DEATH ANGEL Guitarist Remembers DEBBIE ABONO

DEATH ANGEL guitarist Rob Cavestany has posted the following message regarding the passing of Debbie Abono, a well-respected and much-loved manager and promotional machine behind some of San Francisco Bay Area's strongest metal bands (POSSESSED, FORBIDDEN, EXODUS, VIO-LENCE, SKINLAB):

"Haven't been able to get online much the past few days on the road but now have had the chance to read all the posts about Debbie Abono and soak it all in.

"I want to express my gratitude and respect for all she did for our scene, my band and me individually. She was like a mom and mentor. She was there for us in so many ways at almost all the local shows and especially on one of the best tours we ever did (DEATH ANGEL - 'Act III' / FORBIDDEN - 'Twisted Into Form' in 1990).

"Miss you, Debbie. Rest in peace."

Abono passed away on Sunday (May 16) at approximately 9:59 a.m. PST after a battle with cancer. She was 80 years old.

According to David Konow, author of the "Bang Your Head: The Rise And Fall Of Heavy Metal", Debbie Abono was in her mid-fifties when she began to manage a band named POSSESSED. Abono started taking her daughters to MOTÖRHEAD shows, where the members of POSSESSED first asked her to manage the band. "There's nothing to it," they told her. "All you gotta do is get us shows." Abono agreed and even allowed them to practice at her house.

POSSESSED's association with Debbie Abono would be a "first" for both sides: Abono would be the band's first manager, and POSSESSED were Abono's first managed band. Abono had no previous connection to heavy metal music other than as a concert designated driver for her daughters, one of whom was a girlfriend of guitarist Larry LaLonde. Due to generation gap, Abono also had limited awareness of the sometimes blasphemous themes of heavy metal, and was allegedly offended upon reading the lyric sheet of "Seven Churches". Nevertheless, she agreed to manage and represent POSSESSED as long as bassist/vocalist Jeff Becerra and LaLonde finished high school commitments. Although the group's relationship amongst themselves and their first manager would reach points of discord and eventual termination, Abono would go on to manage additional bands in the Bay Area metal scene like EXODUS, VIO-LENCE and FORBIDDEN EVIL (pre-FORBIDDEN),as well as death metal bands like Chicago's BROKEN HOPE and Florida's CYNIC and OBITUARY.