HOME   BIO   WORDS   DISCOGRAPHY   20 QUESTIONS   MEDIA   MERCH   PRESS   CONTACT			WHO THE HELL IS THIS "HEAVY METAL WARRIOR" GUY AND WHAT'S THE STORY BEHIND S.M.F.? By Len Enders Hi everybody. The Warrior asked me to write a S.M.F. band history from my perspective so here it is. Ray Jackson A.K.A. the Heavy Metal Warrior has lived in Port Townsend, WA. since 1987 and was born with a severe case of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). He started calling himself the Heavy Metal Warrior in 1984 to prove to a former classmate that he wasn't a loser. I first became aware of the warrior in 1989. I was with my friend Derek Mitchell and we were looking at guitars in Port Townsend's only musical instrument store at the time Port Townsend Music. The Warrior came busting through the front door like a man on fire nearly knocking over a guitar in the process. He was wild-eyed and he looked about Half-crazed. I thought he must be a madman for sure. Either that or a doped-up heavy metal burnout that had been up for 3 weeks, wired to the gills on coke and now he had finally snapped and decided to rob the place. The store was packed with customers and all heads turned to see what all the ruckus was about. He charged directly from the door to the guy behind the counter and began barking commands at him not 3 inches from his face, "Where's my this?" "Did you order my that?" "How much longer until my those come in?" I figured the guy behind the counter would throw him out any second but he didn't even flinch. Instead he calmly assured him that his stuff would be in soon and he would call him the moment it arrived. After that the Warriors attention quickly shifted and he came up to Derek and I and started speaking to us. He was talking so fast though that neither of us really had any idea what he was trying to tell us. He told us he was the Heavy Metal Warrior then something about B.C. Rich guitars and starting Port Townsend's first Heavy Metal bowling team. Before we could reply he was jetting across the room and talking to some other people and it was apparent by the stunned looks on their faces that they were just as clueless as we were. Within minutes he had disrupted, spoken to and left confused nearly every person in the store and then bolted out the front door. It was sort of like that Loony Toons cartoon where the Tasmanian Devil comes in, turns into a tornado, busts everything up then disappears as quickly as he came. I knew immediately that the Heavy Metal Warrior was the REAL DEAL. A TRUE MUTANT. For about the next 5 years after that I would have sporadic Warrior sightings around town. Usually his voice echoing in the distance and a glimpse of his trademark shoulder-length dirty blonde hair as he darted around a corner. On a few rare occasions he actually came up to me on the street downtown and started talking to me as if we had known each other for years, (it wasn't until later that I realized he spoke to everyone this way). He would tell me about the vast Christian Conspiracy to stop rock music and the latest update on the Heavy Metal bowling team. Then in 1994 I was singing in a local band called Circle Of Fear. We were having a show at the fairgrounds and I was passing out flyers when I ran into the Warrior. I told him about the show and he assured me he would be there and that he would be bringing his girl friend Alice "in chains" Yantz. I don't remember seeing him at the show but about a week later he called me. I'm not sure how he got my number but pretty soon he was calling every couple of days. He invited us to his house so a bunch of us got together and went over. When we arrived at his place we couldn't believe our eyes. Literally hundreds of Heavy Metal videos, C.D.'s, cassettes, and records all in mint condition and all put away neatly in their designated areas in alphabetical order. He also had what appeared to be every video game system and all their respective games and controllers ever manufactured since 1982. It was insanity. We hung out for a few hours, ate junk food and watched videos. Then we started going over every Monday evening for what he called "Monday Night Mayhem". We would listen to metal and watch crazy videos while he bounced off the walls pumped up on coffee, soda and junk food. (not to mention his own Hyper-activity problems). One night when Charlie Burns (who played guitar in Circle Of Fear) and myself went over to his house he presented us with some lyrics he had written. The tune was called "Rest in Pieces". It was about the Friday the 13th movies and the star Jason Voorhees. We couldn't believe it. The lyrics were actually really good. He had an idea for the music and wanted some help. (Not only did the Warrior have video games, C.D.'s and tapes but he also had keyboards, drum machines, a guitar, bass and multiple effects pedals). Charlie plugged in a guitar and I had a small drum machine. We figured out the basic structure of the song then recorded it on cassette while he screamed the lyrics into this fucked up microphone. When we went home and listened to the tape we were amazed. It was actually kind of a kick ass song. Over the next year the Warrior kept in constant contact with us and in 1995 when Circle Of  Fear was again planning on having a show at the Fairgrounds in Port Townsend we thought it would be a perfect time for him to make his stage debut. I would play drums, Charlie would play guitar and Adam Burns (who played bass in Circle Of Fear) would play bass. We had the Warrior over to our band room and rehearsed 4 songs. The night of the show he literally knocked the people dead. The crowd sang along and pumped their fists at the Metal God. The rest of us wore masks since this was the Warriors band and he was the one the people needed to see. A few weeks later the Warrior put out a cassette of a two track recording from the sound board at that show called "Alive and Sick". In the years to come S.M.F. played a couple more live shows in Port Townsend. By 1997 he had written a bunch of songs and was determined to put out a full length studio recording. We put together the music for him and did all of the recording in my bedroom in Port Hadlock on my Yamaha 8-track cassette recorder. I drew up the cover art and did the graphic design. He had 100 copies of "...And Proud Of It" manufactured on cassette only. After that we got together with him and did a "cassette release" live show in Port Townsend. This whole time SMF was supposed to be a small "side project" to help "secure the legacy of the Warrior" as he so often put it. He promised that after the album release and following live show he would hang-up his Warrior gear and SMF would "Go down in history as a Northwest Legend" (again his words). But we soon found out that the Warrior is never satisfied. He had one more realm to conquer: Cable Access T.V. I had a friend who put together a cable access T.V. show in Seattle called "29 Live". It's a weekly show where the band comes in and plays a live 30 minute set. Circle Of Fear had played it twice and now the Warrior wanted SMF to play it too. After this SMF would be done for good. He swore it this time. His legacy would be secured. So in Dec. of 1998 SMF played on 29 Live. The Warrior was in RARE form and he rocked the entire King County cable access viewing audience to their very core. Now the legacy of the Heavy Metal Warrior was finally secure. About a year and a half later I moved to Bellingham, WA. Circle Of Fear had disbanded and S.M.F. was history. But the Warrior kept in constant contact with his legions of fans and by 2000 they were growing restless and hungry for new material. So he started writing new songs and with a 4-track, a guitar, bass and drum machine he recorded his own demo called "SchizoTron". This was the groundwork for what the Warrior insisted would be SMF's greatest masterpiece yet. Unfortunately all his band members were miles apart. Charlie Burns was living in Bellingham, so was I. He tried to find new members at one point but it was useless. Port Townsend was a gutter town that didn't appear to contain any musicians interested in playing hard-core speed-metal. Finally he got in contact with a local musician/D.J. named Matt Schmidt who was a long time fan of the Warrior and was willing to take over drumming/engineering duties. Even with conflicting schedules and many delays Matt, Charlie and Adam were able to pull it together for the Warrior and record all of the music for the new album. I had recently moved to San Diego and on a return visit went to Synergy Studios in Port Townsend and helped lay down the vocal tracks. Then back in San Diego with the help of Derek Mitchell put together the album artwork. Now "SchizoTron" is complete. But is the legacy of the Heavy Metal Warrior finally secured? Could this be the end of the line for S.M.F.? Somehow I get the feeling that there is just no stopping a guy who proudly declares himself "THE HEAVY METAL WARRIOR" (c)2003 HEAVY METAL WARRIOR, LTD.