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Headbangers Open Air 2009, 23 – 25 July 2009, Brande-Hörnerkirchen (Germany)

-> Overview | -> Warm-Up-Show – Wednesday, 22 July | -> Thursday, 23 July | -> Saturday, 25 July

Friday, 24 July
(Text and pictures: bk) On the 25 in the morning, the sun was shining again… that made people hope for less rain, but again all hope was futile. Anyway, you had to get up early if you wanted to see the first shows, which started at noon. The French epic-heavy metallers Lonewolf opened today, and with the clear and powerful sound they had you could truly appreciate their song material. I really liked them this time, the played a tight show and the songs went straight to the point, without the epic elements taking over too much and making the songs erratic. They played “Pagan Glory” and “Hellenic Warriors” for the many Greek fans present, among others.

The Swedes from Memory Garden were next. Their songs remind a lot of the power-doom their countrymen Memento Mori play – gloomy, doomy, but melodic and tight at the same time. This was maybe the band which had the biggest disadvantage playing so early, as the light didn’t allow for any dark atmosphere on stage and thus the songs, like in this case “Revelation” and “Genesis”, remained a little expressionless. A pity, as the material is quite good, really. Fans of Memento Mori and the like should check them out all the same.

Piledriver – nowadays known as The Exalted Piledriver are the second version of a Canadian 80s band which was something like “The Canadian Venom” back in their time, as they went for a similar sound at a time when Venom was big news. The singer is the only one who also performed with Piledriver years ago. Their trademark nowadays is a totally crazy show, which mainly consists in the musicians wearing fancy costumes – with vocalist Gord “PileDriver” Kirchin clad in black leather and tons of spikes, black leather hood included. The music was quite cool raw 80s thrash with raw vocals, much more serious than one could have thought seeing them on stage. OK, the song titles were a fun element as well, like “Sex With Satan” (an old title) and the like. Of course Piledriver started to attract the masses to the garden.

Now we were to watch another Swedish band – Enforcer. These guys play Exciter-style 80s speed and are indeed very young (at least that’s what they look like), but seemed surprisingly experienced and at ease on stage. They didn’t stand still for even a single moment and played songs like “Black Angel”, “City Lights”, “Speed Queen” and “Scream Of The Savage”, all taken from their debut “Into the Night” with fury and determination alike, a great show for the ears and the eyes, much to the delight of the crowd.

During Enforcer it had started to rain again, and this time it looked like there would be no end to it. There even was a power failure on the stage, which didn’t last long, though, and the show could go on.
Jacobs Dream were totally the opposite of the two previous bands we’d seen. They have got some excellent technical power metal songs up their sleeves, and their guitar work was quite outstanding at times. But their performance was a bit static, and singer Chaz Bond, while displaying an expressive voice, didn’t always always hit the note. Nevertheless songs like “At The Gates” or “Scapegoat” were surely fun.

Exxplorer are another US band with a long, albeit unstable band history. Their newly reformed line-up with various original members presented mainly songs from their debut album “Symphonies Of Steel” (from which they played almost all songs), like “City Streets”, “Metal Detectors” and the wonderful “Objection Overruled”. They did an energetic, tight performance, which emphasized their great song material perfectly. They made the crowd move again and ended their set with “Beg Borrow and Steel” from their second album.

Now to some stronger stuff – Deathriders, the band of the first Anthrax vocalist Neil Turbin, was going to blow us away with some old Anthrax songs. They’ve committed themselves to true, traditional 80s speed/ thrash, as Neil Turbin never forgot to mention between songs. Musically they were really convincing, with versions of “Armed And Dangerous”, “Metal Thrashing Mad”, “Death From Above”, “Panic” and “Deathrider” delivered with the speed and aggression they deserve. Really cool, really fun, but Neil Turbin talked way too much. Nevertheless, good ol’ speed metal for old and new headbangers, for many one of the highlights of the festival.

That was the case with Helstar, as well, performing with James Rivera, one of the best-known singers in American metal. He’s a great vocalist for sure, but where he fits in really perfectly, more so than with any other of the numerous bands he’s performed with, that’s Helstar. These Texan guys did a massive, energetic show, where the technical perfection of the songs stuck out due to the great sound, without lessening the raw energy. James Rivera came on stage with a devil’s mask, and songs like “King of Hell”, “Baptized in Blood”, “Winds of War” or “Run With the Pack” made this a memorable event. Their usual drummer, Russel DeLeon, could not play with the band this time, they had had to ask Ex-Drummer Michael Lewis to replace him, and he’d had just a week to rehearse. He did a great job, and was sure partly responsible for the great Helstar show.

After the Helstar gig, James Rivera started to make a speech, talking about his musical career, the criticism he’d received, and so on and so forth, but nobody knew what he was really getting at… then he told the crowd about the Vicious Rumors “Warball” album where he did the vocals being considered a highlight in the band’s career, and instants later, Vicious Rumors where on the stage and announced a surprise gig with James Rivera! That was really a surprise for everybody, and they played “Sonic Rebellion” and “A Ghost Within” from the “Warball” album. That’s how we came to see Vicious Rumors three days in a row, and in four different versions (remember that at the warm-up show Geoff Thorpe did the vocals for some tracks). Great for the fans of this band!

Now it was time for some more melodic rock stuff. Many left the festival ground, others were coming in to see Pretty Maids. This Danish band has been around for quite some time and usually plays on lots of festivals throughout Europe, so most people had already seen them on some occasion or other. That also meant that there weren’t going to be any big surprises… except that for once I had the opportunity, after seeing them at various festivals, to fully appreciate their songs because of the great sound. The best ones came last, though – “Future World” and “Red, Hot and Heavy” where the highlights of the gig, loved by the fans.

Finally we came to the end of the second festival day, whose headliner was cult band Manilla Road. They were one of the bands which attracted most visitors, for sure. Especially the Greek fans, who’re a lot into epic metal, seem to adore them. There were Greek flags in the front rows.
Manilla Road are probably one of those bands who’re total cult, but at the same time one of those you either truly love or – I wouldn’t say hate – but simply don’t care about at all. With all this said, it’s not the same listening to their old records, which have mostly a really bad production, than seeing them live, which is where the songs sound much more like what they were supposed to. Surely people were expecting a lot from this band, and they kept true to these expectations. Many fell into some kind of trance – the music gets you floating in a very strange, dream-like way. It’s mostly traditional heavy-doom, not too slow though, 70s influenced, psychedelic, very epic, sometimes dark and somber, but not depressive, powerful at times, very sophisticated – and somehow truly special. After a while I got somehow lost in the space-time-continuum as well and lost track of the songs and everyting surrounding me – think of “Voyager”… all I can say is they played “Haunted Palace”, “Astronomica” and “Road of Kings” as well as the famous “Crystal Logic” among others. Some might miss the aggression and power after Deathriders and Helstar, and consider it too late for a band like that, but I found them very relaxing and perfect at that time of night. The gig was somehow special, with Mark “The Shark” Shelton on his extremely heavy-sounding guitar doing a great performance, and also Bryan “Hellroadie” Patrick on vocals sounded perfect in this setting. One of my personal highlights, and one of the most peculiar metal bands I’ve ever had the opportunity to see live.

VOTE for DEATH RIDERS girl DEJAH – 2009 DEAN Girl  Centerfold Challenge/DEAN Guitars

DEJAH is a true thrasher who represents Thrash Metal! and DEATHRIDERS

It’s fast and easy to vote! I clicked on 11 since 12 wasn’t available!!!!

DEATH RIDERS launch SUMMER VENGEANCE 09 CALIFORNIA TOUR

DEATHRIDERS 2009 SUMMER VENGEANCE TOUR

DEATHRIDERS featuring Neil Turbin (ex-Anthrax) vocals, Mike Guerrero (ex-Hellion) guitar, Sandy K. Vasquez (Bloodlust) bass, David Watson (ex-Hirax) and Dave Chedrick (ex-Hirax) recently returned from their DOUBLE VENGEANCE 2009 EUROPEAN TOUR and kick-off their SUMMER VENGEANCE 09 CALIFORNIA TOUR.

DEATHRIDERS sign with Marjo Verdooren and Metal Revelation for Worldwide Band Promotion.  Marjo has 20 years of experience and great expertise working with acts such as Manowar, Rhapsody Of Fire, Ross The Boss.    She is passionate like we are about what we do and understands what old school metal is.  With her great insight, one can imagine what is learned after working in the trenches with Manowar for 17+ years, Marjo views the non-traditional music business model of DIY (Do It Yourself) as a necessity.  As record labels are dying off due to inability to remain profitable, more responsibility for promotion becomes necessary for the band to handle .  We are thrilled to announce our collaboration and partnership with Marjo and her very progressive thinking company Metal Revelation and her many thousands of working contacts in the music biz.

DEATHRIDERS is back home in California and announces its SUMMER VENGEANCE 09 CALIFORNIA TOUR.

More footage from “stoneagelightning” of DEATH RIDERS performance at Headbanger’s Open Air in Germany on 7.24.2009 of Neil Turbin written songs: Armed and Dangerous as well as Metal Thrashing Mad.

DEATH RIDERS recently returned back from their Double Vengeance 2009 European Tour with a string of very successful shows at Headbanger’s Open Air 2009, headlining the HOA 2009 After Party at Ballroom Hamburg and 2 shows at the Nightmare Over St. Pauli Festival at Knust Club.  DEATH RIDERS would like to say a huge THANK YOU it was a BLAST and an HONOR for us to Thomas, Jürgen, Steffi, Tennessee, Korea, Dirk, Marjo, Carl Canedy, MAC, Carsten (HellDriver), Neudi & Strike on Streetclip.tv , Danny B., Jens, Big Eddy, Rotter, Wool, Matt McCourt and a big THRASHING GREETZ!!!!to all the fans and to our comrades-all the great killer bands we played with in Germany! Keep supporting the greatest true old school metal festivals on the planet: Headbanger’s Open Air and Keep It True.

DEATH RIDERS have just signed with Marjo Verdooren and Metal Revelation for Worldwide Band Promotion.

Check out audience filmed footage of our performance at HOA 2009 at this location and 80+ photos from HOA 2009, Ballroom Hamburg and the sold out Nightmare Over Hamburg’s Harbour Boat Cruise.

More Vengeance to come!!!! Stay Thrashing!!!! Mega-PROST!!!!

Neil T, Tapping Ninja Mike, Schnitzelman Dave, Sandy K. and Ched

Headbanger’s Open Air Meet & Greet/Running Order Announced

DEATHRIDERS embarks on it’s DOUBLE VENGEANCE 2009 EUROPEAN TOUR and will play @ Headbanger’s Open Air 2009

in Brande-Hörnerkirchen on Friday, July 24^th, 2009. DEATHRIDERS will play a special set to commemorate 25 years of “Fistful Of Metal”.  They will hit the stage at 7:00 PM to 8:20PM right after Exxplorer and before Helstar.  DEATHRIDERS will also play @ the Official Headbanger’s Open Air After-party at Ballroom Hamburg on Sunday night, July 26th and will headline Nightmare Over St. Pauli Festival on Monday, July 27^th and Tuesday, July 28th .  If you want to meet the band, take photos and sign autographs from 4:30PM to 5:00PM! on Friday, July 24^th 2009.

For further info check out: http://www.headbangers-open-air.de

Hey all you Metal Thrashers,

Back from the first ever ROCKTOWER FESTIVAL 2009 in Lübeck, Germany.   What a blast!  It was an honor to share the stage with one of my heroes the legendary PAUL DIANNO twice,  at the pre-party and at ROCKTOWER.  PAUL DIANNO is not only a great singer with a truly distinctive style and sound all his own, but a humble and very cool  person.  Cool to meet up with old friends FIREWIND and BULLET who we’ve played before at Sweden Rock Festival  2006.  Also got to watch a little of PAUL DIANNO who sounded great!, STONE COLD BLACK who totally kicked ass!, FIREWIND who were also very strong, but did a cover of an 80’s song She’s A Maniac – which we all thought was a little weird!  KORPLIKAANI who sounded like Finnish Vikings – ENSIFERUM who were fearless and fucking tight! Not my brand, but much respect! They killed it!!!! In a pagan metal way. HAGGARD who had an orchestra and opera singers.  The festival was a diverse blend of great bands that all kicked fucking ass! It was actually the most interesting combination of bands that we ever played with. We were glad to be there to represent the Old School! The best was hanging with our friends Dirk Hormann and Korea Black of Stone Cold Black who were the most fun and old school metal!  We look forward to returning “Back With A Vengeance”  to Germany in July on our  tour which will take us to the Headbanger’s Open Air 2009 and Nightmare Over St. Pauli Festival before Wacken.  Special thanks to Steffi and Tennessee from HOA for filming, shooting and hanging with us and Jens whose restaurant Dirk took us to and had our first Dunkel and Weiss beer of the trip at 9:00am in the morning, who were all really great to us.   It tasted fucking good after the plane ride!  Me and Dave Chedrick played some intense chess for most of the flight.  He was ready for a rematch on the way home!  New nickname for DEATHRIDERS guitarist Dave Watson “Schnitzel Man”!  and famous quote of the tour goes to Dirk at the afterparty at PIRANHA BAR in Lübeck after many many cocktails: I BUY THIS FUCKING BAR!!!!  Thank you Dirk and Korea for the making the GREATEST party ever!!!!  We come back in Juli 2009!  So let’s kill some goats for Satan!!!!

Stay Thrashing!!!!

/Neil T

http://www.rocktower.de/bilder.html

http://mosh.dremufuestias.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1503&Itemid=30

http://www.unser-luebeck.de/content/view/1258/98/

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=14717213&albumId=2515838

DEATHRIDERS will play @ Rocktower Festival in Lubeck on April 11th. They will hit the stage at 6:10 PM to 7:25PM right after Firewind.  DEATHRIDERS will also play @ the Official Rocktower Festival Pre-party at Sounds Club Luebeck on Friday night along with Powerslave (with Very Special Guest PAUL DIANNO) and Stone Cold Black.  If you want to meet the band, take photos and sign autographs from 4:30PM to 4:50PM! on Saturday, April 11, 2009
For further info check out: http://www.rocktower.de/

Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 00:25:54 EST

As part of the continuation of our GeekChat Live Chat series, www.BigMusicGeek.com will host a live chat interview with legendary DEATHRIDERS frontman Neil Turbin (ex-ANTHRAX) on Tuesday, April 2nd at 7:00 p.m. CST. GeekChat are looking for fans to ask the questions. Log into the www.BigMusicGeek.com GeekChat chatroom (free registration is required) for more details.

As previously reported, Deathriders will be performing at Rocktower Festival Lübeck Tower in Lübeck, Germany on April 11th. The band will perform a special set at Rocktower Festival to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the groundbreaking thrash metal album Fistful Of Metal. Deathriders will also perform at the Rocktower Festival pre-party warm-up show at Sounds Club Lübeck, Germany on April 10th.

Other bands on the Rocktower Festival bill: ENSIFERUM, HAGGARD, KORPIKLAANI, BULLET, PAUL DIANNO, FIREWIND, STONE COLD BLACK, KIWIMETSAN DRUIDI.

http://www.bravewords.com/news/110161

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=117178

DEATH RIDERS Photo Shoot with Legendary Photographer JUSTICE HOWARD in her Los Angeles studio.
DEATHRIDERS include Neil Turbin – Vocals, Sandy K. Vasquez – Bass, David Watson – Guitar, Mike Guerrero – Guitar, Dave Chedrick – Drums did a recent photo shoot a few weeks ago with the visual artist and legendary photographer JUSTICE HOWARD who has photographed prolific artists such as Dave Navarro, Billy Idol, Marilyn Manson, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Dick Dale and heavy metal band DEATHRIDERS.  Playboy Magazine calls JUSTICE HOWARD a “Visionary Provocateur”.   Her sharp, edgy photographic style is fine art reminiscent of Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts, Robert Mapplethorpe and Annie Liebowitz all combined.  JUSTICE HOWARD PHOTOGRAPHY work can be viewed at www.justicehoward.com and www.myspace.com/justicehoward