WIZZARD's "Ninya Warrior" single and unreleased material will be released on CD and vinyl format by No Remorse Records on October 6th, 2023, and the band will perform the first, exclusive reunion show at Keep It True Rising Festival with the original line-up! Premiere of unreleased song "Killer on the Loose", taken from the upcoming "Ninya Warrior - The Anthology" compilation.
The story began sometime in 1981 when two Swedish music teachers at a local music school combined forces to form a band from their young students, aged 11 and 12 years old! This embryonic band began playing together and they practiced a selection of rock tracks, leading to a few live appearances at local venues. In 1983 the line-up was completed and the band got a new impetus and went into intensive rehearsals like never before, using the name, WIZZARD.
Some early demos were recorded and soon it was decided that it was time to record a single. The first edition of 1000 7" singles were cut by Ljudpress in Östersund. To accompany the launch of the record, Wizzard played a gig at the Athletics track in Hoting, to a big crowd. The single was selling quickly and the band made a number of live appearances during the summer of 1986. That same autumn, Swedish Television broadcast a series of programs with young, up-and-coming artists. Wizzard had the honour of making an appearance where they performed their latest original track, "Stormchild". "Stormchild" and another new track, "Killer on the Loose" were then recorded as a low-budget demo. The band continued to write their own material and their ambition was to make another proper recording.
Few more recordings followed by Wizzard but they invited suggestions for a new band name. Several names were proposed, but in the end they favoured their own suggestion, CHARITY. After a while, a new single was released, but soon, the band’s rehearsals became less productive. The members spent more time discussing all other problems under the sun and the music somehow fell out of focus. Nobody decided to wind up the band. It just fizzled and ran away, into the sand, sometime during 1988/1989.
WIZZARD was approached by No Remorse Records and the band decided to release their songs in one compilation under the title, "Ninya Warrior - The Anthology" on CD and vinyl formats. In the booklet of both CD and LP, you will find a lot of unreleased photo material, and also the band's complete story by singer/guitarist Matti Norlin.
TRACKLIST:
01. Ninya Warrior
02. Suzie
03. Stormchild
04. Killer On The Loose (1986)
05. Suicide
06. Heartbreaker
07. In My Dreams
08. Killer On The Loose (1987)
09. Two Of A Kind
10. In My Dreams (Charity single 1987)
11. Two Of A Kind (Charity single 1987)
Tracks 1, 2 are taken from the Wizzard single, recorded at Tommys Music Lab, Östersund, in March 1986.
Tracks 3, 4 recorded at Musikskolan in Hoting, 1986.
Track 5 recorded at Börjes Studio in Strömsund, 12/10/1985.
Track 6 recorded live in Kaxås, 1986.
Tracks 7, 8, 9 recorded at Tommys Studio in Östersund, 1987.
Tracks 10, 11 are taken from the Charity single, recorded at the Recording House, Stockholm, 1987.
Mastered by Bart Gabriel.
Original Wizzard "Ninya Warrior" cover by Maria Oscarsson. Cover reworked by Christina Proiou.
WIZZARD:
Matti Norlin: Lead vocals and rhythm guitars
Hans-Erik Jansson: Lead and rhythm guitars
Michael Hallberg: Drums and percussion
Eskil Rönnberg: Bass
Mikael Rönnberg: Keyboards