Up From The Ashes And Other Stuff

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Occasionally Josh has sent me information, site updates, etc. that don't quite fit into the catagorized pages that I created for this site.  So, this Up From The Ashes And Other Stuff page has been made just for those types of updates.  Here you will find extra info that Josh has sent to me for all to read.  The title of this page may change in the future.

Up From The Ashes

Journal recap by Josh Kramer of Saint

Click on thumbnail pictures below for a full-sized picture. (yes, some of them are bigger than other pics, hopefully I'll get all of them the same size soon).

      

      

      

  

Well, another show is under our belts and looking back on the event gives me a great feeling reconnecting with old friends and making new ones, being used by the Lord to love on people in Christ and receive their love as well.  Larry, Dee, Rich and I flew in to L.A.X. and were met by Bill Bafford and his lovely fiancée Carrie. We were escorted through the labyrinth of freeways and streets to the auditorium of a medium sized church, which seated roughly 100 folks comfortably.  We had the luxury to practice and sound check that night and then head for the hotel at midnight’ish.  Falling asleep that night was not difficult.

The next morning, I awoke at around 6’ish am with the sun blaring in my eyes from an eastern facing window that had minimal shading. Egads!  It was great seeing my dear friends from Sanctuary days like Larry Farkas of Once Dead, (The legendary guitarist of Vengeance, Vengeance Rising and Die Happy) sorry no pics…AAAAUGH!!!   I missed them, Demize and Tykkus’ show because I was having software issues with my external dvd burner so to make the Saint Bio DVD and left the software disc at home…AAAAUGH! Time to get a Mac!  I ended up making the Bio a 2 disc, cd set instead.  My friend from Sanctuary South Bay days, Howard Thorne was there. Howard was one of the guys who made sure I got out of the water alive when I body surfed the monster 9’ to 14’ waves in 1989 off the Redondo Pier. (Don’t try this at home!)   Robby Bronze, formerly of Holy Soldier, (wasn’t at the show) was the other bro at the next day’s surf to make sure I got out of the water alive. Mike Lowery, who did live shows with us on drums in the 80’s and his gorgeous girlfriend were there. My brothers and friends from Tykkus and Ultimatum were there.  Robert Gutierrez (guitarist of Ultimatum) joined forces with us to pummel the gates of darkness and ROCK the house as our rhythm guitarist and honored guest.  He is an excellent musician-artist extraordinaire!  I had the chance to get some great pics of the trip and the shows.

The cymbal stand collapsed on Larry’s drums and was a bit of a derailment but Larry kept his utmost composure and continued to pulverize the drum set with his bombastic monster energy.  I only stepped on Dees Effects pedal once this time.  I did manage to unplug Rich with my gunboat Biker boots.  Ooopsy!  Sorry Rich! I got to use my Shure wireless mic for the first time and wandered around the auditorium during the show.  Totally fun!  I borrowed Brother Tiny’s hat during one song. Tiny is a 200 lb Giant Bubba fan in the audience.  I politely returned it in the next song.  He just sat there and smiled the whole time.  

      
      
 The festival was competing with the Colorado River, various lakes and getaway resorts, sporting events and other major activities on this hot Labor day weekend so our turnout was small in numbers, 135’ish but mighty in spirit.  In my heart’s-minds eye I saw 10,000 Angels rejoicing over the 1 lost soul that might have been changed forever towards our Heavenly home by this event.  This precious handful of dedicated Metal Heads reminded me of German Goths (Germanic Metaloids) got their very own private concert with some of the heaviest Christian Metal bands around like “Once Dead, Tykkus, Deliverance, Demize, Ultimatum, Stricken, Blissed and us. My favorite moment was singing “Gloom, Despair and agony on me” With my fellow Redneck Hillbilly brother and friend, Randy Michaud of Tykkus before our encore. In the audience was a list of notable folks like Bill Menchen from Final Axe, Daryn Hinton, Stryper’s mgr.  Nigel Skeet, the famed photographer who filmed Motley Crew, Stryper, Van Halen and many others were there. Everyone performed like there were 100,000 people out there.  I was so impressed with the professionalism and good hearts of all of these Righteous rocking musician artists.  I’m sorry for missing some of the earlier bands due to software issues I was having with my laptop but did manage to get to the auditorium early enough to listen to and get the pics of some of the bands shown below.
      
     
   
     

Rich, you’re looking a little uneasy about this flight.  Dee’s first time in a plane looking a little uneasy too.  Larry showing me his dream car and then says  “Smile for the camera and say cheese Rich, Josh!” as he takes our picture.

   
I want to personally thank Pastor Pete Scott, Pastor Sam, and Pastor Chris for opening up their house of the Lord for us to do what we love to do. They spoiled us all, audience included.  They needed a wheelbarrow to roll folks back to their cars from all of the food and beverages that were there.  God bless the faithful servants and unsung heroes of Christ that cleaned up everyone’s mess during and afterwards.
   

Liberty and Justice - Soundtrack of A Soul 

Play by play Review The Saga Continues (So far, as time permits) by Josh Kramer of Saint  Eh, eh! I ain’t skipping over any tunes man!  Every song gets fair play and review.

Track 1.   Uh….Ok……………..Prayer is good!

Song 2.   Kings of Hollywood….Woah. Ez, Great job!  Rip my face to shreds metal. I love it! 10 head butts out of 10 head butts. Or should it be, 10 Butt Heads out of 10 Butt Heads, including Bevis. Full on mopping the floor with this  one!  All day man! I’m telling you it freeking rolls around in my head all day unless I put on the psycho babble radio station. God forbid!  I stick my finger down my throat at Badly made never ending car commercials and insulting      Credit repair commercials!  Ugh!  SUCK! Worst readers ever! Oh yeah, back to your tune, Great song! Great delivery. I’m freeking jealous that you got the heaviest hitting, bash my face in, lip ripping song on the album. I want to sing this one in our up coming show in LA Labor Day Week end.  (won’t happen but one can dream.)  This is my kind of Metal!  Great job Ez. Nice writing guys! Of course the rhythm section was smashing.

Song 3.   Another Nail,  Wicked!!!!! Ditto! Repeat of every thing I aid about kings of Hollywood.  For some weird reason, every time I see a cup of coffee I hear this song in my mind. Another nail in my coffee? Beautiful liquid solo’s , (no pun intended)  dreamy, great song, great delivery, Nice!!!  OOH YEAH! Sebastian Dude, you Rock! You’ve got the magic!

Song 4.   State of grace; Wonderful! Crystal clear vocal prowess of this great-great singer. Great song! Solo; speechless!  I….have …no human words to describe this magnificent song and the great delivery.

Song 5.  Malace in Wonderland.   Dreamy, Nice, Perfect song to dance with your wife /  girlfriend to.   This song gave me chill bumps the size of black berry vines. (visualize that!)

Song 6   Grenade;  Wake me up, snap me out of it. ! Jump back, kick me in the face! Very heavy!  Nice job Thompson bro’s! This is bust yer chops, Pin me to the floor and give me a 10 count, Larry-Larry’s, Nuggie-Nuggie’s-torture metal! I love it! Woah. Dudes. Solo; Fuzz Face Hendrix tone, Once again, I’m speechless. Nice job guys! The fans are bugging me to have us tour together.  I’m for it.  Bring it on man.  Let’s go toe to toe again. I’m ready.  While at the gym with my headphones on, this song inspired me to bench 180 lbs, 7 reps and 480 lbs on  leg press at 10 reps. I know this is chump weight for you bro but I’m inspired now!  Let’s go Metal Gladiators! It’s been 20+ years since we played Fontana California together. We both blew the walls out of that place that night.  Remember that show? I do too. Let’s do it again some time.

Song 7.  Show me the way. Xlnt!  Awesome!  Great stuff!  Very nice! It Rolls around in my head nicely often. The chorus grabs me and is very convincing! Awesome vocs!!  Once again, no Earthly words  can describe.

Song 8.  Sight unseen. Nice! Aggressive! Ahhhhh!  A great singer! Nice harmonies. Great Delivery! Rocks! Nice guitar chord climbs.  Jazz Drummer Full on Melodic Metal.  This one rolls around in my head all day. Come to think of it, all these songs do. 

Song 8. Sight Unseen, continued ; Smooth! Crystal clear Vocals, Rhythm section is totally in the zone!!! Hypnotic………………….woah!  Anthemic! I can see the Bic lighters are waving to this one! 

Song 9. Up that hill; Dreamy groove. This is another dance friendly tune.  I love to dance!  (“Dance with me”, Chicago) Justin man, how do you do it?  This was an opportunity to express myself in a masterfully written ballad. What an honor it is to be on an incredible album like this and sing next to these amazing artists on a project of this magnitude. Saint fans are totally digging it as I am! I’ll post the reviews ASAP.   

Song 10. Surreal; My favorite track of all time. I can’t stop laughing.  Mercy!  I can’t breathe!  Side ache!  Ow! Gasp! Ok, I’m fine now. That intro kills me every time! If my hair were 2 feet long again I can see me mopping the floor with it. Full on Gothic Melodic Metal.  I’m freeking jealous Scott! You got the best tune on this album.  My vote best song. Ah!  Nice! This song ping pongs around in my head more than the songs I am supposed to be practicing for the up-coming concert in L.A. on labor day weekend.   “Because of Jesus, Aowwwwww!   You go Boy! Ok, This is a plot right?  Distract me with these amazing songs so that I’ll forget the words to Space Cruiser or Phantom of The Galaxy!  It’s a conspiracy I tell you! A plot! ;) To my fellow painter man, Lead screamer, and friend, You Rock  Scott!! Great job bro! Gotta go.  More next time but a quick recap, Mikey Lee / Drive’s  tune rolls  around in my mind a lot and I waited to hear his classic screams but, alas, no screams.  Sigh.  Great song though.  I need to hear the album at least 15 more times to make a thorough conclusion.  I have all of the songs memorized…..AAAAAHHHHHH!!  TOO MUCH INFORMATION OVERLOAD!  Ping. Bleep, bleep, bleep, program is not responding. Tilt!  Sizzle.  Crackle. @%* # Pzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt.  Bzzzt…bzzt… blink. .  blue screen.  Hard drive now crashing…..hjk

That was before I got my Mac!  Liberty And Justice-Soundtrack of a soul Play by play Review (So far as time permits) by Josh Kramer of Saint The Saga Continues…  7-30-06  Upgraded updated and fibulated to Macintosh 9.5,  …what do you mean there’s no 9.5? I got one now! 7-31-06

Song 11;  Flinch;   Ohh!  Nice.  Whoa.  Wait, I need to replay it.  Wow! What was that?  In the speakers! Bizzar! How’d you do that? Aggressive Vocs! Very versatile. Great singing! The drums and bass are full on in the pocket in all these songs. Great job! Rip my face to shreds metal! Full on mopping the floor with 2 feet long hair!!!  …and that’s just my armpits!   Not Afraid anymore!!! I applaud you standing ovation!

Song 12;  Thy Will be Done; Whoa, Am I seeing things? I want to hear that guitar part again, wait.   Ahhhh.  The combination of amazing singing with expertly played instruments is timeless.  Smooth! Great chorus!  “Round and round!!!”  Yeah!  Xlnt emoting.  Solo…….Outro… I Can’t speak again.  Breathe Joshy, Breathe! Ok, I’m fine now.  My new favorite flavor of the day! I gotta hear that solo again.   One more time…ok last time. Now go on with the song.  The ending is epic and catches my breath. This one rolls around in my brain way too many times in a day.  I’m supposed to be practicing you know! It’s a way nice reprieve form practice though.

Song 13   Killer Grin;  Ok, Joshy, quit staring at the speakers. Wait!  There he is again!! Oh my Gosh! Stephen Percy just popped out of my speaker! Woah Justin, How did you do that??  Weird!  Wait, song’s over. Play is again.  One more time. Whoa.  Once more. Yep! Every time I play it, there he is. Amazing!  Holographic imaging through my speakers.  Great idea dude!  Dang, it’s already into the next tune.  Rewind.  This one really grows on me.  I love it! Gnarly dude. There he is again.  This one gets 10 out of 10 head butts! 

Song 14   If the world could be mine; I’m mesmerized. Rewind. I love keyboards in the appropriate places. This song is a 10 out of 10 lighter waver anthemic huge power ballad freeking bob for apples song dude! Expertly and masterfully written, performed and sung.   No!!!!!!! It can’t be over! Rewind! Hit loop mode for a half hour. This song totally cradles the listener, IE, Me. Unbelievable singing. Berry vine chill bump factor is totally in the zone. I love the Gothic tribal jungle drum thingy like African / ancient Asian war drums. Oh Gosh…Violins….full on chill bump factor (CBF) is 10 HPI (Hairs per inch) out of 10 HPI. Wow man I’m chillin so hard on this song there are ice sickles on me and it’s 85 degrees outside!

Song 15 Always Tomorrow;  “Speak in circles” This song is full of super deep and powerful lyrics with a voice to deliver exactly what these great words are saying.  Nice groove! All this stuff is very dance friendly. Great performance!

Song 16 Hope and pray;  Wild!  Great story! Kicks into gear. Great harmonies / Vocs! This song has like, 3 or 4 different songs in it man! Cool! Timeless Chorus. Whoa, it jumps into a country groove, now it’s like, uh…very progressive and powerful chorus. Ending…gasp…….blink, blink. Jump start my brain. Loop mode.

Song 17 Make believe. Mikey’s Tune.  Dude, you’ll always be Mike Lee to me man.  This song gets 200 replay’s out of 200 replay’s in my brain as it ping pongs around in there all freeking day.  It’s a conspiracy I tell you!  Delightfully distracting me from my concert songs that I’m supposed to be practicing. Ok, focus Josh. Focus man! Get a grip Josh dude!  Great song Mike but I was sitting on the edge  of my chair waiting to hear those screams that we all have grown to know and love. Your Classic vibrato operatic face ripping power was so close to being there. Justin, Did you tell Mike to sing with held back-straight tones through out and not do classic Mike Lee screams? If so, he did a fine job at it but we all want to hear him sound like Mike Lee of Barren Cross. You know, like himself. ;)  I love the song and I hear it in my head way more than I should throughout the day.  Over all, the project is monumental.  Thank you Justin for allowing me this pleasure to be on this great album.  Everyone was outstanding and I am not just blowing sunshine up every one’s solar powered refraction spindulating hoobin-hobber. I really mean it. Let everyone else tell you it was great.  I’ll tell you that my face and heart is ripped to shreds after hearing this… this…uh, musical project thingy of yours.   Dude, are we ever going to actually do these tunes live with all the featured artists?   Shhhhhhhhh!   Don’t tell me. I want it to be a surprise.  K? ;)  thanx bro.  Blessings to everyone on this album, everyone who propels it towards the goal and blessings especially to you and your house, Laturz, Your friend and fan, Josh…hjk  P.S. Thank you Mrs. Murr for putting up with all of us all throughout the process.  What a trouper!  We all owe you dearly.  P.S, P.S. I finished this review at 3:16 pm Sunday 7-30-06 and did some finishing touches 7-31-06. It’s weird how God does things like that, ya know? John 3:16 comes to mind.

To get a copy of this great album, go to,  http://www.saint777.net I would be happy to sign it if mailed to  Josh Kamer of Saint PO 1111 Salem, OR 97308

Ultimatum review, puppet of destruction.  8-8-06 by Josh Kramer of Saint

Very punchy opening.  Aggressive vocals grab me and head but me to the mat. Ripping solos.   You go boy! Great shredding eyeball blinking gnat note filled delight. Heavy and Gothic.  Moves well. Tight ending. Next tune. I love Scotts Voice. Finger in the light socket attack tones.  The Album inside pics kill me.  X-rays of the guys faces.  Hilarious!  The metal heads at work love this album.  Full on loop mode while I am 40 feet in the air.  Tight time changes.  Clean guitar breaks without much compression.  Lot’s of intelligent skill.   Great album.   This one gets 10 head butts out of 10 head butts.  Full on apple bobbing going on here.  Nice. Very heavy.  I could easily mop the floor with 2 foot long hair to this great album and that’s just my arm pitts.  I love feed back.   What song is this?  I don’t care.  Ooh!  Grungy!  Nice. Great backing grunts. Gothic metal heads in Europe would love this stuff. Ok I’m at song 5.   Great solo!  Excellent resolutions.  Song after song pummels and pounds me with metal so well done the chill bump level is well into the Black Berry vine zone.  YEAH!  Solos shred me to dust.  Great job guys.  Standing ovation!  God’s many blessings be yours.  Josh Kramer …hjk

Mortification Review;  Erasing The Goblin.

Song 1….Whoa…..wait, catch my breath.   Ok, I’m fine now.   Whoa….unbelievable!   Gasp…  Dang!   Solo’s done. Wait, what was that? Rewind.   5 more times.   Ahh!  Bass kicks in.   Can’t understand all the words but that’s ok. It’s Steve Rowe.  What ever he says is ok by me.   I’m sure Death Metal Heads can understand every word. 

   Very Gothic!  What song is this?..   hold on…great solo.   Oooooh.   Nice!  I have no idea what song this is nor do I care.  This is incredible! Whoa.   Get it man!    Yes!   Mahan’esk attack!   Nice melodies…mmmmm Nice bass segway.  I love modulation.    Very intelligent time changes.   I totally hear the melodies now. Grunging slower and slower and slower and slower and….I love E modal chords! What song is this?… who cares! It’s all good. “Now is the time”…this is like bluegrass music with electric guitars, heavy drums and thundering bass and very Gothic vocals.  Shut up Josh and just listen for a… moment…Shhhh!

   What song is this?  I don’t care!  It …is….very….heavy…Quit staring at the speakers!  Oh no the bass rips out some major intense riffs… I can’t take it! Guitar kicks in, vocs……slow down my heart…Come on now, I’m going on 50 plus years.  Amazing!  John Mahan loves you guys! I love clean endings! …Radiation is really bad for us! I hate going to the dentist!  Bombastic!!! Vocs are coming into focus. “Dead man walking…” “live for ever!”  Nice!!! Grunging slower and slower and…slower. Standing ovation! I applaud you guys! Where’s the mosh pit?

   This album gets 10 head butts out of 10 head butts.  Full on Bobbing for apples with this little treasure.   I love heavy!   Some serious grunting going on herrrre! I love the artwork on the album cover.  Great job guys.

    Wow. It’s like you guys took up where Vengeance Rising left off. I love Roger Martinez. . He was a dear friend to me. I did lights for them in long Beach California for fun and Pizza, (No Cheeze, allergic!).  Roger Martin and I handed out flyers on the beach before the show. Enough reminiscing.

  Every song flows into each other.  Dude, I am looking forward to seeing you all, if it is Gods will in April 2007. We are scheduled to be in Germany at that time but we will see what comes about.

   Pray for us to hear the Lord on this. We don’t want to break our Germanic Gothic Metal Head’s hearts either. If a miracle happens we can do both. It would take a miracle.

   My favorite flavors of the week are;  1. Mortification, Erasing the Goblin, and anything else they have ever recorded.  2. Disturbed, both newest releases.   3. Liberty and Justice projects, 4. Tool, Everything, 5. White Cross, You name it.

   6. The Mark.  Aside from the fact that I have to practice almost ½ of the songs to prepare for September and I am almost reaching burn out, I love our new album.  I’ve lost track how many times I’ve heard it.  Thank you for making a great album Mort!  God Bless! Jesus Rules and Reigns!..Josh Kramer of Saint….hjk

Favorite flavor of the week album reviews by Josh Kramer of Saint 9/12/06

Tykkus, Ultimatum and Paragon have absorbed my brain all day on loop mode  on my cd player at work. Lets begin with Tykkus. Great vocals, very convincing! Beautiful guitar work, bass playing and drums are solid as a rock! Very commercial!  Totally on fire for God.  No guess work here. I love the first song so much I want to do a rendition of it with John Mahan playing guitars.  Ultimatum; I had to work hard to not stare at my speakers at work during this bombastic mind slamming music.  They have stretched the envelope of metal another notch. Aggressive Dirkschnider’esk finger in the light socket vocals, Bachian Guitars, bombastic drums and bass.  What more could a metal head like me want?  Robert Gutierrez is an unreal guitarist and he was our hired gun in Los Angeles next to Dee H.  Wow!!!  What an honor!   Paragon… lets observe a moment of speechless silence for a moment please, …………………………………………………………woah………….gasp, wow. Unbelievable.  And to think, Ivory Night and me opened for them in Germany.  “The Impailer”, (demo) is unreal.  I wish I could put out a demo as powerful as this, (in my dreams!) I studdddder as I write tttthis revvview abbbout ttthem.  Egads! They are truly metal madmen and I stare blindly at the speakers listening to this great music.  Welp, that’s about it fer now. I’m home now and my spaghetti calls me. Mmmmmm, Spaghetti.  I love spaghetti and garlic bread and salad with Paul Newman’s Dressing, mmmmmmmmmm, laturz man!  Josh

Ted Nugent Concert Review

Site update 8-25-06  Oregon State Fairgrounds   By Josh Kramer of Saint  

As the mile long Cattle drive line of folks and I entered the Pavilion, we heard the thunderous cheers of the crowd as Mr. Nugent Began the Night with our National anthem played Hendrix style.  I had to take off my hat and sing along.    It was a memorable night of Hard Rockin Rhythm and Blues! The audience was pretty good size.  I found the choicest spot above the crowd and was not blocking anyone’s view of the side stage from the bleachers.  A security usher strutting his over qualified testosterone levels and muscles was flirting with the pretty girls while telling people to get out of the isle and go back to their seats or move on below me. He walked right past me as I was standing above the handrail wall holding onto the fence above and blended in with the landscape. Nice!  So I got to hang out there a while longer.  Then I got busted by a sweet elderly lady usher who was a wee bit more observant than Bubba. She saw me up there and sternly said, “You’re too old to be climbing around like a monkey. Get down from there! (Snapping her fingers, putting her hands on her hips and grinned). “Oh…alright, I’ll get down.”  What can I say, hearing all of that great music brought out the 16 year old in me!  His band rocked out one song after another with sweet blues riffs that rang clear through his stack of Marshals. There is no doubt in my mind he is patriotic as he saluted the military and showed great respect for what is going on with our soldiers over seas.  Well Ted, You still have what it takes to make me climb the walls when I hear those sweet sounds and see that smiling face of yours bro.  The rhythm section was great and solid. I missed out on their names.  God Bless you as you have blessed America.  hjk  http://www.saintsite.com