Stryper Historian

Anyone that knows me and how much of a collector I am probably knows that I have spent WELL over a decade trying to find just ONE copy of this treasure for my personal collection. Well finally after probably at least 15 years of searching, hundreds of record stores, millions of internet searches and eBay searches I have finally been able to secure a copy of the EXTREMELY RARE 45 by the band Stormer!

I have only seen it before one time on eBay probably 5 or 6 years ago and that copy went for HUNDREDS of dollars and was way out of my price range at the time. I have never seen one again until about 2 weeks ago when a copy materialized on eBay!

The way that it was listed no one would have ever seen it or realized what a treasure it was if they did not know what it was. Since I search eBay for it every time and time again I got VERY lucky when I searched and IT CAME UP!!!

I was not about to chance letting this copy get away from me. I quickly popped in a HIGH bid to lock it in. I then saw that it was just listed so I emailed the seller who ran a record store in the Virginia area and had this listed for around $3! I offered him a quick 20 bucks to take the auction down and sell to me immediately. I did not think he would go for this and I was willing to spend a LOT more this time. Much to my surprise, he accepted my offer as it appears it may have even been gathering dust in his record store for a while and no one realized what a gem was just sitting there!  

I have been dying to get this in my hands and share this find with everyone but I didn't want to speak prematurely and I wanted to get it in my hands before anything could screw it up!!! Well today it arrived November 5, 2008 and this Stormer single is now one of my most prized posessions.

 I do not know of anyone else that may have one of these in their possession other then Tim Gaines himself who has 2 copies and was never willing to part with one (Trust me I bugged him several times through the years, Sorry Tim) If you own a copy shoot me an email and I will list you here! Right now al I know of that actually own a copy of this is Tim and myself! I believe there were only around 500 ever pressed in 1980 and they were mostly sent out as promos and sold at shows. I'll check with Tim and see if I can get him to give me all the details one more time.

Here are a few words about the release from Tim Gaines himself... 

Actually, if I remember correctly it was released in 81 to AOR radio stations across the USA for the Christmas season. There were only 500 pressed and most of those were stolen by a "manager" who skipped town.

TG
 

Tim Gaines was kind enough to provide me with some information on this poster...

"The first poster you have that you call rare... It was 1984 and was a picture taken backstage at the Santa Monica civic. I have a few of these and I think it may be our first wall poster. It was fazed out when the ugly Yellow and Black attack poster came out...the one where Oz looks like he is from the Planet of the Apes." Tim Gaines 

This poster was obtained outside the Whiskey A Go Go in Hollywood CA by myself at one of the bands very first shows with Robbie Brauns on Vocals Pre - Steven Patrick joining the band. I recently had it signed by 3 of the 5 original members. Still gotta catch Robbie and Mike some time soon!

This piece I got directly from Janice Sweet quite a few years ago, it is by far one of my favorite pieces. It is one of the posters that was used in Japan to promote the upcoming shows that were being filmed for what was to become the Live in Japan Video (Hopefully some day it will get a proper DVD release)

This is another rare piece I got from Janice quite a few years back. This one archives a very early date PRE - Stryper where the guys opened up for Ratt and LA Rocks. Classic very rare poster.

This one is an original, authentic poster from the Australian To Hell with the devil tour. This one I obtained on eBay. Great contribution to the collection.  

This poster actually documents the show that would be aired live and traded widely as the 'Burning Flame' live show. A rare piece that I got from a trader in Japan. I recently got questioned on this one that 'Burning Flame was actually the show filmed in Korea on 3-25-89. I was not sure and when you look at Tim's Tour archive he lists that both of these shows were professionally recorded. So I got some more information from Tim Gaines on this one...

Hi Bill, Both shows were recorded but the Burning Flame was the earlier Japan show. The Korea concert had better audio and the band played better. Tim Gaines

Another rare poster that I obtained from a collector in Puerto Rico. This is an original poster from the January 14, 1989 In God we Trust stop on the tour.  

First up we have a hand bill from the Against the Law tour with special guest Trixter from the last show of that tour which was held at the Melody Ballroom in Portland Oregon.

Second is the official hand bill poster from the second annual Stryper Expo in Azusa California. The 2 day festival was held on May 18 and 19 2001.

Third we have an original poster from the first Christian Metal Festival called Metal Mardi Gras which was held on September 12, 1987. The festival featured Barren Cross, HERO (Featuring original Holy Soldier vocalist Robbie Brauns) Soldier, Neon Cross, Bloodgood, Deliverance, Eternal Ryte, Guardian, Believer & the first appearance of Vengeance (before the Rising was added).  

First here is a Promo poster from the Enigma Records re-release of Yellow and Black Attack.

Second is a Southern California show from In God We Trust tour at the Orange Pavillion on March 9, 1988.

Third is another Against the Law show poster from October 29th also with Trixter on the bill at the Gothic Theater in Denver Colarado.

This one is a promotional poster that lists all the dates of the first Solo tour Michael did to support his first self titled release on Benson Records in 1994

Here is the only poster of the Original King James which featured Tim Gaines and Robert Sweet shortly after the demize of Stryper in 1993.

This is a nice poster from a Summer Festival in Puerto Rico that featured Supertones as the headliner and very special guest stars Sin Dizzy and Michael Sweet.

This is not a poster but an 8.5 x 11 sheet of four original photos that were given to me by Janice Sweet. Very cool early photos worth showing!

I tried to show the rare more obscure shirts here and shyed away from a lot of the standard shirts you still see on ebay frequently.

Another band that I really listened to a lot growing up was the 70's band Angel...

On the top is a Vintage 70's poster of the band that measures 26" x 18"

Below the poster are 6 original copies of the bands CD's. When CD's first began to come out Mercury released the bands whole back catalog on CD. As far as I know they were only released the one time never to be pressed again I am missing one of their older releases 'On earth as it is in Heaven', and a few of the newer releases. Any of these usually go for a pretty penny on eBay today. Here is a link to the entire back catalog and more.

http://www.angelrocks.com/discography/index.html

In my picture but not in the listing is a newer Russian release titled The singles collection volume 1. It is a collection of the bands 45's from the first half of their career. There is a Volume 2 which finished the collection but I have not got it yet. The collection comes packaged very nicely with a pull out color insert that chronicles of their 45 single releases. Very nice packaging.

Lastly is the bootleg DVD titled 'Sinful Archives' which contains some of their early promotional clips, Don Kirshners rock concert appearance and several other TV appearances.

If you haven't listened to Angel and are a fan of 70's glam like Kiss or others I strongly suggest you go back and check them out! 

This is another Rare piece and one of my favorites. I have been holding off showing it because it has been rolled for a long time and I am working on getting it mounted or framed for display. There are only two of these rare pieces in the entire world!!! One is with me and the other... cough , cough , cough worldwidestrypercollector

It measures almost 3 feet by 3 feet and when fully mounted or framed will be the center of my collection. It is a brilliant piece of art chronicalling the infamous 'banned' Angel art cover.  

Here is a pretty rare one you won't see anywhere else. Another classic Metal show I was lucky enough to attend!

Live at the Roxy in Hollywood on February 25th 1992 the Deliverance kick off tour show with another classic act you may remember, none other then Tourniquet!

Here we have two of the latest releases from Stryper the first is the readily available poster now on the bands website and the second is the not so readily available Reborn in store Album Flats. These I was lucky enough to get signed by all. 

Yet Another RARE Piece of Christian Metal History - An original album flat for the Red Sunrise album by Malachia. Got this signed by all the band members at a church show in Covina California with Eternal Ryte also on the bill that night. Dont even remember the date? Anyone out there know?