Court Jester - "Where Witches Dwell" (audio)

Το 1989 δημιουργήθηκαν στο Μέριλαντ οι Court Jester. Heavy metal μπάντα που κατάφερε να κυκλοφορήσει μόλις δύο demos ("The Jokes on You" 1990, "Where Witches Dwell" 1992) και μετά διαλύθηκε.

Τρεις δεκαετίες αργότερα τα δύο δημιουργήματα του Αμερικάνικου συγκροτήματος ξαναβλέπουν το φως της επικαιρότητας μέσω της κυκλοφορίας της Heaven and Hell Records. Συγκεντρώθηκαν τα τραγούδια των δύο demos συν κάποια (δύο για την ακρίβεια) ακυκλοφόρητα κι... έτοιμο το cd.

Τίτλος: "The Joke’s on You / Where Witches Dwell", ημερομηνία κυκλοφορίας: 26 Σεπτεμβρίου. Σε τύμπανα και φωνητικά βρίσκουμε τον Doug Guckert, ο οποίος διατέλεσε drummer των Mystic Force το 1986 (προτού αρχίσουν να δισκογραφούν)...

Δελτίο τύπου: «Heaven and Hell Records will be presenting the recordings of Maryland’s Court Jester. Both “The Jokes on You” and “Where Witches Dwell” will be available for the first time on CD, remastered by Jamie King Studios, new artwork by Steve Cobb, with a booklet containing photos and lyrics.

The release is limited to 500 worldwide. Baltimore, Maryland’s Court Jester began with an ad for a bassist and guitarist being answered by Jake Jakubik. The ad was placed by drummer Douglas Guckert who was looking for players to join him and another guitarist. Jakubik along with a guitarist friend of his would go to jam with the other two.

Upon their meeting, the four would begin to work with six original songs written by Guckert. The next day both Jakubik and Guckert came to the decision to work together but to replace the two guitarists. They would begin to hold auditions that would take some time until finally guitarist David Braswell, who had played with Jakubik in a previous band, came in to fill the spot.

Court Jester was now a 3-piece and they would waste no time getting back to Guckert’s songs, as well as adding other originals, one of which was from Jukubik and Braswell earlier band together. Soon Court Jester was ready and would enter White Marsh Studios.

What would result from the sessions would be eight blistering NWOBHM influenced traditional heavy metal tunes that would comprise the band’s 1991 debut “The Jokes On You”. It would be self-released in only a 300 cassette run initially.

The release of “The Jokes On You” quickly began to circulate through the right hands allowing the material to be heard by the right people locally. This led to the band being noticed by a local cable show ROCK LIVE and Baltimore’s rock radio stations WIYY 97,9 FM 98 ROCK and WHVY FM 96,7 97 Underground FM who both would keep the band in regular rotation on their playlists.

The band also began moving copies of their release through local record shops. Now with plenty of airplay and units of their cassette being moved, there was an increasing demand for the band to play live shows. Guitarist David Simmons would be added to fill out the band live.

In 1993 Court Jester would return back to White Marsh Studios to record a second release, now with Simmons firmly in the band. These sessions would result in six new songs that were as strong as the band’s previous effort. The EP titled “Where Witches Dwell” would also be self-released in a limited cassette run that same year.»

Band: Court Jester
Country of origin: United States
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Status: Split-up
Formed in: 1989
Genre: Heavy Metal

Audio: "Where Witches Dwell"
Album: "The Joke’s on You / Where Witches Dwell"
Type: Compilation
Release date: September 26th, 2020
Label: Heaven and Hell Records

Track listing:
01. The Execution
02. Island of Lost Souls
03. (Sell You) Back to Hell
04. And Then I Dream
05. The Joke
06. The Chosen One
07. Hungry for Action
08. Into the Hands of the Night
09. Where Witches Dwell
10. This Clown (Won't Go Down)
11. Shadow of a Star
12. Bullets of Desire
13. I'll Never Be
14. Judge and Jury
15. Battle Scar
16. Hot Rocks