Brooklyn Is Birthday Stop For Manilla Road

Brooklyn Is Birthday Stop For Manilla RoadThe 2014 road to World Domination for the stalwart and stoked Manilla Road has seen the band go from tour stops starting July 3rd in Lima, Peru onward through Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Cyprus, Romania, England, Scotland, Malta, and finally, American shores, to ceaselessly lead up to this triumphant full stop in the Big Apple.

One whole weekend in the city that never sleeps, to paint broad smiles on many happy faces, as these no-nonsense Metal Warriors give Manowar a run for their money.

Make no mistake, Manilla Road are the unheralded, untouchable heroes that most of us thought could only be fictional, to in actuality, bulldoze their way across the planet to sweeping mass acceptance the way only the hardest working underdog bands know how.

Manilla Road’s journey through our modern age is a sheer marvel, as hardly any other band in existence can claim such overt creativity and take it OTT. Who else could put out an album practically by themselves, call it “Metal” and carry through decade after long decade, conjuring new mysterious musical tomes?

Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush meets AC/DC‘s for-those-about-to–rock cannon BOOM! is what assails the ears of those who dare brave the late Fall cold and dark night, to face the unmitigated might of Manilla Road.

This is a grandiloquent moment in Heavy Metal History. The storm before the calm that will descend as the force of Manilla Road, known to diehards as “The Shark Attack”, pauses briefly soon to prepare their minds and sharpen their songwriting swordpens for the promised new studio album on the horizon for 2015.

Happy Birthday Manilla Road vocalist Bryan Patrick. You’ll be celebrating in the hometown of the magazine known as Death Scream: New York, New York!

Patrick’s nickname is “Hellroadie” from his days behind the scenes as the drum technician and roadie for Manilla Road, biding his time waiting for the spotlight oh-so-patiently to crown him, as the new millennium dawned to grasp his dream; stepping into the limelight to sing for the beloved band he has helped make sure functions like the well-oiled globe-trotting locomotive that hath become.

Bryan Patrick, who has recorded a bit of drumming also, debuted on the ‘Road’s “Atlantis Rising” 2001 studio album. From strength to strength, Patrick went singing next on Manilla Road’s 2002 opus “Spiral Castle”. The red hot “Gates of Fire” LP was next in 2005 and things have really went on and gelled nicely for the man with the bald pate and amiable personage. Lest I forget the leather lungs? Hell no. 2013’s “Mysterium” is the latest Manilla Road original song collection. And it smokes.

Bryan Patrick is now completely ensconced as an integral part of the band. He unleashes a vocal maelstrom inbetwixt the three-part title song, “Mysterium” (I. Sea of Dreams II. The Quest III. Into the Unknown), that is a classic and epic corker about an explorer who  vanished after setting sail off the Australian coast in 1848.

Manilla Road’s fantastical tales of the unexpected do not leave the audience unperturbed. Rather the band prefer to win the legions of Metalheads and Proggers with sheer full, exuberant force. Patrick’s entrance into the band (who hail originally from out of Wichita, Kansas) added the extra muscle to the line-up of the group as they severed themselves from any and all competition or comparisons. Maybe to say that Manilla Road are what Hawkwind might have been had they came along 20 years later than when they started in the 1960s would be the most apt comparison one can give.

Manilla Road is completed by 12-string and 6-string guitarist Mark Shelton, drummer Neudi Neuderth and bassist Josh Castillo

Death Scream Magazine is scheduled to be on the guest list for Manilla Road’s 2nd of two consecutive gigs. The first of which is Saturday 11/22/14 and then Sun 11/23/14, in New York City.

The show that Death Scream Magazine is going to is 11/23/2014 @ the Saint Vitus venue. Saint Vitus Bar is located @ 1120 Manhattan Ave. in Brooklyn, New York 11222. The club is open from 6pm – 4am. Support acts are Natur, and Python. The scheduled showtime is 8pm, though it is not certain when Manilla Road takes the stage.

The mane (sic) attraction is Mark “The Shark” Shelton whose patented “Flaming Metal System” spaceship-like guitar effects, on it’s own, is legendary in True Heavy Metal circles.

Approximately 16 studio albums since 1980 has put this Prog/Fantasy/Heavy Metal band on top of the list for both fans and collectors alike. The artwork alone, on album covers — has smitten many a record company’s execs to swoon to get the nod to do up their illustrious illustrative LP packages.

Exquisite are the images and near worth the price of admission, alone. Though it is the brash execution, ultimately, of the music of Manilla Road and the storytelling lore that has sculpted the band’s cumulative acumen. It remains a rare precious treat (as one need only to bask in the post-show afterglow of the ‘Road) to catch Shelton, aged 56 years young,  with crew in tow, in a small venue.

Death Scream magazine will do a feature including at least an overview and a review afterwards.

Hopefully we can get Mark and/or Bryan Patrick or any jovial and willing band member of Manilla Road to answer our questions.

Flame on!:

The official website of Manilla Road is located on the web @ http://www.manillaroad.net.

– Rich Castle