IRON STEEL EXCLUSIVE BLOG ENTRY #1: FRAN STRINE REPORTS FROM NAMM
[Welcome to the first of our exclusive blog series from the new thrash supergroup Iron Steel, featuring Morgan Rose (Sevendust) on drums; Jim LaMarca (Chimaira), Dave Ellefson (ex-Megadeth) and Rachel Bolan (Skid Row) all on bass (!); as well as Fran Strine on vocals and guitar and Tommy Redd on guitar. Each week a different member will be posting an exclusive blog only at MetalSucks. This week we start you off with Fran Strine, reporting from the trenches of the NAMM show in Anaheim.]
So, today I was walking around the 2008 NAMM show checking out all the new gear that everyone is going to give me because I’m so fucking rad, when I heard a loud ‘bang.’
I hit the floor as soon as I heard it – taking one of our many bassists, Dave Ellefson, along with me. “They’re coming,” I screamed. Dave was looking left to right and doing a military crawl, dragging me along until we got under the table at the Peavey booth. As people walked by, we saw our drummer, Morgan Rose, we called out to him “save yourself, Morgan!” He came over, yanked Ellefson out from under the table and shook him by the shoulders, screaming “Dave – we are in Anaheim!” Next he did it to me, and once we were both shaken and sat down at the booth, we calmed down a bit. Morgan went and got LaMarca and Tommy and told them what happened. I could see them shaking their heads and when I read their lips, they were saying “Not again!”
I finally figured out that the sound sent me right into a flashback from IRON STEEL’s last tour in North Korea. They told me that if I told anyone anything about what went on there, that I would have to kill them but I figure that once you listen to “Attack” you will be slayed anyway, so here it goes…
We figured we needed all the bass we could get for the tour so we took LaMarca and Ellefson and even flew in Rachel Bolan for reinforcement. Playing on the front lines sucked, but we were MEN so we went ahead with it. Those wussies in the other bands that the Army approached didnt have the GUTS! Tommy missed all the rehearsals because he was busy teaching the kids at the local elementary school how to kill a man with their #2 pencils. We let him slide because he was recruiting them for our side and we needed all the help we could get.
When our gear got there, we loaded in to the venue and started to sound-check. The volume wouldnt go to 11, so we knew there was something wrong. Our sound guy noticed that the table the board was on was shaking. Finally, a midget North Korean burst out of the enclosure under the table and set off a grenade. He destroyed the board so I had to snap his neck. Ellefson was standing closest to the sound guy and he went to his limp, lifeless body and screamed “Why?! Why, God?!”
So you can see why we get crazy when we hear explosions. Don’t be around me when I hear one because all it will take is the slightest movement and your neck will be snapped. Watch out Anaheim, we are here and we are DANGEROUS!
-Fran (IRON STEEL)
