Dave: I wanted to look at some various things concerning the recording and release of the 'Hungry Eyes album through MCA. Let's look at the recording and mixing sessions.
Frank: In that time we recorded 15 songs, some of which were not yet "all there", but had some very good hooks and I had hoped to complete them during the sessions. Those incomplete songs eventually were finished and still exist in the bin of songs that was supposed to be for the second album.
Our biggest dilemma in that time period was deciding between Dan Bilan's drum parts or Kim Hunt's drum parts. They were both excellent, but different and we had a hernia over the idea that only one drummer could be used in a song. Eventually we settled for all the Kim Hunt parts except for "Fear No Evil" which was Dan Bilan's amazing contribution to the album.
While recording the album Stacy kept us all entertained by bringing famous persons by to hear and socialize. Where most bands would get upset when 'outsiders' are subjected to an unfinished recording, we reveled in it. We had personages like Lisa Dal Bello, the guys from Hanoi Rocks, Sheriff, Mick Ronson, and Gene Simmons from Kiss drop in for a tune and a beer or whatever. Generally we got used to someone new being there almost all the time and sometimes they would drop in at 3 or 4 in the morning and we'd go to some after hours club to talk music when the session was over.
We took some weeks off after recording the bed tracks and went to Key Largo to veg, catch a tan and listen to the tracks. Yes, we felt like stars. When we returned back to Toronto in the dead of winter we began to record the vocals and the overdubs at the Metalworks studio (owned by the guys in Triumph). I won't say it was painful, but it was very intense. Anybody that believes that rock stars get their 'money for nothing and chicks for free' should try singing for 14 hours then compare that to a regular job.
Dave: The abum turned out great! I liked a lot of the things used to enhance the tracks. Elaborate a bit on what extra elements you used to get the solid heavy sound of the album.
Frank: We brought in everyone we knew for the chant parts and at one time had over 40 people screaming "ROCK" to get the effect you hear on Rock Bottom or Don't let it Stop. George did guitar overdubs that should place him in the Rock and Roll hall of fame for Hungry Eyes, the Maze and Metal of the Night. He was already a great guitar player, but he found riffs to play that I'm sure had not been invented to that day. Stacy surprised us often by introducing new parts when we weren't there. One night he brought in Ann Murray's pedal steel guitar player and pumped him through a stack of Marshalls to get a particular slide guitar effect. There was lots of room for experimentation and we even ran the drums through a concert PA and recorded the sound in a gigantic warehouse. The thunder intro on Standing Six was real stuff that was happening when we were driving up to the studio one afternoon. We quickly got out the two track and set up stereo mikes to record it as it passed. I sang one song in the Metalworks bathroom for 3 hours, and that was quite a showstopper. All in all, we wouldn't say no to even the wildest idea just to come up with sounds that no one had accomplished before.
Stacy was both meticulous and methodical about the overdub sessions. We would go in and do 3 days worth of work then take a week to listen and assess. If something wasn't just right, it would be done over again until it was. After 2 months we had all the tracks that we needed and we were ready for the mix.
We wanted to mix in isolation, no more social parties now because the performance was over and the focused work was ready to begin. We had about three options to use an SSL console on the entire planet. Although today you can get full automation boards for about the price of a decent guitar, back in 1985, they were very exclusive and cost about a half a million bucks to buy. We chose to mix in Nassau, and we would have except Robert Palmer had block booked the entire Studio for months. Our second choice was at Pete Townsend's Eel Pie Studio in Surrey England, and that's where we spent our mix time. I went with Stacy and we spent 3 weeks of fantasy studio time with eye-popping technology. Pete came in to hear a mix one day then mysteriously disappeared minutes afterwards, but just to have met one of my idols face to face was worth the price of admission.
During our time there, Stacy and I tested the waters for a record deal and we took the mix to a major label office in London. I watched a British record exec squirm because it was obvious he couldn't afford to sign the project on. The fact that he wouldn't let us leave his office without throwing out small counter offers over and over, gave us allot of confidence to what we could expect from the big money in North America. We were pumped and the mixes sounded good, and when we left England and returned home we took one more vacation break before the big push for a record deal.
Dave: I understand there is a very interesting story on what lead up to the signing with MCA?? What was it??
Frank: Eddie Van Halen had a gig with Universal as the music director for a film named "the Wild Life", (a would be sequel to Fast Times at Ridgemount High) starring Christopher Penn, and Rick Moranis. Most of the music had been selected for this movie, but Eddie was struggling with one scene where a parrot bobs up and down to loud music that a rebel son is annoying his mother with. I believe the scene was originally cut using "Heartfull of Soul" a sixties number by the Yardbirds.
We had presented our stuff to MCA in Canada, but they didn't have the money to sign us. Thereby the tapes were sent to Los Angeles for review because John Alexander (the same guy who discovered Alannis Morrisette) saw a very good opportunity in the project. A cassette of the album ended up in one of the exec's car unlistened to for days, and we were patiently sitting on nervous edge at home wondering when we would get a response.
As luck would have it, Eddie was fresh out of smokes or had to pick his wife up or something like that, and borrowed the above mentioned exec's car. Once in the car Eddie pops a cassette in for the drive and guess who's cassette it was? As the story goes, Eddie calls this guy on his own car phone and says he's got to have this song (Metal of the Night) for the parrot scene. MCA got so excited, so fast, that we received a phone call the same day and negotiations lasted about 20 minutes. I still have a hard time believing this story myself, but the proof is right there. And the song is on the movie soundtrack.
Dave: Speaking of 'Metal of the Night', that was the name of the album as it was released by Hanover Fist. I understand there is an interesting story on the release of this album.
Frank: We did about 8 different mixes of Metal of the Night for the movie and it was the original title for the Hanover album when we were still called Hanover Fist. Coincidentally, the original album release didn't have 'Fits Ya Good' on it and the album cover was a totally cool scene of a giant monster turntable with welders and cranes. This version of the album was mistakenly sent to England after the first pressing by shippers on 'auto pilot' and became the number one selling import for that month before anyone realized the mistake and pulled it off the shelves (go figure). Anyone that has that copy has a rare and wonderful pressing indeed! I have spent some time in England and Germany and spoken to metal fans who have the album or know someone that has the album. I have met people visiting from Indonesia with a bootleg copy of the album and at one point recently I was invited to tour Indonesia (all 2 dates). I can't say that MCA did a global release on the Hanover Fist or the Hanover album, but it has managed its way around the world in one fashion or another.
Dave: Let's shift gears to videos. In the time this album was released, videos were really starting to become an important part of the promotion side of the business. Did Hanover release any videos??
Frank: We did a video of one of the mixes of Metal of the Night, and I'm told it was on MTV, but we didn't get that in Canada back then so I didn't see for myself. The video was made to secure a record deal and then everyone forgot about it. It was a cool and dark production and probably is now hiding in some vault with the same type of ambiance!
