SILENT FORCE & DC COOPER  Pittsburgh (May 19,2001)

Anything that could go wrong did, the important 
thing is that nobody would let it stop the show…

The week prior to the 1^st Annual Pittsburgh Prog & Metal Festival.  The promoter, Big Badd Wolf Media's Brian Stoneman, learned that the venue, a longtime gathering place most recently known as the Beehive was closing down immediately, and would not reopen anytime soon.   To make matters worse, the headliner, Metal Blade recording artists, Symphony X, would have to cancel their performance altogether, since their lead singer had fallen ill.

With only a few days to go, the bandmates of the local voice of Silent Force, DC Cooper, were already in route from Germany, and the search for a new venue began.  Finally, some luck fell upon the situation when the promoter found an opening at the nearby Club Laga. 

So, with appearances from local openers, the show began around 5 p.m. and concluded with special performances from DC Cooper and Silent Force. And even more memorable than the mid-set delay caused by the shattered bass drum head is the music that followed...

They first performed songs from their debut Silent Force release, Empire of Future (Massacre Records), like “Saints & Sinners” and "Six Past the Hour," as well as “All Guns Blazing” from Judas Priest, which was a special treat for the band to show their aggression and a special treat for fans who've wondered what it would have been like if DC Cooper had joined Judas Priest (being one of four finalists in the auditions for Halford's replacement) instead of utilizing that momentum to get a job as the lead vocalist for Royal Hunt.

Bringing in a female voice for backups and a remarkable local guitarist Wayne from Shere Kahn, a band that Cooper has been working with lately in the studio.  The new version of the band made a few adjustments and then delivered a set of tracks from Cooper’s debut solo album that was released by Inside Out Music America in the US, which incidentally is also native to Pittsburgh. 

The second set included the keyboard enhanced melody “The Angel Comes,” as well as crowd pleasers like "Dream" and "The Union."  It also featured a few cover tracks, namely "Easy Living," made famous by Uriah Heep and interpreted brilliantly on Cooper's solo album, and another Judas Priest classic, “Another Thing Coming.”

Update from DC Cooper - July 25, 2001 Upon mixing the upcoming Silent Force album, DC Cooper is ecstatic about the band’s upcoming performance at the Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany.  With a time slot at 9 p.m. on a Friday evening, they can expect to play to between 50,000 and 60,000 avid metal fans to be in attendance, in comparison to his last performance in his home of Pittsburgh, it’s a much more promising venture.  He tells TPRS.com that Silent Force’s sophomore release will be released instantaneously in the United States through a new deal with Inside Out Music America (also the home of Cooper’s solo release), as well as with JVC for South America and Southeastern Asia, and Massacre Records in Europe this fall.  Cooper tells us that after Jim Pitulski of Inside Out Music America caught his performance in Pittsburgh, he called it “a world class show,” and was impressed at how well the vocalist had handled himself under pressure.  Consequently, the band closed their deal with the label the following day. In addition, mixing has been done for the musical that Cooper produced last year, and he has begun work on his second solo release, which was slightly delayed due to the formation of Silent Force.  However, fans can expect him to be in the studio in January working with mostly session musicians (due to budgetary restraints).  The solo album release is projected for the summer of 2002.

For more information on DC Cooper and Silent Force visit their Web sites at: http://silent-force.rocks.de/empire.html  
and http://www.bottomrow.com/dccooper/index.htm.

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