EXXPLORER confirmed for KEEP IT TRUE 12

[Tokaro]

Uuuuuupppsss.... *ganzargrotwerd*

das dritte ist aber AA...

Wenigstens ist das Cover...toll...

[Exxplorer]

<a href='http://myspace.com/exxplorer' target='_blank'>My Webpage</a>:D
Exxplorer! Das wird sau geil. Auf dieses Konzert warte ich schon über 20 Jahre! Ed hat mir die Info schon zum Anfang der Woche geegben. Er dachte aber noch, dass das Festival Keep it real heißt.
Auf der Exxplorer Seite findet Ihr interessante Blogs mit Presseberichten aus den 80-igern . Unter: www.myspace.com/exxplorerband
Thanx an Oli + Tarek!

M(etal) F(ucking) G(reetings),
Frank

[Pavlos]

fuck yeah...ich entschuldige mich jetzt schon für meine überdimensionale kit12 latte während des exxplorer gigs...benötige ich aufgrund der extra körpermasse eine zweite eintrittskarte???

[johnarch]

Viel meher als das Album können die aber leider garnicht spielen, denn
die zweite soll doch, ähnlich wie bei Hittman, eher lau sein!?

Egal, wird trotzdem spaßig werden

Die "Recipe For Power" ist total geil!!! Finde ich fast genauso gut. alleine "Rocking Bound", "Bible Black", "Beg Borrow And Steel" und "Life Seduction" sind kleine Klassiker. Die "Coldblackugly" war scheisse...

Her Bjuf, bitte verlass dich nicht immer aufs "Hörensagen"....

Ja, das mit dem Hörensagen ist immer so ´ne Sache. Deswegen hab´ich mir die Zweite Hittman jetzt auch mal günstig zugelegt, um mir eine eigene Meinung zu bilden. Bin aber noch nicht zum reinhören gekommen. Denn da gehen die Meinungen ja auch auseinander. Ähnlich wie bei den Lethal-Platten, die nach der "Programmed" veröffentlicht wurden.

[Fred Exxplorer Axe]

Hallo alle. Vielen Dank für all die guten Kommentare. Wir werden Songs aus Symphonien von Stahl und Rezepte für Power. Wir können nicht warten, spielen in Deutschland. Wir haben Hoffnung für diese für zu lang.

Hello all. Thank you for all the great comments. We will be playing songs from Symphonies of Steel and Recipe for Power. We can't wait to play in Germany. We have been hoping for this for too long.

[Pavlos]

Hallo alle. Vielen Dank für all die guten Kommentare. Wir werden Songs aus Symphonien von Stahl und Rezepte für Power. Wir können nicht warten, spielen in Deutschland. Wir haben Hoffnung für diese für zu lang.

Hello all. Thank you for all the great comments. We will be playing songs from Symphonies of Steel and Recipe for Power. We can't wait to play in Germany. We have been hoping for this for too long.

germany is ready for exxplorer!!!!!!!!

[Dezibel]

Hallo alle. Vielen Dank für all die guten Kommentare. Wir werden Songs aus Symphonien von Stahl und Rezepte für Power. Wir können nicht warten, spielen in Deutschland. Wir haben Hoffnung für diese für zu lang.

Hello all.  Thank you for all the great comments.  We will be playing songs from Symphonies of Steel and Recipe for Power.  We can't wait to play in Germany.  We have been hoping for this for too long.

germany is ready for exxplorer!!!!!!!!

...more than ready!

[johnarch]

Yes!!!

[Fred Exxplorer Axe]

That's great to hear. We start rehearsal next week, this way Exxplorer will be ready for Germany as well. We can't wait.

[Irish Coffee]

To the band: Awesome, I will be there. The first Exxplorer album is still one of my faves...that piano piece is incredible...I love every single note on that record.

Ansonsten: Die zweite Exxplorer damals fand ich gar nicht schlecht, guter Melodicstoff, die dritte war dann, hmmm, experimentell, düster, melodiearm, ein Zeugnis von Orientierungslosigkeit...schade drum. Aber okay, manchmal passiert das halt, warum nur muß sowas gleich veröffentlicht werden? Aber die 90er waren so...ein Glück, daß die Zeit vorbei ist.

[johnarch]

Aber die 90er waren so...ein Glück, daß die Zeit vorbei ist.

Auch die 90er hatten ihre guten Seiten. Denke da an Bands wie Gothik Knights etc...

[Fred Exxplorer Axe]

Irish Coffee,
Thank you for your kind words on the 1st two albums. As for the 3rd, thank you for understanding. Yes, it was very dark and different. Bands like Exxplorer were falling apart and disappearing everywhere around 1991-1993, we refused to go away. We were all happy with the music, and wish that Lennie was around to do the vocals. I think the reaction would have been different. Make no mistake though, we get the message. Europe hated that release.

We will say thank you for your long time support in our own special way at KIT 12.

[Irish Coffee]

Cheers Fred, I think it was just time to start something new back then, maybe it was just the name that made people get the wrong idea. Okay, the album itself sounded a bit disoriented, maybe with Lennie on vocals it would have been more "round", well, that was like 12 years ago, so it's long forgotten. I even might check the album from my today's point of view and then tell you how I feel with it today.
What were your main influences for this record actually? Just out of curiosity...

[Fred Exxplorer Axe]

That's a good question and thank you for asking. This will take some background, but it'll give you some little known facts as well.

- I am not one of the original guitarists in Exxplorer. They were Kevin Kennedy and Ed LaVolpe. Ed is still in the band. I took Kevin's place. Everyone else is original.

- At the time (Early 90's) I was teaching guitar at the music store owner by Exxplorer drummer Mike Sakowski. I was also in a band with him and Mike Pinnella (who now plays keyboards for Symphony X), also his brother in law. I also went to high school with Michael Romeo, Symphony X's guitarist. We used to have drums and amps set up in his mothers back yard. What a fuckin blast.

- Exxplorer was finishing up Recipe for Power, and got a call with an offer to tour Europe with Fates Warning. They accepted, but Kevin couldn't go, I don't know why. I came in to teach and the drummer Mike asked me if I wanted to do it. I said "FUCK YEAH". So he gave me a tape of Symphonies of Steel and said your audition is tonight. I had 5 hours, and eight students. Each student got to learn an Exxplorer song that night, and I spent the last half hour cramming in the rest. I auditioned, and we ran through the whole Symphonie of Steel album, and they hired me, on the spot. I was totally psyched. I got in to Exxplorer just in time for the Japanese release of Recipe for Power.

- My influences have always been good, loud aggressive guitar players. Some of my favs, Michael Schenker, Uli Roth, Richie Blackmore etc. They are brilliant, and I borrow from them all the time.

- At the time, I was listening to alot of stuff by "Tool", "Soundgarden" , Dream Theatre etc. I like the dark heavy stuff (Early Scorpions, Pictured life, Sails of Charon), and so did the rest of the band. We all went to see Tool live, and they blew us away. We also started experimenting with the drop tunings. Looking back, not on purpose, but most of CBU is drop tuned.

- Those bands, in my opinion had a big influence on the third release. The "Tool" show was so fuckin great, the bass had this in your face rumble. We even recorded the bass tracks with the bass player plugged into two amps, on clean, one distorted. When mixed together, we got that same "Snotty" bass sound.

- For reasons I didn't know at the time, Lennie was not around, we needed a singer. Barry came around. His lyrics were very dark, but he was also very clever. "A tornado of shattered glass, bloody and un-focussed" .... "If Jesus saves, maybe I could get a loan" .... stuff like that. We hired him and wrote. We also played some live gigs, and even did a cover of Tools song "Prison Sex". The shows went great and we went into the studio.

- All I can say is, live, those songs killed. We were talked into recording alot of stuff on this new "DIGITAL" format. You have unlimited tracks, and you don't need to ride the faders during mix down.........they didn't tell us, it just sounds like shit. I'm an analog recording guy. You get much warmer sounds, and it doesn't sound so processed. We had already spent all the money the record company sent us, and had what we felt were good songs musically, instruments that were well played, but didn't jump off the tracks like we hoped. We released it, and crossed our fingers. You know the rest.

I still listen to CBU once in awhile. When I forget the problems, I can enjoy the guitar work.

By the way, our manager screwed up the deal with Fates Warning, and we never went to Europe..........Can't wait to see you in April. But it got me to play guitar for one of my favorite bands..... Exxplorer, and welcome back Lennie.

Fred

[Michael@SacredMetal]

Hey Fred!
Really cool to read about some of the secret details of Exxplorer's history.
See you in April to discuss some more...

Michael