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00-FREEFIRE Album Windows Media Player Playlist 00-FREEFIRE Album VLC Player Playlist 01-Could of Been 02-Evils That One Can Do 03-Freefire Zone 04-Strange Wind 05-Free Love 06-On My Mind 07-Free Van 08-I Don't Understand 09-Hard Rock Lady 10-Million Dollar Babe 11-Sound of Rock and Roll 12-Under a Curse 13-The Bullet 14-Southern Skin 15-Hard Day At Work 16-Giants in My Life
This music was created on a Tascam 388 (8-Track) from July 8th, 1993 to 1994 by the drummer. 
The CD for this version was published and manufactured by Kimjon Entertainment Inc. in 1998 at the drummer's residence.
The band members of FREEFIRE consist of:
Richard Vedot: Lead Vox, Backing Vox, and Guitar
John Laabs: Backing Vox, Drums, and Photography
Steve White: Lead Vox on Free Van and Guitar
Sammy James: Guitar
Edward Lapinski: Bass Guitar
Credits and other musicians: Eric York: Bass Guitar (Under a Curse) Rick Stannard: Guitar (Giants of my Life) Steve Cersosimo: Harp (Southern Skin) Eric Paulson: Keeboards (Hard Day At Work) Dave Shea: Equipment (Recording and performance)
FREEFIRE formed in 1991 and started rocking at the drummer's residence. There was nothing serious to FREEFIRE except for getting together and have fun playing an instrument. Eric York was the original bass player and he wrote the riff for "Under a Curse" and created "Evils That One Can Do". Once songs started to form and a structure was being laid out for the band, it wasn't fun for Eric anymore. Ed Lapinski joined on bass for the duration of FREEFIRE.
Having three guitarist was pretty cool as they all blended quite well. Sammy, Steve, and Vedot had very different sounds. Sammy had a metal sound (Ozzy), Steve had a classic rock sound (Aerosmith), and Vedot had a blues rock sound (Doobie Brothers). They all contributed greatly and it shows throughout the music.
Vedot took control of the singing and harmonies in the music. Vedot wrote many songs and he had the powerful voice to complete the music. Whenever possible, John provided backups live, but it was quite difficult keeping up with "The Man", Vedot. Free Van, created and sang by Steve, allowed Vedot and John to sing the backup vocals during the verses. John sings the chorus, (crazy voice!) This is the only song on the disc where this arrangement takes place. Vedot completed the backing vocal tracks for all the other songs FREEFIRE recorded.
A first mix was created in 1995 by John, but this was the first time the drummer every recorded and when the 1995 mix was made, it was clear there were just too many effects used for the final product. Another mix was created called the 1998 mix. This mix is listed here and it is well known among the FREEFIRE family. The drummer still has the FREEFIRE 8-track tapes and he would like to export all the tracks to individual .wav files and import into a mixing software. This would allow for a final mix with a clearer crisper sound and the proper use of effect and compression. This may come to fruit someday.
Some songs were created by the drummer. "Strange Wind" was inspired and written about a motor cycle accident that took place on May 26th, 1993 on Route 184 in southeast CT. Traveling at high speeds on a Yamaha Maxim and slamming his head and shoulder straight into a deer and sliding 256 feet on the pavement, just missing the gard rails with his head. "Strange Wind" a song about enjoying freedom, living on the edge, and then realization of the possibility of losing it all because of the life style. John also wrote the lyrics to Under a Curse, The Bullet, and Free Fire Zone. John did the music for Hard Rock Lady and Eric Ullman from T.A. Flash wrote the lyrics. FREEFIRE added Hard Rock Lady to the song list.
Steve continually played riffs and many of these riffs were turned into songs. "Could of Been" is a great example of this. Sammy's signature riff is from "The Bullet". Vedot's wrote "Free Love" and just showed up with the new song one day. Many riffs were merged and stitch for completing songs and all the band members worked well for pulling the songs together. It was a lot of fun.
FREEFIRE jammed at people's parties and we would setup in yards and play and video tape the band playing the songs. FREEFIRE lasted about four years and it was a lot of fun creating and playing the product together. We had a couple reunions and played until the wee hours of the morning.
All images taken for the FREEFIRE disc were shot on the CT/RI border at the end of Route 184 and taken on May 16th, 1993. FREEFIRE performed most of the songs from the disc that day.
