Local bands...

What local bands from your area were you really into?

When I was living in NJ back in the 80's, HEATHEN'S RAGE were a band I was heavily into. Also, though they were actually from NY, TWISTED SISTER were a huge club band in NJ.

In New Mexico, there have been several great bands I've been into:
SEVENTHSIGN
THE MOSHKETEERS
RAPTURE
CROSS
ANGELS IN EXILE
SUSPENDED
DREAD
DARK TRUTH
EXTRACTION
ANGELIC FORCE
COMBAT FAITH
BALLISTIC SHEEP
REQUIEM MASS

to name a few that come to mind.

When I lived in CT there was a band in Providence RI that was great

Mars Hill

Artch, Equinox, Witchhammer and Cadaver were all local heroes. Wig Wam and Ragnarok are more recent ones. A band that went a little more under the radar is Dream Police. Abd if you want really obscure stuff, look for Buttox, Shadow Dancers, Decay Lust and Excelsis.

kmorg wrote:

Artch, Equinox, Witchhammer, Wig Wam

Love all these!

Armageddon (Christian one from back in the day)
Dave Grohl is from my area
Henry Rollins
Kix is from near by
Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Fugazi and lots of others from the DC Hardcore scene in the late 70's through the 80's
For Detuned - Duke Ellington
Marvin Gaye

Local bands that are not famous here on NJ.
I must say that I went once to a rehearsal of a local band called TOMORROW LEADS TO NOTHING. they are a modern rock/metal band, and I liked what I heard. The guitar player liked 80's metal, and he was into DIO. So his solos and guitar playing were very old school.
There is also a band called Martyr(thrash-NY) that has opened on some known bands that are very good. They have some demos out, but not an whole album.

The only one that comes to mind is Bride.They're from West Point,KY.

powermacho wrote:

Local bands that are not famous here on NJ.
I must say that I went once to a rehearsal of a local band called TOMORROW LEADS TO NOTHING. they are a modern rock/metal band, and I liked what I heard. The guitar player liked 80's metal, and he was into DIO. So his solos and guitar playing were very old school.
There is also a band called Martyr(thrash-NY) that has opened on some known bands that are very good. They have some demos out, but not an whole album.

Ahhh, NJ. Growing up, TWISTED SISTER were a popular club band there. HEATHEN'S RAGE as well were quite popular in the early 80's.

Another band from Jersey I was into was FAUST. A local thrash band from the late 80's.

I don't keep track of local bands anymore, haven't been out to a club show in a couple of years... but here in New Jersey we had a pretty healthy original music scene in the 80s and early 90s. By the mid 90s it had become almost all cover bands and tribute acts, and that still seems to be the case today.

Two bands that come immediately to mind that I liked a lot (but never really went anywhere) were Bad Biscut and Balistik Kick. BB were a punk/hard rock band (kinda like GNR and the Ramones havin' a baby) and B.K. were straight up old fashioned Priest/Maiden kinda metal. I saw each band live several times (and have CDs by both of them). I met the Balistik Kick guys at a sparsely-attended "rock festival" in upstate New York where they were the lone metal band on the bill. I managed to B.S. my way backstage to talk to them after their set and when the drummer saw me he pointed me out and yelled "THAT'S HIM! That's the guy who was headbanging!" -- so they loaded me up with a shirt, several copies of their album and other assorted swag. That was kinda cool.

My friend Ralph played in an original band called "Rubber Baby" during the early to mid 90s for a couple of years. Terrible name, I know (and I tried to tell them that many times, haha). They never got beyond the demo-tape stage (but hey, my name's on the thanks list in that demo!) but they played a bunch of shows. I got to "roadie" for them a couple of times. My job was to hit the switch on their smoke machine at the right time during one song, after which I was free to drink as much free beer (thanks to my "CREW" pass) as possible.

Of course New Jersey has had quite a few local bands that went on to further acclaim, as Ult mentioned, like Twisted Sister, T.T. Quick, Overkill, and of course the mighty Trixter, to name just a few.

For me Sound Barrier was the band I followed...I went too every show I could.

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I don't keep track of local bands anymore, haven't been out to a club show in a couple of years... but here in New Jersey we had a pretty healthy original music scene in the 80s and early 90s.

That was pretty much the same in the Philadelphia area as well. And like Freddy, I lost touch with the "scene" many years ago.

The one band that my friends & I really followed and thought they would be the "next big thing" was Heaven's Edge. They did score a record contract and released their self-titled debut, but unfortunatley never went very far after that. Victims of a changing record climate (ie grunge) I suppose. Great melodic hard rock if that's your thing. A few years ago, they released a follow-up album, mostly made up from unreleased tracks & demos that were to be their next big-label album. I have a cdr of it, but it's nothing special.

NRG and Arcane were two favorites

We also had Emerald, Towne Cryer, Holy Rite, and Spectra

I have a Towne Cryer demo tape and their CD.

ultmetal wrote:

I have a Towne Cryer demo tape and their CD.

Gina Mc Clure had a gnarly voice. Wasn't eveyon'e cup of tea. Interesting that they got Steve Metzger to play guitar on the cd and there are not very many leads I played in a band with him before he joined Towne Cryer and he is a player in the style of George Lynch.

Locally it was mostly death metal, but I really only followed two:

Death and Morbid Angel

Saw alot of early Savatage shows. tons of death metal acts, liked alot of them was not a huge fan.

and they were bands that did not get beyond the local releases such as
The Guff
Rosewater Elizabeth (shoegaze music I suppose)
Barley Pink (power Pop)


& like most folks i lost track of the local scene since then, but my friends band, jam band Boon is very good live band with a small but loyal following.

James B. wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

I have a Towne Cryer demo tape and their CD.

Gina Mc Clure had a gnarly voice. Wasn't eveyon'e cup of tea. Interesting that they got Steve Metzger to play guitar on the cd and there are not very many leads I played in a band with him before he joined Towne Cryer and he is a player in the style of George Lynch.

I did an interview with them back in the day when that CD came out. I asked them why they didn't put more leads on the songs. After all, the songs seemed like they were written with solos in mind. The answer was, "we felt the songs didn't need any solos". Weird.

I like her voice. Very thrashy. I'll have to pull out that old demo. I liked it quite a bit.

I loved Consecrator. They weren't EXACTLY local, but I live in a tiny town, and there were no bands. But Wichita Falls is pretty close, and I used to go down to see Consecrator and The Persecuted and hang out with 'em some. It was great, and I loved hangin' out with those guys.

And then in OKC there was Eternal Decision and Treacherous Death (which became Obliteration and then Death List). In Dallas we had Oblation, Disencumbrance and Embodyment, as well as some non-metal acts whose names elude me.

In Sherman/Denison, TX we had Sovereign Steel.

As Joker mentioned there was Bad Brains, Fugazi & KIX. My personal local heroes were Wrathchild (pre & post America)/Souls At Zero and a small thrash band from Hagerstown called Fatal Force that I used to do some road crew work with.

There was a band from Winchester VA called "Blackmail" in the late 80's, typical hair band stuff...would always go to their shows to pick up chicks.

Did Fatal Force ever put anything out?

stevegarveyfan wrote:

I loved Consecrator. They weren't EXACTLY local, but I live in a tiny town, and there were no bands. But Wichita Falls is pretty close, and I used to go down to see Consecrator and The Persecuted and hang out with 'em some. It was great, and I loved hangin' out with those guys.

And then in OKC there was Eternal Decision and Treacherous Death (which became Obliteration and then Death List). In Dallas we had Oblation, Disencumbrance and Embodyment, as well as some non-metal acts whose names elude me.

In Sherman/Denison, TX we had Sovereign Steel.

Oblation was rad, too bad they didnt ever record a full length. They had a spot on one episode of the "Hatin satan show" once.

Ultimatum

Firehouse and Animal Bag were the locals from Charlotte,NC. There was a thrash band called Denial that was pretty good,too.

Only local band I like around here is Martyrd but I only see them when we do shows with them.

Well, from my home town of Corpus Christi, we had Devastation and Angkor Wat. Went to school with a couple of the Angkor Wat guys, and am now good friends with the ex-bassist of Devastation.

Not sure what the local scene is now, just yet, since we just moved back after a few years in NM.

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They had a spot on one episode of the "Hatin satan show" once.

Dude, who are you? You've actually heard of that show?? I was the cameraman for most of the episodes. Hung out with those guys all the time back in the day.

ultmetal wrote:

Did Fatal Force ever put anything out?

6 song EP, cassette only release, produced by Glenn Evans of Nuclear Assault.