Manowar fans of the world united :-)

Manowar, wow there's a blast from the past!

Whenever I think of Manowar I think of the song "Battle Hymn" and that chorus: da da da KILL! da da da KILL!

I also remember every bass player I knew in the 80's trying to play "William's Tale".

I really haven't listened to them past the "Fighting the World" album. Do they still have the early line-up of Joey DeMaio, Ross the Boss, Eric Adams, Scott Columbus?

NP: Manowar - "Battle Hymn"

 

Not that I'm a fan or anything (As it's not my kind of music at all) but I remember someone telling me a while ago that they hold the world record for the highest SPL in live concert ever. Something like 400+ dBs or something!

Is this true?

 

I remember seeing these guys back in what must have been '88 or '89. I had never heard them before, and I mainly went to see the openers Nuclear Assault.

But holy cow! That was some funny stuff! The Spinal Tap reference hit it right on the money. The drum riser must have been fifteen feet off the stage, the guitar solo consisted of four straight minutes of pure feedback -- and then there was the consistent cry of 'Death to fahhlse mehtull' from the vocalist.

Then I thought my dad was going to get us killed (Yes, my father was a metalhead when I was in high school. Strange indeed...) by shouting 'You suck!' at the top of his lungs ad infinitum. I know the band probably wasn't joking, but their serious attitude made it all the more hilarious.

Pure comedic genius!

 

The world record issue is a bit of an interesting legend. Manowar's FOH engineer Jeff Hair happens to be a very good friend of mine (my first pro audio internship at 16 years old was with his company), and I have spoke with him about this a number of times.
The world record was not for actual concert DB, but rather was achieved in sound check. And the measured SPL level was defined as only "from front of house mix position"- but no one offered a guideline of how far back that position should be.
I believe that another metal band (Immaculate Mary I think) held the previous "record" - but theirs was taken from a point almost three times further away from the PA (where, if they had measured at the same location Manowar did, they'd probably still be champs).
I don't know if this record is recognized by any serious authority (I have seen Guinness claimed many times on Manowar fan sites [although every fan site spells Guinness wrong], but I've never seen it in actual print- and from what I've heard they retired the category years before Manowar's "record" )- rather I think it is just a fun addition to the Manowar (spinal-tap-esque) mistique.
400db wouldn't even be close to possible.
Jesus- first of all DB is an exponentical scale- meaning 400db would be like your home theater to the 4,000,000th power. I think if it were possible to hear a star explode it wouldn't be measured to 400db! Air on earth cannot carry such sound pressure.
For ref, 160db would instantly crush your eardrum. A gun shot with your ear against the muzzle is like 135!
I think the Manowar Soundcheck was like 129.5 peak (but I've seen it listed at 122 as well, which seems a bit low)- and an interview with Joey Demaio calimed "127.9. That was for the band. For myself 131.7", which makes it sound like he's talking monitor levels (??).
I could call Jeff and check if anyone is seriously interested in the number.
On a side note, if you search for Guinness Loudest Concert on the web, many bands claim to hold the record. Heck, even a Hanson fansite claims 140db Guinness record in Canada (maybe the DB levels in Canada are different, with the exchange rate and all).
Sites for Motorhead, AC/DC, Deep Purple and many other all claim the record for loudest.
-Vince

 

PS: I did find this from a 1994 Kerrang:

 

I have a love/hate relationship with this band. I really hate all their "we are great" songs, but I really love all their fantasy themed songs. Well, maybe hate is a bit too strong, those songs are just too corny to really get into them. I really like "Triumph of Steel" though almost in total ("Metal Warriors" is a bit much), especially the last part of "Achilles" which just blows me away.