Metallica, The Club Dayz 1982-1984
ECW Press
Bill Hale is a photographer who worked for a music magazine and had the privilege of capturing in film some of the best shows that took place in the Holy Land of San Francisco when a new movement was about to emerge best known as “Bay Area Thrash”. This specific book possess an archival interest as it is full of photos cued from various Metallica club shows in an era when Ron McGovney and Dave Mustaine played bass and lead guitar respectively. Naturally, there are photos of the first appearances of Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammet with Metallica on stage while it is quite funny that Hale tried his best to make the band pose backstage with…mediocre results. After all, Metallica wasn’t famous back then for their “easy-going” character when it came down to photo-shooting!
Bill Hale’s photos may not have the quality or the perfect standards of Ross Halfin or Neil Zlozower but nevertheless he had succeeded in time-travel us to a time that seems (and is in many respects) far distant. Those were the days were Metallica had no money, were virtually unknown and tried to make it to the top having as their big weapon the compositions that laid the foundation of the thrash metal genre.
“The Club Dayz” is a book that is published mainly for the devoted Metallica fans and we must underline that it doesn’t feature many details for the legendary band. This is a book or even better a special time capsule with the unique characteristic to bring out special emotional charge to all those who have the luck to take a look through it.
Highlight: The famous Ron Quintana has written an introductory 3-page note.
Sakis Nikas
Copyright 2003-2009 Rockpages.gr
