Year : 1987 (Heaven & Hell Records Limited Edition 2024)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock , AOR
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + front
Size : 71 mb
Bio:
US melodic hard rock/AOR band from Fayetteville, North Carolina.Formed in 1980 by high schoolmates Frank Fournier on bass, Eric Page on guitars, Jerry Everly on drums, David Garcia on keyboards and vocalist Roy Cathey.GIBRALTAR worked, and they worked hard! They took every gig that was offered to them, whether it be a club show, a keg party, the county fair (Fort Bragg), or even someone’s garage. Word started to spread and spread it did. The fan base was growing rapidly with every new gig and the name GIBRALTAR was becoming well known amongst the early Gen Xer’s who were hungry for a new sound that would eventually define an era and GIBRALTAR had the ability and the look to rise to the top.Perhaps GIBRALTAR’s greatest strength was its live show. As described by Sid Starling of SRO Magazine (who was present from the humble beginnings of the GIBRALTAR legacy).“Every time they (GIBRALTAR) took the stage, they blew me away! The rhythm section was the backbone of this quintet - Solid drums from my good friend, Jerry Everly, along with the thundering bass from the Devil Dog himself quintet - Solid drums from my good friend, Jerry Everly, along with the thundering bass from the Devil Dog himself, Frankie Fournier, really cemented the foundation to build upon. Take that and add in Eric Page's screaming guitar along with David Garcia's all killer, no filler keyboards plus a well thought out stage show, and this was a band that could hold its own with any band out there.”When those four played together it was magic. When you added Roy Cathey to the mix, everything rose to a whole other level. Cathey, who had been playing the clubs since the age of 14 would be the stepping stone that propelled GIBRALTAR forward.As GIBRALTAR’s notoriety grew, the next logical step was to enter the studio and lay down some tracks. GIBRALTAR cut no corners and paid to have high-quality recordings (usually unheard of for an unsigned local band). Well-written songs along with slick production and a decent budget garnered a radio-friendly song that the fans requested on a nightly basis. Local radio stations like WQSM and Q98 held “Rock Fights” on Friday nights where GIBRALTAR would routinely beat out not just the local competition but national acts as well.GIBRALTAR’s climbing popularity created a buzz – and where there’s a buzz – there’s demand. The young and hardworking band would quickly become a local favorite and waste no time hitting the circuit and riding up and down the East coast club scene.GIBRALTAR took to the road, with raw intensity and no record label handing out tour support. The road was rough but lucrative; audiences were won over and the band jettisoned across the country. The road is easy for some and a bitch for others. Eventually, Everly and Garcia succumbed to the wears of the road and were replaced by Bevan Davies and Troy MacLawhorn.Tours came and went, and the years passed by without ever securing that major label record deal. A chance meeting while on the road with Marc Ferrari (formerly of the band Keel and a band of his own namesake – Ferrari) led to an invitation for Cathey to join the band, Ferrari. The acceptance of this invitation led to Roy’s most documented time in the music business under the band Cold Sweat. Cold Sweat was signed to MCA Records and released an album that contained two Cathey co-writes (Long Way Down" and "Killing Floor") plus and an MTV music video for the song "Let’s Make Love Tonight”. Cathey and Ferrari would go on to form Sweatin’ Bullets.Ultimately, GIBRALTAR could not survive without their lead singer and ultimately disbanded. GIBRALTAR would come to a premature end but not before leaving their mark with the band’s one and only release I’m the One.
Album:
Heaven and Hell Records is tapping into the Carolina’s again to give a proper treatment to another great album.In 1987 Fayetteville, North Carolina band GIBRALTAR self-released one of the best melodic rock/AOR records to ever shamefully go unnoticed by the greater masses.For fans of: Aldo Nova, Danger Danger, Honeymoon Suite, & Bon Jovi.Every band we know and love started somewhere small: from a spare bedroom, garage, or storage facility. I’d say every one of them struggled, paid their dues and still do to some degree. Sometimes a band can rise up from the underground and take over the world like Metallica did. Others have a brief moment in the spotlight only to fall back into relative obscurity with a strong following. Still yet others continue to slug it out on the local scene for the pure love of it. There was a band at the beginning of the 90’s that hit the scene hard and died almost as quick (thanks to MCA dropping the ball.) They were called Cold Sweat and featured Marc Ferrari who was coming off the heels of a great run with the band Keel. It caught my attention as much for Ferrari’s inclusion as was North Carolina singer Rory Cathey joining the band to replace the departed Oni Logan (who jumped ship to join Lynch Mob.) I wasn’t familiar with Cathey’s work prior, but anyone that was coming from the state I called home I was gonna throw some support towards. Of course, I came to love the album (Break Out) a lot. A couple of years ago Rory (now going by his name Roy,) popped up on my radar again with his newest band The Fifth. I reviewed that album and loved it quite a bit too (was much different from the Cold Sweat stuff, but still killer.) When I heard that Heaven & Hell Records were reissuing Roy’s early band Gibraltar, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I would get it.Simply entitled I’m the One, it’s very clearly an album hailing from the 80’s (1987 to be exact.) Full of big guitar hooks, catchy songs, and stunning vocals, had it caught the right momentum, this could’ve leapt from cult classic to big hit. Riding the perfect edge between polished 80’s Hard Rock with heavy melodic AOR overtones, Gibraltar offers 30 minutes of music that would’ve rivalled a lot of other stuff out around that time. From the Survivor-ish keyboard-laden “She Wrote the Book,” the harder-edged “Full Speed,” and the lovely ballad “Real” demonstrate that the band were capable of handling all musical emotions equally. Roy was only getting started with what he would demonstrate vocally later on, but still showed that he was, even early on, an amazing singer, while the excellent guitar work of Eric Page mixed perfectly with the keyboards of David Garcia, and the foundation of the songs was brought together by bassist Frank Fournier and drummer Jerry Everly. For a young band out of Fayetteville NC, they were other showing next level brilliance with stunning performances and powerful, hit-worthy songs.This is going to be one of my favorite reissues of the year, if not the favorite. There’s so much to love about Gibraltar’s I’m the One, I can’t see why any fan of melodic hard rock shouldn’t be chomping at the bit to own this gem. With the excellent remastering work of Jamie King, it only makes this already kick ass album, that much better. If you’re looking for a step back into the 80’s, this is the album for you. It’s got everything that made that decade the best for music.CD FEATURES: Fully digitally re-mastered , Full-color 12-page booklet , Band history essay & interview , Complete lyrics & photos , Real silver pressed replicated CD , Limited to 500 copies worldwide.
Line Up:
Roy Cathey - Lead Vocals
Eric Page - Guitars
Frank Fournier - Bass
Jerry Everly - Drums
David Garcia - Keyboards
Production:
Design Concept [Cover], Photography By – Roy Salyer
Engineer [Additional] – Bill Joyner
Lighting Director – Mike Painter
Other [Cover Model] – Sunday Bersh
Producer, Engineer – Al Davis
Stage Manager [Guitars] – Myron Holmes
Tracklist:
01. I'm the One 03:41
02. She Wrote the Book 04:12
03. You Better Know 03:43
04. Not the First 03:54
05. Nights on Fire 03:49
06. Real 03:33
07. Full Speed 03:49
08. Let Go 03:33
09. PS 00:18
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