BAND MEMBERS:

 
Fight L-R:
Brian Tilse: Lead and Rhythm Guitars, Piano
Scott Travis: Drums
Jay Jay: Bass
Rob Halford: Vocals
Mark Chaussee: Lead and Rhythm Guitars

Management: John Baxter, EMAS

ALBUM:

I Am Alive • Mouthpiece • Legacy Of Hate • Blowout In The Radio Room • Never Again • Small Deadly Space • Gretna Greene • Beneath The Violence • Human Crate • In A World Of Mine Own Making Hidden Track: Psycho Suicide Japan Bonus Track: Acid Test

• Released April 14, 1995 by Sony Music Entertainment UK (UK Cat. # 4784002) and April 18, 1995 by Epic/Sony Music Entertainment (US Cat. # EK 66649) and (JPN Cat. # ESCA-6211)

Produced by Attie Bauw and Rob Halford
Executive Producer: John Baxter
Engineered by Attie Bauw
Mixed by Attie Bauw with Rob Halford
Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering
Recorded at Attie Bauw Studios (Studio Bauwhaus), Amsterdam, Holland; Skip Saylor Recording, Los Angeles, California; Vintage Recorders, Phoenix, Arizona

Chart position: Billboard 200 #120
Nielsen SoundScan: 67,253 units sold

PROMO SINGLES:

• I Am Alive released as a promo-only CD in 1995 by Epic/Sony Music (US Cat. # ESK 7085).

• Blowout In The Radio Room released as a promo-only CD in 1995 by Epic/Sony Music (US Cat. # ESK 6949).

Another song was planned for a surprise B-side, but having never seen the light of day, it now remains a mystery:

PROMO VIDEOS:

• Blowout In The Radio Room

Another video was considered but with the changing face of the music video industry, it never came to be:

Also, stay tuned for the possibility of an official Fight DVD in 2005:

ARTWORK:

Cover Artist: R. Cratty
Sony Art Director: Stephen Walker
Photography: Neil Zlozower and Danny Clinch

Artist R. Cratty had previously assisted with the cover layout on WAR OF WORDS and Sony art director Stephen Walker was art director for the MUTATIONS EP, while manager John Baxter gave final approval for the new logo:

Early 1995: Changes in a small deadly space

By 1995, changes were in the air: Having faced the departure of two guitarists in 1994 (Russ Parrish and replacement Robby Lochner), the position was finally filled by former The Coupe De Grace guitarist Mark Chaussee, who hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Chaussee was discovered through a tape he sent to Halford's management:

 
Mark Chaussee

Another change was that unlike the songwriting of the debut album, the follow-up was a complete band effort...

The collaborative sound would prove to be far removed from any Priest numbers, and even a bit of a departure from WAR OF WORDS. The music took on a different vibe: Gone were the trademark Metal God screams and fiery guitar solos of the past; in their place were dark heavy pieces and atmospheric experimental pieces, and only one "radio-friendly" song ("Blowout In The Radio Room"). Some say the album was such a departure as to hint at the next step Rob would take on his musical journey a couple years later...

Yet the truth is, A SMALL DEADLY SPACE has as much to do with the sounds of Jay Jay and Brian Tilse more so than any future project of Rob Halford. In fact at this point, Fight was unique among aggro-metal bands because of the cleaner dynamic voice of Rob Halford and the pop sensibilities and melodies that 20 years in metal success afforded him to introduce into the mix.

A SMALL DEADLY SPACE truly stands out from the metal pack to come before or since, yet to this day, many Priest and Fight fans have mixed feelings as to the album's brave direction, but Rob defends Fight's decision to go against a "pigeon-holed" idea of metal:

After a brief three-month tour, it was clear to Rob and the rest that another change had come: The metal music scene was being pushed underground by the music industry as grunge and alternative came to the forefront in the mid '90s, and demand for Fight was waning. The tour that was planned to carry into 1996 came to an abrupt end in the summer of '95 and Fight returned home to the drawing boards again...

The enthusiasm of a new release had Rob seeing a bright future for Fight:

And in late '95, Rob Halford began to write for a third Fight album that was never finished nor presented to the band:

It is hard to say what direction the third Fight album would have taken. The main riff to "Screaming In The Dark" on Halford's LIVE INSURRECTION in 2001 was a hold over from the third Fight album and reveals a return to the more familiar screaming metal Rob was famous for. But Rob also teamed up with a couple other musicians and some pieces born in that period were quite different from anything Rob had ever done previously:

There were also ideas being considered for a possible Fight video package that may still see the light of day in the near future as a DVD:

Whatever the approach might have been for a next Fight album and possible video, before Rob could develop his ideas, Epic Records dropped Fight for lack of demand. Rather than fight a disinterested music industry, the band members reached a decision to disband and move on...

- JAY JAY AND BRIAN TILSE:

Ever since moving from Ohio, Jay Jay has been quite active in the Phoenix, Arizona and west coast metal scene. In April 1993, Jay Jay formed the "heavy, semi-industrial, with a slight dance groove" Satanic Industries Ltd. (S.I.L). At that time, bassist Jay Jay was a member of Fight, The aggro-metal band fronted by ex-Judas Priest front man Rob Halford. In these early days, S.I.L had to budget their time between Jay Jay's touring and guitarist Goody's ongoing work as a soundman for Sepultura. Goody has traveled the planet many times over working in various capacities as a guitar tech, tour, stage and production manager and as a soundman with bands such as Sepultura, Sacred Reich, Flotsam And Jetsam, and Biohazard. Guitarist Cristin landed a deal with Mammoth Records in a band called Bigshot Allstar, but after Mammoth downsized, the All-stars had no deal. Rounding out the band was Josh Eber on drums and percussion.

Together, they released the self-titled SATANIC INDUSTRIES LTD.

Tracklist:

S.I.L
Nuclear 19
Soul
Technology
Your Fear
Regret
Churn
Sex Nut

Recorded and mastered at In Your Face Studios, Phoenix AZ
Produced by Michael "Vain" Karpiak & Satanic Industries Ltd.
Engineered by Michael "Vain" Karpiak, Darrin Morphus & Mike Keskee
Mixed by Michael "Vain" Karpiak    

At one point, Jay Jay was part of a band called Pack 666, and this photo of Jay Jay is supposedly from a stint with a band called Beelzebub. Note it shows him wearing the same 666 shirt he wore during the 1994 Fight tour:

Jay Jay in Beelzebub	Jay Jay in Fight circa 1994

Brian Tilse was said to be in a band called Tilt.

Jay Jay teamed up with Brian Tilse again in 1997 and formed Vent:

After Vent, both Jay Jay and Brian found themselves frustrated with the music industry's lack of interest in heavy metal and they parted ways, each going to other interests. Jay Jay was now working for a Phoenix, Arizona tattoo shop called Artistic II, and in 1999, he did some personal artwork for Slayer, working on T-shirt designs for their '99 Ozzfest tour, as well as doing guitarist Kerry King's tattoos and designing the tribal pattern for Kerry's custom B.C. Rich guitar:

Kerry King tattoos, Slayer shirts and tribal guitar art by Jay Jay

In the meantime, Brian Tilse moved to a farmhouse in the Midwest and continued to develop his unique guitar sound and unorthodox style, to be called upon by Jay Jay once again a few  years later...

S.I.L logos and art by Jay Jay

In 2001, Jay Jay and S.I.L (now going by the name of Sin Industries Ltd.) returned to the studio with new drummer Rich Contadino, who had previously worked for Fox and Dreamworks as an animation artist. The result was GOING TO CHURCH

Tracklist:

Intro
Going to Church
Hurt
Evil
Whore
Dope Peddler
Hideous
Ghetto
Treachery
Sin

Released October 23, 2001 on Triple X Records

Sin Industries Ltd. are currently signed to Stephen Pearcy's (Ratt) Top Fuel Records.

In early 2004, Jay Jay and Brian Tilse met again for a brief stint in the six-man Ohio band Lollipop Lust Kill:

Out of this venture, during the winter of '04, Jay Jay and Brian recruited Lollipop Lust Kill drummer Chris "Knits" and formed a new band called Glass Pipe Suicide:

Hmmm. Now where have
I seen this one before?

Chris, Jay Jay and Brian

Jay Jay, Knits and Brian as Glass Pipe Suicide

Former Pantera and recent Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell was highly instrumental in inspiring the musicians of Fight in their musical direction and performance. On December 8, 2004, tragedy struck when a deranged man walked across the front of the stage at a Damageplan show in the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio and shot Dimebag Darrell Abbott 6 times at point blank range, killing the metal legend. Jay Jay was deeply shocked and saddened by the sudden death of his close friend whom he had the honor of doing a shoulder tattoo for:

Dimebag Darrell will be missed by many people both in the metal community and elsewhere, as he was a person who knew how to touch the heart even before setting the head to banging! R.I.P Dime, 1966 - 2004.

- MARK CHAUSSEE:

Mark Chaussee recorded BLACKACIDEVIL with Danzig in 1996, but left before the tour started. Apparently, Mark then rejoined his first band, The Coupe De Grace, releasing a demo and touring the Midwest U.S. in 1999. Following that, in early 2000, an outsider suggested that newly formed Missouri band Killswitch work with Chaussee, but that union wasn't meant to be...

Failing the Killswitch audition, Mark joined Stereomud in the summer of 2000, but that too didn't work out:

In 2003, Chaussee then returned with James Mecherle, now known as Jimmy Coup, to work on a "full-on metal" album with ex-The Coup De Grace guitarist Steve Wresh and drummer Brett Degendoffer:

As of October 2004, it is reported that Mark Chaussee has possibly joined Marilyn Manson, or at least they'll see how it works out, to fill the spot vacated by John 5. If this is so, then Marilyn Manson will have the distinction of collecting up former Rob Halford guitar players ("John 5" Lowery and now mark Chaussee). Hmmm... could Metal Mike be next? Or K.K. Downing?! Don't count on it!

- SCOTT TRAVIS:

Scott Travis of course returned to his gigs with Judas Priest and Racer X.

LYRICS:

I Am Alive • Mouthpiece • Legacy Of Hate • Blowout In The Radio Room • Never Again • Small Deadly Space • Gretna Greene •
Beneath The Violence • Human Crate • In A World Of Mine Own Making • Psycho Suicide • Acid Test

1. I Am Alive
R. Halford/B. Tilse
Performed live in: 1995; 1997

I am I said
And I believe
I made it here for something

This is my time
I'm here and now
And I'll fight on
To get there

With prejudice in mind
Through fear nobody sees
Unwilling to accept
This ignorant disease.

By my own right
I have a dream
This is my life
I'm someone.

Look in my eyes
I'm everyman
Feel what I see
Inside you.

A damming of the facts
A way that's negative
Inside we're all the same
We have one live to live

The virus in the heart
Enough to seal your fate
Look deep at what you are
Itt's time to kill the hate

A narrow mind will give
A poisonned point of view
Take care of what you sow
The next one could be you

By opening the door
The end could be so sure
A joining of the hands
To seek and find a cure

I am I said

I have a dream

I am alive

2. Mouthpiece
R. Halford/M. Chaussee
Performed live in: 1995; 1997

When did you,
Last look at
At where you are?

Did, did you,
Ever think,
You'd get this far?

Obsessor!
Low Mind
Confessor!
Declined

Have, have you,
Realized,
Just where you're from?

Will the choice,
Be, be right,
By what you've done?

Transgressive!
Ingrained
Submissive!
Enchained

What about,
The point of,
Of no return?

Whilling time,
On bridges,
That, that you burned.

3. Legacy Of Hate
R. Halford/B. Tilse/M. Chaussee
Performed live in: 1995; 1997

Raised by you,
You made me.

In your shadow,
Angry.

Like Father
Like Son

Mirror of your image.
Victim of your damage.

You gave me nothing
Like Father
But these memories are full.
Like Son
Is the back of your hand,
Like Father
All that I'll pass on?
Like Son

Here's what you've created.
Shattered,
Cracked,
And wasted.

Like Father
I want to know why.
Like Son

Like Father
The way that you treat me,
Like Son

Like Father
Eats away at your soul.
Like Son
And what's left is your conscience,

Like Father
That's a cancerous hole.
Like Son

I want to know why?
What I have done?
Where you a victim?
The cycle goes on

4. Blowout In The Radio Room
R. Halford/B. Tilse
Performed live in: 1995

Trippin' out, oh yeah
I'm freakin' out
This sound is bouncing me
Right on the wall.

Lose myself
I can't control myself
I'm a radio head
That's in free-fall.

Gets me high
High
High
High

Hazy man, oh yeah
I'm blasted man
Out there flippin' through my
paisley mind.

Ride the wave
From cradle
To the grave
Breathe it in with my own kind.

Boned with sound, oh yeah
I'm stoned on sound
No one gets to me
Inside this room.

Spacin' out, oh yeah
I'm racing here
This sound gets in my head
My head goes boooom.

5. Never Again
R. Halford/B. Tilse/S. Travis

Mind's eye in darkness,
See how they run.

Fools search for nothing,
Stare at the sun.

See how they run
There's none for me
I, stand with you

Stare at the sun
We take them in
And, we turn the screw

Talk to the madmen,
Fill them with lies.
Now pay the piper,
As honesty dies.

Never,
Never
Blood on their hands
Never
Into quicksand.

What's left to dream for,
This endless line.

Ladders to nowhere;
Blind lead the blind.

See how they run
Stare at the sun

Fill them with lies;
As honesty dies.

6. Small Deadly Space
R. Halford/M. Chaussee/S. Travis
Performed live in: 1995

Think I'm possessed by demons,
I do their dirty work,
They use me like a zombie
Headaches is all I get.

Lock myself up in my own room,
Ain't comin' out my cage,
They're full of shit and no feeling,
I'll always be in a rage.

Small Deadly Space

Sympathy cries for the devil,
I dance to the music he makes.
Chemical daze, my salvation,
Destroy these losers and fakes.

Fist in the wall, care of family.
Swallow and suck till I4m full.
I need their love and attention,
Like I need lead in my skull.

Leave me alone to my own type,
They say: "stupid is a stupid does."
I ain't a part of the rat race,
A numberless face, just because.

I'll play along with these demons,
Possessed by them every day.
Don't try to reach out and console me,
I'll bite at what gets in my way.

7. Gretna Greene
R. Halford/B. Tilse/M. Chaussee

A purple bruise,
A fractured limb,
All covered up with lies.

A swollen face,
A bloody tongue,
This violence denied.

Empty now and meaningless,
Ridiculed in shame,
Until death do us apart,
Who should take the blame?

To live a lie
Forgive or die.

A stricken look,
A lowered head,
Reflections, turning back.

A trembling hand,
A quickened step,
The dreaded, next attack.

Turning from the holy ghost,
Light and spirit fade.
Waiting for deliverance,
Every thing betrayed.

A vacant stare,
A beat-up faith,
The book of truth reviled.

A prayer to God,
A plea for help,
Held ransom with the child.

Wide awake and holding tears,
Fear that never sleeps,
Curled up in the bed at night,
The virgin gently weeps.

8. Beneath The Violence
R. Halford/B. Tilse/S. Travis

Closed into self asylum,
On ice that's paper thin.
Wrapped up for good protection.
Keep that from getting in.

The shadows bring the shelter,
Some refuge from the storm.
Brakes on the helter skelter,
To let these nerves reform.

Retreat out of the mad house,
Stop foaming at the mouth.
Hang up this strange behavior,
Cut through the overgrowth.

Watch from a safer distance,
Observe the next offense.
See how the hands do murder,
Then try to make some sens.

Black vision
Dead body
Oppression

Shock system
Explosive
Depression

Disaster
Malignant
Infection

Inhuman
Sadistic
Rejection

These acts of tender mercies,
Work on the purest soul.
They tease and trap remorseless,
Till six feet in the ground.

Shut down till all is silent,
Be still this seething blood.
Turn off, release the trigger,
Let numbness do some good

9. Human Crate
R. Halford/B. Tilse

There's a man without a home,
With a girl who has no name.
There's a face in every town,
Underneath we're all the same.

Wonder,
She has come and gone.
He is always moving on.

When the man felt down and low,
The girl was by his side.
And they walked a broken road,
With a hope that never died.

If the man should find a home,
Then the girl would take his name.
But they need their open road,
For their journey is the same.

10. In A World Of My Own Making
R. Halford/B. Tilse

If I could find a place
To leave this world behind.
Somewhere in time and space
Where i could ease my mind.
I'd take you there;
Where we could be alone.

No one can find this place;
The secret will be ours.
With no more pain to face;
We'll live amongst the stars.
In solitude, and we can wonder free.

Alone, at last just you and me.

Our island universe;
A world unto its own.
Forgetting all the worst of times,
They're gone,
You know we are as one
To make a life of peace.

Escape, into eternal sleep...

11. Psycho Suicide
R. Halford

This song was originally written and recorded during the WAR OF WORDS sessions, but instead of using that version, the band re-recorded the song for A SMALL DEADLY SPACE

See disturbing moves
Prince of cloven hoofs
Conjures up a crime
Worm-like in the spine

Psycho suicide
Psycho suicide
Psycho suicide
Psycho suicide

Anger whispers dark
Light and evil talk
Who controls the will?
Warnings for the kill

Wicked marks and scars
Chugging in its sores
Weren't you ???
??? over ???

??? psycho suicide

12. Acid Test
?
Japan bonus track
Instrumental

All compositions © 1995 EMI April Music Inc./Ebonytree Ltd. (ASCAP)/Brian Tilse  Music
Thanks to Metal Andy for providing the Metal Edge track-by-track quotes.

TOUR DATES 1997

Three-fifths of the members of Fight were reunited and billed as the marquee act under the name "Rob Halford" for a special benefit show in Phoenix, Arizona . The benefit concert was for the local Child Crises Center's "Children Of The Desert" program designed to give needy children a Christmas they would otherwise not have been able to have.

Rob Halford - v, Brian Tilse - g, Jay Jay - b, Don Juan - d

Contortion
War Of Words
Kill It
I Am Alive
A Little Crazy
Mouthpiece
Immortal Sin
Legacy Of Hate
Reality, A New Beginning
Nailed To The Gun
The Hellion/Electric Eye
Victim Of Changes
Hell Bent For Leather