MANOWAR

Manowar is an American heavy metal band from Auburn, New York. Originally formed in 1980, they are known for writing lyrics with an emphasis on the heavy metal genre itself, fantasy (particularly sword and sorcery), themselves and mythological topics, particularly Norse mythology. Manowar's sound is loud and bombastic; in an interview for MTV in February 2007, bassist Joey DeMaio lamented that "these days, there's a real lack of big, epic metal that is drenched with crushing guitars and choirs and orchestras ... so it's nice to be one of the few bands that's actually doing that." In 1984 the band was included in the Guinness Book of World Records for delivering the loudest performance, a record which they have since broken on 2 occasions. They also hold the world record for the longest Heavy metal concert after playing for 5 hours and 1 minute in Bulgaria in 2008.

Although the band has never been a mainstream commercial success in the United States, they maintain a strong cult following there - dedicated fans are known and referred to by the band as "Manowarriors" or "Immortals". In contrast, they are very popular in Europe and they also have a strong following in South America.The band has sold over 9 million albums.

Biography

Joey DeMaio was working as a bass tech / pyrotechnic for Black Sabbath when he met with guitarist Ross the Boss, playing for a group called Shakin' Street, a Black Sabbath support band. They later recruited Eric Adams for vocals and Donny Hamzik for the drums, to create Manowar — a band with an unusually new sound. Manowar recorded Battle Hymns, their debut album, which featured "Dark Avenger", a slow track with narration by Orson Welles. (Welles returned on the Defender EP and did the narration on the same title epic track. This song was later reworked for the band's Fighting the World album.)

Drummer Scott Columbus joined the band for their second album, Into Glory Ride. Custom equipment was built for the band by John "Dawk" Stillwell, which helped in achieving their sound.

The band usually performs in and around Europe (particularly Germany and Bulgaria), South America (especially Argentina and Brazil) and Japan.

Manowar influenced the early Swedish Black Metal band Bathory during their transition from Black metal to their later Viking metal sound. Bathory's lead singer Quorthon stated in a 2002 interview: "In 1986-1988, Bathory had a drummer who was heavily influenced by Manowar. He didn't enjoy any other type of metal, but he was somehow sold on Manowar. It wasn't like we decided to copy what they were doing. However, the typical heavy Manowar beat seemed to perfectly suit my new ideas for lyrics at the time."

The band is also notable for its ownership of their entire operation. Record recording and distribution, as well as merchandise, are all controlled by the band. Singer Eric Adams has said that the reason for this is that the band has received unfair treatment financially in the past, and also to ensure the highest quality production. The band's label, Magic Circle Music, includes other bands such as Rhapsody of Fire and HolyHell.

Their latest album is Gods of War; for other albums, see the discography. At the Magic Circle Festival 2008, Joey DeMaio announced that the bands next album would be performed in its entirity at the following year's festival, and its release would be accompanied by a video game, book and film.

Current members

* Eric Adams - vocals (1980–present), guitar (1980, for a short while)
* Joey DeMaio - bass guitars, guitars, keyboards, classical guitar (1980–present)
* Karl Logan - guitars, keyboards, classical guitar (1994–present)
* Scott Columbus - drums, percussion (1983–1991, 1995–present)

* Rhino filled in for drummer Scott Columbus during Manowars' recent show in Bulgaria and also played with them during their performance at Magic Circle Festival on July 11th & 12th 2008. It is not yet known how long Columbus will be absent for. During the soundcheck at Magic Circle Festival, DeMaio stated that Scott was missing due to recent "personal tragedies" he had suffered.

Former members

Guitars

* Ross "The Boss" Friedman (1980–1988) Founding member.
* David Shankle (1989–1993) Played for a while in Chicago, Illinois, before he was chosen from about 150 guitarists to replace Ross The Boss. Eric and Joey met him while recording "Kings Of Metal" in Chicago.

Drums

* Carl Canedy (formerly of The Rods) (1980)
* Donny Hamzik (1981–1982)
* Rhino (real name: Kenny Earl Edwards) (1992–1995, (2008 touring only))

Roadies

* Alan "Bloodaxe" Feller (Crowd Control) (2000–2006)