Sir Lord Baltimore are a pioneering American heavy metal band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 1968 by lead vocalist/drummer John Garner, guitarist Louis Dambra, and bass player Gary Justin. They are notable for the fact that a 1971 review of their debut record, Kingdom Come, contained the first documented use of the term "heavy metal" to refer to a style of music. Additionally, Sir Lord Baltimore featured a drumming lead singer, traditionally a rarity in rock and metal music. The group have been called "the godfathers of stoner rock."
Having first met in high school, Garner (the band creator), Dambra, and Justin started rehearsing together in 1968. At the time of their formation, Dambra (as Loius Caine) was also playing for a gorup called The Koala, who released an eponymous LP in 1969. Additionally, Justin has cited Cream's JAck Bruce as an influence on his early career choice.
After a relatively short time, the new band auditioned for Mike Appel, who was then working as a talent scout and would late launch and manage the career of Bruce SPringsteen. Appel agreed to mentor them, reportedly gave them the name Sir Lord Baltimore, would later co-write the lyrics also co-arranged and co-produced their debut album.
That album, Kingdom Come. was recorded at Vantone Stuidos and engineered by Nick Masse from the legendary "Four Seasons" West Orange, New Jersey, with JIm Cretecos serving as Appel's co-producer. Addiontal tracks, mixing, & overdubbing were done at New York, New York's Jimi Hendrix Electric Lady Studios with legendary engineer Eddie Kramer, better know for his work with Jimi Hendrix, KISS, and many others. ACcording to Appel, British psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd had the opportunity to hear Sir Lord Baltimore during these sessions, and were reportedly impressed. Released on Mercury Records in 1970, Kingdom Come featured very fast-paced rock 'n' roll with high levels of distortion in the guitar andm in some cases, the bass, and extensive multi-tracking to further enhance the guitar sound. Though this style of rock 'n' roll would become popular in later years, it was considerably different from the majority of that era's contemporary rock music.
On February 19-20, 1971, Sir Lord Baltimore played consecutive nights at New York's Fillmore East as the opening act on a bill that included The J. Geils Band and Black Sabbath, as part of the latter's Paranoid tour. (Sir Lord Baltimore played additional dates on this tour, as well.) A photo of the band used in the Fillmore East's programs was later used as the cover of their 2006 album, Sir Lord Baltimore III Raw.
In May 1971, Mike Saunders (of later Angry Somoans fame) wrote a favorable review of Kingdom Come for Cream magazine. Of historical note was Saunders' assertion that "...Sir Lord Baltimore seems to have down pat most all the best heavy metal tricks in the book." To date, this appears to have been the first printed use of the term "heavy metal" to reference a musical genre.
Issued the same year, and again on Mercury, Sir Lord Baltimore marked a change in direction, with Kingdom Come's frenetic pace giving way to slower-tempoed songs more reminiscent of music produced by the band's hard rock peers. Sir Lord Baltimore expanded to a four-piece for this album, with Louis Dambra's brother, Joey Dambra, joining as a second guitarist. Sir Lord Baltimore contains the supposed live recording, "Where Are We Going" which was actually recorded at Mercury Studios. The audience was dubbed in since the produced thought it was a good idea to include a "live" track.
Their career started to fade after Sir Lord Baltimore's release, and Mercury dropped them shortly thereafter. The band publicly blamed drugs on its initial downfall, with loaw record sales and non-payment of reoyalties also being cited. However, the band did start work in the mid-1970s for an unreleased third album originally scheduled for 1976, and music written for that project was eventually used on Sir Lord Baltimore III Raw.
In 1994, Kingdom Come and Sir Lord Baltimore were reissued on a single compact disc, Kingdom Come/Sir Lord Baltimore, from PolyGram. However, the track listing on the combined CD differs from the original recordings. Kingdom Come was issued again seperately as downloads in 2007, this time on Athropology Recordings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Lord_Baltimore
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