WARRANT PT. 2.

- When and how did Warrant get together? Was the band established by you on bass/vocals, Lothar Wieners on the drums and Thomas Klein on guitars or did you go for any line-up changes? - Yes, the band was founded by Thomas, Lothar and me. We were basically a school band and friends. Thomas, me and Lothar came from the same district. However, at first, I was also the guitarist and we had no bass. At that time, we didn't know that a band needs a bass. When we realised it and someone had to take over the job, I did. Next, we needed a singer. In the beginning we had a different singer, followed by another singer, but it never worked out. We once had a previous band called "Poison", with Thomas, Lothar, me and a singer, and from that band "Warrant" emerged. But it didn't work out with the singer and so I got into playing bass and singing. This has worked best since then. - What can you tell us about your early rehearsals? - I can only say that things were very chaotic at the beginning. Initially we rehearsed at my home, at my parents' house, and we drove them totally crazy because we couldn't play much yet, but we thought it was already mega cool and we asked ourselves: "What's their problem?". In fact, it was cruel. We drove them crazy about the noise and the stuff we always played, especially my sister's boyfriend. He was 10 years older and always wanted to tell us that something was wrong, but we didn't believe him. In retrospect I know that he was right. But it was always extremely funny and was always accompanied by something to drink. Later we moved to Ronsdorfer Strasse. There is the bunker where many famous bands rehearsed: "Warlock", "Stormwind", "Deathrow", "Assassin". And so, did we. It was always making-merry. We sat together upstairs (not in the basement) and had a beer. We had so much fun; it was great. Sometimes we drank more than we rehearsed. When it came to the songs, of course, we accelerated our efforts, but otherwise there was always a certain party mood during rehearsals. - Did you start writing originals or were you mostly jamming on covers? - We started writing our own songs quite early. That was extremely important to me, but of course we also had 1-2 cover songs. At that time, we were into "Demon" and "Night of the Demon" was one of our most favourite songs. We covered that one. However, we didn't have a bass at that time. We had two guitars, I sang a bit and we had a drum kit with us - that was scary nice. Unfortunately, there is no recording of it. "Demon" was our first cover song. There was another one, but then we started to write our own songs. Many bands from that time, such as "Maiden", "Priest" and "AC/DC", inspired me a lot and so I started to write my own songs; Thomas as well. That was very important to us. - Do you still remember how you were signed by Noise Records? Where there any other labels interested in the band? - Yes, other labels were also interested and made offers, including Mausoleum Records, RoadRunner and also Noise Records. Noise Records or Walterbach, the then and long-time boss of Noise Records, was economically very active and he was the fastest to strike. We were still quite young, 17 years old. We didn't know what we were getting into at the outset. We were simply extremely happy when we got the offer from Noise Records - at that time the biggest record company in Europe in the heavy metal sector. That was absolutely amazing. He came straight from Berlin, took us to a pizzeria downtown, buttered us up a bit, told us how great we looked and what cool songs we had, and that we were the band of the hour. Thus, we immediately signed a record deal that was less favourable for us, but probably better for him. - Your first material was the First Strike EP. Scavenger's Daughter appeared on the label's compilation Metal Attack Vol. 1. How much did they help the band? Did you manage to draw the fans' attention to the band with these materials? - As you say, Scavenger's Daughter was released simultaneously on the Metal Attack vol. 1 compilation and First Strike was our first output. The record company supported us - let's say - within their possibilities, but not with regard to live stuff. The record was featured. Since Noise Records was the biggest record company at that time, we got a lot of press attention and it was mostly positive. The rest was up to us. That's where our problem started, because we didn't really have a good management and we didn't know how to promote ourselves. We probably would have had to go on tour much earlier, play shows. We still went to school, were only at the end of our schooling and it was all a bit difficult, and there was no one who would have "kicked our butts" to move things forward. The material we wrote was super-good; the fans thought it was really cool, and it was really well received, but we would have had to work much more live on stage. That was actually our problem. - At which point did second guitarist Oliver May join the band? What about his musical past? - Oliver joined us after we had written the songs for "The Enforcer". During song writing we had noticed that we needed a second guitar - for the sound and for solo guitar duels and things like that as well as for a better broader live sound. Therefore, we looked for someone, placed an ad. Oliver was based in Düsseldorf, contacted us and so it went pretty fast. He was also still a pupil, just like us, so it fit perfectly. We had a lot of fun together. But he joined the band when the material for "The Enforcer" had already been written. Therefore, he only recorded it with us in the studio. - When did you start writing the material for your debut record The Enforcer? How did the song writing process go compared to the EP? - When did we start doing this? Almost immediately after the release of the "First Strike" EP a lot of new ideas came into my head. Thomas also had some ideas, although I was already the main songwriter (and singer of course). Thus, it went pretty fast and the two releases came out very close to each other. Song writing was no problem at all. The ideas just gushed out of me. That's the way it went. - You entered the C.A.E.T. studios Berlin. What do you recall of the recording sessions? Were you prepared to record the album? - Yes, I have to say that we were quite prepared to record the album; actually, just like with First Strike. Maybe I don't have to mention it at this point: Lothar Wieners did not play the drums. He had a bad tendinitis at that time and couldn't bring in the song. That might have been of some benefit to us, because it helped us to recruit Thomas Franke - a drummer and friend of us who already worked professionally as a drummer. Thomas Franke was also the first “UDO” drummer. And he recorded our two records including The Enforcer. We were very fortunate. I recorded bass and drums with him in one take. Then came the guitar; that was not quite so easy. Of course, we were still relatively young and inexperienced, as you could see; we did everything ourselves - that's how it sounds. Rough. The record had mega-good songs, but they had been recorded just like that; without much preparation. You can hear that in both productions - in my opinion even more so in First Strike than in The Enforcer. The latter was already a bit more professional. That's the way it was for us at that time. - To what extent, do you think, was the EP great? Warrant took basically everything they had and made it even better. - Looking back, I can say that the EP was truly great. It was made simply without thinking much about it. The focus was on the songs. Whether it "pinched" here and there - no idea. It did and you can hear it today. It didn't always fit that well, but the atmosphere was great and the songs, like "Scavenger's Daughter" (still the favourite song of Kai Hansen from "Helloween"), were just right. But of course, we wanted to develop ourselves further. With "The Enforcer" we wanted to become better, more professional, and the spirit of the first compositions was 100% preserved, but we played better. And you can hear that. "The Enforcer" is already a bit more mature. We also had a second guitarist with us; that was great for the solo element. Oli really took us a major step forward. It had been a great time. - All of you were great and skilled musicians… - Ha! Ha! Excellent, no, we were not, God knows. But we were already good songwriters back then and knew exactly how a song can work. The basic idea for songs like "The Rack" or "The Enforcer" was quickly found and then you tried to get something out of the last 10-20%. We couldn't implement it all technically yet. We were mentally more advanced with the songs than we were technically able to do. We weren't "mega skilled musicians" yet, but we worked on it and got better and better in a relatively short period of time. And when I think of today, the song as such is still the most important thing to me. - Would you say that, with the addition of Oliver May, you pumped up the sound, and do the songs that are both rapid (such as The Rack) as well as tough and cruising (like Ordeal of Death) make this a dated record but cool to listen to? - Surely you can see that our sound definitely got broader with the addition of guitarist Oliver May, because we were able to produce something completely different with two guitars. If you know right from the start that you have two guitars, you will have much more possibilities with solos and rhythm guitar. Besides, Oliver was already a very good guitarist back then, who contributed many awesome solos. As already said: The songs had already been written, but of course he brought in his solo components. Of course, we were already able to do this, as was already shown on First Strike with Ready to Command as a smooth song. Next to it were the speed hits, like Scavenger's Daughter. The same applies to the songs on "The Enforcer". Not much has changed in this respect. The Rack fully corresponded to the rapid claim and Ordeal of Death was more the cruiser. We had both on the start, on both releases, but with Oliver as the second guitarist we were able to feature it more. - Did speed metal and a very recognizable amount of power metal build the foundation? - I would definitely say yes. But even here I have to add that - as a songwriter - I have always listened to a lot of music from many genres; not always everything from the speed metal or metal genre (although speed metal in that sense did not exist yet). I just always liked to listen to fast songs, like Exciter by Judas Priest. And I noticed that they "incite" me; they spur me on and that there is something about them, and that combined with a great, simple song writing à la AC/DC. That was our thing. This mixture may sound strange at first, but it worked. I still say today: "Warrant" is a band, AC/DC is style, "Meets" is speed metal". In the beginning, we also listened to Metallica; the first Kil 'em All. At that time, we had actually already come to speed metal ourselves, because we ourselves became faster and faster without much influence as from Metallica. I didn't even know Slayer back then. We were led there by just a few songs, like Accept, Shark or Exciter by Judas Priest... That was already enough to realise: That's it; you want to carry on with that, you want to have more of those songs. And you process it with songs from AC/DC, Kiss, things that circulated at that time and that we listened to.

WARRANT (GERMANY) INTERVIEW WITH JÖRG JURASCHEK

Well, around the mid 80’s the German metal scene became quickly oversaturated. A lot of bands were popping up from every part of the country, whose goal was to make a name for themselves. One of them was Warrant from Düsseldorf, one of the best and most talented outfits. Their debut record The Enforcer is a classic and former bassist/singer Jörg Juraschek told his views regarding that album and era. - Jörg, do you still remember how you got into the hard rock/heavy metal scene? What did you find so fascinating about this music? - My sister, who is 10 years older than me, already had a very impressive record collection back then and it contained quite some treasures. Some of them were less good, but others I found very interesting, such as Pink Floyd. I often listened to them - almost secretly. She didn't like it so much since I was the little brother, but one day she gave me two records. There was a record shop at our place with an exchange for second-hand records and I went there with these two and exchanged them for Sweet's "Desolation Boulevard" from their hard rock phase. It had songs like "Fox On The run" and "The Six Teens" on it. And that's when I realized that this was the starting point of my love for hard rock, and later on for heavy metal. It's because the guitar was very sharp, very hard. That has somehow accompanied me through all my life. Although I have always heard and loved other things as well. But this sharp guitar really inspired me. Back then - that was something. And with regard to drums, it was the bombastic drumming of Mick Tucker from Sweet - I thought it was mega cool. - Were you more interested in known/established acts or did you prefer underground bands? - It was somehow a mixture of both worlds since I loved bands such as "Saxon", which used to be very hip, or "Judas Priest". I worshipped "Rainbow" tremendously, "Black Sabbath" and the like. They had already been established bands at that time. But I also found "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" awesome. At that time, it was still possible to acquire much of what was new on the market. There wasn't as much then as there is now. That's why we listened to a lot of stuff from both worlds. "Iron Maiden" had already been mega acts for me back then. Of course, I also listened a lot to the established ones, because they were mega cool and they also had great songs. As I said, the underground acts also had a lot of good stuff, like "Witchfinder General" or "Helloween" from Hamburg who had started like us. - How did you end up becoming a musician? Why did your choice fall on vocals/bass? - Yes, Thomas Klein and I were best friends in school and founded a kind of school band - practically the direct predecessor of "Warrant". We used to rehearse in my basement at home. We annoyed my parents and my sister's boyfriend because we weren’t good at anything at that time. What we already could and also wanted to do was to play our own songs. But we also covered one song from the band "Demon", from New Wave of British Heavy Metal. I loved "Night of the Demon". That’s what we covered and something else. We had a drummer, Thomas was the guitarist and I also played guitar and, of course, someone had to sing. As I have always been: I just tried and succeeded in playing the guitar and singing. At some point Lothar joined us - also a friend of us. He had already played in a band as a drummer and thought that something was missing "down below" in the sound. The bass. What's the bass? Well, the thing with four strings (laughs). OK. No sooner said than done. Again, it was something I was predestined for and so I agreed to take over the bass. I already enjoyed singing a lot and so I took the bass and I finally realized that it worked. I got it coordinated and it suited me. And with that the predecessor of "Warrant" was born. Jörg Juraschek on bass and vocals, Thomas Klein on guitar and Lothar Wieners on drums - all not very skilled yet at their instruments, but the beginning was made. - Which musicians influenced your style? By the way, did you teach yourself or …. - In terms of hard rock/heavy metal, I, especially as a singer, have been strongly influenced by Brian Connolly from "Sweet" and later by the early years of Aerosmith. It may sound strange, but he could scream so beautifully; which he still does today. Steven Tyler was cool; then Rob Halford - for me he was absolutely fantastic and one of my absolute heroes. Furthermore, there was Ossy Osbourne and later David Lee Roth. I liked his bluesy voice and the first album was incredibly good. There were quite a few, but, as I said, I liked these high screams and they were mainly from Stephen Tyler, who still uses short high screams. The bass ran a bit on its own. Although I did both, I saw myself more and more as a singer. Nonetheless, I also found "Police" and their combination of bass and vocals extremely cool. They have also inspired me, although they are not really heavy metal. But it doesn't always have to be. Not to forget "AC/DC". We also listened to them endlessly, or to "KISS". I could list quite a few more bands here; I probably forgot half of them. We were very broad in our style at that time and the influences that resulted from that. "Ronni James Dio" by Rainbow might be mentioned, Deep Purple with "Smoke on the Water" and "Made in Japan". We listened to it up and down. With regard to my bass playing or "jingling", I taught myself everything I know. I took a few hours of singing lessons, which also helped me with the technique. Beyond that, we have learned everything by ourselves autodidactically. - Do you play other instruments as well? - Unfortunately, I don't play any other instrument except bass and, well, singing is also an instrument for me. In school I once had a lesson in chimes. But that didn't inspire me at all in primary school and so I kept my hands off it. But that was it. - At the early/mid-80s many new heavy/speed metal bands were popping up in every part of Germany, such as "Grave Digger", "Helloween", "Running Wild", "Avenger/Rage", "Atlain", "Warlock", "Stormwind", "Stormwitch", "Vampyr", "Axe Victims", "Brainfever", "Steeler" etc. All started making a name for themselves. Did you keep an eye on what was going on in the German underground scene at that time? Were you familiar with these bands at all? - Sure, we followed the scene. It wasn't that big a scene. As I already mentioned in the beginning, you could buy a lot of things at that time and also follow the development of bands. At that time, we were one of those bands on Ronsdorfer Street in Düsseldorf. We rehearsed together with "Warlock" and "Stormwind". Stormwind were our direct neighbours, whom we unfortunately often annoyed because we were already a bit faster and harder at that time. They were still playing regular heavy metal. We were already more the speed fraction; with normal mid-tempo songs, but also speed songs. And I know that this was something new for the Stormwind colleagues. They were very interested, but we, being the younger, crazier "chickens", were a bit rougher for them. But it was always very funny. We had parties together. "Stormwind", "Warlock", "Warrant", later also "Assassin" - we were often together in this clique and that was definitely a great time. We also heard from other bands again and again; we met once with "Kreator", because they wanted to know from us how it went with the record company since there had been a little problem. Thus, there was always something to tell each other or we had a beer together after the rehearsals. It was a lot of fun. - With this large quantity of bands that started their careers at this point, was the situation in Germany the same as in Britain with its N.W.O.B.H.M. movement? Did you like N.W.O.B.H.M. groups? - I think the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement was a bit earlier in the UK than in Germany and this metal movement also took us along. We are talking about a period of 1-2 years. When I started with "Warrant" I already listened to some bands from that phase, such as "Witchfinder General" or “Saxon" or the early "Maiden". It all went quickly hand in hand and thus a scene quickly built up in Germany as well. Of course, I like many bands from that genre, New Wave of British Heavy Metal, such as the already mentioned "Witchfinder General". I thought they were absolutely fantastic and they also had a great and interesting cover. There had been a lot of bands, even very unknown bands, who are still making music today and are also on the rise again. On both sides there were excellent, outstanding bands that still exist today. - Were Hamburg and Düsseldorf the most important places for German heavy metal at that time? It was way before the Ruhr trash scene, wasn't it? - I don't know if these two cities were the most important places for heavy metal, but they were definitely very important. For Düsseldorf I can say that they all came from there: "Warlock", "Warrant", "Assassin", "Deathrow", "Stormwind". In Hamburg there were also a lot of bands, such as “Helloween” with whom we also had a great gig in Hamburg once; we played a great show in the Hamburg Logo. I still know Kai Hansen. He is also a big fan of us, especially of one particular song: "Scavenger's Daughter”. I know it's one of his favourite songs. At this point I say a word of thanks to Kai. Anyway, we had a lot of fun at that time in Düsseldorf and the same, I think, can be said of Hamburg. - Warlock, Stormwind, Assassin, Deathrow – all of them came from Düsseldorf. Would you say that there was a healthy club scene? - Yes, of course, as already mentioned, I would say that the scene in Düsseldorf was very productive and healthy, and very creative. As you can see, some bands that accompanied heavy metal in Germany came from Düsseldorf and are still around. Today, for example, I just talked to the drummer from "Assassin". We might do a "Back to the Roots" show in Düsseldorf - this year or next year. It's gonna be fun.

THE BEST METAL RELEASES OF 1985

1. POSSESSED: Seven Churches 2. AGENT STEEL: Skeptics Apocalypse 3. EXODUS: Bonded By Blood 4. DESTRUCTION: Infernal Overkill 5. SLAYER: Hell Awaits 6. NASTY SAVAGE: Nasty Savage 7. KREATOR: Endless Pain 8. MALICE: In The Beginning 9. RUNNING WILD: Branded And Exiled 10. W. A. S. P.: The Last Command 11. LIVING DEATH: Metal Revolution 12. HELLOWEEN:Walls Of Jericho 13. TWISTED SISTER: Come Out And Play 14. ABATTOIR: Vicious Attack 15. SAVAGE GRACE: Master Of Disguise 16. TROUBLE: The Skull 17. PENTAGRAM: Pentagram (Relentless) 18. IRON ANGEL: Hellish Crossfire 19. WARLOCK: Hellbound 20. STEELER:Rulin' The Earth +3 ST. VITUS:Hallow's Victim WARRANT: The Enforcer ACCEPT: Metal Heart

JP CHARTIER - PICTURES

MY CURRENT PLAYLIST

1. THRUST: Fist Held High 2. OBITUARY: Slowly We Rot 3. DEATH: Leprosy 4. MALICE: In The Beginning 5. BABYLON SAD: Kyrie 6. MORGOTH: Cursed 7. NEUROSIS: Through Silver In Blood 8. SACRIFICE: Torment In Fire 9. NECRODEATH: Into The Macabre 10. IRON ANGEL: Hellish Crossfire

JP CHARTIER

DEATH METAL HISTORY - MASSACRE/XECUTIONER - JP CHARTIER

• So JP, do you still recall how you discovered metal music? What were the records that helped you discover metal? As a child growing up in the 70's I had a cousin that was heavy into Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper & KISS. I used to listen to these records with her & for my 8th birthday she gave me her KISS album (the first one) & Paranoid by Black Sabbath, changing my life forever. • When did you decide to become a musician and who were your influences? I decided to become a musician after listening to Ozzy’s“Blizzard of Oz” album with Randy Rhoads. I knew right then that this was what I wanted to do with my life, play the guitar like Randy. • How did you choose the guitar? Did you want to be a guitarist right from the start or…? It was the guitar right from the start for me! • Were you self-taught or did you take some lessons back in the day? Do you play any other instruments too? I was 12-years old in 1980 when my grandfather gave me my first guitar, a big hollow-bodied after-market thing that wouldn’t stay in tune and didn’t even have a name on it. The first song I learned to play was cocaine by JJ Cale and later made popular by Eric Clapton. Since then I’ve also learned to play the bass too as many guitarists do. I took lessons for 2 years in the early eighties. • How did you get in the underground? To which extent were you familiar with the underground scene? How deeply were you involved in it? A friend of mine turned me on to Venom’s “Black Metal” album in 1982ish and from that moment on I lived and breathed black metal! Then in 1983 Mercyful Fate released “Melissa,”Slayer released “Show No Mercy” and Metallica released “Kill ‘Em All” and that was it, I was hooked. 1983 was a monumental year for me and my guitar style took a dark turn,influenced by the aforementioned bands I began writing my own heavy songs and playing them for my neighborhood friends. Shortly afterward, I became familiar with Hellhammer, Celtic Frost etc. etc. • At which point did you discover the brutal stuff, such as VENOM, METALLICA, SLAYER, HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST etc.? How did you get into them? See previous question please. • How did the whole MASSACRE story start exactly, back in 1984? From what I know, the band was formed in 1984 by Allen West (guitar) Bill Andrews (drums) Mike Borders (bass) and soon joined by Kam Lee (vocals), but to say the truth, things seem to be confused for me, since in 1984 you (guitar), Scott Blackwood (bass) and Mark Brents (vocals) were also the members of the band... Here is how Massacre was born, regardless of what you’ve heard before, this IS what really happened, the information on Wikipedia is horse shit – Here is the TRUTH: In 1984 while I was still in high school, I came up with the name of Massacre, I used to draw different versions of the logo on my folder (See pic) During 1984 I met Allen West (Massacre, Xecutioner, Obituary etc.), who also went to my high school and we started jamming. We had similar musical tastes and soon became real good friends. Allen hooked up with Billy Andrews (Massacre drummer) and the three of us started jamming in Billy’s garage in Brandon, Florida. We decided to start a band, playing the heaviest music around at the time, we played cover songs by Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Slayer and Metallica, which no one else was doing. Finally we decided to get a bass player and singer, we got a dude named Scott Blackwood to play bass and Mark Brents to sing and Massacre was born. It originally started as a cover band playing brutal Sledge Metal, as we called it. We played our first show May 17, 1985. After a while Scott was replaced by Mike Borders on bass and we played some more shows around the Tampa area (see flyers). Kam Lee started coming to our band practices in, I believe early 1986, he would practice with us from time to time when Mark Brents would miss practice. Kam became real tight with Billy and Billy wanted to replace Mark with Kam, however I wasn’t so sure, neither was Allen. We became unhappy with the way Massacre was heading and I quit, later Allen also quit. Kam and Rick Rozz joined Mike Borders and Billy and began playing original music. I started jamming with several other musicians around the Tampa area, but nothing stuck until I met with John and Donald Tardy later in the summer of 1986. • Was it the very first act for all of you, or did you play in some other acts before MASSACRE? Massacre was the first real band I played in, I had jammed with various other musicians before Massacre, but it wasn’t until I met Allen that I began taking it serious. • Is it correct that MASSACRE started as a heavy metal band doing mostly covers and after the addition of Kam Lee became more aggressive, brutal and faster? That is absolutely correct. When Kam started jamming with Massacre, Allen and I left the band. I started jamming with other musicians again, but didn’t want to play covers anymore. Allen eventually started jamming with the Tardy brothers (of Obituary fame) in their garage in Brandon and asked me to come check them out.I did, and the chemistry was amazing, I liked the vibe they had. They were having issues with Trevor Peres their guitarist, and the next thing I knew I was asked to join the band in the summer of 1986. We played nothing but originals and took things very seriously. After we got a handful of originals together we all decided to record a demo tape at Morrisound Recording Studios in Tampa, this was August of 1986 and included “Find the Arise” and “Like the Dead.” Me shredding a solo with Massacre live at another show in Florida The original Massacre line-up (JP, Allen, Billy, Scott, Mark playing live in Mango Florida) Allen and I thrashing during a show in Riverview Florida (Massacre) Massacre after Mark Brents left the band. L-R Mike Borders, Allen West, JP Chartier, Billy Andrews • By the way, were you aware of the existence of the Canadian and German MASSACRE also formed in 1984 and released demos a year later? No I wasn’t. There was no internet back in those days as you know, so information was hard to come by, there were a few underground magazines around like Violent Noize, but other than that information was scarce. • Do you agree that Allen West is considered a pioneering figure of the death metal genre in the 1980s, while Kam Lee employed the vocal style called the death grunt or death growl, taking influence from the then CELTIC FROST vocalist Thomas Gabriel Fischer(a.k.a. Tom G Warrior)? I would agree with that. I was right there with Allen in the early days when he was polishing his heavy style, we meshed perfectly and fed off each other. Allen took things more seriously than I did though, I was busy chasing women and partying too much. • What were your views ofthe Florida scene at this point when a lot of new bands were popping up in Miami, Brandon, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, such as MANTAS/DEATH, HELLWITCH, R. A. V. A. G. E. (later known as ATHEIST), MORBID ANGEL etc. calling themselves death metal bands? Was it a kind of musical revolution? Back in the early 80’s in Tampa, the popular bands were Nasty Savage and Avatar (who later changed their name to Savatage). Allen and I used to go see them play at various locations around the area, and they helped fuel our desire to be musicians. I hadn’t heard of Death or Morbid Angel until I was in Massacre. Allen and I became real close with the guys in Morbid Angel and ended playing a few shows with them when we were in Massacre. • Were you familiar with MASTER/DEATH STRIKE, NECROPHAGIA or/and POSSESSED, that were formed also around at this time and were responsible for forming the death metal scene? I had heard of Possessed, but not the others. • How about older bands, such as SIREN, NASTY SAVAGE AVATAR/SAVATAGE? Would you say, that they opened the doors for the upcoming, younger acts and had a great influence on you and on the other outfits, such as ANDZVOLT (later they became POWERSURGE) or THE ROSE, that later became known as PURGATORY and then ICED EARTH? Most definitely! I can remember being a 15 year old punk watching those bands play and thinking to myself “I want to be just like them.”They opened the door for bands like Massacre, Xecutioner and Death. • Do you think, that Florida became the center of the American death metal movement? Yes I do, especially Brandon. There were so many phenomenal musicians in the Tampa area back then, it seemed everyone was jamming. • How about the club scene? Which clubs/venues were into metal? Was it easy getting shows back in the day? There was a club called “Ruby’s” that I used to sneak into back in the day that allowed bands like Avatar, Nasty Savage and Siren to play at. It was pretty easy to sneak in. Those were some crazy days, there would be fist fights in the club and outside in the parking lot all the time! • I discovered a Tampa based glam/hair band called WICKED TEAZE, I think, they were considered the great death metal explosion, what happened at this point? I’ve never heard of them, I wasn’t into glam rock bullshit, I was into Black Metal – spikes, leather pants and motorcycle jackets. Fuck glam! • How comeyou didn’t record anything with MASSACRE? Have you penned some songs in the ranks of the band by the way? Have you gigged with MASSACRE at all? I jammed a handful of shows with Massacre during 1985 around the Tampa area. I never officially recorded anything with them other than several garage tapes. We were starting to write originals in 1985. • Do you still remember when and why you left MASSACRE? It was early 1986 when Kam and Rick Rozz came around. I didn’t feel comfortable jamming with them, Rick was too controlling of a dude and I sensed there would be trouble if I stayed around. Besides I wanted bigger and better things musically. I believe the last live show we played was in November 1985. • Then you joined XECUTIONER, who were earlier EXECUTIONER, but they had to shorten their name since there was already a band called EXECUTIONER in Boston, were you aware of it? I joined Executioner in the summer of 1986, we became aware of a poser band in Boston that already had that name, so we decided to just drop the E from the front of the name and become Xecutioner, besides it looked much cooler. We didn’t want fans to confuse us with them. • You joined the group in 1986, what did you do in the two years that passed between your departure from MASSACRE and joining XECUTIONER? There wasn’t a two year span between bands, it was more like a few months. I jammed with Massacre starting at the end of 1984 and throughout 1985. It was either in December of 1985 or January of 1986 that I quit. During the six or so months after quitting Massacre I jammed with several Tampa musicians, but nothing stuck until I joined Executioner in the summer of 1986. • How did you get in touch with them and to which extent were you familiar with the band? Have you heard/listened to their “Metal up your ass” demo in 1985? I had heard the demo sometime in 1986 and when I met them in the summer of 1986 they wanted to change their style and become much heavier, more brutal. • Did Allen West join XECUTIONER at the same time as you replacing Trevor Peres and Jerry Tidwell? Allen was with Executioner (as they were called at the time) a short time before I joined. Allen and I were real close friends and had very similar guitar styles, and worked well with each other, and he asked me to try out for the band after Trevor departed, which I ultimately did. Xecutioner shortly after recording “1986 Demo” L-R (JP Chartier, Jerome Grable, Donald Tardy with hand in front of face, John Tardy, Allen West) • Were you the first choice or were there other guitarists auditioned as well? I don’t know if they auditioned other guitarists before me, I’m sure they did. I can remember the first time I hooked up my Marshall stack in their band room and cranked it up and we all started jamming together – I got goose bumps! We meshed perfectly! After that I was asked to join, which I happily did. • You appeared on a two track demo called “1986 Demo” featuring “Find The Arise” and “Live Like The Dead” that was recorded and mixed at the Morrisound Studios by Rick Miller, tell me about the recording sessions? We had a blast recording that demo! Originally we were going to record more songs on it but we ran out of money after recording only two of them. Our first recording session was on August 17, 1986. We had a total of 3 days in the studio, the last being on August 24, 1986. We recorded both songs live with Donald playing drums in one room with the bass player Jerome, Allen in another and me in a third room wearing headphones. Then John laid down the vocals afterward while listening to what we had recorded. Finally on day 3 in the studio, Allen and I ripped our solos for both songs. We played around with some effects then mastered it. Here we are, Xecutioner – 1986 Demo cover • Were the songs already written when you joined ’em or did you also have the opportunity to write some riffs or give some advices, ideas for them? I mean, did you also take part in the songwriting process? I took part in the writing process. They had some ideas beforehand but we finalized the songs during practice. We all contributed. • Did you have more songs written besides those two aforementioned ones by the way? Yes we had several which were later chopped up and used in other songs they put on their first album. • How would you describe the demo as a whole? How did it sound compared to their first demo? When we first heard the finished version of the 1986 Demo we were blown away! We were so happy, especially with “Find the Arise.” I wasn’t happy with “Like the Dead” and wanted to cut it from the demo and play one of our others, which was way more brutal, but again, money was tight. • Did this demo show the really raw side of the band? Yes it did, very much so. I love the raw sound we produced in the studio still to this day. The versions that are out and about on the internet sound like shit compared to the master copy we had of the demo. • Was the demo shopped around or heavily promoted back in the day? I had met Borivoj Krgin when I was in Massacre and he kept asking me to send him a garage tape of the band but I wouldn’t because the quality was lacking. We stayed in touch and later when I joined Xecutioner and we recorded the demo I sent him a copy which he absolutely loved! He wrote us up in his magazine “Violent Noize” and that started the ball rolling. I sent copies of the demo to every magazine I could find, plus we gave away copies to our friends who then made copies and spread it around. • One of the most important bills you were part of (despite the poor turnout) was the festival that took place at the Rock City (beach), Tampa on 5/25/86 as you played on the first day. What do you recall from that two days festival where MASSACRE also played and MORBID ANGEL headlined both days? I wasn’t part of the band then. • When did you decide to leave the band and what were the reasons that led to your departure? Did you part ways as friends? I quit the band on February 14, 1987. I had met a girl that I really cared for and she hated the fact that I was in a band and like a dumbass I quit to appease her. Leading up to my departure I became hooked on drugs and alcohol and it affected my attitude. I was getting into a lot of fist fights and was in trouble with the law and the Tardy brothers weren’t happy with that. Xecutioner was the Tardy brothers creation and they ran a tight ship. I was coming to practice fucked up a lot and had a major attitude. I didn’t think the band was going to go anywhere so I didn’t take it as serious as I should have. When I quit everyone was pissed at me and we didn’t talk for a while, but later we made up and are still friends to this very day. • XECUTIONER were featured on the Raging Death compilation (released by Godly Records in 1987), in your opinion did this appearance open the doors and get the labels interested? Most certainly! I didn’t get credit for playing on that album which really pissed me off at the time! They gave credit to Trevor Peres and I believe Jerry Tidwell, which is a load of shit! They didn’t play on that album, it was me and Allen on guitars and no one else. The two songs that were featured were the ones we recorded at Morrisound in 1986. I didn’t get credit for the re-release of “Find the Arise” on the albums of “Cause of Death” and “Anthology” either. I guess this was their way of getting back at me for quitting the band, giving credit instead to Trevor Peres even though he didn’t play on that song. There was animosity between us because of this for a while like I said earlier, but I let it go. I won’t lie, there was a time that I wanted to kick their asses for doing that though, who wouldn’t? It’s only right to give credit where credit is due, wouldn’t you agree? • What did you do after your departure from the band? Have you been involved in other outfits or did you get out of the music industry/business? I went to college and continued to jam after I exited the band. I played in a few other bands but didn’t take it serious. I had a recording studio for a couple years around 2002 where I wrote numerous songs with a variety of musicians. I still play today but mainly for myself. • Did you give up your guitar (playing on guitar)? I’ll never give it up! I only gave up on my dream of making it big, life slapped me hard across the face. • Do you follow what’s going on in the underground scene? Are you still into old, brutal, fast thrash/death stuff such as the early METALLICA, SLAYER, EXODUS, OBITUARY, MORBID ANGEL etc.Do you care about the newcomers? I will occasionally listen to something brutal depending on my mood, but I’ve mellowed with age. I really enjoy the old school metal from the eighties and early nineties. I like music that has guitar solos and a lot of the stuff nowadays excludes them for some reason. Metal was originally created with guitar solos!! • How would you sum up the time that you spent both in MASSACRE and in XECUTIONER? What are some of your best and worst memories and experiences? It was a great time in my life and I wouldn’t change it for anything. I was living my dream! The best times I had was when we played live, the energy was unreal, surreal in a way! There were times during band practice that the group as a whole really meshed perfectly, our vibe was palpable, those times were pure magic and very special to me, if only we had recorded those sessions. I enjoyed the comradery with my band mates and the friendships we built. All these guys were and are class acts, both as people and as musicians and I have nothing but the upmost respect for what they’ve done since my departure, they never gave up! • JP, thanks a lot for wasting time to answer my questions, is there anything to add to the feature, anything I forgot to mention? I enjoyed answering your questions my friend, I hope I gave you what you were looking for and helped clear up any misconceptions concerning these bands and my involvement in them. Me and my friend Trevor Peres at a metal show not too long ago in Tampa.