MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP Singer GARY JOHN BARDEN To Release 'Eleventh Hour' In October

Escape Music has set an October 1 release date for MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP singer Gary John Barden's new solo album, "Eleventh Hour".

Gary Barden belongs to THE voice of British hard rock. The first time Barden appeared in the scene was as part of the newly formed MSG (MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP) founded by the former SCORPIONS guitarist of the same name. Their first collaboration resulted in the highly acclaimed album "The Michael Schenker Group", which was released in 1980. Besides the great songs and the great guitar output Barden's voice was one of the reasons why this album became a huge success and allowed the band to hit the road in Europe, Japan and the USA. Their second album, "MSG", saw the light of day in 1981 and followed an even more melodic direction than its predecessor. After the following world tour, Barden was informed that he was no longer part of the band and replacement was found soon in ex-RAINBOW singer Graham Bonnet. Chrysalis, however, released a live disc recorded in Japan by the original MSG entitled "One Night At Budokan".

Searching for a new band, Barden started to write some songs with THIN LIZZY guitarist Gary Moore which later on ended up on Moore's "Corridor of Power" release. Their working period was short and so was the collaboration between Bonnet and Schenker. Bonnet sang on the 1982 record "Assault Attack", but BARDEN was back with MSG for some live appearances including Reading Festival in the same year and the 1983 record "Built to Destroy". The label's pressure to steer more into a commercial direction made the band quit business in 1984.

Barden moved on and found a new home in the business together with ex-THIN LIZZY six-string Brian Robertson and the band STATETROOPER, who put out their highly acclaimed self-titled debut album in 1987 and played a couple of live shows in the following months. "Statetrooper" was reissued on CD by Escape Music.

After a long break, Barden returned to the scene with PRAYING MANTIS' "The Power of Ten" and the live album "Captured Alive in Tokyo City" (1996). In 2000, Barden hit the road again for a couple of live shows with COMPANY OF SNAKES and founded the band SILVER together with Michael Voss (CASANOVA) and Bernie Torm (IAN GILLAN). STATETROOPER finally reunited in 2004 and put out the classy new record "The Calling".

The Escape Music album "Past & Present" marked the first solo album by Gary Barden and offered a very personal collection of new, exciting interpretations of some all-time MSG classics, a selection of songs that both suited Gary Barden and MSG fans! With his longtime pal Michael Voss (CASANOVA, BONFIRE) and a couple of friends he went back to the roots to perform his bluesy smoky songs that will touch your soul and are exemplified on the release "Agony and the Xtasy". In 2007 the more rockier "Love and War" was released by Escape Music and it has been a long anticipated wait for the next chapter.

Gary now presents us with "Eleventh Hour", which features 11 tracks of hard rock brilliance. These new songs are fresh and exciting and Gary has poured his heart and soul into them. Once again Michael Voss is ever present and the end result is just perfect. This is a hard-hitting rock album that highlights what a great singer Gary is, his contribution to the British rock scene is just legendary.

"Eleventh Hour" track listing:

01. Baghdad
02. Fallen By The Wayside
03. Child Of Sorrow
04. What You Wanna Do
05. We Are Dead
06. All In
07. Blackmail
08. Shine A Light On Me
09. Easy Does It
10. Before The Eyes Of The World
11. Don't Take Me For A Loser