As soon as we decided to go to this year's edition of the Bang Your Head festival, we figured that attending the warm-up show at the W.O.M. (World Of Motorcycles) discotheque (!) on Thursday wouldn't be a bad idea either. After all, just when and where do you get a chance to see the likes of DEATH ANGEL, SHOK PARIS, BALLISTIC and RUFFIANS on one and the same bill for just € 13.00? Right! Needless to say that we arrived well in time, in order not to miss a second.

Californians RUFFIANS were scheduled first, and they hit the stage around 8.25 P.M. with Fight For Your Life. RUFFIANS are of course most known for the fact that Carl Albert used to be their vocalist, before he moved to VILLAIN and, eventually, VICIOUS RUMORS. For this special reunion occasion the band consisted of original guitarists Craig Behrhorst and Chris Atchison and drummer Luke Bowman. Rich Wilde, the vocalist that replaced Carl Albert in 1986, was present as well. And original bassist Dan Moura, who is said to be no longer involved with music at all, was replaced by Eric Wong. Tonight's setlist (45', 9 songs) comprised of material from the band's selftitled 1985 mLP and their 1987 4-song demo with Rich. And the previously unheard Darkest Of Night. Actually, the band played two songs more than at the actual festival, including Unchained. And just as Rich announced Bad Boys Cut Loose they were told that this would be their last song, so they changed their mind and played Run For Cover in stead. Damn, I would've loved to have heard Wasteland as well! Anyhow, this was a very entertaining and convincing performance. The only bad thing about W.O.M. is that the stage is so low, so that you hardly get to see any of the bandmembers, unless you're really upfront. Which of course we weren't ... I just hope that RUFFIANS will continue one way or another, or at least release some new material.

BALLISTIC hails from Phoenix, Arizona and is the new band of Tom Gattis, the brainchild behind the likes of DEUCE, TENSION and WARDOG. Actually, they were the only band not to have been reformed recently. Joining Tom on stage were drummer Rikard Stjernquist (JAG PANZER), bassist Tim O'Connor (ex DEUCE, TENSION) and guitarist Petio Petev. On the band's highly acclaimed selftitled debut Tom took care of the vocals himself, but then JAG PANZER vocalist Harry Conklin took over for a while. Due to personal problems Harry had to leave again soon after already, and he was eventually replaced by Tony Taylor (TWISTED TOWER DIRE, OCTOBER 31, ...). I was a bit anxious to find out if Tony would be able to reproduce Tom's vocals but as soon as Collision Course kicked off all of my doubts vanished. Of course we had moved upfront by now, in order to get a good view of all five members. Once again, the band's set was to be a bit longer compared to the one that they would perform at the festival on Saturday, resulting in three 'unique' songs : Bloodbath, Call To Armageddon and Gone Ballistic. Actually, they managed to squeeze 10 out of the 11 songs from their debut in this 50' set. Plus a version of TENSION's Wrecking Crew, during which Tom took over on lead vocals. They Call Me Evil and Threshold Of Pain concluded the show in fine fashion. The crowd really enjoyed BALLISTIC's highly energetic set, and it was quite obvious that the feeling was mutual. Hopefully some sort of European tour will follow, or at least another killer CD!

Another band that I was really looking forward to seeing live was Cleveland's SHOK PARIS. After all, Go For The Throat (1984) was (is) one helluva LP, and follow-up Steel And Starlight (1987) is quite convincing too. The band's swansong (Concrete Killers, 1989) was more commercial though, and all of this would reflect on the band's setlist tonight. Being the third band they were allowed to play for one hour, resulting in five 'unique' songs : Can't Fight The Evil, On Your Feet, The American Dream, Find A Way Out and The Minute Man, which dates back to the Steel And Starlight days, but was never released properly. The emphasis tonight was clearly on Go For The Throat (7 songs) and Steel And Starlight (4), with only two being culled from Concrete Killers. SHOK PARIS' line-up consisted of originals Vic Hix (vocals), Ken Erb (guitar) and Kel Berkshire (bass), plus one-time drummer Jan Roll and AFTERSHOK's George Mihalovich, who replaced original guitarist Eric Marderwald. Just like the previous bands SHOK PARIS went over really well, with the crowd singing along on several occasions. Knowing that most of the members are involved in other bands as well, I have my doubts if this reunion will be permanent, but at least they were able to play live in Europe at long last. And, Go For The Throat has been re-issued on CD along the way as well!

By the time that DEATH ANGEL finally hit the stage it was already Friday morning, 12.20 A.M. to be precise. Not that it really mattered, as the atmosphere was great right from the start, as the Bay Area quintet opened with Thrown To The Wolves and 5 Steps Of Freedom, both culled from their highly acclaimed The Art Of Dying comeback release. Quite naturally a major part of their set would be devoted to said new release, including the likes of Thicker Than Blood, The Devil Incarnate and Never Me. Of course there was stuff to be enjoyed from all of the band's previous releases as well, especially since Mark announced that they were intending to play for a long while. Most dominantly were The Ultra-violence (Voracious Souls, Evil Priest, Mistress Of Pain, the instrumental titletrack and closer Kill As One come to mind) and Act III (Seemingly Endless Time, Veil Of Deception, Stagnant, Disturbing The Peace). I only remember Bored from Frolic Through The Park though, although there may well have been a couple more. And that goes for all of their releases, as DEATH ANGEL would end up being on stage for almost two hours! Way to go!! Needless to say that the crowd enjoyed them immensely, although quite a few left before the band left the stage for good, around 2.15 A.M. But those faithful enough to stay until the last note of Kill As One really got their money's worth. DEATH ANGEL was a really tight and energetic outfit back in their heyday already, but I have the impression that the best is yet to come, presuming that they continue from this level onwards.

As far as I'm concerned this warm-up club show was one big success : four interesting bands, plenty of people, good sound, excellent performances, ... And all of this at the cost of one single CD. The ideal way to start a festival, even moreso because all four bands were among those that I was looking forward to seeing most. Needless to say that I had a great time, even though we only had a short night of sleep ahead of us : it was more than worth it!!