While the airwaves of American radio are dominated by the clean, polished sounds of such acts as Foreigner, Journey, and REO Speedwagon (and countless others
!), it's interesting to observe the emergence of a band like Manowar, whose musical approach adheres to a far more basic Heavy Metal format. There are plenty of good hard-rocking combos on the bar and club circuits in the States, but few actually manage to break higher ground. The bottom line though is that record companies are loathe to sign groups whom they feel may have limited attraction to the radio networks. Manowar have been lucky and secured a major recording deal, however guitarist Ross the Boss is clearly dissatisfied with the state of the US music business.
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Bill Aucoin's track record is highly impressive. The way he built Kiss into a megaband was a brilliantly masterminded operation. People have often scoffed at the masked wonders, but regardless of how you feel about their music, it's not hard to admire the manner in which they were marketed. Indeed, within less than half a decade they became one of the richest outifts in the world.
Aucoin is doubtlessly keen to give Manowar the necessary direction and it would seem his intention is to herald the act as HEAVY METAL with absolutely no frills.
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At this juncture Manowar's live activity has been limited to a few club dates during the recording of the album down in Florida. Shortly though, they'll be off on the road with Ted Nugent. Ross claims that his band is the loudest in the world (yawn) and it'll be interesting to see what the Nuge has to say about that.
"Well, we'll see.....we're prepared though. We're prepared for the hardship in the beginning. All that matters is that the band plays---that's all we care to do.
To Manowar, being on stage is the ultimate honour for a musician that plays Heavy Metal. It's your sacred ground! You see a lot of musicians who take it all too lightly nowadays. They think they're doing people a favour and are more concerned about how many T-Shirts they'll sell. Let me tell you, when we were doing those gigs in Florida, we were dropping plaster off the roofs in all the clubs. It was truly awesome... we also did great business with the ladies."
http://www.manowar.com/interviews/interview119_1982.html