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Guitarist Kenny Powell formed Omen in Los Angeles Ca. in
the spring of 1983 after a short stint and one record with
the L.A. metal band Savage Grace.
Most of the original line-up consisting of Powell on lead
Guitar, Jody Henry on Rhythm Guitar and Steve Wittig on Drums
had moved out to the West Coast from Oklahoma a year earlier
with the plan of finding a Bass player and a Bad-Ass singer
& taking over the Universe!
Unfortunately, finding the right Metal players in a very Glam
scene proved to be a little more difficult than anticipated.
In the interim, Kenny was asked to join Savage Grace as Co-Lead
Guitarist and additional songwriter. The Guitar part was working
out fine, but the Song writing process proved to be frustrating
to Powell who had been the main song writer in his previous
bands. After being asked to drop the songs Battle Cry and
Die by the Blade that he had written for the next S.G. record,
Kenny decided it was time to go back to plan A. A Conversation
with Metal Blade records founder Brian Slagel netted Kenny
a record deal on the strength of the two
songs originally written for the S.G. record!
After a quick call to Steve, Kenny and Jody went to see a
band that he was rehearsing with that featured none other
than J.D. Kimball on Vocals. After some serious persuasion
from Kenny, Jody switched to Bass and Omen was born. This
line up produced the classic 80's Metal Albums Battle Cry
- Warning of Danger and The Curse.
In 1987 J.D. Kimball left the band for personal reasons and
Coburn Pharr stepped in to fill the lead vocal duties. A little
known fact is that Omen wrote a complete albums worth of new
material with Coburn in L.A. that sounded very much like a
follow up to "The Curse" that was to be entitled
"Era of Crisis". The band then went to New York
to record with Veteran Producer Paul O'Neil and only one of
the original songs ended up on the record. While the band
enjoyed working with and still have a great deal of respect
for Paul O'Neil, somehow the band drifted away from the classic
Omen sound. This resulted in the 1988 release "Escape
to nowhere" and while it spawned Omen's only radio hit
"Thorn in your Flesh" and a very successful 10 week
U.S. tour, a disillusioned Kenny Powell put the band to rest
for nearly 10 years.
In 1996 Powell decided to put the band back together with
Bass Player Andy Haas whom he had been working with for several
years. After no luck tracking down original singer J.D. Kimball,
Kenny recruited his own son for Vocals and 2nd Guitar, along
with veteran Dallas
metal Drummer, Rick Murray.
This line-up produced the 1997 release "Reopening the
Gates" along with a very successful European tour with
Fates Warning. This line-up proved to be short lived. After
touring the band realized how many old fans were left high
& dry and wanted to get back to the classic Omen sound!!
Greg (Kenny's son) decided to stick with something a little
closer to his generation and left with his Father's blessing
to pursue his own project "Stomping Ground". After
taking some time off, Powell, Haas and Murray began working
on new material with one goal in mind, get
back to the classic Omen sound!!
While writing, the search began for a new Singer. The band
wanted someone that could handle the older material with the
respect it deserved, write there own lyrics and melodies,
and possessed a passion for classic Power Metal. Enter Kevin
Goocher! A veteran of the Dallas Metal scene, Kevin can best
be described as a cross between J.D. Kimball and Ronnie James
Dio. After only a few rehearsals Kevin had mastered a full
set of early Omen songs and finished
lyrics to all of the new material the band had been working
on!
After playing a quick show to make sure everyone was compatible
on stage, the band started working on a new release entitled
"Eternal Black Dawn". It will definitely be a return
to the style of the early 80's Omen records and should not
disappoint all those, including Kenny, who have been waiting
15 years for a follow up to "The Curse".
Omen also agreed to a new management agreement with the California
Based Jeff Keller Management and completed their new album
Entitled "Eternal Black Dawn". The album is a triumphant
return to the Classic Omen sound heard on such legendary albums
as "Battle Cry" and "Warning Of Danger".
In addition to the highly anticipated release of "Eternal
Black Dawn", Omen headlined the KEEP IT TRUE Festival
in Germany on July 19th. of 2003, and returned in 2004 to
play the BANG YOUR HEAD Festival.
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