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Zine Blood of the Ancients Magazine • Chapter Interview with Blood of the Ancients Magazine • Journalist Christian Wachter Language Germany • Published Nov 2002
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INTERVIEW WITH ā€œBLOOD OF THE ANCIENTS MAGAZINEā€
GERMANY NOVEMBER 2002 with Christian Wachter

1. What were the reasons for you to play this special kind of Metal? Which bands forced you to found CIRITH UNGOL? Who came up with the band name?

GREG: I think Rob and I had a few names picked out, all from the Lord Of The Rings: some of the others were Barad Dur, Khazad Dum, Minas Morgul, all equally unpronounceable! The bands that really influenced me in the early days were Mountain, Black Sabbath, Dust, Thin Lizzy, Budgie, BOC, Hard Stuff, Trapeze, and probably my favorite album of all time, the first Captain Beyond.

ROB: We were basically unhappy with at least the local (LA) bands that were out at the time and influenced by some of the bands we were listening to we decided we could do better.

2. When was the official founding of CIRITH UNGOL at all? Itā€™s very difficult to date, some say itā€™s been in 1971, others say itā€™s been in 1979… Have you recorded any demos or rehearsal-tapes before you released `Frost and Fire`?

GREG: Rob and I met in 7th grade in 1969 and instantly became friends because we both loved Ferrari and the Lord of the Rings. In the summer of 1971, he and Jerry Fogle and Pat Galligan (who later joined punk band The Angry Samoans) decided to start a band to play Beatles songs, and I think the only reason they got me was that I had an amp. We called ourselves Titanic. Three guitars plugged into one 15 watt amp and Rob with just a snare drum and hi-hat trying to play Beatles songs…I wish I had a tape! Anyway, Rob and Jerry and I wanted to play heavier stuff like Cream and Mountain, so we left Titanic to sink, and the three of us formed Cirith Ungol in 1972, initially playing songs by Budgie, Thin Lizzy, Highway Robbery, Hard Stuff, etc. We set up a small studio in our practice room in 1977, and we did a lot of writing and recording between 1977-80. I have stacks of tapes from that period, and there are lots of songs that have not been released. In 1979, we recorded a dozen songs and released a cassette only album, which we sold at shows. A few of the songs from that album were remixed and released on ā€œServants of Chaosā€.

ROB: Yea, Greg is right. He was not only a friend but also my mentor when it came to music. Even to this day he discovers new groups and turns me on to the music. I remember him showing me Mountain ā€œClimbing and it blew my mind!

3. How did you get in contact with Michael Whelan, for which other bands did he work, too?

GREG: All of the artwork on our album covers were originally done for the US paperback editions of the ā€œElric Of Melniboneā€ books that came out in the mid 70ā€™s. We loved the books and the artwork. Rob sent a tape to Michael, and he has allowed us to use his artwork ever since, for a very small fee. Besides being a great artist, he is one of the nicest guys youā€™ll meet. I even know a few people who donā€™t like metal but still buy our albums for the artwork!

ROB: Yes, Michael was one of the few good people we came in contact with in our career. I cannot imagine better artwork for our records. His illustrations of the Elric series are the very best I have ever seen and although he is one of the worldā€™s top artists I donā€™t think he has received the recognition he deserves either.

4. Have CIRITH UNGOL had this vision of playing “Sword And Sorcery/Epic Metal” ever since or did you need some time in order to find your personal style?

GREG: We have always been heavily influenced by fantasy and sci-fi so it was inevitable that a lot of CU songs would have fantasy and sci-fi topics and be ā€œhopelessly pretentiousā€ as one English critic said! But I think it would get kind of boring to be limited to only S & S subject matter.

ROB: I think the main theme after Greg left the band was one of hopelessness and depression. The songs were probably mirroring the situation with the band. You know, the ā€œyou can only sing the blues if you have experienced it thingā€. We were pretty much stepped on during our career by many people including most of the so called ā€œname bandsā€ we played with. I think this was reflected in our music. The world is a pretty violent and depressing place and it would be to simplistic to right songs about love and flowers when the reality is death and destruction!

5. Nowadays there are many bands claiming to play “Epic Metal”, but mostly itā€™s just mediocre Power Metal filled with keyboards, lyrical-wise telling some clichĆ©-stories about dungeons and dragons… What do you think about bands like this? Donā€™t you think theyā€™re way too overrated?

GREG: Thereā€™s a lot of very technically competent bands out there with some excellent players who donā€™t seem to have too many original ideas. I have a friend whoā€™s into all the power metal type bands and it just seems like Iā€™ve heard it all before. Itā€™s not that easy to be original these days, I guess.

ROB: There are still some good bands out though maybe fewer than there was at one time. Riotā€™s last two albums are some of my favorites. Their album ā€œSons of Societyā€ is great every song kicks ass, although it is not epic metal it is just good plain hard rock. I also like the Italian band ā€œDoomSwordā€ They did a rendition of our song ā€œNadsookorā€ on one of their albums.

6. Which kind of books inspired the lyrics of CIRITH UNGOL most? Would you say that “Lord of the Rings” is the ultimate fantasy book? How did you like the movie?

GREG: ā€œThe Dying Earthā€ by Jack Vance, the ā€œFafhrd And The Grey Mouserā€ series by Fritz Leiber, the Elric series by Michael Moorcock, anything by Clark Ashton Smith and H.P. Lovecraft, and obviously, LOTR. I thought the movie was great, much better than I had expected. I canā€™t wait to see the second part. Too bad Cirith Ungol isnā€™t on the soundtrack!

Rob: I was also pretty much influenced by the books I was reading at the time like the ā€œElricā€ and ā€œConanā€ series. Although I had not read much at the time I am reading quite a bit of H.P. Lovecraft now. His stories are fantastic!!! Another book that comes to mind is ā€œBloodstoneā€ by Karl Edward Wagner.

7. How did you get in contact with LIQUID FLAME RECORDS who released `Frost and Fire`? How many copies of your debut album could be sold?

GREG: Liquid Flames was our own label. We paid for all the studio time and all the manufacturing costs for the first 3000 copies of ā€œF & Fā€. We sold all the copies within 3 months. After that, we signed a distribution deal with Enigma in the US. Over the years, weā€™ve sold at least 25,000 copies of ā€œF & Fā€.

ROB: The original Liquid Flames record are the collectors items, they were pressed on some high quality vinyl and I think they sounded the best.

8. Itā€™s been a pity that `Frost And Fire` was available just in the USA for years: Here in Europe, there hasnā€™t been a distribution at all: Why? And do you think the career of CIRITH UNGOL would have been much better if also in Europe your debut album would have been released in time?

GREG: Yes, since the majority of our fans are in Europe. I think we would have had a lot of sales in Germany and Italy and that would have given us more momentum to keep going. And now ā€œServants of Chaosā€ is only distributed in Europe!

ROB: Not only was ā€œServants of Chaosā€ released exclusively in Europe, but also Metal Blade Records in the US has also unexpectedly deleted all our other releases. It is quite strange as the new ā€œLord of the Ringsā€ movie is coming out this winter with Cirith Ungol in it. We were hoping that they would keep them available for a few years longer. However we are not surprised as Metal Blade in Europe has done an unbelievable job promoting the new CD and the re-releases whereas Metal Blade in the US did nothing as far as promotion that we could tell. Michael Trengert and Andreas Ressinauer in Germany have been the greatest and if it werenā€™t for them you would have never seen the last double CD.

9. On `Frost And Fire` CU were partly very influenced by the typical blues/hippie-rock-era, I think: On the follow-up there were none of these influences at all: Do you regard yourself as a “child of 69” developing into a heavier direction?

GREG: I donā€™t know, I donā€™t hear any blues at all on ā€œF & Fā€! If you want to know the truth, I was listening to a lot of new wave like The Cars and The Clash when I was writing the some of the songs on ā€œF & Fā€, and I can hear that influence in places, as well as stuff like early Rush.

ROB: I think what Greg cannot see is that we grew up listening to all that hard rock and hard blues. Although it did not influence F&F directly did indirectly as we as musicians were influenced so heavily by this music that laid the foundation for so much that was to come

10. Greg Lindstrom left CIRITH UNGOL right after this release due to personal reasons, I guess: Did he ever regret his decision?

GREG: I left in the middle of 1982. Quitting the band for me was worse than breaking up with a girlfriend, but I felt I had reached a turning point in my life after graduating college and spending almost 12 years in the band. It was more than a year after F & F had been released, and sales were decent, but nothing was really happening for us, and I felt it was time to move on and lead a ā€œnormalā€ life for a while. About two years later, I saw CU play warm-up for Ratt at the Beverly Theatre in LA, totally kicking their asses. Thatā€™s when I really regretted my decision.

ROB: I missed Greg from the start. Not only were his songwriting skills amazing but he was also the other member that had a good business mind. This is hard to come by in the music business and many of the bands that actually do well are bands that either have a great manager or that have members who can think for themselves. Greg was also very versatile playing bass, guitar and keyboards. Iā€™m sure if he had stayed in the band we would have written some pretty great music.

11. How did you get in contact with Brian Slagel and METAL BLADE? The first result of this cooperation has been the song `Death of the Sun` on the infamous `Metal-Massacre`-compilation: Did the participation on this sampler help you getting recognized on a wider scale?

GREG: I think it was definitely the first CU exposure for a lot of people.

ROB: Well at the time we had already released our first album ā€œFrost & Fireā€ Brian was working at a LA record store called Oz Records. The owner was pretty cool and really like heavy metal. Anyways Brian was a fan of ours and since we had just put out our LP he was interested in using one of our songs on the first LP of his new label he was starting Metal Blade. It is very sad as I though we were friends but if you read the account on the Metal Blade US website our name was never even mentioned. It is like he erased us from the history of the label for some reason. I know he does not like me personally and although I am not sure why this is I imagine it is because some of his friends and bands that he associates with never liked Cirith Ungol and this affects him. As a side note on their new 20-year anniversary CD set there is only one song by CU ā€œOne Foot in Hellā€ which really was not a very good recording of that great song. Brian mixed this album without ant input from the band and the band was not very happy with the outcome. Michael Trengert in Germany has been much nicer to us personally. On a trip to California we even went to dinner together, which was nice. I think that even though he may not be a fan of the band at least he recognized that there are many out there who are trying to find our material. He even unsuccessfully attempted to re-release our fourth CD ā€œParadise Lostā€ but was unable to, as the owner of the material Restless records has defied all attempts at having the CD re-released. This is another mystery to the band.

12. On `King Of the Dead` you also played a killer version of `Toccata in d-minor` from Johann Sebastian Bach: I guess youā€™ve been one of the first Heavy-Metal-bands to do something like this. Have you always been inspired by great classical composers? Which ones do you like best? And what do you think about bands like RAGE, THERION or HAGGARD, which try to melt classical music and Heavy Metal together?

GREG: Jerry always listened to a fair amount of Bach and Grieg. That was a great adaptation, although our fans did not universally like it. Iā€™ve never heard the bands you mention, but stuff like Yngwie Malmsteen, which is technically incredible, leaves me cold. The closest I get to classical music is listening to a Jon Lord solo!

ROB: The night we recorded Toccata, Flint had the flu really bad so I was disappointed at the version that ended up on the LP. Although Jerry transcribed the guitar parts from organ to guitar we never really had much time to practice the piece.

13. What does Heavy Metal mean to you personally?

GREG: It used to mean aggressive, exciting, unique music, but nowadays, Iā€™m afraid, it means that Iā€™ll probably be bored with what I hear.

ROB: Well I always liked it, as not only was it very exciting but it extracted the utmost from the musicians that performed it. Some of the great performances that I witnessed really affected me and left an indelible impression on my mind. The lights, volume and rhythmic pounding of the music seemed to whip the crowds into a wild frenzy. This was always my goal that we would have a similar effect on our audiences. I am not sure we ever succeeded but I know we tried.

14. Did CIRITH UNGOL split up after `One Foot In Hell` due to the bad sellings of your albums and why did you decide to return in 1991?

ROB: The band never split up we just never could get anyone to back our band. Also after we signed the terrible deal with Restless it took them 3 years to release the ā€œParadise Lost CD as they went through a bankruptcy and name change, from Enigma to Restless.

15. With the release of `Paradise Lost` you tried to vary the music a bit, itā€™s not exactly been the same style the listener was used to compared to the first three albums (nevertheless itā€™s totally been that typical CIRITH-UNGOL-style): What were the reasons for this (small) development?

GREG: Partially because Jimmy Barraza had a different, more mainstream guitar style than Jerry Fogle. Plus, a couple of the songs like ā€œThe Trollā€ (bad) and ā€œHeaven Help Usā€ (not bad) were written by new members. The Chaos Trilogy is some of the best stuff CU has done, I think, but itā€™s also a little bit more generic, Iron Maiden-ish sounding.

ROB: We had very little control if any over ā€œParadise Lostā€ The CD would have been way different if we had. If the original members would have had their way ā€œThe Trollā€, ā€œHeaven Help Usā€ and ā€œGo it Aloneā€ would never have appeared on it. These songs were put on the CD as a concession to the new members who played on that CD. The producer Ron Goudie even messed with the PL trilogy. The very best part, which I liked on the whole, CD was cut because when the song was recorded the producer did not know the proper part for Tim to start singing so that part had to be cut out. It was all very sad and depressing to me. I actually cried when I heard the CD for the first time I was so disappointed! After so many years of hard work to have people destroy your work is criminal.

16. Have you been inspired by the book John Milton`s “Paradise Lost” when you wrote the lyrics/music of this album? In which way has it impressed you and your personal thoughts? Is this title also to be seen as a metaphor for all those missed chances in the history of CIRITH UNGOL: I mean, you had the chance to get really big (the music spoke for itself…!), but the media never really cared about you…(a lost paradise = the failed – commercial – success)?

ROB: Tim was the one that wrote the lyrics and conceived the concept of the ā€œParadise Lostā€ CD. It has been a long time since I read Miltonā€™s epic, but I think that there is definitely a parallel there. I must tell you though the whole media thing is untrue. We had quite a bit of good press when the albums were released originally. There was a critic for the LA Herald, which really liked the band and gave us great reviews. There was also a critic for the LA Times that did several articles on the band and our local paper here in Ventura did a full-page expose on the group. In Europe the editor for Kerrang like the band and picked several of our LPā€™s in his top picks for the year. The only negative press I have read about Cirith Ungol was after the band broke up. There is some heavy metal encyclopedia, which says we were the worst heavy metal band of all time and that ā€œFrost & Fireā€ was the worst heavy metal album of all time. I have also read several Internet reviews, which did not like our music. This does not bother me however as I really think the music speaks for itself.

17. Why didnā€™t METAL BLADE re-release `Paradise Lost`, too? And why havenā€™t there been any bonus tracks on the re-release of `One Foot In Hell`?

ROB: see#11

18. Nowadays mostly Black-Metal-bands search for inspiration in J.R.R. Tolkien`s “Lord Of The Rings”, I just remember groups like SUMMMONING, ISENGARD, BURZUM, GORGOROTH and many more… Would you say CIRITH UNGOL were responsible for connecting this masterpiece of literature with Heavy Metal?

GREG: I guess that we were one of the first bands to have an obvious LOTR influence, but before us Robert Plant was singing about Gollum in ā€œRamble Onā€ on Led Zep II, and there was a Swedish keyboardist/composer named Bo Hansson who put out an album called ā€œMusic Inspired By The Lord Of The Ringsā€ in the mid 70ā€™s. Although that was kinda limp and proggy for my taste.

19. I guess CIRITH UNGOL never betrayed themselves, as theyā€™ve always been playing the music they wanted: Bands like this nearly donā€™t exist anymore, what do you think about nowadays scene? Do you care about new releases, or do you prefer the groups you also liked in the late 70s/early 80s?

GREG: There are lots of new bands that I like: Abdullah is a killer doom band, thereā€™s Agents Of Oblivion and The Mystick Krewe Of Clearlight from New Orleans, and The Quill and even The Hellacopters from Sweden. Funny thing is, all these bands sound very 70ā€™s influenced, whether itā€™s Sabbath, Purple, or the MC5. I guess itā€™s natural to have a preference for the music of your adolescence, so for me, itā€™s the 70ā€™s.

ROB: Well Greg keeps bringing me new CDā€™s so I hear some new material every once and a while. I really like Riotā€™s last two albums especially ā€œSons of Societyā€ which about every song on the CD is good. Greg recently brought me The Cultā€™s new CD, which was surprisingly good. I always thought of them as a pop band and was amazed that the album was very heavy.

20. I think this question might bore you to death, because nearly everybody seems to ask it to you, but nevertheless, Iā€™m very curious about it: What do you think were the reasons that CIRITH UNGOL never got that recognition they deserved? Do you think it was because of the fact that the songs were too complicated for the “normal” Metal head? Or do you think it also was because of Timā€™s unusual and original voice?

GREG: We are definitely not for the casual listener, even though we purposely wrote a few songs like ā€œ100 MPHā€, which is a bit more in a simpler Judas Priest style. As a case in point, I just got a CD by a band called Chrome Locust. Itā€™s a cool album, but on one song theyā€™ve ā€œborrowedā€ the first riff from our song ā€œCirith Ungolā€. But where our song has 7 or 8 different riffs in it, these guys use that one riff almost all the through the song. And you either love Timā€™s voice or you donā€™t, and I think the majority donā€™t. But without Timā€™s voice, it wouldnā€™t be CU.

ROB: Well the real reason is we never had a record company that had enough faith in the band to properly promote it. This is the simple reason. It takes money and people to promote a band I donā€™t care how good they are. If a record company does not provide the promotional machine a band is doomed. All the companies we were ever on were independent and had very limited if any promo. I think Metal Blade in Europe did more for us on the re-releases than any one ever did when the material was new.

21. What do the members of CIRITH UNGOL nowadays? Are they involved in the music business or do they all live a “normal” life?

GREG: Iā€™m an aerospace engineer for Boeing in Los Angeles. Quite a few people in the company know about the band. Occasionally we have ā€œCirith Ungolā€ t-shirt days where everyone in my group wears their CU t-shirt to work!

ROB: I work in the graphics industry, it is not my choice but it pays the bills and I live in a nice town close to work. I am married to a beautiful woman named Rose and I have a 1975 Ferrari Dino 308 gt4, which is my hobby and passion. Greg and I met in 7th grade because we had an interest in cars and we still share that interest to this day. I was very lucky to have realized one dream while failing at the other. Flint lives in Las Vegas and is a sound engineer. Tim lives near me but we are not close anymore, he was originally against the ā€œServants of Chaosā€ CD, for what reason I am not sure to this day. Jerry of course tragically passed away. Jim Barraza lives here in Ventura but he hardly plays anymore. I have no idea where the other guys that played on ā€œParadise Lostā€ are and frankly donā€™t care. They had no loyalty to the band or me and deserve little mention in our history.

22. Thereā€™ve been nearly any tours of CIRITH UNGOL in the 80s, didnā€™t you have any offers? Where and with whom did you play live back then?

GREG: We played warm-up for Dio era Black Sabbath, BOC, Ratt, Lita Ford, and the Japanese band Loudness.

ROB: We also played with many other bands that never really made it either some good some bad. I liked several early Metal Blade bands such as Omen, Malice they were good guys but we played with many bands who though they were better than they really were some still on MB which I will not mention out of politeness.

23. Was LA a good place to play Heavy Metal? Which other bands have been around when you started with CIRITH UNGOL?

GREG: In the late 70ā€™s, we played with Van Halen, Legs Diamond, Y & T, and Quiet Riot with Randy Rhoades.

24. METAL BLADE EUROPE released the double CD `Servants Of Chaos` these days: Itā€™s finally the last output of CIRITH UNGOL, arenā€™t there any other older tracks left you could release?

GREG: I wouldnā€™t call it the last CU release, weā€™ve got around 20 more unreleased songs like ā€œBrutish Manchildā€, ā€œShelobā€™s Lairā€, and ā€œWorse Things Waitingā€ that Iā€™m trying to sort out and remix for another CD, hopefully.

25. Are there also songs on `Servants…` which never got released before? Have you remixed some tracks? Will this output also be available on vinyl?

GREG: Sorry, there are no plans to release ā€œServantsā€ on vinyl. ā€œHype Performanceā€, ā€œEyesā€, and the studio version of ā€œLast Laughā€ were never released before, and ā€œBite of the Wormā€ was only released on our ā€œOrange Labelā€ cassette in a few hundred copies. All of the other songs are different versions from our original albums. And of course, all my boring guitar stuff was never released before!

26. Why didnā€™t METAL BLADE US agree to release this stuff?

GREG: I guess they would rather release a ā€œGreatest Hits of GWARā€ CD!

ROB: I think I mentioned it earlier but the US office are not big fans of the group which is OK as I am not particularly a fan of many of the bands they have on their roster so obliviously it is a matter of tasteā€¦

27. OK, itā€™s a very courageous question, but I wonder if we ever could imagine CIRITH UNGOL returning back…? Bands like CANDLEMASS, DESTRUCTION, AGENT STEEL and so on have decided to return after many years of silence… What do you think about reunions in general?

GREG: Usually I prefer to remember a band at their peak, rather than 15 years later, bald and with beer bellies. Of course, I still look good!ļŠ With Jerry gone, it wouldnā€™t be the original CU, but itā€™s still possibleā€¦

ROB: It is amazing as there is not a month goes by that we are not approached about playing at major festivals etc. When we were together we had to fight for every gig usually playing opening or in the second slot. It is too bad that we were not offered the same opportunity back then as we would have really blown some peolples minds!!!! I mainly quit playing as I was so disgusted by the way we were treated by the music industry back then. Since the same people are still in charge of the music bussiness today and since the same bullshit continues to go on I can not see myself being subjected to the abuse all over again. I miss playing and would definitely play for our fans but I think it is rather doubtful. You have know idea the pain and suffering we went through over the years and what a dark stain it has left on my mind.

28. I guess nowadays there would be much more people who are into CIRITH UNGOL than during the existence of the band (at least in Germany, I think): The cult status grew constantly… Itā€™s like van Gogh for example: He never sold a painting while he was alive, hehe… What do you think about this fact? Do you nowadays get very much fan mail?

GREG: Rob has boxes and boxes of letters from fans over the years. The Internet is really great for cult bands like usā€¦too bad it wasnā€™t around 20 years ago when we really needed it! We get emails every day from around the world and itā€™s really gratifying to see that our music means so much to people.

ROB: I get about 50 e-mails a day and we get about 1 request for interviews a week. Because we have other lives now it takes me a long time to answer peopleā€™s requests but we try to as best as we can. Many people still are having a hard timing finding our stuff especially in the US as you can imagine!!!! I just wish that so many people would buy the CDā€™s and t-shirts that Metal Blade would come to us a beg us for another CD or to re-unite. I know this will never happen but it would be nice.

29. What can you say about the influence Michael Moorcock had on CIRITH UNGOL?

GREG: Moorcock was a huge influence on me as a writer. In ā€œThe Lord Of The Ringsā€ the line between good and evil is very distinct, but Moorcockā€™s characters face more complicated choices. I like his dark view of the world.

ROB: I agree with Greg but I have heard some stories about him that make him seem like a jerk in person. Michael Whelan who painted the covers, which grace our albums, took the original painting for the book ā€œSailors on a Sea of Fateā€ which appeared on our CD ā€œParadise Lostā€. His intention was to have Moorcock sign the painting near the bottom as his imagination created the figure portrayed. They had never met and Michael Whelan introduced himself and explained that he had painted the covers for his US editions of his books and was very polite. Michael Moorcock took the painting and with a giant marking pen signed his name very large all over the painting. Of course Michael Whelan said he was in shock and grabbed the painting rushing home to try to repair the irreplaceable masterpiece. I think he fixed it but the story is very disturbing. I believe this account as Michael Whelan is a very honest and straight up guy.

30. CIRITH UNGOL not just concentrated on fantasy lyrics, there have been many different kinds: Nevertheless, were those fantasy lyrics a possibility for you to escape from reality somehow?

GREG: Not really, I was just trying to tell a story in each song, hopefully with a message. The non-fantasy lyrics were more of an outlet for my feelings, so I guess you could say I could escape from reality by writing about it!

31. As Europe never got the joy to experience CU live I actually wonder what such a show must have been like? Did you have some special effects or was it “just” about pure Metal? Are there any bootlegged videos of CU existing?

GREG: If there were any videos Iā€™d like to see them! Aside from Tim rising up out of a coffin at the beginning of the show and battling a giant spider during ā€œShelobā€™s Lairā€, it was pretty straightforward: Tim shrieking like a banshee, Jerry pulling incredible solos out of his flying V, Rob trying to reduce his drum kit to rubble, and Flint holding the chaos at bay with a wall of thunder.

ROB: Well we also used to do a song at the end of our set where everyone had a chance to do their big solos. In one part Greg would do the most unbelievable guitar solo, then Jerry would follow with an even more spectacular one, then they would appear together a play a double lead solo that would have literally raised the dead! Usually I would play along with the bass solo then I would play until my hands would bleed sometimes spraying the crowd with my precious bodily fluids, then we would end with this pounding ending that built up into a crescendo snapping at the end like a crack of a whip! Boy, I loved that part!!!!

32. Hasnā€™t it been very frustrating to see primitive newcomers getting hyped by major labels, and seeing that CU never got that recognition? The music business is just about making money, I guess…

GREG: Well, luckily I donā€™t rely on music for my livelihood, so Iā€™ve never had to be a musical whore to keep from starving. I admit itā€™s frustrating that CU never got widespread recognition or massive album sales, but 25 years after we started, Iā€™m doing interviews every week, answering fan email almost every day, and new bands are naming CU as a big influence. Thatā€™s more success that I could have dreamed of when we started in 1971.

ROB: Well some people have made allot of money off us over the years. I wished we would have originally held out for a major label, but who knows maybe we would have only had one album out.

33. Could you ever imagine writing new CU-songs? Donā€™t you feel the need to express yourself through music anymore?

GREG: I have a small studio at home, and Iā€™m still writing songs and playing around with my guitars and synthesizer. I canā€™t really relate to much music other than hard rock and metal, so thatā€™s what Iā€™m writing and playing.

ROB: I dream of playing again someday, when the band split up in 1991 I sold my drums and swore that I would never touch another drumstick. I have kept that promise to myself but have spent many nightmarish nights dreaming about the band and music. It is hard for me to go see music live as that is what I wanted to do with my life and it was a very big disappointment that it all came crashing down. I was very depressed for a long time and it is still difficult for me to this day to do these interviews and talk about the band as my feelings were so strong about the band and our music.

34. Finally, the last words are yours… Just feel free to add anything I forgot to ask! Thank you very much for the opportunity to ask you these questions! Bye!

GREG: My sincere thanks to all our fans over the years for supporting our music. We hope you like ā€œServants Of Chaosā€, and let us know if you want to hear more from Cirith Ungol!

ROB: Yes, and please if you like the band please go out and get the re-releases as there is no telling how long they will be available. For years the stuff was only available on bootleg and the quality was very bad so please tell your friends about a band that once existed a long time ago in a place far far awayā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦..

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