Roxx releasing Battlecry on June 7th

 





May 10, 2024
BATTLECRY remastered and expanded coming June 7th
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RE: BATTLECRY
DATE: MAY 11, 2024
Roxx Records is once again very excited to be part of another killer new reissue we are about to share with the world. This artist and their music has long needed to be remastered and reissued, in fact it has never officially been on CD before, ever! But even more, the band has blessed us with many of their long lost tracks from their archives that have never before released! That band is Battlecry, with their sole release, Red, White and Blue. Now coming this Summer, Roxx Records will bring you ‘Red, White and Blue and Beyond’!
Battlecry was a GEM that was somehow not given the credit they so deserved in the Classic Christian Rock world. Hailing from Southern California and founded in 1984 by Doug Morris (lead vocals, guitars) ​Battlecry play a classic 80's style AOR Hard Rock n' Roll in the vein of bands like Survivor, Foreigner, Fighter, Journey & Servant. Not long after Doug decided to form the band, he began looking for other musicians to fill the remaining positions. He soon brought on guitarist Robert Kirk Giverink, bassist Ronald Simmons, drummer Bret Kik, and keyboardist-Mariko Martinez to complete the line-up.
 
The idea behind the band name came from Isaiah 42:13 "The Lord will march out like a champion, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies."  Not long after Battlecry was launched they would head into Songwriters Dream Studios in Los Angeles to begin working on material for their debut release. 
In 1985 Battlecry would release their debut 6-track EP entitled 'Red White And Blue' via an indie label called Greenworld Records and was originally released only in a vinyl format. Almost a year later in early 1986 the cassette version was released after Doug Morris himself had left the band and was replaced by vocalist Dave Chumchal. 
The track list for the vinyl mini-LP entitled 'Red, White and Blue' consisted of 6 tracks.
Red White And Blue
When The Lord Comes Back
Not Tough Enough
Life With The Lord 
Power And Might
You've Got To Know.

The later cassette only version of 'Red White And Blue' would be released and would include 4 additional tracks. Side A would consist of the original 6 tracks, will side B featured the addition of 4 bonus live tracks previously unreleased at that time featuring new vocalist Dave on vocals.

Red White And Blue (Live)
Battlecry (Live)
Not tough Enough (Live) ​
Back To The Rock(Live).

This radio friendly AOR release featured some amazing guitar work from Robert Giverink, timely keyboards by Mariko Giverink, on point Bass lines from Ronald P. Simmons and some killer drum work by Bret Kik Keys. In addition, Frontman Doug Morris' delivers up a solid performance on this project with his vocal delivery drawing comparison to vocalist Sean Murphy (Fighter) and vocalist-Bob Hardy (Servant). Morris sings in the mid to upper vocal ranges and plays a big part in helping bring the EP recording to life.

After the release of 'Red White And Blue', the band garnered some notable recognition with their track "When the Lord Comes Back". The song went on to land in the "top 40" on orange county's largest Christian rock radio station KYMS. 

Battlecry is for fans of Servant, Fighter, Survivor, Greg X Volz, and Journey. ​'Red White And Blue' is one of those rare and hard to find gems that deserves an official remaster on CD for new and old fans alike to enjoy. And that's exactly what we did, Roxx Records is excited to work with the band to remaster and expand the bands catalog for all the world to hear once again. Remastered by Rob Colwell (Bombworks Sound), new layout and updated cover art courtesy of Scott Waters (NoLifeTilMetal) and a booklet with a brand new interview telling the history of the band compiled in to a full 16 page booklet. The remastered and expanded package includes previously unreleased tracks and photos directly from the bands personal archives that have never been seen before. 

On June 7, 2024 this very limited edition CD will be released. We are kicking this off with our friends from Area 312 as they debut their latest addition Vodcast this Saturday May 11th and catch up with the members of Battlecry. As a tie in all pre orders will go live Saturday morning at 7am PST.

Personally, I'm on the fence about this one. It's not hard rock, it reminds me of D&K or similar.

Enjoyable, but nothing I want to rock out to..lol..I may stick with what I have

If it's less than hard rock, I'll probably give it a miss.  Still, it's great that so many out of print albums are being redone.  I hope sales are good.

Fundy wrote:

If it's less than hard rock, I'll probably give it a miss.  Still, it's great that so many out of print albums are being redone.  I hope sales are good.

I found this on YouTube...I think this is the best song on the album, but you will definitely see what I mean.

And yes, it is great that these long OOP releases get to finally see the light of day again

I have the Strike First bootleg CD of this that is pretty clear.  I remastered it myself and think I will just keep what I have.  I am not rebuying this just for 4 live versions of songs that are on the album.  It just isn't worth it.  Yes, I realize that my copy is probably a bootleg and the band saw nothing from it.  I simply don't want to spend money on songs I already have had for around a decade.

I had a bootleg MP3 of years from years back and it is not hard rock/metal at all.  More like Fighter, White Heart, and D&K (like AF said).  Not quite the same quality as those bands, but darn close.  I dig the bootleg I have and pre-ordered the CD, looking forward to hearing the live tracks with a different vocalist... hoping they are decent quality.

But if you are looking for the harder rock stuff you probably want to pass on this one.

Staybrite wrote:

I had a bootleg MP3 of years from years back and it is not hard rock/metal at all.  More like Fighter, White Heart, and D&K (like AF said).  Not quite the same quality as those bands, but darn close.  I dig the bootleg I have and pre-ordered the CD, looking forward to hearing the live tracks with a different vocalist... hoping they are decent quality.

But if you are looking for the harder rock stuff you probably want to pass on this one.

Is this the one released through Strike First or Time Warp Records?  I am seriously thinking of staying with that just because I will never play the live tracks and can remaster the songs myself.

alldatndensum wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

I had a bootleg MP3 of years from years back and it is not hard rock/metal at all.  More like Fighter, White Heart, and D&K (like AF said).  Not quite the same quality as those bands, but darn close.  I dig the bootleg I have and pre-ordered the CD, looking forward to hearing the live tracks with a different vocalist... hoping they are decent quality.

But if you are looking for the harder rock stuff you probably want to pass on this one.

Is this the one released through Strike First or Time Warp Records?  I am seriously thinking of staying with that just because I will never play the live tracks and can remaster the songs myself.

I have to say that I don't remember.

I am leery of all the bonus material.  Many times, the live or demo tracks are cool to hear once but are mostly unlistenable on these types of releases.

alldatndensum wrote:

I am leery of all the bonus material.  Many times, the live or demo tracks are cool to hear once but are mostly unlistenable on these types of releases.

While that may be true, I would rather have weak bonus material than no bonus material. I rip the cds as soon as I get them, so if I don't like the bonus material I just won't add it to my playlist.

And sometimes, the bonus material is really cool. Example..the 2019 reissue of Bloodgood's Detonation (not the most recent one).

I simply get tired of all the reissues that offer nothing extra.

Since I was ordering the two Exodus cds I decided to pick this up while on sale (and saving on shipping).

I like a couple of the songs quite a bit (though I disagree with the whole basis of one song)..the others are so so.

I am curious to hear the bonus material because a lot of them are songs that were never released

AtomicFan wrote:

Since I was ordering the two Exodus cds I decided to pick this up while on sale (and saving on shipping).

I like a couple of the songs quite a bit (though I disagree with the whole basis of one song)..the others are so so.

I am curious to hear the bonus material because a lot of them are songs that were never released

I didn't notice that.  Aren't the bonus songs live?

Staybrite wrote:

AtomicFan wrote:

Since I was ordering the two Exodus cds I decided to pick this up while on sale (and saving on shipping).

I like a couple of the songs quite a bit (though I disagree with the whole basis of one song)..the others are so so.

I am curious to hear the bonus material because a lot of them are songs that were never released

I didn't notice that.  Aren't the bonus songs live?

It's a mix....a couple are live but a lot are demos, many of which were never released

Red, White and Blue
(Album)

1. Red, White and Blue
2. When the Lord Comes Back
3. Life with the Lord
4. Not Tough Enough
5. Power and Might
6. You’ve Got to Know

Tracks taken from the original live bootleg cassette only release
(featuring Dave on Vocals)

7. Red, White and Blue - Live Bootleg Recording
8. Battlecry - Bootleg Recording
9. Not Tough Enough - Bootleg Recording
10. Back to the Rock - Bootleg Recording

Tracks taken from the bands personal archives

(previously unreleased demo cassettes)

11. When the Lord Comes Back (Demo)
12. Red, White and Blue (Demo)
13. The Dream [Too Late] (Demo)
14. Power and Might (Demo)
15. Brother You Can’t (Demo)
16. Praise the Lord (Live)
17. Something for You (Demo)

Roxx finally reissued the remastered title track (same song posted above).  This is probably the hardest rocking of the original tracks.

AtomicFan wrote:

Red, White and Blue
(Album)

1. Red, White and Blue
2. When the Lord Comes Back
3. Life with the Lord
4. Not Tough Enough
5. Power and Might
6. You’ve Got to Know

Tracks taken from the original live bootleg cassette only release
(featuring Dave on Vocals)

7. Red, White and Blue - Live Bootleg Recording
8. Battlecry - Bootleg Recording
9. Not Tough Enough - Bootleg Recording
10. Back to the Rock - Bootleg Recording

Tracks taken from the bands personal archives

(previously unreleased demo cassettes)

11. When the Lord Comes Back (Demo)
12. Red, White and Blue (Demo)
13. The Dream [Too Late] (Demo)
14. Power and Might (Demo)
15. Brother You Can’t (Demo)
16. Praise the Lord (Live)
17. Something for You (Demo)

Ah, I totally missed those demo tracks when I was looking at the release info.  Thanks

Yeah, they definitely threw a lot of extras in. I'm a sucker for bonus material lol

I am going to go ahead and get this for the bonus demo songs.  Sadly, I usually feel like I fell for the gimmick and bought something I won't listen to with the bonus tracks.  I don't care about the live songs.  When I rip this, I will cut out the repeat tracks.  Here's hoping this is really good.

alldatndensum wrote:

I am going to go ahead and get this for the bonus demo songs.  Sadly, I usually feel like I fell for the gimmick and bought something I won't listen to with the bonus tracks.  I don't care about the live songs.  When I rip this, I will cut out the repeat tracks.  Here's hoping this is really good.

Man, I should have waited...lol...I did 2 different orders, each over $40 not including shipping, and then WHAM...as soon as I order them he puts up a 30% off sale.

What's even worse is that I asked him to hold them until June because I will be out of town, and he seems to have ignored that and already sent them (at least one order). Why the heck is there a section for special instructions if he isn't going to read them or if he's going to read them and just ignore the request?

Maybe you should have asked for a unicorn that sprinkled magic pixie dust!  LOL

alldatndensum wrote:

Maybe you should have asked for a unicorn that sprinkled magic pixie dust!  LOL

About the same chance of getting either, right?

The bonus tracks sound great......a couple of different styles. Lots of fun. 

Their live tracks sound really good, and the demos are very polished.

A couple of highlights...

Two live tracks that were not on the original release are killer. Battlecry and Back To The Rock.

One of the demo tracks, Brother You Can't, reminds me of the Newbeats' "I Like Bread and Butter" hahahaha.

There is a lot of fun to be had here

Yeah I wasn't too crazy about a few of the demo tracks, but I thought the live bootleg stuff was quite good.  I'm definitely glad to have an official CD of all of this cool AOR music.