The Vinnie Vincent Forum - Where Freedom Rocks!

Used to listen to this. It was the first VVI related release.
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Nitro was and is my second favorite band next to VVI. I shot for them after I heard Jim Gillette's solo album. I've got both of their albums and search day and night still for GfG. Jim Gillette is my favorite singer, and the original inspiration for myself to start singing (Well, almost. It was actually Rocky Roberts from Luis E. Bacalov's "Django" ). I tried listening to MAB after Nitro and... I hate it.

Bobby Rock was and is my favorite drummer. I follow his blog every day (if only the fucker'd post more than once a month). He ran the L.A. marathon a month ago.

T.J. Racer is my favorite bassist... simply because he can shred. On a bass.

Michael... I love his guitars, but I don't like him. After Nitro, he sucked a lot more and kicked less ass.

When my band gets pulled together, we're gonna cover (for demos) BotS from VVI and Freight Train from Jimmyboy.

Finally, I'm featuring a character in my sadistic erotic horror short stories named Machine Gunn Eddie. His story (hopefully) won't be erotic.

J.g. opened for vvi in la in 88 with the band tuff, where bobby met him.

Jim was going to be on the vv tribute but I got to him too late and the deadlines were missed.

I can't listen to that singing!

The first couple of Elergy albums are as close as I can listen to, with this type of castrato singing!

Though I can sing (screech!) in this range!!!!

MAB and Bobby are great on it though. Mediocre studio sound though!

I love Nitro mostly as a fan of drumming. In the same way I think the first VVI album should've rocketed Vinnie to the list of upper echelon of guitarists, the first Nitro album should've made Bobby the industry's most wanted drummer. What he chooses to play on that album is amazing in its groove, technique and level of difficulty.

It's a shame the original studio band didn't stick together for tours and a couple more studio albums or a live album.

Also, the actual band Nitro was featured as the " house band" in a porno. A real XXX, cheaply shot on video, late 80's style pirn. A friend of mine had it. It's all about the sexual hi jinks at a bar. Nitro was the bar band and played a generic jam through most of the movie. It wasn't even funny-good.

It was a strange thing as bobby was never in the band but they added him to the photo. I think what killed bobby was joing nelson. He should have been playing with someone like lynch or a heavier band .
The tama artstar 2 cordia drums he used on the nitro album were borrowed from holdsworths drummer who were also using the same studio.

They were cool looking drums. Simon Phillips' kit on the 87' (I think) Pete Townsend tour was awesome!!

It was Gary Husbands drum set. Cordia is a good guitar wood also.

I am not really a tama fan but the early sets were good , I just think they are so generic these days, but my favourite modem snare along with the remo gold crown is the tama Copeland signiture , an exact copy of the pearl Jupiter snare peter criss, art blakey, papa Jo jones and shelly manne used in the early to mid 70s. I think they may have discontinued it though

Why did Nitro break up, anywho?

Also, if anyone knows- Did they ever play any "Proud to be Loud" songs in their shows?

KMHayden wrote:Why did Nitro break up, anywho?

Also, if anyone knows- Did they ever play any "Proud to be Loud" songs in their shows?

I don't think TJ Racer has too many good things to say about Jim from what I recall.

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Nitro kicked ass. I play O.F.R. just about every day in my iPod at the gym.

I've got a ton of Nitro shit mostly from Michael. Michael has been very generous to me over the years, as well as Jim. Hopefully one day I can get it all together and share photos with everyone.

Like them or hate them like vvi they did something big, new and risky which i applaud.

They were certainly unique. I think their biggest problem was probably coming to the party a little late...especially with the follow-up album. I think that happened with a lot of late-80's bands. By the time they got around to releasing a follow-up Grunge was taking over.

yeah. the record didn't sell well. Bobby Rock said he gets more people wanting him to sign OFR than the VVI stuff so they must have became more famous. I had a Nitro shirt in '89 and NO ONE knew who they were but I think the ballad has some HEadbangers ball play.
About being late. They were a year ahead of Slaughter so they still had a little time, but yeah really they needed one extra year. It wasn't radio friendly music either.

no doubt VVI were an influence. Jim Gillette sighted Shoot you full of love and twisted as some of his favourite tunes. Not sure if MAB was as influenced by VV as Jim was

Slaughter was late to the party too. If you really think about it, they were one of the last metal bands to REALLY break big. Another year sooner and their follow-up might've done better. To be honest, I never heard anything after the second album...hell, I didnt even know they HAD more until the late 90's. But let's say their third release was their best. It wouldn't have stood a chance.

I believe the first two s-Laughter albums went Platinum. I'll admit that they have a few good tunes on them.

91 was still a big rock.year. 92 was getting bad though . You maybe correct in that slaughter were the last band to break through.. possibly Mr Big as well.

I can tell you that the things I write always fall in a W.A.S.P. or NITRO-esque category. I'm trying to mix the two together to form a little more of a unique style, since I don't want to copy NITRO, but that's just how it comes out, 'specially with my singing style. I guess a reason for that is I'm still hungry for more NITRO, and I'm kinda making my own "next album."

Speaking of, which of the non-OFR or non-HWDWS songs (Bitch On My Back, Heaven's Just A Heartbeat Away, etc.) do you guys think would have been the title song for NITRO III? I'm gonna go with NITRO III - B.O.M.B.

doublev2 wrote:91 was still a big rock.year. 92 was getting bad though . You maybe correct in that slaughter were the last band to break through.. possibly Mr Big as well.

Mr. Big debut album = June 20, 1989
Slaughter debut album = January 27, 1990

I started college in 1989-1990. I'm telling ya, I went into that year at a school that hair-metal was on top. When I came back for the 1990-1991 year, the campus was ALL about Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I really liked Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but I never understood how liking one meant all the other bands had to go away. I certainly agree that the hair-metal market had become over-saturated and there were more than a few mediocre hair-bands...but to ditch an entire movement?

KMHayden wrote:(W)hich of the non-OFR or non-HWDWS songs (Bitch On My Back, Heaven's Just A Heartbeat Away, etc.) do you guys think would have been the title song for NITRO III? I'm gonna go with NITRO III - B.O.M.B.

B.O.M.B. would be an awesome Nitro album title!! Are those actual songs? Bootlegs? Where can I listen?

I must also note:

Damn Yankees debut album = February 1990
Trixter debut album = May 1990

However, I have always posited that when a movement reaches the point of "novelty" band formations (super-groups, all female group, all kid group) that the movement is essentially over. And while both Damn Yankees and Trixter both sold very well, the movement was in it's decline. I would also argue that if you asked people to name their top 5 or top 10 metal bands...neither Damn Yankees nor Trixter would be listed. I can almost guarantee that Slaughter would be.

I bought the Slaughter record the day it came out on the 27th from Tower Records in downtown New Orleans the day before the superbowl was in town. No one knew who they were apart from the very few vv fans left and kerrang readers which were few and far between in the States (i had an international subscription).

erg2 wrote: B.O.M.B. would be an awesome Nitro album title!! Are those actual songs? Bootlegs? Where can I listen?

B.O.M.B. was on the re-release of Proud to be Loud (J.G.) in 2003. The others were on Gunnin' for Glory.

I had a cousin that was a HUGE Slaughter fan. I loaned him the VVI albums, explaining they were better in a lot of ways...and he just hated the VVI stuff. Maybe that's why Slaughter ended up so much more successful? People really do just want the simple, easy to digest pop.

yeah i couldn't understand why people liked fly to the angels over love kills or that time of year and i tried to get Slaughter fans into VVI without much success. Beets me. I can see fans not going for the over the top stuff but ASG is just basically far better quality than Slaughter. Oh well. I do love the song Burnin Bridges just for the lyrics. I do also know that Dana is a scumbag so its a little ironic coming from him.

I like Slaughter. Back when it was first released I was WAY into it. I liked VVI more, but thought Slaughter was a lot more "fun". More fun but not better.

That Time Of Year should have been a hit. I just don't get it. It was exactly the right song at the exact right time. Mark was a perfect pretty-boy leading man. The only thing I can think of is Vinnie had burned enoughof the right bridges at that point to ensure it not taking off. I think Chrysalis had to be formulating their plan to get Vinnie out of the picture and whatever promotion was done was to try to recoup as much of their investment in ASG as they could.

You could tell that Vinnie was used by those cocksuckers though. In that interview at Cherokee Studios , Dana looks bright-eyed and bushy tailed while Vinnie looks browbeaten.

If Vinnie supposedly maxed the credit cards, at least he was the one that deserved to do so. The only other person in that band that put an honest effort into his craft was Bobby Rock.

Bobby is amazing. One of my favorite drummers. It's a shame he never landed with a band that had extended success. I know he was with Nelson who had the 1 big album, but that band was such a big corporate machine and he was just a hired gun that my guess is that he did not make a fortune playing in that band. And certainly not with VVI.

Bobby Rock is definitely my favorite drummer. I've made a few efforts to befriend him (none of which are too strong), and he has contacted me before. I follow his blog every day (even though he updates it only once a month usually :P). He's an amazing drummer, and he's very underrated. I wish someone'd pick him up that's a little bigger than his previous ventures.

if the record label didn't want that time of year to be a hit they wouldn't have bothered with making a video. That video was low budget but nothing was that low back then. Film costs, union crews, camera and light rentals were like 20k a day back then.
i think it was that the band split before they could really get it going.. but why mtv only played that time one or two times while VVI were together is odd. just got lost i suppose.

I don't know if I agree. Chrysalis had already sunk a lot of cash into recording the album, manufacturing and promotion.
When a chain of stores is going to go out of business, they continue to advertise in an effort to move remaining merchandise. It is usually cheaper advertising with less focus on building the brand. What if Chrysalis invested in a low-budget video in an effort to move as many of the remaining ASG product?

I also wouldn't be surprised if Vinnie's deal included a mandatory minimum amount of promotion. (ie, 2 videos per release, print advertising, radio spots, etc)

The video for That Time Of Year is certainly not the best I've ever seen. There seemed to be little push behind getting the word out about the video. No "making of". No articles. Where was the promotional team?

It's a very valid question. Chrysalis had already begun its attempt to shift focus off of Vinnie and onto Mark with its' "Call it INVASION, and not VINNIE VINCENT INVASION" plan. So WHY WOULD the record company spend money on a video for an album they had given up on?

Talked to Jim about T.J.: they haven't talked in years, but they have no tensions. Good to hear, eh?

Where?

erg2 wrote:Where?

Do you mean where did I talk to him? I called T.J. on a phone and talked to him about it, and he said they were cool, and then I confirmed it with Jim over Facebook.

I spoke to tj in 1989 or 1990 . he seemed like a session musician with nitro more than a band member. Not sure if he was respected as a musician in the band either.

doublev2 wrote:I spoke to tj in 1989 or 1990 . he seemed like a session musician with nitro more than a band member. Not sure if he was respected as a musician in the band either.

I wouldn't give him even that much credit. Nice guy but I believe he looked the part more than being the caliber of musician that MAB was/is.
I heard Michael play things at Nitro soundchecks that were far more entertaining than the overkill on those albums.

doublev2 wrote:I spoke to tj in 1989 or 1990 . he seemed like a session musician with nitro more than a band member. Not sure if he was respected as a musician in the band either.

I think that Bobby was treated the same if not a little better as he was in VVI, and T.J. was just... there. lol. Perhaps the lack of any bass equalization on O.F.R. explains this. Bobby actually got a lot of credit for his playing over the years, where T.J. didn't really get anything. I've heard T.J., and he can really play bass, but I find he's a rather under-appreciated bassist. Being what you might call an all-star band (even though no one was really famous, everyone had some of the best skills most metal-heads have ever heard), I suppose that Anthony wasn't really very fitting.

doublev2 wrote:I spoke to tj in 1989 or 1990 . he seemed like a session musician with nitro more than a band member. Not sure if he was respected as a musician in the band either.

I remember seeing something about there being issues been Tj Racer and Jim.

What I can say about Bobby and Nitro is that Bobby was always a session player. He never intended to go further than the studio recording. I was amazed he had his picture on the album. He really was looking for a big paying gig as he was pretty broke and Nitro was never going to pay the bills. He did say that when he was out on the road doing drum clinics that 9 out of 10 records he signed were Nitro, with a few Nelson and virtually no VVI.

The first I ever heard about Nitro was when VVI officially broke up and Kerrang ran a little ditty in the news section stating what each member was doing. It said that Mark and Dana had formed a band called 'Slaughterhouse' and Bobby was drumming on an album by Nitro (I remember they misspelled it as Nitrow) and working on other projects. The following week they also ran a story saying Bobby was working with Bob Kulick. Pretty much Bobby was just brought in for the recording. I asked him in detail about the recording and he replied and it sounded like everyone got on real well.

KMHayden wrote:

doublev2 wrote:I spoke to tj in 1989 or 1990 . he seemed like a session musician with nitro more than a band member. Not sure if he was respected as a musician in the band either.

I think that Bobby was treated the same if not a little better as he was in VVI, and T.J. was just... there. lol. Perhaps the lack of any bass equalization on O.F.R. explains this. Bobby actually got a lot of credit for his playing over the years, where T.J. didn't really get anything. I've heard T.J., and he can really play bass, but I find he's a rather under-appreciated bassist. Being what you might call an all-star band (even though no one was really famous, everyone had some of the best skills most metal-heads have ever heard), I suppose that Anthony wasn't really very fitting.

doublev2 wrote:What I can say about Bobby and Nitro is that Bobby was always a session player. He never intended to go further than the studio recording. I was amazed he had his picture on the album. He really was looking for a big paying gig as he was pretty broke and Nitro was never going to pay the bills. He did say that when he was out on the road doing drum clinics that 9 out of 10 records he signed were Nitro, with a few Nelson and virtually no VVI.

The first I ever heard about Nitro was when VVI officially broke up and Kerrang ran a little ditty in the news section stating what each member was doing. It said that Mark and Dana had formed a band called 'Slaughterhouse' and Bobby was drumming on an album by Nitro (I remember they misspelled it as Nitrow) and working on other projects. The following week they also ran a story saying Bobby was working with Bob Kulick. Pretty much Bobby was just brought in for the recording. I asked him in detail about the recording and he replied and it sounded like everyone got on real well.

That clears more up for me. I never got to hear anything about Bobby; he's being rather difficult when I try to contact him. I do greatly respect each of the band members for all of their talents, and especially for how kind they've been to me every time I've contacted them. It's disappointing that both NITRO and VVI have released less than three records, though. I still feel like I'm missing something out of both collections, but I know I have it all. I've been trying to talk to Jim about seeing if he has any demos from PTBL, but no word back yet.

yeah, for sure he was never a part of the band. Just hired to do the record . I was very surprised he made it to the band photo, maybe because they didn't have a drummer hired for the tour.

doublev2 wrote:...It said that Mark and Dana had formed a band called 'Slaughterhouse'...

In one of the magazines I remember reading that they were originally going to be called SECRET SERVICE but then switched to SLAUGHTERHOUSE and then just SLAUGHTER.

KMHayden wrote: That clears more up for me. I never got to hear anything about Bobby; he's being rather difficult when I try to contact him.

He has been going through some very personal family issues. Pray for the guy.

poserboy71 wrote:

KMHayden wrote: That clears more up for me. I never got to hear anything about Bobby; he's being rather difficult when I try to contact him.

He has been going through some very personal family issues. Pray for the guy.

Yeah, I've been following his blog for a few months now; it's really too bad. It's nice that he finished the marathon, though.

Didn't the Drummer from HWDWS get murdered by serial killer David Bieber or something?

beano wrote:Didn't the Drummer from HWDWS get murdered by serial killer David Bieber or something?

No, but the drummer in the *video* for Cat Scratch Fever, Markus Mueller, was murdered while protecting his girlfriend, yes. He was really good friends with Michael and Jim.

erg2 wrote:

doublev2 wrote:...It said that Mark and Dana had formed a band called 'Slaughterhouse'...

In one of the magazines I remember reading that they were originally going to be called SECRET SERVICE but then switched to SLAUGHTERHOUSE and then just SLAUGHTER.

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