Tag: Demo

Legacy – Legacy – 1988

This may actually be the best Metal band that never got a record deal. Hear me out on this one. They appeared on two Metal compilations, Heavy Righteous Metal,Chapter II and Brave New Music. They opened for Rez Band, Shout, Sacred Warrior, Mylon LeFevre and Allies. They also took second place in the new talent stage at Cornerstone 1989 and won the battle of the bands competition at metal club Alrosa Villa in the winter of 1989. These guys were hugely popular yet a record deal evaded them. They recorded 14 tracks for this demo but only 6 tracks made it and of course it’s almost impossible to find this demo now. That said Eonian Records stepped up in 2010 released all 14 demo tracks on CD. It took 20 years but the guys finally got their music out there.

Tracklist
1 – Salvation Is Law – 4:44
2 – Live It – 4:04
3 – Don’t Run Away – 3:13
4 – Change Of A Broken Heart – 2:54
5 – You Need Love – 4:22
6 – Red, White, And Blue – 5:57

Credits
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals – John D. Rice
Drums, Percussion [Other Rude Noises] – “Jungle” John Jenkins
Engineer, Producer – Brian Strittenberger
Guitar, Backing Vocals – Fred Blanchard, Matt Rice
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Doug Meacham
Piano, Keyboards – Jeff Koenig

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – The Recording Workshop Studio

Crossection – What About Forever – 1987

I was quite surprised when I came across this demo from Crossection. Their first album was actually a demo that got picked up by a label but I did not know there was a previous demo. I am assuming this was actually available for sale at their concerts through western Canada. This albums has a good raw feel and is not overproduced so it’s Rock & Roll sound and feel works. The band could have been a little tighter but it’s a light criticism of the album as I love the unpolished sound. If you enjoyed their 2 albums you should love this demo as it’s always nice to hear where a band came from. Only 2 tracks on this demo were released on their fist album so the other 8 are completely new tracks. I actually would have liked to have heard some of the new tracks in a fully polished and produced form because some of them are really good songs.

Tracklist
1 – Inside Out – 3:38
2 – Hard and Hungry World – 3:03
3 – Prodigal – 3:54
4 – Love Is Who You Are – 4:46
5 – Mercy – 3:57
6 – Things Aren’t The Same – 3:32
7 – Solid Rock – 3:14
8 – Child Of The King – 2:56
9 – Do Life Once – 2:36
10 – Forever Is Tonight – 3:36

Credits
Arranged By, Keyboards, Vocals – Dale Johnson
Bass, Vocals – Bruce Rawling
Drums – Martin Zinger
Lead Guitar, Vocals – Nevin Eggum
Producer – Crossection, Carson Cole
Vocals, Guitar – Doug Rawling

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Soundboard Studio, Sedgewick AB

Saint – The Gentiles Demo – 1981

Saint started out as Power Faith in the late 70’s but didn’t last long. It reformed as The Gentiles in either 80 or 81 and this is the demo they recorded under that name. The lineup would change again after/during the change of name to the Saint we are now familiar with. Lucky for their fans the demo was resurrected in 2001 by M8 Distribution and has been re released two more times since then. It is very very rough but is a nice insight into the early days of the band.

Tracklist
1 – Abyss – 3:22
2 – Worrying World – 2:52
3 – Self Made Man – 5:48
4 – Space Cruiser – 4:46

Credits
Bass – Richard Lynch
Drums – Unknown
Guitar – John Mahan
Vocals – Max Clark

Dubiel – Demo 1 – 1986

Dubiel was formed by Mary DuBiel in Connecticut who later changed their name to DuBeel. They were an excellent Hard Rock band with killer female lead vocals. People who saw the band live have fond memories of the drummer who apparently used baseball bats and his head for crashing symbols. Makes me wish I had seen them. It’s rather obvious that the band didn’t didn’t get a record deal as their JPM count was way too low. Pity really as they were a great band and their was definitely room for their style of Rock & Roll. There is a second demo as Dubiel and 2 as DuBeel. If you like your Rock hard with very strong female vocals you need to hear this demo.

Tracklist
1 – On And On – 3:22
2 – Show Me The Way – 3:13
3 – Ever Forever – 3:15
4 – Stay – 4:17
5 – Step Into The Light – 3:38

Credits
Arranged By – Cannata, DuBiel
Backing Vocals [Additional] – Jim Christian
Bass, Vocals – Chris “CJ” Thom
Cover, Artwork – Al Silva
Drums, Other [Concussion] – Thomas Mark
Engineer – Bill Burke, Jeff Cannata, Joe Mendyk
Guitar, Vocals – Mike Cummings
Keyboards – Carol Coty
Lighting Director – Joe Paradise
Producer – Jeff Cannata
Technician [Sound], Effects [Additional Digital] – Robert “Grover” Washington
Technician [Stage] – Jeff McCabe
Vocals – Mary DuBiel

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Audio West
Mastered At – Masterdisk

Boys Club – Demo 1 – 1987

In 1987 when their Branded tour was over Gym and Sim from Undercover decided to form a new project and cut a couple demo’s. Ojo was off doing is own thing and took Gary with him. Gym and Sim were joined on Drums by Rod Learned (Berlin, yes that Berlin “Sex”) on Drums, Jeff Sheets (Dead Artist Syndrome) on Keyboards, and Fred MacGregor (no idea who he is) on Bass. There are a few tracks on the second demo that would appear on the 1990 Undercover release “Balance Of Power” but none of the tracks on this demo were ever heard again. This is all I know about this project. The demo itself has an excellent new wave feel and sound. I don’t understand why someone didn’t pick this album up and release it. The quality of the mix/production is as good as anything else that came out at the time. Maybe it was legal issues due to two members being signed to Broken Records but that’s just a guess. Anyway it’s a great demo and a treat for Undercover fans who want a little more.

Tracklist
1 – Never Been Here – 2:56
2 – I Love You – 3:04
3 – Whisper – 2:52
4 – Satisfied – 3:42
5 – Hungry For You – 3:41
6 – Kingdom Come – 3:11
7 – Once Is Never Enough – 3:35
8 – Betrayed – 2:35
9 – Passion On Parade – 3:51
10 – Love And Hate – 3:14

Credits
Bass – Fred MacGregor
Drums – Rod Learned
Keyboards – Jeff Sheets
Vocals, Guitar – Gym Nicholson
Vocals – Sim Wilson

Newsboys – [He’s Coming Back] – 1987

The Newsboys formed in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia in 1985. They called themselves “The News” but when recording their demo changed the name to Newsboys to avoid confusion with Huey Lewis and the News. They recorded this demo at Windsong Studios and sold it at their concerts. I have also heard that they did do some distribution at local Christian stores also. After it’s release they moved to the USA in search of fame and fortune. Well fame, there wasn’t much fortune in the industry except for the record companies. Several songs from this demo found their way onto later albums as their success and popularity rose. The band continues to go strong today making them one of the longest lasting band in CCM. This recording is from cassette so please forgive some of the poor audio.

Tracklist
1 – He’s Coming Back – 3:50
2 – Listen For The Shout – 3:35
3 – Stand Up – 4:20
4 – You’re Still There – 2:54
5 – Victory – 4:21
6 – It’s Joy – 3:32
7 – Read About It – 4:20
8 – He Died For You – 3:40

Credits
Bass – Sean Taylor
Drums – Peter Furler
Engineer – Kim Horne
Guitar – George Perdikis
Lead Vocals – John James
Lyrics By – John James, Peter Furler
Music By – George Perdikis, Sean Taylor

Companies, etc.
Engineered At – Windsong Studios

Inner Lite – Rockin’ The Faith – 1986

This demo appears to be all we got from Inner Lite and I don’t really know much about them. It’s a standard heavy metal album with the quality of the band being pretty good. The production quality isn’t the best but that could be because of the source being a cassette. None of the band (or producer) went on to do anything more that I can find so this will go down as one of those late 80’s Heavy Metal projects that didn’t take off.

Tracklist
1 – Live Eternally
2 – Open Your Eyes
3 – Rockin’ The Faith
4 – Perfect Love

Credits
Bass, Backing Vocals – Dan “Z-Man” Castro
Drums – Chris Powers (7)
Guitar, Backing Vocals – Nick Powers (3), Shiro Nobunaga
Lead Vocals – Billy Birkholz
Producer – Randy W. Brewer

Resurrection Band – The Demos – 1976

As the story goes there were 3 Resurrection Band “Demos”. “Music to Raise the Dead” and “All Your Life” were recorded in 1974 and sold at their concerts in cassette form. This release is supposed to be the actual Demo that was presented to the Record companies. It has a few remixed songs from those 2 “demos” and some new tracks. It sounds like Stu Heiss is on a few tracks so those tracks would have to have been recorded in 1976 or later. Of interest on this release is a very early version of “Broken Promises”. Other than that it is all unreleased stuff except for “Quite Enough” which appeared on the Bootleg Live album.

Tracklist
1 – There Will Be Fire – 4:17
2 – Free – 5:02
3 – Help Us – 3:55
4 – Jesus Is The Rock – 4:31
5 – Quite Enough – 5:50
6 – Ocean Of His Love – 6:11
7 – He Speaks To Me – 2:17
8 – Broken Promises – 7:36

Credits
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals – Jim Denton
Drums – John Herrin
Harmonica – Tom Cameron
Lead Guitar, Piano – Stu Heiss
Lead Vocals – Wendi Kaiser
Lead Vocals, Guitar – Glenn Kaiser

Resurrection Band – Music To Raise The Dead (Demo) – 1974

This Demo was one of two demos recorded by Resurrection Band. It was recorded in Gary Rotta’s moms basement and was mixed using headphones as she was sleeping. It was distributed at concerts and is very rare. This was recorded before Stu Heiss joined the band but the style is definitely the sound we became used to from Resurrection Band. I’m not familiar with any songs on this Demo except Quite Enough which showed up on the Live Bootleg album in 1984. This is a nice insight to where Rez came from and lets us hear what they were doing before we all got to hear them.

Tracklist
1 – Down Baby – 6:17
2 – I Can’t Help Myself – 4:17
3 – Crimson River – 6:04
4 – There Will Be Fire – 4:03
5 – We Can See – 4:42
6 – Better Way – 4:01
7 – Growin’ Stronger – 4:22
8 – The Man I Used To Be – 5:25
9 – Quite Enough – 5:58

Credits
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals – Jim Denton
Drums – John Herrin
Harmonica – Tom Cameron
Lead Vocals – Wendi Kaiser
Lead Vocals, Guitar – Glenn Kaiser