METAL MIRROR - II LP

Touring for Metal Mirror intensified after the release of their single in 1980. While gigging in and around the capital, the band rehearsed a lengthy live-set, including a couple of pretty old numbers. One of them was called ''Nevermore'', which gained favourable reviews in the press back in the days: ''Thanks Matthias, for reminding me about ‚Nevermore'. We did not play it at the Dingwalls show recorded for ‚Live in London 1981'. I don't know why. There were about five other tracks that were recorded at that show, but due to some sound and recording problems, me and Paul decided not to use them. ‚Nevermore' was written in 1980, one of the first few songs, we played it at many shows, and it always went well with the fans. It was never recorded in the studio, but we must have some live versions in the vaults. It was a favourite of mine. How did you know about this song?''

As mentioned elsewhere, Metal Mirror played fewer than three dozens of shows during their relatively short lifespan. According to mainman Cameron Vegas, their biggest ever show was also their very last one: ''Metal Mirror split in 1982, the main reason for the split was, we were signed to two concert promotion agencies, both were large companies. They were Concorde Artists and TKA, The Terry King Agency. One of these sent us to play at the ‚Talk of the Abbey' in Wales, as I said before, probably our biggest show. We were meant to go on stage at 11.00 p.m., but just before the show started, the organisers asked us to go on at 01.00 a.m. We agreed to this, but by the time we hit the stage, we were so pissed and stoned, I don't think any of us can remember the whole show. The organisers complained and we were sacked by both agencies. With no money coming in, it brought an end to the band. It was our own fault. In those days we made Aerosmith look like The Osmonds, ha ha.''

After the sad demise of Metal Mirror, however, singer Cameron Vegas stayed in the music business: ''I later released solo albums as Cameron Vegas, not Metal Mirror, the first ‚Life's a Bitch, and then you die' in 1990. After that ‚Rollin' in Greece - Live' in 1993, ‚Dirty Stories', a duet album with Samantha Kirl in 1995 and ‚In Poland', a mini album consisting of 6 tracks. All these albums were proper CD's, not CD-R's. I am currently working on a new album called ‚Black Train'. It will be released in Spring 2007.''

The second volume of ''Live in London 1981'', released on High Roller Records as a limited edition of 500 copies only (HRR 011), contains another five live-tracks from the Camden show at Dingwalls (including ''One Night'', a cover version written by D. Bartholomew and P. King) plus the original studio versions of ''Rock & Roll ain't never gonna leave us'' and ''English Booze'' (from the single) as well as ''Hard Life'' (taken from ''Heavy Metal Heroes Vol.1'').

Matthias Mader (Iron Pages)

HIGH ROLLER RECORDS