Before E-Mail: Mercyful Fate Part 2

Another exciting installment of Before E-Mail!

Umlaut's old friend Konaquon found this letter that was sent to him a long, long time ago in a galaxy that was WAY more Metal than you will ever be. It was written by Mercyful Fate's manager John Kibble and included with the band's shirt that Konaquon ordered via mail order:


25-1-84

Dear David

Thanks for taking the trouble to write to me regarding MERCYFUL FATE. I've sent along an MF biog & merchandising sheet which I hope you will find informative. If there's anything you would like please let me know. You can pay by sending US $ bills or an International Money Order in US $ payable to JOHN KIBBLE. Thanks.

OK, we look forward to hearing from you again soon, and please, spread the word on M.F.

All the best
John Kibble + M.F.

Hope you enjoy the shirt.

Konaquon also sent a scan of the insert card from his Fate bootleg cassette (Sacramento 10/21/84!). It was autographed by King Diamond and Timi Grabber when he gave them a ride to their 1984 San Francisco in-store appearance at The Record Vault in his legendary orange Capri:


"King Diamond Satanic Regards... All the best Timi Grabber... Thanks for the ride."

Konquon says about his old car:

It's funny, but that little orange Capri drove around members of Mercyful Fate, Anthrax, Armored Saint, Slayer, and Cliff Burton!!! In fact the passenger seat was autographed by King Diamond!!! I wonder where that seat is now?!!!

Here's a pic of Dave in the old Capri.. Who's that cute girl in the passenger seat!? Oh wait.. that's Old Metal Erik.. Sorry, dude.

Circa 1984-85 (Pic by Corbie)

Old Metal Erik chimed in with his memories of that FATEful ride:

Fact check... If I'm not mistaken, Quon drove them from The Record Vault to The Kabuki - or to be more precise, to the Kyoto Inn, across from the Miyako Hotel, after the in-store and prior to soundcheck. I remember this because I drove Kim Ruzz in my piece-of-shit, hand-me-down Volvo sedan. In total fanboy mode, I embarrassed him by telling him that he was an influence on my drum playing. Hilarious!! We stopped to get him smokes, and he asked what the strongest non-filter cigs were. We were all Marlboro kids, but suggested Camel "straights". He smirked and told us that those tasted like air.

Yeah, I was pretty cute in those days, huh?

HahahahaHA!!

In the future will people get as much nostalgia from finding old e-mails and attachments?? I'm happy I grew up when I did...

"Nuns have no fun... They only have their fathers and sons."

Before E-Mail: Mercyful Fate

Another exciting installment of Before E-Mail!

Umlaut's old friend K.J. Doughton found this letter from a long, long time ago in a galaxy that was WAY more Metal than you will ever be. It was sent to K.J. in the Fall of 1982 by Mercyful Fate's manager John Kibble not long after the release of Mercyful Fate's debut EP. Reading this letter from the last century is the closest thing you'll ever get to time travel:


Dear KJ,

Hi, it's really nice to hear from you again. First off, thanks immensely for the package. The Cintron I didn't have and indeed should have. It's very enjoyable, especially NEVER TO RETURN. Thanks also for the Witchkiller review and tape. Trouble, which I really like, very Sabs but great. The Witchkiller just made issue #1 and should be ready in 14 days. A friend and co-editor is compiling and printing issue one and I'm up to my neck in MF just now. It'll probably be my pleasure to do Issue #2 so keep the reviews, etc. coming won't you.

Listen, you didn't mention what size shirt you wanted so I put in large. If I've grossly miscalculated then sell it and forward the money for a correct size. As for Virgin Steele, don't worry about the album. I picked up a copy from the company that's released it in the UK. On the question of Danger Zone, it was a post-Brats experiment involving Michael Denner, Timi Grabber and King Diamond.

As for the Brats LP, it is very difficult to find having been deleted for a while and only available on CBS Holland anyway. If ever I turn a copy up I'll keep it for you. Promise. You mentioned the Overlord and Demon Flight EP's,. Can you please get me one of each and send them. i'll be glad to pay the cost or find some things for you. Vinyl/tape. A couple of tapes to interest you might be 58 minutes of the new Manoward LP - sorely won't all get released. Also 2 Danish demos from great new bands: Pretty Maids 10-tracks, Witchcross, 2 tracks.

Listen, on April 15th MF's BBC Session is played and I'll send you a copy when it's broadcast. 3 songs recorded 10 days ago and the best work they've done yet. Satan's Fall, Evil, Curse of the Pharoahs (rewritten). MF just did a week in England including 2 gigs and a Kerrang photo sessions. King Diamond interviewed with Malcom Dome, and the BBC session.

Also, the biggest news. The band has left Rave-On and we are currently looking for a label to record our album for. We should have some badges/patches/posters soon. I'll keep you informed. Until then, wear the shirt with pride and believe me, we appreciate your support. Write soon.

All the Best,

John Kibble
Mercyful Fate

From Kerrang! Issue #15 - May 1982 (From the Umlaut Archives)

Much has been made over the years about how Metallica used tape trading in the early-80's to build a sizeable underground following worldwide with their cassette demo tapes. While this is absolutely true, I have to say that the first Metal band to make an impact on me via that early tape trading scene was Mercyful Fate, whose tapes I received at least a couple of months before Metallica's demo.

The first Fate tapes to make it to San Francisco were live recordings that basically served as "live" demos, including one set recorded when they opened for Gillan, which was a WTF bizarre bill even back then (that show is mentioned in the above Kerrang! article). Those early live Fate recordings became iconic to us, not only because of the heavy mind blowing Satanic Metal, but because of King Diamond's between song banter. His rants included dialogue such as "Do you want HEAVY?! We'll give you HEAVY!!" said in his scary Danish accent. It must be noted that James Hetfield (an early Fate fan of course) copped that line and still uses it onstage today. Umlaut traded letters with John Kibble back then too but, alas, all I have in the Umlaut Archives is the copy of Fate's 1st demos with Kibble's handwritten track listing:

Despite this early groundswell of Mercyful Fate fans in The Bay Area, we would still have to wait 2 years before Fate finally toured the U.S., but they did play two Northern California shows on their debut tour:

Sacramento and San Francisco - October 1984
(From the Umlaut Archives)

In the future will people get as much nostalgia from finding old e-mails and attachments?? I'm happy I grew up when I did...

"No way to survive this evil night... If the dead won't leave you alone."

Before E-Mail: Old Metal

Another exciting installment of Before E-Mail!

Umlaut's old friend Konaquon found this letter that I sent to him a long, long time ago in a galaxy that was WAY more Metal than you will ever be. Note that it was typed on a typewriter as well! Reading this letter from the last century is the closest thing you'll ever get to time travel:

The letter dates from the short time when Umlaut *ran* (for lack of a better term) the Official Megadeth Fan Club out of my Teenage Metalhead bedroom at the request of Dave Mustaine. Up to that point the band had only played around 6 shows. For the newbies: These early Megadeth shows featured Kerry King on 2nd guitar but, as the letter says, he had not left Slayer... and he never did.

It's interesting to note that Megadeth was selling shirts before they had even recorded their 1st demo tape! Impressive, but it shows what kind of icon Mustaine was in the underground Metal Scene back then despite his short time with Metallica. For the newbies: Metallica's only releases featuring Mustaine were 3 cassette demo tapes.

The other mind blowing thing about this letter is all of the long forgotten details it contains: Local concert dates, band gossip, album gossip, and even when Cliff Burton was back home in the Spring of 1984 (after Metallica recorded Ride The Lightning in Europe). I was an information junkie even at a young age and the letter notes 2 Slayer shows I attended that are not listed in the Umlaut Archives! I'll have to add them now.. Also, how can you not love that Mustaine described his own new drummer as looking like a poser! That poor guy was doomed from the start... Hilarious, right?

However, the ironic thing is that Umlaut was selling merch back then... from my bedroom. Fast forward to the 21st Century and my life continues to come full circle. For those who give a shit, you can learn more about Umlaut's history with Megadeth at:

• Megadeth: Smith Corona Days Revisited
• Megadeath [sic]
• Umlaut's Megadeth Flickr Set

In the future will people get as much nostalgia from finding old e-mails and attachments?? I'm happy I grew up when I did...

"Did you see Scorpions? They sucked so badly!!!!!!"

Before E-Mail...

For the newbies: In ancient times (BEFORE e-mail... shocking!) people communicated by things called "letters" or "postcards" that they sent via something called a "post office". Back in 1992 Umlaut was a xeroxed 'zine and MTV licensed the use of some of my old photos in a Metallica "Rockumentary" (an early version of VH1's Behind The Music). In order to get the word out about this exciting event in Umlaut history I utilized the ancient art of "postcard writing":


To be honest I have absolutely NO MEMORY of sending this announcement out!! Wow... was I really that fucked up back then?? THANKS to Umlaut Nation brother DeVito for sharing this artifact. Trivia: Many of the same photos were later used in both the Metallica AND Megadeth episodes of Behind The Music.

Metallica: Behind The Music (1998)

Exit light, enter night..