Granmax - Kiss Heaven Goodbye (HEAVY HARD-ROCK US 1978)
"GRANMAX - KISS HEAVEN GOODBYE" (HEAVY HARD-ROCK US 1978)Kansas city, Missouri was home to 70's Hard-Rock power trio Granmax: "Steve Myers" (guitar, vocals), "Tim McCorkle" (bass guitar, vocals), and "Louis McCorkle" (drums, percussion).
"Tim McCorkle" and his brother Louis played already togheter with Garage band Stonehenge.
Formed in early 1975, the band gained quite a bit of exposure throughout the Midwest which culminated in the release of "A Ninth Alive" on "Pacific Records" in 1976.
With the collaboration of their manager "Chris Fritz", Granmax dressed in white, all the equipment was white, and on stage there was a black backdrop on which the Granmax logo was vividly reproduced in white.
"Chris Fritz" remenbered: "They rehearsing a special show on stage: it started with a 45-minute laser light demonstration, using one of the largest projectors ever made.
The beams was generated by a 2-watt krypton system which delivers a strong, sharp, threedimensional beam in the purest and most intense colors imaginable. They appeared to be suspended in space and there was shapely patterns that revolve, glow, float, pulsate, change, vanish and then reappeared and then Granmax comes on with its own lighting and sound system"
By the end of the year, they added a much-needed flamboyant frontman "Nick Christopher" (aka "Chaz Nikias") and learned how to rock in time for the second album in 1978 "Kiss Heaven Goodbye" (Pacific Records PRS-1023, 1978).
Revived and rejuvenated, Granmax recorded their second album with a clearly harder edged sound.
Granmax once again saturated the Midwest with promotional gigs and a full tour, but audiences just weren't biting. The band returned to the studio to cut a third album, but things began to unravel during the sessions and Granmax came to a screeching halt before it could be completed.
Personal favorite are "It's Worth The Wait" and "Prince Of The Southern Ice".
"It's hooky, full of energy and speed, the songs are concise and the band is tight. The tone is varied by excellent use of acoustic and slide guitars and tasteful phasing. The opening track alone is worth the price of admission. Here the boys stir up some serious metallic energy and rock hard" (AM).
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7 Comments :
Hi Aaron..... I want to personally thank you for your article here about our group Granmax!
We did go in to record a third album but things were changing interior wise trying to do another style of music under a group name "Plaza" taken from the plaza area in Kansas City Missouri
Aaron we had a category of over 75 songs to showcase live- I want to correct that we are from Kansas city mo not Nebraska ! Funny when Granmax split I went on to play with a group called Nebraska from there ! I am still writing and singing -those were some of the best days of my life- we lost Louis to heaven but the rest of us are goin strong! Thanks to all the fans friends and funky people who supported us
Hi Chaz-Nick! Thank you for your sweet words, and for your support. Also I must correct you, i'm not Aaron (Milenski)- great psychedelic man - but Alessandro.
I love your music; I listen your fantastic It's Worth The Wait song steadily.
best regards,
alessandro
www.chaznikias.com/granmax/
has someone this album in stock
I am looking for this album so long now -(
I remember this band vaguely. I had tickets to see Nazareth and Mahogany Rush, for the most part the two bands were "co advertised/promoted, right up to the day of show. GranMax played INSTEAD of Mahogany Rush, no explanation, no announcement. I just figured that GranMax was "added" to the bill, until Nazareth was done and they started clearing us out, I protested and Booed, but was promptly shown the door.
I remembered during GranMax's performance, there was a lot of negative sentiment in the audience in the audience, booing, catcalls etc. The singer even announced that there was death threats made toward the band if they went OnStage. He went on to say to the audience that nothing was going to stop them from performing. Wish I knew the details of what was going on that night. I can only speculate that this all had to do with some kind of "falling out" between Nazareth and Mahogany Rush. I went to that show to see Mahogany Rush, so I felt betrayed. Any just a memory of mine concerning GranMax
To answer your question about the Nazareth and Mahogany Rush show there was a dispute over which band was going to headline so from what I understand they came to fist to cuffs-
So Chris fritz placed us instead of mahogany rush because he felt Nazareth was the headline and that's the way it should be -
I remember Dan McCafferty the lead singer of Nazareth coming onstage (while holding a bottle of Jack Daniels) and helping us out to quiet the crowd down but all and all looking back I felt we came through-
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