{"id":23648,"date":"2012-01-21T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2012-01-21T00:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=23648"},"modified":"2015-02-08T18:03:57","modified_gmt":"2015-02-08T18:03:57","slug":"feature-cirith-ungol-01-12-pt3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-cirith-ungol-01-12-pt3\/","title":{"rendered":"CIRITH UNGOL – Kings Of The Dead, Part Three (January 2012) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Michael \u201cFlint\u201d Vujea (1983)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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Bassist Michael \u2018Flint\u2019 Vujea nor guitarist Jerry Fogle performed on Paradise Lost<\/em>, having parted ways with Cirith Ungol by that time. \u201cFlint was kind of getting disillusioned with the whole thing,\u201d Tim affirms. \u201cLike Rob has said, it was always a struggle to get things done, to get records. It just took so long to do it and as far as jamming and stuff, he just got frustrated with the whole thing I think. He was more influenced by thrash in a way at that time, and wanted to play a little bit more of that kind of style. He went his own way for a while and I think he was in another band for a while, but he never really did any recordings or stuff. It was just a disillusionment thing with Flint I think, and he was just frustrated with the way things were not happening. As far as Jerry goes though, like I said, our plan was to have all of us together and have Jimmy on guitar too. At the time Jerry was battling with alcohol and stuff and that\u2019s what killed him eventually, but I think he saw when we started bringing Jimmy around and didn\u2019t really get what we wanted to do. Me and Rob were saying \u2018This is gonna be awesome.\u2019 Jerry wouldn\u2019t have had to do the rhythms, but could have just done his thing. We could\u2019ve let him shred and just do his thing. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if he thought of it as a threat to him or whatever, but it never really worked out. He just decided to not be involved in that situation, and it wasn\u2019t that long after that I think that he really got bad with the alcohol, and then it finally killed him. It\u2019s too bad that it worked out like that and it sucks that he\u2019s dead, but at least he left a really great legacy of some really great stuff on those first three records. It\u2019s too bad \u2013 like I said \u2013 that we never really got the band to go like that because it would\u2019ve been me, Rob, Flint, Jimmy, and Jerry. There\u2019s nothing that we couldn\u2019t have done. It would\u2019ve been awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI keep going back to this Ye Olde Metal<\/em> book that I\u2019m reading,\u201d Rob confesses. \u201cA lot of these big bands that we worshipped lasted through one record and maybe like a year of touring or a couple of years, and then they were over. At least some of the bands had these really short life spans. By the time Flint had left we had been together in the band for ten to 15 years, and I can\u2019t remember exactly the date. We had a band room and we were paying rent, and we were all working full-time jobs and had girlfriends. We would get together three to four nights a week and practise. We were getting hundreds of fan letters a day so we were writing them back and sending them stickers, and so we were paying for all the postage and stuff. Every month I\u2019m hitting the guys up, needing $100 for postage. At one time a year went by and Jerry didn\u2019t even pay his band rent, so I paid it for him. I\u2019m asking money of these guys all the time, and we had a nice band room; we had red carpet, we had lights, it was custom built, and you could throw a rock to where the recording studio was. We\u2019d have people come over, and we\u2019d have parties there and stuff. We had a little dressing room and a bar in it, so we had this really great place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut after a while, it\u2019s frustrating when you\u2019re there and you\u2019re practising and doing all this kind of stuff, and you never see anything happening to go anywhere,\u201d Tim recognises. \u201cWe would put out a record and have high hopes, going \u2018Oh, this is gonna be great,\u2019 and then we\u2019d sell some. We\u2019d never get any money or promotion from the record company, and then we\u2019d struggle for another couple of years writing good material, practising, and trying to get gigs. It was a whole cycle of stuff and after so many years \u2013 like Rob said \u2013 Flint got disillusioned with it, and I think Jerry did in a way too. When everybody else faded away, the last two guys standing were me and Rob. We were standing in the band room, going \u2018Well, I guess it\u2019s over.\u2019 That was the end of the band, but like I said, there was a lot of stuff that went on behind the scenes. Like Rob said, the band had been together for years and years; it was a lot of frustration along with the good times as well and stuff, but after beating your head against a wall for so long some people do tend to give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s a question I ask and I don\u2019t wanna get personal with you, but would you work at a job for 15 years without a pay cheque?,\u201d Rob queries. \u201cWe actually not only worked at this \u2013 and it was our dream and our life goal to get this band going \u2013 but we never, ever got any money for it. As a matter of fact, every time we played a show… Let\u2019s say we got paid $500 for the show, or maybe $300 back then. We had to rent a smoke machine, we had to get a truck, we had to put up posters, we had to call our friends up, and we had to pay for gasoline and bass guitar strings and drum sticks. After every concert that we played, I\u2019d go \u2018Can each of you pitch in $100 (laughs)?\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d show up at seven in the morning at the place we\u2019re supposed to play, and we were supposed to be going on at nine as the first opening act. We\u2019d unload all of our shit and the time comes for us to have a soundcheck, and the bigger band decides that we\u2019re not gonna get a soundcheck and we\u2019re not gonna get a dressing room. We get home the next morning at three or four in the morning, and every one of us… I can\u2019t speak for all of us, but I\u2019m pretty sure… Here\u2019s what I did; I got home at three to four in the morning, we\u2019d put all the band equipment away, I\u2019d go to bed for an hour or two, and then I\u2019d get up and work another eight to ten hours at a regular job. None of us are rocket scientists, so we\u2019d be working real jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Many aspiring musicians would\u2019ve thrown in the towel much earlier; without doubt, a love of the music must\u2019ve been the driving force behind Cirith Ungol. \u201cThat\u2019s what kept us going for all that time,\u201d Tim accedes. \u201cWe really thought that we had something to give to people when we were really into the music and stuff, and that\u2019s why we suffered through all that crap. Like I said, at least we have a legacy of some really good stuff and people can enjoy it forever. That makes it worthwhile. When you look back on it, you can look back on it and take all this crap, the bad shit that happened and everything, the frustration and everything… But then again, you pop in King Of The Dead<\/em> or something and you start listening to that opening riff of King Of The Dead<\/em> with Jerry doing his guitar shit. You go \u2018Well, it was all worth it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Handling bass on Paradise Lost<\/em> was Vernon Green. \u201cWhat happened was after all the other guys left, we put out ads and guys would show up,\u201d Rob exposes. \u201cVern was a great guy, and the other two guys in the band were great guys. The problem was they were just short-term guys who came in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of a last grasp by me and Rob to keep something going,\u201d Tim accepts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a relationship breaking up, and deciding you\u2019re going to have kids to try to stay together,\u201d Rob grants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just an endgame type thing, and it was never gonna really pan out I don\u2019t think,\u201d Tim scrutinises. \u201cLike I said, we were just grasping at straws at that time because Flint had left, Jerry had left. Jimmy was a great guitar player and stuff, but…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery one of these guys quit,\u201d Rob evaluates. \u201cJerry quit, Flint quit, Jimmy quit, Joe and Bob. All of these guys quit, so when you walk away from something… Almost every one of those guys… Vern\u2019s still in my hometown, and he goes \u2018Yeah, let\u2019s come over and jam.\u2019 I tell this to Flint too: \u2018If you would have never left the band, maybe we would\u2019ve made it.\u2019 It\u2019s too late to go back and see what things would\u2019ve been like, but what I would like to focus on is the original group and the first three albums because that\u2019s what I see our legacy as. Even though Paradise Lost<\/em> had really good material… I don\u2019t dislike the record, because there\u2019s some really good parts on there. I still feel like I was run over by a truck doing it, and so when you get run over by a truck…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have strong feelings for that truck,\u201d Tim laughs.<\/p>\n

Credited as session musicians on Paradise Lost<\/em> are guitarist Joe Malatesta and bassist Robert L. Warrenburg, as Rob alluded to. \u201cBasically what they did is split before the record was actually even released, so we got Vern and so on in the band,\u201d Rob imparts. \u201cThat might\u2019ve been another reason we got dropped from the record label, because our band was starting to disintegrate at the very end. I know both those guys were great musicians and they were competent…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe might\u2019ve played just a couple of gigs with them, that\u2019s how long those guys lasted,\u201d Tim relates. \u201cIt was kind of a weird thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have some funny stories about Joe though,\u201d Rob enlightens. \u201cJoe was a Ted Nugent looking guy, and he would always show up in ripped denim blue jeans or something and a ripped shirt. At one show we said \u2018This ain\u2019t working. We don\u2019t want you dressing up, but you\u2019ve at least got to wear something more than a ripped T-shirt.\u2019 He showed up at the concert that night, and he had this whole outfit on that actually looked really… I can\u2019t even remember what it was, but…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looked like something Angel would wear,\u201d Tim chortles.<\/p>\n

Originally a UK number one and US number two for The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown in August and October 1968 respectively, a cover interpretation of \u2018Fire\u2019 was included on Paradise Lost<\/em>. \u201cBoth me and Tim have roots going back to the early days of psychedelia, like Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and all that stuff,\u201d Rob conveys. \u201cArthur Brown\u2019s \u2018Fire\u2019 was a pretty big hit here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was played pretty regularly on the radio in the 60s,\u201d Tim highlights. \u201cWe were looking for a cover song to do just for the hell of it. Every album we did had something to do with fire on, so we thought \u2018Why don\u2019t we just do \u2018Fire\u2019?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting back to Servants Of Chaos<\/em>, the version on there is actually the demo version which Flint plays on,\u201d Rob emphasises. \u201cJimmy\u2019s on there on guitar, and I think it\u2019s really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The label handling the issue of Paradise Lost<\/em> was Restless Records. \u201cHere\u2019s what happened,\u201d Rob commences. \u201cEnigma got sold to Capitol Records \u2013 they had Ratt and all these bands on there \u2013 but then the guys reformed as Restless, and this is the tragedy of our band. It\u2019s like an abused wife going back and getting beaten by her husband over and over again. When we had the material for Paradise Lost<\/em> we were going down to LA, and once again, we\u2019re trying to find someone to actually put the record out. We have nowhere to go to except our abusive old husband, right? We show up at Restless Records, and they decided to put out the record. The reason why Flint quit the band, it took so long to do that, and the reason why we had all these other members in the band was because Restless was going through this lawsuit with Capitol and there was all this crap going on. <\/p>\n

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Jerry Fogle (1983)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\u201cIt basically took us three years to get all that crap settled before they were actually ready to let us go into the studio, and the studio we recorded at \u2013 which was right across the alley from our band room \u2013 were putting in a new mixing console and doing some stuff. That took six months to a year. By that time, like I said, when we were ready to do Paradise Lost<\/em> Jerry would\u2019ve been in the band and Flint would\u2019ve still been in the band. By that time Flint left and Jerry left though, and Jimmy was in the band. That\u2019s how that thing came about, but once again we were still stuck on the same company who didn\u2019t really wanna spend any money on us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roadrunner Records was approached to oversee a European release of Paradise Lost<\/em>. \u201cWhen Paradise Lost<\/em> came out Restless was doing nothing for the band, and we actually signed a three-record deal with them supposedly,\u201d Rob denounces. \u201cThey go \u2018If you guys are gonna do anything, you\u2019ve gotta get this out in Europe,\u2019 and I said \u2018Well look, you guys are the record company. You guys should be getting it released or licensed in Europe.\u2019 They said \u2018We can\u2019t find anyone to do it,\u2019 so I actually called up the guy at Roadrunner Records. I guess they listened to it, and they said something like \u2018It\u2019s the same old crap, and we\u2019re not interested in it.\u2019 As soon as Roadrunner wouldn\u2019t release it in Europe, within a matter of weeks we got a letter from Restless saying that they were dropping us from the label. We had a contract that had an opt-out clause or something in, so they dropped us. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was kind of sad, but I think all of our influences were from Europe pretty much. There were some American bands, but we were pretty heavy on European bands like Uriah Heep, Savoy Brown, and bands like that. A lot of our influences are from there, so I think it\u2019s actually no secret that we were playing for the European crowd because we didn\u2019t see fans in America listening to our music. We thought the same people that listened to our music were in Europe, and that\u2019s my biggest regret. My dream was to go to play in Europe, and we never really made it. I think if we would\u2019ve gone over there…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople still ask us today to go over there,\u201d Tim mentions. \u201cLike Rob was saying, a lot of our favourite bands were all European bands. Scorpions, Lucifer\u2019s Friend, and all this kind of stuff. That\u2019s what we listened to, that\u2019s what we really wanted to be like, and we really regret not ever being able to go over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were the only guys over here listening to that,\u201d Rob estimates. \u201cWell, not the only guys, but we\u2019d go down to Los Angeles and we had friends at these record stores. They\u2019d go \u2018Lucifer\u2019s Friend; we have one copy, and it\u2019s a European import.\u2019 It\u2019s not like all these metalheads that lived in LA were there. There were just a handful of people that were actually listening to that, and I\u2019m not judging the music by that because all the music that we\u2019re talking about is epic. The American public is still not the most faithful group of people though, and I\u2019m not speaking for all of us. I\u2019m just speaking for the majority of Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

By May 1992, the straw had broken the camel\u2019s back. \u201cWe had been together for so long, and when all the guys quit I was actually crying,\u201d Rob confides. \u201cJimmy was the last guy to quit; he said \u2018I\u2019m quitting the band,\u2019 so he took his stuff. We\u2019re sitting in the band room, and I had this drum set that was given to me by Pearl Drums which was a birchwood painted red \u2013 it had like 20 cymbals. I had this unbelievable drum set, and I just thought \u2018My god, I\u2019m sitting here looking at it and we don\u2019t even have a band.\u2019 Tim and I were trying to decide \u2018Are we gonna do this? Are we gonna get a bunch of more young kids in the band, and try to teach them to play our songs?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in the meantime, like Rob said, we had overheads,\u201d Tim cautions. \u201cWe had a studio, and we had to pay rent on that and all kinds of stuff. It certainly didn\u2019t end like we wanted it to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou may not have noticed, but about every ten years the United States causes a worldwide recession for the rest of you guys,\u201d Rob jokes. \u201cWe went through two to three of those in the band. I can\u2019t remember exactly when the band broke up \u2013 it was in 1991, 1992 if I\u2019m not mistaken \u2013 but we were going through another one of those periods where we were kinda broke. There wasn\u2019t much money around, and we\u2019re just looking at each other going \u2018How much longer can we keep this shit on without any kind of support?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout any support from a record label, or anybody else,\u201d Tim stresses. \u201cIt was always so frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the original guys had stayed together,\u201d Rob begins. \u201cEven if Jimmy had stayed in the band… If the core group would\u2019ve been together, we might\u2019ve kept going. Let\u2019s say if Flint and Jerry had never quit the band, and Jerry had never died, I could still see us being together today like Blue Cheer or something. It would\u2019ve been like keeping the original marriage together, but when you\u2019re on your third wife sometimes there\u2019s not that much left.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the almost 20 intervening years between May 1992 and the conduction of this interview, normal, everyday jobs have taken up much of Tim and Rob\u2019s time. \u201cI\u2019ve just been working a normal job,\u201d Tim proclaims. \u201cI got a family and a house, and kids and all that kind of stuff. I\u2019ve been putting them through school and everything, so that\u2019s been my focus. With the growth of social media and everything, now that everybody\u2019s on Facebook I get stuff all the time \u2013 mostly from guys in Europe \u2013 to do festivals. \u2018When are you guys gonna get together, and come over here and play? Get Cirith Ungol over here to our festival, and we\u2019ll pay your way. We\u2019ll pay for this, this, and this.\u2019 It\u2019s kind of hard to do when Rob doesn\u2019t have a drum set, and the only singing I do is when I play Rock Band<\/em> with my kids. I just kind of lead a normal life, bills, the house, and the kids. Like I said, I get offers all the time. Maybe some day I\u2019ll make it over to Europe, and me and Rob will come out in wheelchairs and introduce another band playing our stuff. There\u2019s actually tribute bands in Europe that I know of in Greece and places like that that are doing our stuff, and that\u2019s kind of a good thing for a tribute to us I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if you saw, but there was a tribute album that came out a few years ago named One Foot In Fire<\/em> (August 2006) \u2013 it\u2019s pretty cool,\u201d Rob beams. \u201cI called Tim up, and I said \u2018Every one of these bands are playing our songs better than we did all those years ago.\u2019 Crystal Viper, that was one of the bands.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cA guy sent me something the other day, and there\u2019s actually a band called Finger Of Scorn in Greece,\u201d Tim attests. \u201cIt\u2019s a tribute band, and they\u2019re touring around Greece. There\u2019s a few videos online, and they\u2019re actually pretty good (laughs). I was watching them the other day and there are three songs online, and it\u2019s actually pretty good. You kinda go \u2018Gee, I wish we were still together,\u2019 and these guys are doing a pretty good job of our songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe we\u2019ll get a free pass if they play somewhere local,\u201d Rob muses.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike I said, we just live a kind of normal life,\u201d Tim asserts. \u201cWe worked together on the DVD, and then Greg and Rob did Servants Of Chaos<\/em> a couple of years ago. It\u2019s nice that people still have an interest in our band, and we\u2019ve actually put out something new that nobody\u2019s ever seen before. Like I said, especially in Europe and stuff and most of the United States and the rest of the world never saw us play. Putting out this DVD which actually looks pretty good… And like Rob said before, the sound is pretty good. It\u2019s a decent representation of the band, like right after King Of The Dead<\/em> came out with Jerry kicking ass, and Flint and Rob kicking ass. It\u2019s actually a really good thing that we have this out, and we wanna thank Brian for doing it because like Rob said, it would\u2019ve been lost to history. At least this way people get an idea of shit that they never got to see, and at least they can see us now in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI gotta throw a caveat to that whole thing,\u201d Rob states. \u201cOriginally we paid the guy $20 to record it. We always used to get a cassette from the guy that did our sound so we could listen to it later, almost like a football game to see what things we could improve and what have you. The other joke about this is \u2013 this is a little secret, but not so much a secret anymore \u2013 cassettes are 45-minutes long. Our set was 45-minutes long, so when we first found this cassette I sat there and listened to the whole thing. Right on the last ten to 15 seconds of the show the tape runs out; it\u2019s a Maxell tape with a cleaner thing on either end, but then the video keeps on going for another ten to 15 seconds. The guy that actually put this together \u2013 a guy here in our hometown who\u2019s like a video guru \u2013 actually found on one of our other live songs another similar ending, and he kind of glued it on there. It\u2019s kind of funny; the last ten to 15 seconds Tim is yelling out stuff like \u2018We\u2019ll see you next time,\u2019 and he doesn\u2019t have a microphone in his hand or anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe DVD looks really good and it sounds good, and it\u2019s a good representation of that time in the band,\u201d Tim senses. I hope everybody likes it.\u201d<\/p>\n

One wonders: what are those normal, everyday jobs? \u201cWhat we do is not very impressive,\u201d Rob maintains. \u201cI work in the graphics industry, and I\u2019m still working in the same job. I was working at that job and it was helping to pay the band\u2019s bills when the band first had a record out, and I\u2019m still doing the same thing. I work in a basement, and I\u2019m doing graphic artwork and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not doing anything glamorous,\u201d Tim professes. \u201cI work in the manufacturing industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last concert I saw was probably one that we played at,\u201d Rob tenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a son who\u2019s 21-years-old and I\u2019ve been taking him to concerts since he was 15 to 16, which is kind of cool,\u201d Tim believes. \u201c\u2018Hey, there\u2019s a band called Megadeth. Let\u2019s go and see them\u2019 and crap like that. I\u2019ve taken him to see all the good shows, every band that comes around. It\u2019s really good to have somebody to turn onto stuff, and him and his friends are into metal stuff too. He turned all of his friends onto our stuff, so it\u2019s kind of cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the demise of Cirith Ungol, Rob and Tim abandoned their musical pursuits altogether. \u201cWe\u2019ve talked about it several times today, but after Jimmy left we\u2019re sitting in the band room,\u201d Rob starts. \u201cI sold my drum set for $1,500, and to replace it today would probably cost about $20,000. We had this really bitchin\u2019 Conn Strobe guitar tuner. I ferried it across the street to the recording studio, and what\u2019s really funny is they\u2019re still using it to this day. It\u2019s not one of those cheap ones you plug into your guitar, and a green light comes on \u2013 you can actually tune pianos through it and stuff. We just moved out of the band room, and I sold my drum set. I swore I\u2019d never touch a drum stick as long as there were bags in the music industry. I\u2019ve kind of pushed myself into a corner on that one, but I want you to know that if Tim was willing to sing and we could do it then I would play. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust the logistics you\u2019ve got to think about though; we don\u2019t have any equipment, we have no place to practise, and we\u2019re all working full-time jobs. To actually get us together to go put on a show somewhere though, what if we didn\u2019t play as well as we wanted to? I think Tim\u2019s thinking along the same lines as me. What we did, we did at a time in our lives when we were younger. We did it really good and we\u2019re proud of it, but trying to go back and recreate that? As much as we want to, I don\u2019t think it would make anyone happy and I think we would be afraid of disappointing the people that we want to not disappoint the most. That answers the question everyone asks us over and over, which is why we are not gonna reform or play. We\u2019ve had offers, but still to get together and practise and do all that stuff? Like I said, to me it would be insurmountable to get all those logistics together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Original guitarist Jerry Fogle sadly passed away on August 20th, 1998, succumbing to liver failure. This hasn\u2019t been a stumbling block in Cirith Ungol\u2019s reformation, however. \u201cHe stopped playing long before the band broke up,\u201d Rob warns. \u201cAfter he quit the band, he stopped playing and he passed away. We were still together. If the original group was willing to play and wanted to do it, then we would. Since Tim is the singer though, it\u2019s his decision also.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The November 2011 reissue of Servants Of Chaos<\/em> might pave the way for future Cirith Ungol reissues. \u201cThis reissue of Servants Of Chaos<\/em> with the DVD…,\u201d Tim hopes. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve seen it yet, but the packaging is incredibly awesome. The release is a triple-disc set, it\u2019s a double album and it\u2019s got the DVD in. They\u2019ve actually put out the double album vinyl \u2013 a full, fold-out gatefold vinyl in Europe \u2013 and it looks freakin\u2019 fantastic. I\u2019m really hoping that we can sell enough of these, and I know Metal Blade are actually doing some promotion because they send us links all the time to the stuff they\u2019re doing to get it out there, and guys like you are helping. What I\u2019m really hoping is that since we did this, maybe we can convince Brian. Like Rob said, we do have a couple of other videos that are from different shows; we have ones with Greg and Jerry together playing guitar with Flint, Rob, and me. I\u2019m hoping that we can go back and maybe release some of the other records as a box set with another DVD in them, but time will tell if that\u2019s gonna happen or not. That\u2019s what I really hope will happen, though. If we can do a little business with this and get people interested in something else, hopefully we can go back and re-release those, put out another DVD, and see what happens from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

As to what will be penned in metal\u2019s historical tomes regarding Cirith Ungol is up to both music historians and fans alike. \u201cIt\u2019s just amazing to me that people are still interested and still want to do interviews,\u201d Tim underlines. \u201cWe\u2019re still doing reissues of stuff that we did all those years ago, so I guess it holds up well for people. To me it\u2019s awesome music, and that\u2019s why it holds up. We had a passion to do it; we did what we did from the heart, and we weren\u2019t trying to be posers or fake, and put some shit out there just thinking people would buy it because it was commercial or whatever. We did what we wanted to do, and obviously a lot of people must\u2019ve liked it because over the years we\u2019ve heard reports about all these bands that we\u2019ve supposedly influenced. Bands credit us for this, this, and that. I think that\u2019s really our legacy as a band, putting out great albums. When people say \u2018You guys were a big influence on us,\u2019 it\u2019s really weird. We never really sold that many records and we weren\u2019t really ever that famous, but I guess the core group of people that are into us took what we had to offer and took it to whatever heights that they could take it to. I think that\u2019s what our legacy is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just like when me and Tim or Greg were down in LA picking up a copy of Lucifer\u2019s Friend or Sir Lord Baltimore, that one copy,\u201d Rob deems. \u201cSomewhere in England, Germany, Italy, France, or Greece, maybe some 13-year-old kid is picking up a CD of Frost And Fire<\/em> or something. There\u2019s a lot of junk out there and there\u2019s a lot of crappy music but there\u2019s a lot of good stuff too, and I hope that people… In some heavy metal encyclopaedias, they\u2019ve said we\u2019re the worst heavy metal band ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI take pride in that, because we were like iconoclasts,\u201d Tim raves. \u201cWe didn\u2019t do it to please anybody else. We did what we thought was good, heavy, epic music, and we were trying to put out the best music that we possibly could. I hope it\u2019s held up all these years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like when I put on one of those old Trapeze albums or Captain Beyond or Cactus or any of those bands, it still sounds as fresh today,\u201d Rob brags. \u201cI\u2019m hoping that a newer generation of heavy metal listeners will pick up King Of The Dead<\/em>, listen to it, and go \u2018Wow, this is pretty cool.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOr Servants Of Chaos<\/em>, and say \u2018This stuff sounds really good. Maybe I should check out the rest of their catalogue,\u2019\u201d Tim assumes. \u201cThen they\u2019ll find One Foot In Hell<\/em>, King Of The Dead<\/em>, or something, and see what happens. Like I said, I hope we can do something else in the future with Brian as far as reissuing stuff goes, but time will tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Servants Of Chaos<\/em> was re-released on November 18th, 2011 through Metal Blade Records.<\/p>\n

1<\/a> | 2<\/a> | 3 <\/strong><\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael \u201cFlint\u201d Vujea (1983) Bassist Michael \u2018Flint\u2019 Vujea nor guitarist Jerry Fogle performed on Paradise Lost, having parted ways with Cirith Ungol by that time. \u201cFlint was kind of getting disillusioned with the whole thing,\u201d Tim affirms. \u201cLike Rob has said, it was always a struggle to get things done, to get records. It just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1487,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cirith-ungol","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23648"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23696,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23648\/revisions\/23696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}