Roy Z Ramirez (born February 1968) is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer, best known for his work with Bruce Dickinson (from Iron Maiden), Halford, and Judas Priest. He also is the founder of Tribe of Gypsies, a Latin-influenced hard rock band. Roy also helped write and produce the band Life After Death in 1996.
A regular on the Southern California hard rock scene in the late 1980s, Roy played with several bands, including Seventh Thunder, Gypsy Moreno, Royal Flush, Driver, Warrior, and Mike Vescera. In 1991, Roy recorded a 5-song demo which netted a record deal with German indie label Dream Circle Records and led to the formation of Tribe of Gypsies.
When Bruce Dickinson split with Iron Maiden in 1993, he hand picked Roy and Tribe of Gypsies members Eddie Casillas (bass), David Ingraham (drums), and Doug van Booven (percussion) to complete his solo band. Adding a Latin feel to the metal legend's distinctive voice, the resulting album Balls to Picasso is a somewhat eclectic affair, ranging from the power ballad "Tears of the Dragon" (which also received a music video) to the doomy rocker "Cyclops". Although recorded in 1993, the self-titled Tribe of Gypsies debut album did not surface until 1996 when it was finally released on JVC/Victor in Japan. Three more releases followed in quick succession before the band finally toured the U.S. for the first time, supporting Santana on a handful of dates on the Supernatural tour.[1]
After the commercial failure of his alternative rock styled Skunkworks album in 1996, Bruce Dickinson re-teamed with Roy on 1997's critically acclaimed Accident of Birth which also featured guitarist Adrian Smith (of Iron Maiden). The band would follow up strongly with 1998's The Chemical Wedding, a concept album with a darker feel but equally praised along with Accident of Birth as a fan favorite, even jokingly called by some "The best Iron Maiden album since Seventh Son."
Roy gained widespread industry acclaim for his work with Dickinson, and in 2000 he was tapped to produce the Rob Halford solo album Resurrection, which featured the duet "The One You Love to Hate" with Dickinson,[2] as well as Helloween's The Dark Ride. Roy would go on to produce and co-write every Halford album to date as well as taking over on guitar for the departing Pat Lachman in 2003.[3] Roy also re-connected with his former Driver bandmate, vocalist Rob Rock, for a series of albums starting with 2000's Rage of Creation.
Roy and Bruce again teamed up in 2003 to write and record Tyranny of Souls, released on Sanctuary Records.[4] The pair could not find time to write the album together, so Roy would send riffs to Bruce, who was on the road with Iron Maiden, and Bruce would write melodies and lyrics. The album was recorded in Roy's studio, and featured session players on drums and bass. Roy himself took a turn on bass for 2 songs, "Believil" and "Power of the Sun." Vocals for the album were done in less than 2 weeks, with Bruce sleeping on a cot in the studio to maximize time. Dickinson had also been injured during a fall at an Iron Maiden show and was all but unable to stand. The album had to be shelved for more than eight months (later released in 2005), however, when in 2004, Roy got the call to produce and mix Judas Priest's reunion album Angel of Retribution.[5][6] Shortly thereafter, Roy was tapped by former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach to produce his 2007 solo album, Angel Down, which included a guest vocal appearance by Guns N' Roses mainman Axl Rose.[7]
Roy Z performing in 2010
In 2008, Roy and Rob Rock re-activated their long dormant band Driver and released their full-length debut, Sons of Thunder, which included re-recordings of the songs from the band's 1990 cassette EP.[8] Roy also took part in the Halford reunion and has played guitar alongside "Metal" Mike Chlasciak on all subsequent studio and live releases since, starting with the 2009 Christmas album, Halford III: Winter Songs. Roy has also continued his production work, including Ravenous by Swedish heavy metal band Wolf in 2009[9] and Brazilian thrashers Sepultura's twelfth album, Kairos, in 2011.[10]
In March 2013, news leaked that Roy was once again working with Bruce Dickinson and that the project would also involve former Scorpions guitarist Uli Jon Roth[11] with whom both Z and Dickinson have performed live on different occasions.[12] Ultimately, no new album with Dickinson would materialize but Dickinson has since acknowledged that "If Eternity Should Fail", the opener on Iron Maiden's 2015 album, The Book of Souls, stemmed from writing and demo sessions with Roy, although Dickinson is listed as the sole writer in the credits.[13]
In 2014, Z's band, Tribe of Gypsies, were invited to play the Rock of Ages Festival in Seebronn, Germany, their first and only show on the European continent to date. They also played a rare L.A. show supporting Latin all-stars De La Tierra, led by Sepultura's Andreas Kisser.[14] In early 2016, Tribe released a video for "Yeah!", their first new song since 2006's Dweller on the Threshold.
Z has continued to keep busy working as a producer, engineer and mixer, most recently with artists such as former Nevermore vocalist Warrel Dane,[15] Peruvian metal band Flor de Loto, Russian rockers Aria,[16] and all-star project Spirits of Fire featuring Tim "Ripper" Owens (ex-Judas Priest, Iced Earth), Chris Caffery (Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra), Steve Di Giorgio (Testament, Death), and Mark Zonder (ex-Fates Warning, Warlord).[17] Z also co-wrote, played guitar on and produced the 2019 West Bound debut album, Volume One, a project fronted by his former Tribe of Gypsies bandmate, vocalist Chas West (Jason Bonham Band, Resurrection Kings).[18]
After 11 years, in 2024, the album Bruce Dickinson and Roy have worked on has been finally released. It was named The Mandrake Project and it is a concept album following about Dr. Necropolis.
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most of the band's history has consisted of Harris, lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson, drummer Nicko McBrain, and guitarists Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers. As pioneers of the new wave of British heavy metal movement, Iron Maiden released a series of UK and US Platinum and Gold albums, including 1980's debut album, 1981's Killers, and 1982's The Number of the Beast – its first album with Bruce Dickinson, who in 1981 replaced Paul Di'Anno as lead singer. The addition of Dickinson was a turning point in their career, establishing them as one of heavy metal's most important bands. The Number of the Beast is among the most popular heavy metal albums of all time, having sold almost 20 million copies worldwide.
Sepultura is a Brazilian heavy metal band formed in Belo Horizonte in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera. The band was a major force in the groove metal, thrash metal and death metal genres during the late 1980s and early 1990s, with their later experiments drawing influence from alternative metal, world music, nu metal, hardcore punk and industrial metal. Sepultura has also been credited as one of the second wave of thrash metal acts from the late 1980s to early-to-mid-1990s.
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in the latter half of the 1970s, the band struggled with indifferent record production and a lack of major commercial success until 1980, when their sixth studio album British Steel brought them notable mainstream attention.
Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Dickinson has performed in the band across two stints, from 1981 to 1993 and from 1999 to the present day. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage presence.
Robert John Arthur Halford is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. He has been noted for his powerful and wide ranging operatic vocal style and trademark leather-and-studs image, both of which have become iconic in heavy metal. He has also been involved with several side projects, including Fight, Two, and Halford.
Testament is an American thrash metal band from Berkeley, California. Formed in 1983 under the name Legacy, the band's current lineup comprises rhythm guitarist Eric Peterson, lead vocalist Chuck Billy, lead guitarist Alex Skolnick, bassist Steve Di Giorgio and drummer Chris Dovas. Testament has experienced many lineup changes over the years, with Peterson being the only remaining original member, though they have since reunited with Skolnick, who had been out of the band from 1992 to 2005. Billy has been a member of Testament since 1986, when he replaced original singer Steve "Zetro" Souza, who had left to replace Paul Baloff in Exodus. He and Peterson are the only members to appear on all of Testament's studio albums, with the latter being the only constant member overall.
"The Trooper" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released as the second single on 20 June 1983 from the band's fourth studio album, Piece of Mind (1983). It was one of only a few songs to achieve frequent radio airplay in the United States, thus peaking at No. 28 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock. It also achieved success in the United Kingdom, peaking at No. 12 in the UK Singles Charts, as well as gaining a better reception than the band's previous single, "Flight of Icarus". The song is one of their most popular and remains an essential track of heavy metal music.
Charles Billy is an American singer who is best known as the lead vocalist for thrash metal band Testament.
Tyranny of Souls is the sixth studio album released by Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson on 23 May 2005. The cover art is one of the panels of Earthly Vanity and Divine Salvation, a work by renaissance artist Hans Memling. This was his first solo album since rejoining Iron Maiden in 1999, and his last for nearly two decades, until the 2024 release of his follow-up album The Mandrake Project.
Halford is an American heavy metal band formed in 1999 by British singer Rob Halford, who is best known as the lead vocalist for heavy metal band Judas Priest. Halford formed the band to return to his heavy metal roots. His two previous projects were a "street metal"-style band called Fight and the industrial metal band 2wo.
Tribuzy is a Brazilian heavy metal band fronted by Renato Tribuzy. They have toured with Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson and guitarist/producer Roy Z. A live album called Execution – Live Reunion was released in May 2007.
Warrior is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1982. Best known for their 1985 debut album, Fighting for the Earth, the band has released a total of four studio albums. Guitarist and co-founder Joe Floyd is the only Warrior member to appear on every album.
Bruce Dickinson, a British heavy metal singer, has released seven studio albums, two live albums, one compilation, ten singles, three video albums, fourteen music videos, and one box set. In 1979, after playing in local groups, Dickinson joined hard rock band Samson. He departed after two years to become Iron Maiden's lead vocalist. His debut with this band is considered a "masterpiece", which was followed with a series of top-ten releases. In 1989, while Iron Maiden were taking a year off, Dickinson and former Gillan guitarist, Janick Gers, composed a song for a film soundtrack. His solo debut, Tattooed Millionaire (1990), was an effort that favoured a hard rock/pop metal approach, different from what fans assumed would be an aggressive, Iron Maiden-like album. Four songs—the title track, "Dive! Dive! Dive!", "Born in '58", and a cover version of David Bowie's "All the Young Dudes"—were released as singles. Dickinson returned to Iron Maiden, accompanied by Gers as the new guitarist, and the project went on hiatus. Dive! Dive! Live! was a live video recorded from a concert in Los Angeles, California, in August 1990, and released in July 1991.
Tribe of Gypsies are a San Fernando Valley, California-based Latin rock group, best known for band leader/guitarist Roy Z who has produced, written for, and played with such well-known artists as Judas Priest, Rob Halford, Sepultura and Bruce Dickinson who has used various members of Tribe of Gypsies to record his solo albums starting with 1994's Balls to Picasso.
Kairos is the twelfth studio album by the Brazilian metal band Sepultura. It was released on June 24, 2011 by independent German record label Nuclear Blast Records. This is the band's first release on the label, marking their first album not released on SPV/Steamhammer since 2001's Nation.
Good Blood Headbanguers[sic] is the second and currently last studio album by fictional heavy metal band Massacration. The title is a literal translation to English of the Brazilian colloquial expression "sangue bom", meaning a trustworthy person, while the intentional misspelling of "headbangers" is a reference to the fact that the digraph ge is written as gue in Portuguese.
Spirits of Fire is an American/Italian supergroup consisting of Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra guitarist Chris Caffery, Testament bassist Steve Di Giorgio, and former Fates Warning drummer Mark Zonder. Tim "Ripper" Owens formerly of Judas Priest and Iced Earth was a founding member of the band before leaving in 2021. The identity of Owens' replacement was kept secret while the band was recording their second album. The new singer Fabio Lione was announced 8th december 2021 with their second album Embrace The Unknown that will released on 28 February 2022 via Frontiers Records.
"The Writing on the Wall" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The song was released on 15 July 2021 alongside a music video, and served as the lead single from their seventeenth studio album Senjutsu. It was also the band's first single since 2016's "Empire of the Clouds".
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