Los Angeles, California: In one of the most exciting twists in what is already shaping up to be a true Year Of Metal, Serpent from Eden, the much-acclaimed California metal band featuring guitarist John “Gumby” Goodwin (Ozzy Osbourne, Ringo Starr, George Clinton) step aside from their “regular” career, to present a very special new album - a tribute to fallen bandmate Nick Menza, with the drummer himself a key presence on every single track.
For over 30 years, Gumby, Menza and bassist Darwin Ballard played together, building up an exemplary body of work whose entire story has already been told across no less than twenty “volumes” of documentary, available on YouTube, and detailing the trio's brutal assault upon the nation’s ears via live footage, videos, photos and interviews.
Now, to mark the 10th anniversary of the drummer's passing, Serpent From Eden are set to release a full album’s worth of unreleased music - a tribute to their friend and a vivid snapshot of “what might have been.”
Friends since childhood, Gumby and Ballard met Menza while in their teens, when their band Emeralde were soundchecking at the Santa Monica College Amphitheater at the time.
“We set up,” says Gumby, “and I blasted out a few riffs on my guitar to sound check my rig, and after I put my guitar down and started walking backstage, I heard a thunderous explosive sound and the most articulated heavy rock drumming ever from someone not named John Bonham!”
It transpired that Emeralde’s regular drummer had enlisted a couple of his students to act as roadies for the gig, and as one of them came walking around the corner , Gumby excitedly asked him “Who’s that drumming?” “That’s Nick, Steve’s drum roadie” came the reply, to which the guitarist immediately responded, “No he’s not, he’s our new drummer!”
Gumby and Menza would play together for the remainder of the drummer’s life, in both their own groups (Rhoads, The Green, Von Skeletor, Soma and Freaktricity) and, briefly, as part of the crazy train that is Megadeth. According to Gumby, “our soundman Neil Schaefer was now working for them, and and he originally brought Nick and I as stage tech/understudies, as Jeff Young and Chuck Behler were already showing signs of their soon to come dismissals. In fact, the whole band crashed hard after the end of the So Far, So Good, So What Tour and was disbanded while Dave Mustaine went to rehab.”
Eventually Mustaine emerged and was ready to play again and, after a series of successful rehearsal sessions with the band, Menza officially embarked upon what Gumby describes as “a ten year run of success seldom seen in the rock world.”
Unfortunately, he continues, “that same success lead to jealousy and unfair treatment from bandleader and strong-boss Dave Mustaine…” tensions which led not only to Menza’s “dismissal and banishment from the Megadeth universe,” but are also captured in the lyrics of Serpent From Eden’s new single,“Promises, Conspiracies, and Lies."
And look out for the video, coming soon to YouTube
SINGLE: https://orcd.co/serpentfromeden_promises
Nick Menza
Released today, “Promises, Conspiracies, and Lies” is the ideal introduction to what is to follow - and the culmination, explains Gumby, of a remarkable chain of events.
It was while Serpent From Eden, Gumby’s current band, were working on their own new album that the guitarist began sifting through old tapes, in search of material they might want to work on.
Instead, to his amazement, he discovered he had enough tracks, from so many recording sessions, to create an entire new album with Menza playing drums on every song!
Serpent From Eden bandmates Pauli Infantino (vocals), James Yokoi (bass), and Chris Tracy (drums), and Darwin Ballard too will also be heard on the album, while special guests Chris Poland and fellow Medadeth-er David Ellefson also contribute stellar performances. Producer Max Norman then distilled everything into this collection of songs, to help the world remember a true rock legend and hear him play killer new music for the first time in many years!
The result is a stand out collection of powerful, dynamic, and melodic hard rock music that will be impossible to pigeon hole as one style but it is still highly cohesive as a whole, all bound together by just one intention - to honor Nick Menza in the way he would want to be honored, with an uncompromising, heavy musical statement, encompassing his wide range of musical tastes but always with his ever insatiable need for musical power!
Stay tuned for more Serpent From Eden!
DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/serpentfromedenfeatnickmenza
CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=serpent+from+eden
Metal Monster Serpent From Eden Remember Nick Menza (Megadeth) With Promises, Conspiracies And Lies. And A Full Album On May 22
