Velocity at the Tower Theater, Salt Lake City, UT in 1997
Velocity was a great idea (melodic guitar-driven rock) at a very bad time (the mid-90′s). The idea behind Velocity was simple: make the kind of music that makes people want to turn up their stereos full-blast!
Velocity released two albums: “Impact” and “Activator“. ”Impact” was released in Japan, Europe and in the U.S. where it received widespread airplay thoughout the country…quite a feat at the time, as Clear Channel was on a buying spree and access to radio and independent-minded program directors was becoming extinct.
When “Impact” was released in 1998, the first single “You Don’t Amaze Me Anymore” was included on an Album Network sampler CD. This track caught the attention of Program Director Gary Michaels at K-ROCK in Salt Lake City. Despite being one of the newest stations in the market K-ROCK made “You Don’t Amaze Me Anymore” a breakout hit, and the song made it to #1 on the station’s play list. As the single caught fire, demand for “Impact” in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area began to build, and the local record stores were soon contacting us asking where they could find copies of the band’s album to sell. A great moment in any songwriter’s life.
“Impact” continued to sell in Utah (even outselling Metallica’s latest release at that point) and Velocity traveled to Utah and played seven shows within the space of a year. The largest show was on the 1999 “Rock Never Stops” tour with Quiet Riot, Warrant and Slaughter at which Velocity performed in front of 1800 rowdy fans, who by this time knew Velocity’s music as well as any of the other bands on the bill. This phenomena was due to one of the most amazing facts about the album: “Impact” had now produced 3 #1 singles on K-ROCK: “You Don’t Amaze Me Anymore”, “Janine” and “Love Is Dangerous“.
Over in Japan, “Impact” was released to the usual buying spree in the first 72 hours. By the end of the first week, “Impact” had made all the impact it was going to make, selling just over 3300 copies. Even in Japan that’s considered low though not terrible for a first album.
Despite strong reviews in all the melodic rock press and from fans, sales in Europe were low as well, as the record received no promotion from European label MTM. MTM is a melodic rock boutique label with minimal advertising budget. Hopes for an overseas tour died on the vine as “Impact” made too little impact in Europe.
However, here in the U.S., sales continued strong with several more radio stations picking up on “Love Is Dangerous” and “You Don’t Amaze Me Anymore”, including St. Louis’ giant KSHE and Oklahoma’s KATT . Ultimately, “Impact” sold over 12,000 copies worldwide including sales of over 6000 copies in the U.S., mostly concentrated in Utah (over 5000 alone!), New Jersey and several southern states, largely due to airplay at Mississippi’s WSTZ in Jackson, MS and KSHE in St. Louis.
Velocity returned to the formerly-green pastures of Utah one last time on April 23rd, 1999 and visibility diminished in parallel with the demise of the amazing K-ROCK. Following one last show at the Holy Cow, Velocity bassist Chris Thornton left to focus on his day gig (“learning HTML!”) and was never heard from again.
Velocity had one last hurrah in them, giving a private showcase performance for rock guru John Kalodner, responsible for resurrecting Aerosmith’s career among many projects.
Despite “Activator” being seen by some Velocity fans as “grunge”, Kalodner and Portrait Records (his label at the time) ironically felt the music was too old-skool and would not be promoted by Columbia’s promotion department, responsible for Portrait promotions at the time. There was no further contact with the label.
After a handful of Los Angeles gigs, Velocity finally called it a day after drummer Bob Gaut decided to leave the band. Guitarist Chris Dodge soon followed suit, both members having stayed in Northern California after bandleader David Victor moved to L.A. to pursue other musical opportunities.
Is there another Velocity album left in David Victor? Only time will tell!
