Nick Menza documentary This Was My Life Screening dates announced

Everyone who was able to see drummer Nick Menza perform will remember his tight way of playing drums. He was one of those performers who knew how to put a spotlight on his drumming at the proper timing and to play the rhythm straight forward at other times.

A documentary has been put together that is described as a in-depth exploration of the life of Nick Menza, the former drummer of Megadeth, and one of the greatest thrash metal drummers of all time. It is a collection of stories from his childhood all the way through to the end of his life, recounted by those who knew him best. The documentary, authorized by the Menza family, will be the first to memorialize the drummer's legacy.

The poster for the Red Carpet premiere of "This Was My Life".

Two screening dates have been set up so far. The first one is going to happen on Thursday, April 10th at the Laemmle Royal theater in Los Angeles, CA. Located at 11523 Santa Monica Blvd. West L.A., CA 90025. Members of the cast and crew will be in attendance for a Q&A session after the screening of the film.  

Tickets for the screening are available at https://www.laemmle.com/film/was-my-life-nick-menzas-metal-memories-megadeth-and-beyond

The second one has been announced for Thursday, April 17th, at Hawthorne Theatre , located at 300 Lafayette Ave, Hawthorne, NJ 07506. Members of the cast and crew will be in attendance for a Q&A session after the screening of the film. 

Tickets for the event may be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/this-was-my-life-east-coast-premiere-hawthorne-theatre-tickets-1255857727269

Here is a trailer showing some scenes of the documentary.

Advance tape preview: Barbara Max - Goddess (Rock, 2024)

Female voices can add a lot to the music. It's different from what male voices add to the sound. I think there's more emotion and warmth but sometimes also harsh elements in them. A very good example for this came across my mind when I heard of Barbara Max.

Metal Underdogs listented to some of Barbara's new tracks.

The female singer worked together with legends like UFO and Nick Menza (Drummer of Megadeth in the 90s) for her new album "Goddess" which is going to present her vocal abilities on many levels in songs of various intensity and heavyness.

I've been given the honour to hear those new tunes in advance. It started with "All for the money" - the first single released already. It rocked me over and over. It's a soft riffing number walking slowly step by step. The first verse adds this special something I spoke of - the voice taking a center spot moving my feelings further with every note and passage. It builds up so much that you don't want it to end but surely it has to end also it feels infinite to me. Happily it never holds on to too many high notes so it has been well balanced.

The second tune "I'll wait" comes in a different style and character being a slow and intensive ballad from the start. Again the voice of Barbara Max set's my feelings in a moving direction. There are sections where the voice reaches it's climax but it stays in a  moderate way. The guitars follow the path showing a extensive performance towards the end. It feels like a track that could be a note to someone you love but cannot hold in your arms whatever the reason is. I'll wait comes with the late great Keith More on bass, Jacob Ziemba playing guitars and features Phil Martini on the drums - he is the signed drummer of Joe Elliots (Def Leppard) solo band.

Nick Menza joins Barbara with a drum roll in "Sweet Mystical Love". It's the song with the loudest setting comprised of harder vocals and the guitars not only showing a following but a rougher side with a extensive and heavier solo section something not to be heard of in the previous songs. Nick Menza performs on this track with drums taking a more backround role not showing too much of his harder performance talents he has become so well known for in the past but surely such drums wouldn't fit at all here.

The song also features Scott Warren keys (Dio ), Howie Gold Bass ( Alcatrazz) ( and Acoustic Guitar) and J.P. Cervoni ( Buddy Guy) Guitars

"Sweet Mystical Love" was also up for a King Arthur movie.

The final preview track "In our mystery" rocks things out and straight the heavier way. Recorded together with the guys in UFO (Clive Edward's showing his signature drum abilities, Laurence Archer on Guitars and Pete Way performing the bass guitars) 

It starts out a soft way before the rock mode kicks in directly. Set again in a heavier sound package the voice stays loud and clear all the time with a first passage that quickly sticks in my mind but the tune changes a lot during it's duration. 

It contains loud and high parts that are repeated several times with lot's of distorted guitars and finish into a solo performance without any instruments - something that is not like the many songs out there. 

All in all this preview shows many different sides of the voice of Barbara Max. With soft notes, balladesque material, directly rocking numbers and rough heavy songs it raised my attention upon what hopefully will be the "Goddess" album once it's out. One thing is certain: these recordings have made history in Rock music and will get a lot of attention of fans of the mentioned musicians. 

Surely a legend to be as she goes to the top of her field and that there is no doubt this incredibly talented artist and songwriter certainly deserves a major signing.

If you want to get in touch with Barbara Max or follow her further activities make sure to join her on Reverbnation or on her Instagram profile.

The release is slated for a release in Winter 2024 but we can skip the time until it's release with watching one of Barbara Max's videos right here.

Chris Poland to release new solo album in 2020

The music that Chris Poland put out while he was playing the guitar for thrashers Megadeth has become iconic. A little lesser known is that he released a solo album in the time after the departure.This text tells the story of that time. It is a long read but all worth it - it's sort of mini-biography and holds many details unknown to me so far.

The very end of the text reveals that a brand new solo record will see the light of day in 2020. Let's have our fingers crossed that everything will turn out well until then.

Says Poland, “I was out of Megadeth, and went through rehab and had gotten clean. I had no gear, and I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to ever play guitar again. Friends started bringing me gear; guitars, amps, pedals, telling me, “you have to play again.” So, I started playing. Andy Sommers, Megadeth’s agent, heard I was clean and doing well, and the Circle Jerks needed a bassist, so I toured with them for over a year, playing bass. And while I was doing that, I was in the back of a 16-passenger van, writing the songs that would become Return to Metalopolis.”

“I didn’t have a drummer, so I asked my brother Mark to play on it. I said, “We’re gonna make a record, and I need you to play drums.” He agreed, and we started doing demos. Janie Hoffman shopped it and we got a really good deal with Capitol Records, but shortly after we did the deal, for whatever reason, we get a call from the A&R guy who says they can’t do the deal on Capitol, but they offered me a deal on Enigma. So that’s where it came out.”

Poland continues, “I just feel like it’s timeless. I don’t listen to it and think that it’s some dated 80’s bullshit. It’s not like that for me. Of course, I’m super close to it, and I love it, but I really feel like it has held up well.”

The cover of Chris Poland's "Return To Metalopolis".

The Return to Metalopolis reissue will be released on November 22nd on double CD, and digital, and in December on limited edition double LP, and Cassette, remastered with bonus material, including live tracks that originally appeared on the out of print 2007 release Return to Metalopolis Live, plus 3 brand new tracks recorded in 2019, featuring the rhythm section of Carlos Cruz and Chase Bryant of Warbringer.

Pre-order now at the following location: http://empmerch.com/?submit=&s=chris+poland&post_type=product

Note of the author of the blog: The link seems to be down at the moment. Not sure what's happening there but no other link is available right now. As soon as I have more info I'll add it here.
Update 10/30/19: The page is back online again.

After over a decade with Metal on the backburner, despite guest appearances with Lamb of God, Tourniquet, Redemption, and more, with Poland focusing his energy on playing and recording with his Jazz fusion trio OHM, which also featured late former Megadeth drummer Nick Menza, and the Chris Poland Resistance, another fusion project being released by the eclectic Modern Jazz-centric Ropeadope Records, Poland has also announced work on the long-awaited follow up to METALOPOLIS, to be released in 2020 on COMBAT.

“I never really got away from Metal, I’ve always been a Rock guy. And even the stuff we do with Ohm is really heavy and dynamic. But when I started playing with Nick (Menza) he really put a fire under my ass to write new, heavy music. I was over at his house every night after work, my wife told me I was having a “bro-mance”, but I couldn’t stop writing songs. Nick and I had hooked up with James Lomenzo (ex-Megadeth, White Lion), and we were actually going to start a band together, which didn’t work out, but I had literally hours and hours of ideas for songs that me and Nick were going to do together when he passed away. Now I’m working on putting them all together for a new solo release that will also come out on Combat.”