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Text: Horst
 Jewel – La Morta
You know, Holland has got a healthy lack of real metal legends, but if I may name one, it has to be the band around guitarist Henky Bakker and vocalist Rick Ambrose: Jewel. Their so-called ‘classic thrash’ was - like the descriptions indeed suggests - a kind of heavy/thrash metal with lots of influences from classical music (just think of a tune like ‘Little Paganini’, that sadly enough is not on this re-release). Besides the cool music Jewel was especially famous (or should I say notorious) for their outrageous live shows under supervision of singer/clown Rick, who by means of lots of joking around and the use of bizarre stage props turned every gig upside down into a big party. King-size beer cans, serpentine spray cans, demonstration boards, trampolines (for improved stagediving), an intro-tape with the theme song of the Muppet Show, everything was used to amuse the audience and let them actively take part of the show. Seriously, this was always a real treat in an era were most Dutch bands acted like a bunch of scarecrows when on stage. Sadly enough the band never got their well-deserved big break, and after some successful tours and albums Jewel split-up in 1993.
Included on this ‘La Morta’ EP re-release there are of course all the original tracks from original 1988 release (just like every other release under the moniker ‘Dutch Metal Cult Series’ nicely remastered), but this sucker also holds some nice bonus tracks, like a cover from the Rolling Stones classic ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ plus six songs from the band when they were still called Sword. Now honesty forces me to admit that not every tune from the Sword days is that cool (I mean, ‘Mirage’ and ‘I Dream On’ are nothing compared to the mighty ‘La Morta’), but on the other hand I really glad that the B-side from the first Sword single, ‘Excalibur’ is included (1983). Until recently I only had that one somewhere on some dusty piece of tape, and that is no place for one of the coolest tunes from that grand metal year.
Tracklist
1. Blacque Moon (La Morta EP)
2. La Morta (La Morta EP)
3. Mystery Of Fate (La Morta EP)
4. Kings Of Tomorrow (La Morta EP)
5. Symphaty For The Devil (live)
6. Don't Let Them Take Control (Sword – unreleased La Morta sessions)
7. Lost In A Memory (Sword – unreleased La Morta sessions)
8. Mirage (Sword – unreleased La Morta sessions)
9. I Dream On (Sword – unreleased La Morta sessions)
10. I've Been Trying (Sword – 1983 single)
11. Excalibur (Sword – 1983 single)
What was Jewel all about? Former singer Rick Ambrose tells the story…
Almost every metal band is started by guys or girls who are metal fans themselves, and I guess you were no exception to that rule. Who or what made you pick up the instruments yourself and why?
I only can talk for myself, of course, but going back into my memories I recall one specific thing what made me decide to actually sing. I was a metalhead and visited as much concerts I could myself. I climbed on stages to jump off and being wild. One day I start singing as well and someone came to me, telling me that I had a good voice. I remember I looked strange at this guy but from that time people told me more often that I had a voice of a singer and if I could do these wild acts on stage, it would be a perfect match. That’s when I really start thinking serious about being in a band, and eventually I did this for about 22 years.
Your first official EP ‘La Morta’ was released in 1988. How did the Dutch metal scene look like in those days?
The metal scene in those days? Hmmm, let me think. It’s almost twenty years ago, but I remember that the scene was divided into two camps. One camp was all friends and no competition at all and the other camp was more trying to compete with other bands. Fortunately, our band was in the camp of friends. I remember we did tours with friendly bands just to help them to get a step up, but also other bands helped us a step up. We played with bands like Spartacus, Defender, Hammerhawk, Speedica and Vengeance, just to give you some names, but there were way more bands. Also in that time there were a lot of festivals we played together and the media attention was on a high profile.I think we were in the right place in the right time.
How did it feel like, holding your first ever record in your hand?
Magnificent. I couldn’t believe it was really happening but it did. It was an EP with just four songs but to me it was a milestone. After the release we did a lot of interviews on local and other radio stations, and I remember that one DJ asked me the same sort of question. He asked us if we were proud to finally release an album. I remember answering him that I was proud of the fans, coz they made it really happen for us. Thinking about it right now, I probably would give the same answer, coz the fans and people that came to visit our shows were a big reason for our popularity.
What did you expect from it? Did you secretly hoped for worldwide success, or was selling a couple of hundred already satisfactory?
To be honest? Yes, I actually saw myself sitting in a plain to the US to be a big rockstar. But hey, I was 22, naive and in the beginning of my career. Looking back on that, I think we were too naïve. People promised a lot and so we had a lot of disappointments on our way. We did some tours through countries in Europe and we were the first Dutch metal band ever to set foot in Moscow and Georgia, in the south of Russia. We were invited to Japan which was cancelled when we already had our bags packed. We were scouted by Atlantic Records, who were interested to release our stuff and were on the edge of signing a worldwide deal, but after a lot of conversations, corresponding and telephone calls the A&R manager disappeared from the face of the earth and our dream shattered while the clock kept ticking.
Did the release of ‘La Morta’ help you to gain more media attention and gigs?
I guess so. After the release of 'La Morta Live' (our first released demo with my vocals on it) we started to get more and more gigs. In that time the media attention was big, because of a lot independent radio stations all over Holland.
What was the final result of the release? Did it open new doors for the band (like in cool record deals), or did it not make a real difference in the end?
It opened a lot of doors but still the big labels stayed away. We’ve been scouted by a couple and we had some interesting offers, but we had to change something. One label wanted us to have a more radio orientated sound and another label wanted us to be more death metal. In our opinion there was no way we ever would change a thing about the music, coz the music we performed was Jewel. If we would change a thing it wouldn’t be Jewel anymore. So all that offers faded into the dark.
What happened to the band after when the buzz of this first release was over? Was it like you felt having to starting from scratch again?
No. Absolutely not!!! It all started for us. I remember that we finally could transform ourselves from an amateur band to a more professional band. As you know it’s all about experience. Also the fans played a big role in that. After our gigs we always got into the crowd and talked with everybody, just to hear their opinions and critics. Personally I think that is very important for a band coz the crowd makes you or breaks you. They have to buy the tickets to the concert, they have to buy the records. And the numbers of tickets we sold each concert grew very fast. We also used the crowd for our shows. Jewel was not only for the band, but also for the fans. For example, we used spraycans confetti to make the show more exciting and in years, the fans took their own spraycans of confetti to our shows to spray back on us. There was absolutely no wall between the band and the audience. So, we grew to one of the most playing bands in Holland and I’m not talking only about metal bands. Going to Jewel became a happening.
Your career obviously did not stop after this first release. Can you tell us in a nutshell what happened to the band the years after?
I think I answered this question already, but let me see what I forgot to say. Despite us becoming more popular we still were not a rich band. So after a while we thought about releasing something, coz we owed that to our fans. Alas there was no money. A show recorded by a big radio station however was a great opportunity for us coz we had the rights to use the recordings for ourselves. We had a special guest that day, Hans Dulfer (a famous saxophonist from Holland) and we played a song with him. It all looked good, until we wanted to mix it all. The drumkit had two different bass sounds and it totally fucked up the recordings. They were totally useless. That’s when we decided to release a live album that we would record ourselves. We did this actually especially for the fans coz it been a while since we released something. ‘Nou al Moe!’ (wich translates in something like ‘Tired already?’), a famous yell, which we carried around on boards on stage, was the title of that album. In the year after we made a lot of money which resulted to the recording and release to our first actually full studio product, ‘Revolution in Heaven’. After this project however the band started to collapse and two years after we split up and we buried Jewel.
I have seen the band play lots of times, and I noticed you always used a lot of stage props (demonstration boards, enormous beer cans and stuff like that), but the most funny thing was that little trampoline you put in front of the stage to assist the stagedivers. How do you come up with such crazy ideas? I still wonder how many people got hurt by using that trampoline…
Hahaha. Yeah, that was funny wasn’t it? We always liked to do new things. We even had a confetti canon for a while which I shot from the hip. But the trampoline? I think the idea came from our manager. Of course we thought about the safety, but it was impossible to make it safe. We had to rely on the crowd to really catch those who used the thing. That’s why we only used it in one particular song that only last for a couple of minutes so the people wouldn’t be too tired. In the beginning I took the first jump so the most people saw that I was catched, so they had the nerve to make their jump as well. And after it went al like a routine. In all our concerts we had just one broken arm and that was not caused by the trampoline act. And yes, we had lots of fun with that little thing.
What where the absolute highlights in your career?
I have a couple of highlights. Our trip to Russia, a concert with one of my favourite bands and good friends from San Francisco, Laaz Rockit. A show in front of children from six until fourteen. The recording and release of ‘Revolution In Heaven’, being followed by a TV crew of VPRO for a couple of days. One particular show with Vengeance in the south of Holland, a big show in Belgium on a festival with a Danish band and the first show in my hometown Amsterdam, at the Paradiso club.
And what were the absolute lows in your career?
Mmmh, I must be honest in that, and also here I have to mention a couple. The cancelled tour in Japan, the A&R manager that got lost, the relationship between me and the guitar player was not really good and the breaking up of the band. I knew it was the only way, but then again, it was a part of me.
Do you have any regrets whatsoever, and are there things you would have done differently if you could do it again?
No, I only regret the things I didn’t do. The things I did what went wrong, hey, I learned my lesson out of that. Regrets are more an excuse for most people. And if I had the wisdom that I have now and had to start all over again? Yes, some things would be different but I don’t think we did it that bad. We had a lot of respect, a lot of fans and, according to a lot of people, we were our time ahead, musicwise. No, we had a wonderful time and everybody needs to learn from their mistakes. Well, so did we.
If there is one piece of fatherly advice you could give to young dudes who think of starting a metal band, what would that be?
Hahaha, I have some. Well, for the bands, stay who you are and make your own music. For singers, I have some advice when they go on tour. We did a tour with my last band - MAC-11 - with three other bands. I remember giving the singers the advice to sing everyday for more then an hour, work on your condition and don’t party after the show coz it sucks up all the energy that you need on further shows on the tour.
I am sure you have seen a lot of weird stuff in the years you were in the band. What is your favourite anecdote from those days?
Definitely the tour in Russia. We did this show in the Dynamo Tiblis stadium. After the show a man came up to us and started to talk to me in very bad English. He gave me a ring coz the show made him happy. I must say, the show was back in ’89 and everybody was very poor over there. The next day we did a show in the same stadium and after the show the same man came up to me, telling that we made him very happy again and he gave me another ring. I looked at Frankie, our drummer back then, and said that I had to give him something too. So I took a pass from my bag. In fact a touring pass, one side in English and the other side in Russian. I gave it to this man and told him he was the only one in whole Georgia who had this pass. Suddenly the man started to cry, told me that he was so happy and walked away. We opened the curtain and the man was outside in front of the window of our dressing room and held his hands before his eyes and the pass to his heart. Then he walked away and I saw the magic what music can do to people. This was amazing.
What are the guys from the band doing nowadays? Are you all still active in the music bizz or are some of you living the normal civilian live?
I quit making music. Sometimes I just record a song for a project called “Jesus in Graceland”, which is an industrial project, but not too much. Nowadays I work in the porn industry and have my own magazine (‘Touch’) on the market and I produce and distribute DVD’s. I guess if you ever been a musician, you will always end up in strange jobs, hehehe.
Well, this raps it up for now. If you have anything to say or add, the space below is yours…
I would like to thank you for the interview. It has been a while and the release of the 'La Morta' EP on CD is a great initiative, for I remember a lot of people asking us to bring it back on the market. Thanks to Rusty Cage Records a lot of fans can add this CD to their collection. Let’s see what follows…
http://rustycagerecords.com
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