Janick Gers

Forostar

Ancient Mariner
Janick Gers did different things before he joined Iron Maiden in 1990. He played with Gillan on albums and tours. He did stuff with Fish and of course with Bruce Dickinson.

The most impressive stuff I heard from him (outside Maiden) was his band White Spirit.

White Spirit, a bit of a weird name. The music was a bit like Deep Purple/Rainbow. The music was melodic and at moments very atmospheric.

They released one same-titled album in 1980.

Tracklist:
1. Midnight Chaser
2. Red Skies
3. High Upon High
4. Way Of The Kings
5. No Reprieve
6. Don't Be Fooled
7. Fool For The Gods



More detailed info and discography: http://www.nwobhm.com/wspirit.htm


The last song of their album is so impressive, that I cannot ignore it here, in this topic.:

Fool For The Gods is a 10 minute epic, with moving lyrics, catchy melodies, atmospheric keyboards and even some sphineshivering, acoustic guitars.

I love this song! What do you guys think?

Cheers,

Forostar
 
Resistance is futile. You will be moderated.

In other words: Thanks, mate [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\":)\" border=\"0\" alt=\"smile.gif\" /] I haven't heard White Spirit or the Gillan albums Jan was on, but I think he deserves recognition anyway. Thread pinned.
 
Whte Spirit has currently been reissued by Sanctuary/Castle on a lovely 2cd filled with the whole album and intresting and obscure bonus tracks. Basically, I think it contains pretty much everything WS ever put out. You can check it out by searching the band up at http://www.metal-archives.com/
 
Well, I've heard some White Spirit now. I must say it's really great hard rock, with a whole range of obvious influences, from Deep Purple to Pink Floyd! Jan is recognisable, but his playing is also a bit different from the later Maiden work. Apart from Jan himself, it's just wonderful music. Very deep and emotional, but at the same time pretty uplifting. Very hard to describe... it's just great [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\":)\" border=\"0\" alt=\"smile.gif\" /]
 
About the 2cd re-issue: I purchased it and imo the b-sides are far from great.

I prefer the LP with "Fool for the Gods" as a sublime album closer. :)
 
Recently I downloaded old studio demos from White Spirit.

The directory says:
White Spirit - studio demos 17 march 1981

Today I decided to give it a listen.

One of the tracks is called Till the Kill and it has the same opening riff as The Mercenary (Gers/Harris)!

Interesting to know that the main riff of The Mercenary came from a 1981(!) song of Janick himself. :)

I haven't heard the rest of the demo tracks yet, we'll see if there's more ! :-)
 
thousand_suns said:
Do you know that one of Janick Gers' guitars, a black Fender Stratocaster, was a gift from Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan?

I see someone has watched "Death on the Road"...

Nice picture!  :)
 
On the "Death on the Road" bonus disc, there's some interviews with rodies and others, where one of 'em tells this particular story of Jan's guitar.
 
Yax said:
On the "Death on the Road" bonus disc, there's some interviews with rodies and others, where one of 'em tells this particular story of Jan's guitar.

my first post on this site... glad i stumbled on this site.  anyways, i didnt get a bonus disc in my copy of that... maybe that was a limited edition type thing.  anyway i didnt know abut that.
 
killerbeast said:
my first post on this site... glad i stumbled on this site.  anyways, i didnt get a bonus disc in my copy of that... maybe that was a limited edition type thing.  anyway i didnt know abut that.

He means the DVD.  Which still hasn't been re-released, from the looks of things. :(
 
@VodaWolph: I finally checked it (sorry for the huge delay!). There's indeed little resemblance between these parts, but not as much as between Till The Kill & The Mercenary.
 
Unfortunatly I don't have the whole WS album, only a 4 track EP called Muthas Pride. I think it was a sampler for the Metal For Muthas II album. Still, I think it's a good track with great keyboards and guitar work. They were ok live when I saw them supporting Gillan way back when. Can't remember the other band who supported Gillan on that tour, Fist perhaps?
 
I managed to get ahold of some White Spirit songs... Amongst them is a track called Midnight Chaser (recorded in 1980, I presume) - the first minute is very similar to 2 Minutes to Midnight, take a listen. I've uploaded it here.
 
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