Praying Mantis: Old version of the site. For the latest click here
New Album Sanctuary Out Soon!|
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News/Site UpdatesLast Modified On 21 Mar 2009For the latest new go here 18 July 2003 - I have now seen the DVD and I am very pleased with it. It is great being able to watch the band without the fear that my VCR will eat the tape. It is also great getting decent copies of the promo videos. I should note that Time Time Girl while it claims to be "(Live Version)" is still an actual promo of the band rather than a truly live version. I think would be really nice if Pony Canyon could round up the acoustic TV appearances and Live TV show for a 2nd DVD release. Lets hope this release sells well. The Discography and Biography are in English and Japanese. I have no idea what the Japanese version says but the English one is a shorter version of the history page on this site. It does say however that it is possible that the DVD could get a European release later this summer. I have not checked this out yet. My main reason for an update is that Dennis is going to be playing with Remus Down Boulevard again. They will be performing at the Standard in Walthamstow on Saturday August 16th 2003. The gig will be record for a live album by Tino. Although I am disgusted to say time has got the better of me and I never written a review of the July 2001 gig I know it was great gig and lots of the old Bridgehouse fans turned up to relive the past. It will be great if the atmosphere of 25 years ago can be recreated again.
RDB at the Standard in Walthamstow in July 2001 12 June 2003 - Ko Yamada kindly wrote to tell me the bonus material for the "Captured Alive In Tokyo" DVD has been announced. It will contain what I assume were the promo videos for the following
It will also feature a Biography and Discography. I don't know if they will
be in English or just Japanese. The disc is due out on June 18th (PCBP-50803)
and will cost 3,990yen 14 May 2003 - I have replaced the old message board with a new one that has a lot of extra features. Hopefully a few people will leave a message so that we can get it going. What do people think of the new album? 27 Apr 2003 - I have finally found the time to put online an interview I took with Tino, Chris and Dennis in March. Pony Canyon have announced they are releasing "Captured Alive In Tokyo City" on June 18th (PCBP-50803). It will cost 3,990yen I see Bruce Bisland has decided to comment on a recent interview by Chris on the Message Board. Chris's interview is on Melodicrock.com There is another interview with Chris on "On The Rocks" There is an interview on Bruce's Statetrooper on Heart Of The Rock. I have added a few more reviews onto the Discography section. 7 Apr 2003 - Bruce Bisland got in touch with me the other day and he confirmed that Statetrooper did play the Cartoon in March. He wrote "Yes indeed Statetrooper did play The Cartoon on March 5th and the lineup was myself,Gary Barden (Mantis singer on To The Power Of Ten and the Live Captured albums),Jeff Summers and Jeff Brown from the original band along with our old mate Leon Lawson (He has played keyboards with Mantis for all the dates since Forever In Time in 1998) on keyboards and an amazing young guy called Martin Mickels on lead guitar. A great night was had by all as it was only supposed to be a warmup for the New Jersey Metal-fest which alas we had to pull out of. The old album is selling well and a new one is being written as we speak but with my touring schedule at the moment its finding time to get in the studio. " I also spoke with Bruce and Tony after a recent "The Sweet" gig. Tony is singing well and fitting into the band nicely. They both wished the band every success with the new album. Bruce also confirmed that he had played on the recent "Tank" album. Munich's Hardest Hits "Germany's No.1 Internet Rock Radio" has made "The Journey Goes On" It's album of the week. They describe it as "Really great stuff" and are convinced their "listener's will love it". Dennis recently did an interview for Classic Rock News. You can read it here. I forgot to mention in the last update that I have reduced the price of the special edition "Nowhere To Hide" CD's. 19 Mar 2003 - Yippee "The Journey Goes On" is out in Japan so I will hopefully have someone to talk to about how good it is. I have just loaded 1min clips of all the tracks. The quality is low but so it my disc space. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do though. Please send in your reviews! I have just had it confirmed by Frontiers and Now And Then that the European release date for the album is April 29th. Dave Cooper of Scorched Earth got in touch with me in February and confirms that Tino and Chris were on "Tomorrow Never Comes". He is created a website for the band and it sounds like the track might make a CD release sometime. 17 Mar 2003 - I can confirm the message on the message board Tony O'Hora has now joined Andy Scott's Sweet. He now joins ex-Praying Mantis band mate Bruce Bisland. Tony has joined as singer and bass player. Tony has been playing rhythm guitar for some years so it is not too big a leap for him to go to bass too. Andy's Scott's Sweet play a lot of European dates and currently have a 42 date UK tour date with Showaddywaddy and The Rubettes coming up at the end of the month. The full dates can be seen on http://www.thesweet.com/GlitzBlitz2003dates.htm. Bruce Bisland might also have played a gig with Statetrooper in London. It was at The Cartoon. It claimed to be the original lineup so it might have had Gary Barden in it too. I am still trying to confirm if this is correct or not. Thanks to Derrick Sheldon for the tip off. Pony Canyon has a 45 second Real Audio clip on their Praying Mantis page. Also some of the writing credits. I plan to put clips of all the tracks up once the album is out in Japan. 18 Feb 2003 - I have done a general webpage update in preparation for the new album. Last week I went down to the studio to see how things were going. I took an interview with Dennis and Chris but as I am currently in the middle of a house move I am not sure when I will get something added here. In the meantime I have added details on Doogie White, John Sloman and Martin "Magic" Johnson who plays drums on the new album to the Other Projects page. I have also added the album to the Discography section and I have created a general page for "The Journey Goes On". 26 Jan 2003 - I grabbed a spare moment with Tino yesterday. I can't guarantee the following information is 100% correct as it was only a quick call but I thought you would appreciate an update: The band are still very busy recording the new album. It is probably to be called "The Journey Goes On". They hope to deliver it to Pony Canyon, Japan in mid February. I have not been able to confirm when its current release date is. I can also confirm that like "Nowhere To Hide" the album will be coming out on Frontiers and Now And Then. Again I am not sure of the exact release date but it is likely to be a month or so after the Japanese date. A session drummer was used for the album this time and Doogie White (Yngwie Malmsteen, Ex-Rainbow and of course a Japanese Tour with Mantis) and John Sloman (Ex Uriah Heep & Lone Star) have sung vocals. Doogie features on 5 of the 10 tracks including a remake of "Naked" which was originally a bonus track on the European version of "Nowhere To Hide". John sings on 3 tracks. Chris Troy takes lead vocals on another track and Dennis Stratton, Tino Troy and Chris share harmonies, like they do on "Lovers To The Grave", on the remaining track. 14 Nov 2002 - I have just had a quick chat with Tony O'Hora. He told me he is appear on two tracks on "A Tribute To Boston". He sings on "Smoking" and "Something About You". Also about a year ago Michael Riesenbeck told me Tony would be singing on his upcoming solo album "Shouting Silence". I believe this is due out soon. I did discuss the current Praying Mantis situation but I think it is best to keep that to myself until such a time as the next album makes it's release. 2 Oct 2002 - I managed to have a word with the band last night and recording is due to start next week once some new equipment has arrived. All other details at present are still up in the air so I can't comment on the reported lineup change below or the fact Bruce Bisland has been playing with Tank. We will just have to wait and see what happens it seems. 7 Sep 2002 - Now And Then have the following news on their website. I am sure it will be correct but I will try and get more details if I can.
28 May 2002 - The Message board has been down for some months. Sorry about that. It is now working again. I hope. Still no new news from Mantis I am afraid. 4 Apr 2002 - I don't want you thinking this site is dead so I thought I had better just report that there is still nothing much to report at present. I did check the status of the band the other day and they are still preparing new tracks as demos. I now have the Metal Warriors DVD of Wacken 2000. I found this slightly disappointing to be honest. I was expecting there to be some live clips of the band at Wacken but while there are pictures the sound is from the albums and unrelated. Also on the short section I have watched so far they have taken 4:3 pictures and chopped them into 16:9 pictures which makes picutres look rather amateur. If I get chance I will try and write a proper review. There are 25 bands featured on the DVD and it is available from Nuclear Blast in Germany. It is only 9,99Euros so fairly cheap and runs for 80mins. The number is 27361 66602. Oh the packaging on mine says it is NTSC and 4:3 ratio. I definitely need to investigate more if I ever get chance. 10 Dec 2001 - I got the following news recently. I am currently trying to get full details. WACKEN DVD REMINDER!!: (Press Release) Wacken 2000 was such a special event reaching an attendance of 35,000 fans that Nuclear Blast/Warner has released it in a double-pack video and on DVD. Each video contains over an hour of entertainment from the world's greatest Heavy Metal festival. With filmed interviews and live segments of some of the following killer bands. SAMSON (on stage+interview), RHAPSODY (on stage+), STRATOVARIUS (Freedom -videoclip+), HYPOCRISY (on stage+), PRAYING MANTIS (on stage + interview), DARK At DAWN (on stage), ANGEL WITCH (interview +), STEEL ATTACK (on stage), VANISHING POINT (Signing Session), MOB RULES, PINK CREAM 69 (on stage), SQUEALER (on stage), LIEGE LORD ( interview / guitarist Paul Nelson) and lots more. Avaliable at: amazon.de Also Remus Down Boulevard with Dennis Stratton are playing again on the 13th and 14th of December at the Standard in Walthamstow. Special guests on 13th are the Jackie Lynton Band (full line-up) and on the 14th The Roy Mette Band plus celebrity guests (they are a Rory Gallagher tribute band). Tickets are £8 each night or £12 for both nights. 22 Aug 2001 - I got an E-mail from Gerry Kelly the other day. I guess it is of interest so I will mention it here Hope you are well, thought I'd drop you a line to tell you about a rather special event. On the 8th December this year, Neal Kay is coming out of retirement and we are putting together a one-off re-union for all those folks who attended Neal's gigs. It should be a good evening with lots of head shaking and reminiscing. It's at The Rayners Hotel in Rayners Lane. It's an all ticket affair, basically because we need to know how many people are going to come, and if there is a massive demand no-one gets turned away at the door 'cos hopefuly they'll all have tickets. The tickets are going to be £10 each, it's completely self-finaced, so this covers for hire of hall, door staff, sound and lighting, and although Neal is looking forward to it, he and his roadies want paying! Please spread the word and if anyone wants to apply for tickets, or any more info, get them to hmsoundhouse@hotmail.com or phone Gerry on 0208 202 3679 (eves) 22 Aug 2001 - Still not much happening on the Mantis front but Tony's Horakane album is being re-released in a remixed format on Now And Then. And I have been passed details of Tony's pub band's web site Before The Storm 8 July 2001 - The RDB gig went down well I expect to be adding Pictures etc. later. In the meantime I have just spotted I lost on of my scripts in the last transfer. It is now restore and hopefully some of you will start sending in album reviews. Dennis mentioned he and Chris had been writing songs for the new album. They are just Demoing in preparation for recording properly later in the year. 6 June 2001 - Things still sound a little vague but it seems there is going to be a one off reunion gig of Dennis's pre-Maiden band Remus Down Boulevard (RDB). Apparently Dave Edwards and Dennis had a chat about playing together to remember there Bridgehouse days. The event is therefore being billed as below. The Bridgehouse Reunion Party On the Mantis front it now looks like the band are in the writing stage for the next album. It is not likely before the end of the year. 23 May 2001 - The site has moved servers yet again and hopefully everything is working again. Please let me know if you spot any errors I haven't (except spelling ones! Although you all welcome to tell me of those too!) 15 April 2001 - I added a Powerplay Magazine Review from Wacken (It was from Issue 18 in which I wrote a breif history of Mantis. It is just a one page summary of this web site basically.). I also added a new "Forever In Time" review and a couple of other minor Discography changes. BTW sorry about the scripts giving a "Cannot #EXEC '/cgi-bin/logs/log.cgi' due to lack of EXECUTE permission" my provider made an unexpected change and it is taking sometime to resolve. 10 April 2001 - I added a couple of reviews of the Gods festival from the Press. 8 April 2001 - Metal Invader Magazine in Greece had a Praying Mantis track on the cover disc with Issue 53. The track was Nowhere To Hide. 24 March 2001 - I added a few reviews to the discography section. Mainly "Nowhere To Hide" ones as there are lots about on the Net. I finally rememberd to add in the details of the Nowhere To Hide bonus track. 23 March 2001 - Still no news of anything happening with the lads. I guess they are just enjoying life before they start on the new album. In the Meantime according to http://www.nowandthen.co.uk/news.html#Union Mantis will have a track on the new Union 4 compilation. There are no more details as to which take it will be. "Nowhere To Hide" has been the track on Magazine Sampler discs. Please let me know if you see any of these as I am interested in logging them. 19 January 2001 - There is not a lot happening at the moment. I have heard that Mantis's Nowehere To Hide was chosen for Album of the Year at Heavy Harmonies. It is was also named number 1 in online rock magazine Detritus. 28 November 2000 - I have added the pictures from the latest Dean Swift and Astoria gigs. I didn't think they justified a new page so the Gods Festival 2000 page is rather large now. Aren't you bored of my comments yet? How about someone else sending some in? My copy of issue 2 of Fireworks came today. It contains the track Nowhere to Hide on the Bonus disc and a review of the album. You can get it from Bruce Mee. To encourage you to send in reviews how about a prize?
The lads knocked up this A4 poster on an inkjet in order to promo the Limited Edition CD's at the Dean Swift just before Wacken. I got the band to sign it and although it got a little crumbled on the way home I managed to get it home. (I tried this when I went to Japan and got the lads to sign the 2 posters advertising the Album reissues. When I boarded the plane I realised I had forgotten them. I managed to get off the plane (not an easy thing to do!) to have a look for them as I knew I had them at Customs but I never did find them and nor did the airport.) I will enter anyone into a draw anyone that sends me reviews of albums or gigs before January 31st 2001. Each review will count a one chance in the draw. I will then choose a name at random and send this poster and a copy of the limited edition Nowhere To Hide CD. 14 November 2000 - I have added Pictures from the Gods Festival 2000. The band have decided to have another warm up at the Dean Swift on 21 November. I guess it will follow the same format as before with the band going through the set twice.
Nowhere To Hide is now out on Now And Then/Frontiers in Europe. This version includes the new track "Naked". 22 October 2000 - It appears I am finally on a my new server. If you notice any problems please let me know. Thanks 5 Oct 2000 - It seems The Dean Swift ( Dean Cross Street, Commercial Road, London) date is going to be on November 2nd. The band have also been booked as support to Glenn Hughes at the London Astoria 2 on November 22. The gig list is now as follows.
There is still talk of the gig in LA, USA. Also ones in Rome and Greece. Fireworks Magazine issue 2 will have the track "Nowhere To Hide" on the cover disc. Issue 3 will in all probability have an interview with the lads about things at present. To get Fireworks I suspect it might be best to e-mail Bruce Mee to get a price. The Magazine is out every 2 months and available from Fireworks Magazine, Subscriptions Dept, 10 Dunnnock Close, Offerton, Stockport, SK2 5XD, UK. I have written a general history piece on Mantis for Powerplay magazine too. 28 Sept 2000 - The band will be playing a warm up gig at The Cartoon 179 London Road, Croydon again on 31st October. It was £3 on the door to get in last time and I suspect it will be the same this time. Gigs at the Cartoon often seem to start and end later than normal pub gigs. If you let me know you are interested I can confirm this nearer the time. I am also expecting another gig at the Dean Swift probably between this gig and the Gods festival, Wigan. The band are talking about playing one or maybe two tracks from Nowhere to Hide this time. It is too early to say for sure though. 15 Sept 2000 - According to www.underground-live.de the highlights from Wacken will be screen on 24.09.00 between 16:00-20:00 hrs in Germany. I can't really establish who is able to see this. They tell me "All people who have Kabel TV in the german state Rhineland-Pfalz/Vorderpfalz (and in gemany it`s normal to have Kabel TV) can watch the music TV show weekly normaly one hour (19:00-20.00) on the local channels, next sunday there will be a three hour Bang your head Festival special and sunday 24.9.2000 there will be a four hour Wacken Festival special." There is a Kabel TV channel on the Astra Satellite but apparently it isn't the right Kabel. A shame. If you can get the program it looks an interesting one to watch regularly. 8 Sept 2000 - I spoke to Tino earlier this week and he said the new track is now finished. It is too be called "Naked" and is about 8 minutes long. It is about the baby daughter he lost in March of this year. It will appear on the European editions of Nowhere To Hide. Details of the LA festival are still uncertain although I have heard from one person telling me they are now being advertised on the bill. When I spoke to Tino things were still being negotiated. The set for the Gods festival is likely to be about 40 minutes so I suspect it will be much as it was at Wacken in Germany. 29 August 2000 - In the last week Praying Mantis signed to Frontiers in Italy. This means they will also be released in the UK on Now And Then. Despite the announcements before Wacken it really was only this last week hence I have not confirmed it before. Tino says 'We are putting a bonus track on this release... Probably entitled "The man that never was" another epic!'. Mantis are due to play the Gods Festival in Wigan England on November 4th. Details are on the Now And Then Web Site. They are also likely to play a festival in LA on November 10th or 11th. I have no more details about this yet. Not even the festival name. Finally I am expecting to move servers shortly so there might be a day or so when this site is down or not quite working properly. Apologies in advance 10 August 2000 - I have add the details of the Limited Edition Picture Disc of Nowhere To Hide which is available from me. I have also added pictures and my view of the recent dates. If you were at any of the dates please send me your views for the page. Your opinions are more important than mine. Gig reviews are here and I have also added back stage pics and my experiences at Wacken here. 25 July 2000 - I added the final part of the Dennis Stratton interview. It covers Lionheart through to the end of 1999. For those that have already read part of this the new section starts with "Lionheart then. Basically can you tell me the story of Lionheart?" Tino told me today he expect the Dean Swift to start around 9pm. I think I would be inclined to get there a little early to be on the safe side. Apparently a Picture disc version of Nowhere To Hide will be available at the UK gigs and Wacken. I will let you know more about it when I have seen it. 11 July 2000 - Apparently the Shebeen has hit financial trouble and is closing so the gig there has had to be cancelled. The date at the Dean Swift has therefore been moved forward to 31 July. The dates now are therefore (see below for how to get there)
8 July 2000 - As expected Mantis will also be playing The Dean Swift pub before Wacken. See the 6 June entry for the other two dates in the UK. They play the Dean Swift on 2nd August. It can be hard to find so here is how I do it. I go to Aldgate East tube Station. Then it is three bus stops down Commercial Road. The Stop I get off at is called Watney Market (and the shopping precinct can be seen on the right as you approach the stop). The nearest Street to the pub is Sidney Street which is almost opposite the pub on the left. The Dean Swift is set well back on the right hand side. It was very easy to miss and taxi drivers didn't know where it was so I hope these instructions help. 4 July 2000 - I have added Real Audio clips for the Nowhere To Hide Album tracks. I have also had a serious revamp of the discography section. It now contains extra informtion and is on individual pages. The pages will include reviews of the albums just as soon as you send me them. Please use this form. It would be really nice if we could get two or three reviews for each album. Nowhere to Hide made the Japanese International Artist chart at 15. And was at 40 in the chart including domestic Japanese artists. I believe this is the best placing they have ever had. A new Interview with Chris Troy about Nowhere to Hide was added 27 June 2000 - I have change the
Survey form to be self updating. Please rate the albums for me. 25 June 2000 - I added a Search facility to the site. It meant changing all the pages but there is nothing new. And Of course Nowhere To Hide Is Now Released. 8 June 2000 - Had a little tidy up and an experiment with another Jave App. Also add a 1985 set list to the History page. 7 June 2000 - Out of frustration at my slowness I have decided to release another part of my Dennis Stratton Career Interview. It now covers up to the end of Iron Maiden. I am not to far from the end of finishing the unreleased bit but I expect it will be more than a month before I release it. July 2000's UK Classic Rock Mag says:- "The New Praying Mantis album, "Nowhere To Hide" is out in Japan on June 21, while Zoom Club Records have just re-issued "Live At Last" (Recorded in 1990 with former Iron Maiden men Dennis Stratton and Paul Di'anno), plus Captured - Live In Tokyo City and Forever In Time albums. Mantis were recently forced to cancel their touring plans, including a London date with Samson and Angel Witch (the latter having just re-released their own "Resurrection" album through Zoom Club), due to a family bereavement" 6 June 2000 - Ok here we go again some UK dates for you. I feel reasonably confidant they will happen this time but it is best to check back here or let me know you are going so I can make sure you know if they don't happen.
Out of curiosity What songs would you like to hear Mantis play in the UK and Japan? Either e-mail me or leave a message on the message board if you prefer. 28 May 2000 - Zoom Club Records will be releaseing 'Live At Last' ZCRCD35 In late June. They sell direct and I have brough from them in the past myself. 26 May 2000 - Nowhere To Hide is due for release in Japan on June 21st. I have added the front cover to the site. The Wacken site has Mantis listed as appearing on the Wet Stage between 22.00 - 22.45 on Friday 4 August. 19 Apr 2000 - Mantis were due to be playing the following UK dates.
The earlier ones were in preparation for the date with Angel Witch and Samson at the Astoria. Sadly the date for the Astoria date had been changed from a date earlier in the month. Mantis drummer Bruce Bisland who was able to make the original date isn't in the country on the 26th and Mantis have only just finished recording the new "Nowhere To Hide" album which overran slightly. The band would need to rehearse a different drummer and they were already short of time for learning up the new material. On top of all this one of the band members has suffered a family tragedy and is therefore not in the best position to spend time for rehearsals just now. With all this it was felt that it was best to pull out of these dates. The band apologise to any fans that were looking forward to the gigs. I am currently under the impression they will still be performing at the Wacken Festival Hamburg, Germany. They are not expecting to do a promotional tour of Japan for the new album this time so it could well be that the tour dates for their will be brought forward. Mantis are therefore likely to play some UK dates around then. 26 Mar 2000 - Take It Magazine Germany recently put an excellent interview with Chris online. "Nowhere to hide" has been delays to June (to my latest knowledge). I don't know why. It is complete and everyone that has heard it loves it. Including me. 19 Mar 2000 - Mantis are building a few dates now so I will just
summerise them in one place
4 Mar 2000 - I added the track listing for Nowhere to Hide on the Nowhere to Hide Page. I also add details of a 1999 Bernie Shaw project to the Side Projects page. 1 Mar 2000 - I have just heard from a Samson page helper that May 10 will see Mantis playing in the UK outside of London! I haven't specifically checked the date and venue with the band but Tino did mention the other day a warm up in Brierly Hill so it seems reasonable to announce it. It will be at The Robin, Brierly Hill. It is my understanding the nearest train station is Cradley Station. Let me know if you are thinking of going so I can make sure I can keep you up to date on developments. 19 Feb 2000 - Fester Heep recently interviewed Bernie Shaw about recent developmentt. This in Interview can be found on his Universal Wheels 2000 pages. I see 101CD in the UK are saying the new album will be out in Japan on 15-Mar-00 - PCCY-01447 16 Feb 2000 - At last I have managed to tie up with Dave Potts again and can now released the interview I took with him August last year. It is my understanding that "Nowhere To Hide" is complete and being sent to Japan. 8 Feb 2000 - Derrick Sheldon was quick of the mark telling me the Astoria Mantis gig is back on. The Samson web page says Samson's new line up "will make their live debut when they headline the Metal Crusade 2000 concert at the LA2, at the London Astoria, on Friday May 26th. Also on the bill will be Angelwitch and Praying Mantis. Doors open at 6.30 pm, and the show will end at 10.30 sharp, so don’t be late. Tickets will be on sale from the Astoria box office from 25th January. All three bands are also booked to appear at the Wacken festival (4-5 August) in Hamburg, Germany in early August, pending contracts." Mantis will be first band on so get their early. I expect the set to be about 50 mins and it will be the 1998 lineup. The new Studio album is 99% certain to be called "Nowhere To Hide" which is one of the tracks on the album. I was expecting there to be a Japanese tour in May but I think it is only likely to be promotional tour for the album. 6 Feb 2000 - If thinks went well with Mixing the album should have been completed today. I have added a new feature to the site. You can now leave messages on the new Bulletin board. If you have any questions you can add them there or on the E-mail list or directly to me. 29 Jan 2000 - I have added an interview I took with Steve Carroll in Nov 99. Very long as usual with me doing it! My transcription energies will now go back to the start of the Dennis Stratton interview. I imagine it will take me at least 3 months or so. Since I have seen both Dennis's and Tino and Chris's pub bands I thought it was time I checked out what Tony and his wife Jas get up to outside Mantis. On the 21st of January I therefore took a trip to his home and took in a couple of performances. It was very interesting. Tony does a duo with his wife called "Caprice" and they play rock songs to Midi file drum backing. It started out with Tony and Jas singing with Jas playing keyboards then Tony decided to learn guitar five years ago and now Jas sticks to just Vocals and Tony does Vocal and Lead guitar. I would guess Tony still does 60% of the lead vocals. His guitar playing isn't up to the standard of Tino and Dennis (Not that I am a good judge) but he does a very good job of soloing in songs like Pink Floyds "Comfortably Numb". It is strange for me to see Tony playing Guitar even though I knew he did it on Horakane. The cover songs range from Abba's Waterloo through Fleetwood Mac's Dreams, Meatloaf's Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad. To ACDC's Whole Lotta Rosie Led Zeppelin's Rock'n'Roll and Gun's And Roses November Rain. While I was at the his house I took the opportunity to look at his home studio. Since the new Mantis album is getting near completion Tony had deleted most of the midi files he has been working out to the vocals to so that he just gets used to the final versions of the songs and not the demos. He did have a couple of sets of files still on his hard drive though and I got to hear them. The first track I think called "The Clock Tower" probably won't make the album due to lack of time but even in it's very keyboard driven format with no guitar or vocals you could tell it was very Mantis. Another one called "River Of Hope" I have to say I really liked. It was keyboards (Not even the sounds Chris chose for it since Tony has a different Midi unit). This one had vocals on it and even in this primitive state that Tony thought sounded terrible I could get a feel for it. The last song "I'll never know why" still had some guitar and vocal parts on the disk and this of course sounded more complete. It will be fascinating to hear the finished songs. 2 Jan 2000 - Here is a useless piece of information for you. Ex-Mantis singer Colin Peel was one of the first few people seen on the BBC in the year 2000. He is married to TV presenter Gaby Roslin and Gaby was chosen to be the BBC's Anchor person for the 27 hours of Live broadcast of the Millennium celebrations around the world. Colin was off screen watching a lot of it and come the new year he joined Gaby and the other presenters on screen to wish everyone a happy new year. News prior to this is now here.
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