We played LIVE and concentrated on getting Larry Howe's drums perfect to begin with, then building up from there with the other instruments. Mike Varney had a pretty rigid deal back then for all the Shrapnel Records bands. We had only 100 hours to do everything in the studio, so we had to have our shit together and not waste any time. We were well prepared, so it was not really a big deal for us.
It was a great time, we were all young, making our first album, and it was very exciting to say the least. It's still a very powerful album that holds up today.
Dave Starr / Vicious Rumors interview, Brave Words, 2015
VICIOUS RUMORS released their debut album on this day in 1985 through Shrapnel Records.
The "Soldiers" album definitely launched the band on an international level. It was a stepping-stone to what the band became in the years following. That album sold about 140,000 copies worldwide and is considered to be a metal classic of the mid 80's - I'm very proud of that!
Geoff Thorpe / Vicious Rumors interview, Unstoppable Force, 2001
Soldiers of the Night features the one-off lineup of Vinnie Moore (guitar) and Gary St. Pierre (ex-HAWAII, vocals) with long time members Geoff Thorpe (guitar), Dave Starr (bass) and Larry Howe (drums).
I love "Domestic Bliss", it has such a haunting vibe to it, very dark. "March or Die" is a great one, I co-wrote "Ride" and "Blitz The World". "Ride", was a song I co-wrote with a friend of mine named Rik Richards. Gary changed some of the lyrics at the last minute without checking with me, I was very pissed off about that. "Blitz the World" was a tune that Geoff Thorpe had already written, but the verse parts needed some help and I came up with a few changes that made the song much better.
Dave Starr / Vicious Rumors interview, Brave Words, 2015