Home > Rock

03/09/2023

Lisa Mann is also Lisa Metal

By BOB HOWARD // You may know her as one of the great Blues bass players. But wait......she is a metal head too!

I was talking to Terry Currier about Lisa Mann’s two recent metal projects White Crone, “The Poisoner” and Splintered Throne “The Greater Good of Man (Mann?).  We agreed it’s “the Lisa Mann you don’t know.”

After watching Lisa on the stages of the Waterfront Blues Fest, I forgot that she grew up in the mosh pits of the 1980's, Lisa Mann was inspired by bands such as Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, Black Sabbath, Manowar, Dio and more.  In the last two years, Portland’s queen of the blues has produced two metal albums with the gods of metal she adored.  

A one-woman project, “The Poisoner” is a love letter to this grand era of metal, and a lyrical homage to mystical storytelling traditions of yore.  White Crone was her dream to honor the memory of Ronnie Dio, born Ronald James Padavona (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010), an American heavy metal singer. He fronted and founded numerous bands throughout his career, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell.

The drummer on the album is the veteran Vinny Appice. “Vinny has anchored the rhythm and power live and in the studio for the music of Dio, Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell, WWIII, Axis, Rick Derringer, John Lennon and more. He has recorded and co-written songs on over 25 albums and CDs including many multi-platinum records. Touring the world for over 2 decades resulted in selling millions of records!“ He first recorded for me some years ago on a blues-rock song called ‘Judge a Man Forever’ on my Hard Times, Bad Decisions album. 

So I cold-called him, and he said yes!” He later tracked a song for her debut album, The Poisoner, called “Under Hag Stones.” It’s also another slow, super heavy beat, around 60bpm, so his Black Sabbath chops served the song beautifully.  Of course, She said, “he was my drummer of choice my single “Stargazer,” that followed the release of Poisoner.  Read her interview with Metal Digest’s Sam Turner https://metal-digest.com/2021/07/26/the-story-of-white-crone-all-hail-traditional-metal/

 Some of you may know the Portland Band, Splintered Throne.  Not I until Lisa joined the band.  I became a fanatic fan after Lisa joined the band. “The Greater Good of Man is their third full-length album, after founding membe r and longtime vocalist Brian Garrison left, (from their website) “the band brought celebrated blues singer Lisa Mann into the fold, and it doesn’t take long for her to prove that she’s more than a match for Splintered Throne’s heavy/power/hard rock formula. The band launches straight into “The Reaper is Calling,” a hard-charging heavy-verging-on-power metal track that’s equal parts Dio and Dream Evil, and Mann’s vocals fit perfectly. But as badly as I want to use that track as the embedded sample, I’ve opted to go with a different single. “Morning Star Rising” is a slow-burning Dio-Sabbath hard rocker, and it really showcases Mann’s smooth yet bluesy voice as she croons over subdued verses and powerful choruses.”  I couldn’t agree more.

Lisa Mann is an amazing musician.  For as long as I can remember she has been the bottom in Portland’s blues community.  She has been inducted in the Cascade Blues Association Hall of Fame.  and a regular at the Waterfront Blues festival.  Her “Old Girl” CD https://lisamann.bandcamp.com/album/old-girl, revealed her “singer songwriter” side.  Two parts Bonnie Raitt and one part Loretta Lynn.

White Crone “The Poisoner” (https://whitecrone.bandcamp.com/album/the-poisoner) and Splintered Throne “The Greater Good of Man”  (https://splinteredthrone.bandcamp.com/album/the-greater-good-of-man-2).  

Lisa Man is joining the cast of “She’s Speaking”,  for three of four performances, 

Saturday, March 18 @ 7:00PM Lincoln City Cultural Center, Lincoln City

Sunday, March 19 @ 2:00PM Salem Public Library, Loucks Auditorium, Salem, OR

Saturday, March 25 @ 8:00PM The Alberta Rose Theatre, Portland, OR

Tckets: https://shesspeakingsongs.com/events

Comments