Previously unreleased photo of Cliff Burton and friends

This photo does not appear in Metallica The Club Dayz 1982-1984 and until now is previously unreleased!






Andy LaRocque (King Diamond)
John Strednansky ( Editor and Chief of Metal Rendezvous Int. Heavy Rock - Metal Magazine)
Cliff Burton
Timi "Grabber" Hansen (Mercyful Fate/ King Diamond)
08/12/86
Backstage @ The Stone in San Francisco

The Sporadic Gazette review of Metallica The Club Dayz 1982-1984 by Goreripper

Metallica: The CLub Dayz 1982 - 1984 reviewed by Goreripper
Bill Hale is a Hawaii-based rock photographer who was lucky enough to be where plenty of us probably wish we could have been 27 years ago: hanging out on the San Francisco metal scene. He got to see, and document, the birth of one of the greatest bands metal has produced. Regardless of your opinion of Metallica, without them it's unlikely metal would have become the institution it is today, and in this book Hale captures the embryonic days of a band that has since become one of the world's biggest musical acts.

The first few pages are reminiscences from some of the others who were there, John Strednansky from Metal Rendezvous, Ron Quintana, the zine editor from whom Lars stole the name Metallica, and Scott Earl from a band called Culprit, whose drummer got into a fight with Dave Mustaine at Cliff Burton's second ever Metallica gig: "Mustaine basically threw my guitarist's pedals into the corner in a big ball of duct tape. I guess we weren't getting out of their way fast enough."

These tales of the band's early days, in which Mustaine features very prominently, are pure gold. But the good stuff - the great stuff, the stuff that really shows us how it began and what it was like - that all really begins on page 25, with a series of shots from a gig in September 1982, when Metallica was still based in LA and opening for Bitch. There's Hetfield, wearing a bullet belt and a Venom shirt, flipping the bird. Later on, there's a bunch from Burton's first gig, headlining over Laaz Rockit and Exodus, with Cliff in his bell-bottoms, clutching his Rickenbacker, another from backstage of Hammett and Mustaine side by side. Further on, Kirk's in the band as they open for Raven and near the end, a slightly blurry candid picture of Dave and Cliff, hanging out after a Megadeth show in August, 1986, six weeks before Burton was gone forever. What strikes you the most is how fresh-faced, fun-loving and rebellious everyone is: in a backstage shot with Burton, Mustaine's wearing an inverted crucifix in his ear, elsewhere there's Lars yakking it up with Gonzo Sandoval from Armored Saint.

There isn't much "art" to Hale's shots, and almost none that can be called "posed". Even the publicity pics were of shirtless, beer-swilling reprobates with cheesy, cheeky grins and enormous pitchers of amber fluid. Just like the music the band was making back then, Bill Hale's photos are raw, urgent, immediate and vital, capturing the young Metallica's very essence. For anyone who was there, or wishes they were, this is a great book.
9.3

- Goreripper

Ron McGovney Reviews Metallica The Club Dayz 1982-1984

Great pics Bill. If I wasn't on stage , I would have been clickin my Canon AE-1! You know those famous posing shots of Metallica in 1982 and I am wearing the Motorhead shirt? I took those! We moved the pool table , I set my AE-1 on a tripod. We took the posters off the wall and I set up a garage work light. I told everyone where to stand and I had ... Read Morea friend stand in my spot. When it looked good , I went to my position and my friend took the first picture. I then had us do several different poses. Somehow , those negs disappeared when they left for San Francisco!

Ron McGovney

Tastes Like Rock! Music Magazine review for Metallica The Club Dayz 1982-1984

Bill Hale's Metallica The Club Dayz 1982-1984
By Michael Meade



Metallica Club Dayz cover
Courtesy Photography by Bill Hale

Bill Hale is one lucky guy! In the early 1980s he was assigned to photograph an up and coming metal band by the name of Metallica. He was there as they found their stride as a band, through the early problems (replacing Dave Mustaine with Kirk Hammet, and Cliff Burton's far too early death).
Metallica The Club Dayz 1982-1984 is of course a must own for Metallica fans, but should really be a part of every music enthusiast's collection. Hale has shared some truly amazing, never before seen candid photos and great anecdotes of the band that helped bring metal past metalheads to the forefront of rock. Not to mention cementing speed metal's place in North America.
Hale's humorous recollections definately form the soul of this book. The introductory stories of Metallica memories from John Strednansky (Editor and Chief of Metal Rendezvous Int. Heavy Rock - Metal Magazine), Ron Quintana, and Scott Earl (bass - Culprit) gave that much more heart to it; not that it lacked any for even a sentence.

The true heart of the book is of course Hale's photos. Backstage or down in the pit (the mosh pit, Bill worked all six shows presented without the safety of a photo pit), he captured moments of time in the lives of Mustaine, Hetfield, McGovney, Ulrich, Burton, and Hammet that countless fans would kill to have seen and experienced live.
There are many to choose from, but this writer's favorite shots are on pages 90-91; Burton, Mustaine, and a female friend sitting on a small stoop a few doors down from the Stone in San Francisco on March 19 1983. Not only for the fact that Dave would be out of the band soon and the coming tragedy of Cliff's passing, but also the emotions displayed on their faces; much the same sentiment Bill Hale says he feels about these two particular photos.
My next favorite is on page 107, Hale apologizes for the quality of the shot, but it's a rare photo of Cliff Burton and Dave Mustaine together after Mustaine was replaced on lead guitar by Kirk Hammet. It's a candid taken on August 12 1986, Megadeth opened for King Diamond at the Stone, without a trace of the Metallica/Megadeth animosity between them; this was also the last time Bill Hale saw Cliff Burton alive.

This piece, though shorter the book deserves, turned out a review/article hybrid but Metallica The Club Dayz 1982-1984 goes beyond any score, Bill Hale truly presents a priceless collection of photographs in a little documented part of the history of perhaps the biggest band metal will ever know.


Photographer Bill Hale
Courtesty Photography by Bill Hale


Bill Hale started photographing rock bands in 1979 at the age of eighteen. In the 1980s, Bill was the chief photographer for Metal Rendezvous International Heavy Rock-Metal Magazine.
While on staff he was able able to shoot many of the top bands of the day including Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Riot and UFO. Bill was fortunate enough to photograph many legends before they ascended to "rock and roll heaven" - Phil Lynott, Bon Scott, Freddie Mercury and Rory Gallagher are on that list.

Metal Rendezvous gave media coverage to some of metal's biggest legends including Anthrax, W.A.S.P., L.A. Guns and Armored Saint. Bill's work has appeared in such metal magazines as Kerrang!, Enfer and Metal Mania.

Bill now lives in Hawaii and still works with rock and rollers.
(Biography courtesy Photography by Bill Hale & ECW Press)

Visit metallicatheclubdayz1982-84.blogspot.com, www.myspace.com/photo_books_by_bill_hale, and ecwpress.com for more on Bill Hale and to order your copy of Metallica The Club Dayz 1982-1984

M.I.B. Show podcast on Hard Rock Radio Live: Interview with Bill Hale on Metallica The Club Dayz 1982-1984

Click here to listen to the M.I.B. Show podcast on Hard Rock Radio Live and interview with Bill Hale on Metallica The Club Dayz 1982-1984


hardrockradiolive

Thanks to Dj Badslayer and Dj Wrathchild for the great interview and sharing this podcast with us!

Robert Fraioli's review for Metallica The Club Dayz 1982-1984

Robert Fraioli (St. Thomas Aquinas) wrote
at 2:38am on June 25th, 2009

This has to be one of the best books on Metallica's early days, if not the book on this topic. There was only one left at my local Barnes and Noble and I made sure that I grabbed it before someone else did.

Thanks to Joni-Lee James for including us in The Surfrider's Foundation Event!

Thanks to Joni-Lee James for including us in The Surfrider's Foundation Event!

We hope you're recovering quickly from your accident on Maui.