{"id":68674,"date":"2018-04-27T00:00:11","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T00:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=68674"},"modified":"2018-04-27T23:49:22","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T23:49:22","slug":"feature-thrust-04-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-thrust-04-18\/","title":{"rendered":"THRUST – Headbanging And Fist Held High! (April 2018) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

THRUST – Headbanging And Fist Held High!<\/strong><\/span>
\nTheron Moore<\/span>
\nApril 2018<\/span><\/p>\n

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Thrust (l-r): Joe Rezendes, Ron Cooke, Eric Claro, Ray Gervais and Angel Rodriguez<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nI discovered Thrust on the Metal Massacre 4<\/em> compilation album that I purchased at Appletree Records in Rockford, Illinois back in 1985. I was 17 years old, working fast food and not making a lotta bread, so I\u2019d hit up record stores like Appletree that had killer import and underground record sections and buy compilation albums. More bang for the buck, so to speak.<\/p>\n

I quickly became a fan of Metal Blade Records with the bands they were signing, who just seemed to embody what heavy metal should look and sound like to me. When you\u2019re a kid, you just wanna rock, and Metal Blade had the roster to do it.<\/p>\n

What struck me about Metal Massacre 4<\/em> was it featured a lot of Chicago bands, and Chi-Town was only 90 minutes away. I recognised Trouble and Zoetrope, but it\u2019d be years later, speaking to the great Paul Speckmann (Master, Abomination etc.), that I realised that War Cry was not only a Chicago band, but a very influential one at that, and that was Paul\u2019s group.<\/p>\n

Every band on Metal Massacre 4<\/em> was killer, but it was Thrust that really got my attention with their song \u2018Destructer\u2019. The title alone was pure metal in and of itself, and that hooked me. The song just banged away, heavy as hell. It was no frills and no glam, and that\u2019s what I was looking for. <\/p>\n

In the last few years I began writing a series of books \u2013 All My Friends Are Rock Stars<\/em><\/a> \u2013 that examine various Midwestern cities and their local hard rock and metal scenes from the 80s to the present day. When I had the opportunity to speak to Thrust founding member and guitarist Ron Cooke, I picked his brain about everything rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, Thrust, and Chicago\u2019s legendary rock scene.<\/p>\n

It was interesting talking to him about how he first got into heavy rock. \u201cI remember, when I was a kid, I saw Kiss on The Paul Lynde Show\u201d says Cooke. \u201cThat\u2019s all it took for me. I saw Ace Frehley\u2019s guitar smoking and I knew I had to get one! It was the Halloween show, really, really cool. It was Kiss at the height of who they were and what they were doing at the time. I was 16. I actually had a fake ID card I used to get into all the clubs for free. Hell, I was playing clubs at age 16 anyway, when the legal age to get in was 21. My first concert, my first big one, was Rush with April Wine.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ron Cooke<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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If you didn\u2019t grow up in the Midwest understand this: Rush was huge<\/em>. When the band played the International Amphitheater in Chicago on their Moving Pictures tour, radio station WLS broadcast 15 minutes of the concert over the air. They were that popular.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, my first metal exposure was Thrust opening for Michael Schenker, Mot\u00f6rhead, and Judas Priest,\u201d reveals the guitarist. \u201cIt was an amazing time indeed. That, to me, was the epitome of metal, and Thrust was right there in the middle of it. My favourite hangout back then was a place called Haymakers. That was the first true bar gig for Thrust. You could see a lot of really good bands there back in the day; Twisted Sister, Queensr\u00ffche, Cheap Trick, even Michael Shenker. It was a great place to play and hang out and catch live music, early to mid-80s. This is where we opened for Twisted Sister and Schenker.\u201d<\/p>\n

When questioned about why he got into a band, Cooke replied: \u201cI started a band in high school called White Cross. We played cover songs all over the Chicago area. There was always a club to play somewhere and the fans really ate it up. You could really see metal taking off at that point. With Thrust, I didn\u2019t know the guys prior to starting the band. A few girls said, \u2018hey, we know a couple guys that might fit with you\u2019. So, that was the first time we met each other \u2013 at a kegger party! It was definitely a good time!\u201d<\/p>\n

And it wasn\u2019t long after that, that the band started making records. \u201cWe had our live album out called Solidarnosc Rock For Poland<\/em> on Erect Records,\u201d says Cooke. \u201cIt was a split we did with a band called The Lazer Band in 1982. We sent out a cassette demo to Brian Slagel [Metal Blade Records CEO], and as soon as he heard it he signed us. He was really into it. We appeared on Metal Massacre 4<\/em> (1983) with the song \u2018Destructer\u2019, and it wasn\u2019t long after that that we moved to Los Angeles to record what became the Fist Held High<\/em> (1984) album. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a lot of people might not know is, Solidarnosc Rock For Poland<\/em> was a live show promoted by Indiana label Erect Records at The Odeum in Villa Park, Illinois. The proceeds of the show went to the Solidarnosc trade union, founded in 1980, that numbered nearly ten million members and wasn\u2019t controlled by the dominant Communist party at the time. Down for the cause, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t just Thrust tearing up Chicago back in the early days. \u201cAside from us, and like I said before, it was really Thrust that started the metal scene in Chicago, but the other bands that came along with us were Transgresser, Trouble, Zn\u00f6white, Paradox, War Cry and Witchslayer,\u201d states the musician. \u201cThe show that really changed our lives in Thrust was opening for Judas Priest. And then at the Cabaret Metro we headlined with Iron Hawk as support. That was a cool show too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot going on back then. I was really into the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, and just started writing original music and hit the clubs right away! And a lot of those New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands were touring through Chicago, so it was pretty cool.\u201d <\/p>\n

And speaking of touring? \u201cYeah, we did tour a little in the Midwest, but we signed with Metal Blade and moved to LA pretty quick,\u201d says Cooke. \u201cThe metal scene was huge then. We played with Slayer, Armored Saint, Lizzy Borden, Omen, a lot of the Metal Blade bands.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As regards Metal Blade, Cooke had this to say: \u201cWe did several records for them; Metal Massacre 4<\/em>, Fist Held High<\/em>, The Best Of Metal Blade Volume 1<\/em> (1986), and the Reincarnation<\/em> (2015) album. It was a good run\u2026 Metal Blade was good to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a long way from the early 80s. Hell, it\u2019s now 2018 for God\u2019s sakes. \u201cWe just love playing music\u201d declares the guitarist. \u201cMetal was and still is in our blood. It\u2019s all about the music and the fans that keep us going. I live in Los Angeles and Sedona, Arizona most of the time, and of course I sneak into Chicago once in a while and stay at my parent\u2019s house. Chicago\u2019s always been a great, fun city to hang out in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrust is now recording for Pure Steel Records and we have our new album Harvest Of Souls<\/em><\/a> coming out on April 27th, 2018. Our first single, \u2018Sorceress\u2019, from that record is out now and is on iTunes. We did a video for it too, check it out. We will be doing shows everywhere<\/em> when the new album comes out! We can\u2019t wait to see everybody, so keep in touch with us at www.thrustonline.com and our Facebook<\/a> page.\u201d<\/p>\n

But why is there such an interest in classic metal these days? Thrust, Attacker, Sentinel Beast\u2026 everyone\u2019s enjoying a resurgence these days. \u201cThe best metal was born in the 80s and nothing can really match it these days, so people gravitate to it,\u201d reckons Cooke. \u201cBut with all the social media now, a whole new metal fan base has started. It\u2019s been great for us and we are extremely grateful for the fans sticking with us for so long, and all the new headbangers joining us now!\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s Thrust. That\u2019s metal.<\/p>\n

Harvest Of Souls<\/em> was released on April 27h, 2018 via Pure Steel Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in April 2018<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THRUST – Headbanging And Fist Held High! Theron Moore April 2018 Thrust (l-r): Joe Rezendes, Ron Cooke, Eric Claro, Ray Gervais and Angel Rodriguez I discovered Thrust on the Metal Massacre 4 compilation album that I purchased at Appletree Records in Rockford, Illinois back in 1985. I was 17 years old, working fast food and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3889],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thrust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68674","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=68674"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68717,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68674\/revisions\/68717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}