August 26th sees ex-Battleaxe drummer Paul AT Kinson release his first single since his departure from the band following this years Keep It True Festival in Germany. “Welcome to the Asylum” is an autobiographical piece that describes the madness of being in a NWOBHM band from the 1980s struggling to find their feet again.
Axxed Asylum was formed by Paul (also ex-Skyclad and Jess Cox Band) in 2011 during the early stages of recording the “Heavy Metal Sanctuary” album (SPV Steamhammer) with Battleaxe.
When arguments over production and deals started, Paul decided to record the material he had written for the album with a different twist; for his own sanity.
Joined by Avenger and current Abaddon vocalist Roddy Bvevino, the pair released “Afterlife” in 2011 and a few other tracks, but now the full album is on track to be completed by the end of 2014.
“The Axxed Asylum thing began out of frustration really. We had almost completed the Battleaxe album, but then arguments started over control of the projects... what could I do, we had recorded everything in my studio, I just wanted to get it finished, but one of the guys in particular was making things difficult... that's when I realised, it was the same old madhouse I had experienced back in the late 1980s and early 1990s with Battleaxe... it was time to bail out again.
Roddy Bvevino is a good friend of mine, we work really well together, when we have time off from our other projects we like to get on with the Axxed Asylum project, but we both would like to take the live band to Europe next year and we are already discussing Brazil. Anyway "Welcome to the Asylum" basically sums up the Battleaxe years for me, it draws a line underneath the whole affair. My heart is in the right place now and I don't have anyone playing power games anymore, it's a big relief. They can have "Heavy Metal Sanctuary" and claim it for themselves, they've done it before with the previous albums, it's what they do. I'm really looking forward to completing the Axxed Asylum album, it's a mixture of classic metal like Accept mixed with Dream Theater... well that's how I would like to see it” - Paul AT Kinson
“Welcome to the Asylum” is out on iTunes on 26th August 2014.
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