Stalker-Nj - Vol 1 FLAC

• Performer: Stalker-Nj
• Title: Vol 1
• Genre: Rock
• Label: TRG Studios
• Country: USA & Canada
• Date of release: 1989
• Style: Rock & Roll
• FLAC size 2929 mb
• MP3 size: 2409 mb
• Record From Cassette, Single Sided, EP, Stereo

Stalker Usa Canada Trg Studios Rock Roll 1989

• Bass, Songwriter – Ruy Oliveira
• Drum, Songwriter – Angelo Cario
• Guitar, Songwriter – Andy Averbuch, Martin Bak
• Lead Vocals, Songwriter – Mark Byrnes

Early years

Stalker was formed in 1987 by Ruy Oliveira and Angelo Cario. The two met in fifth grade at ‘St Francis Xavier’ grammar school in Newark, New Jersey. When high school came around Ruy and Angelo joined separate groups only to rejoin forces again in 1986 and adding guitarist Martin Bak. Ruy met Martin while attending ‘Paul VI’ high school. The trio released ‘Dark as the Night’ demo that year which quickly became a local favorite. The band was offered a record contract from independent label ‘Azra Records’ when they were only 16 years old but quickly refused that offer. That demo attracted a young talented guitarist from Passaic, New Jersey Andy Averbuch, who watched the band live several times at the infamous Studio 1 in Newark, New Jersey. Andy joined the band in 1988. On the hunt for a lead vocalist they came across Mark Byrnes from Jersey City, New Jersey. Mark had his own local success with ‘After Dark’. An over the phone rendition of the Dokken classic ‘Alone Again’ sealed the deal, Mark was the final piece.

Vol. 1 (first EP)

Vol. 1 (E.P)
By this point the band was building a strong local following and created a buzz by adding 2 new members. Management wanted to immediately start shopping new material and a record label ‘showcase’ gig was booked at the famous Cat Club in NYC. The band started rehearsing and writing material. The very first song they wrote was ‘Goodtime Gypsy’. The band compiled 6 songs and headed right into the recording studio. Sponsored by Mike Wadleigh from his accident settlement and recorded/engineered by Dave Derr (now founder of Empirical Labs), who was an engineer on the original Eventide Harmonizer and played keys for The Hooters at some point, 'Vol.1' was born.

Upon its release in 1989 ‘Vol. 1’ was a local smash. ‘Goodtime Gypsy’ was in regular rotation on Seton Hall WSOU Radio and even landed on ‘Days of our Lives’ soap opera. The band auditioned in NYC for an appearance on the soap but was quickly scratched. As one of the shows producers said ‘I’ve never seen a band sweat like that before’. The band started to appear in major magazines nationwide such as Rip, Powerline, Metal Edge, Live Wire, Japans 'Burrn' and Italy's 'Fireball'. Fans were writing from Malaysia, Holland, Romania, Brazil, Japan and Australia. They even received a letter from a fan in Indonesia who had heard Stalker on the radio there, and had purchased a tape on the black market. The same thing happened in the U.S.S.R. A friend of Andy’s recalls, stationed in Spain, in the Navy, told him about the day his roommate showed up with a cassette of a hot new band. He had just purchased it because everyone on his ship loved it. His friend recognized Andys picture on the cover. His shipmate had just picked up Stalkers Vol. 1. It was just a demo, more like a reaction than a complete thought. It was released in February 1989 and went onto sell 10,000 copies worldwide. At the time things were happening fast. They were courted by MCA Records, Tom Whalley @ Interscope Records, Vinnie Vincent of Kiss (band) and countless others. Surprised by success, they confronted it head on. They wanted to do something about it and decided to tour across the United States in order to hone their skills and to generate a national following.

In between tours they went back into the studio with producer Dave Durr in 1991 and recorded ‘Last Laugh’ and ‘Find A Way’. The songs were never released but shopped heavily. ‘Last Laugh’ also became a WSOU favorite.

StalkerNj ~ Hits and Misses

Despite regular appearances in national magazines across the world including, Rip, Powerline, Metal Edge, Live Wire, Japans Burrn and Italy's Fireball, we were destined to miss the big-time and miss it big.

1987
We received our first record contract when we were 17 years old. This was well before the boy band craze and there weren’t any 17 year old kids dominating in the metal world. Azra Records was an American independent label founded in 1978 by David Thomas Richards who sent us a record contract. It was a deal where we provided the Master recordings and they would distribute the album. At 17, we didn’t have that kind of money to put together a full-length album not to mention we had no idea who Azra Records were. Turns out they launched bands like Overkill. We passed on the offer.

We were offered a recording deal of which I can’t remember the details, but it was with a producer associated with The House of Music in West Orange, New Jersey. The House of Music Recording Studio had a number of major artists that recorded there: Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, and Patti Smith. Meat Loaf recorded his hit album "Bat Out of Hell." Kool and the Gang recorded most of their biggest hits including "Celebration" at The House of Music. For whatever reason, we passed on the offer.

1988
The infamous Dave Derr, designer of the instant-classic analog Distressor recorded and produced our "Vol 1" EP. Dave really believed in our work and recommended his buddy at Eventide, Gil Griffith to work with us by making some connections in the biz. Gil came through and had us meet Vinny Vincent in LA. Vinny was in the process of wrapping up the new Invasion record and was going to produce some tracks for us to give to A&R reps at Chrysalis Records.

Later in 1988, Vinny and the band was released from their contract with Chrysalis Records. Having grown annoyed with what they perceived to be Vincent's domination of the project. Pyro Messiah (aka Guitars From Hell) was never released. Our session was also canceled and the one deal that we did accept was dead. Rumor has it that Vinny produced the record and the label thought it was too guitar heavy. The label remixed the album and removed half of his guitar tracks. Vinny went ballistic. He broke into the studio and stole the masters. Done, done and done.

Later on that year, Kerry Livgren from the band Kansas contact us and wanted to sign us to his own Christian label, Kerygma Records, distributed by Sparrow Records. The catch was he wanted to turn us into a Christian rock band by the 2nd or 3rd Album. We passed on this offer.

1989
I want to say it was a Z100 battle of the bands contest, but I'm not quite sure, but we somehow won a spot to audition to be included in a live TV performance on the Soap Opera 'Another World.' We show up at SRI Studios in New York to audition in front of a bunch of suit and ties. We kicked off with 'Fire' by Jimmy Hendrix and we’re all sweating by the end of the song. There were nice parting words, but we obviously didn't get the gig. Instead, they asked if they could use the song "Goodtime Gypsy" in an episode. This would be a hit. When we watched the episode with the live band they picked, we instantly realized why we weren't hired. This band was the picturesque cocktail band of the 80’s. We blasted them with "Fire" and never had a chance.

1990
While out in the Midwest on one of multiple U.S tours (if you want to call it that) we received a letter from then Interscope leader Tom Whalley. Saying he'd be in New York City and wanted to meet with us. In 1989, Ted Field began to build Interscope Records as a division of his film company, Interscope Communications. To run it, he hired John McClain, who had played a central role in Janet Jackson's success at A&M Records, and Tom Whalley, who had been the head of A&R at Capitol Records. Separately, Iovine, who had produced records by U2, Bruce Springsteen, and John Lennon, among others, was trying to raise money to start a label. "I thought, 'Music is going to change,'" Iovine said. "'Young bands aren't going to be asking for me.' But I love working with the new thing. I always liked the part of the business that's the first time you hear something, and I knew I wasn't in that business anymore." You need to remember this was before the internet and we just had no such access to all this information of who was who. All we saw was another independent label wanted us to drive halfway across the country back to NYC for a meeting. It didn’t happen and we blew the Tom Whalley meeting off. I'd say that was a big fcking miss!

1991
MCA Records was fresh off signing another NJ alumni Trixter. We received one letter from their NYC office and one from their LA office requesting a demo in the same month. After careful consideration, both offices passed. I believe the NYC office cited the singer was too abrasive and the LA office cited the band was too green. A big loss x2

This one doesn't technically count but contemplating the logistics of it all makes me realize it was a miss. A good friend of ours, Dave Rumohr was working at Megaforce Records in Old Bridge NJ. We would go there sometimes to hang out. Megaforce had a hardcore music roster at the time and we didn't fit their bill by any means but if we had used some charm on Jon and Marsha Zazula, we probably would have had a chance. Although the Metallica residuals were all that they needed anyway. In my book, it's a miss.

1992
We were approached by 2 lawyers who were representing All-4-One at the time. They offered some shitty deal, the details are a blur but we passed on the offer.

I'm sure there are other hits and misses I'm forgetting about. My memory has blocked out a lot of details. Obviously, this is how the entertainment business works. You're destined to fail more times than not. We threw in the towel by 1996 even though at 26 years old we were still kids.

Later on we rubbed elbows with producer Warren Riker, Christina Aguilera and Robert Hoffman along with countless of other local NJ and NY bands that went on to semi-national fame. But all in all, it only amounted to more misses.

And for what it's worth, no one really gives a shit anymore.

Nj's Hottest Bastards (R.I.P)

• Made By – Stalker