Escape The Great Unsigned

Having become a fan of Heavy Metal music in the 1980s, I was frustrated with the Australian Media’s apathy towards the music. Not to say there wheren’t exceptions. The media seemed to take an interest in an Adelaide-based ‘shock rock’ Metal band called Escape. Any why wouldn’t they? The band had an over the top stage show featuring a castle stage set. Songs were punctuated with explosions and firing cannons. Guitarist John the Beast stood at 6ft weighing ****. He adorned a costume of fur, chains and horns. His image featured on magazine and newspaper covers.

One of my high school's few enlightened ideas was to keep the music newspaper Ram in the school library. Many a lunchtime would be spent reading Escape's crazy antics. Most notably they’d built a customised guitar featuring spark plugs and quadruple extractors. There was the tale of how John had gone from a soft-spoken male nurse to the Heavy Metal beast with grenades and cleaver. He was aided by his equally large younger brother Tony who brought his bass playing and pyrotechnic skills to Escape’s school pantomime meets a hardware store. It’s all true. Trust Me! Motorhead spoke of Overkill, but Escape preached it.

My involvement in community radio saw me producing a Heavy Metal program for Canberra’s airwaves. Many a demo tape was sent by bands wanting to raise their status. It was in this context that I met Mark ‘Spook’ Winders Escape’s former manger. Guiding me through a scrapbook, he told me of Escape’s rise to media notoriety and gradual downfall following a car accident.

Time passed, and I found myself wondering what had become of the many bands whose demos I’d played on radio. There was of course Armoured Angel and Alchemist, but aside from them none of these bands achieved the rock star status they were after. So over the years, I wondered what became of them. Where they still out there somewhere pursuing their musical dream? How had they returned to everyday life? Most intriguing of all: What ever became of John the Beast?

Have I got you intrigued? What happened when I located John and Tony Zisimou at their home in Gawler South Australia. I hadn’t traveled much, so at the time that was my furthest journey from home. Support our documentary and you’ll see the story of Australia’s Heavy Metal folk heroes brought to the screen.

Previous funding has seen filmed interviews with John, Tony, Spook and Pil. Veteran Australian Rock Star Angry Anderson has provided his support to the project with a filmed interview. With Screen ACT’s assistance, Film developer Stephen Cleary provided much needed advice on the project and told me what it was that subconsciously attracted me to the project.

Just testing the water to see how things are going here. Thirty Five characters or more.

Just testing the water to see how things are going here. Thirty Five characters or more.