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Metal Justice is the Geneva-based, dead-on parody of an ’80s hair metal glam band. Metal Justice brings back the glory days of 80s metal with a wildly metal show that rocks the crowd playing a hit parade of ’80s glam/hard rock/metal covers mixed up with a smart-ass stage banter that’s some kind of cross between "Headbanger’s Ball" and "This Is Spinal Tap" - five guys still stuck in the ’80s bringing the "real" rock back, one song at a time. Covering bands like Guns n Roses, Bon Jovi, and Mötley Crüe note-for-note, the band delivers a high energy, full-on Spandex-and-Aquanet performance entertaining crowds aged 15 to 50 with their outragous stage antics.
METAL JUSTICE est LA parodie genevoise d’un groupe de hard glam metal des années 80. Cette formation nous ramène à l’heure de gloire du hard des années 80 avec un show extravagant qui fascine le public, en jouant un véritable hit parade de reprises glam/hard rock/métal de ces années-là , avec la tchatche qui va avec : un croisement entre « Headbanger’s Ball » et « This is Spinal Tap » - Ce sont 5 gars coincés dans les 80’s qui ramènent le « vrai » rock, un tube après l’autre.Reprenant des titres de groupes tels que Guns n Roses, Bon Jovi et Motley Crue à la note près, le groupe propose des performances explosives placées sous le signe des pantalons moulants et des chevelures énormes.
BAND HISTORY / HISTOIRE DU GROUPE
It was 1984. Ronald Reagan was restoring faith in the US. Miami Vice, Charlie’s Angels and the A-Team were on TV. Ghostbusters, Top Gun and Rambo were playing in the movie theaters.
It was a good time to be in a glam band and on the rough and ready south side of Chicago, guitarist Scotty Rokkett was bouncing around from high school to high school trying to make it by playing in one loser band after another.
After years playing in a series of wannabe bands, “Knights of Steelâ€, “Wet Dream†and “Tongue ’n Grooveâ€, an older, wiser and broke Rokkett was in a liquor store off Sunset Boulevard, desperate for booze. A really rocked-out looking guy who could hardly speak English behind the counter recognized Rokkett from a Starwood concert and said he was a singer looking for a band. In return for a fifth of vodka, Rokkett agreed to audition him for his new band.
Rokkett hit it off musically with the vocalist, Steven Nixx, and pulled in the 7 foot, Dave ’Giant of Sunset Strip’, Thunder (ex-Pearl Necklace), to hold up the bottom end on bass. Chris Lee (ex-Wet Finger) on drums and Tommy Ziker (formerly of Stripper Teeze fame) for lead guitar duties were recruited and Metal Justice was formed.
The band’s big-haired, swaggering stage personae proceeded to tear down the likes of Gazarri’s and the Starwood night after night. Manager Gil Stevens saw opportunity and helped the band record its first record “Swallow My Love†which was released by Hand Job Records. The record ultimately went ‘plywood’ in the US but soon developed a following in the Glam metal-starved Europe of the early 90s.
Soon after Metal Justice’s European tour was launched, the whole genre went down in flames when Kurt ‘Nobrain’ launched the grunge movement out of Seattle and the landscape changed from spandex and hair spray to the flannel shirts and jeans of grunge. While playing in Nixx’s home country of Switzerland, Metal Justice’s manager Gil Stevens disappeared into drug rehab and Hand Job Records filed bankruptcy stranding the band in Geneva.
The rest of the 90s and early 2000s saw the band sink into demise, parking cars, doing odd jobs in an endless circle of drugs, drug rehab, and girls to support their habits. Hopes of any reunion were dashed when Ziker died an undistinguished death tipping a soft drink vending machine on himself while riffling it for change.
When the grunge scene finally died under its own weight after the turn of the millennium and the Darkness became a hot success, Rokkett, still slumming it in Geneva, looked up Nixx to discuss a reunion. The rest of the band members were located through the local social assistance and unemployment agencies.
Everyone agreed to dry out and give it one more try. Responding to a guitarist’s add in the porn mag ‘Hustler’, young buck Nitrous Nikk was recruited to replace Ziker and give the band some updated riffs over it’s decidedly and unabashed true-to-Glam foundation. A couple of corporate sponsors interested in reaching the aging 80s rock population were found and the “Second Coming†tour was launched on the back of the Viagra-sponsored “Again and Again†single.
The band had supposedly dried out, and sobered up. A new generation started showing up at the shows drawn by the funny clothes, outrageous hairdos and over-the-top stage antics which has always been Metal Justice’s stock in trade. But old habits are hard to change, and shortly after the launch of the 2nd Coming tour, Nixx received an extended jail sentence for an assault conviction. To keep the tour going, his son from an early liason, Roxxy Valente, was recruited for vocalist duties. The band’s message has never really changed, which is that they never really had a message other than their good time party music. See full bios on www.metaljustice.com
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