-trivia/F.A.Q.-
(Updated 02/13/04)
Q. When is the new Impellitteri album coming out? And who will be playing on the CD?
A. The new CD "Pedal to the Metal" will be released in March 24th 2004. The line-up is the first to feature Curtis Skelton as vocalist.
Q. Why does it take Chris so long to release CDs!!??
A. It's about QUALITY not QUANTITY!!
Q. Who is running the Impellitteri Fan Club and Homepage and how can I help?
A. The Impellitteri Fanclub Page is a World Wide Web (WWW) page on the Internet (www.rapture.net/impellitteri ), it, as well as the fanclub were created and are maintained by Brian Labrecque.
The Homepage contains all sorts of Impellitteri-related information: lyrics to all albums, sound/video clips, pictures, etc.
Fans may help by sending ANY articles or interviews from 1998 to present! to the e-mail address listed above.
Also if anyone would like to
translate Japanese interviews that would be great too.
Q. Is there a Japanese Fan-Club???
A. No, they have apparently closed down...
sorry.
Q. When will Impellitteri tour again? And when will they be touring the U.S.?
A. Impellitteri will no doubt tour Japan and possibly Europe after the release of the new CD, possibly in June/July. Word on the street is that the band is VERY eager to be playing U.S dates, and there has been major U.S. label interest so a U.S. tour is an almost certainty. Again, and dates will be posted here first.
Q. What happened to Graham Bonnet? Is he back?
A. Graham Bonnet has left the building......
Q. What happened to Rob Rock during "Stand in Line"?
A. Rob Rock was at the time of "Stand in Line" busy with the band JOSHUA and could not commit himself to Impellitteri at the time. Rob Released a CD with JOSHUA called "Intense Defense". It is out-of-print and EXTREMELY rare.
Q. Has Rob Rock now left the band permanently?
A. As of May 2000, Rob Rock has left the band to pursue his solo career. The split was amicable and Rob remains friends with the band. More info on Rob Rock is available on Rob's web site: www.robrock.com.
Q. Who are Dave Spitz and Stet Howland, they didn't play on Stand In Line, yet they are listed in the line-up on the discography page?
A. After Stand In Line was recorded, Impellitteri went through a couple of line-up changes, first, before the tour, Pat Torpey and Chuck Wright were replaced with Stet Howland and Dave Spitz, respectively. After the tour, Graham Bonnet was no longer in the band, so he was replaced with singer Mark Weisz. Keyboardist Claude Schnell contributed alternately with Impellitteri's original Keyboardist, Phil Wolfe. Several demos were recorded circa 1990 with this line-up. The 7 songs which were recorded are collectively know as "The Holy Grail" recordings, because of their rarity. If anyone wants to find these recordings, here's the tracklist:
1.Our Stars 2. Open Your Arms 3. Never Surrender 4. Sweet Charity 5. I'll Wait(diff lyrics, NOT from ATTM), 6. Reach for the Sky 7. She's on Fire
I found these songs from traders, so you can too!
Q. What brand of pick and strings does Chris use?
A. Chris uses Fender heavy "Tortex" picks(brown). As for strings, Chris uses Ernie Ball 9 "Super Slinkies"
Q. What type of frets does Chris use?
A. Chris uses standard dunlop vintage style frets.
Q. What kind of Equipment does Chris use?
A. Here is a run down of Chris' main gear, in his own words.
Fender 1970 Stratocaster with a rosewood fingerboard, stock single-coil pickups and a vintage tremelo.
Fender Stratocaster with a set neck, ebony fingerboard, 1959 Humbucking Pickup in the bridge and single-coil pickups in the middle and neck position and a Floyd Rose tremelo system.
My amplification - Marshall (1973) 100 watt
amplifier modified by Bob Bradshaw.
Soldano SLO 100
Peavy 5150
My speaker Cabinets-
Marshall JCM straight cabinet loaded with 25 watt celestion
speakers.
Marshall (1973) straight cabinet loaded with 25 watt celestion
speakers.
Marshall (1969) angle cabinet loaded with 25 watt celestion
speakers. .
Q. Are there any videos or Live concerts available?
A. IMPELLITTERI have two music videos, One is for "Stand in Line", the video was shown on MTV's "HeadbangersBall" often during 1988/89, There is also a video for the song "Shed your Blood" from the "Eye of the Hurricane" CD. There are also several live concerts known to be on video:
1. Live in Japan 1988-35min.( w/Graham Bonnet) ---available in video trading circles.
2. N.A.M.M. 1997- 40min. (instrumental w/out Rob Rock)--available in video trading circles.
3. Various live Japanese concert footage from 1995,1996, 1998 (w/Rob Rock) as well as acoustic performances from several Japanese T.V. Shows ( Bang Up Rock, and Mutomo World)---available in video trading circles.
4. N.A.M.M 1988 -20 min one live song and interview (w/out Chuck Wright and Graham Bonnet)- SUPER RARE! but still available.
5. Chris and Rob in the band "Vice" from 1985-- at least 2 nights worth of shows known to exist.----- BEYOND RARE!
6. Unknown concert circa 1988 (possibly rehersals for Tokyo Dome show or Annahiem,CA)-- ULTRA BEYOND RARE --I know it exists because I saw a 5 seeec. clip of it.
7. Ozzy Osbourne benefit tribute show (at the Cat Club) with Chris and Rob (1990) featuring short performance by Impellitteri- this video known to exist but never seen.----MEGA ULTRA ULTRA BEYOND RARE!
8. 1988-San Jose Civic Center, San Jose, CA-VIDEO (w/Graham!)---- was at least partially recorded by a local TV news station.--- INFINITELY BEYOND RARE IF IT EVEN EXISTS NOW.
Check out CD Shop Gold ( or try
their page HERE)as
they carry at least 2 live videos and other items.
....but by far the best way to get
stuff is to just talk to other fans, you never know WHAT you'll
find :)
Q. Are there unreleased demos or bootlegs available?
A. Yes, There is the "Live! Fast! Loud!" CD which is still findable, which features the best of the 1995 and 1996 live shows. Also many overpriced full length bootleg CDs from those tours are sold in Japan and available on the net via import CD dealers in Japan.
There were several demos recorded circa 1990 with the touring line-up and featuring vocalist Mark Weisz. The 7 songs which were recorded are collectively know as "The Holy Grail" recordings.
There is also a 3-song studio demo from the band "Vice" recorded in 1985 which featured Chris Impellitteri and Rob Rock. This was circulated around New England and approx. 200 copies were known to have been made. The real tapes even include a B&W band photo on the cassette jacket.
Q. DUDE, IS THERE ANY CHANCE IN THE WORLD THAT
YOU WOULD SELL ME A COPY OF THE HOLY GRAIL TRACKS. I WOULD PAY
GOOD MONEY. IF NOT, COULD YOU PLEASE GIVE ME SOME HINT WHICH
MIGHT MAKE IT EASIER TO FIND THE
TRACKS. MY FRIEND HAS LOOKED THROUGH SITES LIKE MORPHEUS AND
NAPSTER AND CAN'T FIND ANY OF THE TRACKS AND I HAVE FOUND A LOT
OF TRADERS THROUGH SURFING THE NET, HOWEVER, I ONLY COME ACROSS
LIVE BOOTLEGS. PLEASE HELP!
A. The funny thing is that ONLY FIVE people
actually HAVE the Holy Grail CD... In fact I got the tracks from
2 different traders who each only has 3 and 4 tracks, I assembled
them, and gave 3 people a copy, so only 3 people besides me and
Chris Impellitteri have all 7 recordings.
neato huh???
happy hunting...
P.S. You all HAVE the track listings and you KNOW who played on
them, and you KNOW that there are at least 2 traders who have the
needed tracks, that's besides the 4 people who have a Holy Grail
CD (hint: the only 4 CDs in existence don't list the title as
"Holy Grail", even though that's the name I've given
the recordings).. so I've given you the tools to find it. There
are 15 year old zit-faced hacker punks who can break into the
Pentagon computers, SO you CAN find 7 EXISTING tracks!
Q. Are there any "unreleased"
songs from Impellitteri?
A. As far as I know, there are only two, "Overture", and "Screaming Symphony", they are both instrumentals that were never recorded. They are however both featured on the "Live! Fast! Loud!" CD.
Also, "Freak Show" was included on a Euro-pressing of "Crunch".
The Song "Cyberflesh", recorded during the "Crunch" sessions, but as of yet unreleased.
Q. Do Impellitteri perform any cover material during their live concerts?
A.They usually play "Burn", and "Highway Star" by Deep Purple, used to play some Alcatrazz songs and once and a while, a Dio tune.
Q. Is Chris Impellitteri the fastest guitarist on Earth or what?
A. Although I've never gotten an offical answer from Chris regarding that. I'd have to say-ABSOLUTELY!.
Q. Is Chris Impellitteri even faster than Yngwie Malmsteen?
A. ....Yngwie who?
Q. Is it true that Chris Impellitteri once audtioned for ALCATRAZZ ?
A. Yes, Chris and Steve Vai both auditioned on the same day..
Q. What guitar position is Chris fingering when he poses in those photos?
A. In most of them it is an E Minor Arpeggio
Q. Does that make him cool?
A. Yes, it does.
Q. Is it true that Rob Rock and Chris Impellitteri were once in a cover band together?
A. Yes, circa 1983-1985, the band was called VICE, they toured relentlessly throughout the Northeast U.S., and released a succesful demo.
Q. What's up with those wacked out lyrics on the Black EP re-issue, what was Rob on?
A. The lyrics for the Black EP that are included in the CBS-Sony CD, and the Century Media Re-issue are INCORRECT, and are a result of a poor Japanese translation. The lyrics which appear on the Impellitteri Fan Club Page and the Rob Rock site ARE CORRECT.
Q. Have Chris or Rob ever done any guest appearances on other CDs?
A. Chris has appeared on:
HOUSE OF LORDS -"Sahara" CD-
opening solo of the song "Sahara"
QUEEN tribute CD "Dragon Attack"-Track #1
Randy Rhoads Tribute CD.
Rob has appeared on:
Randy Rhoads Tribute CD -vocals on
"Goodbye to Romance" and one other track.
Avantasia (2001)-Rob sings on 2 tracks--This is one of the best
metal CDs of 2001
