According to a posting on former MANOWAR guitarist Ross “The Boss” Friedman‘s Facebook page, ex-MANOWAR drummer Scott Columbus died yesterday (Monday, April 4) at the age of 54. This information was corroborated by Scott‘s girlfriend of almost four years, Nancy, who wrote on the drummer’s Facebook page, “For all you to know, this is Scott Columbus‘s girlfriend of over 3 1/3 years… and I cannot get the words out, but he died today… Please send your thoughts and prayers. I can’t believe he is gone. He was the absolute love of my life.”

Reportedly Scott was discovered by a female fan of the band, beating aluminium in a local foundry.^[1] With the band from 1983 until 1990, he was eventually forced to leave the band when his son fell ill. He was replaced by Rhino for “The Triumph of Steel” but returned for “Louder Than Hell” and remained with the band until the summer of 2008 when he was replaced once again by Rhino during Manowar’s performances in Bulgaria and Magic Circle Festival 2008.

He played the so-called “Drums of Doom”, a kit made of stainless steel, because his drumming technique is too rough on standard kits which had to be replaced too regularly.

In a May 2010 interview with Classic Rock magazine, Columbus revealed that his departure from MANOWAR occurred around April 2008 when he and the band’s bassist/leader, Joey DeMaio, “agreed to disagree on a few points of interest.” He added, “I had a long and wonderful career with MANOWAR; I have no regrets, it’s just life moves on.”

When asked for a comment on MANOWAR‘s claim that Columbus was still a member of the band but that he was taking time off for “personal tragedies,” Scott replied, “I’m in the best shape of my life. I mean I’m 112 years old (laughs) but I’m in the
best shape of my entire life.”

On the topic of whether he had had any contact with any of the MANOWAR members since his departure in April of 2008, Scott said, “Yes, I speak quite often with the singer [Eric Adams] who is a dear, dear friend of mine. He and I hung out on the road all the time for many years, so I speak to Eric all the time. Joey and I speak to periodically. Some of the ancillary people I speak with because we’ve always had a great relationship, so why let something professional interrupt something personal?! I tend to make friends for life. Once people get to know me they realize I wear my heart on my sleeve, there’s no bullshit about me. I can do a lot of things very well but one thing I really suck at is lying.”

During the Classic Rock chat, Columbus revealed that he had been working on a solo project called INSTRUMETAL, who he promised would “be released to the world very soon.” He added, “It doesn’t have vocals on it and I’d like to keep it that way. I could possibly see a bonus track or two with vocals. Right now I’ve got 13 tracks and it’s nearly complete. Soon I plan on releasing one song for the world to hear and get an idea what I’ve been up to for the past several years. The song is called ‘Lightning In A Bottle’; it’s a little ditty between myself and the guitar player I wrote the album with, Patrick Macdougall. It’s very heavy, very rhythmically driven. I call it heavy metal elevator music; you pop the CD in your car and before you know it, you’re driving 125 miles an hour! I’m really excited about it. I produced and engineered the whole thing myself. So if it sucks, I suck and if it’s good, well… yeah! [laughs]”

KINGDOM COME‘s new album, “Rendered Waters”, is available for streaming in its entirety at AOL Music. The CD will be released on April 5 in the U.S. via SPV/Steamhammer. It is not the success of the early days which Lenny Wolf associates KINGDOM COME with, nor earlier hits from his long-standing career. What he really cares about is the present. Is this a contradiction in view of his new album, “Rendered Waters”, which features eight old and three newly recorded songs? Certainly not. All eleven tracks were cut at Lenny‘s Two Square Noise Factory studio in Hamburg, Germany. In particular, the new recordings of old material show KINGDOM COME‘s vision of living in the here and now. “I purposely chose tracks from the very early days to show how we play, hear and feel the songs nowadays,” says Wolf. “Listening habits have changed dramatically, especially among the younger audience, which made it exciting for me to breathe new life into numbers which have not been heard for a while.” For example, “Should I” is this time played more slowly, giving it a heavier appeal. The drums are more open and the guitars, according to Lenny, feature a more tube-oriented sound and warmer, more driving tone: “Just to give it an overall 2011 vibe,” he says. “Of course, you can only change songs to a certain extent if you don’t want to lose the character and central theme of the original version.” The same goes for “I’ve Been Trying”, “Pushing Hard” and “Living Out Of Touch”. None of them has been reinvented, but all three certainly have a noticeably new approach to them. On the other hand, Lenny changed the verse of “I’ve Been Trying” completely, giving it a different arrangement, just like he transported the song “Seventeen” into the year 2011. “‘Seventeen’ has always been kind of a key song for KINGDOM COME, yet it has never received much attention since it has a very non-commercial approach and is either loved or hated, but with the new version it will hopefully get the recognition it deserves,” he says. Another argument against suggestions that Lenny just wanted to warm up old material is that he purposely didn’t choose to re-record former hits like “Get It On”, “What Love Can Be”, “Do You Like It” and “Twilight Cruiser” which put KINGDOM COME on the map on a global level. He even selected a song such as “Break Down The Wall” from his pre-KINGDOM COME days back in 1985 when he played with L.A.-based band STONE FURY, which just goes to show how timeless the material is. “It was very interesting to add new styles and to carry them into the year 2011,” he says. “There are a number of songs from the Seventies. Their charm lives off the old recording technology which can’t be beaten these days and therefore should remain untouched, but re-recording Eighties songs isn’t such a sacrilege.” Let’s not forget the three brand new songs, which feature that typical KINGDOM COME structure of strong guitar hook lines and Wolf’s charismatic vocals. “Blue Trees”, “Is It Fair Enough” and “Don’t Remember” once again see Lenny prove his unwillingness to pander to expectations. Like it or not, he certainly follows his very own route. Although Lenny again recorded most of the nstruments himself, Eric Förster, who contributed those ruthlessly driven guitar solos, and American-born Berlin resident Hanan Rubinstein, who mastered the CD, both certainly need to be mentioned for their great contribution. The song “Blue Trees” can now be streamed using the audio player below (courtesy of AOL‘s Noisecreep). “It’s a more lighthearted, straight-ahead love song with open chords hammering a simple theme, giving the bass and guitar players a good reason to stand spread-legged on stage rocking the house,” Wolf tells Noisecreep of the track. To sum it up, here are a number of facts for history buffs: KINGDOM COME were formed in 1987 in Los Angeles, USA. Besides Lenny, the only German in the group, there was also James Kottak, now playing drums with the SCORPIONS. The sensational debut, “Kingdom Come”, reached number 12 in the U.S. chart and went gold, and its successor, “In Your Face”, made high chart positions all over the globe, too. There is no end in sight. In Lenny‘s words: “KINGDOM COME is my calling. I either fall or rise with it. Apart from a few bad decisions, I’ve done alright. Thankful and still fully loaded, back to the future.” “Rendered Waters” track listing: 01. Can’t Deny (newly recorded version) 02. The Wind (newly recorded version) 03. Blue Trees (brand new song) 04. Should I (newly recorded version) 05. I’ve Been Trying(newly recorded version) 06. Pushing Hard (newly recorded version) 07. Seventeen (newly recorded version) 08. Is It Fair Enough (brand new song) 09. Living Out Of Touch (newly recorded version) 10. Don’t Remember (brand new song) 11. Break Down The Wall (newly recorded version)