Alex Robles (aka Alexander III)  has been credited as one of the premier vocalists to emerge from the 1980's underground Texas metal scene.  That's pretty high praise for someone in the esteemed company of others like Mike Soliz (Militia/Assalant), Jason McMaster (WatchTower), Chris Cronk (Karian), and Ray Alder (Syrus).  Robles fronted Final Assault through two different incarnations from 1984 to 1988 and released two demos with the band:  First Warning in 1985 and the much less widely circulated The Second Coming in 1988.  California based Azra / Iron Works Records released two songs from the 1985 demo on shaped picture disc vinyl in 1987 in very limited quantities.  Most sources claim between 100 and 500 of these discs were produced, but the scarcity of this record on the collector market seems to suggest the lower number.  To add to the mystery of this release, some were pressed on scroll-shaped discs with a lyrical excerpt on one side, and some were pressed on rectangular uncut slabs of vinyl bearing only the Final Assault logo.  See below for examples of each.  And if that is not enough to keep collectors on their toes, the label even printed up special Christmas tree shaped discs as a holiday gift to the band.  Only 10 copies of the tree shaped version were ever produced.

After Final Assault disbanded in late 1988, Robles fronted the short-lived Vengeance, comprised of former Final Assault members Izzy Munoz, Alex Beltron, and drummer Ace Tyler.  Vengeance had no official demo releases and only played a handful of shows around the Corpus Christi area in it's entire existence, which is a shame because the band was one of the most musically mature and technically proficient of all the underground bands of the 1980's era.  Virtually unknown and unheard until now Vengeance is truly an underground gem dug up from the coastal plains of South Texas.  Texasmetalunderground.com recently had the opportunity to interview Final Assault / Vengeance vocalist Alex Robles and get his thoughts and recollections about these two highly regarded bands and the classic Texas metal scene as a whole.  Great insight into two great bands.  Read on...

Visit the Audio Section and Video Section to hear and see rare clips from Final Assault and Vengeance!

Texas Metal Underground:  What originally drew you to heavy metal?  Were there any bands in particular that you would consider influences?

Alex Robles:  Well, a dear friend of mine at the time named Tony used to have stuff on 8-track.   Remember that?   We used to listen to bands like Wild Cherry and Lynyrd Skynyrd, but when I heard Judas Priest’s ‘Hell Bent For Leather’, man I was hooked.  I was never popular in High School and was a bit of a fat kid on top of that, so I started singing along with the tapes and found out I could hit the high notes like Halford did on many of the Judas Priest tunes.  Well, I didn’t think anything would come of it and I only did it because it was cool to me.  My parents were, of course, against it and that was cool, too.  Then one afternoon I was singing along to Manowar when someone came to my door and asked me if I would like to audition for his band.  Little did I know that was to be my first venture into the Texas metal scene.  This was around 1983-1984 and the band was called Black Knight.  We did covers like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motley Crue, etc.  We never got paid any cash for our gigs.  Instead we got beer, food, and weed.  A good payment as well!

As far as influences I can say Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and most of all Queensryche.   Those bands were all a big influence on my vocal style and sound.  I tried to take a little of each and make it my own. 

TMU:  What was the metal scene like in Corpus Christi in the early 1980’s?  I would imagine fellow underground Metalheads were pretty scarce in coastal South Texas at the time?

Alex Robles:  In Corpus Christi there were a lot of what we called ‘garage bands’.  Just guys getting together and mostly doing covers.  I don ’t think anyone in Corpus got really serious until Final Assault came along.  We sort of took it to another level by writing our own tunes.  We practiced in our bass player Mike Garcia’s garage for 3 or 4 months before we did a show just getting everything perfect musically and working on our stage presence.

I can’t speak for the popularity of metal in other towns in South Texas because I never was interested in what other bands were doing until Final Assault started.  After that, it was like we had to be better than anyone else out there.  That’s when I found out there were a lot of bands trying to do the same thing we were doing.  Great bands like Helstar, S.A. Slayer, and WatchTower to name a few.  You know, nobody in Corpus was doing any original material until Final Assault came along.  The word was you couldn’t get a gig unless you did covers.  The early days before Final Assault I did covers with Black Knight and later with Virgin Force, which brings me to question three.

TMU:  One of your earliest bands was called Virgin Force.  Tell us about this band…what year was it formed?  Members?  Any memorable gigs?  Any recorded material?

Alex Robles:  I don’t really remember how we all got together.  Let me explain, in Corpus there were friends and brothers and other rival bands looking to make one ultimate band that would one day be the model everyone to follow and I guess that band was Virgin Force.  We did a lot of covers.  Mostly Iron Maiden, especially when ‘Number Of The Beast’ came out, and of course Judas Priest.  Let me mention one thing, it’s quite funny.  While in High School I was in a small band that did New Wave cover songs by bands like The Police and The Romantics.  We tried out for our High School talent show and got picked to participate.  Well, we did Synchronicity II and it did sound like The Police's version...in a way.  The only difference was that I did the opening vocal scream like Rob Halford instead of Sting.  I remember later the guys teasing me about it.  They said it freaked them out and that it sounded like Judas Priest meets The Police.  To this day they still remember that and we laugh so hard.  Sorry to get off topic, I just thought about that story.  Getting back to Virgin Force, we formed I think in 1983 maybe.  We played mostly parties, but we did win a Battle Of The Bands contest one year.  That was cool!  I’ve got to send you a picture from that.  We practiced in the guitar player’s garage pretty much every other night whether it was cold or blazing hot.  The rest of the band took a lot of weed breaks so I think it was really only 40% music to 60% weed smoking.  Ha! Ha!  You know, starting out I was so young and very gullible.  Someone told me drinking liquor would help me with my voice, so stupid me had to have some Wild Turkey whiskey for practice or else I wouldn’t sound good.  After a while I got drunk and wouldn’t even know what I sounded like, so whether I sounded good or not I can’t tell you, but we jammed on.  We never recorded any stuff in the studio but I may have some garage demo stuff I’ll have to dig up.  The band had five members:  myself, (please forgive me, I’ve forgotten some last names) Robert on guitar, Nick on bass, and Jesse on drums.  All of the other guys were older than me.  They had heard of me through their bass player who had played with me in Black Knight.  Anyway, they were playing together long before I ever thought of singing.  I mean, these guys were veterans.

TMU:  What year did Final Assault originally form?  How did you initially meet up with Dave Burk and the other guys?

Alex Robles:  Final Assault formed after Virgin Force kicked me out.  I think it was because they wanted to go one way and me another.  Also, the weed thing was getting old quick.  We just weren’t doing much after the Battle Of The Bands competition.  There was a bar we played at called Uncle Wade ’s.  It was just a hole in the wall tavern if you will and we were the house band.  I guess the crowd wanted more than cover songs and the band wasn’t up to the challenge, so I got my stuff and left vowing to come back stronger and better than Virgin Force ever was.

There were many musicians that came to Uncle Wade ’s to see us perform.  When I left Virgin Force a guy by the name of Ruben came to me and said, "Lets form something together so we can kick ass and show them all we can do something different".  This guy is now known as Ruben V and is a successful blues-rock musician.  I just had to toss in a little plug for him since we did start Final Assault together.  I don ’t know if the would admit to it, but we did.  Our first song was Final Assault written in my room one afternoon.  We looked for friends that maybe we could convince to join, but it was tough.  I guess they didn’t believe in us or maybe our goals were too high.  This guy in my Chorus class at High School recommended Dave Burk who was friends with a bass player named Mike.  They fiddled around with covers of various metal bands.  Nothing serious, just fooling around.  Ruben called Dave that very afternoon.  I remember he called from my house and Dave came over.  Man, it just clicked like it was meant to be.  His sound was so heavy, it was just what we wanted and he picked up the tune like it was nothing.  Once we got the music part down we went over to Mike’s house to put it to him and ask if he would like to join the band.  Needless to say, he agreed.  Now for the drummer.  We decided that before we tried out drum candidates we needed to have more songs in the works so we began writing.  There was some thought given towards doing Iron Maiden type stuff where the songs were 13-14 minutes long.  It was tough because at that time Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Rush, etc. were the way to go musically.  I didn’t want to do that and to some extent it brought tension when we would sit down and write stuff.  It might have seemed that I was being arrogant, but when it came down to it I was right.  The music was worked out between the tree of us:  myself, Dave , and Ruben.  I have to say we clicked fine most of the time.  My neighbor played drums for my first band Black Knight and he came to us and asked if he could audition for our new band.  Everyone else that we had thought of to audition didn’t have any equipment.  It was so pitiful, I mean the other guys had extra small kits, nothing like we were looking for.  We wanted double bass drums and mega cymbals.  The only person that had the means to afford a kit like that (i.e.: a job) was my neighbor Raul Ramirez, so we let him try out.  We were all going into uncharted territory as far as we were concerned.  No one in Corpus Christi, at least metal wise, did what we were about to do.  I mean, doing our own music and refusing to conform to doing covers like all the other bands.  It was very scary.  Mike and Raul clicked automatically.  I mean, Raul was very outgoing and smoked weed and so did Mike so there was a true friendship there.  I couldn’t help the bad feeling I had with Final Assault and Black Knight concerning the reefer.  I could just hope it didn’t take over practice sessions.  I decided to just try to ignore it for now.

TMU:  What was the gigging situation like in Corpus Christi in the mid 1980’s?  Were there any clubs that hosted metal bands on a regular basis?

Alex Robles:  Playing in clubs was rare since no one wanted 'Satan Music' around.  That’s what metal was thought of back then thanks to Ozzy and Black Sabbath.  You know the story there.  Since no one would book us we did our own gigs.  We rented out halls and promoted them ourselves.  Our first gig was at El Indio and it went great.  That’s when we came out after 3 or 4 months in seclusion.  Anyway, things came along slowly.  Two big gigs I remember were opening for Yngwie Malmsteen and Metal Church .  That was so awesome.  We were on our way to be the next Helstar or Pantera.

TMU:  Rodney Dunsmore (who has been active in playing and promoting Texas metal since the very beginning) used to promote local metal shows by renting out halls and setting up a P.A. and lights, total 'do-it-yourself' underground style.  Did Final Assault ever play at any of these legendary gigs?

Alex Robles:  Rodney and I were High School friends.  We were I guess the only Metalheads to actually live the lifestyle in Corpus.  We went to a number of shows in San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas together.  Since he was the respectable one with a job managing a Taco Bell he pretty much paid my way every time.  For that and other things he will always be my brother from another mother. 

I remember a Rockport gig that Rodney set up. I think it was at the American Legion hall or VFW hall.  We went to promote the gig by handing out Xeroxed flyers at Rodney’s high school.  One time Rodney had a party at his Mom’s house that went bad.  I mean, we had invited a few friends over but it turned into a standing room only bash.  There were girls running around and we were pretty medicated ourselves, so when somebody broke a vase or something Rodney lost it and told everyone to get the hell out.  I can laugh now, but at the time Rodney was upset like you wouldn’t believe.  Another gig I can remember was at a super small place called TNT.  It was in Corpus Christi and we were the headliners.  I remember when our dry ice machine started up it filled the place so full of smoke I couldn’t see 6 inches in front of me, that’s how small it was!

TMU:  What are some of your memories of Final Assault live shows?  Any particularly memorable gigs?

Alex Robles:  We had a show set up in Beeville which is a little outside of Robstown, basically the middle of nowhere in between San Antonio and Corpus Christi.  Anyway, we were playing in the middle between a couple of other bands.  It’s funny, as there were no problems with the power before we went on, but while we played the power would mysteriously flicker on and off.  That messed up our set real good and the show ended quickly.  While we were playing someone got stabbed outside the club so everyone took off for fear the police would show up and make large arrests.

TMU:  Final Assault had some pretty serious lyrical themes running through their songs.  Who was responsible for the lyric writing in the band?

Alex Robles:  Well, after we got the lineup together we continued to play and practice every day.  Some of us got burnt out and personal stuff got in the way, like girlfriends or drugs.  I’ll admit we did our fair share of both and to an extent it was fun, but I could see that slowly it was hurting the band.  At one time we got classified as a religious band.  We kind of followed in Stryper’s footsteps in that way because they were pretty heavy and rocked for God so why couldn’t we rock for God, too?  We did have several songs that had Biblical lyrics, which was of course my job.  For example, Messenger Of God was the story of Moses.  We also had a thrash/speed tune called Holy Ghost.  I think the kids accepted these songs well and we were glad to see it.  My band after Final Assault was called Vengeance and we had a song called Within The Realm which dealt with our struggles in life and the lack thereof.  My goal lyrically was to inform individuals of the many struggles we were about to face according to the Bible.  Another tune we had called Assassins Plague described the world’s political and religious instabilities and the war on terror that is now a reality in this country.  The guys gave me Hell sometimes about the lyrical choices I made, but I stood my ground until Final Assault II came around.  That part comes later in this interview.

TMU:  Did the band play any cover songs as part of its live repertoire?  How many originals did the band have and what were some titles?

Alex Robles:  We didn’t do any covers during my time with Final Assault.  We wanted to stick with what we started out to do and that was to be the only heavy metal band in Corpus Christi doing all originals.  We might have don e some covers just messing around at practice or sound check like Breaking The Law or Living After Midnight by Judas Priest but that’s pretty much it.  I do remember with Vengeance we did Sign Of The Southern Cross by Black Sabbath.

We had a lot of original songs that were complete and some that we never finished.  If I were to put a number on it, I would have to say 25 to 30 complete songs and around 20 not complete, meaning missing verses or solos.

TMU:  The First Warning demo was released in 1985…Where was it recorded?  Do you recall how much it cost to record and how long it took to lay down the 4 songs?

Alex Robles:  The First Warning demo was done at a country and western studio if you can believe that.  I forget the name but I guess it was the only studio we could afford at the time.  Most of the bill was picked up by those in the band that had jobs such as Raul and Mike.  The rest of us sort of asked our parents for some cash.  Ruben’s dad was a big help with equipment.  He played and sang for a Tejano  band so he had huge speakers and cables that he gave to the band.  Like I said earlier, things seemed to come together for us in many ways.  Our time together was very rewarding as a band and just as people.

The First Warning demo took around 3 days to complete.  Remember, this was a country music studio, so they were kind of at a loss about how to record a heavy metal band.  There was a guy, however, that had just come out of recording studio school who helped out a lot.  He was young and very open to fresh ideas from myself and the band, and he liked metal.  He had to explain to the owner of the studio the sound we were trying to achieve and keep the owner from freaking out over these long-haired metal heads playing crazy loud music in his recording studio.  It was fun and very sobering at the same time.  We were young and excited about our very own demo.  I think it cost $500 to record the whole thing.

TMU:  Quite a few of the Corpus Christi area bands (Angkor Wat, Anialator, Devastation) were signed to record deals and had releases…How did Final Assault come into contact with Azra Records?  Did the band have any contact with other labels at the time?

Alex Robles:  Azra Records, ah yes, I remember now.  A letter came to me from the company in the mail one day.  I’m not quite sure how they heard of us, but I was interested since they had signed a band from San Antonio called Juggernaut.  This crazy band did  some weird stuff on stage like the lead vocalist coming on stage in a coffin and stuff like that.  Anyway, I looked into it further and we even went out to the label owner’s home in Los Angeles and spoke to him about our efforts.  Of course we were still green about the industry and were easily taken just to have a chance to sign with someone.  We talked about the signing among ourselves in the band and voted to go ahead and do it.  There was some reservation about the label having the ability to support the band financially especially way out in Los Angeles.

TMU:  In 1987 Azra Records released two different shaped picture discs containing two of the tracks from the First Warning demo.  These were released in extremely limited numbers and are quite rare today.  Do you have any idea how many were actually pressed of each type?

Alex Robles:  The very first release on Azra was actually a very limited picture disc pressed in the shape of a Christmas tree.  I think there were only 10 of those made.  I think they made about a hundred of the other discs.  I have two or them and I guess the rest of the guys have a couple also.  The rest were sold either to local fans or through other means.

TMU:  Some of the members of Final Assault actually relocated to Los Angeles during this period in an attempt to make a dent in the thriving California underground scene.  Tell us about that time and some of your experiences on the West Coast.

I had a sister who lived out in Orange County, California with her husband who was in the Marines.  The plan was for Lou and myself to go stay with her until we got on our feet, then the rest of the band would follow us out to L.A.  We were in for a rude awakening.  My brother-in-law got orders from the Marine Corps to move as soon as we arrived out in California.  It was nearly impossible for me to get a job since Lou and I had no transportation.  My sister was real strict about lending her car out for fear that we might wreck it.  However, we did manage to sneak it out one night and go to a bar called The Troubadour.  There was a band there playing Judas Priest covers like Turbo Lover and Living After Midnight .  They were amazing and sounded just like Priest.  We even saw Steve Perry from Journey and the drummer from Anthrax.  Man, we were blown away and so excited we lost track of time and ended up getting busted by my sister once we got home.  That really sucked!

Well, we were in touch with the rest of the guys back in Texas every now and then, but me and Lou were barely making it in California.  Things were so expensive out there.  We had to ask the guys back home to help us with money, but it never came.  I began to think this was a bad idea.  After about a month my sister and her husband had to leave.  The movers came and just like that they were gone.  We were officially homeless.

Lou found a job at Earl Scheib Auto Paint, a car painting McDonald’s if you will.  They could crank out 25 to 40 cars in a day.  Of course the paint wasn’t high quality, but it was paint.  I, on the other hand, got a job at Burger King.  It was across the street from Knott’s Berry Farm which is an amusement park like Six Flags or Disneyland .  Lou had his income tax return money sent to him from home which he used to buy a car.  It was a green Charger, and this is where we would sleep from now on.  In the beginning Lou had purchased a ten-speed bike and that became my transportation now.  I would ride that bike every day from Burger King to Santa Anna where Earl Scheib’s was located and wait for Lou to get off work.  We would drive back to Burger King to sleep in the parking lot as I had to be at work at 6:00am.  My job position was called a Porter which meant in real words a crap job worker.  I scrubbed the sidewalks, washed the windows, and put up stock.  Now at this time we weren’t even thinking about the band, we were thinking about survival.  It got to the point that in order to eat I had to take expired burgers that were supposed to be thrown away and that would be our dinner for the night.  I regret what I did but it was necessary at the time.  Lou and I went into a grocery store called the Giant and I played the role of lookout while Lou stole some meat so we could cook one night.  We broke a wooden sign post to make a fire so we could cook our stolen food.

I prayed a lot during those times hoping God would get me out of this Hell.  It only got worse.  We had nowhere to shower, so we asked a local YMCA if we could use their showers one day.  We also had to steal gas for the car.  Lou siphoned some out of some Ryder trucks near the Burger King parking lot where we would sleep.  I remember on my birthday, Lou treated me to a six-pack of beer and he rented a motel room for the night so we could have a real bed to sleep in.  That was the best gift anyone could give, to sleep without a steering wheel in my face.

Eventually Ruben and Izzy came out to Orange County.  They had gotten enough money to fly out, but they wouldn’t stay for long.  I don’t blame them.  I myself was looking to get out of there.  We hadn’t established anything for the band by being out there.  We were just in survival mode and when the other guys got a taste of what it was like to be homeless, they soon saw it wasn’t pretty.  The first to leave was Izzy, then Ruben, and finally me.  Lou stayed behind and to this day I haven’t heard from him at all.

When we came back to Texas we started to play again and began trying to write new tunes.  We were basically trying to forget all about Los Angeles.  The original Final Assault lineup never recorded in the studio again.  There may be some garage recordings on cassettes I have, but that’s about it.

One morning soon after I got back to Texas, Ruben came to my door and he was crying.  He said Mike had been shot by his brother-in-law.  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  He said Mike’s dad had been shot, too.  I got dressed in a hurry and we went to the hospital right away.  This was a dark time for Final Assault after the California ordeal and now this.  Mike was shot once in the chest and died later that morning.  His dad got shot in the shoulder and was OK.  The story was Mike and his father were taking his sister to pick up some clothes and things from a boyfriend’s house.  She was going to leave the guy.  The boyfriend was hiding behind the bed and as they entered the room he jumped out and started shooting.  Mike got in front of his sister and took the fatal bullet meant for her.  He was a real hero and a close friend.  One that I will never forget.  When I die I cant wait to see him again in Heaven.

TMU:  Did Final Assault ever release any other material besides the now legendary 1985 demo? 

Alex Robles:  You know, there was a Final Assault II.  We recorded some stuff in the studio but nothing was ever officially released on vinyl or anything.  We did put out a few copies of our demo called Second Coming and I’m sure there a still some copies floating around out there.  The band was made up of four members:  myself, Ruben Vela, David Vela, and Alex Beltron.  It was a different approach from the first version of Final Assault vocally as well a lyrically.  In the original version of Final Assault, I wrote all the lyrics as well as helped write the songs.  This time Dave Vela and I collaborated on some of the songs.  He was a great drummer.  Man he could play.  I guess everything just clicked since Ruben and I had worked together before in Final Assault I.  We knew how we wanted the music to sound and how to get it on tape.

We still had our squabbles of course.  You know, power trips on who was leading the band and stuff like that.  I was at a disadvantage since there were two brothers in the group and their dad had supplied most of our P.A. gear.  I had to bite my tongue a lot back then.  The music was more straight forward than Final Assault I.  No more 10 to 14 minute long songs with dueling guitar leads.  We couldn’t pull that off live now with only one lead guitar player.  Come to think of it, we hardly did any playing live.  I think we had one show in San Antonio that was a major flop from what I remember.

I think some of my best stuff came from Final Assault II.  It gave me a new beginning and a chance to do another style of music.

TMU:  Are you aware of the extent to which Final Assault is lauded to this day worldwide by fans of classic underground metal?  I have received emails from European fans calling Final Assault the 'Gods of Texas Metal'.  What is your reaction to praise like that 20 years later?

Alex Robles:  I think it’s totally amazing that we made an impact on metal fans over in Europe and other places around the world.  I welcome all who want to email me to do so.  After this interview I hope that many questions about the band will finally be answered.  You know, I’m not dead and the others that made up the band are still around as well.  I hope the fans can keep the legacy of Mike Garcia and Final Assault alive.

TMU:  Many factors usually play into band break-ups.  What caused the ultimate demise of Final Assault?  Are you still in contact with any of the former members?

Alex Robles:  What lead to the break-up of Final Assault is that it just wasn’t the same anymore.  The original founding members, Ruben and myself, still wanted to do something musically but we were torn inside whether to continue with the songs we wrote with the original Final Assault.  The ultimate demise came when Ruben and Dave Vela moved to San Antonio.  I tried to make the move too later on but it just didn’t work out.  It was difficult to find the time to be a band when you’re working a real job and trying to pay your bills.  I had to move back to Corpus Christi for financial reasons.  I was broke.

As for other band members, I don ’t know where Raul is now, nor do I know the whereabouts of Dave Burk.  I hope after this they will email or call me, just to say hello.

TMU:  After Final Assault you sang with a band called Vengeance.  What year was this?  What style of material did the band play?  Did Vengeance ever record and release any demos?

Alex Robles:  Ah yes, the Vengeance story.  It’s a short one.  I knew Izzy from Final Assault I and Alex Beltron from Final Assault II so we got together and toyed around with a few song ideas.  Before Vengeance, Izzy had been fiddling around with other guitar players and had some cool tunes already written.  They sounded real good, but I still had to put a little bit of my own personality into them.  They’ll tell you I was a pain at times. Ha, Ha! 

The band consisted of myself on lead vocals, Alex Beltron on bass guitar, Izzy Munoz on lead guitar, and Ace Tyler on drums.  I would describe Vengeance’s music as haunting and heavy.  We recorded a demo in a small studio called Apple Crate.  It was really just a garage converted into a recording studio.  The owner was really cool and open to trying all sorts of new things.  I think after we recorded there other bands also used Apple Crate to do their demos.  This once again was the start of a different approach courtesy of Vengeance.  We just didn’t want to be boring or sound the same as everyone else.  We wanted to explore new technologies and enhance our sound and style like no other and in the area.  I think with Izzy’s incredible playing we stood out in terms of songwriting and playing.  The guy is an awesome guitar player.  I’ve spoken to him recently and he still plays and teaches at a music store called Sound Vibes.  He is truly a gifted person whether it be teaching or playing music live. 

Vengeance played a few live gigs around the Corpus area.  Nothing on the scale Final Assault I did.  To be honest, I don ’t think anyone in Corpus Christi came close to what Final Assault did.  In my opinion, we truly started it all in Corpus. 

TMU:  Are you still involved in metal or the music scene in any capacity?

Alex Robles:  Yes, I am involved in music to a certain extent.  I have performed in my church choir on several occasions.  Living in North Georgia is very different from the streets of South Texas.  As you know, this is southern country where the music is primarily southern rock and country & western.  I can remember soon after moving here and hearing a radio station broadcast out of Atlanta.  They claimed to be a 'heavy rock' station but the heaviest they could muster was Molly Hatchet.

I’m looking maybe to start a band for God.  Not a Stryper clone, but more of like an early Queensryche sound.  This may sound a little off the wall compared to Final Assault or Vengeance.  I still want that type of music but in a more 'Praise The Lord” metal style.  Also, I guess I’ve grown as a person and I believe I can do this and still raise the roof as well as change some minds.

TMU:  The 1980’s Texas metal scene is held in high regard worldwide to this day.  I get email daily from people all over the world who are absolutely fanatical about this music.  In your opinion, what made the Texas scene so different and unique?

Alex Robles:  The 1980’s metal scene in Texas was, in my opinion, very diverse.  It had a lot of bands trying styles from every corner of the world.  The early 80’s metal explosion from Europe and the Far East hit us like a bomb.  That influence was taken and mutated into what we call Texas metal.  Also, you know, Texas is home to a wide diversity of ethnic backgrounds and this was also a factor in the diversity of sounds Texas was producing.

TMU:  And in closing, what are your thoughts on the metal scene (or lack thereof) of today? 

Alex Robles:  Metal today?  I’m thinking Rap has totally taken over the airways.  This sort of bad, sloppy looking, pants falling off the butt music has made what was cool to us outdated to the youth of today.  I know there are still Metalheads out there but big time media stations aren’t willing to play it anymore.  Well, at least not like it was in the 1980’s when MTV, VH1, radio, and everyone else played it.  I think if we all get together and truly force our music out we cannot be ignored.

TMU:  Thanks for your time Alex!  I really appreciate your help in letting the world know the history of the legendary Texas metal scene.