Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 02:24 PM by Giorgos Tsekas
Greek crowd is known for its fixation on certain Heavy Metal bands, the number of which does not exceed the fingers of my hands. One of those bands is MANILLA FUCKING ROAD. At least we got taste, you ought to give that to us, hehe! There has been no Manilla Road concert in Greek venues, in which no heads were bashed in, no t-shirts have been ripped, no knees have bled from the multiple stage dives. These concerts seem like a riot in the jungle. Extremely loud screams and a (weird) real – life feel of love; of love towards the band, your heavy metal comrades, yourself for being a die – hard fan. Thankfully, in a couple of days we will have the opportunity of reliving such experiences, thus our spirits are heightened. Manilla Road will be visiting Greece (in Thessaloniki and Patras), hence let’s bit farewell to our mental state and our livers.
Do you want to freshen up your knowledge of Manilla Road? Then have a look! It took me a while to gather all this information, so hopefully you’ll be ready for the gigs!
Manilla Road cannot be possibly imagined as a band without Mark Shelton amidst its members. It seems like the best way to start unfolding Manilla Road’s story!
Mark Shelton was deep into music since he was a little child. Shelton’s mother taught him to play the piano when he was 5 years old, with several other instruments to follow. He learned to play drums and he was a member of Jazz – and Countryrock- Bands. His own rock´n´roll band called Embryo sprang a few years later. One of the two guitar players of this band taught Shelton how to play the guitar. During High School and his anthropology studies (1977), Shelton formed a new band with his high school friends Benny Munkirs, Rick Fisher and brothers Robert and Scott Park: Manilla Road was born!
Many fans have wondered why did Manilla Road chose this particular name; well, Mark Shelton has stated the following: “Ben and I came up with the name Manilla Road while drinking one night at the kitchen table watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus. For some reason, to us, it meant the Road of Light. I personally think we were just drunk and could not come up with anything more creative at the time. But the name stuck and no matter how hard I tried to get away from the name or how many times I tried to change it the name stayed with the band.”
After playing in local bars, the band caught the crowd’s eye (or ear for that matter) with their song “Herman Hill,” with the infamous Herman Hill riot serving as their source of inspiration.
Manilla Road released their first album entitled ‘Invasion’ in 1980 on the band’s own label, Roadster Records. Between this time and their next release the band recorded material for an album to be titled ‘The Dreams Of Eschaton’, however it wasn’t released until 2002 (under the name ‘Mark of the Beast’) as they were not happy with the sound. Shelton himself once stated that the music was “not metal enough” and “sounded like shit.” These early albums have more in common with progressive rock and proto-heavy metal than the band’s later heavier speed/thrash metal sound.
The next record was entitled ‘Metal’ and began to define the musical direction the band would follow from now on, even though the experimentation with multiple musical styles was still a reality. ‘Metal’ was released in 1982.
In 1983 Manilla Road released one of the most notorious records, “Crystal Logic”; a record that holds a huge chapter of Heavy Metal history and still to this day can make burst in tears, either you’re 10 or 100 years old. Many consider “Crystal Logic” a breakthrough, as the band’s “classic” sound was staring to get solidified and established a firm basis on which Manilla Road could build on in the years to come. This is the first real Manilla Road classic including 7 songs (plus one made just for airplay). “Crystal Logic” LP was released on Raodster Records and was re-released in 1996 by the French company Black Dragon Records. In 2000 the album was released as CD for the first time by the German company Iron Glory. Many re-releases and re – issues followed until 2013.
In 1984 drummer Rick Fisher left the band and was replaced by Randy “Thrasher” Foxe. The next five Manilla Road albums (along with a live release, “Roadkill”) featured the band’s new drummer Randy Foxe, who had more of a thrash-oriented style than original drummer Rick Fisher. His unique and virtuous drumming should be another trademark for the band in future.
The band signed a record deal with the French company “Black Dragon” (Savage Grace, Candlemass, Heir Apparent and others) and then they recorded ‘Open The Gates’. It was released as LP with an additional 12″ containing two more songs. With a great cover artwork by Eric Larnoy and a much better sound quality as on the previous releases, the record was pretty successful in 1985.
Along with ‘Crystal Logic’, the new lineup’s first two albums, ‘Open the Gates’ and ‘The Deluge’ (released in 1986), are generally considered to be classics in the field of heavy metal. It was on these three albums that Manilla Road’s style became fully formed. Lyrics typically feature fantastic elements from Norse mythology, Arthurian legend or other literary sources.
‘Mystification’, released in 1987, suffered from exceptionally poor production resulting, ironically, from the substandard equipment at a new studio the band hoped would improve their sound.
The band went on tour through the States together with Liege Lord and on this tour they recorded their first live album Roadkill (1988). This time Black Dragon also released the album as CD and so the fans could enjoy a lot of bonus tracks (nearly 50% of ‘The Deluge’ is included).
‘Out of the Abyss’ followed ‘Mystification’ in 1988 and was widely criticized at the time for its thrash metal influences, comparing it the previous releases of the band. Manilla Road released one more album, ‘The Courts of Chaos’ in 1990 (described by Shelton as “the first true Manilla Road masterpiece”) before splitting up. ‘The Courts of Chaos’ actually features a great mix of all those elements that engulf the essence of Manilla Road, with both the Heavy Metal and the Thrash Metal bit and pieces being strongly flavored in every song.
In 1992 Mark Shelton started his own new project, The Circus Maximus with Aaron Brown and Andrew Coss. Despite having never been intended as a Manilla Road project, the album was released under this name at the record company’s insistence, most possibly thinking that I’ll sell more copies. After this incident, Mark Shelton went on hiatus for nearly a decade. {Contrary to popular belief, Manilla Road was only split up between 1992-1994.}
In June 2000 the sun shone again! Mark Shelton and two new members gathered together and gave a gig in Germany, at the Bang Your Head Festival in Balingen! The crowd was delirious and the press from all over the world praised Manilla Road for their efforts, claiming Manilla Road is one of the best Heavy Metal acts in the world. After a long catalog of re-releases and re – issues, Manilla Road released ‘Atlantis Rising’ in 2001, again with Mark Shelton as the only original member. The sound was much more consistent and the band decided to continue using the name. About the sound production Mark has stated in 2011: “We were not very fluent at the time and so paying for a lot of studio time was not going to happen and the only way we were going to get an album recorded was if we bought our own recording equipment and did it ourselves. Digital recording technology was pretty new at this point but it was good quality and not very expensive to get into the equipment. So Randy and I both bought digital recording systems and I waited for Randy to come up with the drum tracks to lay my guitar and vocal tracks down to.”
The album to follow was ‘Spiral Castle’ (released via Iron Glory in 2002). This was a really tough time for Shelton as he was on through a difficult divorce, which ultimately resulted in Mark and Scott leaving the band. Harvey Patrick returned after all and along with Shelton, they recruited Cory ‘Hardcore’ Christner. Iron Glory also went through changes, changing its name to Battle Cry Records. Due to the divorce, Mark couldn’t use his on studio, so they moved all the recording studio equipment into the old Roadster Records house called the Road House and recorded ‘Gates of Fire’. The band split with Battle Cry and signed with My Graveyard Productions, with which they recorded and released Voyager in 2008. Then Harvey started having troubles maintaining his marriage while playing in the band so he quit the band for a second time. Vince Goleman filled his shoes and Manilla Road started performing live for their fans in multiple venues. The band started working on a new album with Vince, but after recording two songs in the studio he was afflicted with severe problems with his left hand and he had to bow out of the band. Shelton recruited an old friend of his, E.C. Hellwell to finish the bass tracks on the album. After lots of delays because of member changes and touring the project was finished and was entitled ‘Playground of the Damned’ (2011). ‘Mysterium’ (2013) and ‘The Blessed Curse’ (2015) followed. Both the band’s fans and the press spoke volumes of these efforts and their satisfaction is validated by filling each of Manilla Road’s performing venues.
Photos: Taken by Manilla Road Official Website
• Manilla Road: www.manillaroad.net | www.facebook.com/ManillaRoadOfficial
• Convixion (Official): www.facebook.com/ConvixionOfficial
• Murder Angels: www.facebook.com/Murder-Angels-736636103036423
• Made Of Stone Productions: www.facebook.com/madeofstoneprods
• 3P Lab: www.facebook.com/3plabgr
