AXE - NEMESIS - Hard Rock ATCO Records 12" Vinyl LP Album

Al Nalli is the kind of industry lifer I learned to respect: not a spotlight hog, but the guy who gets the deal, the studio time, and the tape rolling. His fingerprints show up when Brownsville Station got steered onto Big Tree/ABC in the early 1970s (he’s credited in their camp through the mid-’70s), then he pivots to Blackfoot as manager and co-producer right as they break nationally—producing the 1979 "Strikes" era and helping shape their tougher Atco run. By 1982 he’s also producing Axe’s " Offering ," tightening their hard-rock swing without sanding off the grit.

Andy De Ganahl, the kind of engineer who keeps big guitars huge without turning the low end into oatmeal. I ran into his name on Pat Travers Band's "Hot Shot" (circa 1980), then again on Y&T's "In Rock We Trust" (1984) where he handled engineering and mixing and kept the Fantasy Studios wall-of-amps sound sharp, not smeared. He also turned up in the late-'80s trenches with Molly Hatchet's "Lightning Strikes Twice" (1989), and later on A Flock of Seagulls' "The Light at the End of the World" in the mid-1990s. Different bands, same mission: punch, clarity, and zero mush. He isn't the guy in the band photo; he's the guy who makes the band photo sound like it looks: loud, focused, and ready to bite.

Andy De Ganahl, the kind of engineer who keeps big guitars huge without turning the low end into oatmeal. I ran into his name on Pat Travers Band's "Hot Shot" (circa 1980), then again on Y&T's "In Rock We Trust" (1984) where he handled engineering and mixing and kept the Fantasy Studios wall-of-amps sound sharp, not smeared. He also turned up in the late-'80s trenches with Molly Hatchet's "Lightning Strikes Twice" (1989), and later on A Flock of Seagulls' "The Light at the End of the World" in the mid-1990s. Different bands, same mission: punch, clarity, and zero mush. He isn't the guy in the band photo; he's the guy who makes the band photo sound like it looks: loud, focused, and ready to bite.