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Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Who were they?-Vyper

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These guys were from the hotspot of 1980's metal. That's right, they were from Kansas City, Missouri. Wait, you say it was LA that was the hotspot of 1980's metal and not Kansas City. Oh, maybe that partially explains why these guys didn't make it. This was a slightly tough one to pin down because there are some conflicting stories on these guys. However, here is what I know of them as far as I could pin down. They formed around 1983 and signed to Greenworld records in 1984. That same year they released an lp called "Prepared to strike". The band line-up was Christy Black (vocals, and despite the name, a male), Jacky Foxx (guitar), Robbie Saint (guitar), Rik Brock (bass) and Michael Scott (drums). So uh, yeah not a real name in the bunch.
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Their label did not help them get a tour, but they did get some press and I even remember hearing them played once on the radio. In 1985 they changed their image a little and released a four song ep called "Afraid of the dark".
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This ep had one track from the first album, one track called Daddy's Girl that was originally banned from the first album and two new tracks. Okay, here is where it gets messy. At some point not too long after this Greenworld records went under taking with it the rights to the band's album. Apparently this tied up the band's future and made it hard for them to get another record deal so labels passed on them. The band had apparently not been getting along either and there was a split as singer Black left and took the band's manager with him. Now he then formed a band and he called it (surprise, surprise) ...Vyper. Meanwhile the remaining four members hired another singer and also continued on as Vyper. Each band only lasted about a year before breaking up. So long before Ratt and LA Guns these guys were confusing people by having different versions of the same band. One big rumor that popped up over the years was that the master tapes of their albums were burned in a fire. However their former tour manager did an interview recently where he said that is not true. Somehow the rights to these albums went to Enigma records after Greenworld went under. Now Enigma went under in the early 90's so I don't know what happened to the rights then. Retrospect records was selling this on cd back in 2005, but it was pulled months after it was out. I don't know if they sold out or if there were other rights issues. Christy Black popped up in a band called Billy the kid in the late 1990's, but never got beyond doing a demo. Drummer Scott later played in Ballistic and recorded with Prizoner.
So that's the history lesson on these guys. My first impression is that they sound like two other bands that are just a little less obscure and those bands are Icon and London. To compare Vyper's sound to more known bands then I would say maybe they sound like early Dokken, but not so melodic crossed with early Queensryche, but not so complicated. Prepared to strike has some really good songs and some that are just alright. I think more than anything that these guys had some real potential. They had a singer with a good strong metal voice, the guitarists could play and they had an overall solid sound. I think the writing needed a little boost though as they were a bit repetitive and cliche at times. Now the two new songs on the ep showed a marked improvement in their writing. Those two songs had quicker pace changes and the band was sounding sharp. So in a way it's a shame they never did more because they seemed to be moving in the right direction. So that's who Vyper were.


***Next month's "Who were they?" will be on the unjustly overlooked Zoetrope from Chicago.

10 comments:

  1. O me gosh that was a mouth full.
    They not only confused themselves with the two band split, their listeners, I think they left themselves a bit cooky too.....

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    1. I took guitar lessons from Robbie Saint. Good guitar player, but as you said to full of themselves!

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  2. "So long before Ratt and LA Guns these guys were confusing people by having different versions of the same band."

    That's hilarious!...and SO true!

    Cool article!

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  3. Very interesting. It's a shame that one's work/art can get lost in ownership and rights. Poor guys will probably never see their stuff again.

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  4. Never 'eard of 'em.

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  5. And I am looking forward to Zoetrope!!! I agree with you, them and another overlooked "Z" metal band, Znowhite

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  6. Anonymous6:59 PM

    According to Eric Greif (manager), Enigma owns the masters. Most of the Enigma catalog is bogged down in red tape to this day so getting a proper re-release on CD probably won't happen.

    Not sure how legal the Retrospect release is/was. Initially, Retrospect had a rep for doing up gppd looking bootlegs but they have signed many regional bands from the '80s that were virtually unknown. From what I've read in collector's forums, Retrospect has made up for any past mistakes.

    As far as Vyper, you can still get the vinyl at a decent price thru Gemm.com or Ebay. You can listen to the album and the EP at Vibrations of Doom. I only remember 'Dealer' and it was on a compilation tape a friend had made me, this is one I need to track down.

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  7. I have both the lp and ep on vinyl and got them for decent prices off of eBay.

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  8. Anonymous8:30 PM

    I'm from the K.C. metro area, and went to school with "Christy Black", aka, Bill, and his younger brother Paul, who was a very talented guitarist in his own right. I must say they were HUGE back in the day, and, the K.C. music scene was pretty sweet back then. Another band they were usually seen with at a local club was Harlot. The latter ended up moving to L.A., but I never heard about them again.

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  9. Good band. I had the album on cassette back in the 80s. I have it on my iPod now. Drummer Michael Scott recorded with the band New York, from Rock Hill, S. C. He recorded their Electric Thunder album, which was produced by Eric Carr back in 1987 or 88. Christy Black did some solo recordings in the late 1980s. I recall a track entitled Jack and Jill.

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