BEDEMON

NATION REELS IN SHOCK!

“How much disappointment can the people withstand?”

An already-fatigued populace took yet another hit as Bedemon announced that their much-anticipated reunion recording session would have to be postponed until early 2002. According to spokesdemon B. Hazelbubb, plans were firmly in place for the sessions to take place in California from Oct. 27th through Nov. 3rd. “We had everything set up,” according to the red-leather clad, tiny-horned befangled representative. “We had cauldrons rented, the band members were booked into a beautiful two-room mausoleum (complete with kitchenette), we even hired a virgin, no easy task in California, just in case they decided to sacrifice one on Halloween. But, it was all for naught.”

The problem? Legendary Bedemon founder Randy Palmer was unable to free himself from the chains of his postal employment. Not figuratively; Palmer is actually chained to his desk to prevent escape during working hours. “And there’s that whole full-moon thing…”, adds Palmer with a tinkle in his yellowed, bloodshot eye.

Immediately upon hearing the news, celebrities rushed to offer their services, suggesting a benefit concert. “What good would that do?!!” asked a bewildered Palmer. “Other bands play because we can’t? What a bunch or morons!”

On reflection, Palmer later added: “We think it’s important that the metal fans out there know we haven’t slowed down working toward our new goals. The delay in getting our 2002 material together has nothing whatsoever to do with the band as a musical entity. But, since our work schedules have become a momentary roadblock in our pursuit of metallic musical mayhem, we’ve decided to concentrate our efforts on speeding up the remastering of the original so-called “Child of Darkness” tapes in order to get them ready sooner than later.

“For the past few months we have been working with a professional recording engineer, who generously agreed to give up his personal time to help in the remastering of the original Bedemon tapes from 1970-78. This is the material you may have already heard in atrocious bootleg form on certain CDs, vinyl, or cassette. We urge you not to buy these products and we hope you don’t share them with your metal pals because, frankly, the original “basement tapes” sound significantly better! Our engineer who is working on remastering these tapes has already proved to us how meticulous fine-tuning can eliminate unwanted tape hiss, out-of-synch phasing effects, etc., and at the same time boost the instrumentation to levels that really bring out the heaviness of the material. We have shared a small preview of the remastered material with you via the “mp3″ files on this website, so you know how much better the old material is going to sound when our engineer is finished with the tapes. We hope you will be patient a while longer and wait for this material to be offered in a legitimate, band-endorsed form, either via this website or via the metal specialty record company we have been talking to over the past few months. Stay tuned for further developments!”

BEDEMON IN PRINT!!!

We that be Bedemon were very pleased with the coverage that “Metal Maniacs” magazine afforded us, although to sell the story, author Perry Grayson was forced to submit it as a “Pentagram” piece. In fact, as many of you are already aware, the connections between Pentagram and Bedemon are so entwined, that we really can’t complain. After all, coverage is coverage! (For the uninitiated, ignorant or memory-challenged, Randy Palmer was a member of Pentagram during two separate periods and Geof O’Keefe co-founded Pentagram in 1971 with vocalist Bobby Liebling, who sang on the 70s Bedemon recordings.) A second Bedemon/Pentagram article appeared in the D.C.-based music newspaper Snap Pop!, also written by Grayson. You may know that Perry was one of the driving forces behind Destiny’s End, which has released two terrific metal albums featuring the voice of legendary Texan metallers, Helstar. Perry left Destiny’s End after the 2nd release and created Artisan, which we believe will rapidly reach the same heights as early Fates Warning and current progressive/metal faves The Quiet Room. Check out Perry’s band at www.artisanmetal.com. The interviews Perry did with Bedemonites Randy, Geof, and Mike are also destined to find their way into several other specialist metal fanzines and/or websites before long. We’ll announce the titles of these publications and sites, their country of origin and addresses as we learn of them ourselves.

NEW BEDEMON MATERIAL!!!

The three of us (Randy, Geof, Mike) have been working on all-new material for the projected Bedemon 2K2 album, and we expect to have enough material for 2 albums by the time we finish rehearsing! Just imagine: a Bedemon Bedouble CD! But, we may just whittle it down to one CD jam-packed full o’ riffs of doom. No ballads, no rap, no techno-drum tracks, no speed metal…just neck-twisting, skull-drilling, lava-heavy riffs.

The “Bedemon 2K2” album will include the single 1986 composition, “Night of the Demon” (inspired by Randy’s all-time favorite horror film, “Curse of the Demon”), plus our latest tunes, among them “Godless,” “Infected,” “Creeping Unknown” (another movie reference, for all you Hammer film fans), “D.E.D.” (Dying Every Day), “Exterminator,” “Days of Isolation” and others currently being written and demoed . If there’s any room to squeeze in another, we hope to do the only existing Palmer-Liebling co-write, “Starlady,” which appeared once on a previous Pentagram compilation album. (It should come as little surprise that the Bedemon version of “Starlady” would be significantly heavier than the earlier one!)

BEDEMON LOOKS TO THE FUTURE!!!

We haven’t really thought about anything beyond the Bedemon 2K2 album project; but honestly, if these two albums are received as warmly as we hope, there’s no reason why Bedemon can’t continue onward into 2003, 2004, etc….at least until one of us drops dead!

BEDEMON ON B. LIEBLING:

We’ve received a number of messages from fans asking about Bobby and his involvement in Bedemon’s new projects. While he was an undeniable part of the original Bedemon recordings, we are not working with him at this time. He has his claws full with Pentagram, whose new album, “Sub-Basement,” is due imminently. Obviously, Bobby must continue to devote most of his time to Pentagram. We’ve already had several queries from singers interested in Bedemon 2K2, and although we are not at a point where we are thinking about auditioning anyone, when the time comes, we’ll make the right move. Come back and visit us again often!

Happy Thanksgrieving From the Gobblers of Gore!!!

Randy – Geof – Mike

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Not one but TWO articles are currently out now, detailing the histories of both PENTAGRAM and offshoot BEDEMON. Both pieces were written by longtime fan (and former Destiny’s End guitarist) Perry Grayson and have substantially different quotes and info from each other (so you’ll just have to get both!).

The November issue of Metal Maniacs (on sale now) features a whopping SIX DOOM-DRENCHED PAGES along with numerous photos and candid comments about the rise and fall of the original PENTAGRAM, the revived later versions and of course, the subject of this site, BEDEMON. You can find Metal Maniacs at any well-stocked newsstand and chain CD/book place like Tower Records, Borders Books and so on. Even some grocery and drug store magazine racks have it. It’s also available in Europe. If you can’t find it, try their website: http://www.metalmaniacs.com.

Also available is the July/August issue of the free music newspaper Snap Pop! which is distributed mainly in the D.C. area but also in other cities on the east coast. Excellent 1-&- 1/4 page article and a full page of photos. You can order copies for $3 by contacting Snap Pop! at:

Snap Pop!
World Headquarters
P.O. 2812
Sterling, VA 20167-2812

Fans outside of the U.S. write to them for prices – attention: Gina

Thanks from Randy, Mike and Geof to Perry Grayson for an excellent job in presenting the most accurate telling of the early PENTAGRAM/BEDEMON era.

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Thanks for all of the kind words, cards, gifts and female fan fotos that have been pouring into the Bedemon offices. Rest assured, the Brotherhood of Bedemon read each and every one. We’re foaming at the mouth over some of the projects we have in the works. The previously-announced Time Bomb EP will now be part of a full-length CD. Watch this space, or one nearby, for details as they ooze forth.

The most exciting news is the recording of an all-new Bedemon album, which
is looking like it’ll happen towards the end of October at Garageland Studios in California. All three members are working on demos of brand new material written especially for this exciting project and discussions are also underway about possibly re-recording a few older classics from both the Bedemon and Pentagram vaults. This will blow away anything Bedemon recorded in the past, simply because this will actually be the first professionally-recorded multi-track recording we’ve done. We know what the fans want, and we will deliver the goods! Bedemon? BeDOOMon!!!

Rest in pieces…

BEDEMON: Randy/Mike/Geof

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TIME-BOMB SESSIONS EP NEARS COMPLETION

You can access samples of the newly-remixed versions of “Time Bomb” and “Nighttime Killer” right here at Bedemon.com, but wait till you hear the real thing! The songs sound awesome. Geof has finished remixing the master tapes for those two songs and is currently working on the 3rd song that will appear on the CD “EP” (Extended Play) Single. Until recently, the song was just referred to as “Geof’s Song” (it appeared on those “bootleg” Bedemon CDs, mislabeled as “God’s Song” and “Goof Song”), but the official title is “Eviscerated.” The lyrics were written and are sung by a musician friend of Geof’s. The vocalist on this one tune will NOT be our replacement for Bobby Liebling, by the way, so don’t start any false rumors, please! We expect to have the tape with the final mix-down in our hands very soon, and when we do, you’ll read about it here first. Once we are satisfied that the recording quality meets our standard, we will release the EP ourselves, and you will be able to order it through the Bedemon website. Watch this space!

FIRST OFFICIAL ALBUM IN PRE-PRODUCTION

The 3 of us–Randy, Mike, and Geof–have been working on new material for a planned album that we hope to see released later this year or early in 2002. This album will also feature some of the older Bedemon tunes which will be recorded on state-of-the-art equipment for the first time. Just think–no more poorly-recorded basement tapes, tape hiss, phasing problems, or lousy mixes! We will definitely re-do “Child of Darkness” and “Touch the Sky,” and depending on available CD space, perhaps one or two more. (You can help us decide which songs to re-record by participating in the poll on this website.) As the song list takes on more solidity, we’ll keep you posted on what’s happening with the album.

BEDEMON & PENTAGAM ARTICLES SCHEDULED FOR METAL ‘ZINES

Perry Grayson conducted interviews with Mike, Geof, and Randy for a fistful of articles that will soon be appearing in metal magazines all over the world. Here in the U.S., “Metal Maniacs” will be printing a “Rewind” column focusing on Bedemon. As soon as we know which issues of which magazines will be carrying these stories, we’ll publicize them right here.

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