Marco Savage
Musician/ Producer

So it should come as no surprise that I had no problem with the very Priest-sounding Steamroller by Boise Idaho's Blind Fury. I'm mainly talking about the Priest musical styles present on Sin After Sin and Hell Bent for Leather, as opposed to, say, Screaming For Vengeance. Of course, I can't tell you definitively that the band members actually point to Judas Priest as a major influence, but the sound came from somewhere and that's fine by me. I grew up with this stuff and I'm glad that there are musicians out there that liked it enough to keep it alive into the 21st century.

"Master of Illusion" starts thing off with some very Halford-like singing and it's just old-school heavy metal from that point forward. With searing guitar solos and solid rhythm guitar work, the style is quite European, although not in the power metal sense. Songs like "Another Day in Paradise" are straight up metal marches. The title track sounded the most like Priest to me and the song's climax reminded me specifically of the Sin After Sin classic "Sinner." "Power of Illusion" and "In the Night" are the metal ballads (Priest style not Warrant style).

Hey, it's all good. No, Blind Fury does not sound like Judas Priest in the way that Primal Fear does, but the sound and feel are there. I liked it.

Back when Tawny Kitaen made love to car hoods and Warrant oozed cherry pie, Dwight and Eric Cliff fronted a Los Angeles hairband called Prototype.

The Cliffs wore matching white tuxedos with satin and rhinestone trimmings. Beauticians applied their makeup. Eric's mane hung past his waist. "It was 45 minutes in the shower just to get the cream rinse out," he says nodding with a proud grin.

Ten years later, the glittering duds are gone. The hair is chopped. Showers are 40 minutes shorter. But the Cliff brothers still have power chords pumping through their veins. Their Boise based band, Blind Fury, forges audio steel with classic heavy-metal building blocks: Judas Priest-style guitar solos, heaven-and-hell vocals and elephantine drum stampedes.

Tonight, Blind Fury's self-proclaimed coming-out party will transport concert goers to a guitar-shredding time when "rap"was a dirty word, not a metal style. "What we're trying to do is bridge the gap between what was then and what is now," Dwight says.

But let's get real for a second. Is the 21st century ready for a seasoned metal band that doesn't employ a hip-hop vocalist or a teenage-turntable whiz?

Are these guys nuts? "I think people are going to be surprised," Dwight says. "We're gonna rock'em," Eric promises.

The Cliffbrothers, who share guitar and vocal duties, have been largely silent for the past seven years. Blind Fury- which also includes bassist Shawn Chambers and drummer Joe Rooney- emerged only to play the Boise River festival or fill a rare opening slot at Bogie's.

But six months ago, the group released a CD, "Steamroller," and put it's melodic heavy metal attack on the Internet at MP3.com and BlindFury.org. Since then, Blind Fury's music has been downloaded 3,000+ times, Dwight says-an encouraging number for an unsigned Idaho act. Although Treasure valley radio hasn't warmed to the group, Blind Fury has gotten airplay in eastern Idaho, Brazil, Germany and on the Internet radio station Zwarp.com

Excited by the possibilities of the Internet, the Cliffs have been bitten by the metal bug again. "We're gonna take this baby to the top," Eric says. Dwight and Eric grew up in Burley listening to everything from The Beatles to Black Sabbath. After leaving their home, both men moved to Los Angeles and paid their dues in the burgeoning '80's metal scene.

(Headbanger's ball Trivia: Did you know that Dwight sang for Savage Grace on Metal Blade Records' 1983 compilation "Metal Massacre II" After the Cliffs formed Prototype, they headlined popular nightspots such as Troubadour, Whiskey A Go Go and Roxy Theatre. "We were one of the biggest bands in L.A.," Eric says.

But just when a record deal seemed imminent, the 1994 North Ridge earth quake struck and crushed the band-almost literally. "My whole house caved in on me...," Eric remembers. "We were freaked."

The brothers moved back to Idaho, ditched the hair-band tactic (Kurt Cobain killed our world," Eric jokes), and recruited a new bassist and drummer.

Blind Fury-a heavier, more modern metal band-was born. After two decades of metallurgy, the Cliffs realize that the odds of a record deal are stacked against them. Still, the refuse to deny the possibility. The brothers say an A&R rep from Columbia Records contacted the group after noticing the download numbers on MP3.com

Besides, the Cliffs say they are getting e-mails from hungry head-bangers across the globe. "There's a market for metal," Dwight insists, "regardless what the labels want to say."

Two months ago, Blind Fury shot a promotional video and played three gigs in Los Angeles. The band just released a CD, "Live 2002," which was recorded during that run. Blind Fury is treating tonight's Boise concert like a hometown showcase. Hundreds of tickets have been given away. The band advertised on local MTV.

Blind fury wants to play to a full house. However, even if Boise doesn't open it's ears to the musical wrath of Blind Fury, the Cliffbrothers won't stop making music. They'll just lay on the whammy bar and crank their amps to 11. You can call us '80's- we don't care," Eric says. "We just wail. We just like it and want to have fun."

Chris Brewer of J-105 states "Never in the history of J-105 have we play any local band on our station, but Blind Fury has struck a chord with the audience and is now in regular rotation". February 25th 2000, Blind Fury was voted best original band by J-105 radio station from program director Chris Brewer "these guys kick ass"!!!

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Blind Fury's CD "STEAMROLLER" has had RAVE Reviews, and not to mention sold out shows they play. " Blind Fury is an OUTSTANDING Band" says local club owners/promoters, Pat & Chris Callaway.

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Blind Fury was recently featured on the FOX NETWORK, FOX NEWS channel 12 as a new original band with the right stuff to make it to the big time!!!. MAY 26TH 2000 Blind Fury headlined the ESPN EXTREME MOTORCYCLE JUMP CONTEST(NATION WIDE TOUR) which featured the top riders in the world, and Blind Fury was filmed playing live while the riders jumped all night long by ESPN at the Meridian Speedway in Meridian Idaho for an up coming special on ESPN. Blind Fury was also filmed live by NBC CHANNEL 7 Ed Vining.

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Blind Fury has just signed an exclusive deal with a very high profile entertainment lawyer in L.A. and he is shopping the band to many top labels to secure a major deal for the band.

Blind Fury has had some interest from some major labels and are negotiating over several deals with their lawyer. So stay tuned for whats next!!!