Blitzenhamer

F

ritz Patrick united with cousin Tim Cardoza to form a band called S.S. Dagger in Hayward, California. Between them they penned their first songs Wretched Man and Doctor of Destruction, and within four months had four more to offer. Douglas Tiexeira, another cousin, had recently moved into town; Douglas was a skilled drummer with such bands as Overlord, Robyn Danger and Last Descendants, not to mention his touring experience with Y&T. Rounding off their line-up was Kaz Suda of Tokyo, Japan; a graphics arts student at U.C. Berkeley.

In August 1993, S.S. Dagger released a four-song EP Rest In Pieces. The party was short lived for Kaz returned to Tokyo six months later when he graduated. In November 1994 Len Goldschmidt replaced Kaz, with Russ Farnsworth taking up a second guitar spot in June 1995.

Look Out Below (1995) would be their next collective effort, a five track tape. But in 1996 Russ left to be replaced by Chuck Aldrich. Chuck would only last a year, however, with no replacement.

Pawns Of The Predator (2000) with the remaining S.S. Dagger line-up of Len Goldschmidt (bass/vocals (backing)), Doug Teixeira (drums), Shawn Davis (guitars) and Fritz Patrick (vocals)would be their next effort, this time with the intent on finally making a debut album. Engineered by Michael Rosen (who has worked for the likes of Flotsam and Jetsam and Testament) their album was finally released. However, just prior to the album's release they elected to change their name due to the controversy caused by the "S.S." component of their name having relation to Adolf Hitler and his lot, so they changed it to the umm... somewhat slightly less suggestive Blitzenhamer before the album's release. The album apparently wasn't enough for the band has yet to record again.