Archive for the ‘1989’ Category
Meeting Queensryche 1989
So there we were, some former friends from high school I heading to Tracks at Ward’s Corner in Norfolk, VA to do the free meet and greet with Queensryche. It was a nice warm afternoon in March. Kirshon brought something to get signed but I don’t remember what exactly. One of my friends brought his copy of their first EP and I had nothing. I couldn’t find my Warning cassette so when we were getting out of Kirshon’s truck, I just grabbed a piece of notebook paper.
It was a remarkably small crowd if memory serves me correctly and the line moved quickly. I snapped a few photos and had them sign my sheet of paper, of which each one of them joked on. When they got to my friend’s EP, Tate said, “Where have you been keeping this, in your back pocket?” He laughed and replied with, “Pretty much.” They were all really nice guys and some of the nicest I’ve met in situations like this. They were having fun with the people there and were constantly talking trash to each other.
Queensryche was touring with Metallica on their …And Justice For All/Operation Mindcrime tours, respectively. By this time I was already done with Metallica. I thought AJFA was a shitty album (still do!) and didn’t even really care for Mindcrime (still don’t!), but I figured I’d get to hear enough stuff from the previous 2 albums and the EP to satisfy me. They did several from Mindcrime but it was fine. They kicked ass and made Metallica look like amateurs. Even Metallica’s older songs sounded like they came from AJFA. Blech!
My girlfriend’s little brother Ryan came with us to the show and I think he may have been 14 at the time. He loved Queensryche so we took him. We were all 4 on the barricade for Queensryche but during Metallica we moved back towards the sound board area and a big mosh pit broke out in front of us. Ryan got sucked in and I could see the look of fear in his eyes so I ran into the pit and extracted him as quickly as I could. To this day he still says, “thanks for saving my life that night!” hahaha
Enjoy the photos.
DeGarmo and Rockenfield (click to enlarge)
Queensryche (click to enlarge)
Queensryche autographs...on notebook paper! (click to enlarge)
Dark Angel – Darkness Descends
I’m pretty sure it was spring 1987 and I was down on Atlantic Ave at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront hanging out for 
whatever reason. There was a little record store there that I can’t remember the name of. I’m pretty sure it was an independent store and don’t hink it lasted more than a few years. I can’t even remember if anyone was with me…maybe Robert S. Anyhoo, we were browsing the cassettes and I saw Dark Angel’s Darkness Descends. I immediately knew that this would be my purchase. I had seen the ads for this in various metal mags and it was on Combat Records which had a pretty good track record of bands so far.
I remember getting in my 66′ Nova 4dr and heading back home while the tape started. I was immediately blown away. The drums. Holy shit, the drums! I remember seeing fotos in magazines of the band and the big huge drummer in shades looming over them in every foto. I was fortunate enough to meet him earlier this decade and he was the coolest mofo in the world.
But back to this massive album. There’s not a stinker in the bunch but my faves are Burning of Sodom, Black Prophecies and Perish In Flames. Sure it’s a tad sloppy and severely underproduced, but it set a/the standard for early thrash and death metal in my opinion, especially for drummers.
When I finally saw them live in 1989, I got to help sing Merciless Death as the new singer said he didn’t know the lyrics that well. I was the happiest acne-faced, bad-haired kid in Virginia Beach that night!
If you’re into classic metal and especially early thrash, you NEED this album.
I finally found the foto of Gene and me from 2001. 
The Metal Files 
You must be logged in to post a comment.