I’d consider myself a pretty massive fan of Divinyls, and felt shocked and quite emotional at news of Chrissy Amphlett’s passing. On reflection, perhaps it’s because she always seemed to me to be indestructible. Even after being diagnosed with M.S. and Breast Cancer in the last few years she oozed attitude, defiance and complete conviction that these horrible diseases would not claim her.

Chrissy Amphlett possessed possibly the greatest female rock voice Australia has ever produced. In my opinion, only few like Suze DeMarchi is in the same league. Chrissy’s voice was soulful, powerful, passionate and unique. She came across as both tough and vulnerable, but never submissive, often in the space of the same song. She continues to inspire generations of Aussie bands and musicians. Other tributes will dissect the details of Chrissy’s life, of how she became the ‘original rock chick’ in the pub rock man’s world, but I really want to touch on why, even as a casual listener, Chrissy Amphlett is important to me because she not only made the band stand out from all others but she also helped kick start and made being female and/or a musician become and feel not so distant and male driven.
R.I.P. CHRISSY AMPHLETT…gone but never forgotten…

In the RIFF we trust m/

THIS  is the version Steve himself classes as the  ’ULTIMATE’ version of ‘Dethroned Emperor’ ever…and who are we to argue?

In the RIFF we trust m/

In the RIFF we trust m/

Click here to buy the Dethroned-E.P

In the RIFF we trust m/

Recorded in 3 months over 3 continents (Switzerland, Florida – U.S.A. and Australia and all connected to the ‘RIFF’ as ONE on that track.So it is all our pleasure…especially me, to give you my first ever ‘single’ and the most ‘Definative’ POWERFUL and HEAVIEST version that will go through the ages(Steve Priestly’s words himself) long after we are dead and gone…on CD and digital format itunes, Amazon etc. (with 2 bonus FREE tracks, one with metal legends Marc Grewe from MORGOTH and the other one is the tribute I did with metal as fuck spunk Michele Madden) released internationally just now….SO GET IT INTA YA...and enjoy the extra FREE 2 tracks \m/.

http://snakesixx.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SnakeSixxProductions
https://www.facebook.com/AusKnightsOfIronFist

In the RIFF we trust m/

In the RIFF we trust m/

Melody Black Number 1 on itunes

get it before they ge you…

Available from the link below…

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ballroom-blitz/id550457944?i=550457945

In the RIFF we trust m/

In the RIFF we trust m/

In the RIFF we trust m/

Mat Maurer’s all time Top Ten Mortal Sin gigs - No 4: 6th May 1989.Hordern Pavilion Sydney.

Metallica + Mortal Sin

Documented by the man who fronted the onslaught flying the Aussie flag loud n proud, Mat Maurer from the one and only MORTAL SIN….and HAS to be here for anybody and everybody to read.

Mortal Sin – Face Of Despair line-up.

Now we are getting into the best few Mortal’s gigs of all time, It’s hard to believe that the Hordern Metallica show is only at Number 4. This gig is etched into history & memories of the 8500 metalheads who were at the show (and the few thousand who reckon they were there haha!!). What a gig!! I’ll take you back quite a few months before this gig to give you a bit of an idea on how we got the gig. Back in late 1988 when we were recording Face of Despair, we were in the mixing studios when Metallica had released …And Justice For All & we were all keen to hear it to see what new masterpiece they were to deliver.

Mick Burke’s Metallica AAA pass from the 1989 ‘Damaged Justice’ tour.

At first when we heard it we were digging it, but then “That” snare drum started annoying the hell out of us. It would have been easy for Mortal Sin to jump on a bandwagon & try to copy things that Metallica did, but were on our own path of destiny & wanted to have our own identity if that was at all possible. While the excitement of hearing a new Metallica album was high, having our own album out in a similar time frame meant only one thing to me. A support slot if they ever came to Australia. I started to make a few enquiries and began inserting Jedi Mind Thoughts into the head of Dave Thorne who was our label chief. He said that it may be possible that they would tour Australia in 1989 & my words back to him were “We gotta be the support” Full stop!! There was no other option. There might have been hundreds of other bands who would think the same thing, but Mortal Sin had a huge head start – we were label mates with Metallica!! I can’t remember exactly when they announced their Australian tour, but it was a while after we had finished recording the album. I think the record label even delayed the release of Face of Despair so they could coincide it with the Metallica tour, in order to capitalise on the massiveness of the shows. To tee up the co-ordination of both the Metallica tour and our album release was something to be proud of, and we were really excited at the prospect of playing with Metallica.

If you were into metal in the late 80′s you might remember the frustrations of not being able to see all the bands that were huge at the time. I think before this tour, Megadeth were supposed to come over but cancelled, and Anthrax were also meant to come over but it never eventuated. It wasn’t like today, where you can see hundreds of bands a year at Aussie festivals Soundwave, Big Day Out etc, the late 80′s you were lucky if 3 or 4 bands came out per year. The build up to the Metallica tour was something extraordinary, and all the fans knew it was going to be a massive night. For the Mortals, it was a chance to lift our own fanbase as well as gain some experience on the big stage. It was frustrating for us as well in the late 80′s because all we wanted to do was leave Australia and play some shows in Europe, but the record label felt we weren’t ready to be exposed to that. Phhhffft!

To prepare for the shows with Metallica, Mortal Sin hired out a studio with a big stage and huge PA monitor system over at West Ryde to give us a feel for what we would be in for on a big stage. It’s not quite the same as playing in a pub with your drummers kick drums up your backside & sweaty armpits in your face!! We also had to get our shit together with our songs. We had to be as tight as you know what…. A band like Metallica tours for 3 years on the trot so their show is spot on almost to the point of being choreographed. Mortal Sin did 3 shows in 1988 due to the writing and recording of Face of Despair, and basically had four shows in Brisbane & Gold Coast to act as warm ups. In the red corner, a little known Aussie band with a lot of guts & passion and in the blue corner was a giant ready to smash us into oblivion!! Always the under dog!! haha The Sydney show was the last stop on the tour and we had driven back from Melbourne the previous day. We all got down to the Hordern really early, not just because of the excitement but because we wanted to party, and were hoping we might finally meet up with Hetfield and co. I took a whole bunch of things with me to get signed so there was no stopping me from trying to meet them. I had a skateboard (Who has that now I wonder?) Tshirts and CDs to get signed & spent most of the morning trying hard not to be a fanboy, but had to get signatures if it killed me!! It was surprising at how inaccessible some of them were. Kirk was nowhere to be seen at all, but the others seemed very willing to party on!!

Mortal Sin pic taken on the ‘Damaged Justice’ tour.

Outside the Hordern Pavilion was starting to fill up with fans early in the day. Boredom was always a big problem for metalheads so you can imagine what happens when a bunch of them fills up with alcohol whilst waiting for a show to start…. I didn’t see much of the things that went on (You guys can fill me in!) because we were inside all day – but I read plenty of newspaper reports & saw stuff on the telly the next day as well. All I remember was sitting on the front of the stage when the doors to the Hordern opened up and I just saw a mad rush to the front of the stage. I felt like I was at Pamplona for the running of the bulls. The tension was so thick it cut through the air like a knife. Sydney metalheads wanted to party and they wanted to party NOW!!!! We headed backstage to get ready for one of the biggest moments of our lives. Some nut in the crowd – (Probably Alex) starts to chant “Maurer… Maurer”…. and the crowd follows suit & although I’m slightly embarrassed, it was a very humbling moment that made me feel a few extra inches taller that day!! I can’t really remember if I was nervous before we started. It was our first really big show, so I probably should have been, but most musicians use these experiences to work in their favour, and I tended to do that as well. After all this is what I had been craving all my life – to play in front of big crowds! We had planned a small surprise at this show as well, we were going to play Anthrax’s “Caught in a Mosh” in our set, so I was looking forward to that, but when it came time to play it, Wayne was saying not to play it. We knew it fairly well, but did we know it well enough to pull it off in front of 8500 mad metalheads?? I announced the song, much to Wayne’s screams not to and we started playing it…. The crowd went wild when it was announced so there was no stopping it now. I’ve got the desk tape of that show and we actually played that song really well, and the rest of our set was pretty tight as well.

We finished our set and were a very happy bunch of guys. But it was time to chill now, get ready to watch Metallica and get ready for the end of tour after party. What? You wanna know all those gory details as well?? Okay, just one word…. JAGERMEISTER!! Sorry but that’s all I remember… mwhahahaha.

Your experiences at this show have got to be just as fun, so please tell all!!

(I remember Steve Hughes telling me when we lived in the ‘Nazxul’ werehouse in Newtown together how he was so proud of hid metal brothers finally up there rippin’ it up with the worlds best that he and others had tears of joy running while they banged thier heads like there was no tomorrow…amazing day. Thanks to Mat for letting this be put up and IMMORTALIZED \m/ – Sixx)

In the RIFF we trust m/