"Ratt's brash, melodic heavy metal made the Los Angeles quintet one of the most popular rock acts of the mid-'80s. The group had its origins in the '70s group Mickey Ratt, which had evolved into Ratt by 1983; at that time the band featured vocalist Stephen Pearcy, guitarist Robbin Crosby, guitarist Warren DeMartini, bassist Juan Croucier, and drummer Bobby Blotzer. The band released its self-titled first album independently in 1983, which led to a major label contract with Atlantic Records. Their first album under this deal, 1984's Out of the Cellar, was a major success, reaching the American Top Ten and selling over three million copies. "Round and Round," the first single drawn from the album, hit number 12, proving the band had pop crossover potential. While their second album, 1985's Invasion of Your Privacy, didn't match the multi-platinum figures of Out of the Cellar, it also reached the Top Ten and sold over a million copies. By that time, the band could sell out concerts across the country and was a staple on MTV and AOR radio. Both Dancin' Undercover (1986) and Reach for the Sky (1988) continued Ratt's platinum streak and their audience, had only slipped slightly by the time of their final album, 1990's Detonator.


In 1992, Pearcy left Ratt to form his own band, Arcade, issuing a pair of releases -- 1993's self-titled debut and 1994's A/2 -- before forming another new band, Vertex (issuing a lone self-titled release in 1996). With their brand of glam metal out of step with the then-burgeoning alt-rock movement, Ratt decided to sit out much of the '90s, during which time DeMartini issued a solo album, Crazy Enough to Sing to You. But by the late '90s, the public's interest in '80s rock began to perk up, leading to Ratt reuniting in time for 1997's Collage. Two years later, Ratt's second self-titled release of their recording career was issued, following the same formula as its predecessor.


Shortly thereafter, Pearcy left the group once again, as he soon began fronting two bands, the more modern-sounding outfit Vicious Delite (a self-titled debut appeared in 2000) and Nitronic. Pearcy also formed his own record label (Top Fuel Records), and released several collections of archival material: Arcade's A/3: Live & Unreleased; Mickey Ratt's The Garage Tape Dayz 78-81; and, under his own name, the demo collection Before and Laughter. Pearcy's first true solo album, Social Intercourse, was released in 2001. Despite Pearcy's exit from the band, Ratt continued to carry on with new members Jizzy Pearl (former Love/Hate) on vocals, John Corabi (former Mötley Crüe) on guitar, and bassist Robbie Crane joining original members DeMartini and Blotzer. In the summer of 2001, long MIA Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby disclosed to the public that he was battling AIDS, and Croucier soon began organizing a benefit album for his former bandmate. After struggling for years with the resulting health problems, Crosby died in Los Angeles in June 2002. Pearcy returned to the fold in 2010 for the group's seventh full-length album, Infestation." - Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusicGuide

"Although they were initially grouped with the legions of pop-metal bands that dominated the American heavy metal scene of the '80s, Queensrÿche were one of the most distinctive bands of the era. Where their contemporaries built on the legacy of Van Halen, Aerosmith, and Kiss, Queensrÿche constructed a progressive form of heavy metal that drew equally from the guitar pyrotechnics of post-Van Halen metal and '70s art rock, most notably Pink Floyd and Queen. After releasing a handful of ignored albums, the band began to break into the mainstream with the acclaimed 1988 album Operation: Mindcrime. Its follow-up, Empire, was the group's biggest success, selling over two million copies due to the hit single "Silent Lucidity." Queensrÿche never sustained that widespread popularity -- like most late-'80s metal bands, their audience disappeared after the emergence of grunge. Nevertheless, they retained a large cult following well into the ensuing decades.


Guitarists Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton formed Queensrÿche in 1981 in the Seattle, WA, suburb of Bellevue. Both guitarists had been playing in heavy metal cover bands and had decided to form a group that would play original material. The duo recruited high school friends Geoff Tate (vocals) and bassist Eddie Jackson (bass), as well as drummer Scott Rockenfield. Instead of hitting the club circuit, the group rehearsed for two years, eventually recording and releasing a four-song demo tape. The cassette came to the attention of local record store owners Kim and Diana Harris, who offered to manage Queensrÿche. With the help of the Harrises, the tape circulated throughout the Northwest. In May of 1983, Queensrÿche released the EP Queen of the Reich on their own record label, 206 Records. Queen of the Reich sold 20,000 copies and, in the process, earned the band major-label attention. By the end of the year, the band signed to EMI, which released an expanded version of the EP as the Queensrÿche LP later in the year; the record peaked at number 81.


At this stage, Queensrÿche sounded closer to British metal bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Over the next few years, the group continued to refine its sound, opening for hard rock acts as diverse as Bon Jovi and Metallica. Their next two albums -- 1984's The Warning and 1986's Rage for Order -- sold respectably, with the latter reaching number 47 on the U.S. charts. Rage for Order also demonstrated a flowering of progressive rock influences, an idea that would reach its fruition with 1988's Operation: Mindcrime. Boasting orchestral arrangements from Michael Kamen, the album was Queensrÿche's most ambitious and focused effort to date, earning both positive reviews and strong sales. Operation: Mindcrime stayed on the American charts for a year, selling over a million copies during its run.


Queensrÿche returned in the fall of 1990 with the equally ambitious Empire. The album proved to be their commercial high watermark, peaking at number seven on the U.S. charts and going double platinum in America; in the U.K., the album also cracked the Top Ten. Empire's success was instigated by the stately art rock ballad "Silent Lucidity," which received heavy airplay from MTV and album rock radio. All the exposure eventually sent "Silent Lucidity" to number five on the U.S. singles charts. Following the long Empire tour -- which included a spot on the 1991 Monsters of Rock tour -- Queensrÿche released the live Operation: LIVEcrime in the fall of 1991. Recorded on the Operation: Mindcrime tour, the album replicated the group's live performance of the rock opera that comprised their 1988 artistic breakthrough; the package also included a video and a thick book.


In the three years following the release of Operation: LIVEcrime, the band rested and leisurely worked on the follow-up to Empire. Occasionally, they contributed a song to a soundtrack, such as "Real World" for Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1993 movie Last Action Hero. Queensrÿche finally delivered their sixth studio album, Promised Land, in 1994. Though the heavy metal audience had changed drastically since Empire, with many fair-weather metal fans switching their allegiance to grunge and alternative rock, the group retained a strong following, as evidenced by Promised Land debuting at number three on the U.S. charts. Promised Land would eventually go platinum and spawn two album rock hits, "I Am I" and "Bridge."


With 1997's Hear in the New Frontier, Queensrÿche stripped back their sound to the bare bones, leaving behind the prog rock influences that made them distinctive. Although the album debuted at 19, it received mixed reviews and quickly fell down the charts, leading shortly thereafter to founding guitarist Chris DeGarmo's exit from the band. (DeGarmo would soon resurface as part of former Alice in Chains' guitarist Jerry Cantrell's touring band.) Q2k followed in 1999, as new guitarist Kelly Gray took DeGarmo's place. Queensrÿche's first best-of set, Greatest Hits, was released in 2000; the band supported the CD with an opening slot on one of the year's hottest metal concert tickets -- Iron Maiden's Brave New World reunion tour, which also included former Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford.


In 2001, the band issued a double CD/DVD package titled Live Evolution. Meanwhile, former member DeGarmo began gearing up to form a new band, which was purported to include former Alice in Chains drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez; although he appeared on Jerry Cantrell's Degradation Trip in 2002, no solo material materialized. DeGarmo then rejoined forces with Queensrÿche for a brief spell, appearing on the band's subsequent album, 2003's Tribe, but never officially joining the lineup. Three years later, Queensrÿche (sans DeGarmo, who had become a professional charter pilot) released Operation: Mindcrime II, the long-awaited sequel to their 1988 conceptual smash. 2007 saw the dual release of Sign of the Times: The Best of Queensrÿche and Take Cover, the latter of which featured cover versions of songs by U2, Buffalo Springfield, and Andrew Lloyd Webber. During the following two years, Geoff Tate launched a series of one-on-one interviews with various military vets; he then funneled what he'd learned into the band's next project, a concept album about war named American Soldier. Produced by Jason Slater (who had also helmed Operation: Mindcrime II), the album was released in March 2009. After the release of the album, the band set out on the conceptual Queensryche Cabaret tour, mering the bands prog sound with a wild, cabaret aesthetic. The band also went overseas to Iraq to play the music of their American Soldier album for the troops that it was written for. While over there, they found themselves the victims of a bomb attack but came out of the ordeal unscathed. Later that year, Queensryche announced that they were working on new material, and in 2011 released their eleventh studio album, Dedicated to Chaos." - Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusicGuide

"Skid Row were one of the very last hair metal bands to hit the mainstream before grunge took over in the early '90s. While the band's self-titled debut employed standard pop-metal riffs and generic lyrics (albeit to great commercial success), 1991's Slave to the Grind and 1995's Subhuman Race broke away from the pop-metal mold with uncharacteristically hard, thrashy guitars and unique songwriting techniques. Though personal differences and changing trends would eventually tear the core lineup apart by 1996, Skid Row showed tremendous promise during their short time in the spotlight.


Based in New Jersey, Skid Row were formed in 1986 by bassist Rachel Bolan and former Bon Jovi guitarist Dave "The Snake" Sabo. The pair added guitarist Scott Hill, drummer Rob Affuso, and a larger than life vocalist named Sebastian Bach to the lineup by early 1987, and the band spent the next year and a half playing a series of local clubs in the eastern U.S. Having remained in contact with Jon Bon Jovi, Sabo convinced the established rock star to land Skid Row a record deal with Atlantic Records. In 1989, the band released its first album, Skid Row, which went multi-platinum on the strength of the Top 40 singles "18 and Life" and "I Remember You." Success came with a backlash, however -- the bandmembers had naïvely signed away much of their royalties, and Sebastian Bach's wild, often childlike behavior landed the group in additional trouble. During the subsequent tour, Bach garnered harsh criticism for a T-shirt he publicly sported displaying the message "AIDS KILLS FAGS DEAD." Suits were also filed against Bach after a concert during the supporting tour, where the singer allegedly threw a glass bottle into the crowd and injured a young female fan.


Nonetheless, Skid Row's muscular songcraft retained a devoted audience. Released in 1991, Slave to the Grind debuted at number one on the Billboard chart, an unprecedented accomplishment for a metal band. While the album did not chart any real radio hits, Grind received stronger critical praise and eventually reached platinum status. However, like so many of their peers, Skid Row lost much of their fan base during the grunge invasion of the '90s. As Nirvana stormed the scene in 1992, Skid Row took a hiatus, waiting out the grunge period and pondering breakups (ironically, Nirvana had once gone under the name Skid Row in the '80s). Skid Row returned in 1995 with Subhuman Race, which surprisingly charted in the Top 40 but otherwise did not attract any real attention.


During the supporting tour, tensions between the group members ran high and Skid Row disbanded shortly afterward. Bach went on to form the Last Hard Men with Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, but the group broke up after recording a cover of Alice Cooper's "School's Out" for the Scream soundtrack in 1996. Plans to record new songs for the Skid Row greatest-hits album, 1998's Forty Seasons, fell through, and Bach went on to form a solo project and portray the title role in the Broadway musical Jeckyll and Hyde. In mid-2000, Skid Row re-formed with new singer Johnny Solinger and toured as the opening band for Kiss' farewell tour. They released Thickskin with Solinger in 2003, followed by Revolutions Per Minute in 2006. Meanwhile, Sebastian Bach enjoyed a surge in popularity when he appeared in a VH1 reality show opposite Ted Nugent and Scott Ian." - Barry Weber, AllMusicGuide

Warrant got its fill of cherry pie in the 80s and 90s, but apparently that was not enough to squelch the band's hunger. Warrant will storm back to the stage in 2008, with plans for a tour and new music well into 2009 and beyond. The band, formed in 1984 by LA guitarist Erik Turner and bassist Jerry Dixon, hit the rock scene in February 1989 with the release of its debut album, "Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich" (Columbia Records). A blistering world tour of 262 shows helped push the 10-track record to double platinum status. The CD spawned three singles -- Down Boys (27 on the Billboard Top 100), Sometimes She Cries (20), and Heaven (2) – Heaven also sold over 750,000 singles. DRFSR live home video certified Platinum.

Topping their freshman success may have seemed like a daunting task, but the band members proved they were up to the challenge. Just 19 months after D.R.F.S.R. introduced the American rock fan to Warrant, "Cherry Pie" -- the band's second album (Columbia Records) – solidified Warrant's standing in rock history. The band toured again at home and abroad with 200+ shows pushing USA sales of Cherry Pie well into the 2 million mark. The record's title track became perhaps the band's most recognizable hit, and the album peaked at 7 on the charts.

Nearly 20 years and eight albums the later, the buzz surrounding Warrant remains. Since the success in the late 80s and early 90s, the band has seen many changes but has remained a key cog in the ever-changing rock landscape. Warrant has endured death, changes in record label and loss of band members, it appears these hardships have only fueled Warrant's drive.

QUIET RIOT is a rock & roll phenomenon. Famously described as the first heavy metal band to top the pop charts, the Los Angeles quartet became an overnight sensation thanks to their monster 1983 smash album Metal Health. Their followup album Condition Critical went double platinum and the band continued to record and tour throughout their 25 + year history.

L.A. Guns got their start on Los Angeles ' Sunset Strip more than 15 years ago. The band was formed in 1986 and signed with Polygram Records in 1987, recording their first album that summer. This first album, titled "L.A. Guns", went on to sell 750,000 copies and earned the band its first gold album award. Tours with AC/DC , Iron Maiden , and Def Leppard followed. A compilation of the videos made from this first album also earned the band a gold video award. L.A. Guns went into the studio to record their second album, "Cocked and Loaded", in the spring of 1989. It was a hit right away with the release of "Rip and Tear" as the first single and video. "Never Enough" and "The Ballad of Jayne" followed, pushing album sales over 1,000,000 and earning the band its first platinum record award. The video compilation from this album earned the band its second gold video award. A successful world tour followed. The band's third album, "Hollywood Vampires", was recorded in the fall of 1990. With the release of "Kiss My Love Goodbye" as the first single and video, and another successful world tour, the album went on to sell 700,000 copies and earned the band its third gold album award.

Like the fearsome, deadly denizen of the deep that shares its name, Great White knows something about survival of the fittest. The Southern California blues-rock band first took a bite out of the rock scene in 1984 and has never let go. Great White has achieved worldwide success, encompassing sales of over six million records. They received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", and earned a double platinum certification for the album …Twice Shy. With the release of Can't Get There From Here, the group's first release from John Kalodner's label Portrait, Great White is poised to conquer once again

"At a time when the charts were ruled by pop-metal acts, Dokken was a major attraction throughout the 1980s. With vocalist Don Dokken's captivating stage presence and guitarist George Lynch's high-energy style, the band combined rockers such as "Kiss of Death" and power ballads such as "Alone Again" in order to create a number of best-selling albums.


Dokken's roots date back to the late '70s, when Lynch, along with drummer Mick Brown, teamed up with Don Dokken to form the Boyz. In 1981, Don moved to Germany and was signed to Carerre Records. The band, now simply known as Dokken, recorded and released Breaking the Chains, their first studio album, in 1983. While the record failed to retain a decent chart position in the United States, the group was immensely popular in Europe.


After a tour in Germany, Dokken was signed to Elektra Records, and Jeff Pilson became their first official bassist. In 1984, the band released Tooth and Nail, which featured the hit songs "Into the Fire," "Just Got Lucky," and "Alone Again." With heavy MTV and radio airplay, Dokken found themselves topping the charts worldwide, and Tooth and Nail eventually sold over one-million copies in the U.S. alone. Following a tour with the Scorpions, the group recorded Under Lock and Key in 1985, which had a similar success due to the hits "In My Dreams" and "It's Not Love." In 1987, the band released Back for the Attack, which featured a track they had written as the subtitle for the third Nightmare on Elm Street film, "Dream Warriors." The coinciding music video, which included scenes of the band interacting with the movie's characters, was their most popular ever, and Back for the Attack became Dokken's third record to reach platinum status. The album's subsequent tour resulted in a live compilation, Beast From the East, which was released shortly before the band broke up in 1988 due to Don Dokken's and Lynch's creative differences.


After the disbanding of Dokken, Don pursued a solo career with Up from the Ashes, and Lynch formed the Lynch Mob, releasing an album in 1990; both releases failed to chart. In 1992, the band reunited, but it wasn't until 1995 when they signed with Columbia Records and released Dysfunctional, which was met with harsh reviews and poor sales. Tensions once again seemed to hover around the group as they recorded the live acoustic release, One Live Night, in 1996 under the CMC label. In 1997, the band released Shadowlife, which was met with a similar response to their past two recordings. In 1998, Lynch left a second time to reunite Lynch Mob, and was replaced with Winger guitarist Reb Beach for 1999's Erase the Slate. This was followed in 2000 by another concert record, Live from the Sun, which captured the Beach lineup at Anaheim's Sun Theater. Beach left the group and was replaced by John Norum, and the group recorded Long Way Home for release in the spring of 2002. In 2003, ex-Warlock guitarist Jonathan Levin and ex-Ted Nugent and Yngwie Malmsteen bassist Barry Sparks joined the group, resulting in the release of Hell to Pay the following year. The band returned to the studio in 2008 for Lightning Strikes Again." - Barry Weber, AllMusicGuide

Without a doubt, Stryper is one of the top Christian rock bands of all-time, and certainly the most celebrated Christian metal band of all time. Comprised of Michael Sweet (vocals/guitar), Oz Fox (guitar), Tim Gaines (bass), and Robert Sweet (drums), Stryper has been rocking since 1983, and is responsible for such '80s metal classic albums as 'Soldiers Under Command,' 'To Hell with the Devil,' In God We Trust,' and such MTV hit singles/videos as "Calling on You," "Free," and "Honestly." After a sabbatical for much of the 1990's, Stryper returned strong in the early 21st century. But it was not until their 2011 covers set, 'The Covering,' that the aforementioned definitive Stryper was reinstated, as the band welcomed Gaines back into the fold.


Stryper will be supporting their latest release with a full tour, which will see the quartet dust off a handful of originals they have not performed in ages, as well as selections from 'The Covering,' and all the expected hits. Beyond that, Sweet has high hopes for what lays in store for Stryper. "We're really excited about the future. We feel like the band is in the best spirits and the best place musically, spiritually, and physically speaking than we've ever been. We feel really good. We're all pushing 50, but man, I feel like there's so much more life for this band, and some incredible things in store for the group. We're hooked up with some great people - we've got new management, a great album, a great label. We just feel like everything is coming together, and hopefully some big things are to follow."

"By the time they were introduced to the West by 1985's Thunder in the East album, Japan's Loudness had arguably already hit their peak. Their previous effort, Disillusion, was the fourth chart-topping release in their homeland, not to mention a critical triumph among members of the European press. But when faced with a contingency plan to conquer America, Loudness were gradually forced to alter their sound by unsuitable producers and clueless record company hacks, never coming close to translating their far-East success into Western stardom.


Guitarist Akira Takasaki and drummer Munetaka Higuchi first played together during the mid-'70s in a mainstream rock band called Lazy. Unhappy with the band's direction, the duo split and decided to follow in the footsteps of Bow Wow (the first ever Japanese heavy metal band), forming Loudness with vocalist Minoru Niihara and bass player Masayoshi Yamashita. Combining a classic metal approach with Takasaki's Eddie Van Halen-inspired guitar heroics, the band immediately scored local success with their first three albums, which were sung entirely in Japanese. But it wasn't until the release of their first live album, Live-Loud-Alive, and fourth studio effort Disillusion that the group attracted any significant attention outside their homeland, eventually issuing an English version of Disillusion.


Atlantic Records soon came calling and the band's international career began in earnest with 1985's Thunder in the East, which sold quite well in the U.S. for its novelty value, giving the band false hopes about their acceptance by Western metal audiences. Subsequent efforts, Lightning Strikes and Hurricane Eyes, were "made to order" records geared for the American market, and saw the band slowly drifting away from their roots towards a more commercial, pop-metal sound. All to no avail, and after recording 1988's independently-released Jealousy, the classic lineup's glory years came to an end with the firing of Niihara and the arrival of American-born singer Mike Vescera for 1989's Soldier of Fortune. 1991's disappointing On the Prowl saw them resort to re-recording watered down versions of some of their Japan-only material and would be the last to feature Vescera, who briefly joined the temperamental Yngwie J. Malmsteen's band.


Yamada Masaki, from rival Japanese metal band EZO, was brought in for Loudness' 1992 self-titled effort, 1994's Heavy Metal Hippies, and 1997's Ghetto Machine. The latter saw the departure of the band's long-time rhythm section being replaced by bassist Shibata Naoto and drummer Homma Hirotsugu. This lineup recorded two more albums, 1998's Dragon and 1999's Engine, after which it has been rumored that Takasaki welcomed back the original members for an as yet unconfirmed reunion." - Eduardo Rivadavia, AllMusicGuide

George Lynch is one of the most recognizable names in the world of heavy metal guitar. With a career spanning more than thirty years, George has recorded more than twenty albums, toured the entire globe many times, and is the one of the most recognizable endorsees of the world's finest guitars and equipment.

XYZ is a hard rock band, formed in the late 1980s. XYZ started off as the unofficial house band of "The Whiskey", a nightclub in Los Angeles. The original members were, Terry Ilous (vocals), Bobby Pieper (guitars), Patt Fontaine (bass) and Joey Pafumi (drums). A tour of the US with Enuff Z'Nuff and Alice Cooper followed the success of their debut album, and they were signed by major label, Capitol for its second.

"Although Bang Tango was often lumped in with the whole '80s glam metal movement (perhaps due to their pretty-boy looks and the fact that they hailed from Los Angeles, CA), the hard-rockin' quintet was one of the few L.A. glam groups to incorporate funk into its sound -- around the same time as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Faith No More made it acceptable to do so. Their lineup consisted of Joe Lesté (vocals), Kyle Stevens (guitar), Mark Knight (guitar), Kyle Kyle (bass), and Tigg Ketler (drums), and gained the interest of Mechanic/MCA shortly after the quintet issued the in-concert recording Live Injection in 1987. Their major-label debut, Psycho Cafe, was issued in 1989, and despite MTV's Headbanger's Ball program giving some air time to their single/video "Someone Like You," the album failed to break the band into the big time.


The group continued to issue albums during the early part of the '90s -- 1991's Dancin' on Coals, 1992's Ain't No Jive...Live!, and 1994's Love After Death -- but with the emergence of the Seattle movement, bands like Bang Tango became passé with most of the metal community. The band broke up shortly thereafter, with bassist Kyle joining former Faster Pussycat frontman Taime Downe's industrial project, the Newlydeads, while Lesté did some time as a stand-in for L.A. Guns (Ketler and Knight also resurfaced in the group the Worry Beads). In 1998, Kyle and Lesté resurrected the Bang Tango name for the 1998 release Live (on the Cleopatra label). A best-of compilation, Greatest Tricks, saw the light of day in 1999, as did United and Live the same year. In 2001, Lesté formed a more modern-sounding alt-metal outfit, Beautiful Creatures, issuing a self-titled debut the same year on Warner Bros., and toured as part of Ozzfest. Mark Knight also formed a new band, Gravy." - Greg Prato, AllMusicGuide

Vinny and Carmine break out the heavy artillery in this entertaining no-holds barred battle to the finish. Carmine and Vinny...Vinny and Carmine! Don't know which one comes first, which one had the moustache first, or which one has the best legs! However, they are both great artists in their own genre. Carmine's track record includes Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, B.B.A. (Beck, Bogart and Appice), and Rod Stewart, to name a few. Not bad! Vinny has driven John Lennon, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell. Not bad! (I've been stuck with one band for 40 years - The Boston Symphony).


From the initial downbeat of this sibling confrontation, this specatcle culminates in the final battle of Drum Wars. The Ultimate battle both playing with great power, imagination and musically spirited. So now, Drum Wars. The tour which Carmine and Vinny demonstrate their sensational playing abilities. It is comedy in that they leave Laurel and Hardy very secure! It is entertainment in that it is great fun. Sincere, open and honest.


Both drummers play great solos and great ensemble work in their own inimitable style. Their years of experience are reflected in their ability to respond musically to each other. I personally am honored to have them both as friends and musical colleagues.


May the musical battle continue! - Vic Firth

There was a time when rock and roll was about fist-pumping riffs, sizzling musicianship and super-charged vocals. But Streetlight Circus proves that thundering rhythms and memorable hooks don’t have to be a thing of the past. Under this New York City band’s Big Top is a selection of songs and a stageshow that will transport you back to those sweaty, sleazy nights of rock and roll past while throttling you with an edgy, modern twist that has kept fans coming back for more.


Established by singer, bassist and songwriter David Shaw in 2006 to support his acclaimed solo release Walkin’ On A Wire, the members soon became a unified rock and roll front prompting the changing of the group’s moniker to Streetlight Circus after Shaw wrote a song by the same name. Touting an array of all the right influences, the quartet consists of guitarist George Giannoulis and drummer Erik Fehrenbach, two long time friends and musical counterparts of Shaw as well as guitarist Fabio Bargna, the newest member to join the fun.


Together, these four veteran musicians have committed themselves to giving audiences the best possible show night after night and seeing as how the band’s audiences have grown, it is clear that they are doing it right. Streetlight Circus has shared bills with countless national acts in the New York area, has toured the country from all points south to the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles and has been invited to perform at festivals such as the enormous Rocklahoma as well as New York’s JamFest. In addition, the band’s music has been featured on MTV original programming, radio stations from Texas all the way to Denmark and compilation albums that have found their way to stores throughout the United States and Europe.


With a new album hitting the streets in the late 2011, Streetlight Circus is ready to bring the hard rockin’ carnival to cities and venues big and small. Wherever there are people starving for real, no frills, down and dirty rock and roll, Streetlight Circus will be there to satisfy their appetites. Catch the Streetlight Circus and watch them make rock and roll filthy again!