Digital Dictator - Era part 2:
Although "Digital Dictator" did not come out until April of 1988, the Digital era actually began with the arrival of Carl and Mark in late 1986. At that time, "Soldiers of the Night" had been out for close to a year, and VR had played every club in the Bay Area numerous times to support it with the lineup that then included Gary St. Pierre and Terry Montana. We decided to book more shows as soon as we had Carl and Mark assimilated into the group. With this new lineup, we stormed back out through the bay area clubs again and showed the fans the new members, new sound, and new split level stage show (complete with drum riser and stairs on either side going up to a 2nd level in front of the amp line!) Since we had not had any time to write any new songs yet, we concentrated on polishing up the Soldiers material and our stage show, and proving to the fans that we were back and stronger than ever. At this time we began to notice that several tunes from SOTN were beginning to become established crowd favorites, among them: "March or Die", "Blistering Winds","Medusa", and the Epic, "Domestic Bliss". The strength of these powerful songs,and the crowd reaction, would keep them in the bands set list for years to come.. As the time progressed from late 1986 to early 1987, we began to write new
songs and after extensive rehersals, we would start to add them to our live
set list. Great songs like:"Digital Dictator","Out of the Shadows", "Lady took
a Chance", "Condemned", and others were written and debuted live during this
very creative time of the bands history. By spring of 1987, we had written all of the new material for the next record. We recorded a great demo tape of the new songs at Banquet Studios in Santa Rosa, Ca. The tape turned out so good that we were considering maybe doing the record there.That idea was nixed by Shrapnel Records since at that time all of the labels recordings were done at Cotati Studios. I remember Geoff and I going to Mike Varney's house and playing him tapes of the new stuff. I think we were a bit nervous because of Mikes general lack of interest in anything having to do with VR since Vinnie left. I even remember his first response last year when I told him that Mark had joined the band, he said: "You mean to tell me that you guys got that rhythm guitar player from Overdrive now...?" I told him that he would be in for a shock when he heard Marks playing now! Well....Mike Varney liked what he heard, and he gave VR the thumbs up! Time to record a new album!! Dave Starr 2/2000 |