Pentagram (band)

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Pentagram are a long-running American heavy metal band from Virginia, most famous as performers of Sabbathesque metal. The band was quite prolific in the underground scene of the 1970s, producing many demos and rehearsal tapes, but did not release a full-length album until reforming in the early 1980s with an almost completely new lineup. Throughout the band's history the only constant member has been vocalist Bobby Liebling. The revolving lineup of Pentagram has featured many well respected musicians in the local doom metal scene, with members spending time in other acts such as Place of Skulls, Internal Void, Spirit Caravan, among many others.

[edit] The 70s

In the fall of 1971, Bobby Liebling and Geof O’Keefe decided to leave their previous bands (Shades of Darkness and Space Meat, respectively) to form a new band that reflected their interest in emerging metal acts such as UFO, Uriah Heep and Sir Lord Baltimore. At Liebling’s suggestion, the group was named Pentagram, a sinister moniker that reflected the gloomy subject matter of their material. Although the band would change its name several times during 1971 and 1972 (Virgin Death, Macabre, and Wicked Angel were all considered during this period), they would eventually (and permanently) return to their initial moniker.

Also, contrary to popular belief, they were never called Stone Bunny; this was the name given to Space Meat when Bobby Liebling joined them briefly.^[1]

During their 5-year career, they would have 7 different managers, including Gordon Fletcher, a Washington D.C. rock journalist who wrote for magazines such as Rolling Stone, Creem and Circus. The others were Steve Lorber, Phillip Knudsen, Skip Groff, Bob Fowler, Tim Kidwell and Tom McGuire.

[edit] Early line-ups

The initial Pentagram lineup consisted of Bobby Liebling (vocals) Geof O'Keefe (guitar), Vincent McAllister (bass), and Steve Martin (drums). Early practices included the long-time standard "Livin' in a Ram's Head", along with several other long-lasting Pentagram stalwarts.

After a month of rehearsals, Space Meat alumni John Jennings joined to create Pentagram's dual-guitar "Mark II" lineup. It soon became clear, however, that Steve Martin's jazz-influenced drumming did not fit Pentagram's hard-rocking style, and so he was asked to leave the group. His position on the drum stool was dutifully filled by guitarist Geof O'Keefe, reprising the role of drummer he had previously enjoyed in Space Meat.

This "Mark III" lineup of Pentagram was a strong one, and at the time, it seemed like Pentagram had found a permanent lineup. However, after this lineup's first rehearsal, Jennings called O'Keefe to tell him that he was leaving the group, citing a lack of interest in heavy music as his reason for departure. After a few rehearsals without a guitarist, bassist Vincent McAllister picked up a guitar and proceeded to shock and amaze Liebling and O'Keefe with his frenzied, feedback-laden soloing. Prior to this revelatory moment, O'Keefe and Liebling could not have possibly anticipated that their humble bassist would go on to become Pentagram's resident guitar god for the next five years. McAllister would later leave for California (1980) to attend classes at the Guitar Institute of Technology (G.I.T.) and Jennings would subsequently collaborate with Mary Chapin Carpenter during the 1980's and into the 1990's as her primary guitarist.

[edit] Classic line-up

On Christmas Day 1971, this "classic" Pentagram lineup began rehearsing, with Bobby Liebling singing, Vincent McAllister on guitar, Greg Mayne (formerly of Space Meat) playing bass, and Geof O’Keefe on drums. In mid-1974, rhythm guitarist Randy Palmer joined the "Ram Family", as the group was known, but left in January 1975 due to drug problems and the group once again continued on as a four-piece.

Thanks to manager Gordon Fletcher's industry connections, the group had several "close calls" in the following years with regard to a recording contract. On April 29, 1975, Fletcher persuaded Sandy Pearlman and Murray Krugman (producers and managers for the legendary Blue Öyster Cult) to see them rehearse. Impressed, the two arranged a demo session at Columbia Studios in New York in September. Unfortunately, the session went sour after a conflict between Liebling and Krugman over a point of production, and the group's major label hopes were dashed. The group would also rehearse in front of Kiss members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley in December 1975, but the Kiss camp was unimpressed by the group's lack of image and the group remained unsigned.

[edit] Initial breakup

On December 16, 1975, Bobby Liebling and his girlfriend were arrested, leading to the other members of the band meeting on New Year's Eve to discuss their status. The decision was made that the rest of the band would quit Pentagram, because Liebling owned the rights for the name "Pentagram", and they could not continue under that name without him. The remaining members unsuccessfully auditioned singers during much of 1976 before recruiting Marty Iverson as a second guitarist in the summer of 1976 and deciding to give Liebling a second chance. However, after beginning a recording session at Underground Sound, the band split from Liebling again, leaving the sessions unfinished and unmixed.

[edit] Warehouse recordings

For much of their career, Pentagram rehearsed at the American Mailing warehouse in Alexandria, Virginia, due to the fact that both Geof and Bobby lived in high-rise apartments. Geof’s father, George, was an executive at American Mailing. Geof had used this location for many of his previous musical projects, whether on his own or with Space Meat. At the warehouse, the group was able to have a good practice room to store their equipment and play loudly without the worry of complaining neighbors. Many of these early rehearsals were recorded onto Geof's reel-to-reel tape recorder. Many of these rehearsal tapes are now traded amongst Pentagram fans and offer recordings of the many early lineups the group went through in the early 70's. When American Mailing moved locations, Pentagram eventually moved to rehearse at Greg and Vincent’s house, which they were renting from an old friend and locally renowned keyboardist Knox Cockrell.

[edit] Early releases

Pentagram’s first 7 inch was released under the name Macabre, entitled "Be Forewarned" and included "Be Forewarned" and "Lazy Lady." The record was produced by Phillip Knudsen and released on Intermedia (TBSM 003). This recording ended up being one of the band's only proper releases. Phillip Knudsen has the original master of that first limited release, though no other pressings were ever made from that master after the initial limited pressing. Although a promotional 7 inch of the song "Hurricane" (Boffo Socko R13859) was released. A large number of demo and rehearsal recordings, as well as 22 unreleased studio recordings exist from this time period. Despite the handful of recorded material, Pentagram’s repertoire reportedly consisted of nearly 80 original songs, written or co-written by Bobby Liebling, as well as covers such as "Under My Thumb" by the Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds’ version of "Little Games."

Demos that they recorded include:

1. A 3-track demo recorded at Columbia Studios on 20 September 1975 (featuring "Run My Course", "When the Screams Come" and "Wheel of Fortune")
2. A 12-track demo recorded at the American Mailing Warehouse, Alexandria, VA, in December 1972 and on 2 February 1973 (featuring "Virgin Death", "Yes I Do", "Ask No More", "Man", "Be Forewarned", "Catwalk", "Die in Your Sleep", "Forever My Queen", "Review Your Choices", "Walk in the Blue Light" and "Downhill Slope").
3. A 5-track demo recorded at Underground Sound, Largo, MD, on 4th, 12th and 23 September 1976 (featuring "Smokescreen", "Teaser", "Much Too Young to Know", "Little Games" and "Starlady").

Many of these songs would appear on the semi-authorized 1972-1979 compilation, the bootleg followup 1972-1979 (Vol. 2) and the hard-to-find (albeit official) Human Hurricane compilation. In 2001, Relapse Records issued an authorized compilation of twelve early tracks, three of which were live rehearsal recordings. The release was entitled First Daze Here (The Vintage Collection). Following the compilation's success, Relapse released First Daze Here Too in 2006, a 2-disc, 22-track compilation of unreleased material.

[edit] High Voltage Era

After O'Keefe, McAllister, and Mayne split from Liebling, a new lineup consisting of Liebling (vocals), Randy Palmer (guitar), John Ossea (drums), and an unknown lead guitarist began rehearsing in the basement of a dentist's office. However, this lineup folded after only a couple of months and Liebling was once again bandless.

On Halloween 1978, Liebling bumped into his friend Joe Hasselvander at Louie's Rock City while seeing Sex, a band featuring both ex-members of both Pentagram and The Boyz (Hasselvander's previous band).^[2] Hasselvander was playing in a singer-less group consisting of himself (drums), Richard Kueht (guitar), Paul Trowbridge (guitar), and Marty Swaney (bass). Liebling soon joined the group, and in less than a week they would take on the Pentagram moniker and begin performing Liebling's material from the previous Pentagram line-up. This configuration played several shows and released a 7" single in 1979, but personal problems caused this line-up to dissolve later that year. It has been come to be known as the High Voltage Era of Pentagram.^[3]

[edit] 80s, 90s, 2000s

[edit] Death Row

In 1980, bassist Lee Abney and guitarist Victor Griffin formed a Northern Virginia doom metal band named Death Row. Shortly thereafter, drummer Joe Hasselvander joined, and the group recruited Bobby Liebling on vocals. Following two demos in 1982 and 1983, respectively, pressure from friends and fans ended up in Liebling dubbing the band Pentagram and continuing on with the new lineup. Former member Martin Swaney soon replaced Lee Abney on bass and the classic 80s Pentagram line-up was forged.

[edit] Pentagram reformed

In 1985 the band released the first full-length studio album. Initially self-titled, the album is often referred to as Relentless due to it being given the name when it was reissued by Peaceville Records. The album contains a mix of new songs and 70s era songs, as will all the Pentagram albums to follow. After recording their second album, Day of Reckoning, the band folded yet again. They reformed in 1993 and Peaceville Records reissued the first two albums. During this same time, Peace Records released the semi-legitimate 1972-1979. This was the first time many of the 70s songs were released. In 1994 they released their third full-length album, Be Forewarned. The band split up again and emerged as a duo, with Liebling retaining vocal duties and Joe Hasselvander taking care of all instrumentation. In 1998, Downtime Records released a number of early recordings on a compilation album entitled Human Hurricane. Liebling and Hasselvander recorded both 1999's Review Your Choices and 2001's Sub-Basement as a duo. A bootleg follow up to 1972-1979, 1972-1979 (Vol. 2), was released in 1999 by Peace Records. Shortly after Sub-Basement Hasselvander split with Liebling, who soon recruited guitarist Kelly Carmichael, bassist Adam Heinzmann, and drummer Mike Smail, all members of Frederick, Maryland based doom act Internal Void. The new lineup recorded Show 'em How in 2004. This album in particular has seven re-recorded 70s era Pentagram songs and three originals.

[edit] Recent activity

After Show 'em How, the band has been somewhat in limbo due to Liebling's unstable behavior, including collapsing in the intro to an important show at the Black Cat Club in Washington, DC, forcing the band to recruit Hasselvander and others from the audience to perform in his stead.

Hank Williams III has included a rendition of the classic versions of Pentagram's "Be Forwarned" and "Forever My Queen" in his live set. During his set at Washington D.C.'s Black Cat club in 2006, Liebling joined Williams onstage and performed the songs himself. Also in 2006, Liebling joined Witchcraft onstage at their DC show to sing Pentagram covers "When the Screams Come" and "Yes I Do".^[1]

Former members Griffin and Abney formed Place of Skulls following their departure from Pentagram. The band's music is akin to Pentagram's more recent sound. The band briefly featured doom metal legend Scott "Wino" Weinrich on their With Vision album, though he has since left to concentrate on The Hidden Hand.

Randy Palmer died in 2002 from injuries suffered in a car crash, while Vincent McAllister died in May 2006 from cancer.^[1]

In July 2007, Bobby Liebling announced on his MySpace page (now the official page for Pentagram and all things related) that he is currently negotiating with an unnamed record label for a new Pentagram studio album entitled Last Rites of The Setting Sun, which will include "many guest musicians" including original members from the '71-'76 First Daze Here era. Also slated for release is an authorized DVD autobiography produced by 914 Pictures entitled "Last Rites: The Fall and Rise of Bobby Liebling." A teaser is currently available at 914pictures.com. Both the new album and DVD are due for a spring/summer '08 release.

Joe Hasselvander has started a solo project called The Hounds of Hasselvander who released an album in 2007. For live performances he has recruited Kayt Vigil on bass and one-time Pentagram drummer and Maryland doom mainstay, Gary Isom on drums. Hasselvander also contributed to Blue Cheer's latest album, What Doesn't Kill You (2007).

[edit] Reissued

In 2001, Relapse Records issued First Daze Here (The Vintage Collection). The consisted of unreleased material from the 70s. In 2002, Peaceville Records released a compilation of songs from the first three albums entitled Turn to Stone. Peaceville re-released the first three albums on CD in digipak format in 2005. In 2006, Relapse released a second compilation of unreleased 70s material under the name First Daze Here Too. These reissues allowed Pentagram's early material and albums to finally be widely available.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

• Pentagram LP (1985 Pentagram Records) (later reissued under the name Relentless^[4])
• Day of Reckoning LP (1987 Napalm Records)
• Be Forewarned CD/LP (1994 Peaceville Records)
• Review Your Choices CD/LP (1999 Black Widow Records)
• Sub-Basement CD/LP (2001 Black Widow Records)
• Show 'em How CD/LP (2004 Black Widow Records)
• Last Rites of The Setting Sun (2008, TBA)

[edit] Singles

• "Be Forewarned"/"Lazy Lady" 7" (1972 Intermedia Productions) (as Macabre) Limited to 1000^[1]
• "Hurricane"/"Earth Flight" 7" (1973 Buffo Socko Records)
• "Under My Thumb"/"When the Screams Come" 7" (1973 Gemini Records)
• "Livin' in a Ram's Head"/"When the Screams Come" 7" (1979 High Voltage Records) (Re-released on A Keg Full of Dynamite)
• "Relentless"/"Day of Reckoning" 7" (1993 Peaceville Records)

[edit] Live albums

• A Keg Full of Dynamite CD/LP (2003 Black Widow Records)

[edit] Compilations/reissues

• Relentless CD (1993 Peaceville Records) (Reissue of debut LP)
• Day of Reckoning CD (1993 Peaceville Records)
• 1972-1979 CD/LP (1993 Peace Records)
• Relentless/Day of Reckoning 2CD (1996 Peaceville Records)
• Human Hurricane CD (1998 Downtime Recordings)
• 1972-1979 (Vol. 2) CD/LP (1999 Peace Records)
• First Daze Here (The Vintage Collection) CD/LP (2001 Relapse Records)
• Turn to Stone CD (2002 Peaceville Records)
• Relentless DigiCD (2005 Peaceville Records)
• Day of Reckoning DigiCD (2005 Peaceville Records)
• Be Forewarned DigiCD (2005 Peaceville Records)
• First Daze Here Too 2CD/2LP (2006 Relapse Records)

[edit] Bedemon

Bedemon was an offshoot of Pentagram in the early 70s (circa 1973). The name was chosen as a portmanteau of two earlier suggested names, Demon and Behemoth.^[5] Prior to joining Pentagram, Randy Palmer and his friend Mike Matthews along with Bobby Liebling and Geof O'Keefe (then current members of Pentagram) got together to record some of Palmer's compositions. The first session resulted in three songs: "Child of Darkness," "Serpent Venom" and "Frozen Fear."^[6] After a short time the group got together again and recorded some more tracks. When Palmer officially joined Pentagram he brought two tracks with him, "Starlady," and "Touch the Sky."^[6] After Palmer's departure from Pentagram the Bedemon got together in 1979 to record three more songs: "Time Bomb," "Nighttime Killer" and an unnamed composition by O'Keefe.^[5] A slightly different line-up (featuring former Pentagram member Greg Mayne on bass) recorded "Night of the Demon" along with some older songs in 1986.^[5]

Many songs from the Bedemon sessions were released on various bootlegs throughout the years, but were never officially released until 2005, when Black Widow Records released Child of Darkness.

[edit] Line-up

• Randy Palmer - guitar
• Bobby Liebling - vocals
• Mike Matthews - bass
• Geof O'Keefe - drums
• Greg Mayne - bass (1986)

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Mezarkabul — Turkish heavy-metal band called Pentagram.

[edit] External links

• Pentagram at Allmusic
• Pentagram discography at MusicBrainz
• http://www.myspace.com/bobbydarlingpentagram