In 1998 Matt Pike had seen the MATAMP USA Calendar in a music shop.

Pike then called Wheeler and said that all of his GREEN Matamp gear
from SLEEP was toasted and had been sitting rendered useless.
Joel offered to repair the gear and sent shipping containers
to Matt Pike in Oakland, California. 

The gear arrived to MATAMP USA's office in Spokane
and all of it was in sad shape.  
The resurrection began and the amps were brought back to life.

In March of 1999 Joel sent Matt Pike a roundtrip plane ticket
to Spokane and they discussed a promotional package
featuring Matt Pike and his new band HIGH ON FIRE.

Matt had a cassette and a CD-R of the sessions he
had just recorded early in the month of March.

Joel thought the new recordings were brilliant.
Matt expressed his anxiety in regards to
releasing the music because of the horrible
experience with SLEEP and London Records over
the release called Jerusalem.

MARCH 1999 ~ MATAMP USA PHOTO SESSION with MATT PIKE
Matt seen here with Joel Wheeler's 1976 Gibson Les Paul
and brand new GREEN Matamp equipment that had just arrived from the UK.

Matt was plugged into the amps and was riffing out while standing
on a small carpet of The Universe.
Joel had the lighting towers set, a ladder in the room to stand on at times
and a Hi-8 Video Camera rolling on a tripod.
About 120 photos that evening & over an hour of film/audio was completed.

The photo session with Matt Pike resulted in Joel making
this flyer to be provided to the CD pressing company and was
inside every CD case of the first High On Fire release.

12th RECORDS continued on to release one band per year
on Wheeler's small label featuring bands that used MATAMP USA
gear and later ELECTRIC AMP USA amps and cabs.

12 Bands in 12 Years, or as Wheeler refers to it as,
"The 12 Tribes Cast In Stone".

1999 ~ The summer 12th RECORDS was born.
www.12thRecords.com

After several discussions with Pike, Wheeler came up
with a solution that would accommodate Matt Pike
and his new band HIGH ON FIRE.

July 17th, 1999 www.HighOnFire.com went up
and the announcement went out about Matt's new band.
As Wheeler promoted it:
"From The Ashes of SLEEP, Matt Pike Rises HIGH ON FIRE!"

1999 12th RECORDS ~ HIGH ON FIRE
This debut release featured three songs.
BLOOD FROM ZION
10,000 YEARS
MASTER OF FISTS

1000 Discs were pressed of the original recordings from
March 3rd, 1999 in Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California.
Matt Pike ~ Guitar, Vocals
George Rice ~ Bass
Desmond Kensel ~ Drums

12th Records provided High On Fire with 500
discs to sell at live shows on the road and the
other 500 were used to fill orders from the website sales.

Wheeler recalls receiving large amounts of postal mail
envelopes with $12 dollar money orders, checks and cash.

When the discs arrived that July 15th, 1999 they had
already pre-sold 250+ CD's. That late evening Wheeler laid
a solid door on top of two GREEN 4x12 cabs for a table/bench 
in the MATAMP office located on the 5th floor of a building
located on the South Hill of Spokane.
On through the night Wheeler and his wife stuffed
padded envelopes with High On Fire's debut CD.

MATAMP USA headquarters on 7th Avenue in Spokane, Washington.

Around 5:00AM on July 16th, 1999 Wheeler looked
out the window from the office into downtown Spokane.

About 10 blocks north there was a fire blazzing downtown.
Together, the couple left the office and hopped on their
HARO mountain bikes and coasted downtown.

JULY 16th, 1999 at 5:00 AM
THE MARS HOTEL & CASINO
312 West Sprague
Spokane, Washington 99201

The MARS Hotel & Casino was in complete flames, bricks hiting the
street and scooting across the asphalt like hockey pucks on fire.
 Together Joel & his wife Theresa stood in awe watching
this historic building engulfed in flames,
 Joel turned to his wife and said, "HIGH ON FIRE".
Wheeler remarked that: "it really christened the event."

The Mars Hotel & Casino view from Bernard Street

THE MARS HOTEL & CASINO ~ Corner of Sprague & Bernard, Spokane WA.

 Casino gaming developer Robert Saucier
purchased the historic Arlington Hotel in 1992
and renamed it
The Mars Hotel after a Grateful Dead album.