Why are we giving you a Roadrunner history lesson? Today, May Day, whilst people riot on the streets of London, our US office has just launched the almighty Vault, which we’ve been talking about on both our music pages for some time. What is the Vault? The Vault is where you can buy digital files of all Roadrunner music – past and present, deleted and current. Yes, all Roadrunner music, even those obscure releases by Xentrix (25 tracks by Xentrix available in fact). Cool, yes? Currently, the Vault is only available to US residents – call it a roadtest. However, we hope to bring the Vault to the UK soon… so watch this space. Meanwhile, in celebrating the rebirth of Roadrunner ancients, Joey Jordison’s given us his lowdown on 10 old Roadrunner tunes. Joey’s quote: “No motherfucker knows more about the history of Roadrunner than me… Check this shit out…’ 1. Realm – “Slay The Oppressor” off the album Endless War. Reason I pick this is because this is the first band Monte (squirt) Conner ever signed. So this is a major step in moves that would shape Roadrunner history forever. I was never a big fan of Realm but I did own both Roadrunner releases “Endless War” (1988) and “Suiciety”(1990), and then the band broke up and teamed up later on w/ members of the funk/metal group Last Crack..which remind’s me…. 2. Last Crack – “Blood Brothers Of The Big Black Bear” off of Sinister Funkhouse #17 This is during the movement of underground metal/weirdshit/funk…like Into Another and Psykafunkupus and Mordred…I loved this band…they released another record after to since which I’ve lost called uhhhh…..shit….”Burning Time”….Buddo the lead singer split after this release teaming up with…. yes you guessed it…members of Realm (YES!!!!)….to form a band called White Fear Chain…never heard them though….long live Last Crack…they sounded like they might be on crack…anyway… 3. Buzzoven – “Unwilling To Explain” off the record Sore Fuckin’ total southern white trash, pissed off, mushroomed outta their minds sludgerock from Richmond, Virginia. This record smokes and is their one and only release on Roadrunner. They released another record called “AT A LOSS” on a independent called Off The Records…..I still enjoy listening to this…although it gives me occasional night terrors. 4. Star Star – “Science Fiction Boy” off the record The Love Drag Years The Murderdolls jam this album on a regular basis in our dressing room. This is the only glam band that the mighty Monte Conner ever signed… well until the Murderdolls… see even the mighty Monte that signed Disincarnate liked the glam at one point….BUSTED!!!! 5. Cerebral Fix – “Tower Of Spirit”…off the record Tower of Spirit Okay, I never got into this band all that much but no one has fuckin’ given them any props at ALL!!!…I did carry this cassette in my walkman for probably 2 weeks straight at one time while in High School trying to get into them fully….. this band is a big memory of mine for some odd reason and I don’t think I’ll ever understand why. 6. Artillery – “Khomaniak” off the record By Inheritance Thrash that Denmark sound!!!!!!….. I don’t recall any thrash bands really emerging from Denmark during the late eighties unless you count Mercyful Fate…but I never really considered them Thrash. Artillery was never the best thrash band on the scene, but was also never really given a fair chance like the American bands got….again this is the only release they did for Roadrunner….pretty odd vocals and quality playing…I liked it..Monte’s probably shitting that I know this one!!!! 7. Exhorder – “Desecrator” off the album Slaughter in the Vatican FUCK THIS IS HEAVY!!!!!!…This band hailed from New Orleans, and was arguably one of the best thrash groups of its time…this song here has more great riffs within it than most bands have altogether…..check it out if you don’t believe me. Awesome. 8. Amen “When A Man Dies A Woman” off the self titled debut. This is one of the most honest records I’ve ever had the privilege of hearing. You can literally see the sweat almost pouring out of the speakers throughout this whole album, one of my top 5 records of all time. Amen to that. 9. Type O Negative – “The Misinterpretation Of Silence And Its Drastic Consequences” off the record Slow Deep and Hard hahaha..now some people might think I’m slamming the band …but I’m not…. Type O Negative is a band that would appreciate me picking this, cause they have the best sense of humour I’ve ever seen (even though they might not consider it being a so called sense of humour). But how much balls does it take to put minute or so of SILENCE as a track on your DEBUT album …..on the contrary, Type O Negative stands as one of my favorite bands in all Roadrunner history, in my opnion they’ve never written a bad song. Never…. 10. Mercyful Fate – “Doomed By The Living Dead” off the compilation The Beginning What Roadrunner list would be complete without the fuckin’ KING? King Diamond, that is. I signed to RR almost for this fact alone.. LABLEMATES WITH THE KING. Anyway….Doomed is actually not on any full length release from the Fate (being Melissa and Don’t Break The Oath) but appeared as lead off track on “The Beginning” which is basically a best of…I got this album for Christmas 1990 and “Doomed…” is still my favorite MF track…so there you have it. I dedicate my vault picks to the man, the myth, the slam dancer, the squirt… Monte Conner…. for signing all the greats I grew up w/. When is that Realm box set comin’ out? Schools out… I hope you learned a thing or 10!…hahahaha…. see you soon…… see ya joey