RIOT: More 'The Privilege Of Power' Demos Posted Online

February 27, 2009

Veteran American hard rock outfit RIOT has issued the following update:

"Welcome to another installment of 'RIOT - The Privilege of Power Archives Revisited.'

"This time around, we've dusted off the pre-production demos to 'Killer' and 'On Your Knees' and put them on the [RIOTMySpace page]. The band was so tight and well rehearsed at the time that neither song sounds all that different from the 'The Privilege of Power' versions (other than the production, of course) but they might strike you as a little 'naked' being that they are missing the horn arrangements that you're used to hearing.

"'Killer' and 'On Your Knees' probably threw a lot of people for a loop back then and having horns on the opener of a heavy metal album was definitely a ballsy thing to do in 1990, before all this crossover stuff started to happen. But, the results speak for themselves and having the TOWER OF POWER horn section and other legendary brass players like Randy Brecker come in and do their thing was amazing. These guys were tight as can be and added a whole other dimension to these songs.

There is also an interesting little story behind the duet between Tony [Moore] and Joe Lynn Turner [RAINBOW, DEEP PURPLE] on 'Killer'. Originally, Joe was brought in to sing backup vocals on 'The Privilege of Power', the idea being that his more bluesy vocal tone would add a different flavor and contrast. As the engineer threw on 'Killer' and Joe began warming up his vocal chords with the lyrics in front of him he starting singing the melody. It quickly became apparent that 'Killer' should be a duet. The back-and-forth between Joe and Tony is like two fighters going at it pulling no punches, and it remains one of the performance highlights on 'The Privilege of Power'.

"On the live front, we've just been confirmed for the Metalway Festival in Zaragoza, Spain. This is a massive 4-day double weekend metal event scheduled for June 20/21 and 26/27, respectively, that features a who's who of metal, including HEAVEN AND HELL, MOTÖRHEAD, TWISTED SISTER, SAXON and many more. We don't have a set date yet but we will be playing on the first weekend on either the 20th or 21st."

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).