, Mexico, to manufacture its value line of drums and at the same time DW entered the drumstick market with the "3" drumstick lineup. What made the "3" drumstick lineup unique was that they included three matched drumsticks in their offering, unlike other manufactures that sell pairs of two; when DW closed operation at Ensenada facility they ceased the drumstick line. In 2015, Drum Workshop Inc acquired and licensed American music instrument brands Gretsch Drums, Ovation Guitars, Latin Percussion, Toca Percussion, Gibraltar Hardware and KAT Technologies. Many regarded drummers endorse DW, including Tony Royster, Jr. Chad Smith, Jonathan "Sugarfoot" Moffett, Cobus Potgieter, Gerald Heyward, Thomas Pridgen, Cora Coleman-Dunham, Derek Roddy, Dave Grohl, Stephen Perkins, Dominic Howard, Luke Holland, Alex González, Steve Jocz, Brooks Wackerman, Scott Travis, Scott Phillips, Abe Laboriel Jr. Sandy Gennaro, Peter Criss, Neil Peart of Rush, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, Danny Seraphine, Will Berman of MGMT, Zak Starkey and Martone drummer Daniel Adair, Thomas Lang, Terry Bozzio, the late Troy Penland, Roger Taylor, Max Weinberg, José Pasillas from Incubus, Atom Willard, Glen Sobel The hired gun of and Other Bands and Christoph Schneider.
Others include Jason Bonham Tommy Clufetos, Kelly Keagy, Bruce Becker, Victor Loyo, Eric Moore, Rex Hardy Jr. Matt Greiner and Venzella Joy Williams. Eagles drummers Don Henley and Scott Crago are well known users of DW and are endorsed by the company. Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac is a DW artist, as is Marco Minnemann. Travis Barker of Blink-182 though is endorsed by OCDP drums, uses DW hardware. Tico Torres of Bon Jovi switched to DW drums and hardware after using Pearl for over 25 years in April 2013 during their Because We Can tour. Most of DW's drums can be custom-ordered to suit the customer's needs with a wide array of shell sizes and hardware color in any of DW's Custom Shops. Unique to DW's drum kits are its True-Pitch tuning rods, DW's Coated/Clear drumheads made by Remo, STM tom mounts, Specialized Shell Configuration, which allows the customer to choose between X, VLT, or VLX shells for a unique sound, they have cocktail drums, a junior drum kit, bass drum woofers, effect toms like rata toms and gong drums available.
DW offers a special line of drums that are different from "standard" drums and are used in situations which call for a new sound. Cocktail Kit – This drum kit combines the use of DogBone clamps, smaller drum sizes, the Sidekick offset pedal in order to reduce the size of the kit. With shallow toms and the bass drum pedal operating on the floor tom lower head, this 4-piece kit plays like a 5-piece and takes up the space of a 2-piece. Gong Drum – A large single-headed 10-ply maple drum with a 21" or 23" diameter mounted on a stand and intended to be struck with a drumstick, it aims for a sound between a bass drum. It is available in all hardware finishes; this drum was developed with the input of drumming great Marco Minnemann, who helped DW make their model unique from other drum companies' gong bass drums. Woofer – An 8" deep by 18" to 28" wide drum mounted in front of the bass drum, it amplifies the low-end punch of the bass drum and includes a pre-installed AKG D112BD internal mic. Piccolo Toms – 2.5" deep steel toms available in 8", 10", 12" diameters.
These drums were designed with the drumming legend Terry Bozzi
Jeff Martin (American musician)
Jeffery Louis Martin is an American musician and drummer who has sung for the bands Racer X, Bad Dog, Surgical Steel and St. Michael and played drums for the bands Badlands, the Michael Schenker Group, Blindside Blues Band, Red Sea, St. Michael and The Electric Fence, a side project with Paul Gilbert and Russ Parrish. Jeff Martin played drums for Paul Gilbert, George Lynch, P. K. Mitchell. Martin played drums in Surgical Steel before switching to lead vocals and was the drummer/lead vocalist for St. Michael, both Phoenix, AZ-based bands, he released a lone solo album in 2006, The Fool, featuring the guitar talents of Paul Gilbert and Michael Schenker and has sung backing vocals for Judas Priest and The Scream. Martin appeared in the 1985 movie Thunder Alley, starring Leif Garrett, with his band Surgical Steel; the Fool Street Lethal Second Heat Extreme Volume Live Extreme Volume II Live Technical Difficulties Superheroes Live at the Whisky: Snowball of Doom Getting Heavier Official Bootleg: Snowball of Doom 2 Voodoo Highway Dusk Blindside Blues Band Blindsided Messenger Of The Blues Blood King of Clubs Beehive Live Alligator Farm Be Aware of Scorpions Tales of Rock'n'Roll Judas Priest - Turbo The Scream - Let It Scream Paul Gilbert & Jimi Kidd - Raw Blues Power Pete Way & Michael Schenker - The Plot Pat Travers - P.
T. Power Trio 2 Surgical Steel - 3-song demo Surgical Steel - 6-song demo Bad Dog - demo Leatherwolf - 3-song demo Metal Massacre II w/ Surgical Steel - "Rivet Head" U. S. Metal Vol. 4 w/ St. Michael - "The Beauty, The Power"
'98 Live Meltdown
'98 Live Meltdown is a concert album by Judas Priest and released in 1998 and is the first live album to feature new lead singer Tim "Ripper" Owens, recorded during the Jugulator Tour. A second live album featuring Owens, Live in London, was released in 2003. Judas PriestTim "Ripper" Owens – vocals K. K. Downing – guitar Glenn Tipton – guitar Ian Hill – bass guitar Scott Travis – drumsProductionProduced and mixed by Judas Priest and Sean Lynch Engineered by Will Shapland Mastered by Tim Burrell Album cover by Mark Wilkinson Photography by Ross Halfin, John McMurtrie, Babz Bell, George Chin, John Stone
Painkiller (Judas Priest album)
Painkiller is the twelfth studio album by British heavy metal band Judas Priest, released in September 1990. It is the last Judas Priest album to feature lead singer Rob Halford until his return for the 2005 album Angel of Retribution and the first to feature drummer Scott Travis. Painkiller is the first Judas Priest album to feature drummer Scott Travis, who replaced long-time drummer Dave Holland in 1989. Travis was a member of Los Angeles band Racer X and with his heavy use of double pedals and blast beats, it gave Judas Priest a new sound and heavier edge; the album was recorded at Miraval Studios, France in early 1990 and mixed at Wisseloord Studios, the Netherlands that year. It was produced by the band and Chris Tsangarides, marking the first time since 1978's Killing Machine that Judas Priest had not worked with Tom Allom and the first time since 1976's Sad Wings of Destiny that Judas Priest and Tsangarides worked together. Despite the album being finished in March 1990, the album's release was delayed due to the pending, much-publicized subliminal message trial that began on 16 July 1990.
The band was the subject of a civil lawsuit alleging their recording was responsible for the suicide attempts of two young men in Reno, Nevada on 23 December 1985. The case was dismissed on 24 August 1990. With the trial behind them, the band released the album on 3 September 1990 on LP, cassette and CD; the album was certified Gold by RIAA in January 1991. A remastered CD was released in May 2001, including a live recording of "Leather Rebel" and a unreleased song, "Living Bad Dreams"; the album received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards, losing to Metallica's cover of the Queen song "Stone Cold Crazy". Critical reaction to Painkiller has been overwhelmingly positive from the metal community. On metal-archives.com, the album holds an average score of 92% based on 26 reviews. Following the tour for this album, singer Rob Halford left the band in May 1992 and maintained little contact with his former bandmates throughout the 1990s; the reason for this was growing tensions within the band, along with Halford's desire to explore new musical territory by creating a new band of his own, which forced him to leave Judas Priest to allow this creation to be sold.
Judas Priest remained inactive for several years. All tracks written by Glenn Tipton, Rob Halford and K. K. Downing, except where noted
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in West Bromwich in 1969. The band has sold over 50 million copies of their albums to date, they are ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in the latter half of the 1970s, the band struggled with indifferent record production and lack of major commercial success or attention until 1980, when they adopted a more simplified sound on the album British Steel, which helped shoot them to rock superstar status; the band's membership has seen much turnover, including a revolving cast of drummers in the 1970s, the temporary departure of singer Rob Halford in the early 1990s. The current line-up consists of Halford, bassist Ian Hill, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, drummer Scott Travis; the band's best-selling album is 1982's Screaming for Vengeance with their most commercially successful line-up, featuring Hill, Tipton, guitarist K. K. Downing, drummer Dave Holland. Tipton and Hill are the only two members of the band to appear on every album.
Halford's operatic vocal style and the twin guitar sound of Downing and Tipton have been a major influence on metal and have been adopted by many bands. Their image of leather and other taboo articles of clothing were influential during the glam metal era of the 1980s; the Guardian referred to British Steel as the record. Despite a decline in exposure during the mid 1990s, the band has once again seen a resurgence, including worldwide tours, being inaugural inductees into the VH1 Rock Honors in 2006, receiving a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2010, their songs featured in video games such as Guitar Hero and the Rock Band series. Judas Priest formed in 1969 in industrial West Bromwich, in the Black Country, by vocalist Al Atkins and bassist Brian "Bruno" Stapenhill, with John Perry on guitar and John "Fezza" Partridge on drums. Perry soon died in a road accident, amongst the replacements the band auditioned were future Judas Priest guitarist Kenny "K. K." Downing. Stapenhill came up with the name Judas Priest from Bob Dylan's song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" on the album John Wesley Harding.
No member of that early line-up lasted long enough to play on the band's recordings, though several songs co-written by Atkins appeared on their first two albums. The band gained a three-album recording contract with the label Immediate in late 1969 after a gig in Walsall, but the label went out of business before an album could be recorded, the band split in 1970. Late in the year, Atkins found a heavy rock band rehearsing without a singer called Freight, made up of K. K. Downing on guitar, his childhood friend Ian "Skull" Hill on bass, drummer John Ellis, he joined them, they took on Atkins' defunct band's name. Their first gig was on 6 March 1971. Ellis quit that year and was replaced with Alan Moore. Early shows included Hendrix and Quatermass covers, in 1972 the set list included the originals "Never Satisfied", "Winter", the show-closer "Caviar and Meths". Moore left and was replaced with Christopher Louis "Congo" Campbell, the band joined Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi's management agency Iommi Management Agency.
Atkins continued to write material for the band—including "Whiskey Woman", which became the base for the Judas Priest staple "Victim of Changes"—but as finances were tight and he had a family to support, he played his last gigs with the band in December 1972. Campbell left soon afterwards, the band enlisted two members of the band Hiroshima: drummer John Hinch and vocalist Rob Halford, the brother of Hill's girlfriend. Judas Priest made their first tour of continental Europe in early 1974 and returned to England that April to sign a recording deal with the label Gull. Gull suggested adding a fifth member to fill in the band's sound. A precursor of The Flying Hat Band called Shave'Em Dry featured future Starfighters drummer Barry Scrannage, who had played with original Priest members Ernest Chataway and Bruno Stapenhill in the band Bullion. Judas Priest went into the studio in June–July 1974 with Black Sabbath producer Rodger Bain; the band released their debut single "Rocka Rolla" that August and followed in September with an album of the same name.
The album features a variety of styles—straight-up rock, heavy riffing, progressive. Technical problems during the recording contributed to the poor sound quality of the record. Producer Rodger Bain, whose resume included Black Sabbath's first three albums as well as Budgie's first album, dominated the production of the album and made decisions with which the band did not agree. Bain chose to leave fan favourites from the band's live set, such as "Tyrant", "Genocide" and "The Ripper", off the album and he cut the song "Caviar and Meths" from a 10-minute song down to a 2-minute instrumental; the tour for Rocka Rolla was Judas Priest's first international tour with dates in Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark including one show at Hotel Klubben in Tønsberg, one hour from Oslo, which scored them a somewhat negative review in the local press. The album flopped upon release. Priest attempted to secure a deal with Gull Records to get a monthly pay of 50 pounds, because Gull Records were struggling as well, they declined.
Rocka Rolla has been for the most part dismissed by the band and none of its songs were played live after 1976 except for "Neve
Rob Halford
Robert John Arthur Halford is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist for the Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band Judas Priest, he is famous for his powerful wide-ranging voice and his now-trademark leather-and-studs image, both of which became revolutionary in heavy metal. In addition to his work with Judas Priest, he has been involved with several side projects, including Fight and Halford. AllMusic says of Halford: "There have been few vocalists in the history of heavy metal whose singing style has been as influential and recognizable... able to effortlessly alternate between a throaty growl and an ear-splitting falsetto". Halford was voted number 33 in the greatest voices in rock by Planet Rock listeners in 2009, he was nicknamed "Metal God" by fans. Halford was born in Sutton Coldfield, but raised on the Beechdale housing estate in Walsall, a town to the northwest of Birmingham in England's West Midlands, his early influences included soul screamers, such as Janis Joplin and Robert Plant.
Halford was introduced to Judas Priest co-founder Ian Hill by his sister, dating Hill at the time. Halford, a manager of a porn cinema, joined the band as singer, bringing with him drummer John Hinch from his previous band, Hiroshima. In August 1974, the band debuted with the single "Rocka Rolla", before releasing an album of the same name a month later; the next albums were Sad Wings of Destiny. 1979 brought their first live recording with Unleashed in the East. In 1980, the band released British Steel Point of Entry in 1981, featuring the song "Heading Out to the Highway"; the 1982 album Screaming for Vengeance had a song, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'", which garnered strong US radio airplay, the popular follow-up Defenders of the Faith was released in 1984. Turbo was released in April 1986. In May 1988, Ram It Down was released. In September 1990, the Painkiller album dropped the 1980s-style synthesizers for all of the songs. Along with a change in musical style, the band's look changed as well.
Halford emerged with all-new tattoos, including a bent Judas Priest cross on his right arm and ring around his other, as well as a few on his shoulders. He began shaving his head. During the tour for Painkiller in August 1991 at a show in Toronto, Halford rode onstage on a large Harley-Davidson motorcycle, dressed in motorcycle leathers, as part of the show, he fell off the motorcycle, breaking his nose. After regaining consciousness, Halford performed the whole concert. In the band's Behind the Music episode, he named the accident as one of the events that caused the rift between him and the rest of the band that would force them apart. After spending nearly 20 years with Judas Priest, Halford announced to the band on 4 July 1991 that he was leaving, he sued their label, for restrictive practices. Halford would leave the band in May 1992. Halford first formed the band Fight with Judas Priest drummer Scott Travis, bassist Jack "Jay Jay" Brown and guitarists Brian Tilse and Russ Parrish, recording two albums between 1993 and 1995: War of Words and, after Parish's departure and his replacement by Mark Chausee, A Small Deadly Space.
While the first one was a straightforward tough and solid metal record, the second record had a grungier sound, making it less appealing to fans who had developed a taste for his debut album. Between the albums, Fight released an EP, featuring War of Words studio versions, live cuts and alternate mixes. Before this, Halford had recorded a track called "Light Comes Out of Black" for the 1992 movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer; the song featured music provided by Pantera. After Fight, he collaborated with guitarist John Lowery in an industrial-influenced project called 2wo, executively produced by Trent Reznor and released on his Nothing Records label. Halford returned to his metal roots in 2000 with his band Halford and the acclaimed album Resurrection, produced by Roy Z, he joined the Metal 2000 tour with Iron Queensrÿche to support the album. A live album in 2001 was followed up by Crucible. Halford's reunion with Judas Priest had been speculated about when he was no longer in the line-up, at least since the release of the Resurrection album, which some critics claimed sounded more like Judas Priest than the band's previous album Jugulator.
Halford ruled it out reconsidered, stating in 2002 that "Gut instinct tells me that at some point it will happen". In July 2003, Halford returned to his former band, they released Angel of Retribution in 2005; the world tour that accompanied the release marked the band's 30th anniversary. In 2008, Halford recorded Nostradamus with Judas Priest, appeared with the band on the Metal Masters Tour. In 2011, Judas Priest embarked upon what was billed as their final world tour as a group, titled the "Epitaph" tour. Subsequent to the tour's announcement, Halford stated that he would continue to move forward with his solo band. Despite the "final tour" announcement in 2011, Halford and Judas Priest recorded another album, Redeemer of Souls, released in 2014, the album supported by a concert tour. In 2017, Judas Priest began to work on another studio album with Halford; the album, was released March 9, 2018. Halford has performed as the vocalist for Black Sabbath for three shows, he replaced Ronnie James Dio for two nights in November 1992, when Dio elected not to open a show for Ozzy Osbourne.
Halford
