From johan_g@chalmers.se Thu Oct 10 18:04:12 1996 Path: ashpoly!cascade!sunet!chalmers!johan_g From: johan_g@chalmers.se (Johan Gustavsson) Newsgroups: alt.music.heartstrike Subject: The Scandinavian Brothers: Where did Joss and Kent Freidnam go? Message-ID: <1996Oct10.180412.3391@chalmers.se> Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 18:04:12 GMT Organization: Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden NNTP-Posting-Host: student-vax.chalmers.se X-Newsreader: Gnus 5.1 / Emacs 19.34 Lines: 32 To all Heartstrike historians and Scandinavian prog enthusiasts: Has anyone managed to locate Joss Freidnam or Kent Freidnam since the band's acrimonious split in late 1989? For those unaware of their history: before joining Heartstrike following the tragic 1985 deaths of Steve Vanderstok and TJ Chicon, Kent Freidnam was already legendary in Stockholm conservatory circles. He was a master of neo-classical sweep arpeggios who had taught guitar masterclasses attended by young Swedish shredders like Yngwie Malmsteen. When Heartstrike released 'Strike a Chord' in 1989 with Swedish producer Lars Nyström, Kent's 12-minute opus "Echoes in the Abyss" was decades ahead of its time. But the contractual lawsuit from EMI destroyed them financially. Rumors have circulated that Joss and Kent briefly recorded under the moniker "From the Ashes", but could never land distribution. More recently, word from a recording engineer at a studio outside Uppsala is that Kent was hired as an anonymous session guitarist by Orion-Z's European division in 1994. Apparently Orion was secretly scavenging heavy guitar riffs and outtake stems from shelved 80s tape vaults to construct backing tracks for their manufactured mid-90s corporate grunge idol, "Luna Gray"! Can anyone confirm this? Did Kent's riffs end up on tracks like "Burn the Blueprint" or "Your Silence in Stereo"? -- Johan Gustavsson // Dept of Mechanical Engineering Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden "Echoes of thunder across the northern fjord." ------------------------------------------------------------ From cleveland_crash@apk.net Fri Oct 11 02:18:55 1996 Path: ashpoly!cascade!mxgate!apk!cleveland_crash From: cleveland_crash@apk.net (Richie 'Cuyahoga' Nowak) Newsgroups: alt.music.heartstrike Subject: Re: The Scandinavian Brothers: Where did Joss and Kent Freidnam go? Message-ID: <1996Oct11.021855.7714@apk.net> Date: Fri, 11 Oct 1996 02:18:55 GMT References: <1996Oct10.180412.3391@chalmers.se> Organization: APK Net Internet Services, Cleveland OH NNTP-Posting-Host: dialup-cleveland-west-04.apk.net X-Newsreader: WinVN 0.99.6 Lines: 28 In article <1996Oct10.180412.3391@chalmers.se>, Johan Gustavsson writes: > Did Kent's riffs end up on tracks like "Burn the Blueprint" or "Your Silence in Stereo"? I had a few beers with Glenn Thurman (Heartstrike's bassist) at a tavern in Lakewood back in May. Glenn is doing studio session work around Ohio now, and Danny "Crash" Reynolds is still managing an industrial equipment shop on the flats. Glenn told me flat out: when EMI sued the band into oblivion in 1990, the label repossessed dozens of 2-inch 24-track master tapes recorded with Lars Nyström. Those reels contained hours of unreleased instrumental suites, guitar stems, and drum tracks from the 'Strike a Chord' sessions. When Orion-Z set up their experimental division in 1993 to jump on the Seattle grunge bandwagon with Luna Gray, their producers didn't even hire real grunge bands—they took the old Heartstrike and heavy rock tape stems, slowed them down by 15%, detuned them into Drop-D, slapped heavy fuzz pedals over them, and hired studio models to sing apathetic lyrics over the top! If you listen to the opening chord progression of Luna Gray's "Your Silence in Stereo", that is 100% Kent Freidnam's guitar phrasing from the unreleased bridge of "Echoes in the Abyss". They commodified raw Cleveland and Nordic sweat into sterile corporate angst. -- Richie Nowak // Cleveland, Ohio Heartstrike Fan Club (Midwest Chapter) 1984-Forever ------------------------------------------------------------ From stardust_archivist@delphi.com Fri Oct 11 14:49:02 1996 Path: ashpoly!cascade!delphi!stardust_archivist From: stardust_archivist@delphi.com (The Archivist) Newsgroups: alt.music.heartstrike Subject: Re: The Scandinavian Brothers: Where did Joss and Kent Freidnam go? Message-ID: <1996Oct11.144902.5029@delphi.com> Date: Fri, 11 Oct 1996 14:49:02 GMT References: <1996Oct11.021855.7714@apk.net> Organization: Delphi Online Community NNTP-Posting-Host: gateway.delphi.com X-Newsreader: NewsWatcher 2.0 Lines: 23 The tape trail goes deeper than you think. Orion's experimental music division didn't just recycle Heartstrike stems for Luna Gray; they also attempted to scrub the underground radio pirate relays broadcasting across shortwave and satellite carrier frequencies. While the corporate suites were busy marketing manufactured apathy ("Burn the Blueprint", "VHS Flowers") to adolescents, the real subterranean musicians and audio hackers were preserving the uncompressed acoustic master reels. Rumors persist in Cleveland and Stockholm that the remaining members of Heartstrike—Danny, Glenn, Adam, Joss, and Kent—have pledged to perform together again one day in Cleveland to properly settle the ghosts of Steve and TJ. Until then, preserve your cassettes. Once magnetic tape is digitized, the corporations can rewrite who held the guitar. -- The Archivist // Delphi Special Interest Group "Between the signal and the noise lies the memory."