Annihilator Member/Line-up History 1984-1985 Ottawa, Canada. Jeff Waters meets John Bates, singer and lyricist. Bates andsome of his friends gets Waters into heavier music (Slayer, Venom, Metallica, Exodus) than Waters is used to listening to (ACDC, Kiss, Priest, Maiden, Van Halen). Bates and Waters record the song "Annihilator" in a local studio with Waters playing all instruments, including drums. The two of them find bassist Dave Scott. Even without a drummer, the band took "promo" fotos and had demo cover artist Rob Lange stand-in for the missing "drummer". Shortly after, drummer Paul Malek is found. Guitarist's Myles Rourke and Joe Bongiorno are briefly "in" the band but neither work out. Bongiorno guitar techs for the band months later. The 4 rehearse in Malek's mother's clothing store's basement and eventually record the band's first demo "Welcome To Your Death". The band play their first shows in Val D'Or, Quebec. After parting ways with drummer Malek, Annihilator jam briefly with Quebec drummer Richard Death (yes, Death!). After that brief stint with Death, the band go their separate ways and Waters continues Annihilator. 1986 Waters records the 2nd Annihilator demo, again with Paul Malek on drums, but this time with Waters on guitars, bass and vocals. The demo was titled "Phantasmagoria" and became one of the top 5 most-traded/most-popular demos in metal of all-time. 1987 After a 3rd demo (all three demos featured mostly songs that would eventually end up, in some form, on an Annihilator album), not-titled and released only to some radio shows, Waters gained enough interest in his band to get record deal offers and an offer from a manager in Vancouver. After believing the promises of this manager (?!?), Waters packed up and moved to Vancouver, Canada (the most incredibly beautiful place one could live, by the way!). Waters met drummer Ray Hartmann and the two of them began jamming to the demo songs, preparing to record the first album. 1988 Waters (and Hartmann) entered a local demo studio and began the slow process of recording what would be the debut "Alice In Hell". Working late-nights and whenever time was available, with long-time Annihilator friend and engineer Paul Blake, Waters finished up most of the guitar and bass tracks, meanwhile auditioning singers for the record. 1989 Eventually Waters chose ex-DOA punk legend/bassist Randy Rampage to sing on the recordings. 2 vocal parts were kept from auditioning singer Dennis Dubeau and a few of John Bates' vocal screams were "flown in" from the WTYD demo. Waters found bassist Wayne Darley from Victoria. Numerous guitarists were auditioned for the 2nd guitar slot. Casey Taeves was trying out for the band when label Roadrunner Records wanted a band foto shoot. So Annihilator had him stand-in for the shoot. He didn't make the band. The final position was down to two guys: Anthony Greenham and Dave Scott Davis (no relation to Dave Scott). Again, a foto session was requested but this time for the album back cover and sleeve. We got Greeham in the shot. Then the band was asked to shoot their first video for the title track "Alison Hell" and still had not chosen the 2nd guitar slot. Greenham got the call for the video but Davis ended up eventually joining the band! Greenham went on to later guitar tech for Waters in 1993 and most recently was a key crew member for the band Nickelback. Annihilator's hugely successful debut Alice In Hell is released. Annihilator's vocalist leaves the band, before the end of a USA/CAN tour with Testament, citing not wanting to lose his seniority at his job in Vancouver. Rampage is asked to leave after this. 1990 - 1991 Roadrunner A and R guru Monte Connor suggests ex-Omen vocalist Coburn Pharr. Waters, Pharr and Hartmann record the Never, Neverland cd. Surpasses even sales of Alice In Hell and the band attains more success and even more sold-out touring. Guitarist Dave Davis is not taken on final tour for this album, Waters plays the Judas Priest Painkiller Europe support slot as a "one-guitar" line-up. Pharr leaves the band after this tour. 1992 Pharr returns and is joined by Boston guitarist Neil Goldberg. Pharr leaves again. Vancouver vocalist Aaron Randall joins the band. Ray Hartmann leaves the band. 1993 Goldberg suggests soon-to-be drum legend Mike Mangini. Waters, Randall, Goldberg and Mangini record Annihilator's 3rd album, "Set The World On Fire", in Vancouver, Canada. Also on drums for three songs (hell bent for leather, sounds good to me, snake in the grass) is former drummer Ray Hartmann and drummer Rik Fedyck drums on the song "Phoenix Rising". This line-up (with Mangini and bassist Wayne Darley) tour Europe and then Goldberg/Mangini leave. Mangini goes on to play with Extreme. Annihilator find drummer Randy Black and guitarist Dave Davis returns. A tour in Japan is scheduled but bassist Wayne Darley could not get into the country so was let go. Dave Davis quickly learned the bass parts and the band toured Japan with only Waters on guitar again. This 4-piece line-up continued and did a short USA tour as well. 1994 - 1995 Randall leaves the band and Waters/Randy Black record the King of the Kill cd. Waters plays all instruments and takes on vocal duties. Bassist Cam Dixon joins up and Dave Davis returns to the guitar. Very successful touring follows for this cd, including European and Japanese tours. Dixon leaves after the Japan tour. 1996 Waters/Black/Davis record the "Refresh The Demon" (5th studio) cd. Black quits the band only weeks before the Demon Europe tour is to begin. Waters finds Victoria drummer Dave Machander and Lou Budjoso on bass, Dave Davis still on guitar. 1997 New cd "Remains" recorded entirely by Jeff Waters. No touring. 1999 - 2000 Randy Rampage, Ray Hartman and Jeff Waters record "Criteria For A Black Widow". Bassist Wayne Darley is asked by Waters to return but declines citing health reasons. Russell Bergquist is added on bass and the band does two tours/trips to Europe. The second trip sees the legendary Rampage being asked to leave again. Waters plays the last show of this tour both as singer and guitarist. 2001 New York native Joe Comeau joins Annihilator as vocalist. Waters, Hartmann and Comeau record 8th studio release "Carnival Diablos". Bassist Bergquist and guitarist Davis join Waters/Hartman/Comeau and a tour in Europe follow. 2002 Randy Black returns on drums with Comeau on vocals and Waters playing guitars/bass. The trio record "Waking The Fury" and, along with Bergquist and new guitarist Curran Murphy, tour Europe and Japan as well as record "Double Live Annihilation" 2003 Comeau replaced by Vancouver singer Dave Padden. Summer festival tours follow with Black, Waters, Murphy and Bergquist. 2004 Waters, Padden and returning drum-God Mike Mangini record the 10th studio release "All For You". A 2nd European stint, supporting Judas Priest again, sees bassist Sandor De Bretan and drummer Rob Falzano team up with Waters/Padden/Murphy. 2005 Waters and Padden join with Ottawa native Tony Chappelle on drums to record the 11th studio cd "Schizo Deluxe".   TOP Jeff Waters Comments (on most members) and other rants John Bates Paul Malek Dave Scott Ray Hartmann Paul Blake Randy Rampage Wayne Darley Dave Davis Coburn Pharr Mike Mangini Aaron Randall Neil Goldberg Randy Black Cam Dixon Lou Budjoso Dave Machander Russell Bergquist Joe Comeau Curran Murphy Dave Padden Sandor De Bretan Rob Falzano Tony Chappelle John Bates What can I say?! Without this man, there would have been no "Alison Hell"... possibly no Annihilator. Bates is and was a great friend and musician. He wrote lyrics to many early Annihilator songs and a few in the later years. Also, it was he that got me into really heavy music. I had been listening to the British wave of metal and more of the commercial metal styles from the USA until he and his guitar friend Myles Rourke introduced me to Kill 'Em All, Bonded By Blood, Haunting the Chapel and Venom! That was it. The Annihilator "seed" was planted. John told me once that it was OK to like different styles and not have to be "just like the others", something I carried with me to this day by writing any style I wanted. He practiced what he preached, he would listen to Slayer and then put on an old, raw Alice Cooper recording. John was very theatrical in what he wanted to do with his lyrics and on stage. For years, he never really had that "vehicle" to outlet all this but he showed a bit of it with lyrics like Alice In Hell and others. Now, with his own band, he is all theatrics meets music. John had a voice akin to that of Randy Rampage, technically not brilliant but, even better, had that rare "sound" that no one else had. He and I had a childish "split" in 1985 but I was fortunate that he moved out to Vancouver in 1993 and picked up our friendship, once again. He and I wrote some songs for the King of the Kill cd and had alot of fun hanging out with him. John came on tour to Europe and Japan with us and was my guitar tech for these tours. He wrote a few tunes on Refresh the Demon but then he and I just ended up too busy with our own careers and personal life to keep in touch, more than a few times a year. John filmed some cool footage for Annihilator's new DVD "Ten Years In Hell" so you will all see him soon! John is an incredibly talented musician and writer and I suggest all of you check out his band, not metal but his style is kinda like the Stray Cats meet the Rocky Horror Picture Show! (just search for John Bates on the net) Paul Malek Paul was a very important part of the Annihilator "sound". He was the guy that would go down to rehearsal with me almost every night for hours and put up with me showing him the exact beats and drum fills I wanted in my songs, etc... Paul and I were not really tight players when he and I first got together but both he and I practiced so much for so long that we both got pretty good! Dave Lombardo was the big influence on us back then so there was alot of double bass thundering under most of my riffs. This was actually a really cool time because there were basically two guys jamming and, out of this, I would come up with the guitar riffs that would create Annihilator's style and much of the first 2 album's songs. I had hoped that Paul would have made the journey with me to Vancouver to seek our first record deal but back then, all I needed was a guitar, an amp and a floor to sleep on. Understandably Paul was not in the same "place" as I was, so he backed out of the Vancouver move. Cheers to Paul Malek and John Bates, the two guys also responsible for creating the early Annihilator sound with me. Dave Scott Very unique and good bassist, at the time. His influences were Manowar and Steve Harris, amongst others. Back in 1985, I spent all my time practicing guitar. Almost nothing else in my life mattered. Scott and Bates (maybe the smart one's!) were interested in the idea of playing in a band at that time but really only on a part-time basis, Girls were slightly more important to them at that time. That makes sense but where I out-smarted them was by practicing so much and dedicating my whole life to this band, so I could get famous and then go out and get all the girls I wanted! hehe! Great strategy! So while Scott and Bates were damn good musicians, I was far too obsessed with Annihilator and "making it" (ie. getting a record deal) so when the guys kept cutting out of rehearsals or missing practice to hang out with the girlfriends, this created real tension between myself and them... finally I figured that I was going to take matters into my own hands and do all the work myself, or at least most of it. So back to Dave. He was a good guy and really original bassist. Don't know what he is doing lately but it would be nice to hear from him. Ray Hartmann and the beginnings in Vancouver When I moved out from Ottawa to Vancouver in 1987, all I knew was that a drummer Ray would be able to play my music and that my new manager would meet me at the airport, take me for a nice dinner, was going to get me a car, a nice apartment with nice furniture, some monthly wages to live on and ray and i would go into a world-class studio and start working on my first cd. Well. The manager picked me up at the airport alright. Then we went to McDonalds, he did pay for the meal but didn't eat (smart move, in hind-sight). I was taken to a dirty, cock-roach infested strip club hotel and given $20. I lived there for months and had to collect welfare. Finally my manager "set me up" in a one-room, cheap apartment with no furniture or even a bed. I remember walking a few miles to buy a used fouton mattress that had stains on it, welfare (Social Services for folks who have nothing or can't or can't find work) had made a "special exception" and had given me $60 to buy a bed. I bought the stained fouton and carried it back down Colombia St. in New West, BC to my stinky, bug-infested apt. I no longer had to sleep on the cold hard-wood floor. This was the most humiliating time of my life. I went through a year and a half of severe depression that came to a boil around Xmas 1988. My manager partnered up with another guy for a few years and I went to see this new co-manager the morning before Xmas. I had no money and no food. I pulled up in a friends car and saw him getting into a long black limousine, loading in Xmas presents. I pleaded with him to lend me $50 for food for the holidays but, as he often did, he laughingly told me to "get the f..k out of here" and that he had places to go. Well he left but before they pulled away, he rolled down his window and threw a $20 bill to the ground and said "don't say I never did nothing for you, Merry Christmas". So I found an open store, went home to my room and ate canned food while listening to my favorite cassettes at that time (Appetite For Destruction, And Justice For All and Reign In Blood). I got through the holidays alone and was at, what I thought, was the lowest point in my life however things slowly started getting busy. Add to that lots of alcohol to numb the problems and I was good to go, ready to kick ass in a metal band! Back farther again, the original manager's nice wife finally hooked me up with a furniture rental place so i had my first tv and couch and table! Things were looking up (?!). So Ray Hartmann... He was literally the only "ray of hope" (sorry!) I had when I got to Vancouver. I knew right away that this drummer would be the perfect guy to record my first cd. Perfect. He and I would jam at a storage space he had and worked for a few weeks on how the drum parts would be recorded. Ray was cool and accepted my "direction" with the drum parts but, even back then, I knew that I had to give this guy some room to put his own "stamp" on the songs. He was too good to hold back. We ended up recording the drums for "Alice In Hell" over two days/14 hours in a demo studio (Fiasco Bros Recording). I remember being almost the happiest I had ever been when he was done the tracks. I knew that Ray had laid the groundworks for something very special and that I couldn't have asked for a better drummer to lay my tracks over. Ray was also very cool to me. I think he knew I was in a very sad situation and he and his then-wife "took me in" often for things like haircuts, meals and watching TV! Sounds boring but my life for a year and a half was really sad, depressing and lonely, I now appreciate just how much Ray, his then-wife, studio owner Len Osanic and Paul Blake (my long-time friend and engineer) tried to help me out, personally. Ok, back to Ray. Ray was a great touring drummer as well, slightly on the grumpy side (we called him "Grouchy Old Man"!) but if that was his worst quality, then the guy was perfect for us! Ray and I had some great times touring those early years, alot of fun and travelling. After recording the Neverland cd/touring for it and recording a few songs for the Set The World On Fire cd in 1993, Ray left the band for quite a while but re-joined from 1999-2001. Ray recorded Carnival Diablos and Criteria For A Black Widow. The thing I liked most about Ray's drumming is that he was 50% feel and 50% technique. He was in music, bands and drumming for the love of the instrument and the art of music, not only for the money, like others I would work with. He was, to me, a cross between Dean Castranovo, Tommy Aldridge and Dave Lombardo. Ray didn't much like to play to a click-track, especially live, because there was not much room for him play "loosely", while having to stay tight to the click. This worked great for the Alice cd. Listen to the song (and the cd) Denied from the Carnival Diablos cd if you want to hear pure tasteful drumming. Paul Blake While not an official member of the band or a musician, he was a member of my"team" for years. Paul was there from the beginning, engineering my music from the Alice days to the Remains days... (except for the Never, Neverland album and Mangini's drum tracking for the Set The World On Fire recordings). Paul was there for me through hard times, both personally and technically on the Alice recording which were, at least from a technical stand-point, a nightmare to record. I recall the 2nd day of tracking Hartmann's drums... the first day went so well. However Paul, Ray and I walked in for the 2nd and final day of recording, only to find that the studio owner had actually taken down the microphones and packed the drum set in a corner, saying "Oh, you can just set them up again"! So Paul Blake had to put up with my temper tantrums and re-mike the drum kit. Tough job but he was able to bring the drum sound right back to the way he'd had it for the 5 songs the previous day! That was only the beginning. I can remember when the studio owner filled in for Paul and engineered my lead guitar solos. I had spent almost a full week tracking the solos for the Alice record only to come back and find that it was all for nothing.... the owner had recorded the solos on a different tape machine and all my solos would not sync to the main recordings... today this would not have been a problem with our modernized computer recording systems but back in 1988-1989, the solos were lost forever! "Hell in the Studio" went on but at least the studio owner gave us a great price! I was lucky to be in there as no real pro studio would have let me come in for that many hours, for that long (off and on for over a year on this cd!) Paul also helped me set up and learn how to use studio equipment. He taught me most of what I know now as an engineer and I now know just how much I learned from him, now that I have moved back to Ottawa, I had to take all that info he taught me to re-build my studio from the ground up, but by myself. Great person, good friend and a smart guy. Randy Rampage Randy, Randy, Randy. You could not help but love the guy. He is the type of guy you would enjoy sitting at a bar, listening to him talk. Sometimes we would "catch" him telling a slight "embellishment" on a story or an event in his life, but most of the time, his real-life experiences would entertain and interest most anyone. Randy came from the punk scene and didn't just talk the talk, he walked it. That's why guys like Duff McKagen (G N R) call Rampage one of their "influences" I call him an influence now, too. As the story goes, Rampage was in a bar (?!!?) and met with my co-manager who told him a band Annihilator was looking for a singer. Rampage replied "Hell yeah, I'm the man". The cool part is that Rampage had never sang before... he was a bassist! But that was why Rampage is Rampage. Balls. What Randy lacked in vocal talent and ability, he more than made up for in original style and attitude. Not only that, but his live show was insane. He did not care if he dove into the crowd and returned bloody, bruised and without most of his clothing, yes, this happened on a regular basis! So I had a great frontman with a unique voice for my first debut cd, a perfect match. Unfortunately he couldn't "stay" with Annihilator at the end of a Testament tour through the USA/CAN due to work issues at his job back in Vancouver and felt his lucrative job was a priority over Annihilator. We couldn't imagine having to work our Annihilator schedule around his work schedule but I think we/I used the excuse of excessive partying as a reason to let him go. Silly to say, as I almost kept up with the guy myself back then! But we went our separate ways and got very lucky by finding the next guy, having more success, etc... None of us really gave a thought to working with Randy again until Ray mentioned it in 1999. I called Randy up and we hung out for a bit and agreed to do another record. I recorded his vocals for the Criteria cd IN MY APARTMENT'S WALK-IN CLOSET and he took a total of 9 hours to sing the record. With Rampage, you only got one voice so it was very easy to record him. Criteria proved that Rampage still had everything he had back in 1989. We went on a few tours for this cd but after a not-so-good incident on the tour bus, he was asked to leave, mid-tour and under some lousy circumstances. At the time, the safety of all on the bus was a concern but, in hindsight, I think I could have controlled what happened a bit better and I wish I'd hung on to him until the end of the tour. We were all very happy to hear that Randy had made it home safe to Canada, after leaving the tour. Excessive drug and alcohol use can be a helluva combination and when you are living on the same bus a 16 others, trying to actually do a professional job, etc... pretty tough to get along and be rational. But so is life. Randy made it home safe and we finished the tour with me singing. I have talked to him a few times since and he is fronting the band StressFactor9 along with Ray.... Watch out for these guys cause any band Randy is in will really be worth seeing and hearing!! As with the likes of John Bates and Paul Malek, I consider Randy Rampage one of the main reasons why Annihilator has done so well over the year . . . ssshhh... can hear him screaming "Your mind begins to fold, aren't you growing cccoolllldddddah?!"???!!! Wayne Darley Wayne was one of those guys who had it all. He was a great bass player. A good song-writer. A good singer. Good looks. A likeable guy. I met Wayne back in late 1988 when I was starting to look for band-members to tour with. He was from Victoria, Canada but moved in with me in Vancouver, he always liked the night-life and the big city. We were basically waiting for the Alice record to get released so we had some good time to do nothing but hang out. Wayne introduced me to a life I had never known: a life outside of practicing the guitar and staying indoors! I was a very insecure and shy person until this time. He introduced me to some very fine ladies, took me out to cool clubs and showed me how to use the fact that I was in a band, to my advantage, socially! hehe! I had a blast. Never in my 22 years of life had I been sociable and into going out and meeting people. Especially really amazing, stunning women. Thanks Wayne. I could say that was the decline of Waters and the rise of Waters, in many ways! That was really the first year that I started to go way overboard in the party aspect... alcohol was my weapon of choice. But what a blast! Musically Wayne was very knowledgable. He was into Dio and and Metallica and other metal but he was also into Southern rock like Blackfoot and other blues/rock based acts. He liked early Whitesnake, Queen and Purple but I got him obsessed with Slayer! While I played the bass on all Annihilator cd's, onstage Wayne was a rival to Rampage. his energy was endless yet he knew when to slow down in order to not miss a note. Add Hartman to this line-up and the Alice/Neverland line-ups were tough to beat ever since. Wayne and I were friends until the STWOF touring in 1993... Wayne could not get a Visa for Japan without some heavy fine-paying, which we would could not do for him. It was a sad way to say good-bye to an old friend but to make a long story short, again, drugs and alcohol can really make things difficult in a working relationship. I called Wayne in 1999 to ask if he could return with us all and have some fun on a cd and touring, he declined citing health reasons that were not our business. I hope I hear from Wayne again because I and the rest of us miss the guy. Dave Davis Known affectionately as "The Glove (of Love)", another Victoria-native Dave joined up with Annihilator back in 1989. He was friends with Darley and came highly recommended. Dave was from the same kind of musical background as Wayne and they had been in bands together in the past. Dave was the only Annihilator guitarist who could play the rhythm guitars as tight and as "cloned" as I could. While his clean guitar picking was jokingly referred to as a "chicken fight", his rhythm playing was perfect for this band. Dave was also a very nice guy. As myself and most of the others, Dave liked to party, sometimes too much. It seems that most of the early confrontations between any of us members were usually caused by someone's drug or alcohol abuse... Fortunately with Dave, there were not too many confrontations but when they happened, they were very annoying! He drove the Nevermore and Overkill guys absolutely INSANE on our shared tourbusses. Dave was a gentle and caring guy (yes, you heard me!) who frequently forced us to stop the bus, in the middle of highways throughout the world, to rescue injured animals. Then he would go onstage and rip it up! For the twin Annihilator guitar attack sound, there was no better man for the job than Dave and no one like "The Glove (of Love)"! Coburn Pharr "Cobcorn" Coburn "Popcorn/Pharrmeceutical" Pharr. He saved Annihilator's ass. Replacing a natural-born-stage-killer like Rampage was something that really couldn't have been done. But Coburn did albeit in a different way. Coburn came in as himself and not trying to imitate or replace Rampage. He came in 100% different and the fans accepted him so much that the bands' popularity and sales went to even higher heights than the Alice debut. His voice is 100% original. As with Rampage, no one else sounded like him. Never, Neverland had more melody to the music than its' predecessor and Coburn had just the right voice to match this additional melody. It was also a cool change for me to have a guy that could also sing along to the more melodic, ballady stuff I like and also write. We went to Japan, toured the USA, Canada, Europe, then returned for a Judas Priest support slot along with the mighty Pantera... again an insane amount of band-destroying partying took it's toll once again. I think if maybe I had not been such a drunken mess myself, I probably could have salvaged some of these guys to stay in the band a bit longer! At the end of this tour, Waters, Hartman and Darley couldn't stand Coburn. Why? I think because he was trapped with a bunch of immature Canadians and he wanted oh-so-badly to be in an American band. Coburn was a proud American and rightly so when those around you are acting like "Bob and Doug Mckenzie"! hehe! I am certain that if all of us were not so messed up (although not Ray Hartmann, he was always had his life more "together" than the rest of us, back then), we could have gotten along with Coburn, he is a great guy. Coburn returned briefly to demo some songs and do a bit of writing with me but the personal "damage" had been done on that Priest tour. I hadn't spoke with Coburn until 2001 or so and was very glad to have resumed talking to the man. I asked him last year to come up to my studio and record a song for the new Annihilator cd but he couldn't schedule it in, maybe next time around! On the Neverland touring, We had the most incredible times that some people can only dream of having. A big "thanks" to Coburn as well for helping to get Annihilator to where it was then and where it is today. Mike Mangini I could sum this dude up with one word: GOD. Well, you know what I mean. Go to www.mikemangini.com and visit the multimedia/video section and hang on to your jaw... I met Mikey through guitarist Neil Goldberg. They were both friends from Boston and were both graduates of the famed Berkeley Music College. This was in 1993 when we were starting work on the 3rd Annihilator album, Set The World On Fire. Mike came up and we went into a local studio, owned by Loverboy guitarist Paul Dean, and I had the master producer/engineer Max Norman (Sabbath, Ozzy with Rhoads, Megadeth) engineer the drum tracks. None of us had known how great Mike was to become in the drum world but we could see clearly that this guy had a rare talent and could do things that were blinding. However things did not go as you would imagine! We all learned a pretty cool lesson from Max when we did the song Knight Jumps Queen. This tune was a very simple song that had a basic ACDC-style beat to the verses. While Mangini (and zillions of drummers) can play great drum "things", some of them, actually don't realize that playing the most simplest beats, to a click-track (metronome) is the most important thing you can learn to be a studio musician. Mike could, even then, play things that almost no other drummer in the world could play (and today, of course, much of what he does is un-deniably un-touchable by ANY drummer) but was having problems playing an ACDC beat perfectly to a click-track. I remember the tension in the studio over this and I think it was simply because Mikey was so pissed at himself for over-looking this simple area of playing/practicing. Norman and myself pushed Mike too far physically (fortunately he survived mentally, we think!!) and after the 2 week recording, Mike had to get medical attention for his injuries from going over the same parts, over and over again and having to hit each drum at the same constant velocity each hit, something that Norman was adamant about. I was the "timing tyrant". Anyway, Mike made it t hough, I sure could not have put up with that. But I think this only made made Mike even stronger and I betcha no one other than Phil Rudd could play that ACDC beat tighter than Mikey today! So Mike made songs like Brain Dance and Nozone the full-speed-ahead neckbreakers that they are, his energy on the cd and in life are second to none. So we went on tour for Set The World On Fire. It was the first tour for Neil, Mike and Aaron Randall. The second show was in front of 60,000+ at the Dynamo Festival in Holland. After this tour, we returned to Canada and Mike and Neil moved on to other projects and bands. Mike went on to play with Extreme and then with Steve Vai, as well as many other music and teaching projects, clinics, etc... We've kept in touch over the years and I see him often on his various drum clinics in Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal, I suggest any chance you get to see this guy.... go. In late 2003, I had arranged for drummer Randy Black to record the All For You cd in Germany. This did not happen so, at the last minute, I was stuck trying to urgently replace Randy. I think that within minutes of Black confirming that he would not do the new cd, I had Mangini on the phone and begged him to help me out. Mike agreed to save my butt at the last minute and offered to record the cd for the same money that was being offered to the last guy (which was damn lucky as Mangini could command much more money than others). We recorded the All For You cd in Boston and Mike and I had a good time time doing this record. Weapon X, Rage Absolute and Both Of Me will show you just Mike's speed and stamina but again, hit his website for the "real" entertainment value! It was a special honor to work and learn from Mike Mangini. Which brings me to one last point here. As most know, Annihilator is mostly a solo-project. When you see the band live, it is a band. Off that stage, it is "Water's "baby". Europe and Asia have never criticized me for always changing musicians because they were all aware of how Annihilator "works". However North America, who have not really had much chance to hear or see us in the last 12 years, often only hear of Annihilator as being "some dictator/a..hole's solo project / revolving door of musician's, etc...". Many ASSume that if there are many musicians, coming and going, then, since Annihilator is called a "band", that the main guy must be firing everyone all the time and a jerk to work with. To set that record straight for the "unknowing" folk, most all of the guys that were hired in my band were not fired. There were 3 that were officially asked to leave, the rest either left to start their own bands, to pursue other projects, to spend more time with their families, were not showing much drive or interest anymore, couldn't continue for health reasons, had issues with OTHER band members, couldn't be paid as much as they were asking or were not asked back on future tours. The fact that many of these former members return at some point in the future to the band or that I talk to most of these guys on a regular basis makes these silly rumors kinda baseless. I think that, maybe if I'd have called the band "The Waters Project" or something, these silly rumors would not be. My fans and most Euro-Asian metal fans already know this but, almost understandably, with our lack of visibility here in North America for so long, many USA/CAN metal fans know nothing about us other than "Alice In Hell" or "the band with the guy that can't keep a band together"! I usually try to keep the singer and anyone else that is positive and wanting to give their best, but the band itself is not a crucial thing for me. That said, when Annihilator play live with ANY line-up, fans are seeing some of the best musicians in metal, sometimes in music. Which will FINALLY bring this section to a close, but only after one last point! How many guys, especially from Canada, get to work with over 20 amazingly talented musicians, for more than 20 years, tour the world 20 times, tour with Judas Priest TWICE, release 11 studio cds in a world that almost outlawed 80's metal in the 90's, etc... I read (and I am sure many of you read the same thing) all about musicians proclaiming their newly-found joy over finally working with another group of musicians (those guys that have been in the same band, same line-up for most of their careers)... fresh blood, a break in the routine, monotony, etc... This is where many don't realize how good I got it, being able to routinely work with some of the best musicians in metal for the last 20 years! I know it, appreciate it and that is why fans keep coming back for more Annihilator: always something new and interesting. That does not mean that all Annihilator cd's are "classics" nor does this mean that you will like all singers or line-ups, however just when someone says "I don't like this singer or this line-up", others say that this was their favorite! One of Annihilator's strength's and reasons for it's staying-power is the variety and "what are these guys gonna do next" phliospophy. Sure has worked so far! Aaron Randall I met Aaron for the first time when he walked into the Fiasco Studio. I was working on tracks for the 3rd Annihilator cd Set The World On Fire and looking for the next singer. The studio owner and others had mentioned that there was a young kid who had alot of potential, could belt out a tune and was a very quite and nice guy. As always, I welcomed the opportunity to take someone with almost no experience, not real focus on what his talents were and turn them into Annia-bots... just kidding. But it has been almost that for the singers in this band. Rampage was not a singer but was a bassist, Pharr was an "Ok" singer when i met him but not a world-class vocalist, Waters (me) was not a singer, but a guitarist, Comeau was a singer, but not for over a decade/he was a guitarist, and Padden was a guitarist, not a singer. I literally took the talent I saw in them and their voices, and basically "produced" their vocal style, sound, way of pronouncing words, etc... They were the talent but they had not worked on it or developed it, I brought it out of them. One example of many comes to mind. After the Carnival Diablos vocals were done (which Comeau did and AMAZING job on), Joe gave me a hug and there were actually tears in his eyes. As a musician and writer, I know exactly why those tears were there. When you do something creative and u put your heart and soul (and sometimes much in your life is literally sacrificed to create) into a performance or creation, when it is done, you often get emotional as hell when it is finally over. Joe said "Jeff, I want to thank you so much for bringing my vocals to a place that I never knew they could be", etc... He was in a state of shock about how he sounded on that cd and that it was HIS voice on there. Same with Padden. Same with Randall and so on. Randall had that talent but had no clue of what to do with it. This time, I made a mistake. Not with Randall, but with my inexperience as an engineer/producer. We tried out many different microphones for him to sing into. Dozens. We rented them from a local rental company and ran up a huge rental bill. It took a week to get the right microphone. My manager came into the studio and told us that we only had one more delivery of rental mikes to choose from and then we were cut off. It truly was getting ridiculous. ANY of those microphones would have been fine. Well I figured that I might as well pick the most expensive one we had and just use it. All the other mikes were returned to the rental company and we were left with the most expensive one. So it better sound great, right?! Well, we started the vocals. Aaron sounded OK but he really didn't sound like he was pronouncing the letter "s" and "t". So I kept making him literally spit out the letters, and incredibly un-natural thing to do. Usually, with a good mike, you want the opposite... don't emphasize the pronouncing of the "s" and "t"'s. So after a few songs done, I said to myself, "this guy has a lisp".... well what was really happening was, the mike was broken! It cut off the frequencies where the s/t are so that the poor guy was spitting as loud as he could and we were still not hearing the "s/t's"! Because of the money issue, I decided to not change mikes and just finish off the cd. So the poor guy has traces of a "lisp" on the cd but in reality, he does not have this problem at all. Way to go, Jeffo.That said, we had to spend incredible amounts of time on the vocals anyway. In the end, Aaron sounded great and he went on to perform these new tunes to more than 115,000 people live that year. Japan loved this cd as well as the "lighter" metal fans, this cd was the most melodic style from Annihilator which turned on some fans and turned off LOT of the hard-core thrashers we had impressed over the years. Ironically, 2 years later, Ray Hartmann and Aaron Randall would hook up to do a project called "Speeed". Aaron was a completely different singer and he sounded like a seasoned veteran. Amazing voice. After that, I never heard anything from him, he seemed to leave the music biz. Great guy and great talent. Neil Goldberg Neil came up to Vancouver from Boston (around late 1992?) after answering a call for an audition to be the 2nd guitarist in Annihilator. Neil was a well-trained, schooled guitarist from the Berkeley College ranks and was very talented and dedicated to his playing. He knew his scales (a point he would always jokingly remind me of cause I don't know many, especially the names!) and he would practice hard. Neil and I shared an apartment for a year and things went really slowly. I give Neil credit for relocating and being put in a position where there was LOT of sitting around and waiting. Neil played all the rhythm guitars on the song "Don't Bother Me" (which he co-wrote the music with me) and also did some amazing solos on this song as well as the solo in Phoenix Rising. I am not sure if fans of this song realize that Neil did that solo. It rules. Neil also played the incredible arpeggio solo on the cover "Hell Bent For Leather" on a bonus track on the STWOF cd single. We toured Europe for this cd and Neil had a blast. After this tour, Neil left and started his own band. Today, Neil runs a music company in NYC. Randy Black The human drum machine. For a writer and guitarist/bassist like myself, Black was the perfect drummer for many of my cd's. Randy played to a "click" (electronic metronome) and did it well so when I would write songs on a drum machine, it was natural for Randy to be able to "clone" most of what I had done on the drum machine. While Ray Hartmann had the most "feel" of all Annihilator drummers, Randy Black had the most precision. Listen to Waking the Fury for that proof (and Carnival Diablos for proof of ray's "feel"!). Randy joined in 1993 after Mangini left. He toured with us through the USA/CAN and also on our first Japan tour and was a very healthy and fun guy to hang out with on tours. Randy was the most "reliable" live drummer we'd had, at least as far as his drumming was concerned. If he made a mistake, you just knew that you could keep playing and he would get right back on track within seconds. Randy went on to record King of the Kill and Refresh The Demon with me and also co-wrote the music to some of the latter cd's songs. Randy quit a few weeks before the first tour for the Demon cd, to join a local Vancouver band, Bif Naked. Black returned from 2002-2003 for the Waking the Fury and Double Live Annihilation cd's and tours. Black was scheduled to record the All For You cd but, at the last moment, things didn't work out again. To me "Fury" was Randy's best work/drumming, almost un-beatable and a must-hear for metal drummers. Cam Dixon Cam was our only member to date from Saskatchewan, Canada! Great bassist, great stage presence and was also a really good singer. He toured with us for the King of the Kill touring in Europe and Japan. Lou Budjoso From Victoria, Canada, Lou was a friend of Dave Davis who came recommended by said "Glove"! Lou was also a good bassist and was with us on the Demon 1996 Europe tour. Dave Machander Again, from Victoria, Canada (gee, there were LOT of killer musicians from that city!), Dave was a friend of Lou's who also came recommended by the "Glove"! Dave was called up by us at the last moment, to replace Randy Black, who had quit just a few weeks before the Demon Europe Tour 1996. This was a near-impossible task, to replace Black, not only the time factor but because the drumming Dave would have to learn was brutal. We all were very hard on Dave. We knew he needed to get better as a drummer fast (2 weeks!) in order to be "good enough" to make this tour. For the first week, Dave went through rehearsal hell and we all got on his case. I remember Davis telling me after the 6th day "I don't think he is gonna make it" however by the first week's end, I also remember that Dave got better and better. Ya see, with the highest quality standards I set by hiring some of the best musicians in the business, I can't mess up and get someone who can't really cut the gig. Frustrating. We did the tour. It went very good. We all thought he had just barely done the job... we thought adequately but not that well. However, upon reviewing some live video a few weeks ago, taken from this tour (i am using some of it on our new TEN YEARS IN HELL dvd), I got a real shock. Machander actually kicked serious ass and did an incredible job on this tour. He went from 13 days notice of having the gig, to being very sloppy and un-tight at rehearsals, to doing 2 hour sets every night and playing almost up there with Black and Hartmann, as far as show and ability. Machander, I salute you, on behalf of Annihilator. You kicked ass and should be proud of that tour, it was an amazing feat (regardless of how much us a..holes pressured and ragged on you, back then!). Russell Bergquist Russ came into the Annihilator camp in 1999, recommended by a mutual friend. Russ never actually auditioned, we just talked and he said he had the songs down and he was in! I have some cool film footage (that might end up on the TEN YEARS IN HELL DVD) of Russ' first rehearsals with us. I think he was a fan of the Alice/Neverland era of Annihilator and for him to walk into a first rehearsal and see Dave Davis, Ray Hartmann, Jeff Waters and Randy Rampage there, must have been "interesting" for him! So we jammed and this guy played great. Russ, aside from Wayne Darley, ended up being the perfect bassist, for this band, and went on to tour for the Criteria, Carnival, Fury, Double Live and summer 2003 cd's/tours. 1999-2003. I speak with Russ often and we have been talking about him possibly returning for some future touring. Russ has some other projects on the go, as well, check them out. Joe Comeau We met Joe while touring Europe in 2000, he was a guitarist. When things ended with Randy Rampage, I remember Joe coming up to me and telling me "if you ever need a singer..." This was literally minutes after Rampage's dramatic "exit" from the tour bus/band. I didn't think anything of this offer because he did not, at all, "look" like he could be a frontman, let alone sing for Annihilator. However looks can be quite deceiving. Joe called me up in late 2000 and auditioned, singing along to a heavy Annihilator song and a lighter one. I was surprised at his vocals as well as some of the other tapes he sent. One of them had him singing like Bon Scott, a talent that would come into use in the songs "Shallow Grave" and "Nothing To Me", Annihilator's un-official ACDC tribute songs. So I realized that the guy could sing different styles. So here we go. Comeau came up and shocked not only I, but himself by delivering an incredible performance on the Carnival Diablos cd. While heavily influenced by Dickenson, Halford, Araya and Bon (and aren't we all!?), Joe's "cloning of other singers" seemed to match perfectly to the music I was doing on that cd. Much of my "sound and songwriting style" comes from my influences from other bands I like and have liked over the years. Joe had the same metal influences as I so he and I could have literally done Slayer, Priest and Maiden albums instead of Annihilator records! So we spent a bit of time trying not to clone too heavily, even though similarities were there only out of respect! hehe! Anyway, along with Ray Hartmann's sick drumming, this was a really strong cd for Annihilator, definitely in my top 5 Annihilator albums. Waking the Fury was Joe's last STUDIO recording with Annihilator but, to me, showed more of his "own" style, starting to emerge. Curran Murphy We met the man on our Diablos Europe Tour with Nevermore in 2001. Curran was not getting along with his Nevermore band-mates and Curran had also noticed that our Dave Davis was nearing is end in the band, as well. After the tour, Joe kept suggesting that I get Curran in, I objected, citing Davis' long-time efforts with Annihilator however Comeau had some very valid points and he was right. Davis was getting tired on the tours and seemed not really that into keeping up a certain level of performance and attitude, basically I think he was just getting tired of the road. So common sense dictated that I ask Curran if he wanted to join us.... he did. Curran toured from 2002 to present with Annihilator, recorded the Double Live Annihilation cd with us and had a solo on a song called "Both of Me" (All For You 2004). Great stage presence and a great guy to be touring with. Dave Padden I met Padden in 2003 after parting ways with singer Joe Comeau. Padden auditioned for 10 minutes and was in. No question about it. Exactly 10 years, to the day, younger than I, Dave was into Slayer, The Haunted, In Flames, Priest, Megadeth, Maiden, etc... New and old school and all in between. I moved from Vancouver back to my hometown Ottawa a few days after Dave's audition and told him that we were likely going to tour a few times, that up-coming summer. We did 2 festival runs in Europe which was new and really tough for Dave. Throwing a new guy onto a stage in front of 15,000+ people some nights, and asking him to "command" a crowd was a true test for this guy. I think Dave was overwhelmed with the whole thing but amazingly he pulled through. In fact, by the second tour, any worries were quickly gone. Add to that the fact that he has the strongest live voice that Annihilator have ever had and he was a keeper. Dave flew out to Ottawa, Canada, from his home in Vancouver, Canada and we dove right into the "All For You" cd recordings, no plan in mind other than him singing along to my "guide" tracks. Oh yeah, I almost always give my singers a cd of me singing the songs, so they have a guide/base for where the words go, basic melodies, phrasing, etc... As with all other Annihilator singers, this whole vocal recording process was new to Dave. He was incredibly patient and put up with an incredible amount of direction, something I respect him immensely for. Although I push to get the best out of my guys, most personalities could never withstand the in-studio pressure's I put on guys like Comeau and Padden. I was writing some pretty emotionally-draining material for this record, lyrically. Dave had to sing to ballads, to thrash metal, to weird music, to silly stuff (Annihilator have a certain specialized immature sense of humor and weirdness combined) and to even just experimenting by trying things vocally that he had not tried before. In fact, as I understand it, this was Dave's first-ever complete-cd recording. So Dave survived and gave me the performances I was asking for and more. All For You sold more than any of the cd's in many years. Padden ruled on his debut with Annihilator and led us into summer festival tour and a run with Judas Priest in the summer of 04. Now to the real deal. Padden has been taking some red-eye flights, back and forth from Vancouver to Ottawa, over the last year, to work in my studio. Some of the recordings were for other projects but the experience gained at this point and our working relationship has improved so dramatically that metal fans are going to be quite surprised at this kid's voice. Padden also shows he can write, writing the lyrics to the song "Pride" on the newest cd. "Schizo Deluxe" is going to be a most-welcome treat for the Annihilator fans but will also win over all metal fans who haven't heard Annihilator at the top of their game. Padden, drummer Chappelle and my performances/writing on this cd are the best to date. Without doubt. Sandor De Bretan Ottawa-native and bassist on the 2004 Judas Priest Reunion tour support slot we did. Rob Falzano Boston-native and drummer for 5 shows one the 2004 Judas Priest Reunion tour. Tony Chappelle Ottawa-native and drummer extra-ordinaire. Not a touring drummer but one of the best studio/session guys in this bizness. Imagine crossing Mike Mangini with Dave Lombardo. You got Chappelle. Technically, one of the best-ever Annihilator drum performances. Get Schizo Deluxe to hear this guy and hear how and why I deliver only the best to my fans.