IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME

By johanne James

MARTYR TOUR REPORT

The Dutch Metal Legends heading back to the Far East

A little more than one year ago Dutch Metal Legends MARTYR embarked on a plane to Japan for the first time in their career to play a handful of shows in Tokyo and Sapporo. A dream came true, as gigging in the Far East has always been one of the primary objectives to start the band back in 1982 as MARTYR is strongly influenced by 80’s Japanese metal.During that first Japan tour Rick Bouwman (guitars) visited his old time Facebook friend and owner of “Rock Stakk Records”, Mikitoshi (Miki) Matsuo in Osaka. Miki also happens to be the main guy behind the prestigious international True Thrash Fest, which is held every year (this year with bands from The Netherlands, Germany, China, Australia, Japan, India). Due to mutual respect, which is a very important matter in Japanese culture, MARTYR was invited to perform on day 1 of the festival on February 8th and the Cross Breed Device Heat vol. 24 festivals on February 10th 2019. Japanese thrashers RIVERGE organized the last festival.

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

With singer Tim `Ripper' Owens

2019 is an important year for metal singer Tim `Ripper’ Owens. The frontman, who kick-started his career with a bang as the new lead singer of the NWOBHM legend Judas Priest [1996-2003], followed by a spotlight in Iced Earth [2003-2007] and many other appearances over the years, has recently released 3 studio albums. Under the banner The Three Tremors, Ripper takes a full 80s heavy metal spin on the debut `The Three Tremors’, together with singers Sean `The Hell Destroyer’ Peck [Cage, Denner/Shermann] and Harry `The Tyrant’ Conklin [Jag Panzer], while with Spirits Of Fire he hits the vibe of Savatage and Judas Priest, together with guitarist Chris Caffery [Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra], bass player Steve DiGiorgio [Death, Testament a.o] and drummer Mark Zonder [Fates Warning, Chroma Key]. With A New Revenge, Ripper shows his more melodic, hard rock side with the solid back up of his band mates, drummer James Kottak [former Scorpions], bass player Rudy Sarzo [Whitesnake, Ozzy Osbourne, Quiet Riot] and guitarist Keri Kelli [Alice Cooper, Slash, Vince Neil a.o.]. Besides these projects, Ripper is part of Dio Disciples and he keeps himself busy as a solo artist. Time for an up close and personal with a man who lives and breathes metal.