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Metallic greetings from CLOVEN HOOF
There are MP3 tasters of the new album on the XZEC Records site…
www.Xzec-records.com
www.Cloven-hoof.co.uk
The three tracks are "Inquisitor", "King for a day" and "Absolute Power."
The bad news...
NEW ALBUM TITLE CHANGE
The new album will not be entitled “ABSOLUTE POWER” after all. This is because another band has used the title. There will be a further delay in the release date of the new opus. The end of September now looks set, due to album cover and sleeve detail amendments. What ever the new record title... it will be well worth the wait.
The good news...
The band would like to thank the fans for being the most loyal and patient supporters anyone could wish for. The XZEC Records web site has already logged up over 48 thousand hits.
Because the expectations of the fans is so high, nothing less than the best ever CLOVEN HOOF album is required. The sound production and content had to be perfect, and it is true to say the band has been trying to get TOM GALLEY to take the production helm since 1984! Tom has always worked with musicians of the highest calabre such as Brian May , Cozy Powell, Neil Murray, John Thomas, Glenn Hughes, Ted McKenna, Mel Galley, Don Airey, Peter Green, John Wetton, Ray Gillan, Scott Gorham, the list goes on...
Well in 2005 the HOOF finally got there man, so prepare for a masterwork of true epic metal! Absolute Power CLOVEN HOOF 2005 style. True metal at it's best!
We have been meticulous in playing everything as tight as we possibly can to get the maximum attack and power. The new band members are as good as they come in the studio. Andy and Lynch are like a human metronomes, and everyone is meticulous about getting the best possible results onto tape. Tom Galley has really driven us on in the making of our best ever album, because he understands that Cloven hoof are about epic song concepts. He has helped refine and layer our sound to make everything slick and hard hitting. Now you get class melody with thrash like power and multi-time changes, something no other producer has understood.
All the songs are equally as good because we wanted the fans to get total value for money, (We always try to do this), but this time we dug really deep. The fans can feel equally proud of the new album because they were inspirational throughout with words of encouragement. We are a band with a score to settle after being held back by legal red tape for so long. It has been like being released from hell, but life is good again now that we can play our music to true metal fans once more.
It is frightening what a tight unit CLOVEN HOOF will be in a future live situation. Already there is an ESP like vibe throughout the players. We instinctively know how each other phrases the music. Staccato parts are so in time that they hurt! Rehearsals are a lot of fun, the old songs are sounding new and fresh again and the set list will be really impressive. It is hard to know which tracks to leave out.
You may already know all of this, but for the uninitiated…..
A BRIEF HISTORY OF CLOVEN HOOF
Cloven Hoof was originally formed in the heart of the West Midlands, England in 1979. The group went through various line up changes until spring 1982 when the band line up consisted of Lee Payne bass guitar, David Potter vocals, Steve Rounds Lead guitar and Kevin Poutney drums.
The first demo tape the band did together was given the thumbs up from no lesser stars than Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) who took a copy of the tape into national radio one, and Rob Halford (Judas Priest) who got it played on a radio station in Phoenix Arizona. The station was bombarded with heavy metal callers who wanted to know more about the band. Soon afterwards the group were taken under the wing of ex, Judas Priest manager David Hemmings.
The Opening Ritual a four track mini album was released in the July of 1982, and the EP stayed in the Sounds and Kerrang heavy metal charts for six weeks peaking at number 18. Articles in Kerrang and Noise magazine followed by Geoff Barton tipping the band for the top in his prestigious "Breaking through in 82" feature,and play list.
"The image adopted by ourselves during this period was worth noting!" "Because there were 4 band members, I came up with a concept featuring the names Air, Earth, Fire, and Water". "Outlandish stage costumes were donned and heavy Kiss- style make-up and masks". "We wanted to be the band we always wanted to see and hear... Total senses overkill."
In a lot of ways I think we were ahead of our time, because our vision of combining image and music was perfectly suited to the multi media sci-fi games market. And remember we were doing the masks thing years before Slipknot and all the others. I suppose we must of influenced many bands in presenting themselves in a hard rocking theatrical way. But the music always came first!!!
"The project drew huge attention and major labels were queing up to sign the band, the high chart positon was a big help too". (Lee Payne)
Over in America unbeknownst to us Rob Stradansky was championing the bands cause in his Metal Rendezvous magazine, and college radio stations were airing it on there play lists. A worldwide buzz was growing and international stardom seemed a formality. However bad contract advice and publishing in fighting put paid to a huge recording deal. The untimely death of David Hemmings the bands manager was another terrible blow. An independent label was the only alternative for Cloven Hoof to once again gather momentum without the support of a major label at the helm.
Undeterred the groups Opening ritual attained air play on numerous radio stations worldwide, but it was not until Tommy Vance and Geoff Barton played tracks off the Ep on radio one in the UK that the Cloven ones carrier really began to break into a gallop.
1983 saw Cloven Hoof touring throughout the length and breadth of the United kingdom, earning themselves a sizable underground cult following. In the summer of that year the band recorded a four track session for Tommy Vance's Friday rock show on Radio One and a similar session for Beacon radio for DJ Mike Davies.
On the strength of the bands popularity Neat records signed the outfit to record the album "Cloven Hoof." The opus notched up sales figures of 24,000 units in 1884 alone, and it became apparent that the bands gigging activities would have to stretch further afield due to success of sales overseas.
A European tour was organised that year culminating in the Shockwave festival in Genk Belgium. The Dynamo club in Eindhoven Holland was another highlight of the gigs abroad. These venues provided some of the most enthusiastic heavy metal fans the band had experienced. The applause at the end of these sets was astounding.
A Metal Hammer compilation album featured the track "Crack the Whip" from the debut album. Another compilation album entitled Metal Inferno contained 'The gates of Gehenna' and "Laying down the Law."
*Many more albums featuring Cloven Hoof are rumoured to exist, so if anyone out there can bring these albums to light we are eager to hear about it. We will feature your name in this section at a later date if you can give us the details.
The next album was a live album featuring a whole set of new songs called "Fighting Back", this was a very ambitious undertaking, with Rob Kendrick (ex Trapeze and Budge) replacing David Potter on vocals. The reviews for the album was generally very good. Dave Ling of Metal hammer and Mike Davies of Brum Beat were particular enamoured. Unfortunately after this record, contractual and internal problems forced the band to split apart, leaving only founder member Lee Payne to soldier on
A new line up was eventually established, comprising of Lee Payne on Bass, Russ North on vocals, Andrew Wood on guitar and Jon Brown on drums. They signed a recording deal with FM Revolver, and a publishing deal with Trinifold. The artists Trinifold managed at the time included Robert Plant the Who and Judas Priest.
Dominator a Sci-Fi concept album was released in 1988 on FM Revolver, produced by Guy Bidmead who worked with Motorhead, Cozy Powel and Whitesnake.
This line up played many blistering concerts throughout the U.K.. Andy and Russ (both ex Tredegar) re-energised the band with there experience and enthusiasm. Lee and Jon provided a rock solid bass and drum onslaught that surpassed all previous line ups. So much so that many big name bands refused to give the band a support slot for fear of being upstaged or blown away.
No matter how much money was on offer for us to open for some big acts, pathetic excuses were given at the last minute for us to be pulled from the tour. Usually after they had seen us rehearse. We can't mention names for legal reasons, but they know who they are! A little competition is healthy it should make band members work harder. When we play the Marquee or wherever, we always treated our support bands with respect and gave them equal lights and P.A. No one ever did that for us.
(Russ North)
A Sultans Ransom the last album release from this period was considered one of the best British heavy metal releases of the year by Metal Hammer magazine. Dave Mead the editor no less gave the album an illustrious 4 star review and labelled it "A flagon of mystical metal."
The same year a further four track session was recorded for the Tommy Vance show consisting of... Night Riders on the Astral Plain, And Fox on the Run. Lee Jones another ex member of the band Tradeger was added to the line up on duel lead guitar and his powerful rhythm work is heard along with andy on this session.
Andy Scott the guitarist from Sweet who originally recorded was scheduled to play with the band at Media vale during Cloven Hoof's cover of the song, but an car accident prevented it. The curse seemed to strike again...
It would of been a big honour for us if Andy Scott had played on that session because we were all big fans of Sweet during our school days. When I spoke to him on the phone I had to pinch myself, because it is not every day that you get to talk to a genuine boy hood hero. (Russ North)
In 1990 however the band decided to shelve it's activities due to contractual reasons once again.
"Whenever the bands star was in assent ion past rip off merchants would creep out of the woodwork lured by the scent of money like sharks sensing blood". "Because of potential court cases the big guns were scared off, leaving us to repeatedly lick our wounds". "In the end it seemed the only course of action was to ride out the dodgy contracts, till we were free of all ties". "It was heart breaking... But necessary". (Lee Payne)
Cloven Hoof was sadly for all intense and purposes in a process of suspended animation... But one day the beast would rise again!
Which brings us to the Present Day...
Well that's all from me for now give my best regards to all the metal heads in my second home Greece.
Kind regards
Lee (CLOVEN HOOF)
May the elemental forces be with you!
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