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Mick Zane & Jay Reynolds Interview
(Malice)

California continues to export the best "metal" around today. "Malice" is the latest group to hit big from that state. Recording for Atlantic Records, their debut album is titled "In The Beginning." We spoke with "Malice" guitarists Jay Reynolds and Mick Zane.

Q. Your album was supposed to be released in Feb. '85. What was the hold-up?
Jay - Well, we initially finished the last of the recordings just about then The release was supposed to be about 3 months after that date. So, it would've been a May release. If you remember at the time. MTV and the radio weren't playing much metal. The timing wasn't right on it, and Atlantic wanted us to wait a little while. We wanted to get the promotion out of 'em, so we had to go along with what they said. Plus, there were some loose ends on the album we had to tie up. And to be real honest with you, I'm kind of glad it didn't come out at that time because a lot of the heavy metal, hard rock albums that came out at that time died because the timing was wrong.
Mick - That we got postponed seems to be in our favor because there seems to be a turnaround, a resurgence in metal.

Q. What I've heard is that in L.A. anyway, there's been a shift in popularity from heavy metal, back to melodic hard rock. Is that true?
Jay - That's true, but there's a market for anything that's done well. We feel our music has a lot of integrity. It's heavy, but there's melody there. There's a lot of musical talent as well. We feel we can be heavy, and yet be unique. There's too many hard rock bands now (hat are going for that glam' image. We feel we have our own niche, and that our music is strong enough and our image is strong enough to carry us through as our own entity We're not compromising. We're trying to be ourselves.
Mick - We want to deliver the maximum heavy energy we can.

Q. "Malice" recorded two songs for Metal Blade Records. How did that help your career out? Did it impress Atlantic?
Mick - Not that it impressed people at Atlantic Records, but as far as just exposing the band to a worldwide audience even though it was on an underground label, it helped us out
Jay - It gave us an opportunity to assemble 'Malice' for the first time. We did it basically as a studio project and the band didn't get together until about a year and a half after we recorded this. The response helped us get the musicians in the band we wanted. The production wasn't the greatest on (hose cuts, but the response was great. Looking back on it. it really was the beginning of the band.

Q. Jay. what were you doing before Malice? How'd you make money?
Jay - lust kind of living on 'he street, hustling my stuff. Really, putting everything into the music, odd jobs here and there, getting help from friends That's the way it's been for all of us for quite a while. Just kind of living on a shoestring, without much money. I had like a half a hag of M&M's for breakfast this morning. We're going through the hungry years. Every band has to do it. When we moved out here, we all lived together in one little condo down in Redondo Beach, which we called the 'Malice Palace.'

Q. Your management company also handles Dwight Twilley. That's an unusual combination. Who approached who?
Jay - We tried to manage the band ourselves, especially Mick and I. We were getting a lot of things done, but we just didn't have the connections or the money to lake it the step further we wanted, and get the major label deal. We started talking to a lot of management. We found Robbie Randall He didn't have a lot of bands. He did have some financial backing. We really liked Robbie, so it worked out really well, because we get a lot of personal attention, personal management.

Q. Do A and R people scout the showcase clubs in L.A. looking for talented unsigned acts, and then sign them up?
Mick - The possibility does definitely exist, but as far as reality goes the chances of that really happening without you going above and beyond the call of duty to make them come to you, is highly unlikely. That's just a coincidental thing you'll hear about every once in awhile, one of those stories.

Official Website: Malice.com