Like all good stories, RÖTÖR began with a joke.
All Space Patrol members switched instruments to record a parody/comedy band of 80s French Heavy Metal. And then... we decided to take it seriously. I'm still not sure about the end result, but we had A LOT of fun recording this demo in 2005. Joris was on bass (and did some vocals as well), JC Alienseed played drums (our ex drummer Tristan was living in Texas at that time)… Alex was on guitars and I was trying my best to reach the highest notes possible! |
RÖTÖR Mark 1 - Demo (2005)
It does not sound like much but I guess we really enjoyed making simpler music at the time.
The end of Space Patrol had proved quite exhausting and, whereas we still enjoyed each other's company, we knew there was no going back to the long, complicated, overdrawn song structures that proved to be the final nail in Space Patrol's coffin. But, on the other hand, doing a comedy band turned out to be not that muc fun. I've always 'admired' (the word may be too strong but you get the drift) the amount of time, hard work and dedication parody bands put into their craft. Always found it weird how people could spend countless hours on something meaningless. I guess my partners in crime felt the same, because, shortly after we recorded the 'fun' demo above, we began to work on more serious songs. Joris was soon to move to China where he would spend a lot of time so we knew we had to hurry. Two songs were written, and I only sang on the first one, "Tonight You die" -- in my living room, with a cheap computer headset. Take that, Varg Vikernes! |
RÖTÖR Mark 2 - Demo (2006)
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The third and final Rotor demo is an altogether different story.
Five years after our initial foray into the 'funny band' scene, things were quite different. Horrors Of The Black Museum, the doom duo that JC & I made, had come and gone. I was more interested in playing keyboards than singing (which I still wanted to, although doing both was proving to be quite an ordeal), and most important of all, Tristan, our drummer, was back. So quite naturally, the full Space Patrol line-up reconvened (minus Joris who was still in China), with the aim of making some sort of hard to label prog/heavy rock, with pop, Zeuhl, even jazz influences! I did not really know how to play the keyboards (still don't for that matter) and my gear was extremely limited, but that didn't prevent us from writing some tunes that I wouldn't mind playing even today! RÖTÖR's swan songs were these great, live in the studio rehearsal tunes. Worship the Seven Inch Allah or DIE!!! |