Posted by Larry D on December 04, 1997 at 19:36:04:

Now, this was probably the most unexpected surprise of the entire 3 days of PowerMadd...... while I totally expected The Quiet Room, Division, and maybe Mercury Rising to blow me away, bands like Soundscape, Leviathan and this band, Wyzards, came out of nowhere and just floored me. The funny thing is, I've had their disc, "The Final Catastrophe" for a long time now, and I wasn't nearly prepared for the assault that was going to take place on my unsuspecting mind.......

First, just a bit of history and backtracking....

For those of you not familiar with WYZARDS, this is one of the many bands signed to Ken Golden's The Lasers Edge / Mandrake Root label..... not only that, the band is compromised of all the players from the famous Prog Rock band Glass Hammer. Yes, THE "Glass Hammer".

I've been a fan of this particular band for a long time, and I couldn't figure out for the life of me, how they would pull off a show at a power / prog metal festival. I had breakfast with them the morning of their show, and I was awed by just being with the 'GLASS HAMMER' guys, never mind that they were playing under the "WYZARDS" moniker... It was a great feeling to be in the company of one of the better Prog Rock bands of the world..... I didn't ask how they were going to pull off the show, but their confidence and calm attitude towards the whole thing really left me wondering what was going on...  These guys were just too casual, almost like they had a trick up their sleeve.  They acted like this was just another morning breakfast and were jolly-ho about the jelly rolls.  

All the while, Ken Golden kept giving me this snicker every time I secretly asked him about their show. I would see this snicker several more times before, during and after their show. An interesting note. They had brought up Harry, the sometimes Glass Hammer producer and studio-engineer with them all the way from Florida, and this baffled me as well. Strange. The entire PowerMadd show had used the same sound man; yet here was a Prog Rock band bringing their own sound tech to the show. Interesting.

It was Sunday morning, the third and final day of PowerMadd. It was early, and not many people had arrived yet..... Steve Babb, (aka DeArqe) the bass player and vocalist, somehow managed to get the first slot of the day, and I could tell he was a little bit irritated that the band had come all this way for only a few hundred people. Ken had left his table, where he had sat proudly for 2 whole days, covered up the goodies, and took a seat at center floor to watch the soundcheck. Harry politely excused the gentleman who had been running the sound for 2 days, and things started happening. It should be noted that every band sounded pretty much the same throughout the 3 day festival, plagued with problems, the bands themselves were complaining constantly that the monitors weren't working.... It should also be noted that Glass Hammer is well known for their pristine, clear, crisp sound and are called by many Critics, the "Alan Parsons of Prog Rock" due to their attention to detail in the sound dept.....

The soundcheck began....and I started hearing things I hadn't heard for 3 days.....a clear bass, actual guitar notes being plucked one by one, keyboards swirling....I looked at Ken, there was that snicker again.....Dave Carter, the guitarist, started jamming by himself to feed signal into the system..... and as I stared at Ken again with my mouth open, he just snickered.....

A few minutes later, the music began, and I heard the best sound ever put out over the last 2 days...gone was the boomy bass that plagued ALL of the bands....gone was the horrible guitar mix that killed Mercury Rising, gone was the crummy vocal mix that made me miss tons of singers previously...in its place, was the greatest, pristine, clear sound I've ever heard...... "Wyzards" had begun........

Comprised of guitar, drums, bass / vox, keyboards, the 4 members started cranking out songs from their latest CD "Final Catastrophe" .....a compilation of songs that sound like they were written in the 70's and 80's which some of it was, but played with a polished 90's sound....an interesting mix indeed..... Steve Babb, the sizzling bass player / singer, sounds to me just like Gene Simmons of Kiss....however, there is no doubt that Gene Simmons could take lessons from Steve, he is amazing....every musician in this band is a master technician, but it wasn't until Dave Carter started whipping out some of the solos that people stopped what they were doing and just watched in amazement as he ripped through brilliant solos one after the next......

I walked over to Ken, yelled something in his ear, and he just looked back at me with that same silly snicker again, then I walked out onto the floor and up to the front of the stage.....the rest of the set was just an endless maze of sizzling songs taken from "The Final Catastrophe", and all I could do was just stare in amazement at how this Prog Rock band called "Glass Hammer", suddenly transformed themselves right before my very eyes, and blew me totally away with some great sounding heavy metal. Before I knew it, the set was over, and I was left standing there watching the guys take apart their gear. I approached Dave and just stuck out my hand for him to shake, and he asked, "Well Larry, did you like the set?" I just nodded while I shook his hand..... I didn't even mention the keyboard player, and drummer, Fred and Walter, but they were just as amazing and professional as the others in this band....... Professionalism and great personalities are synonymous with this band, and I can't remember ever having seen master musicians like this, except for Yes, Pink Floyd or ELP. Excuse me, but this is supposed to be a Heavy Metal act isn't it?

After the show, I spoke with Steve for quite awhile, and after I could break myself away from saying how great the show was, I started to talk to him about the next "Glass Hammer" disc....good news here for people if you are into Prog Rock....a major event is about to take place involving this band......stand by........;o)

Everyone immediately ran over to The Lasers Edge table to talk to Ken and the guys about "Wyzards" and undoubtedly, everyone in the place was in awe of this band and many were rushing to get the disc....I saw many Wyzards discs leaving the table in eager hands...... sometimes 2 or more by the same person.

I will now be attending any function that is guesting either Glass Hammer or Wyzards...these bands (or these guys) have to be seen to be believed, and also have to be heard to be believed.... their musical sound is as important to the theatrics as their show is, because they do both better than anyone I've ever seen......it was amazing what Harry did for this band sound-wise, and now I know why they take him everywhere they go..... we also know why all those Glass Hammer CD's sound so good.

Unbelievable is an understatement....but it was absolutely unbelievable.

Larry

Note: Glass Hammer and Wyzards are the same band.  Glass Hammer is art-rock, and Wyzards is electronic-heavy-metal.  There are major differences though.  When performing as Glass Hammer, the lead vocals are Fred, Steve and Walter.  Dave does not sing any lead vox with Glass Hammer.  However, when Wyzards is performing, Dave sings most of the lead vox and Steve shares a portion of that responsibility.  Neither Walter or Fred sing lead with Wyzards.  Wyzards is a "guitar" band, and Glass Hammer is a "keyboard" band.  This change gives the two entities a completely different sound.

The stage is also set different between the two bands.  With Glass Hammer, Fred is set up at center stage and David is on stage left.  When Wyzards plays, Dave is set up at center stage and Fred is either at stage left, or behind Steve on stage right.  Regardless of which band configuration is playing, they always try to play one song from the other band so that people in the audience, primarily their biggest fans, get the sense of the cross over.  So if you are a GH or Wyzards fan, either way, the show is a thrilling experience.