GLACIER: Mach III
1983-1986
GLACIER Mach III are the line-up that wrote & recorded the classic GLACIER material. With the departure of Scott Prinzing to college, Timm Proctor was not only the new bassist, but a strong songwriting contributor. He, Pat & Sam shared the writing chores fairly equally, and co-writing led to the development of the classic GLACIER sound.
Timm Proctor and Scott Prinzing went back a few years when they met at Outdoor School counselor training. Timm and Doug Smith (who married Katherine Lea in Oct. '98!) were the only two other longhairs there. They were also the only other Iron Maiden fans that Scott had ever net (besides Pat & Sam, of course). They also were friends of Anastasia (Stacy) Burns who was Scott's biggest distraction.
Anyway, Timm was lead guitarist and vocalist for Assassin, another heavy metal trio. Doug was the bassist (later w/ Portland's Gargoyle). Scott joined them as guest vocalist a few times: once at the Euphoria, and once at the Grange Hall in St. Helens, OR (Halloween '80 or '81 I do believe). He sang the Priest songs & "In the End" by Rush (He also helped by dancing with Mysta in her Playboy Bunny costume!)
Later, Timm joined Mayhem with Stacy's left-handed (!) boyfriend Chris Hendrix & Pete Jeffreys on guitar and Steve Hanford (former GLACIER roadie, formerly w/ Terra, later "Thee Slayer Hippy" w/ Poison Idea, and most recently an indie record producer) on drums. This is the band GLACIER stole Timm from. Ironically, Eric Olson (later "Vegetable" w/ Poison Idea) replaced Hendrix & Scott replaced Timm for a few months before leaving for school! Of course, the real irony is that when Pete & Scott left, they were replaced by Matt McCourt on vocals (The Ravers/Malice/Wild Dogs) and Craig Lauer (bass, later "Mondo" w/ Poison Idea!)!!! Crazy family tree, eh?
Timm brought the Mayhem song "Devil In Disguise" along with him & eventually wrote real lyrics for the verses so it could become the GLACIER classic that it is today. For a brief time both GLACIER & Mayhem were laying claim to the song with Scott rehearsing it with Mayhem (who by the way, has the coolest logo next to Angel's). Timm notified the band that he wasn't interested in fronting the band, so while the songwriting & rehearsing commenced, the search for a guy with a PA (also known as a lead singer) was undertaken.
The statewide search dredged up Mike Podrybau, from Eugene, Oregon's Harlot. A dead ringer for Vince Neal, Pod recorded 4 tracks with GLACIER: "Live For the Whip," "Devil In Disguise," "Ready For Battle" and "Speak No Evil" (the latter 3 ended up on the first demo tape & the Axe Killer Ep). The debut gig was at the Starry Night in PDX. At least one other show was the support slot for Rail in Eugene ("Devil" had received some airplay in Eugene!). Suggesting that GLACIER change their name to Harlot & that "lay in the field with the shepherd" get excised from "Speak," Pod finally got the boot & was replaced by Marc Storace-lookalike Rex McNew--a worldclass vocalist!
Glacier practiced their newest songs at their new rehearsal studio, Babyland (Have you ever been to Electric Babyland?) where Timm resided (and Shawn whatsisname too, perhaps?)! The great new tunes included "Sands," "Ben Owen," and "Infidel." The only recording surviving Mach III is "Vendetta," also available on the Ep. When Rex tried a coup d'etat, he was booted back to his male stripper gig @ Gatsby's! Recruited for the uncompleted demo of "When Heaven's At Hand" was Sabotage vocalist Keith Flax (later w/ Jack Starr's Burning Starr and Valhalla). His voice is featured on this openning track of the Ep. The big disappointment is that Axekiller wouldn't cough up the funds to record "Sands," which would've been the title track of sorts (see the Ep cover). That is the great unheard heavy metal classic (unless you count the ultra-rare demo recorded by--get this--Pat, The Master, Doc & the Guitar Machine!)!
So, with an international Ep out just waiting to be picked up by a major label, Glacier headed to LA to find a major league singer. Unfortunately, one never materialized. Rent in LA was expensive, the band shared an apartment, but never got a practice pad. Timm finally joined a band called Calamity Jane and Pat & Loren left Sam behind in LA and returned to Portland to regroup. Sam eventually joined Bonaparte with some ex-Flotsom & Jetsom dude (no, not Jason Newstad). Pat & Loren began looking for new members in PDX to keep the icerock afloat.
GLACIER Mach II
GLACIER Mach IV
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