 SNOWY SHAW - skin-beater/song-writer extraordinary with an impressive past in various acts such as King Diamond, Mercyful Fate and Memento Mori to name the more notable. Snowy laid the foundation to Notre Dame in 1997 after spending years of hard work on the ill-omened project illwill,a band ahead of their time which Snowy had together with Andy La Rocque and Sharlee D´Angelo from the K.D/M.F camp. Slightly disillusioned and a little embittered, but still with his passion and will-power intact, Snowy began spontaniously and aimlessly to write new music. This time in a bizarre theatrical style that was practicly the opposite to the strict, clean cut approach of illwill. Yet it was unmistakeably snowy music. Snowy who had always had problems finding musicians who shared his fanatic passion and workaholic ethic, one day ran into his x-girlfriend Vampirella who had just returned home to Gothenburg, Sweden after a few years as a dancer at the clubs on Pigalle in Paris. She had had it and wanted a "career"change. Vamp was willing to take on new challenges and try out new things, she explained. Out of all the crazy stories she revealled, one in particular caught Snowy´s attention.That one about the mysterious twins she had made friends with while in Paris.Based on what she had picked up on the street the two were despite their reputation, well-respected musicians in the underground metal scene. Snowy thought it might be a good idea to involve Vampirella in this new project of his. With no previous musical experiance whatsoever, but with a sexy speaking voice and no hibitations about losing her clothes. He instantly saw that her involvement would bring some erotic and sensual elements to the metallic monster he intended to breathe life into. ...and besides that, we all know sex sells. The before mentioned mysterious twins, aren´t actually twins but infact brothers. Within a few days Snowy & Vamp went to France to audition De Sadistic bros. It went surprisingly well and gradually the band at this point known as NOTRE DAME started to take form and shape. Jean-Pierre would split the 4 & 6 strings duties with Snowy while his younger brother Manuel alias Mannequin did in fact play the drums with such conviction and power that Snowy felt confident to let him handle the sticks. You may have noticed some similarities between the two in style of drumming, and that is easily explained by the fact that Mannequin had for years prior to their junction studied and ripped off Snowy´s unique style. For Snowy the situation couldn´t possibly have been any better. Taking on the role of the lead singing frontman was a decision Snowy have previously proclaimed in public was a small sacrifice in order to get the band of his dreams going.In truth,I believe it was the very role he had secretly dreamt of ever since he left Mercyful Fate and Memento Mori. Anyhow, as the sole composer And creative force behind Notre Dame who else could be more suitable to front this mad spectacle than the madman himself? De Sadistic bros are according to themselves in truth related to the very man who gave sadism its name: Marquis de Sade. true or false Hmm, I let you be the judge of that. Although they had already lots of original music recorded, strangely enough Notre Dame´s first recorded appearance would be on a Mercyful Fate tribute album! The very same band Snowy had left 3 years earlier. The M.F tribute was released in 1997 on the french label Listenable records and their contribution Into the Coven is probably among the most complex and weirdest piece of music ever put on record. The Original Mercyful Fate guitarist Michael Denner was brought in for the occasion. The solo was done note by note exactly as it was on the classic Melissa album from ´83. the original Mercyful Fate guitarist Michael Denner was brought in for the occasion.Thewas done note by note exactly as it was on the classic Melissa album from ´8 "the only song worth the effort of buying the album",read some of the reviews for it. Not every single reviewer shared this opinion though. One sceptical critic openly questioned the integrity and came with false accusations towards Snowy who fired back at him this way.. "So what,I don´t see why not, just because I choose to quit doesn´t mean that I don´t like their music. I do love their 80s albums and I have shitloads of respect for such innovative pioneers, and still do. Mercyful Fate is probably the most influencial black metal band ever. I am by principle totally against all band reunions.And this statement is merely from a fan point of view. It may sound morbid but I´m actually glad some of my childhood heroes have died so that their bands can´t reform and draw their good name in the dirt and make fools out of themselves. You can´t turn back time, Let´s bury the dead and let bygones be bygone". Snowy contributed on 2 more songs on the M.F tribute but that´s another story. Some people pointed out to them that Notre Dame´s unrecognizable version wore similarities with Devil Doll. a band Snowy had prior to this never even heard about, but in which he would find a soulmate or at least someone who shared the same sort of visions and influences, in what Snowy thought was an unexplored area. Eversince their debut people eager to pigeon hole and catagorize music have had problems doing just that with the music of Notre Dame. Though it doesn´t quite fit in to any of the predictable molds of any now existing metal/rock genres.Little did it help that they from day 1 decided they would go for a wider spectra in their repetoir than what is customary in modern metal. You could always tell it was Queen song regardless of style, and the same goes for Notre Dame. Eventhough the comparison is heavily exaggerated though thankfully Notre Dame haven´t done neither barbershop nor gospel yet! (let´s hope it stays that way) But as we all know nothing is entirely new. Image-wise Notre Dame borrowed heavily from the predecessors of the shock rock and glitter scene in the 70s and 80s. You could say they reinvented it for the new generation. Musically style-wise they had just as little to do with Kiss as every other band who ever proclaimed having been influenced by them. Instead it sounded more black and gothic metal with a strong cinematic horror filmscore twist to it. There never was any plan behind it, or any target group for that matter.It was and still is a true reflection from the darker side in Snowy´s complex personality. Within the framework and concept of Notre Dame Snowy would find the perfect outlet to combine without limits, all of his lifelong passions, whether it was film, music, comics, black humour, or other strange and bizarre fascinations of his.
throughout ´97-´98 Notre dame recorded tons of material in their own homestudios Le Chambre de Torture & The Shawshack, of which a selection of songs were half-heartedly passed around among independant and underground record labels. The notorious norweigian Slayer Magazine editor Metallion somehow got hold of one of those demos and wanted to release it just the way it was through Head Not Found a sublabel to Voices of Wonder. Having had their demo rejected by 2or3 of the more well established metal labels, Snowy & Co figured putting out a mini cd on V.O.W might have the perfect spin off effect, for a bigger label to pick up from. They negotiated a tiny mixing & artwork budget and signed an unspecified 50/50 deal for the mini album only. Coming soon to a theatre near you! was released on halloween the 31th October 1998. Notre dame threw a big release party in goth-n-burg city.The first in the line of their now traditional eventful halloween spectacles. On the night before their grand opening 60 youngsters were killed when a discoteque caught fire, just around the corner of Snowy´s house. In a stroke all the medial promotion Snowy & Co had prepared got cancelled. It was considered highly inappropriate to feature a horrifying shock metal band with filmblut smeared in their ghost white faces, singing songs about death, blood and hells fire, when the whole country was in sorrow.
Vol I:Le theatre du vampire was mixed at a real haunted house in goth-n-burg called Spökstudion and was scheduled for a halloween release but due to delays of the many artwork complications it wouldn´t be in the stores until late february 2000. Early on in the fall of ´99 the impulsive Snowy had a one of his bright ideas as he discovered a certain connection in several of his song´s lyrics. Wouldn´t it be just great to do a concept mini-album based on Nostradamus´prophetic end of the world subject, now when the new millennium coming up? Quickly he added a few Charles Dickens inspired christmas Scrooge-esque ghost stories songs.And also he grasped the very last chance of using an old song he´d written for illwill,called 1999. Old friend and King Diamond collegue Pete Blakk was brought in for a guest apperance on Black Birthday. Nightmare before christmas did hit the stores on 13 december (swedish holiday Lucia) On new year´s eve goth-n-burg,Sweden 1999/2000, Notre Dame entered the stage at the very witching hour 00.00 and delivered a remarkable live performance. which would prove to be their last for the next 2 year period. Producing their own short horror movie THRILLOGY turned out to be a far more complicated project than they had in their wildest dreams imagined.In order to accomplish what they had set out for Snowy & Co had to consentrate all their time and energy in the making, especially since the budget was a ridiculous joke.The ordeal nearly killed the band,and they decided to lay low for awhile and lick their wounds. In Paris De sadistic Bros intended to put their former band The BloodGroup back together as a side project, but could never seem to find a worthy replacement of their former singer La Croix (R.I.P) In the meantime Snowy was hired as a session drummer for Dream Evil and Kee Marcello´s K2.For the first time in 12 years Snowy got himself a normal day job, playing accoustic guitar and singing traditional swedish songs for retarded and mentally deranged people.They loved it, he enjoyed it and found it hilarious that they called him mad! He also had a little side thing with a glam punk rock project called Them Sluts! But his main priority was of course Notre Dame which he wrote tons of new material for. On the same day in April of 2002 Dream Evil´s debut Dragon Slayer and Notre Dame remake/re-issue The 2nd Coming.. was released.Osmose had bought the rights to re-release their cult classic mini-album. They wanted to repackage it with a couple of bonus tracks, so Snowy dusted off the old tapes from those same recording sessions in ´97 &´98 and found a little treasure of unmixed or semi-finished songs. There were a hell of a lot to choose from but in the end they selected 6 songs that Snowy & Vampirella went on to repair. In order to achive the best possible homogenic sound quality, the whole thing had to be mixed all over from scratch. it´s an understatement to say that out of the two releases Dream Evil pulled more attention. Consequently Snowy got busy doing all sorts of festival shows and a trip to Japan with Dream Evil and the work on Notre Dame was reduced to every free hour in between shows. Notre Dame headlined a halloween metal festival in Grenoble, France in 2002. their first show in over 2 years and it sparked their fuse. After Dream Evil´s european tour with Hammerfall 2003, Snowy went into mixing Creepshow Freakshow Peepshow - the live recording from New year´s eve 3 years earlier. Sadly,Osmose demanded a new studio album and rejected an incredible Live album without hearing it, so for the moment it is put on ice.! So during the summer 2003 Snowy & Co recorded Demi monde Bizarros-songs about sex, satan and sado-masochism and then some … ----------to be continued---------
MANNEQUIN
Book:The Satanic Bible Quote/proverb: powers from Hell, grant me Nero's wish, that all women have but one head and that this head belong to the shrew who tyrannizes me, then grant me the pleasure of chopping it off!!! ------------------------------ VAMPIRELLA Artist/Person
I admire: Book:The Dirt, Motley Crue Quote/proverb: ? -------------------------- SNOWY Artist/Person
I admire: Book: THE BOOK OF HEAVY METAL Quote/proverb: bon voyage mutherfukker! ------------------------ JEAN-PIERRE
Book:no. Quote/proverb:
eat shit and die! |
