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History
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The Maulers first got together in 1969 after brothers Eddie and Alex Vas Deferenz were released from His Majesty's Correctional Institute for Boys in Oslo, Norway. They made their way via sardine freighter to the midwestern United States where they met Peter Thrustaciola, a young drifter who aspired to be a gynecologist. They shared a common love, cartography, but soon realized there was little use for these skills- so they decided to form a band. With Thrustaciola singing and the Vas Deferenz brothers on guitar they named themselves "The Mersey Mailmen".
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After a week of intense practicing, they realized something was missing, so another local, Andy Magnuminopoulis, was added to the group as bassist. Later that month, they played their first gig at the Debauchery Club and made regular appearences at other local clubs. A local promoter, Louis DeBoner, offered to manage the band and promised them he would obtain a recording contract. The next month the quartet entered the studio and the result was their first album, I'm Warm For You. |
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Unfortunately, the boys suprising lack of musical ability, as well as the lack of a drummer, caused problems and sales were very poor. Undaunted, they found an aging and penniless drummer who taught them with his years of knowledge in the music industry. Once the boys had learned all they could, they fired him and hired their friend Jim Smith. They then became the "Silver Maulers" and with their newfound musical ability (and a drummer) they recorded Experience the Silver Maulers.
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After several years on the road, they made quite a name for themselves. But the road had taken its toll. On a warm summer afternoon, brother Eddie Vas Deferenz and his new girlfriend, starlet Ginger Grant decided to take a ride on a charter boat with a small group of sightseers. A freak storm erupted in the Pacific and the ship was never seen again. To this day, people speculate as to the fate of this three hour tour. After a period of mourning and an exhaustive search, Leonard "Bitch" Pastey was named as the new guitarist three days later and the band was renamed the "Maulers." |
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The year 1971 was a turning point for the band. Their latest album, Rude Awakening, was selling well and while on tour in support of that album, they met Deryk St. Derrick in a seedy bar who, after getting the band quite drunk, convinced them not to renew their contract with DeBoner and to turn the Maulers management over to his struggling company, Penisaurus Productions. St. Derrick recalls, "That friggin' bum DeBoner had bled them dry with his 98 percent take. By the time I stepped in, the boys were living in empty appliance boxes and eating out of dumpsters. The first thing I did was find them proper living quarters. I located a nice 300 square foot apartment with heat and indoor plumbing. They moved in around mid December and for Christmas I bought them their own cots."
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While St. Derrick worked to put the bands affairs in order, the band practiced, wrote new songs and refined their drinking skills. The fans were beginning to wonder if the band had broken up, as they were hardly seen in public throughout 1972, although the tabloids reported Mauler sightings in such obscure places as the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, monastaries in Tibet and the Daytona 500. |
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As the seventies wore on the legend grew as the band played any venue available, from bowling alleys to stadiums. It was during this period that they built their solid catalog of albums- starting with the 1973 release of Taking Full Advantage, and continuing with Tool of Obedience (1974), Dressed to Maul (1975), Dredging for Pleasure (1976), their breathtaking live album Mauled! (1977) and the confusing 1979 release Maulercize (with Jane Fonda). Their stage shows were very impressive- huge walls of amps, bombs and fire and, of course, the 40 foot inflatable penis (nicknamed "Mr. Johnson" by the roadies) that became a mainstay of Mauler shows for many years to come.
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The Maulers were one of the first bands to use corporate sponsors to help offset the high cost of touring. St. Derrick secured Maxwell House coffee and Lucky Strike cigarettes as sponsors for the '75-'76 tour which came to be known as the "Caffeine and Nicotine Tour" and proved to be a very successful partnership for both the band and companies involved. Others stood in line to sponsor the band and throughout the late seventies tours were sponsored by a variety of companies including Ozark Airlines, Motel 6 and Stiffley's All Meat Wieners. |
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In November of 1979, St. Derrick announced the Maulers would embark on an extensive world tour which would begin on January 1, 1980 and end on December 31, 1999 and would be known as the "World Carnage Tour". St. Derrick remembers, "We had a press conference and all the media was there with the exception of print, radio and television. The band was out to prove something, but to this day I'm not sure what it was. A 20 year tour had never been done before, but it does have several advantages: one, you don't have to think up a new name for a tour each year, two, it saves a lot money on the costs of printing T-shirts and tour books and, three, well, I forgot what three is but I sure it's important."
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Over the next decade the band toured relentlessly, often playing as many as 348 nights a year. This left little time for studio work, so most of the albums released during this period were "greatest hits" or poorly recorded "live" albums. The fans loved the live shows, but they were hungry for new material and many wondered it the Maulers were selling out. The problem was further compounded when individual band members recorded solo albums during the late 1980's, leading many to think that all was not well in Maulerville. |
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Nine years into the World Carnage Tour, St. Derrick secured a sponsorship from the telecommunications giant, MCI. An incident between lead singer Peter Thruster and the wife of MCI president Michael Vortac caused Mrs. Vortac to file for divorce and follow Thruster across the country in a VW bus- needless to say the sponsorship for the tour was canceled. About the same time, Thruster was involved in seperate incident with media mogel Ted Turner. The Maulers were playing in Atlanta and Ted Turner, who was a big fan of the band, invited the guys to sit in his box at a Braves game. Everything was fine until the seventh inning stretch when Peter asked Ted if he could "smell his finger" and suggested to him that the Braves should sell thirsty fans "your wife's bathwater instead of beer." Soon after, Turner and Vortac teamed up and hired the best lawyers money could buy to get rid of the Maulers once and for all. They used their political clout to their full advantage and soon the Maulers found themselves on the short end of the stick with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. The Maulers' citizenship was revoked, and the Maulers were now a band without a country.
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| The group continued to tour in Europe and Asia with limited success. No gig, not even a series of shows at Vietnamese brothels, was too humiliating to turn down. A huge break for the band came when they were asked to headline a three day concert in Germany, but it was not to be. As luck would have it the Maulers road crew had taken a wrong turn and were caught on the wrong side of the Berlin wall on November 9, 1989, the day the wall fell. All of their equipment was smashed and they were forced to cancel their appearance. |
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The Maulers bounced around Europe and the far east for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, after years of legal maneuvering and perhaps a bit of begging by manager St. Derrick the band's citizenships were reinstated and the Maulers could again tread on United States soil. In reality, a loophole in the government's citizenship policy allowed the rockers to return. Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said "this is just another example of the Clinton Administration's failure to provide any leadership." In October of 1997, after eight years of exile, the Maulers returned home only to find that most fans had forgotten about them. However, a group of the bands hardcore fans, known as "Maulbags", did organize a parade in honor of their heroes. St. Derrick borrowed millions to finance and promote the last leg of the World Carnage Tour which began with "Maulerpalooza" on November 1. The show was a huge success- the Maulers were home.
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