| Description: | The band was formed in the early 80's by high school students Harry Conklin, John Tetley, Mark Briody and Rick Hilyard. Known by the name 'Tyrant', the young musicians became popular on the local club circuit by playing original songs along with metal classics by Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Rainbow. Tapes of the band's original music were often requested, so the guys decided it was time to enter a recording studio. Late one evening in May 1981, the band booked 3 hours at a small 4-track studio and emerged with their first demo - a cassette featuring one song entitled 'Tower of Darkness'. Studio recording proved to be very enjoyable for the musicians, so they booked time 5 months later at a larger 8-track studio. This studio session would yield two songs which would become Jag Panzer classics - 'Battle Zones' and 'The Crucifix'. This new two song demo caught the eye of fanzine editor Andrew Banks. Although the fanzine, Heavy Metal Times, was published out of Texas, Andrew Banks happened to be living in Colorado Springs at the time. The band met with Andrew, struck up a friendship, and gave him an armful of demo tapes to take with him on a trip to Los Angeles (home of several newly formed U.S. indie metal record labels). Andrew returned from Los Angeles with good news - 2 record labels, Azra Records and Metal Blade Records were both impressed with the demo tapes. However, there was also a bit of bad news, it turned out that a long established California band was also called Tyrant. A name change was in order. The young musicians mulled over contract offers from both labels while at the same time searching for a new band name. A book was found at the local library which showed a large aggressive looking tank called a Jagdpanzer. They liked the name but felt that it may be difficult to pronounce for people in America. The 'd' was dropped in the name and the band officially became 'Jag Panzer'. |