All music written by John Baker
All guitars and Programming by John Baker
All lead guitar parts written & performed by David Hannah
Arranged and recorded and mixed by John Baker
Mastered by John Baker
All voice over from the video game League of Legends

Just a reflection of the times!!!!

Warzone! (with David Hannah)

This will be a 6 song concept piece detailing the highlights of Vlad III (Vlad the Impaler) life. All songs are based in fact and with no fictional vampire references. This is the true story of the man behind the myth.

Musicians:
John Baker- All guitars 
Dark Number Nine- Vocals
Mathis- Lead Guitars
All music written by John Baker
Recorded, Mixed & Mastered by John Baker

Vlad III or (Vlad Tepes) was born in 1431 in Sighisoara as the second of four brothers born into the noble family of Vlad II Dracul. After his father’s induction into the Order of the Dragon, created by Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund for the defense of Christian Europe against the Ottoman Empire, Vlad moved to Târgoviște, Walachia, in 1436 where his father assumed leadership of the Wallachian Voivode. Throughout his younger days, Vlad and his brothers were highly educated and as they grew older were taught how to strategize and fight.

In 1442, the Ottomans called for a diplomatic meeting and invited Vlad Dracul. He saw an opportunity to educate his younger sons in the art of diplomacy so he brought Vlad III and Radu with him. But Dracul and his two sons were captured and held hostage by the Ottoman diplomats instead. The captors told him that he would be released — but he had to leave his sons. Dracul, believing it was the safest option for his family, agreed. Fortunately for Vlad III and his brother, during their time as hostages, the two princes received lessons in science, philosophy, and the art of war.

However, things were far worse back home. A coup orchestrated by local warlords — known as the boyar — overthrew Dracul. In 1447, he was killed in the swamps behind his home while his oldest son was tortured, blinded, and buried alive.

Vlad III was freed soon after his family’s death, and at this time he began to use the name Vlad Dracula, meaning son of the dragon.  His brother Radu swore allegiance to the Ottomans and stayed. Vlad swore vengeance on the ones responsible for his father and brother’s death and began his journey back home to claim the thrown.

Lyrics:
This is our land
My Father Prince of Wallachia
And here, it’s name, family, honor
And we fight to protect
And protect to fight

Let me tell you about my glorious upbringing
You shoulda seen me
Riding those Arabian horses,
Sword in hand at breakneck speeds
Speaking a few languages and a dead one
Science, the art of combat
Magnificent things

Our enemies keep movin' in and movin' in
Around our home

A choice made for a truce, an alliance
With the Ottoman
To keep our rightful throne

Sultan thought we betrayed the alliance
Sultan invited father and us down for a visit
Tricked like a deaf, dumb, blinded beggar
We got to the court
We were all imprisoned
Father set free, me and brother kept as bargains
But my father was in the order of the dragon
To defend against heretics
From Hungary comes the white knight
Who wanted help with the heretics
Father said yes...
Sultan was betrayed again...
For a crusade for Christianity…

Battle lost, men defeated, blood and debris
White Knight tried to salvage the honor left
Do you know what that White Knight did?
He tried to seize Wallachia
Noblemen killed my father, mother and older brother

I’m still captive in the Ottoman Empire
Sometimes in a dungeon, sometimes tortured
From my window
All I see are executions
My brother took lovers, sided with the Sultan
This happened because
the Ottoman can bargain
It’s still about the land
But it’s all about revenge
I am diamond hard
Will let everyone trust me
And let the Ottoman
Keep teaching me, teaching me
Magnificent things

© 2021 Dark Number Nine

1. Vlad The Young Prince And The Great Deception

This is the second chapter of our Vlad saga

Musicians:
John Baker- All guitars
Dark Number Nine- Vocals
Mathis- Lead Guitars
All music written by John Baker
Recorded, Mixed & Mastered by John Baker

When Vlad was released from the Ottomans, He wandered around the bordering parts of Wallachia for eight years looking for support. It is known that during this time, he contacted his cousin Stephen the Great of Moldavia, who would help him in the future against the Turks when the latter became voivode of his country. He also learned various politico-military tactics.

Vlad eventually made it to Hungaria and was at the court of John Hunyadi, who, impressed by his knowledge of the Turks and his hatred of the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II, made Vlad defender of Transylvania with headquarters at Sibiu. In 1456, Hunyadi invaded Serbia, while Vlad simultaneously invaded Wallachia. He led his army through the Carpathians in June and by the end of July, Vladislav Danesti was killed in battle. According to legend, he was hacked to death in a hand-to-hand combat with Vlad Dracula. On August 22, 1456, Vlad was ruler in Tirgoviste.

The first thing he did when he took power was to take revenge on the murderers of his family. Early in his reign, he gave a feast for his boyars and their families to celebrate Easter. Since many of them had taken part in the conspiracy that led to the deaths of his father and elder brother, Vlad asked them how many voivodes had ruled during their lifetimes. All of the nobles said they had outlived several voivodes. The older boyars and their families were impaled on the spot, while the younger and healthier boyars were enslaved and forced to labor for months building Poenari Castle. Very few of them survived the ordeal.

One boyar, Albu cel Mare, was over-mighty and arrogant. He took the villages of Glodul and Hintea by force, and devastated the monastery of Govora. Vlad had him and his allies and relations, including small children, impaled. Of the 13 names of the boyars of the council of April 16, 1457, only 2 remained in February 10, 1461.

Our song opens with Vlad's 8 year journey.

New day, a war state, I’m ruling,
rulers change rules,
some clean house…

I played the enemy against each other so well
I have regained the Wallachian throne

complaints, protests from noblemen will be addressed
as well as loyalty

Then there’s that unending price
for the murder of my brother buried alive

I’ll invite them to feast at my table
What better day than Easter to take it to the next level

Now that I have them gathered around
I’ll ask a simple question
“How do you account in your land for so many princes, they come and
go and come and go and..”

They sit there with their arrogance
I’ll tell you why
Greed, intrigue, corruption

I’ll crush their nobility
They are all my future traitors
They know it and I know it

Lets talk about something we haven’t talked about……chains
Guards will wrap chains around those
Who didn’t take me seriously
“Guards, get them outta my sight”

Those who feasted, drank my wine
Will work for the kingdom
‘til they’re worn down and die

200 who are able
will help me rebuild the fortress
in the distance, you see it in the sky

Those not able
Will have blood runnin’ down wood
in the distance, you see bodies
hanging in the sky
I like it

(c) 2021 Dark Number Nine

2. All Hail King Vlad (and The Feast That Followed)

All music by: John Baker
All Lyrics written and performed by: Dark Number Nine
All Lead guitar performed by Mathis

In 1460, Mehmed sent envoys to Vlad to urge him to pay the delayed jizya or (tribute). Vlad provoked Mehmed by having the envoys killed. Vlad Țepeș had not paid the annual tribute of 10,000 ducats since 1459. In addition to this, Mehmed asked him for 1000 boys that were to be trained as janissaries or (elite infantry men). Vlad refused the demand, and the Turks crossed the Danube and started to do their own recruiting, to which Vlad reacted by capturing the Turks and impaling them. 
 
The sultan sent Hamza Bey to stage a diplomatic meeting with Vlad at Giurgiu, but with orders to ambush him there; and thereafter, take him to Constantinople. Vlad was forewarned about the ambush and set an ambush of his own. Hamza brought with him 1,000 cavalry and when passing through a narrow pass north of Giurgiu, Vlad launched a surprise-attack killing the entire expedition-force. Hamza Bey was captured and in his next move, he went on a campaign to slaughter enemy soldiers and population that might have sympathized with the Turks; first in southern Wallachia, then, in Bulgaria, and in two weeks they killed over 23,000 Turks.

Mehmed sent messengers in all directions to assemble an army, 'in which in numbers and armaments must have been equal to that which he had employed on the siege of Constantinople. On April 26 or May 17, 1462, the sultan moved with his army from Constantinople with the objective of conquering Wallachia and annexing the land to his empire. 

The Turks first tried to disembark at Vidin, but were pushed back by an archery attack. On June 4, a contingent of infantry landed in the night, at Turnu Severin, where 300 of them died from Wallachian attacks. The Ottoman army did managed to advance, but Vlad instituted a policy of scorched earth, poisoned waters, and also created marshes by diverting the waters of small rivers. Traps were created by the digging of pits, and then covered with timber and leaves. The population and animals were evacuated to the mountains and as Mehmed advanced for seven days, his army suffered from fatigue as he found no man, nor any significant animal, and nothing to eat or drink.

The Turks advance towards Târgoviște, after failing to capture the fortress of Bucharest and the fortified island of Snagov. On June 17, when the Turks camped south of the capital, Vlad launched his famous night attack with possibly only 7 to 10,000 horsemen. The skirmish started after sun down and  would last until four in the morning and would cause great confusion in the Ottoman camp. The Wallachians launched not one, but several attacks and during that night the sultan abandoned the camp and fled in a shameful manner. He would have continued had he not been reprimanded by his friends and brought back, almost against his will.

Mehmed next decided to besiege the capital, and for half an hour, the army marched on a road that was bordered by some 20,000 impaled corpses of Turks, woman, children and Hamza Bey who was impaled on the highest stake. On the following day (June 22), Mehmed had had enough and the Turks retreated.

3. Forest Of The Impaled

All music written and performed by: John Baker
All lyrics written and performed by: Dark Number Nine
All lead guitar written and performed by: Icarus Death

Matthias Corvinus came to Transylvania in November 1462. The negotiations between Corvinus and Vlad lasted for weeks, but Corvinus did not want to wage war against the Ottoman Empire. At the king's order, his Czech mercenary commander, John Jiskra of Brandýs, captured Vlad near Rucăr in Wallachia. 

To provide an explanation for Vlad's imprisonment to Pope Pius II and the Venetians (who had sent money to finance a campaign against the Ottoman Empire), Corvinus presented three letters, allegedly written by Vlad on 7 November 1462, to Mehmed II, Mahmud Pasha, and Stephen of Moldavia. According to the letters, Vlad offered to join his forces with the sultan's army against Hungary if the sultan restored him to his throne. Most historians agree that the documents were forged to give grounds for Vlad's imprisonment. Corvinus's court historian, Antonio Bonfini, admitted that the reason for Vlad's imprisonment was never clarified.

 In the summer of 1475, Stephen III of Moldavia sent his envoys to Matthias Corvinus, asking him to send Vlad to Wallachia against Basarab Laiotă, who had submitted himself to the Ottomans. Stephen wanted to secure Wallachia for a ruler who had been an enemy of the Ottoman Empire, because "the Wallachians [were] like the Turks" to the Moldavians, according to his letter. According to the Slavic stories about Vlad, he was only released after he converted to Catholicism.

IMPRISONMENT

Curse of betrayal
is always around
Blood is thicker than water
Just one is keeping me alive

My brother is no longer my blood
He turned my people against me
How can one Son of the Dragon
Betray one of his own
Radu, you traitor
How could you overthrow my throne?

And why am I deemed the only evil one?
For tortures, executions
I’ve only done what others ruler have
Instill awe in enemies
So the country remains strong

The loyal helped me escape
Thru the Carpathian mountains
To the fortress
Ottomans followed me there
They shoot with cannons
Poenari walls
start crumbling down

On the run to Brasov
To meet King Mattias, White night’s son
For political refuge,
‘Cause those Saxons want me dead
They still hear screams of the impaled
But I hear nothing

To Europe I’m a hero
Committed to crusades
I won’t break that Dragon Oath
If I’d only known what was waiting
The King’s secret orders for my arrest
Betrayed once again
Damn them all, Damn them all
To the darkest depths of hell
Where demons lie waiting

Down a mountain’s wall of stone
Lowered by ropes
Below the Saxon’s Valley
Where the greedy mercenary
Carries out the arrest

Imprisoned as a pawn and a threat
For twelve years, again, lying low
Faith is for fools and great men
I, a fool to have faith in the King
But I’m still a great man
I have faith
I‘ll regain the throne

(c) 2022 Dark Number Nine

4. Imprisonment

Music written and performed by John Baker
Guitar leads written by and performed by Mathis
All Lyrics written and performed by Dark Number Nine

Part 5- Vlad III's Demise....

Matthias Corvinus ordered the Transylvanian Saxons to support Báthory's planned invasion of Wallachia on 6 September 1476, also informing them that Stephen of Moldavia would also invade Wallachia. Vlad stayed in Brașov and confirmed the commercial privileges of the local burghers in Wallachia on 7 October 1476. Báthory's forces captured Târgoviște on 8 November. Stephen of Moldavia and Vlad ceremoniously confirmed their alliance, and they occupied Bucharest, forcing Basarab Laiotă to seek refuge in the Ottoman Empire on 16 November. Vlad informed the merchants of Brașov about his victory, urging them to come to Wallachia. He was crowned before 26 November. 

Basarab Laiotă returned to Wallachia with Ottoman support, and Vlad died fighting against them in late December 1476 or early January 1477. In a letter written on 10 January 1477, Stephen III of Moldavia related that Vlad's Moldavian advisers had also been massacred. According to the "most reliable sources", Vlad's army of about 2,000 was cornered and destroyed by a Turkish-Basarab force of 4,000 near Snagov. The exact circumstances of his death are unclear. The Austrian chronicler Jacob Unrest stated that a disguised Turkish assassin murdered Vlad in his camp. In contrast, Russian statesman Fyodor Kuritsyn –who interviewed Vlad's family after his demise– reported that the voivode was mistaken for a Turk by his own troops during battle, causing them to attack and kill him. We chose the version of the assassin for our tale. 


Glorious thunder
Hooves, thousands
The horses of war

Pope Sixtus IV has called all forces
To defend again Christendom

A new coat of arms
Blackbird

A rarity of unity

Stephen the Great, Stephen Bathory
Dracula come together to
Overthrow the reigning prince of Wallachia

Basarab Laiota is siding with the Turks
He will be overthrown
Dracula will reign once more
This will not be for long

Stephen the Great attacks by East, 15,000
Dracula, Bathory attack by the south 35,000

The mistake was not killing Basarab
He rallied the troops and commanders
For a counterattack.

Dracula’s allies left him with an unsupported kingdom
This is what we, the enemies, have been waiting for
I am the hired assassin
There will be a ritual

My orders
Disguise as a servant
Attack him from behind
For all our tortured and impaled soldiers
Seven or more blows
For years he reigned in terror
And he will be quartered

Devils and Angels
Working by my side
As I see his dark, wavy hair
Red princely robes
At last I watch the blade penetrate his back

In the clearing in the forest
Near Bucharest
Left was the headless body
Found by the Monks
Blessed be the monks
They bury him in a monastery

I proudly ride back
With Dracula’s severed head
It will be displayed
On a high stake
At the gates of Constantinople
For the Sultan, myself,
And all my fellowmen

5. December 1476... The Final Battle

All Music written and performed by: John Baker
Main guitar lead written and performed by: AL'Z
All Lyrics written and performed by: Dark Number Nine
Mixed and Mastered by: John Baker

This is our final track of our Vlad series... Couldn't do a Vlad story without a little touch of the supernatural, so we created our own little story. 

My Ancestor’s Brutal Heart

We’d gather ‘round the spirit fire
Hypnotized by tales of old
Relatives would story tell for hours
Full moons, silver, blood, lust and the madness

I watch my younger self
Amidst Transylvanian countrysides
It’s so instinctive to shun the light
Darkness is where I’m drawn and
Will stay because I know I just belong

And at last when night falls
Before I go about the nocturnal life
I kneel down to
Honor our dead who sacrificed
For this country I can roam forever
Home because of my
Ancestor’s brutal heart.

Early on I discovered
I can shift into this creature
That hovers above castles
That still hold
Forbidden secrets

I can’t help but spin around
I call it my vampyric happiness
I’ll always relish when that
Otherworldly being bit me
And this is where the myth really ends
And the truth of my immortal life begins

CHORUS

Time is slow but Days
Still go by and by and
I notice when I pass, well, any mirror
I keep fading,
But I’m thrilled to report
Now I have no image
Has it been five years?
Another like me laughs
“Like five hundred”

I can’t help but spin around
I call it my vampyric happiness
I’ll always relish when
That otherworldly being bit me
This is where the myth really ends
And the truth of my immortal life begins

CHORUS

(c) 2022 Dark Number Nine

6. My Ancestor's Brutal Heart

All Music Written by: John Baker
Lead Solo Written and Performed by: Brian Butts
Voices were taken from video game: Diablo 3
Recorded and Mixed by: John Baker

Given the context of the faltering world we live in, it's easy to get caught up in the war called (culture war). I find it funny that a lot of us get so wrapped up in what so many people, we will never meet, do not live in the same world as us, nor understand the grind we all go through day to day, say and do and preach. A lot of us seem to listen to this garbage and then act upon it as if trying to be like these people. I have news for all of you that do this... You are living a lie, not only to yourselves, but to others and if it is not recognized and eradicated soon, our tomorrow will truly be today. I beg you all to stop being chess pieces in this game that only favors the players of the game!!! 

This song is a reflection of my anger to all of this.

Tomorrow Is Today

This is a colab between myself and The Shaolin Sniper, The original song had no leadwork and Mathis did such a great job that i remixed the song and added his leadwork!!

In the 90's i really had a hard time finding anything musically i liked. Being a kid of the late 70's and 80's... that was the kind of music i wanted to listen to. There were 2 bands that came along in the 90's that i couldn't help liking the grooves in there music and that was Tool and Helmet. This song was inspired by these 2 groups

All music written and performed by: John Baker
All lyrics and vocals written and performed by: The Shaolin Sniper
All guitar leads written and performed by: Mathis

Lyrics:
How could you go away so fast
Why did my best dream end in a a nightmare?
In the blink of an eye all the good times are gone
I never thought death would split us apart so fast
And I start to believe that the best things never last
And every one told me that time would heal the pain
But the pain just seems to grow
and this hole in my soul is now out of control
If I could just touch you and hold you again
And say to your face how much i missed you again
And love you and kiss you and feel you again
I know it's not to be and it's too late
but I just wanna say I'm forever gonna miss you
I miss how you would be there waiting
When I would come back home
And you would always be there for me when I was stressed
And needed a helping hand
on..it's all in the past
And I start to believe that the best things never last
And every one told me that time would heal the pain
But the pain just seems to grow
and this hole in my soul is now out of control
If I could just touch you and hold you again
And say to your face how much i missed you again
And love you and kiss you and feel you again
I know it's not to be and it's too late
but I just wanna say I'm forever gonna miss you
Gone away too soon
Gone away too soon
If I could just touch you and hold you again
And say to your face how much i missed you again
And love you and kiss you and feel you again
I know it's not to be and it's too late
but I just wanna say I'm forever gonna miss you.

Miss You

The song is partly in 13/8 time and the majority is in 4/4 time. With all my drum software there were no grooves i could use which were in 13/8 time so i had to edit a 12/8 groove to get the drum beat i was after. it's far from perfect, but works for what i needed it for.

All music written and performed by: John Baker
Lead guitar written and performed by: Mathis

World Eats World

All Music written and performed by: John Baker
All Programming: John Baker
All Guitar leads written and performed by James Kevin
@james-kevin-749817093

In a world full of masks and hearsay, make sure you know what truly lies behind the veil!!!!

Behind The Veil

Decided to go back to my roots... Just a good old rock n roll song. Just kick back and have some fun!!! 

Many thanks to BlueTom Haller for playing all the guitar leads in this one!!! Check out his page:
https://soundcloud.com/bluetom-haller

All music written and performed by John Baker
All guitar leads written and performed by BlueTom Haller
Mixed and mastered by John Baker

Just Leave Me Alone

All music written and performed by John Baker
All leads guitar written and performed by Andy Pfitzer
Mixed and mastered by John Baker

Just another fun, straight up rock n roll song inspired by some of the great southern rock bands of the 70's and 80's that i grew up with. So sit back and just have some fun with this.

Rockin' On Through The Night

Was going through a rough patch in my life when I wrote this song. I was between jobs and had ate up about all my savings just trying to keep up with the bills so I wouldn't loose my house.  At the time, i remember feeling like I had very few options and the world was closing in on me. That was a lot of the inspiration for this song. 

I remember picking up my 12 string in the summer of 2015 and turning on my cell phone and I believe within a take or 2 I  had written, for the most part, the entire melody of Seven Seas. The solo and underlying music came a touch bit later, but when I recorded it, the recording went quicker than most of my songs.

I wish I had put more effort into the mix when I originally released it and there for, that is the reason for the remaster.

If you listen hard you can hear hints of Lynyrd Skynyrd in the main body. It is a good example of things that subconsciously find there way out and, I guess, in someways... this is my tribute to one of the bands that most influenced me growing up.

Seven Seas Of Sorrow (Remastered)

Wanted to make an old school rock/rap fusion Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit style song. Something with some funk and groove to it. Came up with this riff late one night and laid it on an acoustic and Psycho Joe add the words and voice!!!!

Surprise Mother Fucker (vox Psycho Joe)

I have always loved this song from the Beatles and had played it in my band, but never the way I wanted to. This is my rendition of the song the way I wanted it to sound. I wanted to notch it up a little but keep the original vibe of the song intact. My friend from ZagWax laid the vocals for it and did a knock out job!!!!  I intentional through the old Rhodes keys in it to keep the 60's feel with the modern sounding guitars. I didn't want to make a heavy metal song out of this. I really hope you enjoy this re-mastered version.

I Saw Her Standing There (Beatles Cover) feat ZagWax on vox Remastered

John Baker- All Music, Guitars, Leads, Organ, Bass and Drum programming
ZagWax- Vocals
Tainted Icarus- Main Guitar Lead

This is just a straight up feel good, toe tapping, rock n roll track reminiscent of something you would hear from the Eagles, Seger, or a half dozen other artists of the mid 80's. My hopes are that when you hear it... it makes you just feel like moving to the beat.

Wash...Rinse...Fail...Repeat-  Re Mastered (feat ZagWax on Vox & Tainted Icarus Guitar Solo)

No Amplifiers were used on this track. I used a Line 6 pocket pod in place of the amplifier for this one. I wanted to test the waters using an amplifier emulator to see if i liked it because the set up is so much easier than constantly having to mic my amplifiers.... my only fear is that the emulators will not sound exactly like an amp.

I chose to just cover a song that I really loved growing up and that I had played in our band for years from the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and asked my cousin and his sister and mom sit in on this one and do the vocals and back ups. so a big shout out to them for their help with this test track... Hope you all enjoy this and if you have never heard the original, youtube it... its a great song.

Originally written by ELO
All music and guitar leads by John Baker
Lead Vocals- Devon Kirby
Back Up Vocals- Misti and Emma Kirby

Rock N Roll Is King (ELO Cover song)

All music written and recorded by John Baker (The Old School)
All lead guitar written and recorded by Andy Pfitzer
Mixed & Mastered by John Baker

I wrote and recorded this song back in 2015 when I didn't really have any equipment other than a DAW and a cell phone. The recording and mix wasn't great but a friend of mine and the first person I began talking to on Soundcloud (Rob from Fire Jam Band) loved the tune and did some vocals for it. I had the original version of this on my page for quite some time and removed it a good while back. I never had any intentions of re-mixing it, let alone, remaking the entire thing from scratch, but Rob had asked me that if I ever remade one of my songs let it be this one, so it took over a year of dragging my feet, because I wanted to be in the right frame of mind when I did it, but I finally have it completed. Everything is played almost as close to  the original as I could get and Andy Pfitzer helped me out by performing all the lead guitars in this because my original lead lines were awful. So a big thank you to Andy for all his help. 

This is also one of the last songs I used real guitar amplification for.

Old School Rock N Roll (2019) feat Andy Pfitzer on Lead Guitar

Special Guest: Icarus Fire- Lead Guitar
All music & Programming written by John Baker
All guitar leads written and performed by Icarus Fire

This is the first of my 2 halloween tracks for 2019, it is also the 2nd track that i was experimenting with drop C tuning. It's a blistering metal barrage of jaw breaking guitars, crushing drums with an ear shattering lead!!! Not for the faint of heart!!!! If you appreciate straight forward metal music with no apologizes then this is for you

Beware what lurks in the shadows in the far reaches of the night, for the wretched beasts are alive and hungry and ready to drag your soul to hell!!!!

Drag You To Hell

Special Guest... The great Icarus Fire

All music, written and performed by John Baker 
All lead guitars by Icarus Fire

This is the second of my Halloween tracks I wanted to put out this year. Imagine yourself walking through the sinister doors of this old abandoned asylum and encountering all the ghosts of past inhabitants, with nothing more to do than tell you the horrors of their stories as you are locked in with them for eternity!!!!

Hats off to Icarus Fire for once again gracing one of my tracks with his awesome lead guitar playing abilities. I hope you enjoy this little treat and Happy Halloween to everyone from The Old School!!!

Into The Asylum

All music written, recorded and performed by Johnny B
All guitar and leads by Johnny B
All work done on Mixcraft 9

In 1991 I graduated tech school and left without getting phone numbers or contact information from a lot of my friends at the time. I have spent the last 20 years trying to re-connect with them, but over time... I have sadly forgotten the last names to pretty much all of them.

Recently I went on to Facebook and just by chance, I remembered the home town of one in particular. I entered her first name and home town and to my surprise... she came up on the screen. I was overjoyed. After doing a little more research, just to make sure it was her... i discovered that she had been hit by a car and killed not 3 months earlier. It left me a bit shaken and moved.

I must say that it is ironic that after 20 years of searching for a few individuals.... I find one.... and when I do, this is what happened... very sad.

I wrote this song in tribute to her...

The Wake

This came from a scratch track I recorded late in 2015. I was looking for a new idea when a friend of mine was going through some of my throw away stuff and found this and suggested I develop it further. I think at the time all there was was a crappy acoustic outline of the melody. I decided to take his word for it and work with it and see where it would go. I'm really happy with how it came out. I love the lead, just wished I could have played it better.

Changes (Remastered)

All Music and Programming by The Old School
Lead Guitar by David Hannah
Lyrics written and performed by MurderDance Klick

Equipment for the music:
Schectrer S-1 Elite tuned to drop C
Ernie Ball Strings (12 gauge)
Peavy Viper Combo 150 Watt Combo Amp using 2 amp mods
Sure 57 Mic / MXL603S Mic
Mixcraft 9

When I originally mixed this I had managed to get one master wav file of it and then something happend to the session and I had to reload everything and upon failing to get it sounding any better than the version I released, I had always intended on remixing this later. Well I have tried multiple times and could never seem to crack it until now. I have totally remixed and remastered this to the way it should have sounded in the beginning. hope you enjoy.

The opening intro was made from clips of a BBC special on vampires that I threw together and added sounds and effects behind. (hope they don't try and sue. LOL)

I used various Halloween sound effects for the vampire sounds and tried to pay homage to one favorite actors (Vincent Price) by using his laugh in this piece.

Big thanks to David Hannah for providing the awesome guitar lead and my friend MurderDance Klick for writing and performing the vocals for this track.

They Live! (Remastered)

All Music Written by- John Baker
All guitar- John Baker
All electronic programming- John Baker
Lead Guitar Solo- written and performed by Daniel Gómez (Icarus Death)
@danielgoram

No apologies... No bull shit... in your face!!!!!

Straight up old school thrash metal song that was inspired by, what I like call…. Greatest hoax every played on the world!!! Take your lives back people before we lose everything we have fought so hard to build and before the Isolation-Mancipation becomes a reality. Quit listening to all the bull shit the corporate entity is feeding you and do your own research. Ask questions and search for your own answers. Most lay right in front of your face if you just look!!!

If you don’t like what I have to say… I really don’t care! Keep being a tool of the billionaires club and one day, very soon, you are going to wake up with nothing and they will truly own the world.

The Isolation-Mancipation

All music and programming by: John Baker
Mixed and mastered by: John Baker

A song for the times!!!!!

Welcome To The Rat Race

All Music written, recorded and performed by John Baker
Guitar Solo written and performed by Alfonso Llorente Sardi
All Piano written and performed by Jan Schonander - The Gat(s)
All programming by John Baker
Mixed and Mastered by John Baker

Growing up listening to tons of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Molly Hatchet among many others, I had been wanting to come up with a track to pay tribute to these bands because they have heavily influenced me and my playing over the years. There is hardly a song I write that doesn't have some element of these 2 bands creep into it in some way. It has taken quite a long time, but I feel I finally wrote the piece that does these bands justice. I hope you enjoy.

Sweet Southern Belle (with The Gat(s) & Alfonso Llorente Sardi)

All music written & performed by John Baker
All lyrics written & performed by ZagWax
All lead guitar performed by Andy Pfitzer
Mixed & Mastered by John Baker

Just a good  old fashioned rock n roll love song!!!!!

Under The Moon (with- ZagWax & Andy Pfitzer)

All Music by John Baker
All guitar and programming by John Baker
Guitar Lead written and performed by the great AL'z
Mixed and mastered by John Baker using Studio 5

Wanted to start the new year out with just a cool rock track that you would have heard in the late 70's up through the early 80's when hard rock was in it's glory days. Really just a lot of fun packed into 4 mins. hope you enjoy.

Sexy Thangz (with AL'z)

Please check out and follow my side project Krakenmoor (TTM, myself and other guest musicians) at soundcloud.com/krakenmoor/tracks

First off, I would like to thank you for taking the time to stop by and listen to my music. I’m very open to comments and any suggestions you may have. Just knowing you took a listen to my music makes it all worth it to me. Feel free to like and repost if you find anything you like. I am also open to collabs with any genre.

I am just a small-town guitarist with a great love for music of any kind. 80’s Hard Rock and Metal are my first love, but I have been influenced by several different genres of music from Classic Country to Hip Hop. Some of my favorite bands are: Kiss, Led Zepplin, AC/DC, CCR, Black Sabbath, Megadeth & Metallica to name a few, but currently I enjoy bands such as: Nightwish, Lacuna Coil & The Dark Element .

John

The Old School

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