And just in case it ever disappears, here's the story, written in the comments by their old manager Matthew Brooks. Read it well and abide by its truth, for one day you too may be called upon to create a thrash metal band. Will you fly on your wings like an eagle? Or will your wings turn to ashes? You decide.
I got a lot of responses asking for the story, so here it is.
Its going to be broken up because Youtube only allows 500 letters per comment.
First, yes the production is shitty. It was recorded on a "Studiomaster" 4 track cassette, and was never even mastered.
The guitars were recorded with a mic and a 4x12 cab stuffed into an old toyota and tethered to the 4 track by long cables. I don't even want to talk about the drums. Reverb was from a spring unit built from a PAIA kit.
Any delay etc. was from guitar units run in the effects loop. But... Perhaps that's part of its charm. I must have done something right for the record to endure so long!
I just reconnected with my "partner in crime" during that era, who actually still has the unmastered "masters" of this album. Maybe a cd release...
..and now- the rest of the story...
Please keep in mind that the context of the story is the early '80s with all its moral ambiguousness.
So.. here we gooooooooo....
Diane [the singer] and I were erstwhile "partners" in the early days. There were two clubs in Manchester NH- "The Place" and "The Casbah". If there was nothing going on at the end of the night, we'd end up having drinks and then, well, you know.
In hindsight I think that I missed the fact that she really liked me and just settled for...
... The whole "friends with benefits" thing. She had a subtle latent hostility towards me once the whole ThrashQueen thing got underway. I wasn't the most sensitive guy back then.
Shortly after that we parted ways when I started actually dating the drummer - Robyn Paradise (No seriously, that was her real name!) I encouraged her musical efforts and things stayed on an "even keel" for a while. Then she brought Laura Maguire, a guitar player she knew, down from Vermont.
We kind of hit it off from the get-go, and that ended part 1 of my relationship with Robyn.
Like most musicians in the '80s, I did whatever I could to avoid having a day job for too long. I was on workman's comp from a back injury I got working for an insulation company- and stayed on it well past the time I would have been ok to go back to work. I had my own band "Hunter" at that time, and like every other band, we were looking for any opportunity to get signed, or get famous.
Before I go on, I want to shortstop anyone who is becoming tempted to pass judgement on me or, for that matter, any of us who lived that era. As Dickens put it: "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times."
If you weren't there in Boston during the '80s you have no idea.
The Channel Club, Bunratty's, The Rat, Lipstick (Heavy Metal Night) and others are all gone now. "Nasty Habits" on WBUR radio with its signature "got nasty habits, its deadly metal!" is long gone as well.
Mike- the DJ was a friend to all of us "metalheads" and we would gather round the radio when his show was on to listen to the latest indie metal releases.
No one had a job for very long, our hair made us virtually unemployable and when we needed to find one, we'd find a friend who had one and could get us in to a place where: "they don't care about our hair!"
Apartments were dives with way more people than there were rooms, people crashed wherever, and gave what they could towards the rent.
So.. with the scene set, back to ThrashQueen.
There are so many '80s stories I could tell, so I am reluctantly resisting the temptation to go off topic. I could write a book...
Anyway, the powers that be at the workman's comp bureaucracy decided they were sick of paying me and I needed to go to "Vocational Rehabilitation".
An assignment I went to reluctantly until I figured out that they had... MONEY TO SPEND!
At that point, the cogs in my brain began churning earnestly...
Subsequent meetings unearthed the fact that State money would pay for me to start my own business. It occurred to me that if I couldn't get my music to a real record label, why not create my own?
But...
One band on a label would not fly, as it looked way too self serving. (as it was)
So...
I grabbed a couple of members of Hunter (myself included) and a couple of members of a working cover band I knew...
And Killerfoxx was born!
Two bands was still not enough though, as it would look like myself and some friends, a third was needed, and that's when the idea of "ThrashQueen" was born.
Metallica was moving to prominence, bands like Anvil, Armored Saint, Accept, and many other's were starting to get cult followings, but it occurred to my fevered brain that thrash metal was a bastion of maleness. A testosterone fest without any female counterparts. Thus, the idea for ThrashQueen was formed.
Three bands makes a record label, and Landslide Records became a reality with a $6000 grant I talked the poor woman at NH Vocational Rehab out of. The business plan I drafted must have been good because it did the trick.
The first hiccup came when we got a trademark infringement letter from a company called Landslide Records (you gotta admit, its a great name!) and had to change the name to Lanslyde Records. (Oh well)
I gathered Laura, Robyn, and Diane, and they found a bass player...
I wrote all the material for the KillerFoxx "All You Can Eat" album at the same speed of the record. I only wrote 50% of the ThrashQueen album including the title track "Manslayer". The Chorus "Die Die Die Manslayer" was out well before Metallica's "Creeping Death" which was suspiciously similar - but, as I sometimes always say... "It is what it is".
To her credit, Laura (whom I later married and then divorced within a year) insisted on writing genuine songs...
My favorite line of her's was "I've got a bottle of Pills, supposed to give me some thrills, so I don't think I can see you tonight." A classic!
She and I battled it out because she was holding up the release date, and I was getting static from the woman at NH Voc. Rehab.
In the end, everything came together.
The poor woman I talked into the grant was banished to Siberia because of the KillerFoxx album cover which depicted a man and a woman engaged in oral sex. (All you can eat)
The German company sent us a check for a few grand which we partied on for some time, wondering why they never asked for the "masters" as it were.
They must have just used the vinyl. Who knows.
The second ThrashQueen album was never released in the states because we only sold the European rights.
Given funds, I could probably give enough info to a Private Detective to find them all for a reunion, but...
Sometimes its best to leave these things alone.
Its gratifying that the music survived!
Thanks to all who expressed an interest.
I hope I've amused you and satisfied your curiosity.
Like I said: "It was the best of times, It was the worst of times"