Lengthy earlier than the approaching of the web, it was to the printed press that one would excitedly search for the newest music information. Within the early 80s, Sounds and Kerrang! have been unquestionably the go-to sources for music information within the UK, particularly when it got here to exclusives. And in Might 1984, Kerrang! unleashed a peach of a scoop: the return of Angel!
Angel’s keyboard maestro Gregg Giuffria had, Kerrang! revealed, put collectively a model new line-up of the group and was in LA’s Cherokee Studios with producer Andy Johns engaged on demos of such high quality {that a} main deal was all however assured.
After Neil Bogart had bought his Casablanca label to PolyGram in 1980, there was little urge for food on the a part of the 5 members of Angel to work with the brand new house owners, and vice versa. Nonetheless, the corporate refused to permit the group to go away for pastures new. When PolyGram turned down Angel’s request to have Jack Douglas produce a brand new studio album, it was solely a matter of time earlier than the entire thing fell aside.
Regardless of an preliminary dedication by Giuffria – together with drummer Barry Brandt and legendary guitarist Punky Meadows – to hold on with new vocalist Dennis ‘Fergie’ Frederiksen (previously with Trillion) within the place of Frank DiMino and ex-Babys bassist Ricky Phillips (who truly succeeded Rudy Sarzo) as a substitute for Felix Robinson, by 1982 solely Giuffria and Meadows remained. Now joined by vocalist David Glen Eisley and utilizing the identify Legend, they labored on demos and shopped for a deal.
“Legend was solely ever a working title,” remembers Gregg Giuffria – now a vastly profitable Las Vegas businessman concerned with on line casino gaming machines – as we speak. “It wasn’t one thing we have been ever going to maintain.”
“I used to be gigging in numerous bands on the time, and somebody had run into Gregg who was searching for a singer and gave him my quantity,” remembers David Glen Eisley, in a uncommon break from overseeing the appearing careers of his spouse Olivia Hussey and their daughter India Eisley. “Gregg referred to as me out of the blue. So Gregg, Punky and I put one thing collectively. We wrote two or three songs in a day and bought on very well collectively. We did some demos however they didn’t go wherever.”
“We have been simply fiddling round,” provides Gregg.
When Meadows determined to maneuver again to Maryland, Giuffria and Eisley continued writing. “Gregg and I had shaped a strong writing partnership and we determined to place a brand new band collectively.”
To this finish they prolonged an invite to Craig Goldy. On the time the guitarist was very a lot part of the Ronnie James Dio-mentored Tough Cutt. “Gregg and David noticed a Tough Cutt present at Santa Monica Civic and approached me to see if I used to be fascinated about what they have been doing,” remembers Goldy. “Gregg confirmed me a video of what they’d been doing with Legend, as I distinctly bear in mind Punky Meadows was within the band enjoying on that tape. I had this imaginative and prescient of one thing actually huge taking place if I joined them. However it’s a must to perceive the gravity of such a choice when you think about that, earlier than I joined Tough Cutt, I used to be homeless, dwelling with simply my guitar in a automotive that wasn’t even mine.
“Ronnie James Dio was a hero of mine and the band was nearly to signal to Warner Brothers, however I sensed what Gregg and David had going can be huge. As soon as I used to be enjoying with these guys I knew I’d made the proper alternative, particularly at some point when Gregg and I have been sitting within the studio and he began to play the piano. I used to be a giant Deep Purple fan and was a little bit of a musical snob. Right here was a man comparable with my hero, Jon Lord. I truthfully didn’t know that Gregg, the man from Angel, may play like that. Gregg is a musical genius.”
Whereas David Glen Eisley wasn’t conscious that Goldy had ever seen the Legend movies, he does recall why they have been made. “They have been conceptually horrendous, and have been made as a favour to some college college students who wished to shoot some band stuff. We did a few songs, however the stuff was simply bizarre and fairly horrible.”
Alan Krigger was enjoying in Seaside Boy Carl Wilson’s band on the Greek Theatre in LA when he was scouted by Giuffria and Eisley. A seasoned skilled, he’d begun his recording profession again in Florida, the place he minimize a single and opened for Ted Nugent and Chuck Berry along with his first band, a rock outfit referred to as Savage. He then spent a decade enjoying in Ike & Tina Turner’s band. Krigger affirms: “Regardless of what you would possibly learn on the web, there was no different drummer earlier than I joined.”
Former Sabu bassist Rick Bozzo – who Eisley had identified from his personal stint with AOR legend Paul Sabu within the late 70s – accomplished the line-up. “We snuck into Cherokee Studios in LA and bought some stuff down that was an embryonic state of what we wished to do,” provides Eisley. In line with Goldy, the band minimize tracks with Lee DeCarlo (who had labored on Angel’s late-70s albums) and Andy Johns, with the tape made with the latter being the all-important set of tunes that may acquire Giuffria a recording deal.
“We recorded 4 songs on that demo with Andy Johns,” states Alan Krigger, as he reads the titles from the pile of cassette tapes shut handy. “Don’t Tear Me Down, Lonely In Love, Do Me Proper and Run For Your Life. That final observe by no means made the album.”
The band members actually have fond reminiscences of working with Andy Johns, who would additionally acquire a manufacturing credit score alongside Giuffria on the debut album.
“Working with Andy Johns was nice,” remembers Gregg, who tells an amusing story – confirmed by Eisley – of an argument that developed with Johns over the flip of a console knob in the course of the mixture of a music. The argument ended with the pair buying and selling blows, and David strolling in to seek out Johns and Giuffria on the ground, with the latter in a headlock. “David asks: ‘Is that this how information are made?’ And Andy says: ‘Yeah!’ I turned that knob up once more with out Andy understanding although!”
Though Giuffria and co had initially deliberate to resurrect the Angel identify, it will definitely turned clear that the quintet have been going to be making music that was was vastly totally different from the prog-meets-pop beforehand related to the group. So a special identify was required (though there was additionally some strain placed on Giuffria by his former bandmates to not use the Angel deal with).
Nonetheless, heavenly moniker or not, a cope with the MCA-affiliated Camel Data label (run by former Casablanca govt Bruce Chicken) had been signed, and the group have been again at Cherokee chopping the muchanticipated debut album, with former Quiet Riot bassist Chuck Wright becoming a member of halfway via recording.
“Gregg and Dave noticed me enjoying with my band Publicity, which had Pat Torpey [who later joined Mr. Big] on drums, Gene Black [Device/Joe Cocker] on guitar and the late John Purdell who sang and performed keyboards and would, after all, go on to co-produce information by Mötley Crüe, Ozzy and others,” gives Chuck. “The fundamental tracks have been already accomplished, however they have been sad with them in order that they requested me to re-record these tracks.”
“After which we dangled Chuck a carrot he couldn’t refuse,” laughs David.
The album – merely titled Giuffria, with that vast ‘G’ brand on the duvet – hit the racks in late 1984, and was nothing wanting gorgeous. How may anybody fail to be impressed with that intro to opening observe Do Me Proper, or the duelling between Goldy and Giuffria on Flip Me On, which was harking back to Gregg’s comparable sparring with Punky Meadows in Angel.
The 2 ballads apart, had Giuffria intentionally gone for a usually heavier path?
“I got here from an abused childhood with Casablanca, in that I used to be so disgusted with all of the poppy stuff we wound up doing in Angel,” says Gregg. “I wished it to be a bit extra edgy. Somebody stated about Giuffria, that it was cinematic, theatrical rock, and that was a results of wanting to place extra musical interludes into the fabric we have been doing as a result of I felt there was additionally an excessive amount of open house with Angel.
“I might’ve truly gone heavier with it, however knew that I actually wanted to get a success as a result of MCA have been anticipating it. In order that’s how I got here up with Name To The Coronary heart. That was written in a single sitting. I had the refrain in my head and David wrote the verses. I performed it for Bruce Chicken and he went loopy over it, however I used to be nonetheless stunned it was a success.
“Looking back I might’ve appreciated to have delayed the album’s launch by a few months so as to have one other writing session,” provides Gregg. “However I didn’t have the endurance as a younger man. That’s why if there’s guys I used to be ever jealous of it is Glenn Frey and Don Henley, who had the endurance to attend it out. I didn’t wait it out. I now suppose you want to have the ability to consider, analyse and be vital of your self.”
Primarily because of Name To The Coronary heart, comparisons to Journey have been inevitable, notably between the vocal types of Eisley and Steve Perry.
“I may by no means take that as an insult,” chuckles David. “However my influences are extra blues-based. Paul Rodgers is my favorite singer.”
Certainly, it was this Journey ‘connection’ that led to Giuffria being provided the opening slot when the reunited Mk II incarnation of Deep Purple toured their reunion album Good Strangers in 1985.
Having completed touring the size and breadth of the States, Giuffria then flew to Japan, the place Gregg had final performed again in 1977 with Angel.
“It didn’t match the madness of going there with Angel, however we have been wellreceived,” he says. “The Angel tour of Japan was utter pandemonium.”
Sadly, arguments over the path of the following file, amongst different matters, overshadowed any sense of feat accrued by the band enjoying Japan.
“The band was principally finished,” says David. “There was a lot dissension by then. The video we did on the market reveals that.” David provides that the group’s issues additionally lay in frustrations with MCA.
“Having a success, an enormous sold-out tour and no product within the shops in America was an enormous blunder on MCA’s half,” says Chuck, explaining additional.
“By Japan, Chuck and Gregg weren’t getting alongside,” says Eisley. “And Goldy, being the youngest, didn’t know what was happening.”
“Gregg, on the time, bought just a little bigheaded,” says Goldy. “Dave and I have been writing songs collectively, however Gregg put the kibosh on it. I can’t blame him although. He’s a tremendous man, however I started to get a craving to do one thing else.”
Points over songwriting have been the rationale why Wright opted to stop. “I bought a name from Kevin DuBrow asking me if I’d be fascinated about rejoining Quiet Riot and write the songs for his or her new album [Quiet Riot III] with them,” he reveals. “In Giuffria, solely Dave and Gregg wrote the songs, by design. So, after all I stated: ‘I’m in.’”
“We had run-ins,” confirms Gregg. “Chuck and I by no means bought alongside again then, however I wasn’t a really mature individual then, and I feel it was additionally troublesome for all these guys, as everybody wished to speak to me and about Angel, so I might’ve felt precisely the identical of their footwear. I used to be at fault.”
As Wright rejoined Quiet Riot, Goldy reunited with Ronnie Dio, having at first been invited to take part within the Hear ’N Help charity venture after which – after a quick flirtation with Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge’s Undertaking:Driver – invited to hitch Dio following Vivian Campbell’s departure.
With former Aldo Nova bassist David Sikes coming in for Wright, and a 19-yearold Lanny Cordola from the LA outfit Mondo Cane changing Goldy, Giuffria set to work on their second album, which was to be titled Silk And Metal.
“We had auditioned a whole lot of totally different guys, together with Joe Satriani,” says Eisley. “He was so exterior what we have been doing it was past us. He was wonderful. So we bought Lanny. He floored me. I don’t bear in mind how we bought David Sikes, however we moved ahead with the album after Gregg, Krigger and I had simply sketched the entire thing out and bought a blanket of songs collectively.”
“The second album, I despised,” Gregg admits. “As soon as once more, I used to be coping with points and personalities, and I misplaced management of it. Bruce Chicken introduced Pat Glasser in as producer as a result of he thought he had finished so properly with Evening Ranger, however Pat Glasser was a buffoon. He could as properly have been operating a zoo.”
“None of us wished Pat Glasser concerned,” agrees David. “It was a nasty mixture and an uphill battle. He was a pleasant man, however he knew he was in over his head, and that we have been sad.”
It’s fascinating to notice that Glasser had additionally been introduced in by MCA to remix among the tracks on Franke & The Knockouts Makin’ The Level for a similar causes, and in addition a lot to the chagrin of that band.
Silk And Metal was launched in 1986. Regardless of some airplay on MTV for the video for lead single, a canopy of Mink DeVille’s I Should Be Dreaming, the album was not successful, thanks not least to an absence of assist from MCA. It didn’t assist that the album itself lacked the cohesiveness of the debut, to not point out Goldy and Wright’s enter.
“The dynamic had gone,” agrees David. “With no disrespect to the skills of Lanny or David, there simply wasn’t the identical chemistry.”
Other than a TV look on American Bandstand, this revamped incarnation of Giuffria didn’t make every other form of stay look.
“Even that was to a severely restricted viewers,” says Eisley. “I bear in mind there was a giant soccer recreation on TV that evening, so a 3rd of the nation by no means noticed us.”
Regardless of additional writing periods and a handful of demos being recorded – which led to long-held rumours that steered a 3rd Giuffria album was accomplished – the band quietly broke up as Gregg checked out different methods to maneuver issues ahead, ultimately securing a cope with Gene Simmons’ newly launched Simmons Data.
“I knew it was over,” states Gregg. “There was no third Giuffria file. That wasn’t going to occur. Gene and I bought speaking a couple of deal. He steered a brand new identify. ‘How about Home Of Lords or Crown Of Thorns?’ I went with Home Of Lords. Sadly Gene didn’t take care of David’s voice, so issues advanced the best way they did.”
“Gene stated I used to be fired, however that’s not true,” Eisley explains. “We’d minimize these demos – half of these songs truly made the primary Home Of Lords file [the demos released by David on his Lost Tapes album in 2001] – we figured we’d take it as far we may. Nobody was completely satisfied. I used to be already moonlighting with Earl Slick and Keni Richards in Soiled White Boy, so when Home Of Lords got here collectively, as long as I bought my writing credit, then so be it.”
Almost 30 years on, Fondest of Gregg’s reminiscences of his time with Giuffria are the time he spend working with the late Andy Johns, who handed away in 2013.
“Giuffria was such a good time,” he says, “however working with Andy Johns was simply such a tremendous expertise. He was an unbelievable individual.”
“It was a extremely nice band,” notes Krigger. “If that first line-up had labored out our variations we may’ve been the following Journey. The file firm ought to’ve provided counselling!”
“The most effective factor about being in Giuffria was understanding all these actually proficient cats and the actual fact we stay very shut,” says David. “It was simply too unhealthy we bought brief modified by the file firm. And the actual fact we by no means bought to play within the UK nonetheless bugs me.”
This function initially appeared in Basic Rock Presents AOR 11 (February 2014). The next 12 months, Eisley, Goldy, and Krigger reunited on the Rockingham Competition, a one-off present at Rock Metropolis, Nottingham, England.
