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Joe Hasselvander Career
Hasselvander regularly played the military club circuit in and around the Washington, D.C. area until 1973, when he was asked to
joinThePlatters after playing a show with them in Waldorf, Maryland. Hasselvander declined, saying he had to finish high school. He later
joinedajazz fusion ensemble called the Ra Notra Sextet that was writing and performing music similar to Chick Corea or The Mahavishnu
Orchestra.
With Pentagram.
In 1973, Hasselvander returned to the hard rock genre playing with the Washington D.C. band The Boyz in the Washington/Baltimore
ar ...read more
Joe Hasselvander Career
Hasselvander regularly played the military club circuit in and around the Washington, D.C. area until 1973, when he was asked to
joinThePlatters after playing a show with them in Waldorf, Maryland. Hasselvander declined, saying he had to finish high school. He later
joinedajazz fusion ensemble called the Ra Notra Sextet that was writing and performing music similar to Chick Corea or The Mahavishnu
Orchestra.
With Pentagram.
In 1973, Hasselvander returned to the hard rock genre playing with the Washington D.C. band The Boyz in the Washington/Baltimore
area.In1976, Hasselvander was asked to play in Mountain with Leslie West in a small club in Alexandria, Virginia. In 1977,
Hasselvanderjoinedforces with Bobby Liebling and started a new and serious working version of heavy metal doom band, Pentagram.
Hasselvander's firstsingle,"Living in a Ram's Head" b/w "When the Screams Come", was recorded with Hasselvander sharing the producing
duties with Liebling.In 1979Pentagram opened for Judas Priest on the Hell Bent for Leather tour and later that year Hasselvander formed
Overlord with membersofPentagram and Link Wray's The Pack. In 1981, Hasselvander once again joined forces with The Boyz to release the
album Bustin’Out,followed by a Falls Church, Virginia show with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Hasselvander formed Death Row with axeman
Victor Griffinin1982 and once again recruited Bobby Liebling and bassist Martin Swaney to write and record Pentagram's first LP on New York
labelDutchEast Records.
Solo career and Raven
Hasselvander moved to New York and recorded the albums Devil Childe and Phantom Lord with former Virgin Steele guitarist Jack
Starr.Healso recorded his first solo album, Lady-Killer. On Lady-Killer, Hasselvander performed rhythm guitar, bass, drums and vocals,
whileJackStarr played the guitar solos. 1985 found Hasselvander working with British blues legend, Kim Simmonds performing 2 years' worth
ofshowsthroughout the U.S. under the names Savoy Brown or The Kim Simmonds Band. Only one studio demo and one live recording exists
ofthisline-up including players from Blue Cheer, Cactus, The Plasmatics and The Rods. In September of ’87 Hasselvander made
acameoappearance on Pentagram’s second album, Day of Reckoning, filling in on the song "Burning Saviour". Hasselvander soon
afterrecorded alldrum, guitar, bass and vocal tracks for his second solo album, Road Kill, isssued on Bad Posture Records and
subsequentlyrecorded his firstdemos with N.W.O.B.H.M. legends, Raven at Bearsville Studios near Woodstock, N.Y.. Hasselvander officially
joined Ravenin late 1987 andrecorded the album Nothing Exceeds Like Excess for Combat Records. He followed up by touring with Raven
supportingTestament in theUnited States and Kreator in Europe in 1989. Soon after, he recorded with Christian metal band Armageddon for
their firstalbum, The MoneyMask. Raven switched labels and management to Drakkar Promotions and SPV/Steamhammer in Germany and
recordedArchitect of Fear,supporting the release by touring with Germany pirate rockers Running Wild. A video from this tour was made into
an on-the-road “rock-umentary” entitled Electro Shock Therapy, which featured very revealing moments with Mr. Hasselvander in his
naturalhabitat. The videowas released in tandem with the EP Heads Up! featuring outtakes from Architect of Fear and live songs from the
tour. Atour with Germanband Risk followed in 1992. « hide |
Similar Bands: Pentagram, Death Row, Bedemon, Climate of Despair Contributors: nylonhair, Oswaldo88, Voivod, Oswaldo88,
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