Joe here and I’m throwing in my two cents worth with a quick blog.
During a recent You Now broadcast, because I do those too, I had someone ask me how I got involved with the band. For that answer, I have to jump into the WAY BACK MACHINE and go to the year 1985. I was four years out of college and my best friend all through college had recently gotten married, joined the Army, got shipped to Colorado and had a child. I was working part-time at a job that would end up being my career until earlier this year when I retired. I was single, living at home and pretty much had no real life outside of working, watching TV, listening to music and reading. Oh yeah: I was also working on my second novel as it grew into a thousand-page beast. In between all of this, I would occasionally go downstairs and plunk away at the piano, just to keep my chops active. I also was experimenting with my new portable keyboard: an early digital Yamaha with built-in drum machine that lovingly became known as the “Portadink”.
Then one day, I got into a conversation with this new guy at work. He was a singer in a rock and roll band (Moody Blues reference) called Mephisto Waltz, and his name was Randy Blake. We hit it off and I mentioned that I was a musician and, even though he was coming from the world of metal, I had a keyboard and if the band ever needed a keyboard player for a recording, I was there. Randy told me the band had just come out of studio and keyboards really weren’t in the plan, but thanks anyway. Either way, we ended up as friends, talking movies, music and whatever else came to mind.
Not long after, Randy told me how Waltz had split up and he was looking to work on some different, non-Metal music. Over in England, Metal was going into a dormant state and Pop music was the place to be. He had some lyrics with a rough idea of what he wanted in the form of some songs and asked if I would want to try to write some music. He also told me he thought he sounded a bit like Elvis Costello, which was a far cry from where he was sonically in Waltz. A few days later, he handed me a cassette with three songs, sung a cappella with a pencil tapping the cassette case as his click track. I went home, gave it a listen, and then headed to the piano where I wrote the music for these first three songs: The Way Things Are, Grand Hotel, and Mistaken Claims. As I later told him: “a LITTLE like Costello?”
This was the start of a 30-year musical and personal friendship.
By the spring of 1986, former Mephisto Waltz and future Briar Rose guitarist Marcus Lorde had been drafted into the mix. What started as a showcasing solo project for Randy grew into a loose amalgamation of a band that became known as The Hellfire Club, after the band of evil mutants in the X-MEN comic. Before the year was through, seven of us went into the studio with producer Joe Moody to record those three songs. In July of that year, as Randy and I watched Til Tuesday perform as the opening act for The Moody Blues, Randy convinced me that this hack of a keyboard player (my words…not his) COULD perform live and not just be a studio player. By the time we performed our debut gig in March of 1987, we had recorded 13 tracks, including the lawsuit inducing SANTA CLAUS IS DEAD. That first gig, with a group now consisting of eight members, featured 11 of those songs and killer covers of VEHICLE, YOU SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG, and BAD CASE OF LOVING YOU. It also featured the weirdest and possibly worst version of MY GENERATION ever unleashed on human ears!!!
In August, we played our second gig known as the SUMMER OF LOVE PT. II. One new member had been added and we debuted three new songs. This essentially put an end to The Hellfire Club as Randy, Marcus and I were already working on a new project: a Progressive rock band known as Brideshead. Over the next six months and inspired by two of our favorite bands, Jethro Tull and Marillion, we recorded a concept album called BEGGARS AND BUSINESSMEN in Moody’s THE WALL inspired studio space. That room, along with “stinky cheese pizza” from Towne Pizza, provided a vibe that allowed us to fully use the limited technology we had available to create the best work we could. By the time summer rolled around, we were looking at track listings and song ideas for a staggering three additional albums while actively trying to shop around this one.
But I also had decided that my time in the group was short, as I grew tired of working two nights a week and working on band projects for the other five. I was getting older and felt the need to seek out a life companion and a different life for me. So, on June 4th, 1988, a week after playing our first gig at a backyard graduation party (surrounded by the smell of cow dung and flies), Brideshead played it’s UNVEILING OF THE BRIDE gig, it’s final gig, to a packed house. Within the month, the foundation of what became Briar Rose began work on the songs that would make up the out of print BRIAR ROSE EP (out of print until Hostorious Mythos came out-GET YOURS WHILE THEY LAST!).
The band pursued their dreams and I pursued mine. In February of the following year, I met my future wife, got a promotion, a full-time position, got married, bought a house, and got to see the arrival of our first child. Randy and I had stayed in touch over the years as Briar Rose toured England, recorded two more studio albums, a live disc before eventually falling silent as Metal’s U.S. popularity faded. In 2007, Randy reformed the band and, in June of that year, they performed at the Music For Middlesex 5. Shortly thereafter, work began on the record that became ROSES ARE RARE, VIOLENCE IS TRUE, which was recorded in Kent with legendary producer Chris Tsangarides in November of 2008. Upon the band’s return, Randy put out a message to his friends asking if anyone knew how to work with Adobe InDesign or Pagemaker.
Immediately, my hand went up and we spent the next few months designing the album package.
Over the course of the summer, I went to band rehearsals and shot a ton of promotional photographs to coincide with the release of the record. As the Christmas season approached, we looked to record a one off Holiday track. The track never got recorded, but the band decided it was time to put me where Randy had always felt I belonged: in the band. As we began the New Year, I was now hard pressed to learn the entire Briar Rose catalog for future performances. Oh yeah: we were also knee-deep in writing the songs for what would eventually become DARK LORD.
So, here we are, in the middle of 2015, and I find myself retired, still married, with a teenage daughter and a soon to be Second Grader, working on songs for the new album, ENCHIRIDION. I get to hang out, work with my best friends, and look forward to putting this record to bed and performing it live for all our fans worldwide. It’s been a wild ride thus far with the best yet to come.
During a recent You Now broadcast, because I do those too, I had someone ask me how I got involved with the band. For that answer, I have to jump into the WAY BACK MACHINE and go to the year 1985. I was four years out of college and my best friend all through college had recently gotten married, joined the Army, got shipped to Colorado and had a child. I was working part-time at a job that would end up being my career until earlier this year when I retired. I was single, living at home and pretty much had no real life outside of working, watching TV, listening to music and reading. Oh yeah: I was also working on my second novel as it grew into a thousand-page beast. In between all of this, I would occasionally go downstairs and plunk away at the piano, just to keep my chops active. I also was experimenting with my new portable keyboard: an early digital Yamaha with built-in drum machine that lovingly became known as the “Portadink”.
Then one day, I got into a conversation with this new guy at work. He was a singer in a rock and roll band (Moody Blues reference) called Mephisto Waltz, and his name was Randy Blake. We hit it off and I mentioned that I was a musician and, even though he was coming from the world of metal, I had a keyboard and if the band ever needed a keyboard player for a recording, I was there. Randy told me the band had just come out of studio and keyboards really weren’t in the plan, but thanks anyway. Either way, we ended up as friends, talking movies, music and whatever else came to mind.
Not long after, Randy told me how Waltz had split up and he was looking to work on some different, non-Metal music. Over in England, Metal was going into a dormant state and Pop music was the place to be. He had some lyrics with a rough idea of what he wanted in the form of some songs and asked if I would want to try to write some music. He also told me he thought he sounded a bit like Elvis Costello, which was a far cry from where he was sonically in Waltz. A few days later, he handed me a cassette with three songs, sung a cappella with a pencil tapping the cassette case as his click track. I went home, gave it a listen, and then headed to the piano where I wrote the music for these first three songs: The Way Things Are, Grand Hotel, and Mistaken Claims. As I later told him: “a LITTLE like Costello?”
This was the start of a 30-year musical and personal friendship.
By the spring of 1986, former Mephisto Waltz and future Briar Rose guitarist Marcus Lorde had been drafted into the mix. What started as a showcasing solo project for Randy grew into a loose amalgamation of a band that became known as The Hellfire Club, after the band of evil mutants in the X-MEN comic. Before the year was through, seven of us went into the studio with producer Joe Moody to record those three songs. In July of that year, as Randy and I watched Til Tuesday perform as the opening act for The Moody Blues, Randy convinced me that this hack of a keyboard player (my words…not his) COULD perform live and not just be a studio player. By the time we performed our debut gig in March of 1987, we had recorded 13 tracks, including the lawsuit inducing SANTA CLAUS IS DEAD. That first gig, with a group now consisting of eight members, featured 11 of those songs and killer covers of VEHICLE, YOU SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG, and BAD CASE OF LOVING YOU. It also featured the weirdest and possibly worst version of MY GENERATION ever unleashed on human ears!!!
In August, we played our second gig known as the SUMMER OF LOVE PT. II. One new member had been added and we debuted three new songs. This essentially put an end to The Hellfire Club as Randy, Marcus and I were already working on a new project: a Progressive rock band known as Brideshead. Over the next six months and inspired by two of our favorite bands, Jethro Tull and Marillion, we recorded a concept album called BEGGARS AND BUSINESSMEN in Moody’s THE WALL inspired studio space. That room, along with “stinky cheese pizza” from Towne Pizza, provided a vibe that allowed us to fully use the limited technology we had available to create the best work we could. By the time summer rolled around, we were looking at track listings and song ideas for a staggering three additional albums while actively trying to shop around this one.
But I also had decided that my time in the group was short, as I grew tired of working two nights a week and working on band projects for the other five. I was getting older and felt the need to seek out a life companion and a different life for me. So, on June 4th, 1988, a week after playing our first gig at a backyard graduation party (surrounded by the smell of cow dung and flies), Brideshead played it’s UNVEILING OF THE BRIDE gig, it’s final gig, to a packed house. Within the month, the foundation of what became Briar Rose began work on the songs that would make up the out of print BRIAR ROSE EP (out of print until Hostorious Mythos came out-GET YOURS WHILE THEY LAST!).
The band pursued their dreams and I pursued mine. In February of the following year, I met my future wife, got a promotion, a full-time position, got married, bought a house, and got to see the arrival of our first child. Randy and I had stayed in touch over the years as Briar Rose toured England, recorded two more studio albums, a live disc before eventually falling silent as Metal’s U.S. popularity faded. In 2007, Randy reformed the band and, in June of that year, they performed at the Music For Middlesex 5. Shortly thereafter, work began on the record that became ROSES ARE RARE, VIOLENCE IS TRUE, which was recorded in Kent with legendary producer Chris Tsangarides in November of 2008. Upon the band’s return, Randy put out a message to his friends asking if anyone knew how to work with Adobe InDesign or Pagemaker.
Immediately, my hand went up and we spent the next few months designing the album package.
Over the course of the summer, I went to band rehearsals and shot a ton of promotional photographs to coincide with the release of the record. As the Christmas season approached, we looked to record a one off Holiday track. The track never got recorded, but the band decided it was time to put me where Randy had always felt I belonged: in the band. As we began the New Year, I was now hard pressed to learn the entire Briar Rose catalog for future performances. Oh yeah: we were also knee-deep in writing the songs for what would eventually become DARK LORD.
So, here we are, in the middle of 2015, and I find myself retired, still married, with a teenage daughter and a soon to be Second Grader, working on songs for the new album, ENCHIRIDION. I get to hang out, work with my best friends, and look forward to putting this record to bed and performing it live for all our fans worldwide. It’s been a wild ride thus far with the best yet to come.
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