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DAVID MOFFITT is also one of the funniest men I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, specializing in a deadpan delivery of outrageously witty jokes. In those days we also shared a passion for “MOONLIGHTING”, an 80’s television series which was the vehicle that transported BRUCE WILLIS to the gates of stardom, and also featured CYBILL SHEPERD. We both enjoyed the program so much that we used to call each other every Monday night, after the show had aired on BBC Television, reliving some of the more hilarious moments. Only once in twenty years did DAVID and I briefly fall out. This ensued when STONNE HOLMGREN lured DAVID away from MAUSOLEUM, convincing him to work together at the appropriately titled AMBUSH RECORDS – but more about that later.
For a couple of years AXEL THUBEAUVILLE was another essential player in the A&R activities of MAUSOLEUM. Don’t be fooled by the name – the guy is as German as they come, and if he would be any less flexible he would break. AXEL not only possessed a great pair of ears but also an ego-driven stubborn streak, which after a while caused him to clash with most people – including me. When we first got acquainted he was still publishing a financially struggling rock magazine in Germany, an offshoot of AARDSCHOK, the Dutch heavy metal bible.
The good news was that thanks to the rag he also knew every talented band in the country, and so in 1984 we signed WARLOCK, an exciting young band from the Düsseldorf area, fronted by the blonde and beautiful DORO. AXEL produced their exhilarating debut album BURNING THE WITCHES; a record that would go down in history as one of MAUSOLEUM’S all time biggest sellers, and would also kick start their notable international career, and ultimately land them a contract with PolyGram, one of the major record companies (now known as UNIVERSAL). Before the recording was finished though artist and producer had already locked horns and the band insisted on the album being remixed by engineer RALF HUBERT, as well as AXEL’S name to be taken of the credits. I don’t think they ever spoke again. In spite of his thorny personality AXEL signed and produced STEELER and LIVING DEATH for MAUSOLEUM, two more bands with whom we were very successful, so at the end of the day we forgave him for also bringing us not-so-hot acts such as ATLAIN, BRAIN FEVER and FACT. Later THUBEAUVILLE formed his own SHARK RECORDS label and proved that his earlier successes were no accidents by regularly signing truly great bands such as VIRGIN STEELE, CHANNEL ZERO, MASSACRA, SEPULTURA, STRATOVARIUS, and more recently AT VANCE. We stayed friends, mainly because in recent years I managed to avoid doing business with him.
Germany was an important market for MAUSOLEUM, so STONNE HOLMGREN and I spend a lot of time there, which led to meeting more people, and inking more deals with German bands such as CUTTY SARK, AXE VICTIMS, BAD STEVE, and those ersatz Teutonic Vikings: FAITHFUL BREATH. If six months earlier anybody had told me I was going to sign FAITHFULL BREATH, then somewhat of an aging prog-rock hippy band for geriatrics, I would have declared him or her insane and had another drink. But, their manager, BOGI KOPEC, and I developed a strong friendship and all the while he deviously led me to discover the capable musicianship and songwriting aptitude of the band, until I really wanted to cut an album with them. The addition of the handsome and gifted guitarist ANDY HÖNIG to the line-up was definitely another step in the right direction, but we still needed another strong selling point to break those dinosaurs to the media because we unfortunately weren’t going to make it just on the merits of talent and quality. Enter MICHAEL WAGNER, producer extraordinaire, the PHIL SPECTOR of heavy metal, and his sidekick UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER, then still fronting ACCEPT. Together MICHAEL and UDO had formed a production company called DOUBLE TROUBLE. I had been extremely impressed by the remix job MICHAEL had done on an early DOKKEN album, and I thought The ACCEPT album BALLS TO THE WALLS – which he’d also produced and mixed - was one of the most powerful sounding albums I’d ever heard. MICHAEL and UDO visited us in Antwerp, and after dinner an a few bottles of champagne, we struck a deal for them to produce the next FAITHFUL BREATH album. Their fee was the equivalent of the gross national product of a small country, but ended up being justified. The resulting GOLD ‘N’ GLORY not only possessed an overwhelming and massive sound, but also became a hugely lucrative seller, and went on to become one of the classic albums of the decade. Even today, nearly 20 years later, when I listen to albums recently produced by MICHAEL WAGNER, like HAMMERFALL on the NUCLEAR BLAST label, I hear traces of GOLD 'N' GLORY. Mind you that's a compliment. WAGNER just refined his "big" sound to an art over the years, and I just love listening to the records he produces.
So far 1984 had been stacked with significant releases, SHOCK WAVES, the third KILLER album had surpassed sales of both their previous albums combined, and CROSSFIRE were preparing for the release of their sophomore set: SECOND ATTACK, and there was more to come from WILDFIRE also. WILDFIRE was always more refined than most other NWOBHM bands of that era and they certainly proved it with the release of their second album SUMMER LIGHTNING, once again recorded at SHIVA in Brussels, but with overdubs done at WEST THREE, and the final mix at EZEE, both in London. This time around veteran producer GUY BIDMEAD was enlisted to ensure the best possible result. GUY had previously worked with artists as diverse as MOTORHEAD, EXCITER, COZY POWELL, keyboard wizard DON AIREY and even YES. SUMMER LIGHTNING was without doubt one of the best records we ever released on the MAUSOLEUM label. Dare I say it was another classic album of the 80s? It contained eleven imposing songs and highlighted the technically sophisticated and mature musicianship WILDFIRE was by now capable off. I had more than a fair share of success with WILDFIRE, but if I would have had superior assistance from the management side, like was the case with the driven PETER ZIMMERMAN, who managed WARLOCK, I believe we could have attained even greater heights together.
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