HEAVEN METAL
Heaven’s Mitch Perry and Alan Fryer are hanging out at the Hard Rock Cafe giving the waitress April (as in six months ago or so from now) a hard time...or maybe she’s giving them a hard time. “I’ll have a BLT,” says Perry, former guitarist for Talas, now lead guitarist for Heaven, “with melted swiss cheese and no L and T.”
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HEAVEN METAL
Bullets
Anne Leighton
Heaven’s Mitch Perry and Alan Fryer are hanging out at the Hard Rock Cafe giving the waitress April (as in six months ago or so from now) a hard time...or maybe she’s giving them a hard time.
“I’ll have a BLT,” says Perry, former guitarist for Talas, now lead guitarist for Heaven, “with melted swiss cheese and no L and T.”
“You want a grilled cheese sandwich,” she says.
“No, I want a grilled bacon sandwich with cheese.”
“They don’t do that.”
“How ’bout putting extra bacon on it?”
Resistance has always been commonplace for this band. Four years ago they landed on American soil, giving us the first taste of Heaven. Columbia released their first two records—and they promptly did nothing. Two years ago they toured Australia, and four of the five members decided to stay down under to get married or raise koala bears. This left lead vocalist Alan Fryer without a band. “I suppose everyone achieved what they were happy with,” says he. “I still have to break. I wasn’t going to sit on my ass there.
“You gotta be crazy to do rock ’n’ roll, ’cause it’s not easy. It takes so long. It took me 15 years to set foot in America. The kids have it even harder nowadays, with all the clubs closing down. There’s always someone behind you ready to kick your ass.”
Not that Fryer’s getting a stiff neck looking over his shoulder. He’s warning the other bands to look over their shoulder. “Heaven’s a force to be reckoned with. Heaven waited this long. No way can it wait any longer.”
A year-and-a-half ago Fryer came to L.A. and put together a new and better line-up of Heaven, with three Americans and one more Australian. Now there’s a third Heaven LP, Knocking On Heaven's Door (from the Bob Dylan song), with the new line-up.
This band’s new members have a passion for their career and all aspects of life. Mitch Perry, who loves racecar racing, is convinced he can beat Ted Nugent in this event. He also has a lust for beer. “What’s this Boy Howdy beer?” he queried. “I want to taste this Boy Howdy beer. I’ve tried to get it every place that sells beer in the world. Please! Please! Please! I want my Boy Howdy.”
The guy’s plight for the finest is in tune with Fryer’s definition of what the word “heaven” is about. “It’s about as far as you can go.”
Mitch explained why he originally picked up the guitar in the first place—“to get girls”—and it seems evident as to what Heaven is really about. Doesn’t it?
