In 1989, a band
called Final Axe was
born. Bill had become aquainted with Keith by playing one of Keith's
festivals he put on.
Keith didn't have a band at the time, but was selling T-Shirts for
Final Axe. He
already had a concept and he sold shirts like crazy. A few months later
Bill was sitting at home with no band, and wanted to do a new project,
but
had no particular direction in mind.
He couldn't think of
anyone to play with and didn't know Keith well, but had his phone
number from playing at one of his festivals. So he called up Keith and
the
person
who answered the phone said, "Just a minute". A minute went by and Bill
was told Keith would call him back in a few hours. Bill thought, "Well,
he's
not interested." Two hours later, Keith slides out from under a car he
was
working on and asks, "What did you say?" "I said Bill Menchen called".
"Why
didn't you tell me he called?" "I did!"
Keith returned Bill's call,
and they got together and talked about some ideas. Bill
threw a song
together real fast on a 4 track and played it for Keith. Keith came
back
later with some words and sang it. It was called "Prodigal Son". A few
days went by and Keith put a new set of words to it. The song became
"Baptized
in
Blood". That was the beggining of a new song writing chemistry.
In about a month or so, they
had enough songs to make a studio recording. They called Rod Reasner
from "DTS", to borrow a bass on the first day of recording. Rod
asked if he could come along and watch, and joined the band on the way
to the studio, since he was no longer in DTS.
Rod called drummer Chris Lattimer a few days later, also ex-DTS, and he
joined the group. They did Beyond Hell's Gate very fast
and had no money. It wasn't everything they wanted, but they didn't
want to
wait for a year to save more money. They wanted to get going while they
had
fresh inspiration. The band started very basic, but the music and live
shows began to expand quickly.
In 1990, Chris Reth joined the group on drums. Later that same year, the group made it's final apearance at Metal Midnight IV with Bill's cousin Bruce Menchen on bass guitar, and Tim Palmatier on drums.
A second album was recorded in 1990' but never finished, or released.
In 1990, Chris Reth joined the group on drums. Later that same year, the group made it's final apearance at Metal Midnight IV with Bill's cousin Bruce Menchen on bass guitar, and Tim Palmatier on drums.
A second album was recorded in 1990' but never finished, or released.
In 1991, Bill formed Rev
Seven, with Final Axe drummer Tim Palmatier. Rod Reasner played one
show with Rev Seven.
In 1995, Keith and Bill would go on to form Titanic, also with Tim Palmatier, and Released two cd's.
In 1995, Keith and Bill would go on to form Titanic, also with Tim Palmatier, and Released two cd's.
In 2002, Keith , Bill , and Rod did one show at the Metal Maridi Gras in Anaheim California under a different name. The only time the three of them have been on stage together since Final Axe.
In 2005, after a long silence, Retroactive Records released "beyond hells gate" on cd. Remixed, remastered, and edited. A European company in Greece called "Steel Legacy" released beyond hells gate on LP also that year!
In 2006, Retroactive Records released "the axe of the apostles", The lost Final Axe album! If that isn't enough, the recordings were finished a few years ago with drummer Robert Sweet! Bills home studio, "Twin Blade Studio", finally evolved technologically to the point where all the tracks could be done some justice, and the cd is now available.