Fifth angel

Education

Fifth Angel was founded on the outskirts of Seattle at the end of 1983 thanks to the efforts of guitarist James Byrd ( English James Byrd ), vocalist Ted Pilot ( English Ted Pilot ) and drummer Ken Mary ( English Ken Mary ). The original line-up was completed with the advent of Ed Archer ( born Ed Archer ) as rhythm guitarist and bassist Kenny Kay ( born Kenny Kay ).

At the age of eighteen, James Bird left his home and went on the road with his heavy metal band, giving concerts in various places and mostly playing cover versions of songs by bands like UFO (the band played all the songs from their live album Strangers in the Night 1979) and the Scorpions of the Ulrich Roth period ( him. Ulrich Roth ). James Bird had to learn the material to be played up to a note, since he was still quite young. His group managed to win the competition "North-Western Battle of musical groups" ( English "Northwest Battle Of The Bands" ). The musicians were given free time in one of the recording studios, which they gladly took advantage of, but the recording received during that period was lost. The group did not have a single song of their own composition, so the musicians simply performed cover versions live. After a year in the band, James Bird decided to leave his colleagues and left them with the sound engineer. In 1980, Bird formed his own band, performing their own songs. In 1981, he moved to Los Angeles , where he spent about a year playing in various local groups.

Archer, Mary, and Pilot were already at school playing in a band called Ridge, which still broke up after several successes in various music contests, without signing a contract with any record company . The rumor about two guys from Seattle, namely Pilot and Mary, reached James Byrd, who also came from Seattle, and he decided to work with them and returned there to write the first lines in the short story of Fifth Angel, whose name was borrowed from biblical stories.

Demo

Following the example of Queensrÿche , another band from Seattle who played heavy metal and shortly before signing a contract with a large record company, Fifth Angel concentrated on writing and polishing their own musical material, abandoning endless club concerts waiting for them Someone from the bigwigs of the music industry will pay attention and offer to sign a contract.

The works of the musicians crowned the release of the demo tape recorded in late 1983 - early 1984 at the Steve Lawson Productions studio (now the studio is called Bad Animals Studio ) with the help of producer Terry Date (consisting of four songs):

• Fifth angel
• Wings of Destiny
• In the fallout
• Fade to flames

Having made about a hundred copies of the recording, the musicians sent it to various record companies, including the independent label Shrapnel Records.

Fifth Angel Album

Such a plan proved successful, and Mike Varney (from Mike Varney ) from independent company Shrapnel Records, after some thought, suggested the band sign a contract to release their first album. The original demo tape of 1984 was included on the album along with five more songs recorded in 1985 :

• Shout it out
• Call Out the Warning
• The night
• Only the Strong Survive
• Cry out the fools

Recorded in 1985 , the debut full-length album of the group Fifth Angel, which has the same name, officially saw the light of day in 1986 . Reviews were very good. The album lasted in 1988 for 13 weeks on the Billboard 200 and reached 117 on June 11, 1988.

1986-1988

Over the next two years, several important rock magazines interviewed the band members, including a vivid interview published in the magazine Kerrang! in Europe (the magazine that launched the Queensrÿche career two years earlier). Fifth Angel was seen in the media exclusively as something extraordinary, and the number of their loyal fans grew steadily.

Despite the positive reviews, the group has changed. Bass player Kenny Kay left the band and was replaced by John Mackow . Although there is no complete information about this, Pilot mentioned in an interview ^[1] that Kay simply “lost interest” in music. Guitarist James Bird told that Kenny Kay actually did not take part in the recording of the band's debut album (as did John Makow):

For 1986 - 1987, in support of the released album Fifth Angel, they planned a tour called Riding on the Wings , which included opening appearances at Iron Maiden and a number of individual performances on the east coast of the United States . Due to certain external, not related to the group, and internal factors, the tour was not destined to take place. Fifth Angel never performed before the public. The only two performances of the musicians are the performance for Epic Records and the rehearsal together with the photo shoot at the Paramount Theater in Seattle.

James Bird mentioned that many concert plans failed, for example, the opening performance at Iron Maiden , as well as concert performances in clubs on the east coast of the United States . John Macaw thinks that Pilot, Archer and Mary are to blame for everything:

Fame

After the first album Fifth Angel received such rave reviews, representatives of CBS / Epic Records turned their attention to the band members and entered into an agreement with them to release a seven-inch record , and also formed a new management group in the person of Derek Simon ( English Derek Simon ) and Concrete Marketing and Management . Admirers of the titan of progressive metal Dream Theater know that Simon also had a hand in the release of his debut album (also produced by Terry Date).

Epic re-released the first Fifth Angel album in 1988 to lay the foundation for future recordings. However, when money and fame came, the musicians were forced to part with another member of the original line-up, guitarist James Bird.

In an interview for Rock Reunion, Bird said that among the three main songwriters in the group (Bird, Pilot, Archer) there was such an agreement that, regardless of who wrote the song, each of them received a third of the amount of profit from the publication. But before committing themselves to CBS Records, Pilot and Archer put Bird in front of a choice: either he waives his rights, or the rest of the band refuses the contract with CBS Records and the management company.

Bird gave up his rights and immediately received a notice from Concrete Management that he was fired from the group. Thus, he believes that it was Pilot and Archer who fired him, and the reason for this was money.

Ted Pilot expressed the opposite opinion on this issue. The vocalist firmly insists that this decision was made by all band members unanimously:

Time Will Tell Album

To record the next Fifth Angel album, Bird's place in the band was taken by guitarist from Seattle Kendell Bechtel ( born Kendall Bechtel ). The album Time Will Tell was released at the end of 1989. Although Terry Date was listed on the list as a producer for this album, it was Terry Brown . Bass player John Makou shared information about this event:

The bright Time Will Tell album, consisting of eleven songs, with great guitar parts in a powerful melodic style, followed the debut album Fifth Angel - Bechtel’s talent and performance qualities. While the transition to a heavier and faster style was noticeable when listening to songs such as We Rule and Midnight Love , the mid-tempo progressive style was also seen in songs such as the title song of the album Cathedral , as well as Angel of Mercy and Seven Hours . Also on the album there was a brilliant cover version of the UFO song “Lights Out”, and to the great delight of the fans, a video was recorded on the song “Time Will Tell” of the same name with the album name ^[3] .

The musicians, however, had to face another problem immediately after the completion of the recording of their second album. Drummer Ken Mary, in the hope that things in the group would get better, and in order not to waste time in vain, decided to leave his comrades and participate as an invited drummer in other musical groups. Here is what Kendell Bechtel recalled about this:

As a result, local Seattle musician Richard Stuverud was taken to the drummer’s place for a very short time . He appears in the only Fifth Angel wedge for the song “Time Will Tell”.

Opinions of critics about the album diverged, but everyone agrees that the style of the new album Fifth Angel departed from the style of their debut album, and its sound has become more commercially attractive than it should have been expected to be in most cases for the worse.

Decay

It seemed that with the support of the media and fans of Fifth Angel they were ready to go on a successful tour in support of their second album, but the group collapsed without gaining its fame, just after Time Will Tell was on the shelves. The reason for the collapse was the fact that the musicians did not manage to give a single live concert, which they very much regret. In addition, a lot of time was lost in connection with the re-registration of the contract between the labels. After the reissue of the debut album Fifth Angel, the leadership of Epic Records suggested that the group postpone the concert tours until the second album was recorded. During this time drummer Ken Mary decided to participate as a session musician in other bands. This is what Ted Pilot says about this:

After the breakup, Ted Pilot learned to be a dentist and inherited his father’s dental clinic in Seattle. Ed Archer also stayed in Seattle and works for one of the tech companies in the area. John Macou, after several unsuccessful attempts to play with various musicians progressive rock, which was not interested in anyone, moved to Florida, where he organized a small computer consulting firm and started a family. As for Kendell Bechtel, he also lives in Seattle. James Bird told a little about his relationship with him:

It so happened that Kendell Bechtel formed his own group ATOM , the discography of which includes two full-length albums. ATOM consists of Bechtel himself, Andy Nordyke ( born Andy Nordyke ) and Tim Osbourne ( born Tim Osbourne ). The guitarist also participated in bands such as Sweet Sister Sam and The Voodoo Saints .

Ironically, the two most distant people from the second album, Fifth Angel: Ken Mary (who performed at Alice Cooper's concerts as a drummer and in other bands, hoping that things will get off the ground at Fifth Angel) and James Bird is the only musicians of the original line-up who are still immersed in the music industry except Bechtel. Bird continued to record solo albums, information about which can be found at jamesbyrd.com .

Ken Mary is a successful producer and owns her own business. His company, Sonic Phish, has offices in Los Angeles and Phoenix . His website is sonicphish.com . Mary lives in Phoenix.

There were persistent rumors about the reunification of Fifth Angel in 2000, but they were refuted by the group members. In 2007, the squadron who recorded Time Will Tell discussed the possibility of joining forces to participate in several European festivals, but things did not budge. Although guitarist Kendell Bechtel and bassist John Mackow were not against this idea, the rest of the band were busy with other things that didn’t allow them to implement their plans: Ed Archer was his family, and Ted Pilot and Ken Mary each were their business.

As for the style in which the musicians played Fifth Angel, it is somewhere in the middle between the explosive power metal and melodic heavy metal.

One of the hallmarks of Fifth Angel’s sound is Ted Pilot’s dramatic singing style. Learned in a classic way, the vocalist wrote most of the melodies and lyrics of the group. He was influenced by the weight of vocalists of various types of music, including also power metal. Two of them, namely Ronnie James Dio ( Eng. Ronnie James Dio ) and Bruce Dickinson ( Eng. Bruce Dickinson ), along with James Hetfield ( Eng. James Hetfield ) for sharpness and sharpness in the voice, Ted Pilot calls the most beloved and rendered on him the greatest influence.

If you compare the two albums Fifth Angel, you can notice some differences in the performance of vocals. In particular, the first album of the group has more vocals performed in high tones than in the subsequent one. Ted Pilot is the properties of each individual song and the most experience gained in writing songs:

Pilot's two most beloved songs from Fifth Angel, which illustrate his perception and understanding of the melody, are “Cry Out the Fools” and “Cathedral”. The first of these, in his opinion, is distinguished by the strongest melodic structure of the group’s entire heritage in general. The vocalist also noted the great playing of original Fifth Angel solo guitarist James Byrd in this song.

James Bird first picked up a guitar when he was nine years old, but he seriously thought about studying music only on September 18, 1970, when Jimi Hendrix died. Until that moment, James did not know who Hendricks was. He learned about it from the news on television, where they broadcast how Jimmy played the national anthem at Woodstock. In the future, Bird's story was very similar to the story of Yngwie Malmsteen ( Swede. Yngwie Malmsteen ). The most important influence on him was mainly blues performers. James masterfully learned to play the blues on the guitar during five years of study. After that, he became interested in the work of guitarists of other styles of music, such as: Ritchie Blackmore , Ulrich Roth and Scorpions , Al Di Meola ( Italian Al Di Meola ). The greatest influence on the game of James Bird from the beginning to the end was made by such performers as: Jimi Hendrix, BB King ( eng. BB King ), Johnny Winter ( eng. Johnny Winter ), Frank Marino ( eng. Frank Marino ), Richie Blackmore , Ulrich Roth and Scorpions, Al Di Meola, Jan Hammer ( czech Jan Hammer ), Jean-Baptiste "Django" Reinhardt ( fr. Jean-Baptiste "Django" Reinhardt ), Jan Akkerman ( niderl. Yan Akkerman ), Paco De Lucia ( Spanish: Paco de Lucía ), Michael Schenker ( ger. Michael Schenker ) and early Neil Schon ( born Neal Schon ).

Kendell Bechtel said that when recording the Time Will Tell album, many of his solos were played spontaneously:

The discography of the group Fifth Angel has two full-length albums and one single. In addition, several promo recordings were released, as well as songs by the group included in a number of collections.

Demos

• Demo (1985)

Studio Albums

• Fifth Angel (1986)
• Time Will Tell (1989)
• The Third Secret (2018)

Promo Records and Collections

• Fifth Angel (Promokasseta, 1988)
• Time Will Tell (Promokasseta, 1989)
• LP Interchords Words and Music (Joint album with Sanctuary band, 1988)
• Fifth Angel 7 "Flexidisc (1988)
• LP Megahurtz (Collection, 1988)
• LP Epic Associated Hard Rock Sampler (Collection, 1990)

Last known composition

• Ted Pilot (Ted Pilot) - vocals
• Ed Archer - guitar
• Kendell Bechtel (Kendall Bechtel) - guitar (ATOM, Sweet Sister Sam, The Voodoo Saints)
• John Macko (John Macko) - bass
• Ken Mary (Ken Mary) - drums (James Byrd, Accept, Alice Cooper, Chastain, David T. Chastain, Impellitteri, Strike, TKO, Randy Hansen, House Of Lords, Soul Shock Remedy)

Former members

• James Byrd - guitar (James Byrd's Atlantis Rising, Byrd, James Byrd, James Byrd Group)
• Kenny Kay - Bass
• Richard Stuverud - drums (The Fastbacks, Suicide Squad, War Babies, Luv. Co, Blind Horse, Three Fish)

• Official website for Fifth Angel
• Official website for Ken Mary
• Official website for James Byrd
• Fifth Angel (English) on the site Rockdetector
• Fifth Angel on the Encyclopaedia Metallum website
• Fifth Angel on the Allmusic website