All right, you sinners...SWING! If you read this blog with any regularity you should already know that I operate a modest little vinyl-only record label called Unseen Forces. Well, today I'm extremely pleased to announce the fifth release in our catalog...and what a fuckin' release it is! XINR (pronounced "ex-sinner") was a very unique heavy metal band hailing from Portland, Oregon circa 1984. The band's history is an epic tale full of tragedy and triumph, regret and reconciliation and the final chapter is as yet unwritten. All you need to know for today's purposes is that this LP is a true headbangin' classic! I realize a lot of message board lurkers toss around adjectives like "long lost", "obscure", "classic" and "cult" but I expect YOU to recognize the real deal when you hear it, brothers and sisters. Prepare to be beaten into submission by the absolutely unforgettable power of soon-to-be-favorites like Fight the Dragon, The Hills Have Eyes, The Ghostly Galleon, Fall to the Prey and Ever Present Angel! Shameless self-promotion? You bet your ass. Buy it now!
Here's me and drummer Paul Dreyer proudly displaying his original 'Trust Xinr' silkscreen and one of the few remaining shirts printed from that screen in 1985! It's humbling to have had some small role in exalting this powerful music to vinyl.
The band sees their record for the first time!
Roger DeCarlo, me and Paul Dreyer hug it out.
I like to think that if vocalist Tony Saiz was still with us he would be feeling like this right about now. Depending on who you ask, he just might be smiling over the proceedings from the misty hereafter. In any case, come out to the official record release party on Saturday September 15th at Portland's East End and meet surviving members Roger DeCarlo, Paul Dreyer and Kenny Stocks. The guys will talk about the band's history and the roots of heavy metal in Portland before we blast through the entire record. Afterwards DANAVA will rip a goddamn strip in honor of XINR!
Bangers take your stand!
1 comments:
Loads of memories come back upon seeing these images; the first time I met Shaun, in Gordon Weaver's house in eastern Oregon, August of 1980; the house we shared with Drummer, Paul Dreyer and Roger DeCarlo, on 23rd and Hawthorne, in Portland, and the basement the band was born in; Paul making the logo...so many things rush back.
I was the teenage lyricist of XINR. When Shaun wrote a song -I usually wrote the lyrics.
That was a lifetime ago yet I still remember that rainy November night when we lost Tony and Shaun while they were on their way to Dean Cole's studio. A car pulled out from a side street and hit Shaun's motorcycle. I'll never forget it. I visited Shaun's grave monthly afterwards for over 20 years. He was my first love. But he was far, far more than that: He was my first gateway that led me to artistic empowerment.
XINR via Shaun Tramel provided me with my very first platform I ever had which set me on the road to becoming a career writer. Ghostly Galleon....Hills Have Eyes, etc.
I've since written 1000s of articles, appeared in films, been a magazine editor (twice), a reporter, a photo journalist and I have written concepts and screenplays, of which one is in production at present. As a shy, self-conscious 16-year old I would most likely have not found my voice as a writer had not Shaun Tramel encouraged me as passionately as he did by trusting me to write lyrics. He even taught me to play guitar and, 30 years later I still play.
It all goes to show you how music and it's many applications often acts as a springboard for so many things...and so do people. In the mere 3 and half years I knew him he became my greatest teacher, my biggest inspiration. He changed my life and he freed me from all restrictions I has as an artist just from the small fact that he believed in me and what I could accomplish and constantly empowered me.
Thank you, Shaun, for everything you gave me, taught me, both in your presence and with your absence. I have never forgotten you. I never will.
You left an influence on me that can never be removed.
-"Cathie"
*email reply to: cdespira@gmail.com
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