TRAGIC HEROBy Nicky Baldrian
TRAGIC HERO
By
Nicky Baldrian
I discovered Texas
hard rockers Tragic Hero after a favorable review in an old copy
of Hard Roxx magazine. When I finally got my hands on the bands
self financed debut album, I found myself being drawn into the
bands catchy hard rock by numbers. The bands image is of your
usual rocker style, long hair, leather jackets, jeans etc..
Chuck Williams and Erich Von Colberg share the vocal duties and
guitar duties, Chuck looks like Eric Martin from Mr.Big and Erich
looks like a mix of Mike Tramp, Sebastian Bach and Jonathan Cain.
Rich Redmond takes on the drummers position and he looks like
Journey's Neal Schon and on bass is Michael Prather who looks
like, well your average rocker!!
Tragic Hero though don't rely on their image to get them gigs
etc.. their music is really what comes first. The debut album is
really great, the songs are catchy and stick in your head, the
only problem as far as I can see, is that come the next album the
band should concentrate a little more on the production. Tragic
Hero are a band that would very much suite a label like MTM,
Kivel Records and Massacre Records.
The members of Tragic Hero started off in the late eighties
playing in various garage bands, playing cover songs "I met
Erich in 1987 at North Texas State in Denton", explains
Chuck Williams, "Erich was not a musician then, just a guy
with a good rock look and a great set of pipes"
Chuck became Erich's guitar tutor whilst they were both in
different band. Fate bought the two musicians together when they
ended up in the same cover band called "The Groove
Dogs". After a couple of years Chuck and Erich got board and
decided to write and play original music "When we went
original, the two other members of the Groove Dogs left, so we
got with Rich Redmond out in N.T.S.U. (he was the one o'clock lab
band drummer for a couple of years) and went into the studio and
Tragic Hero was born" says Chuck
The band then released their self titled debut album and were
greated with a great response "The sales were great WHILE WE
WERE PLAYING. When the album was released we had made a
distribution deal that never went through. It hurt us badly. We
wer getting some radio play on local stations, people began
calling asking where they could buy the album, and it wasn't
anywhere for them to purchase conveniently. It was a hard lesson
learned, people don't buy what they don't hear, and if you don't
make the album available, they will forget about you"
The band will never again take this root, Chuck continues
"We have never approached a record label with the exception
of Capricorn Records, they said "thanks but no thanks"
it was our belief that when the following of the band got large
enough, the labels would come to us".
All the lyrics and music is written by
Chuck, and I must say that he is a great songwriter just waiting
for a break, Chuck's inspirations comes from everywhere
"Musically, I've always loved the pop- punk sound of Cheap
Trick.also Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake,
etc.Jeff Beck and Allan Holdsworth are my favorite
guitarists.Billy Squire writes lyrics that just cut through my
heart. but to be honest, I find I don't listen to music much
anymore. when I do, it's usually the classical music station. I
guess nothing in the 1990's has really turned me on yet. As far
as subject matter goes, a lot of it comes just from life
experiences.a 30 -year old doesn't want to hear a song about the
high school football star taking your girlfriend and a
16-year-old isn't going to relate much to having to work overtime
because the rent is due and your car broke down.the range of life
experience is just too great. people are at different points of
life at different times. I try to place myself in the position of
that person at the time and stage of life that it actually
happened. Other inspiration comes from just plain truths and
wisdom. I like to read C.S.Lewis and a few other good
writers."
The music scene in Texas like most places has been tough for hard
rock "The scene here is strange. it's very jump on the band
wagon oriented.like I said, in the 1990's everything really
changed -.most of it in a direction I didn't like.I think it has
almost run its course."
The band are currently very busy writing and preparing for a
brand new album "The new material is heavier and rougher,
more Zepplinesque. Also a little more punk influenced. I held way
back on the first album- especially in the shredding area. well,
no more, I'm cutting loose on the new album. It's more true to
who we are as a band.We really want to get out on the road again,
we haven't played out in a while. As the "Groove Dogs"
we played all the biker bar dives. 4 to 5 hours a night.when we
went original all the really big rock venues in our area just
closed down (just our luck) we found ourselves fighting to get
into the dives in deep Ellum (Dallas) that we had worked so hard
to get out of!! all the bands were. We then got some airplay out
in Louisiana, so we went down there and played some shows. that
was great! the crowd rocked! I remember this one gig out at this
dive in Dallas called the Jackpot Club. We played there a lot. we
were playing a song and this girl was giving Erich the "love
me" look and moves out on the dance floor. The whole floor
was dancing and she was trying to increase her sexy dance moves
in order to get Erich's attention. It was getting pretty vulgar,
well, I guess she had to much to drink because right in the
middle of the song she tried to pull off some sort of erotic move
and she lost control, she slammed into the guy next to her, and
he into another,..before we knew it the domino effect had taken
place and half a dozen people were lying on the floor. We started
laughing, almost didn't make it through the tune! I think she
left crying because Erich didn't love her"
"For the future were watching and waiting. Were still here,
we still want it. Life demands that we work and pay the bills, so
were not struggling anymore. But with the advent of the internet
and with the fans that love our kind of music (I know you're all
still out there!) were ready at the drop of a hat. I plan on
mailing copies of this cd to various record labels and seeing
where that will lead.I still believe there is a place for us in
music. I pray we find it. God bless..."
If you would like more information on Tragic Hero then Email
Chuck at: chuck@tragichero.com http://www.tragichero.com Email: hotstrat@flash.netn