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RELEASE DATE: NOV 10, 2023
LP ONLY 140g w/ full color lyric insert
LIMITED EDITION PRESSING OF 100 COPIES (ONLY 50 AVAILABLE)
NoLifeTilMetal Records is excited to bring you this 'brand new' but old recording from the remnants of Heathens Rage. As we stated, technically this is a completely brand new release, as these songs have never even been released before. You are in for a killer treat of classic rock and metal taking you back to the late 80's and early 90's! Here is the story as told by Rob Warner himself...
In August of 1988, Heathens Rage, the band I helped form in 1984, was running out of steam. This despite 1988 being the most successful year for the band where we played shows with new singer Gene Geary opening up for The Ramones, Glen Danzig, and Megadeth. From the outside looking in, it appeared we were going full steam ahead firing on all cylinders, but internally things were starting to get challenging. Even though frontman Gene had a great rock ‘n’ roll voice and swagger, some of the original Heathens Rage fans didn’t welcome him with open arms. His voice was nothing like original singer Bob Pisauro, and although there were some great new songs written with Gene, it was very different from the original Heathens Rage material. Fans didn’t know what to make of it. On top of that, Gene lived in Brooklyn, New York, so the band had to start rehearsing in Brooklyn or even in New York City sometimes, as well. That made things even more difficult, and it began to put a lot of strain on everyone.
Finally, after playing a few shows with the Ramones in the spring of 1988, I had pretty much made up my mind that I needed a change. We had been trying hard to get a record deal, and although we had some glimpses of hope, nothing panned out. Heavy rock and metal music kind of hit a wall in 1988, and things were kind of going nowhere. The labels only wanted hair metal and more commercial bands, and it was very frustrating. I had written several songs that I knew we could never play with Heathens Rage, and I knew I would have to record them on my own if I was going to do anything with them.
In the summer of 1988, I decided to leave Heathens Rage and went straight into the studio to record the very first few songs I had written. “Tears in the Night” and “Only for You” were the first two recordings, which were recorded in the early summer
of 1988 by John Bailey at S&S Studios in Hamilton, New Jersey. This was the same studio Heathens Rage did their very first recordings of “Power of the Sword” and covers of “Rod of Iron” by Lizzy Borden and “Detroit Rock City” by Kiss. I produced, with John Bailey, the Warner band recordings. John would also play keyboards, and Greg Howell, a high school buddy of mine who I had been in a band with as a young teenager, played the drums. I immediately did a pressing of these songs on cassette only to get the ball rolling. Heathens Rage’s manager John Burlaga stayed on board to help me push my Warner band and also to book shows and help with getting label interest.
However, the toughest thing was trying to find a really strong singer for my band, but no one I wanted was available. I didn’t want to wait to get the songs recorded, so I just sang them myself and had planned to secure a singer later. This never happened. But a month or so later, I went back to the studio to record the ballad “Another Night Alone” and a couple instrumental tracks. After this, I immediately put together a live band that included Rob Silvers on bass, Kenny Eldridge, a well-known guitarist from the area, drummer Paul Gurgarichm, and an incredibly talented keyboard player named Ed Piotrowski. Ed had a sound studio at his house in Hopewell, New Jersey, and that’s where we rehearsed the majority of the time. At other times we rehearsed at a place in Wall, New Jersey, the same place where Zakk Wylde was rehearsing with what would become Pride and Glory.
The Warner band went on to play lots of shows in the area and also did some more recordings with the newly formed band, but my untrained voice was struggling to keep pace with it all. Eventually, this is why things fell apart for the Warner band, and they faded away.
I put aside music for a couple of years fully pursuing my hunting passion, but I never stopped playing and writing music. Chris Tereszyn and Mike Lepond from Heathens Rage never stopped playing either. They were both in other bands who played all over the Tri-state area while I was on hiatus. I still talked to Bob Pisauro on occasion, and although he had a new baby and was busy being a dad and working, he still was writing lyrics. I had a bunch of song ideas that were just kind of hard rock songs, so I made tapes of guitar riffs, which I would give to Bob to put lyrics to. After a few weeks of this and repeated conversations with Chris and Bob on the phone, we decided to go into the studio together to record them. These songs were recorded in 1993 by John Swat at S&M Productions in Yardville, New Jersey, where TT Quick had just done some demos. We recorded an album’s worth of material, but nothing ever came of it. You are now hearing this music for the first time ever!
- Rob Warner
(Heathens Rage, Warner, After the Rage)
Warner 'Tears in the Night': https://youtu.be/0JILsUB5Y7I?si=wxKyUgGqkksuSyYR
After The Rage 'Gone South': https://youtu.be/Paq8R-hid4M?si=sHZzyj33jcp5Y_Pc
Track Listing
Warner (1988-1999)
1. Tears in the Night
2. Another Night Alone
3. Only For You
4. Falling
After The Rage (1993)
5. Open Your Heart
6. True Believer
7. Just a Lie
8. Heroes
9. Walk Away
10. Born to Rock 'n' Roll
11. Chains of Love
12. Guardian Angel
13. Gone South