Former TESTAMENT/DEATH guitarist James Murphy, who is currently receiving treatment for a massive brain tumor with which he was diagnosed in August 2001, has sent us the following update on his recent activities:
"I am home after over 3 months in NY, where I was meant to run a studio for a friend of mine. I did take over the day-to-day operation of the studio and all was well on that front except that I never had much time to work on my DISINCARNATE material. That's just one of the unfortunate realities of doing business sometimes. I ultimately decided that the best place for me to be able to complete that writing was here in Florida, in my own environment, with no other responsibilities over my head, and where I wasn't intruding on others' space, time, and resources. Besides those reasons, and more importantly, I was having trouble to get my medicine in NY. I had bought a few months supply with the generous donations from my fans who have helped me but I ran out of both my prescriptions while up there, and I am still out now. i hope to be able to get more very soon, and in fact it's very, very important that I find some way to do so because stopping the use of Parlodel, my primary medication, can lead to rapid regrowth of the tumor. Anyway, everything was left on good terms in NY and the door is open for me to return to do more work in the studio. in fact i may return briefly shortly after I can get some more medicine in order to perform some more guitar (I have already recorded several rhythm/harmony parts) on the upcoming debut release of HAVOCHATE, should they decide they need more parts from me, and/or any production assistance.
"The last job i completed before returning home was to mix and master the upcoming debut release on Crash, Inc./Pavement Records of the band SINGLE BULLET THEORY from Pennsylvania. It came out great despite me having limited time to do it and will be out fairly soon.
"These guys' music struck a chord in me right off the bat, and I was very happy to be able to mix their album but it almost didn't happen... because of the problems re-filling my medicine in NY, and it looked like I would have to return to FL before I would have a chance to do the mix. Luckily, at the last minute I was able to stay longer but I had lost a lot of time and had to really knuckle down to get the job done. It was long, long hours but it didn't seem like work... it was just fun, as it always is for me when I enjoy a band's music. Matt and the other guys in SBT showed a lot of faith in me, only the second band to do so since my recovery from a life threatening illness and surgery, when they could have gone to a bigger studio. I am so happy to know that they are so pleased with the results I got for them."
NEVERMORE have officially recruited TESTAMENT guitarist Steve Smyth (also in DRAGONLORD) as a temporary replacement for former touring axeman Curran Murphy, who left the group in order to join Canada's ANNIHILATOR and continue work on his own AGGRESSION CORE project.
Here is NEVERMORE's official statement on the matter:
"We just want to clear up some confusion regarding Steve Smyth's involvement with us. He hasn't left TESTAMENT or DRAGONLORD to join NEVERMORE. He's just helping us out with these upcoming European festivals and US Warped tour dates. We need two guitars players live, so when our previous touring guitarist got himself a full-time gig, we immediately asked Steve. He'd always come out and see us play when we were in town. We'd do the same when he'd come through Seattle. He's really been a great friend of ours for years and we're lucky to get to do some shows with him now. We need to send out special thanks to [TESTAMENT vocalist] Chuck [Billy] and [guitarist] Eric [Peterson] for their support in this and allowing Steve to help us out."
Smyth added: "I've always been a NEVERMORE fan and look forward to playing with them. I want to thank Chuck, Eric, Stevie D, Jon and Lyle for all their support."
Steve will be accompanying NEVERMORE on the following dates:
Jun. 28-29 – Balingen, GER @ Bang Your Head Jul. 01-03 – Athens, GRE @ Athens Rock Wave July 20, 2002 - Quincy, WA @ Gorge Amphitheatre July 22, 2002 - Billings, MT @ Oscar Park Amph. July 23, 2002 - Fargo, ND @ Fargodome
Former SLAYER drummer Paul Bostaph has officially joined San Francisco Bay Area's SYSTEMATIC. As exclusively reported here on January 4th, Bostaph (who had also played with FORBIDDEN and TESTAMENT) has joined SYSTEMATIC as a replacement for Shaun Bannon, who was forced to leave the group last summer after sustaining an arm injury during the making of the "Deep Colors Bleed" video.
Bostaph is no stranger to the SYSTEMATIC guys, having played with the latter band's guitarist Adam Ruppell in a previous project prior to re-joining SLAYER in 1996. Paul, who has reportedly chopped off most of his long hair, played his first gig as a member of SYSTEMATIC on New Year's Eve (December 31st) in Modesto, California at a show sponsored by local rock station KMRQ (Rock 96.7).
Here is an update on the band's activities, as posted by Ruppel:
“Hey Kids,
“Just writing to keep everyone up to date with what's going on. First and foremost, the band is writing our asses off. Our goal is to have thirty songs to choose from to make the next album. So far the material is great. If I can say anything about it, it's that it's SYSTEMATIC, but a lot more focused. I say that because the band is now more focused than ever, but I guess a year and a half on the road will do that to you. We are looking at getting into the studio sometime in March, and as a promise to our fans, we will make a great record for us, you and no one else. There is a lot to look forward to in the world of SYSTEMATIC.
We are also proud to say that SYSTEMATIC finally have a drummer. Old family member Paul Bostaph, who was with us in the beginning, is now back and putting an end to our search for a drummer. Paul is a great guy and an amazing drummer, so SYSTEMATIC fans have a lot to look forward to. We would also like to say thanks to Larry 'the kid' Horn for filling in and doing a great job. Larry is family now and we wish him the best, he deserves it. I also wanted to let everyone know that Larry got ripped off the picture in Metal Edge is Larry and not Shaun.
“In not so positive news, long time friend and bassist, Nick St. Dennis has departed ways with SYSTEMATIC. Nick will be moving on to pursue guitar playing. Nick, who was originally a guitarist, joined SYSTEMATIC playing the bass. As every guitar player out there knows, it's a hard thing to set your true desires aside. We do thank Nick for doing the job he did and for being a part of the family. We all know that family is family and we will always be bound together, offering helping hands to each other at any point. We would all like to wish Nick the very best in music and in life. Go get em' brother!!
“Let's all look forward to the future and as promised SYSTEMATIC will deliver. Stay up to date on our website and we will make sure we keep you all posted on things to come!
Here are some of the latest sales figures for various current and catalog metal/hard rock releases in the US (in total units sold to date since the albums were issued), as reported by Soundscan for the week ending February 24th, 2002:
AMEN - Amen: 16,353 AMEN - We Have…: 15,789 ANTHRAX - Sound Of White Noise: 511,105 ANTHRAX - Stomp 442: 114,974 ANTHRAX - Volume 8: 77,858 BIOHAZARD - Urban Discipline: 204,799 BIOHAZARD - State Of The World Address: 198,663 BIOHAZARD - Mata Leao: 51,377 BIOHAZARD - New World Disorder: 50,936 BIOHAZARD - Uncivilization: 18,835 C.O.C. - Wiseblood: 141,383 C.O.C. - America's Volume…: 52,170 CANNIBAL CORPSE - Gallery…: 51,164 CANNIBAL CORPSE - Bloodthirst: 36,128 DESTRUCTION - All Hell Breaks Loose: 3,080 DESTRUCTION - The Antichrist: 1,692 DREAM THEATER - Awake: 272,044 DREAM THEATER - Falling Into Infinity: 142,167 EXODUS - Force Of Habit: 52,262 EXODUS - Another Lesson In Violence: 7,241 GLASSJAW - Everything You Ever…: 35,306 HALFORD - Resurrection: 60,275 HALFORD - Live Insurrection: 24,478 JUDAS PRIEST - Jugulator: 108,009 JUDAS PRIEST - Demolition: 40,945 ICED EARTH - Something Wicked…: 40,336 ICED EARTH - Horror Show: 29,838 IRON MAIDEN - Brave New World: 233,706 KING DIAMOND - Spider's Lullaby: 29,214 KING DIAMOND - Voodoo: 32,785 MERCYFUL FATE - Dead Again: 22,195 MERCYFUL FATE - 9: 20,729 KREATOR - Violent Revolution: 2,351 MACHINE HEAD - Burn My Eyes: 144,465 MACHINE HEAD - The More Things Change…: 114,648 MACHINE HEAD - The Burning Red: 133,421 MACHINE HEAD - Supercharger: 41,622 MEGADETH - Youthanasia: 890,015 MEGADETH - Risk: 303,472 MEGADETH - The World Needs A Hero: 191,852 MORBID ANGEL - Formulas…: 42,819 MORBID ANGEL - Gateways…: 30,372 SEPULTURA - Chaos A.D.: 450,365 SEPULTURA - Roots: 355,471 SEPULTURA - Nation: 54,160 SKINLAB - Bound, Gagged…: 14,756 SKINLAB - Disembody…: 35,324 SLAYER - God Hates Us All: 170,411 SOIL - Scars: 112,614 TESTAMENT - Low: 112,365 TESTAMENT - Gathering: 50,301 VOIVOD - Outer Limits: 21,355 VOIVOD - Negatron: 8,044 VOIVOD - Phobos: 3,687
Former TESTAMENT/DEATH/OBITUARY guitarist James Murphy needs your help. After being diagnosed with a benign brain tumor back in August, James is presently undergoing treatment in Lakeland, Florida and is in desperate need of donations to help him out with medical expenses. More information can be obtained through Murphy’s newly-launched official web site at:
Video footage of the reunited San Francisco Bay Area thrashers VIO-LENCE performing their tracks “Serial Killer” and “Officer Nice”, filmed at the Thrash Of The Titans benefit concert for TESTAMENT vocalist Chuck Billy back on August 11th, is now available for download from the following locations:
Both of these cuts were shot and edited together by Jerry Allen and his Tales From The Pit crew, who filmed the entire show and are currently editing the remainder of the footage for possible release at a later date.
TWO benefits are set to go for James Murphy former guitarist of testament, death & obituary, who recently had a brain tumor removed. james has a good outlook on the situation but has been devastated financialy due to this tragedy. On nov. 16th @ The Hard Luck Saloon in sac. ca. Symphonice Metal Giants PSYPHERIA are hosting part one of this 2 day 2 city event, headlined by Psypheria, also on the bill are LD50 ( featuring former members of testament, forbidden evil & geezar ) kuru ( featuring ex eulogy member ) berkeley`s Mastema & misanthrop. And then on nov. 17th @ the Poundsf in san francisco ca. Dragonlord ( eric peterson`s side projest with members of psypheria, death, testament & sadus ) will headline with impaled supporting then technocracy ( phil demmel from vio-lence ) LD50, Imagica & berkeley`s Mastema opening that show also. To add insult to injury, concert promoter spoke with james and found out that before he left Oakland awhile back to go to florida where he know resides, someone stole and pilffered $30.000 worth of everything james owned, his guitars and additional recording equipment, many masters demos & collectibles he had saved. We`re just a bunch of crazy people out here in calif. that will do whatever it takes to help a brother when he is down, if someone would like to help, we have a bank account set up for james, you can contact scary gary ( thats me ) via my webiste and e-mail www.kidgloveentertainment.com - thank you.
Former TESTAMENT/DEATH/OBITUARY guitarist James Murphy has reportedly been diagnosed with an undisclosed type of brain tumor and is said to be at home in Florida recovering from a recent emergency operation that is believed to have successfully prevented the disease from progressing to a more advanced stage. At the time of Murphy’s diagnosis, the axeman was said to be working on the material for a long-awaited sophomore offering from his death metal project DISINCARNATE—also set to feature an appearance by former AT THE GATES and current THE CROWN frontman Tomas Lindberg—for a 2002 release through Nuclear Blast Records. It is presently unclear what impact this latest development will have on the guitarist’s future recording plans. Source: BLABBERMOUTH.NET
