ArtistInfo

Minotar

voc, g, dr, b,
Singer / Musician

Minotar was founded in 1997 when bassist/vocalist Jerry Yeager began jamming with his college buddy and drummer John Kraemer. Through Jerry's cousin, John Belland, the duo would hook up with guitarist, Phil Pollock (formerly for the band - FACE), later that same year. The name 'Minotar' was chosen by the drummer John Kraemer and voted upon by the band as the name of their new band. Minotar started out as an experimental thrash band and began writing original material, immediately. The first song the band wrote was called "Ashes of Creation" much of which had been composed by Jerry and John prior to the addition of Phil Pollock to the band; however, this song inspired Phil Pollock to begin writing material for the song, "Peek Through the Pines" (a song about the local NJ legend of the New Jersey Devil), which he hilariously wrote in his bath-tube of all places. The band began furiously writing material for their first demo and began playing shows - the first being a frat party at the Rutgers New Brunswick campus in New Jersey. During the initial writing process, the band began transitioning to a death metal style. Minotar continued to write new material and went into the studio to record their first demo which included songs such as "Peek through the Pines" and "The Silence Before the Storm", which were never to appear again on later demos. The artwork for the first demo was sketched and hand-drawn by their drummer, John Kraemer. Minotar continued playing live shows and began developing a following on the internet through websites such as www.mp3.com. Disappointed with the sound of their first demo, they began preparing to record their first CD release in 1999. Minotar launched into the studio of the former drummer of the band Nuclear Assault (Glen Evans) to record their 2nd release, which was aptly titled "Ashes of Creation". The artwork for the CD was done by Tim Boughton - the guitarist/singer of the Canadian thrash band, Drakkcoil. In 2000, Minotar released songs for "Ashes of Creation" on mp3.com and the song "Stabbed Through the Back" was a mega-hit, shooting to #1 on the death metal charts. The song "Overlord" was also extremely popular. Minotar began playing shows of prominence after the release of the new CD. Minotar headlined several shows playing with local metal bands such as 'Sludge' and 'Mortal Decay'. Additionally, Minotar opened for many popular signed acts such as Six Feet Under, As I Lay Dying, and Behemoth". During this time, Minotar began negotiating with record labels. Minotar also acquired a 2nd guitarist/backup vocalist (Al Fradella) from the band, Red Dawn, who disbanded earlier that year. In 2003, Minotar went into the recording studio to record a new 3-song demo to showcase their new material which was darker, heavier, and more complex than any of their previous material. The demo featured 3 songs, "Crusade of Dracul" (which started as a technical death metal song entirely written by Jerry Yeager after being inspired by the Nile album "Black Seeds of Vengeance"), "Trinity" (which was an experimental jazz fusion death/thrash song written by all band members), and "Lambs to the Slaughter" (which was a death-core song written and conceived by Phil Pollock). Jerry would later revisit "Dracul" many years later in life and re-envision the song in a new, sinister light... Studio and intra-band issues began to undermine the band and planted the seeds that would eventually end the band. During the recording of this third demo, the recording studio shuffled around the producers causing the quality of Minotar's 3rd demo to greatly suffer. Additionally, Minotar's drummer, John Kraemer, was sent over-seas to serve his country. Low on funds, Minotar never finished the demo. The songs were released in an unfinished state. Internal strife struck the band and Minotar's drummer was once again sent overseas to serve his country. Effectively, but not officially, Minotar was disbanded. Al Fradella had quit the band permanently. After years of strife, Minotar decided to reform after John Kraemer returned from his final tour of duty in Iraq. Jerry and Phil had explored other bands during this time, but none of them filled the void. Interest in Minotar and writing new material was renewed and the band decided to rewrite all of the older material and prepare to record a 4th demo. Minotar rewrote the songs, "Stabbed Through the Back" and "Lambs to the Slaughter" and decided to record another 3 song demo with friend/fellow musician Dan Savaria. Minotar recorded all but the vocals and some guitar solo work for the new demo before halting. It was initially thought that the music was lost due to a harddrive crash, but this was confirmed not to be the case many years later. Minotar would go on to play their last show at "Tim Buck 2's" in Folsom, NJ before calling it quits for good. The legacy of Minotar cannot be overstated as the band accomplished quite a lot in its 10 years of existence. The band was a stand-out performer and played all across New Jersey, Philadelphia, Delaware, and New York. Minotar was widely respected by fans and venues alike and was noted for their style, which did not follow the conventional rules of the time. It should be no surprise that the former members are continuing to have success with new projects.

Instruments

• Vocals
• Guitar
• Drums
• Bass

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