Bolted Door

Musicians
Ron Chenier (Ronch): guitar, vocals
Laurie Curry (Slammah): keyboards, vocals
Lorne Hawley: drums
Nor Reinech: bass

Songwriting
Music by Ron Chenier
Lyrics by Ron Chenier, Constance White and Laurie Curry
‘Right In It’ lyrics by Ron Chenier and Laurie Curry

Production
Produced and engineered by Ron Chenier

Artwork
Graphic layout by Marc Pearce of Hök Nik Creative Inc.

Marketing and Manufacturing
CD marketed by Hellion Records
Made and printed in Canada

Liner Notes:

Formed in 1979 by Ottawa-born Ron Chenier, the singer/guitarist recruited players and began honing their chops doing small clubs in and around the Toronto area. The band quickly graduated to the ‘B circuit’, touring the eastern Canadian/US areas for the next year and a half.

Fist took their approach to music into the studios and cut the independently released ROUND ONE in the spring of 1979. The band’s sound was dominated by guitars and keyboards with no in-studio tampering. It was produced by Chenier’s brother Norman (Jack) and was recorded on a shoestring budget. The songs “Too Late”, “Madness” and “Who Did You Love” showed the band’s penchant for writing driving, simple, yet complex songs.

Fist returned to the road and toured practically every corner of the eastern half of the continent for the next year. The band was signed to a world wide deal with A&M in the summer of 1980 and quickly returned to the studio. They emerged from Toronto’s Amber Studios that fall and released HOT SPIKES. The band hired George Semkiw to engineer and produce. The only difference between HOT SPIKES and its predecessor was that the new album caressed them gently. Backed by songs like the anthemic “Reality” and lead off track “Money”, a song about the hustle and bustle of society’s drive for materialism, HOT SPIKES showed a maturity, harnessed by Semkiw’s experience. Other notable cuts included “Lord I Miss You”, “Teenage Love Affair”, “Never Come Back” and “Alimony”, intended to garner the band radio play. The tours continued, with FIST seeing practically every province and state over the next year.

The band regrouped, and with a new release titled FLEET STREET in ’81. The song “Double Or Nothing” again showcased Chenier’s talent for writing slick, guitar riffs, while “Thunder In Rock” was easily the year’s best tune on the radio waves. With the clever addition of a sax solo, “Thunder In Rock” is probably most synonymous with Fist’s music, if any song is at all. However, other killer cuts included “Open The Gates”, the title track and “Evil Cold”. Backed by the album’s success, the group took the show on the road again, this time playing outdoor festivals with the likes of Heart, Motor Head, Krokus, Scorpions and many more.

The band took some time off following the tour’s end in 1982 and didn’t re-emerge until the IN THE RED album in ’83. FIST toured and then went back into the recording studio in 1984 to record the album DANGER ZONE which has the harnessed intensity of tracks like “Muscle Gun”. Ron Chenier decided to take time off in ’86. The band got back together in ’91 for a series of dates on the Ontario circuit, which led to a full reunion and a new album in 1993 called REIGN OF TERROR. Released on MaGaDa Records, Fist again had landed a deal with an independent label and a criss-cross tour of the continent. In 1995 FIST released a second album on Magada Records called LOUD LOUD LOUD.

In 2008 Fist played a reunion concert in Ottawa, Canada and because of this Thunder In Rock live DVD release, Fist intends to tour in the near future. Fist delivers straight forward but well crafted classic rock sound and melodic numbers that show their versatility. Since 1979 Fist has been truly a Canadian Classic Rock Band that has a faithful fan following all over the world.