Description

Passion. Energy. Intensity. Power. These are all words that can describe early 80’s hard rock band Gibraltar. However, if you look deep into its inner core, you will see that the aforementioned adjectives really stem from the nucleus – and that nucleus is lead singer Roy Cathey, who learned early on of the high and the adrenaline rush that came from playing sports was eventually stung by the music bug after hearing bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Van Halen. He soon learned that he could get that same high and adrenaline rush from singing – which also yielded an outlet for his emotions, feelings, and creativity. Now it’s no secret that Roy Cathey is a powerhouse vocalist, but if it weren’t for the other members of Gibraltar, history may have very well been written differently for this Fayetteville, North Carolina hard rock quintet. Gibraltar consisted of Roy Cathey on vocals, Frank Fournier on Bass, Eric Page on Guitars, Jerry Everly on Drums, and David Garcia on Keyboards. Gibraltar worked, and they worked hard! They took every gig that was offered to them, whether it be a club show, a keg party, the county fair (Fort Bragg), or even someone’s garage. Word started to spread and spread it did. The fan base was growing rapidly with every new gig and the name Gibraltar was becoming well known amongst the early Gen Xer’s who were hungry for a new sound that would eventually define an era which gave life to a new phrase, The Decline of the Western Civilization. Quiet Riot, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Ratt and many others were seeing great success – and Gibraltar had the tools including the look to follow suit. Perhap’s Gibraltar’s greatest strength was its live show. As described by Sid Starling of SRO Magazine (whom was present from the humble beginnings of the Gibraltar legacy), Every time they (Gibraltar) took the stage, they blew me away! The rhythm section was the backbone of this quintet – Solid drums from my good friend, Jerry Everly, along with the thundering bass from the Devil Dog himselfquintet – Solid drums from my good friend, Jerry Everly, along with the thundering bass from the Devil Dog himself, Frankie Fournier, really cemented the foundation to build upon. Take that and add in Eric Page’s screaming guitar along with David Garcia’s all killer, no filler keyboards plus a well thought out stage show, and this was a band that could hold its own with any band out there. When those four played together it was magic. When you added Roy Cathey to the mix, everything rose to a whole other level. As Gibraltar’s notoriety grew, the next logical step was to enter the studio and lay down some tracks. Gibraltar cut no corners and paid to have high quality recordings (usually unheard of for an unsigned local band). Well-written songs along with slick production and a decent budget garnered radio-friendly songs that the fans requested on a nightly basis. Local radio stations like WQSM and Q98 held Rock Fights on Friday nights where Gibraltar would routinely beat out not just the local competition but national acts as well. Gibraltar’s climbing popularity created a buzz – and where there’s a buzz – there’s demand. Gibraltar took to the road, with raw intensity and no record label handing out tour support. The road was rough, but lucrative; audiences were won over and the band jettisoned across the country. While on the road with Marc Ferrari (formerly of the band Keel and now with a band of his own namesake – Ferrari) led to an invitation for Roy to join the band Ferrari. The acceptance of this invitation led to Roy’s most documented time in the music business under the band Cold Sweat. Cold Sweat was signed to MCA Records and released an album that contained two Roy Cathey co-writes. Roy Cathey and Marc Ferrari would go on to form Sweatin’ Bullets. Ultimately, Gibraltar could not survive without their lead singer and ultimately disbanded; but not before leaving hard rock fans with a solid nine track album entitled I’m The One . This one-and-only highly sought after album is finally receiving its first release on cd.

Track list:
1. I’m The One
2. She Wrote The Book
3. You Better Know
4. Not The First
5. Nights On Fire
6. Real
7. Full Speed
8. Let’s Go
9. P.S.