METAL FOR TONY LORENZO

In early 2011 things were looking up for Glorious Times so I decided to try to organize a fest. I approached Kam Lee and asked him if he'd be up for performing Massacre's "From Beyond" album in its entirety as a one-off special event for death metal fans here in Buffalo. Kam was hesitant but agreed to it, so my next task was to find him a backing band. My thought was to use a local band so I turned to Seplophile, a band compromised of guys who had previously been in bands that had toured. Like Kam, Seplophile was up to the task. Very early on Greg DiPasquale (guitar) contacted me to let me know that their other guitarist (Matt Backlas) would be unable to do the show because of a wedding in his family, but Greg told me not to worry because their friend Tony (Lorenzo) would fill in.

  Tony Lorenzo at A Day of Death

Months passed by and finally the day arrived. A Day of Death, July 16, 2011, the day for Kam Lee's performance. Each band of the fest played and each band played to perfection. As the time neared for Kam's set I grew a little worried on how the backing band would perform...would they live up to the day?  I had seen them in rehearsals with Kam on July 13 and 14 so I knew they had the songs down perfectly, but wasn't sure how they would fare on a large stage.

Tony Lorenzo and Kam Lee at A Day of Death

The lights dim and the intro plays for several minutes, then the band takes their positions on the stage. Allen Malkiewicz (drums) hits a 4 count on the ride and the opening riffs to "Dawn of Eternity" start, the lights come up and almost immediately I knew I had selected the correct band to back Kam. Greg and Shawn (Gomez, bass) commanded their sections of the stage like seasoned pro's but I was even more impressed by Tony.  Tony was banging his head and running all around the stage putting on a show for the ages, showing the younger bands in the crowd that just because you're playing death metal doesn't mean you have to stand like a statue. With people from all over as witness the band and more especially Tony made me proud, they made Buffalo proud.

Shawn, Allen, Greg, Kam and Tony after A Day of Death

Fresh from his performance at A Day of Death Tony had renewed interest in playing death/grind and looked to form a band. It wouldn't take Tony long to form Ritual Quarantine with Derrick Sadkowski, Britt Wagner, Jessika Marvin and Doug Luke. Soon the band had a Facebook page and 4 tracks up for our listening pleasure. The four tracks just made me want more and want to see them live, which they had not yet done. Finally, on Sept 24. Ritual Quarantine made their debut at the Funeral Home in Buffalo. They did not disappoint, it took them a mere 3 songs before I knew I had heard my new favorite Buffalo band. 

Tony at Ritual Quarantine's debut gig

A month later disaster would strike. On Oct. 26 Tony was out walking with a friend when some coward came up behind them and shot Tony in the back. The bullet was lodged in his spine. For many of us older folk that are into death metal it was a story eerily similar to when we heard about 20 years earlier when Jeff Becerra (Possessed) was mugged and shot in the back. Word spread quickly throughout the Buffalo scene and then around the metal world about what had happened to Tony. Almost immediately I began planning a benefit concert.....a truly great benefit concert for the guitarist that brought back my feeling of pride in Buffalo bands.

tony interviewed after the shooting

Local bands immediately started contacting me and offering their help and services. I thought to make the benefit special and to draw the most people we would need a national head liner so I started asking around. Several potentially head liners were asked but each couldn't do it for various reasons so at that point I settled on just using local bands. On a whim I decided to take a stab at a long shot and sent a message to Alex Webster asking him if there is any way he would come up for a Beyond Death reunion - Tony is Frank from Beyond Death's nephew. Alex was completely open to the idea but only if the other 3 would also do it. So, next I asked Frank Lombardi (guitar/vox) and he was up for it as well. Next up was Darrin Pfeiffer (drums). It took Darrin about 1 min to respond to my message with "I'm 10,000% in".  It was looking like a reunion could take place. All that remained was Jack Owen. I send Jack an email, not even knowing if the email address was still active so I wasn't sure if I'd even get any response. In short time I got a response from Jack and it was a go. On January 7, 2012 the original line up of Beyond Death would perform for the first time since Dec of 1988. Now, we had a head liner for the benefit. 

Beyond Death 1988

(L-R): Jack Owen, Alex Webster, Darrin Pfeiffer and Frank Lombardi

Dennis John Glinski (Grave Descent) was set to perform with special guests a one-off performance by his old band Mayhemesis. Dennis John realised there was a brief window of opportunity for something special to happen and that it was for a great and noble cause so he set about calling another old friend to perhaps bring another old Buffalo band to life one last time. A few phone calls and emails were exchanged and then I got the message. "well, it's official.... TIRANT SIN!" Another of Buffalo's old school would be back to show Tony support. This time it wouldn't be a full fledged reunion, but still would be something quite special. Tirant Sin 2012 would be Dennis John Glinski, Rich Ziegler and Paul Mazurkiewicz from the classic 1987 line up joined by Rob Barrett (Dark Deception) and Jim Nickles (Leviathan, Malevolent Creation) on guitar.

Tirant Sin live 1987

Thus, Day 1 (Jan. 7, 2012) of the benefit for Tony was set - Beyond Death, Tirant Sin, Avulsion, Abdicate, Demented Dream States and Seplophile. A show for the ages, a likely last chance to see Tirant Sin and to see the original line up of Beyond Death. Day 2 (Jan. 8, 2012) of the benefit for Tony was also set with Long Island legends Suffocation headlining a show with guests Embalmer, Seplophile and Cain. Both events will be held at Club Infinity, 8166 Main St., Williamsville, NY. Raffles and auctions of donated items from bands/companies from around the world will also be held at both shows. Day 1 is $15, Day 2 is $15 (advance), $20 (day of show). Tickets can be purchased through Glorious Times (paypal to glorioustimesdeathbook@gmail.com), www.ticketweb.com, at the Club Infinity box office, Spiral Scratch Records in Buffalo and through any of the performing bands. 

Donations to aid Tony can be made via paypal to helpingtony@gmail.com all monies will go directly to Tony and his family.

Don't miss out on this historic event and much more importantly come and show your support for a talent guitarist and our metal brother in his time of need.

Download the special radio public service announcement mp3 made by Brutal Existence Radio's Metal Mark (host of Audio Aggression/MMV) right here:



 METAL FOR TONY LORENZO BENEFIT WEEKEND PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT MP3 - PLEASE DOWNLOAD AND SPREAD

GLORIOUS TIMES PRESENTS: SUFFOCATION

Suffocation at A Day of Death 1990 (photo - Ed Farshtey)

The death metal scene had continually grown in numbers during the 1980's.  Florida had become known as the death metal capital by 1989, but those of us in the northeast knew the scene in NY State was just as strong if not stronger. New York had acts like Cannibal Corpse, Baphomet, Immolation, Mortician, Apparition (who would later become Sorrow) and many more. While the scene in Florida was really limited to Florida, the scene in NY reached beyond the boundaries of the state. In the northeast there were strong connections between bands and 'zine editors from Buffalo to Pittsburgh to NYC to NJ to Philadelphia.  It was not uncommon for a band in the northeast to release a demo in their home city and have it spread throughout the northeast in mere days....and remember this was the time before downloads, before the internet, when word of mouth and personal communication ruled the scene.

Suffocation at A Day of Death 1990 (photo - Ed Farshtey)

In 1990, Sean Panek (Psychoslaughter 'zine from Pittsburgh) was touting a new demo by a band from Long Island that he was sending me. The band played this fast technical style of death metal and the vocalist had a slightly unique sound which was catching the ear of many 'zine editors. The demo was "Reincremation" by Long Island's Suffocation. Suffocation's popularity quickly spread beyond the northeast as the 'zine editors and tape traders of the northeast pushed the demo on our fellow underground fanatics throughout the world much the same way that a label A&R rep would push a newly signed band.

Goreaphobia at A Day of Death Oct 20 1990 (photo - Ed Farshtey)

The peak of the early death metal scene can be pinpointed to an exact date, location and event. Oct. 20, 1990 The Skyroom in Buffalo, NY and the event was A Day of Death. The event had a couple of bigger bands - Autopsy, Repulsion and Disharmonic Orchestra, but largely it consisted of demo or newly signed bands - Cannibal Corpse, Baphomet, Immolation, Mortician, Lucifer's Hammer, Radiation Sickness, Deceased, Incantation (who were scheduled to appear, but made a surprise appearance), Suffocation and Goreaphobia. People from as far away as France and Australia made it to Buffalo for the show...again, remember this is pre-internet so word of the show was spread by flyers and word of mouth alone. A Day of Death was a huge success and in the eyes of many still stands as the benchmark to which all other fests are compared.

Goreaphobia at A Day of Death 1990 (photo - Ed Farshtey)

The strong connections in the northeast led to strong friendships and it was inevitable that bands, 'zine editors and promoters from various regions would begin to work together. Brian Pattison (Chainsaw Abortions 'zine from Buffalo) and Ed Farshtey (Book of Armageddon 'zine from NYC) began to plan a show together shortly after A Day of Death. Both of us being big supporters of the underground scene it was a no brainer for us to want completely underground bands. Our proposed lineup came together fairly quickly as we both liked many of the same bands....Deceased, Abominog, Suffocation, Maelstrom, Nokturnel, Beyond Death, Morpheus (who would later become Morpheus Descends), Goreaphobia and Apparition (who by the time of the show had signed to Roadrunner Records and changed their name to Sorrow). The date was Sunday December 16, 1990.

 
It is now 21 years later and almost to the day it is with pleasure that Glorious Times (in association with Club Infinity) is able to bring both Suffocation and Goreaphobia back to Buffalo on Sunday December 18, 2011. It is surreal to look back and know that these 2 bands that we booked on the strengths of their demo's in 1990 have continued on and become legends, titans within the death metal scene.

If you're in the northeast this December be sure to make your way to Club Infinity on December 18 to witness what will surely be an unforgettable show by two old school stalwarts.

GIG UPDATE

The show has been moved to January 8th 2012, and EMBALMER takes the place of GOREAPHOBIA.

GOREAPHOBIA will still be playing the original December 18th date, but the full band line up is TBA.

HERE'S THE NEW FLYER:

A DAY OF DEATH

October 20, 1990, the (Country Club) Skyroom in Buffalo, NY...if you were there you will never forget it, if you weren't there you wish you were. The pinnacle of the early death metal scene, the moment just before the majors noticed death metal and screwed up a good thing. A lineup of bands still unsurpassed some 20 years later - Radiation Sickness, Lucifer's Hammer, Deceased, Suffocation, Goreaphobia, Incantation, Mortician, Disharmonic Orchestra, Cannibal Corpse, Immolation, Baphomet, Repulsion and Autopsy. Two decades later A Day of Death is still talked about in international circles, and not just by those who were there, it has become the thing of legend to the newer death metal fans who were too young to have been there. The flyer for the show even makes its presence today in "Choosing Death" by Albert Mudrian.

Suffocation at A Day of Death, Photo : Brian Pattison

It started with rather humble beginnings. In early 1990 Joe Pristach (Mosh Central 'zine) and Brian Pattison (Chainsaw Abortions 'zine) began talking about possibly promoting a show of up and coming bands we knew. It was a long time ago so we can't recall if this was before or after the Michigan Death Fest was announced, but we make no claims to being the first death fest. We thought it would be great to put on a show with these demo bands who were friends of ours - Mortician, Deceased, Immolation, this new band from Long Island named Suffocation, Goreaphobia and a few locals. Somehow the manager at the Skyroom caught wind of it and decided they would jump on that, they decided to line up the bands and just use Brian and Joe as promoters.

Deceased at the Michigan Death Fest (Aug. 11, 1990)

Photo: Brian Pattison

The Michigan Death Fest was fast approaching and within a week of it Exmortis cancelled and Baphomet from Buffalo was added to the bill. At the time Brian Pattison was really good friends with Baphomet and they asked him to tag along. They got there, go past the Jesus Freaks picketing the show and begin handing out flyers for A Day of Death. This would be where Brian first met King of Deceased. Handing out flyers and this guy comes up to Brian and says "hey is this you?" and points to Chainsaw Abortions at the top of the flyer for A Day of Death. Then he says who he is and that Deceased is listed on there but no one even asked them if they wanted to play it. Brian started to explain how the club had taken over control of the show from him and Joe, when King interrupts and says no big deal they'd love to play it. It was also around the time of the Michigan Death Fest (Aug. of 1990) that Repulsion reformed, they were quickly added to A Day of Death's already amazing lineup.

Disharmonic Orchestra at A Day of Death

Photo: Brian Pattison

In September of 1990, Disharmonic Orchestra made the trip from Austria over to the United States for a short tour. One of those shows was to be played at the "Rotting Grandma Ampitheatre" in Belle Vernon, Pa. Brian made the roughly 4 hour trek with some friends from Buffalo to see the show. Turned out to be a rain filled day so instead of playing on a stage in the backyard as planned, Disharmonic Orchestra ended up playing in the basement (recorded on Don Crotsley's radio and Brian Pattison's cassette tape). Once back in Buffalo Brian talked to the guys in Baphomet and told them they had to get the club to add Disharmonic to A Day of Death. So, the 12th band was added.

Sharon Bascovsky (Derketa), Brian Werking (Exmortis), Jeff Walker (Carcass)

and Mary Bielich (Derketa) at A Day of Death.

Photo courtesy of Sharon Bascovsky

The day finally arrived and was as much about the people in attendance as it was the bands on stage. It was a rare opportunity for many of us to meet others from various parts of the country, even from other countries. It was great just to walk through the crowd and talk to people like Sharon (Derketa) and Sam (Hideous Mangleus) who made the journey from Pittsburgh, talk to Jeff McClelland (Death Vomit 'zine) from Virginia, see Jeff Walker (Carcass) walking about in the crowd, to see and talk to Ed Farshtey (Book of Armageddon 'zine) and the NYC contingent, to see Domino Minchelle who came all the way from France for the show. Of course, the key one, the impetus for the book, the reason you're reading this now...the day when Alan Moses and Brian Pattison would finally meet. Between, and even during bands, if you were to meander over to the merch tables you would see one guy standing about 15' away just watching and enjoying the activities; that guy was none other than Chris Reifert. Looking out into the crowd and seeing 600+ death metal heads from all over converging in Buffalo was a truly glorious sight. There was a feeling in the air that this was something special, that we were all witnessing history. An unforgettable day for death metal and for Buffalo.

Repulsion at  A Day of Death

Photo: Brian Pattison

This wasn't a fest like the ones of today where you have 90 bands and all but 3-5 are mediocre, this was 13 of the best bands of the times. Each band came on, played their 30 -35 min set and raged. Every band was made of fans too, so before and after their sets they could be seen walking amongst the crowd or by the stage enjoying the other bands...that is unless (like King of Deceased) you got kicked out for sneaking your own booze into the club. Early on things were going really smooth and everything was right on schedule. Then came Goreaphobia, at the time they only had a handful of songs so they went through their quick set, then just a couple of minute break and out came Incantation, not even scheduled to play, just another bonus for all in attendance. The sound guy did not realize Incantation was not the next band scheduled (remember, the Skyroom was a country bar) and so began the lengthening of the day. Thinking Incantation was the next band scheduled and that things were apparently running well ahead of schedule he began to lengthen the times between bands.

Autopsy at  A Day of Death

Photo: Brian Pattison

All the added times between bands led to it now being beyond midnight and Autopsy had yet to play. Many of us had been in the club since 3 o'clock or even earlier. You could see the half-conscious look in everyones eyes during the break after Repulsion. The edges of the stage and all areas in back were filled with the bands from the day. As Autopsy took the stage everyone seemed to get their second wind to pay respect to the masters. From his vantage point on stage right Brian was able to take some great up close shots of Reifert. Brian was also able to look across stage and see his friend Alan Moses taking pics and enjoying the show from stage left. 20 years later digging through boxes Brian would find some of the pics he took that night and found that he had captured Alan in a few of them. Likewise, Alan had captured Brian in a few of the pics he took. We had even captured each other in pics we took at the same exact moment. It would be those pics that would start us on discussions and then the journey to making and releasing "Glorious Times".

Autopsy at  A Day of Death

(standing up across the stage is Alan Moses)

Photo: Brian Pattison

Autopsy at  A Day of Death, standing up across the stage

(black shirt, white writing) is Brian Pattison

Photo: Alan Moses

CRACKING THE LID OFF THE COFFIN ~ AGAIN!

Fans of death metal, and extreme music in general, are known far and wide to be tremendous gluttons for punishment. So this time we've enlisted some help from ex-Decaying Visions video zine co-creator John Verica, who has contributed something very special as we approach A Day of Death's 20 year anniversary on October 20 2010.

In customary Glorious Times style we've tapestried selected tracks provided by John, into another of our DIY CDR download packages - everything you need to construct your own title! Inserts, tray layout and both flac and mp3 versions to give you a representation of what the night was like: a peek into the sheer glory of it all.

Pure live audio and more unseen photos, plus special sentiment, await you on this unique celebratory project featuring selected tracks by a number of the bands who took part in this colossus of an event.

A DAY OF DEATH - OCT 20 1990 GTCDR005 (MP3)

A DAY OF DEATH - OCT 20 1990 GTCDR005 (FLAC PART 1)

A DAY OF DEATH - OCT 20 1990 GTCDR005 (FLAC PART 2)

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? DOWNLOAD OR DIE!