Gotham City (Swe) - The Early Years [CD] (2024)

Heavy Metal

CD compilation. Comes with a 16-page booklet, featuring lyrics, interview, story and photos.
Remastered by Janne Stark at Stark Music.

Also released on vinyl and as a boxset (with LP, CD, Cassette and 7" replica of original single)

Tracks 1-2 from 'Gotham City / Killer Angels, Single 1982'
Tracks 3-11 from 'Demo 1982'

Other Issues
- Black 12" LP 2024 [Cult Metal Classics #CULTMETALGTHCTEYLP]
- Clear 12" LP 2024 [Cult Metal Classics #CULTMETALGTHCTEYLP]

Info/Interview from booklet
Björn: I remember in 1981 the cassette porta studio had just arrived, a Tascam 244, and I bought one and we recorded a demo with our first two songs "Gotham City" and "Killer Angels" in our rehearsal room. We really didn't know what we were doing but we were very proud of it. Then we played it to Anders Östman, Jonas' cousin who is a very famous dance band musician, and he said - "But, you've recorded it in mono!". In December 1981, we played a big live show at a Lucia fest at the Dragonskolan gymnasium. In January-February of 1982 we finally got the money together to record at a proper studio, Tonteknik, which was a 24-channel studio owned by Per Sörlin. The only studio around.

Jonas: Björn was a real entrepreneur and initiated a lot of stuff. One day that porta studio was just there. I remember we recorded something, but it didn't turn out well. Tonteknik was the only studio around and the guy who owned it was the engineer, but he really didn't have a clue. He was mostly worried that the lights on the mixer went red when we recorded the guitars!

Ola: I remember we made that first studio recording, and we copied it on cassettes, and I wrote so many letters on my dad's old typewriter and sent to record labels, but no response. Then we figured we may as well do it ourselves, like many other local bands had done. We printed it in around 300 copies, and it cost, together with the studio, 5000 SEK (500€). I remember we secured the money through friends. It was sold at the local shops Akademibokhandeln and Burman's Music. The front cover was made by my old swimming teacher Hans-Anders Molin. He took the photo of the bat and made it look cool.

Björn: I remember we also sent some of the singles to the Heavy Sound store in Stockholm and we were very proud when they had featured us on the answering machine news message.

Jonas: I made the back of the cover together with a classmate of mine, Christer Gustafsson. We put it together with rubon letters. He was pretty good at drawing. Now, here's a perfect example of how little we knew about things. We did know that there was supposed to be stuff written on the cover, and since Christer helped me with the cover, well, let's put him down as producer. He helped me produce the back side of the cover, that's all.

Björn: After the single, in 1982, we went into the same studio and recorded the demo for what later became the "Black Writs" EP. The songs were "Spitfire", "Black Writs”, “1995”, “No Chance To Go", a cover of "The Green Manalishi", "Borderline", "Head On", "Midnight Hunter" and "Born To Rock Hard". Ola was incredibly enterprising and called around to a lot of people, including yourself, to get tips for gigs and stuff. Thomas played live with us at Hagagården and he was also on the demo, but then he left in the middle of 1982, and started playing with the punk band The Pinheads.