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The Brats | |
|---|---|
| Origin | New York City, United States |
| Genres | Hard Rock, Glam Rock, Power Pop |
| Years active | 1975–1979; 1980; 1990; 2003–present |
| Labels | Whiplash Records, Rave Up Records |
| Members | Keith West Dave Van Epp Mike Wretched Richie K |
| Past members | Brendan O'Brien Rick Rivets Scott St.Clair Sheets Joe "TV" Guido ..... |
| Website | http://www.starzcentral.com |
The Brats is an American hard rock and power pop band from New York City, United States. Despite a lack of commercial success, the band has a lasting cult following and were the biggest draw for NYC clubs in the mid to late 1970s. The Brats has been cited as a major influence by bands such as Kiss, Poison and Twisted Sister.
History
editStarz was formed out of the ashes of the early 1970s pop music band, Looking Glass, which had the No. 1 hit single "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" in the summer of 1972. After lead singer Elliot Lurie left Looking Glass in 1974, the three remaining members (keyboardist Larry Gonsky, bassist Pieter Sweval and drummer Jeff Grob, who adopted the stage name Joe X. Dube) teamed up with Michael Lee Smith (vocals) and guitarist Brendan Harkin to continue the band and soon changed their name to Fallen Angels. In September 1975, they were joined by former Stories guitarist Richie Ranno. After keyboardist Gonsky was dropped from the group, they changed their moniker once again (to Starz) and pursued a more heavy metal direction. Kiss manager Bill Aucoin was introduced to Starz via his right-hand man Sean Delaney, who had befriended Pieter Sweval, and Aucoin began handling Starz in late 1975, helping them to get signed to Capitol Records in early 1976.
Their major hit single "Cherry Baby" in the spring of 1977 came from the album Violation, produced by Jack Douglas of Aerosmith fame. Jack Douglas produced their first two albums Starz and Violation. Most fans[who?] consider Violation their best album and compare it stylistically to Kiss and Aerosmith output.
Their third album, the self produced Attention Shoppers!, was more in the vein of power pop than heavy metal and featured a Cheap Trick influence in songs such as "X-Ray Spex". Brendan Harkin and Pieter Sweval were asked to leave the band after Attention Shoppers!, reportedly since they wanted to continue in that record's musical direction, while the others favored a return to the harder sound of the first two releases.
On their final Capitol album, Coliseum Rock (produced by Guess Who producer Jack Richardson), Harkin and Sweval were replaced by Bobby Messano on guitar and Orville Davis on bass.[1] Previously Orville was the bassist for the southern rock band Hydra who released multiple albums in the mid-1970s. His contributions can be heard on the first two LP's: 1974's Hydra and 1975's Land of Money. After leaving Hydra, Davis joined Rex, a hard rock outfit fronted by Michael's brother Rex Smith, who went on to TV and pop stardom in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
After leaving Capitol, Starz split up in 1980[1] and Dube and Ranno put together a trio with bassist Peter Scance called Hard Core. In 1980 Starz reunited with a lineup of Smith, Ranno, Harkin, Orville Davis and Doug Madick (later with Prism), a drummer who was working with Smith at the time. The group played clubs up and down the East Coast in what amounted to a farewell tour.
In 1981, Smith, Ranno, Madick and Peter Scance regrouped. At first they were to continue as Starz but decided to change their name to Hellcats.[1] Hellcats recorded five new songs and released them as an EP on the small Radio Records label in 1982. Radio Records went out of business not long afterwards. Another mid-1980s lineup of Hellcats with Ranno and Scance, this time with Perry Jones on lead vocals, also went nowhere after putting out another record in 1987 on the King Klassic label as well as a four-track EP in 1988.
Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records contacted Ranno in 1989 telling him of his longtime admiration of the band and asked if Ranno held the rights to any of the band's material. Ranno stated he owned two unreleased live shows and allowed Metal Blade to compile them as Live in Action, which contained cuts from a 1976 Cleveland show and a 1978 radio promotional show in Louisville, Kentucky, previously known as Live in Louisville. The release of Live in Action was a precursor to the 1990 release of the four Starz studio albums on compact disc as the inaugural releases by Metal Blade's "Classics" imprint. The albums have subsequently been re-released on CD (by other labels and the band themselves) several times, most recently in 2005 with bonus tracks primarily made up of material from the band's days as Fallen Angels, as well as a few songs from the 1992 reunion independent album, Requiem.
Ranno eventually ran into their former producer, Jack Douglas, at an Aerosmith concert and he expressed an interest in doing another Starz record. So in 1990, Michael Lee Smith and Brendan Harkin came to New York to join Ranno in writing and recording five new tunes. Doug Madick played drums on the new project as Dube had left the music business to work as an architect and Harkin played bass, since Pieter Sweval had died of AIDS on January 23 that year. Since the band was unable to acquire a new record deal, the songs were put out (with some live tracks and other odds and ends) on their own label, Drastic CD, in 1992 as the aforementioned Requiem. After this, Ranno continued on his own with the Richie Ranno Group, which put out a CD, RRG, in 1996.
Ranno was approached in 2003 by a British promoter who wanted to bring Starz over to the UK. This failed to pan out but the surviving original members (Smith, Ranno, Harkin and Dube), with new bassist "Insane" George DiAna, regrouped that same year for a number of successful club dates, culminating in the two-day 2005 "Starzfest" held in Teaneck, New Jersey, which featured the entire band joined by Bobby Messano and Orville Davis. They played their entire album catalog, including songs which had never been played live before. Two concerts in California were also performed in late 2005, one recorded for a television special. In addition, a show recorded in Cleveland, Ohio in 2004 was released on CD in late 2006. The Ohio show was done as a four piece as Harkin had missed his plane flight to Cleveland. In 2005, Messano once again replaced Harkin as guitarist and Ranno also did shows with DiAna and Dube as the Richie Ranno All Stars.
Former Ted Nugent drummer Cliff Davies filled in for Joe X. Dube for a Starz show in San Francisco in October 2007; for additional shows in California in April 2008, Billy Howe filled in on guitar for Messano. Former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick did the honors at that year's Kiss Convention on May 3 in Secaucus, New Jersey. But in 2012, Messano was replaced by new guitarist Steve DeAcutis. Then Alex Kane took over the second guitar slot from DeAcutis in 2013. Kane played guitar and Ginger Wildheart subbed on bass for a one night only gig in the UK at The Garage, London in London's Highbury section on December 18, 2013. The group went back out on tour in 2019 supporting Ace Frehley and Angel.
Influence
editAlthough not being able to build up major commercial success and not well remembered, Starz has proven to be influential far beyond their commercial success. Several 1980s glam metal artists, including Poison, and Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe, cite Starz as a primary influence. Ginger of the Wildhearts has also cited the band as an important influence, including them in the lyrics to the song "29x The Pain" ("I see Starz"), and Kerrang! magazine included the first two Starz albums on their list of the most important heavy metal albums of all time.[2]
Discography
editStudio albums
edit| Year | Album | US | RIAA Certification | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Starz | - | - | Capitol |
| 1977 | Violation | - | - | Capitol |
| 1978 | Attention Shoppers! | - | - | Capitol |
| 1978 | Coliseum Rock | - | - | Capitol |
| 1992 | Requiem | - | - | Drastic CD |
Singles
edit| Year | Single | Chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Hot 100 | US Main Rock | UK | ||
| 1977 | "(She's Just A) Fallen Angel" | 95 | - | - |
| "Cherry Baby" | 33 | - | - | |
| "Sing It, Shout It" | 66 | - | - | |
| 1978 | "(Any Way That You Want It) I'll Be There" | 79 | - | - |
| "Hold On to the Night" | 78 | - | - | |
| "So Young, So Bad" | 81 | - | - | |
Live albums
edit- Live At Municipal Auditorium, Louisville, March 30, 1978 (1978)
- Live In America (1983)
- Live In Canada (1985)
- Live in Action (1989) (Contains the 1978 live album + extra live recordings)
- Greatest Hits Live (2004)
- Double Live (2006)
Compilation albums
edit- Brightest Starz (1985) on Heavy Metal America records (contains a collection of songs from "Starz," "Violation," "Attention Shoppers!" and "Coliseum Rock")
- Do It with the Lights On (1987) Contains Previously Unreleased Material
- Brightest Starz Anthology (2000)
References
edit- ^ a b c Colin Larkin, ed. (1995). The Guinness Who’s Who of Heavy Metal (Second ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 339. ISBN 0-85112-656-1.
- ^ "Kerrang! 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums Of All Time". Rocklist.net. January 1989. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
External links
edit
Category:Musical groups established in 1975
Category:American hard rock musical groups
Category:American power pop groups
Category:Heavy metal musical groups from New Jersey
Category:Capitol Records artists