STEEL ASSASSIN - CA-35 7" HRR 157, limited to 500 copies, 150 x clear vinyl + 350 x black vinyl John Falzone - Vocals Kevin Curran - Guitar Mike Mooney - Guitar Phil Grasso - Bass Greg Michalowski - Drums - CA-35 - Breakout At St. Lo SOLD OUT!

Hot on the heels of their fantastic “War Of The Eight Saints” album US Metal legend Steel Assassin have released a brand new 7” single called “CA-35”. Bassist Phil Grasso gives us the story behind the title track: “It’a about the story of the U.S.S. Indianapolis. This ship carried the atomic bomb to Hiroshima during World War II. On the way back from delivering the bomb, the ship was torpedoed and sunk, throwing the survivors into the sea. And sharks killed and ate a great deal of the sailors before they were finally rescued. The story was mentioned in the movie ‘Jaws’, which was hugely popular in the U.S.” On the B-Side of the single there is ‘Breakout at St Lo’, which can also be heard on the High Roller “In Hellfire forged” album. Phil Grasso explains: “Originally, we were planning on releasing both ‘Breakout at St Lo’ and ‘CA-35’ on our upcoming album ‘World War II: Metal of Honor’. But we just kept writing tunes that all sounded great, and it got to the point where by the time we finally stopped writing ‘World War II’ songs, we ended up having more songs than we could fit on a vinyl-length recording. So we felt that instead of putting these two songs on the record, that we would leave them off, release them, and use the new record for all brand new songs.” When you read this, Steel Assassin have played a gig in the States supporting Raven. Phil Grasso steps back into the past: “We opened for Raven and Metallica in Boston in 1983, so it will be great to hang with them 30 years later. Also it’s been almost a year since we last played, so we’re going to be psyched for sure!” Unfortunately there are no European dates line up for 2011: “We LOVE Europe, and are IN LOVE with Europe. The highlights of our musical lives were when we went to play in Europe, and we want to come back so badly. So any promoters/festival planners that want us to come over, contact us!” Phil Grasso is totally satisfied with how the vinyl edition of their last album “War of the eight Saints” was handled by High Roller Records: “I think it was a superb package, the sound quality, the vinyl, the cover art - everything was quite exceptional. It looks great! I’m sure that the sound quality it great as well, but to be honest I don’t have a record player. It will be a great experience to be at someone’s house and actually see that vinyl going ‘round and round and hearing our tunes. From what true audiophiles tell me, virgin vinyl is the best sounding quality there is ...” There is so much confusion about Steel Assassin being a Christian band or not, of Steel Assassin being a White Metal band or not. I somehow got the impression that White Metal had become a dirty word after (the commercial success of) Stryper. People tend to forget great White Metal bands such as Commander or Whitecross. Isn’t even (early) Trouble a White Metal band in the broader term? Phil Grasso reflects: “To be honest, I know nothing about the genre except for Stryper. I would not necessarily categorize us as a ‘Christian’ or ‘White Metal’ band, because we are not trying to spread the word of God through our music. We are Christian, and a lot of our themes are biblically based, but to call us a Christian Metal band is a bit of a stretch. But I’m certainly not ashamed of being a Christian.” Matthias Mader