an thólləjee is your classic fan-documentary page. The final part of the series of three (3) Metal From The Rock's myspace websites, all of which focus on the history and music of Rob Rock.
Looking back at where it all started and revisit some of his projects. Please note that this site will not cover Rob Rock's solo albums and other major works he has done.
This site operated by Atty. Charlie L. Yap. The Official Rob Rock websites are: www.myspace.com/robrock1 and www.robrock.com
SESSION NOTES BY TONY MACALPINE: M.A.R.S. - “Project: Driver”
Released: 1986
"The Project: Driver session was an opportunity that came about for me when the original guitarist Craig Goldy had departed the outfit to join forces with Ronnie James Dio. The band featured Tommy Aldridge on drums, Rudy Sarzo on bass and the vocals of Rob Rock. After a series of late phone calls from Rudy to my place in San Rafael, I decided to venture down to Los Angeles and try out for the band. Well the day finally came about and I went down and got the gig… whew! I relocated for quite a while to Rudy’s mansion in the Hills overlooking Mullholland Drive, where we would write music from the morning until well into the night - and I mean well into the night. After some time we moved the operation to Mates Rehearsal Studios in North Hollywood and began the task of auditioning singers one after another. Rob Rock became the singer, and coincidentally he is a friend of mine from the same area where I am from. But you know Tommy and Rudy were passing out no favors so it was a tough road for him - but he finally got the gig and we got the ball rolling.
We found ourselves again in Northern California at the the peaceful Prairie Sun Recording Studios rehearsing and recording what would become the Project: Driver release.
We recorded the tracks in very typical rock‘n’roll fashion, which was to cut the drums first and then overdub guitars, bass and vocals last. I still enjoy listening to some of the songs we did today, like the ballad “You and I” and I also noticed that I was really beginning to embrace the actual recording process and let things come to me instead of being completely terrified of it like I was just a year earlier. I think this was due to the fact that I realized the impact that everything I did in the studio would have some meaning to those who actually brought and listened to these records. I enjoyed receiving comments from Mike Varney (good and bad..haha) who produced many of those early recordings, who if it was not for, I would have perhaps found myself taking a completely different route to achieve the music goals that I had set for myself in the beginning.
In the end I will say it was a release I was very happy with at the time, but also one which made me long to return to the vision I had clearly seen a year earlier - and that would be to continue with Instrumental music. After Rudy and Tommy where asked to join Whitesnake and I was clearly planning to return to writing more instrumental music ...
There was such a growth spurt for me from the Project: Driver release to the next ... - one I owe very much to this learning curve and wonderful opportunity of music making with Rudy Tommy and Rob."
SESSION NOTES - JOSHUA - "Intense Defense”
Released: 1988
"It was in Germany, summer of 1986 that Joshua Perahia met with Scorpions producer Dieter Dierks, and played him some tracks of the group, in Dierks' studio. Dierks was in disbelief, and had a recording contract (rough) for Joshua to sign in good faith, till details and a final contract could be drawn up. They agreed, and the next album was on the horizon.
Joshua Perahia was writing songs for the new album, to add to songs he wrote while on the road during the "Surrender" tour. This intense period of time helped him come up with the album title "Intense Defense." news came in weeks that RCA/BMG was interested in signing the group. This really put on pressure to form a great band. It was a meeting in the Beverly Hills Hotel with Franz von Ausperg, a German prince, and new RCA A&R man, that brought the first handshake with Joshua, of his new record deal.
RCA/BMG and Dierks Studios flew the band out to Germany to begin recording in February 1988. The producer flown out with the band was Eddie Kramer of Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix, KISS, and 'Stones fame. Eddie worked the band up to a frenzied pre-production schedule.
The band was living in Dierks Studios lavish chateau, enjoying two gourmet meals a day, maid service, a Mercedes Benz, weekly pay, movie rentals, dining out, trips around Germany and abroad, and family flown in from the states to visit. With Dieter Dierks at the helm of the band's new production, there again was no expense spared. Finally, after the recording was completed, the band was sent home, except for Joshua, to supervise the album mix. $780,000 invested in recording the album, due to the long stay in Germany, recording costs, equipment rentals, flown in Gospel Choir and first class accommodations.
The band actually had recorded the album twice. They recorded it once with Eddie Kramer and with Dieter Dierks, who was the overall executive producer, the latter didn't like the results of the recording. The band started recording again with a German producer Frank Mono. So, Rob Rock was in Germany for more or less six months, living at Dierks Studio. The end result of the recording was a very polished record, they have been rehearsing those songs for like two years in L.A., waiting for a chance to record at Dierks Studio. They had to wait for the SCORPIONS and also for ACCEPT to finish their respective albums for JOSHUA to have a chance to be in the studio. They were in the studio for six months, which was longer than Rob Rock expected and in the end they got an album that has a lot of great songs. After JOSHUA, Greg, the keyboardist and Emil, the bass player joined Rob Rock in the band DRIVER. Emil had known Roy Z and he knew Butch Carlson on the drums."
SESSION NOTES BY DENNIS CAMERON - ANGELICA
Released: 1989
"Angelica started as a vision that I had for an ideal band full of believer musicians. The experience making the first album was to be the "Awakening" for me both as a musician and as a professional. Here's a lesson that I hope any readers can learn from.
The first Angelica album was recorded in Costa Mesa, California with the starting line-up of: Andy Lyon, Scott Ernest, Bob Pallen and myself. The finishing line-up for the album was a little different . . . While in the pre-production stage of making the first album, Andy Lyon, the vocalist (more likely from a lack of experience on all our parts) chose to view the the opportunity to prepare for recording with less enthusiasm than the rest of the band. The result being that after a couple of days of having Ken Tamplin push him in his performance (as Ken was hired to produce the vocals on the album) that the singer "burned out".
At this point, (as humbling as it is to say) we were in need of a singer to salvage the (what was now being refered to as the Dennis Cameron) project. We now needed to find someone to finish out the album. Ken had suggested two replacements, Bob Carlisle or Rob Rock. Having once been a proud owner and fan of the Driver album (Rudy Sarzo, Tommy Aldridge, Tony MacAlpine and Rob Rock) Rob was the easy pick of the two to best suite the music style. At the time of recording, Rob was in the process of regrouping a new version of Driver and was rehearsing and recording with them as well as doing the session work for Angelica. What a trooper he was! I can remember Rob coming to the sessions with this big red swollen throat saying that he had just come from Driver rehearsals and that he was pumped and ready. Not withholding, Rob would assume his best Iron Maiden pose in the vocal booth and trek on with our sessions.
Rob's voice was in a higher range than Andy's, which meant that some of the vocal melodies had to be reworked to fit his voice. For example, the original version of "Shine On Me" melody started on a major 3rd, but was transposed to the 5th for Rob. We finished the album a couple of weeks late due to all the mayhem and I returned home (Ontario, Canada) wondering how I was going to continue with this band under these circumstances."
SESSION NOTES BY ROB ROCK - AXEL RUDI PELL "NASTY REPUTATION"
Released: 1991
"When I got a call from Chris Impellitteri to join his band, it was a tough decision. I had my own band and was very happy with it, but I had a lot of personal problems at the time too. I decided to join Chris because we wrote songs well together, and a label and management was already in place.
Here I was on the East Coast and didn't have the money to move back to L.A.. That's when I got a call from a German manager to see if I would be interested in doing another studio album and this album would provide the funds I needed to get to L.A.
So before going back to L.A. in 1991, I flew back to Germany to record the AXEL RUDI PELL-”Nasty Reputation” Album. I was there for 10 days and I had a great time! I was very busy because each day I would go to the studio, listen to the music tracks and the vocal ideas that Axel had, and then I would sit down and write the lyrics and melodies. After dinner we would come back into the studio and I would sing the song “live” 3 times. That would be it for the day and the producer would compile my vocals together in the mixing stage of the album. I really like the “live” feel of that album and the intensity of writing on the spot! I was in great vocal shape from all the touring I did with DRIVER. As a result, “Nasty Reputation” is one of my favorite albums.
Arriving in L.A., I met with Chris Impellitteri and we started working on the IMPELLITTERI “Grin & Bear It” album".
SESSION NOTES - AVANTASIA "THE METAL OPERA PART 1 & 2"
AVANTASIA "THE METAL OPERA PART 1"
Released: 2001
Chart Positions:
Germany No. 34
Finland No. 36
Sweden No. 48
AVANTASIA "THE METAL OPERA PART 2"
Released: 2002
Chart Positions:
Germany No. 17
Sweden No. 17
Finland No. 26
Spain No. 46
Norway No. 55
France No. 64
Switzerland No. 94
"Avantasia is a symphonic metal/power metal project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist and frontman of the power metal group Edguy. The project's title is a portmanteau of the words "avalon" and "fantasia" ("fantasy") and describes "a world beyond human imagination" (a quotation from the booklet). The project consists of a self-titled single, two full-length albums with the subtitle The Metal Opera, two EPs called Lost in Space, and the recently released album The Scarecrow.
In Spring 1999, during Edguy's Theater of Salvation tour, Tobias Sammet began to write down his ideas for a metal opera, a concept album with many guest musicians. When the tour was finished, he carried this plan out, recruiting well-known metal players like Rob Rock, Kai Hansen and the ex-Helloween singer Michael Kiske. The project was recorded with a core band of four members - Sammet playing keyboards and arranging orchestration, Henjo Richter playing guitar, Markus Grosskopf playing bass, and Alex Holzwarth on drums. In 2001, the self-titled single and the first full-length album, The Metal Opera, were released.
The project was completed in September 2002 with the release of The Metal Opera Part II."
SESSION NOTES BY RICK RENSTROM - "Until The Bitter End”
Released: June 9th, 2003
7/11 Day One:
Rehearsal with Richard, Rob, Steve and Me. All the songs sound great and the recording looks like it will go very smooth. Tomorrow is the big day..
7/12 Day Two:
Drum setup at 2:00pm. Richard sets up his drums in about an hour and a half. The set is miked up and ready for tones in another hour. Richard's drums sound excellent. The same drum kit that was used for Death and Control Denied. The sound being recorded is huge! Until The Bitter End and Symphony 40 are the first songs to be recorded. We all leave around 12:45am. It's been a long day and tomorrow looks to go extremely smooth...
7/13 Day Three:
What a day! Probably the most rain Florida has seen in one day and a ful compltion of Richard's drums. The sound is amazing and Richard did a superb job!
Richard recorded all 11 songs plus a special bonus track in about 13 hours. The foundation has been set and I will be setting up the amps for the rhythm tracks. It looks like Monday will be the recording day.
7/14 Day Four:
Not too much today..Mixing down the drums and setup the Marshall for the rhythm assault..The guitar sound is really big. I changed the tone of it abit to give it much more richer and fuller sound.
7/15 Day Five:
Slow start today..Still mixing the last of the drums. Guitars start around 3:30pm and we finish up around 1:00am. 4 songs are completed with rhyhtms. It sounds great! We will finish up all the rhythms on Friday.
7/19 Day Six:
A very long day, but we accomplished some great stuff. 3 more songs are completed with rhythms. We started on the vocal songs around 1:30pm and finished up around 11:30pm. A lot of attention and detail are going into the songs. Some great new parts and additions have come about today. 3 more songs to go. Another studio session is planned for Monday.
7/23 Day Seven:
Phase 2 Complete!!! All songs are recorded with rhythms. 3 songs this session. Very tough day today. Probably the hardest recording session. More or Less I saved the hardest songs as the last to record!! A little over 12 hours put in. The result is incredible and well worth every minute. Next, I will start up on the melodies and harmonies to the instrumental songs. This is what I've been waiting for. Lead Playing!! I will start back on Thursday or Friday.
Phase 3:
I really got into the lead stuff and once I was done had to disappear for a bit and take a vacation of sorts. Sadly, there were a few technical problems with the equpment and such which delayed all the leads for a few days. However, once everything was corrected the leads began! First off, I recorded all the melodies and harmonies for the instrumentals in about 6 hours. I've added some new parts to spice up the songs a bit. The leads themself, took about 12 hours in total over 2 days. A lot of pure emotion went into these leads, as well as some of the fastest notes I've ever played. One last short day too look for anything I may have forgot. Only a couple of riffs and harmonies were needed and that was that. All that is left is too have the guests record thier parts. This will conclude the studio section ...
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