BIOGRAPHY
Paul Speckmann started out as bass player in War Cry, where he met up with drummer Bill Schmidt who was drafted in to replace previous War Cry drummer, Joe Laccino. Together, Speckmann and Schmidt decided to form a more aggressive metal band based around Motörhead, Venom, Slayer and the whole emerging extreme metal movement. Eventually, Schmidt and Speckmann left War Cry, who (after their departure) also got rid of their heaviness.
Schmidt had begun writing songs in the thrash vein as early as mid-83, and Speckmann followed suit. Speckmann and his rhythm partner, drummer Bill Schmidt, soon fell out with their band mates over creative differences (the duo wanted to play more extreme heavy metal, the others wanted to wimp out), but their new band took some time taking shape while they auditioned as many as 26 guitarists, without finding their man. In the meantime, Speckmann became involved in another side project called Death Strike and Schmidt with a band called Mayhem (no relation to the Norwegian black metal clan), and so it wasn't until 1985 that their collaboration was revived with the recruitment of guitarist Chris Mittelbrun (who had auditioned for Master a year earlier, but was still stuck in the Judas Priest mode) and together they wrote more Death Strike songs. Second guitarist, 16 year old Kirk Miller was brought in, along with drummer John Leprich that´s how born Master.
After Death Strike's "Fuckin' Death" demo made an impact on the underground, Bill Schmidt, former Master drummer, begged Speckmann to join the band. As Death Strike drummer John Leprich could barely get the beats down for "Pay to Die", and was, according to Speckmann, a drunk, Schmidt was allowed to rejoin. After kicking out 16 year old guitarist Kirk Miller (who was really just a session musician for Death Strike), the band was re-named Master. Guitarist Chris Mittlebrun was kept in the band, as Schimdt was highly impressed with his songwriting skills.
Speckmann's father passed away and left an inheritance to him, so Speckmann invested the money in paying for studio recordings, with a promise from Schmidt to sign the first decent deal they received. Master headed into Seagrape Studios, where they recorded their 1985 unreleased debut album. Somehow, rough mixes of the tracks got out, and were traded around the underground (allegedly by Shaun Glass (Sindrome, Terminal Death, Broken Hope)). Consequently, Master became a huge name in the underground.
End this quickly spread Master's name through the heavy metal underground, thanks to the worldwide tape trading network that bound fans together at the time. But record companies seemingly weren't ready for the band's savage brand of thrash yet (and Master didn't care for the only deal offered by Combat).
The album was never officially released because an deal offered by Combat (the same deal that Death signed) fell through. Master were managed by Kim Fowley at the time, who is alleged to have demanded changes be made to the contract. Combat simply laughed and tore the contract up.
so the trio would continue to struggle for another five years before securing a deal for the eponymous Master album's release in 1990.
After recording an albums worth of demo tracks which were not released until 2003 by Displeased Records as Unreleased 1985 album. In 1990 the band was signed by the German label Nuclear Blast Records, who also had contracted Speckmann's other band Abomination.
In 1991, the second album was released: On the Seventh Day God Created ... Master, featuring Paul Masvidal on lead guitar and drummer Aaron Nickeas, followed by the Collection of Souls in 1993 both on Nuclear Blast.
By then, Speckmann had become temporarily distracted with other bands like Funeral Bitch and Abomination, and the original trio were splitting up, but positive fan reaction to Master's exciting death/thrash direction urged Speckmann to draft new guitarist Paul Masvidal (later of Death, Cynic, etc.). But the restless Speckmann seemed incapable of focusing on any one band (he had also recorded two Abomination albums during this same period), and subsequently continued to dabble in innumerable side projects while moving around the country (first to Phoenix, then L.A.), meaning that subsequent Master albums like Collection of Souls (1993) and Faith is in Season (1998) were both sporadic, unfocused, and recorded by ever-changing lineups.
Then, in 1999, Speckmann decided to relocate to the Czech Republic, after assisting with the recording of a Martyr album and being invited to join local death metal group Krabathor full time. Since then, Speckmann has continued to resurrect the Master name when the mood strikes him, releasing albums such as 2002's Let's Start a War, 2004's The Spirit of the West, 2005's Four More Years of Terror, and 2007's Slaves to Society.
Thereafter their record deal ended and Master went on hiatus to find a new record label. Five years later, Faith Is in Season was released on Pavement Records. Speckmann then focused on several other projects, including the resurrected Abomination and eventually joined the Czech band Krabathor, for which Speckmann relocated to the Czech Republic.
In 2002 the next album was released, titled Let's Start a War by System Shock, which also contracted Krabathor. The group's long lost 1985 album was also finally made public in 2003 under the imaginative title of Unreleased 1985 Album. In 2003 Spirit of the West followed, and Spirit of the West in 2004, on the same label.
Master then switched labels again, to the German label Twilight Vertrieb and released Four More Years of Terror in 2005. The new album Slaves to Society was released in May 2007. The band embarked on a European tour in May and June at the same year, followed by another tour with Chicago legend Lividity beginning on September 8th 2007 until the 30th. Master continues to tour and record albums.
The last, highly successful, MASTER album "The Witchhunt" (2013) was already released via the German cult label FDA Rekotz / Soulfood Music and so will the new masterpiece "An Epiphany Of Hate" that is the 13th Studio Album from the Death Metal Pioneers. The album was produced at Shaark Studios in Czech Republic and was released on January 29th 2016 as CD / Digital and February 26th as LP version. The great cover artwork for "An Epiphany of Hate" was created by artist Mark Cooper.
Master has been the primary musical vehicle for journeyman vocalist and bassist Paul Speckmann since the start of the 1990s, but his first known sighting dates back to 1982, as a short-term member of local power metal hopefuls, War Cry, who appeared on Metal Blade's Metal Massacre IV compilation.
As one of the most influential bands in the history of the underground, Chicago's Master has influenced a generation of metal acts worldwide. For over than two decades, band leader Paul Speckmann has assaulted the metal world with his many projects including Abomination, Deathstrike, Funeral Bitch and of course, Master.
Formed in: 1983
Status: Active
Years active: 1983-1984, 1985-1987, 1990-Present
Paul Speckmann - Vocals, Bass
Alex Nejezchleba - Lead and Rhythm Guitars
Zdenek Pradlovsky - Drums
Country of origin: United States
Location: Chicago, Illinois (originally), Uherské Hradiště, Moravia, Czech Republic (now)
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
Current Label: F.D.A. Rekotz
CEO: Paul Speckmann: speckmannpaul@hotmail.com
ALPHA OMEGA Management
Manager: alexalphaomega@gmail.com
Booking: joealphaomega@gmail.com//https://www.facebook.com/OfficialAlphaOmegaManagement
Homepage: http://www.master-speckmetal.net/index.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Master/18521536017
Myspace: http://myspace.com/masterspeckmann
Reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com/master
Merch: http://www.fda-rekotz.com/gx
An Epiphany Of Hate (Full-Length Album - 2016)
Released January 29, 2016
Buy it on:
Napalm Records Store: http://shop.napalmrecords.com/master-an-epiphany-of-hate-cd.html
