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My name is Tony Webster, and I just started this account since I am a musician and many people have asked me to start a band account so they can hear some of the projects and bands I sing in and have sung for in the past.
This profile really is nothing more than for me to share any music I am involved with amongst friends of mine (I rely on the band sites for promotion). Anyway, a bit about me.
I started listening to metal a long time ago. Back in 1985. I was all of about 8 years old and in second or third grade. I don't remember now. What I do remember is my friend Jason brought in a couple cassette tapes of Metallica's " Kill Em All" and "Ride The Lightning" and of course brought in his portable walkman cassette player. I remember hearing "Hit The Lights" and for whatever reason I was hooked. This music really moved me, especially for as young as I was at the time.
Over the years I got into a lot of great bands, mostly through tape trading because after all, you have to be 16 to get a job and earn money although I used to use part of my allowance money to buy a CD each week until I finally became employed.
Over time I began listening to a lot of heavy metal bands, especially in high school. You also have to understand that back then, from 1992-1996 it was the height of the grunge era and metal was considered "uncool". I decided to say fuck that and kept listening to it. Since that time I have explored a LOT of different bands out there in the genre.....well over 300. I am a huge collector of music, box sets, and other cool stuff. Some obscure bands and some big. High school was also the time I began my interest in being a musician. I jammed a lot with some buddies of mine but nothing much came of it.
Then in 1998 my life changed. I met the guys in Helloween. I had been a fan of this band for a long time and I had started a website as a college computer class project. The website was of course a fansite about Helloween. Eventually Michael Weikath asked me to run the band's official website and so began my career in promotion. Being a musician became secondary because around the same time is when I was doing my radio show called "The Metal Command" on 88.3 WBWC here in Cleveland (I'll get to that later though...).
I ended up learning quite a bit about promoting bands and promoting them over the internet (back then that was when the internet was sort of new and JUST starting to take off), I learned a lot about promoting a band and representing them on an international level. Also at this time a very good friendship developed between the guys in Helloween and myself. We have since become good friends and although I don't do as much as I used to with their site. I still do what I can to help them out. The influence they had on me as a person will always be with me.
I also did a radio show on WBWC 88.3 from 1997 through 2004. As I stated before it was called "The Metal Command" (inspired by the Exodus song of the same name), and my name on the Air was Officer Metal. Those were the days man. I interviewed a new band and featured them each week on my show. Everyone from Iron Maiden and Megadeth to smaller more obscure bands. I do on occasion sub for them and help out some of the students when I get time but that's about the limit of what I do for radio these days.
I had been singing in some cover bands and doing some studio work for bands vocalwise since 1999. However I had always wanted to be a frontman and I finally answered an ad for a singer spot in the band Mo Rage. We were really successful in the Cleveland/Akron local scene, playing a lot of shows and selling a lot of CDs. When I eventually left that band in late 2005 I had placed an ad that I was looking for a band. Within 10 minutes after placing the ad online Chris Matyus calls me. I heard the first demo for the upcoming Archetype album and was floored. I sang on the demo and they asked me to join within a week and the rest as they say is history.
Since then we have worked very hard on the upcoming album. Obviously with me being in the mix we now had a complete lineup and the musical chemistry was great. I had also found the band who wants to make the same type of music that I do and through teamwork we have come up with a great production, and great songs. The production and recording have gone well despite some bad luck with the studio flooding and equipment problems. I can tell everyone that this record is heavy as fuck, and totally worth the wait.
I I have also worked on a project with Jack Lynx from Boston that we tentatively call "Aggressive Strain"
Many people ask me if I have been to a lot of countries, so here's where I have visited or been or lived: Japan, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Scotland, England, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Solvenia, Italy, France, Norway, Finland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Brazil, Netherlands....I have also never been to Canada or Mexico, how funny is that?! Also, I practiced Kenpo for almost 20 years and took Kendo which is Japanese stick/swordfighting.
Timeline of bands I have been in:
1994 - 1995 - Toilet Overflow
1995 - 1996 - Midnight Messiah
1997 - 1998 - Baldmuff (as Captain Proton!)
1997 - 1998 - Remember Tomorrow (Iron Maiden Tribute Band)
2003 - 2005 - Mo Rage
2005 - Present - Archetype
2007 - 2008 - Mo Rage
2007 - Present - The Aggressive Strain Project (with Jack Lynx)
Currently I am finishing the upcoming albums with Archetype and working on a studio project called Aggressive Strain. I have also begun once again to host The Metal Command every Friday night 10pm-1am on 88.3 WBWC! More info to come!
