This is the second in the series covering the LA hard rock and metal scene, this period covers 1975 to 1981. The format is the same as volume 1, lots of interviews with people who were around at the time or who had an influence in the scene.
LA metal was fast becoming popular again as the punk influence greatly reduced the amount of hard rock and metal shows that occurred during the mid to late 70’s. A lot of this came about later on in years and this story due to the influence of the NWOBHM, when this is featured, you know it’s going to be Lars Ulrich on camera. But to be fair, it’s a good insight, as are Brian Slagel’s comments (Metal Blade record label). Malcolm Dome adds his contribution to the story, but the main synopsis is that there were two big bands of the late 70’s, coincidentally with two of the greatest guitar players ever, namely Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads, playing for Van Halen and Quiet Riot respectfully. I wasn’t aware that Rhoads was teaching guitar to a lot of the people in the scene, not Eddie though just to be clear. Although there is a lot of blowing one’s own trumpet with people like Greg Leon confusing a story saying that the technique of finger tapping came from himself to a guy called Harvey Mandell who subsequently showed this to Eddie Van Halen. There’s another story of Eddie copying the divebomb set up for his guitar from others. I guess you had to be there at the time.
No documentary of this period would be complete without noting the rise of Motley Crue. Armored Saint’s Joey Vera actually accompanies Tommy Lee to his first meeting with Nikki Sixx after responding to a newspaper advert and Don Dokken was a good friend of Mick Mars. The story can be heard on the DVD, so I don’t want to elaborate without spoiling it for you.
The good thing about volume 2 of this series, something that Volume 1 lacked was live clips, these are now included too, there is some nice footage of Randy Rhoads and Quiet Riot. An interview with guitar maker Grovner Jackson is rather special, it tells the tale of designing Randy’s famous flying v guitar and the closing credits shows guitars actually been machined in the factory. Chris Holmes (W.A.S.P.) features heavily too, a man I’ve always respected no matter what you may think of him. But he was the guy who had most of the PA and gear in the early days and rented to many bands (including Van Halen) who would have shows at venues and even house parties. I also didn’t know he auditioned for a big artist at the time, you’ll find out!
You may hear stories of house parties, but this was the thing to do, have a house, hire a PA, charge a minimal fee and rock out to a backyard concert. Sounds like a pretty cool idea doesn’t it! The DVD also has a chapter on the Orange County scene, the LA scene wasn’t just limited to Hollywood. For this Jack Russell (Great White/Dante Fox). In fact Great White or rather Dante Fox had a crazy bassist once that had a cheese grater on his guitar and used to shred his knuckles, hmm, sensible chap! You had to do something extra to get noticed if you wanted to be big and there was massive inter band competition at the time. Of course, a lots of these bands were incestuous and shared a lot of members over this time period, especially around 1980, but this is a good reference point to check out some lesser known bands and some of which are listed below: –
Snow, Stormer, Dante Fox, Xciter (George Lynch’s pre-Dokken band), London (Nikki Sixx/Blackie Lawless), Max Havoc, Angel and The Sharks.
Basically, all underground bands played lots, but struggled to get notoriety in the wave of Van Halen’s success, until the influence of NWOBHM appeared.
This is a much more applicable volume of the series for me, it’s getting closer to the period that I know well. However, as Silverhead’s Micheal Des Barres states, if you are looking for stories of sex and drugs from this DVD, then look elsewhere, the LA foundation was built on the music, but he also goes onto say that the heart and soul of the scene was ripped apart when MTV started up and became the standard “business model” for a bands success, also echoed by Joey Vera.
Paul Maddison
http://www.wienerworld.com/inside-metal-pioneers-of-l-a-hard-rock-and-metal-2.html
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