Alloy Czar

From Denver, Colorado, Alloy Czar were active from the late 70's till middle 80's, we had a chat with their frontman, Bob Parduba, also known for replacing Harry Conklin in Jag Panzer, in the late 80's, to know a little bit more about his career.

Q. – Hello Bob! When did Alloy Czar start? Who were the first members? Tell us a bit about the beginning of the band.

Bob - Charlie McCormick (guitar) Scott Wilson (Bass) and John Beird (Drums and vocals), were the original members, they were high school friends whose one thing in common was to make music. They were a power trio. Some of the earlier recordings I heard from them had a Rush influence.

Q. - Was Alloy Czar your very first band? Or did you have any other band previously?

Bob - Oh no, I started playing in High School. I originally played guitar. I went out for chorus, found out I could sing, took vocal lessons. I actually kind of forced myself upon the best rock band in our school as a roadie. One gig the singer wanted to go to a concert when I show was booked, I just told them I’ll sing and that was it.

Q. - How did the band name came up?

Bob - They just thought of another interpretation for Metal King.

Q. - What were your main influences at the beginning of the band?

Bob - They had some original, but as soon as I joined the band I started writing, funny thing is the first thing I worked on was the opening bass line for On the Run!

Judas Priest of course!

Q. - Do you recall the songs you were playing at the beginning? Did you play any covers too?

Bob - I think they had some covers, we focused on originals when I joined, then we figured we would make a living by doings covers, that was the time when you actually could make a living playing covers

Q. - Was the 1983 demo tape well received by the fans? Did you try to approach some labels at that time?

Bob - Well everyone loved the demo, of course we shopped the tape however we received little response back from it. At the time I think if we shopped it overseas we would have had a better chance of getting a deal, opposed to shopping here in the states. But of course we didn’t even think about it.

Q. - Shouldn’t an LP have been the next step, after the demo tape?

Bob - We were financed by Scott’s dad for the demo’s. Of course we would have pressed an album but investing more money into it at the time was not an option.

Q. - With the great talent and potential you guys had, what do you think has failed to achieve a real success?

Bob - At the time I think heavy metal had not taken off yet, so of course it was almost frowned upon, that may have been a factor, but in hindsight I think we should have stuck to our guns on what we were writing, pushed the originals. I think we got complacent which of course happens to alot of bands and just focused on playing covers and making money.

But being so young and not getting a response to our demo and it’s no excuse, made us take the originals off the table.

 

Q. - Then you had the hard task to replace Harry Conklin in Jag Panzer, what memories do you have from those times? How did the invitation came up?

Bob - I knew of Jag Panzer by reading about them in Hit Parader.

Bob - I got a call from Mark Briody and he told me he heard the demo’s. Mark invited me down to Colorado Springs, we talked, they told me the direction they were going in and of course this being what I wanted musically and they asked me to join, there was no hesitation in my joining the band.

I have always been adamant about this, I was not in the band to imitate Harry, that is nearly impossible. They were trying a new direction. Some people criticized COC and myself but as I said this was a totally new direction for the band. I know there are always diehard fans out there but as long as the heart of the band is there and it totally was, have an open ear and heart and give it a chance. I totally think this album succeeded in what we were doing.

Of course we played the back catalog of JP material. I would never try to sound like Harry, I would put my own take on it. It was not easy. 

I have nothing but awesome memories, the friendship, the writing process, all of it.

Funny thing we would do was when it came to getting ready for our label showcases we would spend the night at Rickard’s house. We would go to sleep, wake up at 1:00 am, rehearse, go back to sleep wake up at 4:00 am and rehearse again. It was insane but we were getting ourselves ready to perform under any conditions. It was Heavy Metal Boot Camp!

Q. - Why “Chain of Command” didn’t see the light of the day back in the day? Does this lead to the end of the band at that time?

Bob - It would have had we had been able to negotiate our deal with the record labels. It was back and forth. Record companies wanted more and wanted us to take less, Alot of issues were in merchandising, recording budgets, per diems so we could quit our jobs and work on the band full time. We would have had a deal for COC however we stuck to our guns and refused to cave in just to get signed, Was it a mistake?  Maybe but when you out your heart and passion into something 110% you should never fold! The band of course did not fold. I was disappointed, we were still working on songs for a follow up if we did get signed. Some of the songs. When the Walls and Battlezones Live was part of new material we were working on. There was another song we I have somewhere on a tape, it was heavier than the song’s on COC. I just left the band because I was disillusioned. Later on Mark contacted me about singing on another Panzer project, they had a singer from Europe which of course made it hard for them to get things done. I declined because at the time I felt I could not do the material justice, Also there was a slight possibility of getting financing to re record some of COC I  thought that was a great idea I wanted to redo some of the vocals add more harmonies and clean a few things up but unfortunately that fell through.

And as you all know I did backup vocals on Casting the Stones and earlier this year I did get up in stage with Panzer, I sang for Salem Spade we opened for them.

Q. - Was it a hard feeling not seeing the album released back then?

Bob - Personally yes it was. We worked hard on the album. The excitement of getting a record deal was totally amazing! Part of the issue also was when record reps were supposed to see us perform live they were not part of the metal genre for the label.

Q. - What other bands did you play besides Alloy Czar and Jag Panzer, was it Mercedes, Russia, Dirty Boys? Tell us a bit about these bands too.

Bob - Mercedes was a great band we had excellent originals this band should have been signed but as what happens in bands we had issues with substance abuse and it caused alot of problems. It’s sad we had the attitude and the musicianship, I really loved playing and writing in the band. I regret this band not going anywhere.

Russia was a cover band another great band there’s a live performance on You Tube.

Dirty Boyz was of course the consummate hair metal cover band!  We were rock stars lol!!! Full stage show, pyro, packed clubs, the best musicians in Denver, we turned every gig into a performance it was alot of fun! We actually made money and could command a writer for food and drink during our shows. We did one funny thing, we were allowed to order pizza for the crowd so what we would do was make the delivery person get up onstage and sing a song before they got paid and tipped, it was alot of fun!

Q, - Did you record some demo tapes with these bands too?

Bob - With Mercedes we did demo’s, there are a few songs I have on tape. We actually did not finish some of the best songs, unknown to me at the time our member who was arranging the studio time was paying the owner but not in cash, we can all figure out what that means, and was not getting reimbursed should I say.  So we did not finish the recordings. 

Q. - How was it like to be back on stage with Jag Panzer at KIT 2008?

Bob - Amazing and an honour of course. They were my brothers and to be back on stage with them and in front of the amazing KIT audience was quite the experience! And if course when we got to the chorus of COC and everyone was singing it I was floored!

Q. - Is it like a dream become true, to see Awaken of the metal King and Chain of Command released after so many years?

Bob - Yes of course since they were released within the same year. It was nice to hear how much the fans loved the Czar material. The Czar members did not believe the legitimacy of the release of Awaken the Metal King. I think when they got copies of the CD’s and saw the layout they realized this was serious.

 

Q. - In your opinion what are the main differences between the eighties and the reality of today? Do you keep an eye to the metal scene of today?

Bob - Good question, and I think this is important, back in the eighties metal was raw and experimental, it was no holds barred and that made it amazing and it still holds up today and as clichéd as it sounds stood the test of time. And it’s still in demand. The only thing that pisses me off to no end is the music scene in the US is more about labels wanting music for the next TV commercial. They have no regards for the art at all.

However I still have faith, when my son Peter loves Iron Maiden, Metallica and other metal bands that says alot. I was sitting next to a few 12 year olds at a Priest concert and they knew all the words! I was ecstatic about that. I always have to go back to the European metal. It still retains everything and more from the eighties moving forward.

That debacle a few years ago they called Nu Metal just sucked I won’t get into that at all!  

 

Q. - After all these years in the Metal scene, what are your best memories? Or worse, if you have them?

Bob - All of them, the good the bad and the ugly. I have always said that if I passed today and looked down from above I would have no regrets, period!

Would not have done it any differently.

What I’ve been through along with others you cannot put a price on it. Alot of people would give their right arm just to experience a small part of what I and my fellow musicians have done!

Q. - Would you still like to start a new heavy metal project? Or perhaps reactivate an old band of yours?

Bob - Well funny you should ask, I have always actively be writing I actually started recording but I had some personal issues which now have been resolved so I should be done with the first song within the next month or so.

No I actually want to have my band with my friends who deserve to get the recognition they deserve.

Q. - How do you want to end up this interview? Anything more you want to say?

Bob - First of all thank you Paulo so much, this means alot to me and gives me the motivation to get back on the metal horse and move forward, I still have alot to offer and want to be force in metal music again! This will give me the kick in the ass I needed.

Thank you for your time, and wish you all the best for the future!

You too and yes there will be a future, you can count on it!