| Joe Hasselvander | |
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 Joe Hasselvander onstage with Raven, Osaka, Japan 2009
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| Background information | |
| Genres | Heavy metal, Doom metal |
| Instruments | Vocals, bass, guitar, drums, violin |
| Years active | 1966–present |
| Website | Joe Hasselvander on Myspace |
Joe Hasselvander (born 1957?) is a musician who has been playing professionally since the age of 9 years old in 1966. He was self-taught, playing the violin and later the drums.
Contents |
Career
Joe regularly played the military club circuit in and around the Washington, D.C. area until 1973 when he was asked to join The Platters after playing a show with them in Waldorf, Maryland.[citation needed] Joe declined, saying he had to finish high school. He later joined a jazz fusion ensemble called the Ra Notra Sextet that was writing and performing music similar to Chick Corea or The Mahavishnu Orchestra.
Pentagram
In 1973, Joe returned to the hard rock genre playing with D.C. band The Boyz in the Washington/Baltimore area. In 1976, Joe was asked to play in Mountain with Leslie West in a small club in Alexandria, Virginia.[citation needed] In 1977, Joe joined forces with Bobby Liebling and started a new and serious working version of heavy metal doom band, Pentagram. Joe's first single, "Living In A “Ram's Head" b/w "When The Screams Come", was recorded with Joe sharing the producing duties with Liebling. In 1979 Pentagram opened for Judas Priest on the “Hell Bent for Leather” tour and later that year Joe formed Overlord with members of Pentagram and Link Wray's "The Pack".
In 1981 Joe once again joined forces with The Boyz to release “Bustin’ Out”, followed by a Falls Church, Virginia show with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. Joe formed Death Row Records with axeman Victor Griffin in 1982 and once again recruited Bobby Liebling and bassist Martin Swaney to write and record Pentagram's first LP on New York label Dutch East Records.
Solo Career and Raven
Joe moved to New York and recorded Devil Childe, Phantom Lord and the solo album Lady-Killer; Joe performed rhythm guitar, bass, drums and vocals, while former Virgin Steele guitarist, Jack Starr played the guitar solos. 1985 found Joe working with British blues legend, Kim Simmonds performing 2 years worth of shows throughout the U.S.under the names Savoy Brown or The Kim Simmonds Band. Only one studio demo and one live recording exists of this lineup including players from Blue Cheer, Cactus, The Plasmatics and the Rods.
In September of ’87 Joe made a cameo appearance on Pentagram’s second album, Day Of Reckoning, filling in on Burning Saviour. Joe immediately recorded all drum, guitar, bass and vocal tracks for his second solo album, Road Kill, on Bad Posture Records and soon after he recorded first demos with N.W.O.B.H.M. legends, Raven at Bearsville studios in Woodstock, N.Y..
1988 Joe officially joined Raven and recorded the album Nothing Exceeds Like Excess for Combat Records. He followed up by touring with Raven supporring Testament in the United States and Kreator in Europe in 1989. Soon after, he recorded with Christian metal band Armageddon for their first album, The Money Mask. Raven switched labels and management to Drakkar Promotions and SPV Records in Germany and recorded Architect Of Fear, then supported it by touring with Germany pirate rockers Running Wild. Video from this tour was made in to an on-the-road “rock-umentary” entitled Electro Shock Therapy, which featured very revealing moments with Mr. Hasselvander in his natural habitat and was released in tandem with Heads Up [disambiguation needed] featuring outtakes from Architect Of Fear and live songs from the tour. A tour with German band Risk followed in 1992.
Pentagram Reunion
In 1993 Joe was asked to play on a reunion album for Pentagram called Be Forewarned for London-based Peaceville Records after rerecording the drums for Day Of Reckoning to be released on CD. Soon after, Joe and Victor Griffin were asked to fill in on guitar and drums for British doom band Cathedral as support on the spring 1994 tour of Europe for Black Sabbath and their Cross Purposes album. Joe returned to record Raven's 7th album, Glow, on the Japanese label Zero Corporation; the album was released in 1995. Joe traveled to Los Angeles to take part in the Foundations Forum with Raven. Raven then went to Tokyo, Japan, to make a live album, Destroy All Monsters (Live In Japan) and to record a Japanese MTV concert video. In 1996 Joe recorded Everything Louder with Raven at Pete Evick’s studio. The band flew to Europe once again to headline a tour for this album with support acts, Tank and HammerFall.
In 1997 Joe and Bobby Liebling were signed to the Italian doom label, Black Widow, and Review Your Choices was recorded with Joe playing the drums, guitar and bass guitar and Bobby doing vocals. In the summer of 1999 Raven traveled to Nashville to record [[[One For All|One For All]] [disambiguation needed] with the legendary producer Michael Wagner. A tour in January 2000 with U.D.O. followed in Germany and later that spring in the U.S.. Joe re-signed with Black Widow to record the Pentagram album Sub-Basement, which was released to rave reviews [1] in 2001.
Joe played many one-off shows with Raven (band) in 2003 with Mark Gallagher sporting a leg cast from an injury sustained in a near death work accident in 2002. In 2003 Joe went to Florida with Jack Starr to record the album “Under A Savage Sky” under the banner of Jack Starr’s Guardians Of The Flame featuring the searing vocals of Schmolik Avigal ex-Picture,The Rods. Joe Hasselvander was the producer on this album.
In 2004 Joe was asked to play two concerts in New Hampshire with his childhood idols, Blue Cheer. The shows went well and they got along famously. So much so that an album was recorded with Joe on the drums , “What Doesn’t Kill You”. 2005 comes and Joe played the colossal German rock festivals “Keep It True” and “Bang Your Head!!!” to an adoring crowd with Raven alongside of the likes of Whitesnake and Foreigner. Bang your head and Keep it true were filmed and released on DVD in 2006.. Raven (band) played more one off festivals during 2006 and 2007.
Joe Hasselvander soon releases his 3rd solo album “The Hounds Of Hasselvander” on German heavy metal label Rock Saviour Records, this time performing everything on the album. In November,2007 Joe went to England to play in the ‘Hard Rock Hell” festival at the Butlins resort in Minehead. The review by Geoff Barton simply states that Raven (band) took over the show from the likes of “Twisted Sister” “Saxon” and “UFO”. This was all followed up by a few choice dates in Holland and Belgium to very thankful and loyal fans who went wild for the band.
Joe Hasselvander played out with a working version of his solo band, the Hounds Of Hasselvander to very enthusiastic audiences up and down the east coast of the U.S. who greatly approve of the new material featured on The Hounds CD. Joe Hasselvander is now currently working on a brand new line up for the Hounds Of Hasselvander to tour Europe and Canada in the early spring of 2009. As of July 2008, Mr. Hasselvander is concentrating on upcoming Raven (band) shows in California with friends Hirax, in New York at the Legendary club L'amour, and again back to England in September for a Raven (band) mini-tour.
As of June 2009, Joe with Raven (band) performed 2 nights in Japan in support of the band's new album "Walk Through Fire" (2009, King Records)
Album Discography
Studio Albums
Solo
- Lady-Killer - Full-length, 1985
- Roadkill - Full-length, 2001
- The Hounds Of Hasselvander - Full-length, 2007
- Lady-Killer/Roadkill - Full-length, Double CD Re-Release 2008
With Raven
- Nothing Exceeds Like Excess - Full-length, 1988
- Unreleased Tracks - Full-length, 1990
- Architect of Fear - Full-length, 1991
- Glow - Full-length, 1994
- Everything Louder - Full-length, 1997
- Raw Tracks - Full-length, 1999
- One For All - Full-length, 2000
- All Systems Go! - The Neat Anthology - Full-length, 2002
- Walk Through Fire Full Length, 2009
With Pentagram
- Relentless - Full-length, 1985
- Day Of Reckoning - Full-length, 1987
- Be Forewarned - Full-length, 1994
- Turn To Stone - Full-length, 1997
- Review Your Choices - Full-length, 1997
- Blue Explosion/Tribute To Blue Cheer - Full-length, 2000
- A Tribute To Captain Beyond, Thousand Days Of Yesterdays - Full-length, 2000
- Death Is Alive - Full-length, 2000
- Sub-Basement - Full-length, 2001
- A Keg Full Of Dynamite - Full-length, 2002
Other
- Blue Cheer: *What Doesn't Kill You...(Blue Cheer album) - Full-length, 2007
- Jack Starr's Guardians Of The Flame: *Under A Savage Sky - Full-length, 2004
- Cathedral: *The Serpent's Gold - Full-length, 2004
- Armageddon: *The Money Mask - Full-length, 1989 re-released - 2007
- Black Manta: *Fuck Them All But Six - Full-length, 2003
- Devil Childe: *Devil Childe - Full-length, 1985
- Phantom Lord: *Phantom Lord - Full-length, - 1985
- The Boyz: *Bustin' Out - EP -1981
EP Albums
With Raven
- Heads Up! - EP, 1991
With Pentagram
- Living In A Ram's Head" b/w "When The Screams Come 7" -1978
Live Albums
- Destroy All Monsters/Live in Japan - Live album, 1995
References
- Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives
- Tartarean Desire - Raven - Heavy metal band from United Kingdom
- The BNR Metal Pages, Version 2
External links
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