Mordred (band)
| Mordred | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| origin | San Francisco , California , United States |
| Genre (s) | Metal , funk metal , thrash metal |
| founding | 1984, 2002 |
| resolution | 1994 |
| Current occupation | |
| Arthur Liboon | |
| Erik Lannon | |
| Stephen Shaw Scates | |
| James Sanguinetti | |
| Aaron "DJ break" Vaughn | |
Electric guitar |
Sven Soderlund |
| former members | |
singing |
Chris Whitney |
Electric guitar |
Alex Gerould |
Electric guitar |
Jim Taffer |
singing |
Scott Holderby |
Drums |
Gannon Hall |
Electric guitar |
Danny White |
singing |
Paul Kimball |
Electric guitar |
Chris Powell |
Mordred is an American metal band from San Francisco that was formed in 1984, disbanded in 1994 and has been active again since 2002.
Band history
The band was formed around 1984 by bassist Art Liboon and guitarist James Sanguinetti. In 1986 the latter left the band and was joined by Sven Soderlund, while Gannon Hall was the drummer in the band. Stephen Shaw Scates was the singer, who was replaced a little later by Chris Whitney. A little later the line-up changed again, so that the band formed from the guitarist Danny White, the drummer Gannon Hall, the bassist Art Liboon, the guitarist Jim Taffer and the singer Scott Holderby. A first demo caught the attention of Noise Records , about which the debut album Fool's Game was released in 1989, whereupon a cover version of Everyday's a Holiday , originally by Rick James , was included. Another musician on the album was the DJ Aaron Vaughn as a guest musician. With a music video for Everyday's a Holiday and a European tour in support of Overkill , the band was able to increase its popularity. This was followed by the second album In This Life in 1991 , after which James Sanguinetti, who returned to the band, could be heard as guitarist for Jim Taffer. In addition, Vaughn was now a permanent member of the band. The basic recordings for the album took place in Fantasy Studios in Berkley , California, the overdubs were made in Mobius Studios in San Francisco. The sound carrier was mixed in the Berlin Skytrak Studios . In 1991 the band also made various appearances, including a concert in Berlin. A year later, the EP Visions joined. In the same year the band played at the Dynamo Open Air . In addition, the video In This Live Video was released , which showed the band performing at the Marquee Club in London . After the EP was released, singer Scott left the band. Paul Kimball then joined the band before the album The Next Room was released in 1994 , which, like its predecessor, was recorded in Fantasy Studios. Like the EP before, the album was recorded by Michael Rosen and Vince Wojno . After a final appearance in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1994.
The band has been active again since 2002, with singer Scott Holderby initially being part of the band again. Guitarist Danny White was replaced by Chris Powell.
style
Eduardo Rivadavia from Allmusic described the band as one of the earliest representatives of funk metal. laut.de found influences from the funk and compared the band with Death Angel . Holderby could be considered a possible influence from Mike Patton .
On the debut album, laut.de also found elements from the funk, which were most likely to be heard in Everyday's a Holiday and the Rick James song Superfreak . Another characteristic was the previously metal-untypical use of scratching by a DJ. Martin Popoff noted in his book The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties on the album also influences from the funk, with the band otherwise San Francisco Bay Area Thrash Metal bands like Exodus , Testament , Overkill , Metallica and especially Death Angel same. The songs on the album are about how a person has experiences that influence their character and behavior ( State of Mind ), about the uprising of a country that is suppressed by a fascist government ( Spectacle of Fear ), the manipulation of the media on the people ( Spelbound ). a series of murder cases in California ( Sever and Splice ), of a sales representative who has to convince his customers of sometimes useless things ( The Artist ), suicide ( Shatter ), the rebellious youth ( Reckless Abandon ) and the end of a relationship ( Numb ). The band also used some sarcasm , such as in the song Every Day's a Holiday , which takes up the prejudice of the lazy and non-working rock musician and the band compares itself with it.
On the second album, In This Life of a DJ set to continue to use, and also in songs like Lion's Den yet instruments were used. The album also featured a cover version of the Thin Lizzy song, Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed . On the EP Visions , Closeminded Raps could be heard in the song , although according to laut.de the EP would not have much to do with metal, as the band would have focused more on jazz and funk. According to Robert Müller of the Metal Hammer the band would not know how, just items from the many bands Afro-American music into sampling , but will operate only on the techniques to create to their own sound. Voivod has already succeeded in doing this with psychedelic sounds. According to the singer Holderby, the band wanted to thematize current events in the USA on the album, while past events such as the Second World War found their place on the previous album . The single Esse Quam Videri , released in the same year, is described by David Wienand in Metal Hammer as an "uncompromising combination of Thrashy beats and riffs with rock-hard funk rhythms".
According to Robert Müller from Metal Hammer, the band continued their mix of funk and metal on the EP Vision . However, the group cannot be compared to bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers , as the metal content was still too high. Only in songs like In Time could one find similarities.
According to laut.de , the band on The Next Room relied less on samples and scratches and more on metal influences. According to Henning Richter from Metal Hammer , the term Funk Metal would no longer be appropriate for this album. The band vacillates between “ultra-hard rhythms and captivating melodies”, with DJ Vaughn developing completely new scratch techniques.
Drummer Gannon Hall stated that the members were heavily influenced by R 'n' B , soul , hip-hop and funk.
Discography
Demos
- 1986: Demo I
- 1987: Demo II
- 1989: Noise Records Demo
Singles
- 1989: Everyday's a Holiday
- 1991: Esse Quam Videri
- 1991: Falling Away
- 1994: Grand Summit
- 1994: Splinter Down
- 2015: The Baroness
EPs
- 1992: vision
Videos
- 1992: In This Live Video
Albums
- 1989: Fool's Game
- 1991: In This Life
- 1994: The Next Room
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Garry Sharpe-Young : AZ of Thrash Metal . Cherry Red Books, London 2002, ISBN 1-901447-09-X , pp. 285 f .
- ↑ a b c Holger Stratmann: Rock Hard Encyclopedia . ROCK HARD GmbH, 1998, ISBN 3-9805171-0-1 , p. 259 f .
- ↑ Neil Jeffries: Kerrang! The Directory of Heavy Metal . Virgin Books, London 1993, ISBN 0-86369-761-5 , pp. 147 .
- ^ A b Eduardo Rivadavia: Mordred. Allmusic , accessed on August 23, 2013 .
- ↑ News . New Mordred LP. In: Metal Hammer . December 1990, p. 6 .
- ^ Henning Richter: Mordred . Berlin Loft. In: Metal Hammer . July 1991, p. 153 .
- ↑ Oliver Recker, Robert Müller: Dynamo Open Air 1992 . Mordred. In: Metal Hammer . August 1992, p. 39 .
- ^ Robert Müller: Mordred . In This Live. In: Metal Hammer . November 1992, p. 78 .
- ^ Robert Müller: Mordred . A Vision Becomes Reality. In: Metal Hammer . September 1992, p. 138 f .
- ↑ Mordred dissolved . In: Metal Hammer . January 1995, p. 6 .
- ↑ a b c d e Mordred. laut.de , accessed on August 23, 2013 .
- ↑ Martin Popoff : The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2005, ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5 , pp. 231 .
- ↑ Andrea Nieradzik: Mordred . 'in Their Own Words'. In: Metal Hammer . No. 14 (June), 1992, pp. 16 .
- ^ Robert Müller: Mordred . In This Life. In: Metal Hammer . March 1991, p. 71 .
- ↑ Chris Welch: Mordred . Go Mad in San Francisco! In: Metal Hammer . February 1991, p. 123 .
- ^ David Wienand: Mordred . Eat Quam Videri. In: Metal Hammer . October 1991, p. 82 .
- ^ Robert Müller: Mordred . Vision. In: Metal Hammer . September 1992, p. 60 .
- ^ Henning Richter: Mordred . The Next Room. In: Metal Hammer . September 1994, p. 50 .
- ^ Robert Müller: Mordred: Visions Of Musical Magnificence . In: Metal Hammer . February 1992.