100% Chance of an Earthquake Today
There’s a 100 percent chance of an earthquake today. Though millions of persons may never experience an earthquake, they are very common occurrences on this planet. So today — somewhere — an earthquake will occur.
It may be so light that only sensitive instruments will perceive its motion; it may shake houses, rattle windows, and displace small objects; or it may be sufficiently strong to cause property damage, death, and injury.
It is estimated that about 700 shocks each year have this capability when centered in a populated area. But fortunately, most of these potentially destructive earthquakes center in unpopulated areas far from civilization.
Since a major portion of the world’s earthquakes each year center around the rim of the Pacific Ocean (Ring of Fire), referred to by seismologists as the circum-Pacific belt, this is the most probable place for today’s earthquake. But it could hit any location, because no region is entirely free of earthquakes.
Stating that an earthquake is going to occur today is not really “predicting earthquakes”. To date, they cannot be predicted. But anyone, on any day, could make this statement and it would be true. This is because several million earthquakes occur annually; thereby, thousands occur each day, although most are too small to be located. The problem, however, is in pinpointing the area where a strong shock will center and when it will occur.
While we are on the topic of “Earthshaking”, let’s take a step back in time to 1985 with a dandy slice of “earthshaking” rock from WARLOCK. Live @ Camden Palace.
Let’s see if their “sensitive instruments have the power to shake some houses, rattle windows and or displace some small objects!
Warlock – Live from London VHS 1985
*click to enlarge
Down boy!
*Text from the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program website.
Vintage 80′s HELLOWEEN promo [West Germany]
WARNING: “Everybody who will be writing HELLOWEEN with an “A” or tries to distribute pamphlets with an “A”, will be turned into a pumpkin”! You’ve been forewarned folks…
Original promo cover shot - Metal "pumpkin head"
You gotta’ love the 80′s Metal bands —especially from Europe and beyond. What they lacked in mastery of the English language or lay out skills, they made up for with a strong D.I.Y. work ethic and kick-ass music. This post is case in point. It seems it was the norm for German bands (West Germany in this case) to create and produce their own press kits and or makeshift mini-’zines about their band or music. I liked this idea and it was quite entertaining to read sometimes.
Some of these “pamphlets” as they call them, were like mini newsletters and contained tour news, band photos, and other misc. odds n’ ends. I have one from WARLOCK here that even had adverts from Reebok shoes (ha – must have been the choice of German Metalheads back in the day!).
This particular newsletter/pamphlet was to promote the new (at the time) self-titled début HELLOWEEN (EP), as their excellent full-length “Walls of Jericho” LP wasn’t even recorded yet until later that year [1985].
HELLOWEEN - Back page promo pic
Click to enlarge
*Within this newsletter, you could buy band T-shirts, badges, stickers, autographed photos, and even a poster —all in black & white, simply by using the order form. You could even order their entire recorded output direct on vinyl from them too via this pamphlet.
Being that it was coming from West Germany, I am sure it could have easily taken a month or two to receive back when! No kiddin’ folks, you had to have a bit of patience to be a true Metalhead in the 80′s. I guess that just made you appreciate the music even more when you finally received your package via “snail mail” (they don’t call it that for nuthin’!).
I will re-type the promo text as-is for posterity (not to make of/with):
HELLOWEEN is a four-piece German Power Metal band from Hamburg, with the average age of 21. The origin of the band goes back to 1978 under the name of GENTRY consisting of Kai Hansen (g,voc), Peter Sielck (g,voc) and various often changed drummers and bassmen, with a program including conversion sof Uriah Heep and Black Sabbath as well as own songs, which already expressed the general musical tendency. In June ’78 they won the first award on a festival: The CAN Cup.
In 1980 they renamed themselves in SECOND HELL. Shortly after they took in new and steady members with Markus Grosskopf (bass) and Ingo Schwichtenberg (drums). From now on the fou developed a Judas Priest/Iron Maiden-like style. The tracks “Murderer” and “Victim of Fate” composed during that time still fit in to todays HELLOWEEN-concept. Kai and Peter alternatively performed soli because they didn’t care about the typical rhythm lead guitar classification.
In 1982 the name was changed again to IRON FIST and several performances at rock-festivals were joined in by them. Internal group difficulties caused Peter’s departure and led to automatical pause.
After some time lead guitarist Michael Weikath offered Kai to enter his group POWERFOOL. They showed that two extraordinary guitarists matched most well together in their musical feeling yet they more tended to keep to the Heavy Metal-style rather than POWERFOOL‘s Hard Rock. This resulted in POWERFOOL to be resolved and IRON FIST reborn with the membership of Michael, so that from now on the finally line up consists of as follows:
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Original band logo!
This is the real deal, not the fancy colorized modern version…
Within short a new concept revealed, expressed by tracks like “Oernst of Life” (out of the former POWERFOOL -repertoire) and “Metal Invaders” both recorded on the “Death Metal” compilation issued May ’84 by Noise Records, Berlin. Prior to this the group changed their named to HELLOWEEN.
Resonance to these tracks was so overwhelming that HELLOWEEN had a feedback of fan letters from all parts of the world, Sweden, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Italy, UK, Canada and on top of that USA besides of course Germany. Especially “Metal Invaders” was emphasised as a highlight and is meanwhile regarded as to be a classic. Following were gigs in Hamburg-scene places Knust, Sounds and Logo (last one with GRAVE DIGGER), two with MANIA at the Leine Domicil in Hannover at FZB in Schneverdingen. Furthermore a Germany-tour is provided in autumn ’85.
As Noise Records registrated exceptionally positive resonance and believes in the abilities and future of 
HELLOWEEN late ’84 a contract for further productions was concluded. Studio-work began in Jan/Feb ’85 with the 5-track mini LP enclosing “Starlight”, “Murderer”, “Warrior”, “Victim of Fate” and “Cry for Freedom” issued in April ’85. In March ’85 the track “Murderer” was remixed for the Metal Attack Vol.I compilation issued April ’85 with Noise bands exceptionally presented by the German magazine Metal Hammer in collaboration with Noise Records.
There are no studio demos. Only some exercise tapes exist, are, however, not available.
HELLOWEEN‘s stylistic marks are complicated twin-vocal guitar riffs, hymniclike powering sung parts, hunted by aggressive metallic tone sequences which are expressed by Kai and Michael with rasant solo duels and a variety of thundering bass bangs by Markus and violet steamhammer-like drums of Ingo.
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If you would like a complimentary .pdf of the entire newsletter, just get in touch by using the CONTACT form and I will send it to you ASAP!
*If you enjoyed reading this post or viewing the rare Metal memorabilia from the 80′s, then please spread the word via true 80′s underground style by forwarding this to any family or friends who may like to read it [27 years later]. You can also sign up to receive post updates via email. Just visit the right hand corner and enter your email. MUYA.
WARLOCK: The Story So Far 1984
*This is an ancient Metal relic that I pulled from my collection. It is a very early info promo sent out by the International WARLOCK Fan Club around 1984. I hope you enjoy it!
BTW I am correcting the bad English, to see the spelling exactly the way it was printed, contact me for a scanned .pdf of the original. I thought it was charming.
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“A Magazine From Fans, For Fans”
INTRO
So here it is, the first issue of the WARLOCK info mag. We hope that we’ll be able to make people attentive to the name WARLOCK. This mag. will be released every three months or so with a circulation of 10,000 copies, most of which will be in English.
The mag. is available in record stores and at the below address. With this first issue, we hope that we can give you a small insight into who and what WARLOCK is. If you have any questions about the band or the mag. please feel free to write us: INTERNATIONAL WARLOCK FAN CLUB P.O. Box 2640, 6401 DC Heerlen, Holland.
THE STORY SO FAR…
Düsseldorf, September 1982…
In an old factory building about thirty bands had their rehearsal rooms. One of these bands was called SNAKE BITE. The line-up was: one guitarist, a drummer, the bass player Frank Rittel and female vocalist Dorothee Pesch. They believed they couldn’t do anything with one guitarist, so they decided to look for another ace man. After a few sessions a young guitarist named Peter Szigeti (formerly with BEAST) got the job. From the band, SNAKE BITE, they also got their new skinsman: Michael Eurich.
With this line-up they played their first gigs, which weren’t as successful as they hoped they would be. That’s why they split up as they were rather frustrated. Frank went on to join a band called STORMWIND and Michael was looking for a new band. So, only Doro and Peter stayed in the band, who really wanted to know what they were worth now.
After lots of sessions they found Rudy Graf (a guitarist) who tried to start a band with Michael Eurich. They decided to give it a try together as they already knew Michael. At that time the line-up was: Peter Szigeti (guitar), Doro Pesch (vocals), Michael Eurich (drums) and Rudy Graf (guitar). The latter came up with the new name WARLOCK, which is old-English, meaning with illusionist or magician.
After finding a new bass player, they did a few gigs in the Düsseldorf-area (which were rather successful and promising) but because they didn’t organize it properly, it really got mixed-up. That’s why they started looking for a manager.
They found a guy called Peter Zimmermann (Pezil) from Düsseldorf, who had lots of experience in the Heavy Metal scene, but had decided to leave the scene, after his band called SIN CITY split up. They used their power of persuasion to get him to the rehearsal room, but then he was totally enthusiastic after hearing the music and especially Doro’s powerful vocals! He decided to become the manager of the band.
He arranged several gigs (supporting TRANCE), so lots of people saw the band and soon they got the name of being a totally hot live band! At that time they got their first success: No.1 at the German Rock Meeting and No.2 at the Newcomer Festival in Düsseldorf. Because of these successes, they decided to produce a single and finance it themselves. After recording the single they received several offers from small record company and forgot about the single.
Now they wanted to release an album right away. After a few hassles, they signed to the Belgian record company Mausoleum and only two months later, they started to record their first album. While recording demos for the album, they found out that the present bass player wasn’t capable to fill the job properly and they tried to persuade Frank Rittel to join the band again.
With Frank back, they started recording the album, which took only six days! The album was produced by Axel Torboville, but after hearing the first results, they called two acquaintances named Pezi (R. Assmann and H. Staroste) to remix the album. So now everything was alright until the next setback: the cover.
*Time to jam on the Dark Fade song!
The original artist Nico Chiriatti) came up with a “drizzly” drawing for the cover for Mausoleum. It was used without permission and had nothing to do with the original idea. But in spite of all these problems, the album sold really well (almost 20,000) in the first six months -which is rather remarkable for a newcomer band.
The reviews were good to very good in Metal Forces (UK), Kerrang (UK), Enfer (France), Aardschok (Netherlands) and several other mags. Even in Australia they reached No.24 in the Heavy Metal charts. Decisive for the sales of the album were their live performances. After lots of concerts in Germany, they also did gigs in Luxemburg, Belgium and especially Holland.
From the Dutch gigs, the three at the Dynamo-Club (Eindhoven) and the one at the Earthquake Festival (Kaatsheuvel) were the best. Unfortunately, other very important gigs abroad had to be canceled because of lack of backing from their record company Mausoleum. In Autumn of 84′, 1-2 gigs in England and 1 gig in Paris were planned, but they had to cancel these gigs because they didn’t get any financial support and they didn’t feel good about this either!
All in all, they weren’t happy with Mausoleum Records, because the distribution of the album was bad and they didn’t get paid and or any royalties. It was impossible to get the album in some countries although the album should have been released there. It was all in the contract with Mausoleum, but they (the band -ed) didn’t bother to dispute it.
Favorable record sales (for an independent label) is probably the reason for the interest from bigger record companies. That’s why a delegate from Phonogram Records was present on their first gig in Lacomblet, Düsseldorf on September 14th,84′. He had to be convinced that WARLOCK really had the quality to offer. Apparently his report to the record company wasn’t so negative, because when WARLOCK played the Dynamo in Eindhoven (Holland) on October 6th, some more people from Phonogram were present.
After the gig they met and did some serious talking about a possible deal. So, this night was their first step on the road together with Phonogram. Finally in February 85′ after all conditions had been settled, they signed to Phonogram.
The first WARLOCK album for Phonogram will be released May 85′, after which the band will go on tour in Europe with their new equipment and stage show, visiting the following countries: Holland, Germany, France, Belgium and the UK. Then the last doubter will hopefully be convinced that WARLOCK is another rising star in the Heavy Metal Heavens!
*Check out those dandy sneakers in the advert above!
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LIVE!
There will be a lot of you out there who still haven’t seen WARLOCK on stage yet. For those people, we’ll try to describe what the band offers live. First to be noticed is Doro’s superb singing. Live she sounds the same (or even better) than on the album! Visually, Doro is like the bands “sign board”…a female vocalist and one that even looks good. Not many bands can offer that either (I agree - ed).
The rhythm section consist of Frank Rittel (bass) + Michael Eurich (drums) and they both work with the precision of a Swiss watch so that the “axe-crazy” lunatics Peter Szigeti and Rudy Graf can present their great show without loosing touch. Another eye-catcher is the fact that Rudy is right-handed player and Peter is left-handed. During a typical gig 17 or 18 tracks are played. Among them are the older songs Demon’s Party, Ticket to Hell, On the Run or Iron Lady and the entire Burning the Witches album.
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All the songs are faster and heavier live compared to the album. Everything sounds really spontaneous because they don’t study their stage movements prior and or use lots of fireworks. Only the show opener Wildfire and the track Without You uses some dry-ice and pyro effects.
*Have a listen to the excellent Burning the Witches track.
The song Burning the Witches easily becomes the gig’s highlight and is often played twice (when and if the audience so desires). We feel the band is worth a visit if you get a chance to see them live. You probably will because the band will be back on the road in May and June with a small European tour.
For Fans Only!
On this section we would like to introduce you to the official WARLOCK fan club. It’s an official fan club and it’s being supported by both the band and the record label.
Our goal is to unite the WARLOCK fans together and keep them posted on what’s happening with the band. A one year fee is 20 Guilders, 20DM or $8 US. For that, you will get an autographed photo, a fan club button, a membership card, several info mag’s, four fan club mag’s and discounted merchandise.
*The first 250 members will also get a free WARLOCK T-shirt (printed on both sides). Other fan club members can buy the shirt for 5 Guilders, 5DM or $2 US (+ p&p costs). If you have any questions, please contact us at the following address (please enclose an SAE): International WARLOCK Fan Club P.O.Box 2640, 6401 DC HEERLIN, Holland.
Readers To The Front!!
In front of you is the very first WARLOCK info mag. and of course we hope that you like it! We felt that in the future mag’s to come there should be a section reserved for the readers only. So, if you have any ideas or questions (maybe to a member of the band ) then please feel free to write us. Even if you just want to write something about WARLOCK yourself, please do and we’ll try to insert everything we receive in the mag.
Anyway, we hope that you participate!
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WARLOCK DISCOGRAPHY
BURNING THE WITCHES (1984)
01. Sign Of Satan
02. After The Bomb
03. Dark Fade
04. Homicide Rocker
05. Without You
06. Metal Racer
07. Burning The Witches
08. Hateful Guy
09. Holding Me
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HELLBOUND (1985)
01. Hellbound
02. All Night
03. Earthshaker Rock
04. Wrathchild
05. Down And Out
06. Out Of Control
07. Time To Die
08. Shout It Out
09. Catch My Heart
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YOU HURT MY SOUL (1985)
01. You Hurt My Soul (On ‘N’ On)
02. Evil/Turn It On
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TRUE AS STEEL (1986)
01. Mr. Gold
02. Fight For Rock
03. Love In A Danger Zone
04. Speed Of Sound
05. Midnite In China
06. Vorwärts, All Right!
07. True As Steel
08. Lady In A Rock´n´Roll Hell
09. Love Song
10. Igloo On The Moon (Reckless)
11. T.O.L.
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FIGHT FOR ROCK (1986)
01. Fight For Rock
02. Mr. Gold
03. Midnite In China
04. You Hurt My Soul
05. Turn It On
06. Evil
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TRIUMPH AND AGONY (1987)
01. All We Are
02. Three Minute Warning
03. I Rule The Ruins
04. Kiss Of Death
05. Make Time For Love
06. East Meets West
07. Touch Of Evil
08. Metal Tango
09. Cold, Cold World
10. Für Immer
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LINKS
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Kinger (ex-SLEEPY TRIP, KURU-AMA drummer), Demolish Mag. Editor/Owner/Publisher etc.
