Crawling out of the “Where Are They Now” dustbins of time, Ez Gomer of Jet Circus has just recorded a solo album, Look At Death Now. This solo release is not all that Ez has been up to however, as this month also sees the simultaneous releases of the ill-fated, never released sophomore Jet Circus album (No Mercy) and a re-release of the seminal, ground-breaking genre hybrid breakthrough, Step On It.

Ahead of their time like a Faith No More, Jet Circus fused “songs they wanted to dance to” with metal riffing and a beefy low end. For most of the music world, however, they simply disappeared after Step On It came out on Wonderland Records in 1990. While songs from the follow-up (No Mercy) were sent over to the label, the band dissolved the relationship and called it a day on that front. Ez moved on. “You get really tired of getting screwed all the time and another more important factor has to do with family health in the band. I still would like to believe there is honest record companies out there somewhere to support new bands,” he says. “Not eat them up and spit them out. We did score bad luck all the time. This, together with new priorities, like raising a wonderful family, and starting a couple of new companies – Hypersonic Studios and an e-communication company – has in my case meant that the recording and touring was second place and things slowed down really fast.

“But let's not be too sad,” he adds. “Life is ups and downs for us all and my belief is that forgiveness is necessary to go ahead and bitterness is killing you slowly. I don't want that. I don't want to take prisoners. I want to be a positive, forgiving and happy person. And I am. Glory to God.”

He describes his solo work as: “Hard crunchy work . . . (with) rumbling bass sound, grooves and melodies, (yet) definitely today. Hard and heavy kicking rock ‘n’ roll. Friends of Jet Circus will feel at home.”

He handles all lead vocals and bass (of course) and hands over guitar duties to some skilled fingers – Stefan Elmgren (Hammerfall); Tommy Denander (Radioactive, Toto, Richard Marx); and longtime friend Terry Haw (Jet Circus).

The proper title for the unreleased Jet Circus album is No Mercy For The Living. It was written and recorded primarily in ‘93/’94, with some additional work done in 2002/’03. All written by Ez and Terry, the track listing includes songs that sound right at home in the Jet Circus vibe (like “Motorcycle Mama”). “It was written from another angle as Step On It. If Step On It was a totally happy album, this is quite the opposite, due to personal experiences in life.” The re-release of Step On It includes two new songs and faithfully restored artwork.

Speaking of artwork, this Swede is likely to catch some flack for the comic style (but nude) artwork on his website. It reminds this writer of sitting in the backseat with Peo, of Leviticus fame, who just related about a certain substance hitting the fan. After blushing, came the explanation about the obviously foreign US culture.

Ez is working on getting distro deals for these three albums on his own Hypersonic Records label and then, “start with new energy on a next (album), which will contain only new material.”