The Annual
Rock City News awards were held on the November the 6th at the legendary Country
club in Reseda. Plenty of todays greatest glambands were nominated. Los Angeles
is, eventhough it may not be as dominant as it once was, still the capital of
glam/sleaze. Therefore the exitment was huge before this event.
Rebel Rebel was nominated in two categories "Funniest band" and "most
psychotic band", theywon the latter. By the way, Willow wisp was also nominated
to "Most psychotic band". The Promising Suicide Alley had a great
chance at winning the "best promotional band" award but it went to
Kill van Kull.
Tim Yusui won the "best management" award. He is the man behind the
"All that glitters" project, a well worthy winner. The Legendary Lizzie
Grey (Spiders ‘n Snakes) had the opportunity to get credit for his songwriting
in the "best songwriting" category. The Prize went to Human drama
though.
Both The Mistakes and Total chaos were nominated as "best punk band"
but failed. Krakwurx (with ex. Blackboard Jungle members) won the "best
industrial band" award. Texas Terri and the stiff ones was voted "best
Hollywood band". A little suprise, I was hopin’ for Revlon Red or
Guttersluts to snatch their first and well-deserved prize of the evening.
Ex. PBF guitarist Ariel Stiles (Stratosphere), drummer Tim Yasui (Spiders &
Snakes) and vocalist Johnnie Mckayne (Guttersluts) were all nominated in individual
categories but didn’t win. Sammy Serious and Rick Monroe fought against
three others for the "best solo artist" award but lost.
Then
last but not least, the most magical moment of the evening. One hour past midninght,
it was time to reveal who had won the "best glamband" award. Guttersluts,
Ambush, Epoxy Glow, Foxy Roxx, Ziggys Revenge, Revlon red, Spiders & Snakes
and Suicide alley - the whole spectra of glam was covered. The More metallic
Gutterluts, the hardrock-hybrid Ambush, the glamrock sensation Foxy Roxx, the
glittering Spiders & Snakes and the boppy Revlon red. That is stiff competion!
All are great bands that deserves recognition for their hard work and talent.
If I had to choose a personal favourite I would have chosen Revlon red. The
Trophy, however, went to Guttersluts and it must have felt very good for Johnny
McKayne who kept the band going when all the other original members left one
by one. Now they’re on top, today L.A: tomorrow the world!
Vain
was formed in San Francisco in late ´85. The band comprised of Davy Vain (vocals),
Jamie "Rose" Scott (guitar), Danny West (guitar), Ashley Mitchell
(bass) and Tom Rickard (drums). They first started out playing gigs around S.F.
and at the club The Stone, supporting bands like Poison and Guns N´ Roses. They
recorded a few demo tapes, including tracks like "Ain´t heaven made",
"Hot rock", "No tears for you", "Laws against love"...
Davy also produced two albums, "The ultra-violence" and "Frolic
through the park" for Bay area thrashers Death Angel.
A buzz about Vain started and magazines like Kerrang and Metal Forces featured
them long before they got signed. Kerrang even put them on the front cover and
had a 6 pages story on them, and had lots of articles on them over the years.
In September ´89 the album "No respect" was released on Island records.
The album was produced by Paul Nortfield who had previously worked with bands
like Rush and Queensryche.
"No respect" was the perfect combination of sleaze and glam, a true
masterpiece. The album got top reviews in all the major metal magazines. Two
videos were made, one for the track "Beat the bullet", that was shot
in the sleazier parts of S.F. A total kick ass video, that shows what Rock n´
roll´s all about. The next video was for the track "Who´s watching you",
also a really cool video. Then in November they supported Skid Row on their
tour in England. A few months later they went over to Japan and headlined a
few gigs.
In ´91 they started work on their second album, "All those strangers".
The album was recorded and done and just about to get released when Island records
decided to drop the band. The album has never been officially released and has
become a much sought after item among tapetraders. Most copies having quite
shitty sound quality. I finally got hold of a good copy, but hopefully it will
one day be released on CD. "All those strangers" followed where "No
respect" left off, and it´s a great album, including classics like "Wake
up", "Love drug", "Do you sleep with strangers"...
In late ´91 Danny West and Tom Rickard left the band. Danny joined a band called
Shine. In came ex. Guns N´ Roses drummer Steven Adler and Shawn Rorie (guitar)
and they changed the band name to Roadcrew. They recorded a demo including songs
like "Breakdown", "Family", "Get up"... and played
gigs and showcases trying to get a record deal. But Steven hadn´t got rid of
his drug problem, and record companies were afraid of signing the band, and
finally everything just fell apart. Shawn Rorie started and fronted a band called
Wish, that he recorded a few demos with, later he joined a band called Heavy
into Jeff, and they released two albums. When they broke up he joined The Vents.
They have released an album called "Venus again" and are out touring
right now. Steven Adler is now drug free and has formed the band Freaks in the
room.
Davy Vain decided to change back the name to Vain, and
bring back Danny West. New drummer Danny Fury joined the band and they started
recording their third album "Move on it". The album was released in
November ´93 on Polystar records, in Japan only. It also included 3 songs from
Roadcrew with Steven and Shawn. And also the track "Planets turning"
from the"All those strangers" album. "Move on it" is another
great Vain album and it was finally released in Europe in ´94 on Heavy Metal
records, but haven´t so far been released in the U.S.
In March ´95 they released their fourth album "Fade" on Polystar in
Japan. The only remaining members were Davy and Ashley. They were joined by
new drummer Louie Senor. But actually all the old Vain/Roadcrew members play
on different tracks. The album included another track from "All those strangers";
"Shooting star". And also "Can´t get back" from Roadcrew.
Davy and Danny West went over to Japan and did some promotion in recordstores
for the album. "Fade" was also released in the U.S. in ´96 on SaRaya
recordings and has also just been released in Europe on Revolver music. Danny
West has released a soloalbum in Japan, called "Taste the sounds".
Now he´s in two bands called The pimps of Venus, and Dukes of hazzard. They
play in the San Francisco area. James Scott joined a band called The Dangs,
after that he played in Big Blue Hearts, but has since left them. Tommy Rickard
played in a band called Loaded, they released an album in ´94 called "TV
Star". Tommy is also in a Jackson 5 cover band called Wonder Bread 5. They
play in the San Francisco area frequently.
Latest news is that Davy Vain has formed Dragonfly. Ashley and Louie are still
with him. They have been playing around the S.F. area, trying out new songs
like "In from out of nowhere", "Old crowd", "Trinity"...
A new album should be on the way, I hope.
To be continued...
Visit Daniels Vain site