Quiet Riot Plays B.B. King's on Feb. 1st w/ All Points West (Spread Eagle) and Saviour

I’ve never figured out why there seemed to be a mainstream backlash against Quiet Riot. When Quiet Riot last came though New York (they played the St. George Theatre in Staten Island in 2006), I asked some of my friends who have mainstream musical tastes (i.e. Nickelback and Poison fans) if they wanted to go with me to the show and they gave me looks like I asked them if they wanted to see (i.e.) The Wiggles open for Miley Cyrus. My friends missed a fabulous show – Rehab (which the band was touring behind at the time) has to be one of the band’s strongest discs and it showed them moving toward a 70’s “classic rock” sound that was akin to Rod Stewart & The Faces. Adding to the mix, love him or hate him, Kevin DuBrow was one of the best front-men in rock.



With the blessing of Kevin’s mom, drummer Frankie Banali reactivated the Rehab lineup of Quiet Riot and recently added vocalist Keith St. John from Montrose. This new lineup of the band is making their first appearance in NYC on Feb. 1st with a show at B.B. Kings. There are a strong set of bands opening for Quiet Riot (unlike the terrible Iron Maiden tribute band that opened for QR in Staten Island) – Ray West’s All Points West and long-running Long Island metalers Saviour. Tickets are $18 in advance and $22 DOS.

Links:
Quiet Riot

Spread Eagle - "Spread Eagle" CD Review (MVD/Lovember Records)

To give a bit of context for this review, Spread Eagle's self-titled debut was originally released in 1990 (on MCA). This disc is a solid slab of rumbling gutter metal with all the kick of a Skid Row or Gun N' Roses disc but, unfortunately, both the disc and the band got "lost" due to lack of label support and the rise of grunge. The disc was out of print for years until Lovember Records remastered and reissued the disc in 2006 and MVD just signed on as a distributor.

This disc kicks off with the track "Broken City" which is the sound of a band climbing out of the war-zone of early 90's Alphabet City and follows this with the politically incorrect stomper "Back on the Bitch". There isn't a bad track on the disc but the standout tracks are "Switchblade Serenade" and "Scratch Like A Cat", both of which could have had the same radio impact as any of the Gunners or Skid Row hits if they had come out just a few years earlier. Most of the tracks are driving, hard-rock numbers but the band slows down on "Thru These Eyes", which is the disc's only ballad. Slow doesn't mean bad though as Ray's raw vocals and some shredding leads from guitarist Paul DiBartolo keep this track from succumbing to the excesses of 80's hair metal. In an interview a few years ago, Ray described this disc as being recorded on "sheer, sheer anger… and alcohol. "





Ray and Rob started playing a limited number of one-off reunion shows starting in 2006 (Tommi Gallo seems to have fallen off the Earth and Paul DiBartolo (who changed his name to Salvadore Poe) moved into scoring films and documentaries) and seem to have gotten a bit more active this year with the addition of guitarist Dennis Kimak and drummer Rik DeLuca.

Tour Dates:
Oct. 22 - Ray West/All Points West @ Queens Library, Flushing, NY ("Blood Fest 2011")
Nov. 18 - Spread Eagle @ KC Hall, Sanford, ME
Nov. 19 - Spread Eagle @ Voices Rock Club, Lowell, MA
Dec. 10 - Spread Eagle @ Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ (w/ Kix)

Links:
Spread Eagle
Ray West

Spread Eagle Announce December '08 Tour Dates

Spread Eagle have just announced a series of local-area shows which I think are the band's first since the 2006 "Back on the Bitch" tour.

Dec 5 2008 11:00PM, Cherrywood Rock Club, Clementon, New Jersey
Dec 10 2008 11:00PM, The Haunt, Yonkers, New York
Dec 11 2008 11:00PM, The Trash Bar, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York
Dec 13 2008 10:00PM, The Crazy Donkey w/ KIX, Farmingdale, Long Island, New York

Spread Eagle's debut CD was reissued by Lovember Records in 2006 and the disc is currently available through Amazon and other outlets.

Links:
Spread Eagle's MySpace page

Ray West's New Band, Hostel Inc., Played With Great White @ Don Hill's 1-22-08

Ray West's (x-vocalist for Spread Eagle) new band Hostel, Inc. was also on the bill at the Great White show last month. It is great to see Ray back in action after he took a number of years off from music. The band has a solid hard rock sound and there are three demo tracks streaming on Hostel Inc.'s MySpace page.

Ray just appeared on Maximum Threshold radio to talk about everything from his days in Spread Eagle to Hostel, Inc. and the show is available as a downloadable podcast.

Here are some of my pictures of Hostel, Inc. from the Don Hill's show:









Here are the band's upcoming tour dates:

February 22, Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
February 27, Webster Hall, NYC (supporting LA Guns)

Vicious Disorder Live @ Don Hills, NYC 1-22-08

Vicious Disorder went on stage at Don Hill's right before Great White. The band has been around for a number of years but this was my first time seeing them play live. There was a bit of a buzz about Vicious Disorder just over a year ago when the band recorded the song "Pure Evil" which incorporated the theme music from the Halloween series of horror movies. For anyone not familiar with the band's sound, there are some live videos of the band performing "Pure Evil" in concert on the band's website (not from the Don Hill's show though).

The band had a tight hard rock sound that almost borders on thrash. Vicious Disorder isn't quite as hard as some of the mid-80's Bay-area thrash bands but these would be close contemporaries to the band's sound.

Here are some of the pictures that I took at the show.

Rob LaFlamme/Vicious Disorder - Don Hill's, NYC 1-22-08


Scott LaFlamme/Vicious Disorder - Don Hill's, NYC 1-22-08


Chris Pauze/Vicious Disorder - Don Hill's, NYC 1-22-08


Scott LaFlamme/Vicious Disorder - Don Hill's, NYC 1-22-08


The band's latest CD, "Life Is A Chance", is available through Vicious Disorder's website and CD Baby.

Links:
Vicious Disorder's MySpace Page

Great White - Don Hills, NYC 1-22-08 (25th Anniversary Show)

G*d...I have really been working too much these days as the Great White show was a couple of weeks back.

Great White made their only area appearance on their 25th Anniversary tour at a show at Don Hill's. It was a really strong bill this night (Great White, Ray West's new band Hostel Inc. and Vicious Disorder) for only a $10 ticket.

Great White took the stage at the early hour of the morning (I think it was after midnight) and played a great set of classic tunes from their back catalogue, some tunes from the new CD "Back to the Rhythm" and Zeppelin cover or two. Aside for some initial sound problems when the band first took the stage, the band sounded great.

Jack Russell/Great White - Don Hill's, NYC 1-22-08


Michael Lardie & Sean McNabb/Great White - Don Hill's, NYC 1-22-08


Jack Russell & Mark Kendall/Great White - Don Hill's, NYC 1-22-08


Audie Desbrow/Great White - Don Hill's, NYC 1-22-08


Great White - Don Hill's, NYC 1-22-08


Great White's latest CD is "Back to the Rhythm" which came out last summer on Shrapnel Records. The band is currently finishing up a UK tour and there are rumors that the band will be touring the States sometime over the summer.

I'll follow up this post with pictures of Hostel, Inc. (some of my pictures are currently posted to the band's MySpace page) and Vicious Disorder. Does anyone know who the first band was? I caught the end of their set but didn't see their name listed on the bill.

Links:
Great White's Website

Great White Plays 25th Anniversary Show @ Don Hill's On January 22nd

The late 80's - 90's classic lineup of Great White has reunited and are playing a fan appreciation show at Don Hill's on January 22nd. This lineup hasn't played NYC in over 10 years and this show is the band's only area appearance.

Tickets are a low $10 and the lineup for the night includes Ray West's (Spread Eagle vocalist) new project Hostel, Inc.

Support the local music scene and buy your tickets directly from Hostel, Inc. There is a PayPal link on the band's MySpace page (link is above).

Links:
Great White's Website
Hostel, Inc. MySpace Page

Ray West (Spread Eagle Vocalist) Returns to NYC on May 21st

Spread Eagle vocalist Ray West returns to NYC for a solo show at Club Snitch on May 21st. West's set will consist of Spread Eagle classics and some choice new solo material

Spread Eagle Vocalist Ray West Playing Solo Show at Don Hill's

Ray West is playing a small number of solo shows in March which include a March 8th show at Don Hill's. At the Spread Eagle reunion show last year at Don Hill's, Ray showed that he still has every bit of the powerful vocal range that he had in the early 90s and he can still give Axl Rose a run for his money. Ray plays very infrequently in the area so this should be a must-see show.

Spread Eagle's MySpace page says that "Ray will be performing solo material along with a few classic favorites. Joining Ray will be guitarist Steve Ladd and bassist Chigger of the New Jersey based Smoke Star along with Scotti Dropoutz on drums."

For more info, check out:
- Rockeyez coverage of last year's Spread Eagle shows
- Ray's MySpace page