Ahh where to begin!?
Hallows Mist had many members over the years but this site is going to concentrate on the beginning of the 90's so lets start shall we??
As told by Ricky:
Well my buddy Guy Marchais came by with this demo tape of a band he had just tried out for, it was called Hallows Mist. We popped it into my old stereo and man was a blown away! I was still a teenager and had never heard a "pro" sounding demo from a local band at that point. I was like "this is great Guy! I hope you get the gig" He did and they played a few great shows with that lineup.
Fast forward to the next year.....
Hallows Mist was having another lineup change *snicker* and they were looking for a new singer this time. Guy had told me that this guy Joe was working with his friend Robbie but he wasn't a real singer. So Guy invites me down to the studio and sit in with the band on a few covers. As it turns out there wasn't really a band at all by that point! It was just Guy and Joe, no bassist and Robbie (who was just trying out too as I found out later).
So we jammed for a bit and I could see really quickly that Joe was one hell of a drummer! Great feel as well as technique. Joe was impressed with me as well so we ended up talking for the first time. As I said earlier, there wasn't really a band to speak of anymore so after a bit Guy went off to form Pyrexia, who were an originator of the Death Metal scene here on Long Island.
So Joe and I plotted and planned how to put this thing together.
We put some ads out in the Good Times and Island Ear, auditioned a few "prospects" but ended up reading one for a guitar player instead.
Tommy came down to Joe's garage with a practice amp and a guitar. He plugged in and started to shred. Joe and I liked his style and his influences were pretty much the same as ours so it worked out well.
Tommy was in and now we needed a bassist. I forget now who knew him (probably Jay Levinstein) but Jay Nola,(ex Hanover Fist) came down to audition and really nailed it. He was a monster player for sure.
The band was set and we started right away writing and practicing.
Unfortunately Jay was going through some rough times around 6 weeks in so we parted ways. We needed a bass player, and I knew an old friend from High School who played in a few cover bands with me. Enter Eric O'Reilly! Eric was a great guy and had a great sense of humor. He fit right in and off we went.
We got our own studio under Rudy's barber shop and busted our asses rehearsing (while not picking up chicks, drinking and clubbing 4 nights a week!!)
We went into the recording studio and did our first 2 songs. I had never been in the recording studio before and was a bit nervous but the guys were really supportive and our engineer Steve Koslowski (from Kronin) was the coolest guy I've EVER worked with in the studio to this day.
January 91 we headlined Sundance for our first show! It was a great night and we all went home with somebody that night (well I did anyway ;^P )What was her name again???.....hmmmm........
Well to continue the story...
We stayed busy playing some great shows in and out of the City, recording more new songs and found ourselves getting treated really well by club owners, girls and just having an all around great time. If ya wanna know any stories let me know!
The good times wouldn't last forever tho and by the fall of that year Tommy was gone and Eric soon after that.
Joe and I soldiered on and had a few lineup changes before we just decided to go in the recording studio with some friends of ours to record our best masters "Now Or Never" in December.
We had Eddie Pursino from Virgin Steele on guitar and John Montalbano on bass.It was a great session and the new year was looking good for sure!
We had radio play and some really great recordings with Eddie and our good friend and previous Hallows Mist bassist Russell Pizzuto. With Russ back recording with the band it was really sounding great!
Epilogue:
Later that year the band broke up for good. Too much instability and the scene was changing. Joe tried to carry the name on alone but gave up the ghost 2 months after I left and went on to form Purple Bejezus. I joined a band called Untold Stories and Hallows Mist was finally put to bed.
Looking back it was a great time to be a metal band, even if it was at the end of the heyday. Would I do it all again?
Fuck yeah!
