Better Know A Band: Sanctuary

[KYF_Cincinnati]

I always find it interesting to to read what musicians from the 80's are doing at their "Real Jobs" away from the stage. Apparetly, (if this is the same guy), Sean Blosl, (former SANCTUARY guitarist), is now getting ready to release a documentary film called "INTO THE HEART OF SHIVA"<-- LINK
Word is he's been a color super 8 camera man for a few films and decided to do his own with this project.

Interesting huh? I wonder how much LSD these guys took during the "White Rabbit" days?

Some people get fat & flatulant after 40, Sean get's wirey.

 

[Metalmilitia2000]

I always find it interesting to to read what musicians from the 80's are doing at their "Real Jobs" away from the stage. Apparetly, (if this is the same guy), Sean Blosl, (former SANCTUARY guitarist), is now getting ready to release a documentary film called "INTO THE HEART OF SHIVA"<-- LINK
Word is he's been a color super 8 camera man for a few films and decided to do his own with this project.

Interesting huh? I wonder how much LSD these guys took during the "White Rabbit" days?

Some people get fat & flatulant after 40, Sean get's wirey.

Yes, it's the same one. This is why he is not a part of the reunion.

 

[Claus / Intromental]

Typical Claus tirade that doesn't make much sense... must be the language barrier.

Made perfect sense to me. Sorry you can't understand what I write.

 

[Claus / Intromental]

Were some posts deleted from this thread? I read back through it and can't find anyone who said anything remotely close to this. As far as I can tell, everyone posting in the thread is a longtime Sanctuary fan. So who are you referring to?

Neil

It was all tongue-in-cheek what I posted Neil. It's called getting a point across

The thing is that a lot of people posting on this thread comes off as if they have no clue how big Sanctuary were before they split. Sure, they weren't Metallica or Ozzy, but they had a name in the scene and were selling more discs than most of the bands you'll ever see at ProgPower.

 

[Primal]

Hey Zod! For this reunion show and record, is everyone on board (All original members) except for Sean Blosl's place being taken by Jeff Loomis??? Thanks for the info!!

 

[Metaldrumz]

I remember Sanctuary way back in the day. I would always see the long blonde hair and go WOW!

I worked for Transworld Music Corp (Albany NY) which used to handle Tape World, Record Town etc (now FYE), and would always remember the record labels bands were on.

Like Claus said they were on EPIC / SONY (you also had the division SCOTTI) and only bands selling were on it.

 

[General Zod]

Sure, they weren't Metallica or Ozzy, but they had a name in the scene and were selling more discs than most of the bands you'll ever see at ProgPower.

Very true. However, (as you well know) it's so difficult to draw parallels between then and now. Back then, if you got one video on the Headbanger's Ball you had a gold record. Now you can be the best Metal band on planet and you'll never crack 100K.

Hey Zod! For this reunion show and record, is everyone on board (All original members) except for Sean Blosl's place being taken by Jeff Loomis??? Thanks for the info!!

That's exactly how I understand it.

 

[Metalmilitia2000]

Made perfect sense to me. Sorry you can't understand what I write.

Is my sarcasm lost on everyone?

 

[J. Golden]

The thing is that a lot of people posting on this thread comes off as if they have no clue how big Sanctuary were before they split. Sure, they weren't Metallica or Ozzy, but they had a name in the scene and were selling more discs than most of the bands you'll ever see at ProgPower.

I have always thought a lot of talk in the forum and at the fest came off like that. Not just about Sanctuary but it could be any band or metal related topic. And what has always struck me the most interesting is that it is usually people older than myself who one would think would have certainly known these bands and what was going on with metal back then. I can't help but to scratch my head sometimes when the 40 year old guy who comes to a fest called Progpower to see bands like Kamalot and Symphony X has no idea who Fates Warning are. It just seems very strange.
Progressive metal is metal for midlife crisis I think. Guys who where somewhat into metal and missed a lot of the "goings on" back in the day so now they pick back up on this rebellious thing called heavy metal that they remember from their youth. Well now married with children, tied down with the office job and no better hobby than watching the hair line move back remembering the safe shoulder length mullet they may have had as a kid.
It was never an issue of who is more metal than who or knows more about the "underground", or even who was into whatever longer. But I read passages where the fair weathered metal guy, weekend warrior dude or whatever talks like they know something and they really have no idea what they are talking about. These are often the same guys who ask "whatever happened to metal" and stupid ass questions like that. I believe in another thread I answered something similar by saying nothing happened to metal besides you leaving it.
This is not a penis issue or who is cooler than who thing. I do think it would be an interesting little study of just one facet of this sub-culture.
Ok tired of thinking about this now.

 

[J. Golden]

Back then, if you got one video on the Headbanger's Ball you had a gold record.

Think a lot of bands had videos on HHB and iot did nothing for them; Sword, Hellion, Banshee, damn Anacrusis there towards the end of the Ball.

 

[General Zod]

Think a lot of bands had videos on HHB and iot did nothing for them; Sword, Hellion, Banshee, damn Anacrusis there towards the end of the Ball.

True. My comment was intended as an exaggeration, meant to underscore the massive difference between the scene then and now.

 

[Creeps]

Think a lot of bands had videos on HHB and iot did nothing for them; Sword, Hellion, Banshee, damn Anacrusis there towards the end of the Ball.

Not every band has or had the same appeal as others has a lot to do with it. Believe it or not, radio stations, video channels and other forms of media do have an aspect to their business that will survey listeners, viewers and readers as to what they like or dislike in what they hear, see or read. Once those numbers are crunched and they see that a band like Hellion only had xx votes versus another that had xxxx votes, they'll adjust their play list accordingly to make sure no one changes the channel.

 

[lady_space]

Very true. However, (as you well know) it's so difficult to draw parallels between then and now.

Quote:
Originally Posted by General Zod
Very true. However, (as you well know) it's so difficult to draw parallels between then and now.
Exactly. My guess is many of the bands who play PP would give their left nut to sell 100K CDs. It's a different world these days, and this is but a small part of it.

I am curious... anyone know about how many copies ItMB sold? My guess would be somewhere around gold-ish, but I would be surprised if it was much more.

That said, yes, I got Refuge Denied on tape somewhere around '89 and yes, everyone I knew had heard of them. Remember, we all turned each other on to new stuff, so our bases were very close to the same. Now, we all liked different things to different degrees, but if one of your friends heard something and liked it, everyone else damn sure at least heard about it. It makes it difficult for me to accurately gauge a band's general popularity because of this necessarily myopic view. I can take a guess based on tours, airplay, etc., but it's still all colored by perspective.
As an aside, someone mentioned the long blonde hair. I actually tried to use that to get a girlfriend who wasn't into much metal (just the stuff that was really popular at the time) into Sanctuary by showing her Warrell's hair. Didn't work, AFAIK, but she's now married to a singer in a local metal band where I used to live. lol

Good write-up, as usual, Zod. Thanks.

 

[J. Golden]

Not every band has or had the same appeal as others has a lot to do with it. Believe it or not, radio stations, video channels and other forms of media do have an aspect to their business that will survey listeners, viewers and readers as to what they like or dislike in what they hear, see or read. Once those numbers are crunched and they see that a band like Hellion only had xx votes versus another that had xxxx votes, they'll adjust their play list accordingly to make sure no one changes the channel.

Oh that would explain why the radio plays so much Nickelback yet I have never met a single person who likes that band. (que everyone who's going to tell me what a fan they are)
Media is not based on surveying what people like, it is based on advertisers and who can pay for what.
And if we narrow it down to Headbanger's Ball then I would refer to Rikki talking about the countless letters they got asking for less Trixter and more metal to be played. It would seem in this case Mtv wasn't listening to the people.
So are you one of these "surveyed people'? Are you the reason Nickelback is on the radio or why Confessor 'Condemned' video was never aired on the Ball because Poison was fulling those three hours?

 

[J. Golden]

Quote:

As an aside, someone mentioned the long blonde hair. I actually tried to use that to get a girlfriend who wasn't into much metal (just the stuff that was really popular at the time) into Sanctuary by showing her Warrell's hair. Didn't work, AFAIK, but she's now married to a singer in a local metal band where I used to live. lol

That is funny.
Every chick I knew in the late 80s and first couple of years in the 90s loved high pitch singers, it was like chocolate or something for them. Dane, Midnight especially, and King Diamond for the stranger ones of the bunch.
It was always that way, in the car playing Obituary she would not get into that. Put in the Crimson Glory or Sanctuary and it was "oh I like this". Then all you had to do if you could is start singing along. Get to 'Lonely' and sing that and you were in. HAHA This worked so many times.

 

[Mooseknuckle]

So I just got back from a week in Seattle for my job. While there I took the time to visit the Experience Music Project. They have a display all about the "important contributions of Seattle's music scene" through the years. The obvious players were all included - Hendrix, Cobain, Soundgarden. There was stuff about the Kingsmen and Paul Revere and the Raiders. Then there was one section devoted to the Heavy Metal years. They have a little video running that talks about the bands that made it. Brief mentions of TKO and a few others. Then they mention the "heavy hitters". Queensryche got quite a bit of detail, as did Metal Church. But the band they dwelled on the most was Sanctuary. I didn't pay attention to the stats, but they definitely were huge in that region. Hell I was just a teenager in NY and I remember seeing them promoted all over the place. I still have both of the cassettes that I bought at the mall. I suppose regional appeal may have some to do with it, but I always thought they were a big deal.

 

[Creeps]

Oh that would explain why the radio plays so much Nickelback yet I have never met a single person who likes that band. (que everyone who's going to tell me what a fan they are)
Media is not based on surveying what people like, it is based on advertisers and who can pay for what.
And if we narrow it down to Headbanger's Ball then I would refer to Rikki talking about the countless letters they got asking for less Trixter and more metal to be played. It would seem in this case Mtv wasn't listening to the people.
So are you one of these "surveyed people'? Are you the reason Nickelback is on the radio or why Confessor 'Condemned' video was never aired on the Ball because Poison was fulling those three hours?

Actually I have worked for a clear channel station before and they have a room full of people that do nothing but call people in the listening area and play song clips and take those people's responses. They're not just doing that to fatten the minimum wage job market.

I have also been on the receiving end of phone calls for about 5 radio stations in the Tampa Bay area.

So yes, I'm sure there are OTHER factors involved BUT you cannot deny that the listener/viewer is a major factor in itself. Why else have rating systems installed to monitor people's watching habits? Why track what people are using their DVRs to record? Why do radio stations care if people do or do not like a song? It all factors in.

 

[nomisofsiman]

Actually I have worked for a clear channel station before and they have a room full of people that do nothing but call people in the listening area and play song clips and take those people's responses. They're not just doing that to fatten the minimum wage job market.

I have also been on the receiving end of phone calls for about 5 radio stations in the Tampa Bay area.

So yes, I'm sure there are OTHER factors involved BUT you cannot deny that the listener/viewer is a major factor in itself. Why else have rating systems installed to monitor people's watching habits? Why track what people are using their DVRs to record? Why do radio stations care if people do or do not like a song? It all factors in.

This was true years ago maybe but not so much anymore. Between satelite radio, pandora, other online sources to find music. Plus, I think more people download and listen nowadays opposed to just listening to the radio. In terms of tv, I don't even understand why they do it anymore. With people using DVRs and watching HULU and Youtube, you can't really guage much.

 

[Creeps]

All of the above are true, but those new ways to access music and shows haven't killed the radio stations yet. FM still thrives, especially in workplaces. They do track what is being DVR'd as well, so that too has an impact as to whether or not a show stays on the air.

The more people that watch and listen the more advertisers it will attract.

As to the Headbanger's Ball thing, I loved Hellion, but the fact is they're not a band that millions agree on. "Millions" agreed on more mainstream hard rock and metal through the 80s. Hellion would always lose the battle against the likes of Queensryche, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Poison, Judas Priest and Motley Crue. It was always something special to see something "obscure" back then instead of the same re-hashed Def Leppard vids. Damien, Fifth Angel, Warlock and others were cool to see on the Ball.

 

[skyrefuge]

Oh that would explain why the radio plays so much Nickelback yet I have never met a single person who likes that band. (que everyone who's going to tell me what a fan they are)

I won't tell you I'm a fan (cuz I'm not!), but I'll ask you a question: which of the following possibilities seems more likely to you?

A) SoundScan's reports of 21 million Nickelback albums sold, newspaper reports of sold out arenas, and last.fm's report of 1.6 million Nickelback listeners, are all part of an elaborate hoax on the level of the Apollo moon landing, masterminded by commercial radio for reasons unknown

OR

B) Your circle of acquaintances is unreliable to use as a representative of society as a whole

Given that in this very thread you showed that your circle of acquaintances is not a representative sample of even the *metal* community (since it doesn't include a single person who preferred the second Sanctuary album over the first), me, I'm gonna hafta lean towards "B" on this one.

I now hand the microphone back to lady_space, who somehow wrote in the post right before yours as if tapped directly into my brain. Read this bit again. Maybe like 6 times.

Remember, we all turned each other on to new stuff, so our bases were very close to the same.... It makes it difficult for me to accurately gauge a band's general popularity because of this necessarily myopic view. I can take a guess based on tours, airplay, etc., but it's still all colored by perspective.

I'm being King Dick here because I think that you have a unique and valuable perspective on many things, but if you continue to confuse your own experience and environment with that of society as a whole, that perspective becomes worthless since it's impossible to trust ("was that *really*the general reaction to Album X when it came out, or just what him and his 5 buddies thought? After all, he's the guy who thought no one likes ItMB, or even Nickelback!")

Neil