I’ve put off getting this second of newsletters out due to financial difficulties. Even as is, you’re probably someone who made contact with me earlier this year and are getting this as a result of me mailing this out personally. I’d like to just get this out to all “en masse”, but I need cash bad! This is the best I can do now.
The big news is that my city was decimated by Hurricane Andrew. I’m writing this just three days after the fact, and this whole place is pretty shell-shocked. I’m more blessed in that I have electricity when so many others have no food, homes, or even water. There’s reports of food riots in areas actually not far from where I live, and I haven’t heard from all my friends yet. I’m still praying aplenty about all this, and my fiancee, Kristina, and I are hoping to volunteer our energies to aiding some of those stricken people. I pray that by the time you read this, the situation around here isn’t quite as desperate as it is now.
In more joyous news, as you may have noticed, my girlfriend, Kristina Flor, and I got engaged, on July 25. Big day should happen circa March ’93.
Okay, now to our regularly scheduled newsletter.
First of all I’d like to thank all of you for your support and especially your prayers. I hope that all of you who ordered stuff from the last newsletter, especially the non-Lead stuff, were satisfied with your purchase. There’s a whole lot of new stuff for you to check out in this newsletter.
Nothing new going on in terms of the Lead. All I can say is keep praying for us to do the right thing. For all I know, we may be doing it already.
Lord willing, I’ll be keeping busy with not only the demo production, but two bands. FRANK’S ENEMY started out as my solo project, but now it’s a full fledged band. Look to the right for more info. GLOBAL WARNING is the band I mentioned I was starting last newsletter. Our set largely consists of material recorded by Al Valdes and I as KING JAMES AND THE CONCORDANCES and LAS OVEJAS ELECTRICAS. The merry bunch, as pictured below, left to right, consists of Titus Hanham (vocals), Marc Golob (bass), me (guitar), and Al (drums). GLOBAL WARNING has been rehearsing on and off since December ’91. Marc was the last member to join. FRANK’S ENEMY happened when I asked Marc if he knew any thrash drummers. Being able to play the FRANK’S ENEMY material live was a fantasy I’d been having since I recorded the stuff. But I needed a drummer, and Alex A (stands for Arguelles, this is the only time you’ll see it!), Marc’s friend, was interested and filled the bill. Marc, with his long hair and slapping abilities, was persuaded to crank it up and join. The two bands each have their own sounds/identities. GLOBAL WARNING is loose fun and 3-chord bashfests. FRANK’S ENEMY is more rehearsed, heavier, faster, but with a funk edge to some of the tunes. The definite thing I can say about FRANK’S ENEMY is that if you’re familiar with the Lead there’s plenty for you to like here…but also plenty to get used to, too.
While all these bands continue to progress toward recording fruition, there’s new stuff available from NOT SILENT: The NOT SILENT ROUGH MIX SAMPLER VOL. 1, a massive C-100 cassette, which contains stuff from all my projects, many of which are in progress, plus some things you won’t find elsewhere; the C’EST POSIBLE demo, featuring some romantic songs written through the years-it’s definitely not thrash! A couple of old 7″ singles I put out in 1982-83; a couple of KING JAMES & THE CONCORDANCES tapes from V.T.O.; and the 3=1 version of the Lead’s PAST BEHIND on 12″ vinyl. There’s also a report on what other Lead stuff is still available, and of course the NOT SILENT products advertised in the last newsletter are still available.
Frank’s Enemy is now a real band, after 2 demos featuring just me and (mostly) a drum machine. Marc Golob is 20, likes jazz and slapping. Alex A is also 20, likes all kinds of metal and double-kick drumming.Both share my desire to use our gifts for God’s glory in as unique and creative a way as possible. We’ll be doing some songs from FINAL ABSOLUTION (including “Destroy”), some old Lead songs I’d written ( including “No Religion”), and some completely new stuff (titles include “Link Line’,”Reasons To Say No”, and “Man, You Made A Lonely World” which is a Golob/Rey composition). We’re currently at work on getting a full set together and recording a five song demo, entitled QOHELETH, featuring four new tunes plus as a bonus track, a new full-band recording of ‘Destroy”. The recording of ‘Destroy’ will also be available on an upcoming compilation being put out by Jef Dereszynski (P.O. Box 37616 Milwaukee, WI. 53237) entitled ENCROACHING THE DARKNESS and on the NOT SILENT ROUGH MIX SAMPLER VOL. 1. We played a short set at First Baptist Church of Goulds, south of Miami, on July 3. We were ready to play at Miami Youth for Christ on August 24, but something got in the way of plans (Hurricane Andrew). Our next scheduled shows are an October 31 three band thrash show at Music Studio 777, and a December 12 full-set at the same place, Lord willing. Feel free to write to Alex and/or Marc at NOT SILENT. They could use “2,000 new friends”. THANKS!
As evidenced by this page, I’ve acquired a Macintosh II, which should help me in a myriad of ways. The most important of which is in terms of problem solving and efficiency to serve you better. I thank all of you who wrote with words of prayer and encouragement. I encourage you to not stop!
God Bless,
Julio