They say if you do anything, it has to be on camera these days. In this case, I agree. In this video you will see:
I still can’t find the words so “thank you” will have to do for now.
In a word: passion! Marco D’Auria is a creator with a passion for fulfilling his artistic drives. Since his youth, he had a passion for his uncle Ray D’Auria’s band, Mystique. He loved the music. He loved the history. He wanted to bring that story to the world, and he achieved it. The accolades are wonderful, but holding the DVD of Mystique: Standing On The Firing Line in his hands is the real reward.
In this hour-long interview, co-host Jex Russell and I quizzed Marco on the following subjects:
The Mystique story is compelling. The music justifies itself. This band had potential. There was magic happening. The big break never quite took shape, and this film is the story of what might have been. Nobody seems to have any regrets. The film is warming to watch, and I recommend you check it out while the February sale is on.
Thank you Jex and Marco for an awesome Friday night. Check Marco out at the Contrarians on Youtube!
Feb 9 – our 50th show! – Doctor Kathryn returns with Jex Russell and her cassette collection from the 1980s!
Feb 16 – Too Much Music? 2 (pre-recorded)
Feb 23 – LeBrainless with Jex, Harrison, Roger, John Snow & Aaron
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and Jex Russell
Episode 49: MYSTIQUE: Standing On The Firing Line with filmmaker Marco D’Auria
We’ve spoken to this fine gentlemen about this excellent film a couple times, so why is Marco back to talk about Mystique: Standing On The Firing Line? The new cut of the film is in, and it is turning heads. The new version of this rockumentary has been making the festival circuit and picking up awards! (Couch Film Festival 2023, AltFF Alternative Film Festival 2023.) Director Marco D’Auria is eager for you to see this film, and talk about what he has coming next.
Mystique was a Hamilton heavy metal band that released some iconic independent music such as Black Rider and I Am the King back in the 1980s. The band never “made it” and faded into obscurity by 1989…until their old records and tapes started commanding insane prices on the collector’s market.
Why? What is that made Mystique special? We will delve into this with co-host Jex Russell tonight. Marco will explain what is new about this recent cut of the film, and what he hopes to do for a re-release. Tune in tonight!
Friday Feb 2 at 8:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 9:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube, on Facebook!
Feb 9 – our 50th show! – Doctor Kathryn returns with Jex Russell and her cassette collection from the 1980s!
MYSTIQUE: STANDING ON THE FIRING LINE (2022, 2023 edition)
Directed by Marco D’Auria
“EPIC METAL” – Martin Popoff
They had the raw talent to make it. They just needed a break. They didn’t get it, but what they achieved instead was a legendary status with a handful of priceless releases left behind. They were Mystique, a progressive heavy metal band from Hamilton Ontario.
Standing On the Firing Line is a 2022 documentary film by Marco D’Auria, finally shedding light on the history and music of this lesser-known band. They always deserved more attention, and hopefully the film brings them that. From the first shots of the band, the music of “No Return” assaults the senses with chopping riffs and unholy screams. Why didn’t they make it?
The main driving force of Mystique from their beginnings to their demise were opera-trained singer Ray D’Auria (originally from Naples Italy), and perfectionist drummer John Davies, who had spent time in a few hard rock bands before Mystique. Many other talented members joined and enhanced them along the way, but it was Ray and John who were there ’til the end. The two met up when John auditioned for Ray’s band, Orion. A friendship was formed, but the band wasn’t paying them the money they were owed. They split as a pair and didn’t waste time starting their own thing. 15 year old Dave Dragos was a shredder – rated 2nd best in Canada at the time – and was first on board. He introduced them to bassist Mark Arbour (a mixture of Geddy Lee and Chris Squire), and a solid band was formed. A 1984 basement tape of “Black Rider” shows the nameless band had the goods. It was Ray who blurted out “Mystique”, which felt right.
They found a rehearsal space, and added keyboardist Victor Barreiro. The band practiced hard, and pushed each other to improve as musicians. Davies tended to handle the business side, but they were attracting attention to themselves. They found a manager (Ted Smirnios), money was borrowed, and songs were improved upon, until they were finally in shape to record. Primitive but technically inventive tracks were recorded on 1/2″ tape, on a 16-track desk. Not the best for sound quality, but good enough to get the songs down. They went as far as to butcher a classic Leslie speaker to get a driving keyboard sound.
A stoned viewing of the animated Lord of the Rings movie captured John Davies, and inspired the song “Black Rider”. The band had a sort of gothic bent in the mid-80s, but Ray D’Auria’s voice was appropriate for this progressive style of metal. Journalist Martin Popoff remarks that the keyboards brought them into that progressive world. Melodic guitar/keyboard solos took time to work out. They were unafraid to play ballads, which Martin compares to a vintage Judas Priest dirge. Mystique were a serious band! The Black Rider EP impressed their peers for the playing if not the sound. Popoff heard a strong Maiden influence, but compares more to Armored Saint and Odin with elements of power metal. 1000 copies were sold, an impressive amount. Their manager got it as far away as Greece, and even accidentally set himself on fire as part of their stage show!
The band were doing well but dreams were not exceeded, and eventually members left for greener pastures, leaving Ray and John to rebuild. Bizarrely, they met a talented French guitarist named Eric Nicolas in Jackson Square, and went to France to record their next demo: 1987’s I Am the King. They struggled with the language barrier, and were recording digitally for the first time. Ray blew everyone away with the “God note” that he held in “I Am the King”. They were offered a record contract with Elektra in France, which didn’t pan out. They brought the tapes home to Canada for release.
They added a new bassist, Les Wheeler, and evolved from metal to “hair”. “The explosion in the costume factory look,” as described by Popoff, of their new extreme look that didn’t match their music. “It looked good, from a distance,” jokes Ray. Teenage girls loved their posters though! Unfortunately having a guitar playing living in France was a barrier. Wheeler broke his wrist in an accident. A new lineup formed. They felt forced to go more commercial, which resulted in the 1988 Poison-esque single “Rock and Roll Party Tonight”. It was vastly different from “Black Rider”, but they went straight from that to recording a proper album, funded by EMI. They taped 11 to 12 songs…but the album was never released and is partly lost today. The masters tapes were sold and erased. There were some good songs on that tape. Ray, however, looks back at their change of direction as a mistake. More shuffles in band members caused long breaks in activity, and the writing was on the wall. Ray no longer identified with the music, and was the one to leave. By 1989, their music was out of date anyway.
Manager Ted Smirnios is given a tremendous amount of credit for making Mystique happen. It’s a touching part of the film. The band members went their separate and sometimes surprising ways, but the story never really ends so long as people keep discovering the music. Their releases are now valuable collectables today, worth a small fortune on the second-hand market.
Rare live clips and candid photos really bring an intimate look at Mystique. You feel like you get to know the personalities. This new edit of the film cut a substantial amount of footage, mostly interview footage with people who were there at the time. The movie gains better pacing from this, as it just flies by in no time. A new ending to the film brings us to the present day, and the movie’s theatrical premiere in front of a cheering audience. The original cut might be considered for more hard-core viewers who want that “feels like being there” experience, but the current 96 minute edit is better for the enjoyment of Mystique. It’s a much tighter and more direct story. There is still plenty of unreleased music and vintage images.
Stay tuned for the mid-credit scene!
4.5/5 stars
RECORD STORE TALES #1092: Grab A Stack of Rock (Recap 3)
A recap of all our shows to date as we gear up for the first anniversary
Recap 1: Episodes 1-10
Recap 2: Episodes 11-20
Show #21, May 26 2023 was chock full of guests! I had more scores from Max the Axe’s Trillion Dollar Treats to show. John Snow, Tim Durling, Harrison Kopp, Jex Russell, and Dr. Kathryn (via video) all had new stuff, including brand new releases and rarities. This was a cottage show once again, and plenty fun one at that.
Show #22, June 2, 2023, was one we did for ourselves. My wife Jen has found Lego to be helpful in her healing, and so we have started to buy Lego again. With that in mind, Harrison, Rob and Dr. Kathryn came on board to show off Lego and toys. Jen returned as well, with her Spice Girls Lego set! Dr. Kathryn revealed the secret to identifying Lego blind minifigure packs, though this is now obsolete due to Lego transitioning to boxes. This show was tremendous fun despite the limited appeal.
Show #23, June 9, 2023 happened at the cottage! For that reason, my co-host Jex and I decided to do a special list show. After many comments and requests, the Nigel Tufnel Top Ten lists were back. With Rob Daniels sending in a list via email, Jex and I counted down the Top 11 Albums to Play at the Cottage! Jex debuted his new moustache for this episode, giving Harrison a run for his money. “We’re back, baby!” I announced. This popular show proved that lists were still a viable way to go forward, and they would be critical for the rest of the year.
Show #24, June 16 2023, almost never happened. Jen had a bad seizure and face-planted on the sidewalk. Her entire face was black and blue (and not like the rock band). “The show must go on,” she insisted, and so it did. A huge thank-you to Aaron and Harrison for carrying the show that night. Jex Russell did a brief cameo to show off some rarities, but otherwise the topic was one of our most popular historically: Iron Maiden! We looked at rarities, vinyl, bootleg CDs, beer and menus!
Jen needed some time to recover. Her face was a total mess. The community came together with support and eventually her beautiful face returned to its normal colour. No broken bones.
Show #25, June 23 2023, was another very special one with a brand new guest. I wanted to talk about my new favourite band, the Arkells! What’s an Arkell? Watch this show and find out. Live from the cottage, Aaron and I were joined by megafan Nurse Kat. She saw the band in four different countries 13 times in just 18 months, and has since added many more concerts to her resume. I provided a Nigel Tufnel Top Ten Arkells tracks list. With Kat’s concert footage and fan photos, this was a night to remember.
Show #26, June 24 2023, was the second show in one weekend! A morning show at that! Jex Russell joined me to look at a giant box of cassettes that I found in my parents’ basement. This turned out to be a popular one with the physical media crowd. Inside that box were a number of store-bought cassettes, and ones that I had recorded with home made cover art. It was a real trip of discovery, and only one cassette was destroyed in the process.
For laughs, we parodied a former cast member at the start of the show. All in good fun. Strippers are people too.
Show #27, June 30 2023, we celebrated Canada Day at the cottage with Jex, one day early. We chose our Nigel Tufnel Top Ten Canadian bands that are little-known outside of Canada. This turned out to be the most popular non-heels episode we’ve ever done. It is certainly an episode that I am very proud of. The Spoons, Varga, Teenage Head, National Velvet, the Beaches, Kick Axe, and more. This is a show you definitely want to catch up on if you missed it the first time. I even created a graph for it.
After that much activity, I took another break on July 7, but only to gear up for another busy week! I had a taping with Tim’s Vinyl Confessions on the 8th, with Rob and Jex. On July 13, I did a show with Grant Arthur on the Stone Gods and Hot Leg for Grant’s Rock Warehaus.
Show #28, July 14 2023, was a brand new thing for me and something I had been wanting to do a long time. For the first time ever, Harrison was host as I took the night off for the first “LeBrainless” episode! Harrison and Jex Russell tacked their Top Five Alice Cooper albums, a well-overdue list show. They did a great job without me, and it was a joy for me to just watch Grab A Stack of Rock for a change instead of hosting it.
Show #29, July 21 2023, was back at the cottage! We had Tim Durling, Grant Arthur, and Aaron KMA on hand to celebrate the birthdays of Harrison and Mike. I showed off my massive birthday hauls and recent arrivals. I also ran a fun slideshow of old birthday party photos from the 70s to the 90s. This was the first birthday show since 2021, since by this time in 2022 I had quit live streaming. A wonderful way to have a birthday party with friends far away. Tim Durling played guitar for us! We also unsealed the new Grab A Stack of Rock 7″ picture disc by Tee Bone Erickson, from vinylart.co. Tee Bone’s first ever music on vinyl!
I took Friday July 28th off to do a super-secret taping with Peter Kerr of Rock Daydream Nation. This ended up to be our “rock court” episode on Vinnie Vincent, with Reed Little as judge. A very rewarding show that led to more tapings in the coming months!
I wanted to do something special for Show #30, which I called “The Dumbest Thing You Will See on YouTube.” Why?
Show #30, Aug 4 2023, featured me breaking the seal for the first time on my Metallica Master of Puppets box set, purchased four years earlier and still sealed. This was something I wanted to do on camera, because it’s not every day that some idiot unseals a box set that goes for up to $1600 online. We also looked at new arrivals in stickers, vinyl, and Alice Cooper deluxe CDs. Max the Axe attempted to drop in, but was thwarted by technical issues. We’ll try again one day. Perhaps the coolest thing about this episode was showing the brand new Paul Shortino cameo for Grab A Stack!
To be continued…
RECORD STORE TALES #1092: Grab A Stack of Rock (Recap 2)
A recap of all our shows to date as we gear up for the first anniversary
It has been a heck of a year…but it has been a year already! Grab A Stack of Rock debuted with no name, on October 28, 2022. It was an impromptu decision to go live, and fortunately Harrison and Uncle Meat were on board. This week, we are celebrating one year of Grab A Stack, with a special list show and special guests. More on that later.
We recapped the first ten shows earlier this year, but let’s look back at everything since!
Coming off the biggest show we ever did, Show #10, which has over 1200 views currently, we decided to get nerdy next!
Show #11, Jan 13 2023, saw Rob Daniels, Tim Durling, and Kevin “Buried On Mars” Simister beamed down with Harrison and I to talk Star Trek! It was Kevin’s first time with the new format, and he really brought the Trek. Tim and I were both in uniform, and Harrison had some cool MAD Magazines to show. This was a really fun episode to do, even though that uniform isn’t very comfortable! Soundtracks, books, action figures and much more were shown!
Show #12, Jan 20 2023 was the debut of Dr. Kathryn, and what a debut it was! This was a Karate Kid / Cobra Kai talk, with Rob Daniels and Harrison Kopp. Dr. Kathryn blew everyone away with her expertise on the subject, while showing off some cool stuff including a video from actor Sean Kanan. The stories that night were absolutely incredible. Any fan of Cobra Kai needs to check out this chat!
Show #13, Jan 27 2023 was a brainchild of Tim Durling: Reissue record labels! You know that Tim is a format head, and one of his passions is comparing different printings of albums. Many record labels make their fortunes on reissues. Rock Candy, La-La-Land, Sony Legacy, and so on. We took a good look at some cool things from our collections. Rob Daniels and Harrison Kopp were on hand once again!
Show #14, Feb 3 2023 was MarriedandHeels episode 2.
I took a couple weeks off, but did some informal mini-episodes (un-numbered) while I rested and recuperated after several weeks without a break.
Feb 11 2023 featuring the debut of Jen on Grab A Stack of Rock! I wanted to get her more involved within her abilities. She can’t look at a screen for very long without feeling some effects from it. In this short episode, we unboxed my Marvel Legends T’Challa (Black Panther) figure, just for fun. Jen was a natural! This was a test stream to see how it would work with two of us on one computer, and it worked great!
Feb 19 2023 was another fun mini-episode. I had just received the excellent cassette, Landings, by Grace Scheele. An instrumental concept cassette (cassette!) about the moon landing, Grace hand-packaged each one in aluminium foil. I had to unbox it live, and I had to have her on hand when I did it. Thanks for coming to hang with me, Grace! People, check out this episode and see what love and care looks like when it goes into a physical product.
Show #15, Feb 24 2023 was monumentally important, for it featured a new guest that would have a huge impact on Grab A Stack of Rock. This was the foreshadowing of a new era, because Jex Russell (or the “Friendly Frenchman” as I called him back then) came on board for the first time. Nice to meet ya! We had John T. Snow back on, for the first time since 2022. Tim and Harrison also returned for this musical gathering of fans.
Show #16, March 3 2023 was MarriedandHeels episode 3, with Harrison Kopp.
March 10…now, that was a night. I had my guests lined up. Jex and Harrison were coming back to do a test stream. Streamyard added a new feature, allowing guests to stream the show to their own social media. About 30 minutes before showtime, I barfed. 10 minutes later, I barfed again and cancelled the show! I barfed seven more times that night and drank about four large things of Gatorade.
Show #16.5, March 24 2023, was not an official episode. We did the test stream, successfully! John Snow, Rob Daniels, Jex Russell and MarriedandHeels joined in. We unboxed some Japanese imports, and we covered Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Kiss, Star Wars, and more. Most importantly, we successfully streamed to the guys’ Facebook pages for the first time.
March 31 was a week off. Why? Because apparently when we went live on March 24, I had Covid! You certainly could not tell! Watch that episode and tell me if I look like a guy with Covid. The following morning, I felt tired and scratchy, so I tested myself. Yep: positive! While I never really got sick (just tired), Jen sure got it bad. I was negative the following week, and back at work.
Show #17, April 7 2023, was the final MarriedandHeels episode, with Jex Russell.
Though her shows were excellent for views, I didn’t pick up new readers or viewers. It was a failed experiment, like putting a big round peg in a little square hole. At least I tried.
I took April 14 off so I could do an excellent discussion on the Neurotic Outsiders, with Grant Arthur, on his show Grant’s Rock Warehouse. We also opened the cottage that weekend, meaning the first ever front porch shows on Grab A Stack of Rock were about to happen! Following this, we took April 21 off.
Show #18, April 28 2023 was the cottage show I had been waiting all year to do! It was another simple one: new arrivals. Kevin the Mars Man was back, as was John T. Snow and Harrison Kopp. Thankfully those guys carried the show, because I was checked out that night. And everything came to a head the following Friday.
Show #19, May 5 2023, was supposed to be Metallica with Kevin, Tim and Harrison. I was going to show off my Black box, but the show was cancelled last minute when drama finally exploded into its inevitable conclusion. The “heels era” was over, and we were about to get serious about music.
Show #19, May 12 2023, was the first of the new era! New life was breathed into the show on this day. My planned co-host (see above) crapped out and didn’t show up, but thankfully Jex Russell did! I also invited Grace Scheele back on, because we did a demo of her cassette! I had a whole box full of treasures that I picked up from Max the Axe’s garage sale, including a Kenwood tape deck. Grace’s cassette sounded awesome on it. Additionally, this was a test of a new time slot: 3:00 PM on Friday afternoons in the summer. To my utter disbelief, views were high! The show went on for two whole hours, as I spun classic Max the Axe videos. It was a fantastic show, and the time slot worked. I was worried I could not get enough viewers on Friday afternoons. I was wrong…very gladly wrong! From this point forward, most cottage shows would be in the afternoon, and Jex would co-host them. I called it the “no more heels tour of 2023”, and it was off to a hell of a start. We even had a chipmunk sighting on camera!
May 17, 2023 happened when I received the new Van Halen Right here, right now live album on vinyl. I had taken the afternoon off work, and I thought, why not go live? Dare I say why not? It was a mini-episode unboxing, and it too was a success despite the fact that most of you should have been working!
Show #20, May 19 2023, was another first for the show: our first star interview! Spencer “Spenny” Rice of Kenny Vs. Spenny fame agreed to talk wresting, and talk we did! Co-host Marco D’Auria really rocked this one, with his encyclopedic knowledge of so many eras of wresting. Spenny may have been the star, but Marco was the star! All I could do was sit back and enjoy! Thank you Spencer Rice for doing this, and thank you Marco for killing it. It was an honour for me to share the screen with you.
To be continued…
mikeladano.com 