Vicious Rumors

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San Franciso Bay Area, 1979, Geoff Thorpe creates what will be one of the most Powerful , agressive melodic/speed metal bands of the genre. A lot can be said for this band whos style is synonymous with powerful shreds, pounding drums, killer vocals and songs that still carry on thru the years. They have gone thru lineup changes and endured personal challenges and tragedies yet have still managed to stay true to their music keeping the fans wanting more!
VR has recorded 12 albums starting back in 1986, when Mike Varneys label, Shrapnel Records signed them to a recording deal , their first album Soldiers of the Night featured Gary St. Pierre-lead vocals, Geoff Thorpe & Vinnie Moore guitars, Dave Starr bass, Larry Howe drums. SOTN became album of the month in Holland & Germany. Due to creative differences Vinnie Moore left the band. Gary St Pierre left and was replaced giving birth to the lineup that would make history:Geoff Thorpe, Carl Albert, Mark McGee, Dave Starr, Larry Howe.
New line-up new record saw 1988s Digital Dictator (Shrapnel) VR tours Europe for the first time and performs at the Ardshock Festival in Holland and the Marquee Club in England. With the success of the 2 Shrapnel albums, combined with touring and all the touring and songs such as March or Die, Lady Took a Chance were increasing in popularity among the metal hordes the majors took interest in VR and in 1990 Atlantic Records signed on VR - the band recorded their debut release Vicious Rumors (Atlantic) which produced the anthemic Dont Wait for Me which was their first video and was put on rotation on MTVs Headbangers Ball . VR also was featured in The Dynamo Open Air Festival and after returning from Europe they began their US Tour. 1991 - "Welcome to the Ball" is released, its VR's 4th album and 2nd on Atlantic Records. Tracks such as Abandoned, Dust To Dust, When Love Comes Down are among the signature songs. The band goes on to tour Europe with Savatage for a 1 month leg. The 2nd MTV video, "Children" goes beyond the exposure normally limited to metal bands on the Headbanger's Ball and gets regular daytime airplay. No stopping there - VR is nominated for a "Bammie Award" (from Bamm Magazine) for best new metal album.! VR tours the US for 4 months, building and strengthening their fan base in the States and then its off to Japan not only to tour but to record their first live album . 1992 - "Plug In & Hang On - Live in Tokyo" -. VR's sold out Japanese tour is a huge success. Soon after the band returns from Tokyo, Geoff starts GTM Management and gets the band new recording deals with Rising Sun Records in Germany and Alfa Music in Japan.
1993 - pre-production began for their upcoming release, "Word of Mouth", VR headlines their own US tour without the benefit of a record deal in that territory. Shortly after, the band parts ways with long time bassist Dave Starr. Carl Albert suggests his long time friend and former band mate in Villain, Tommy Sisco, to fill the slot on bass. This new line-up was a success and went on to make more VR history for a number of years.
1994 - "Word of Mouth" their sixth album, is released. The lineup: Carl Albert - vocals, Geoff Thorpe - guitars, Mark McGee - guitars & co-vocals, Tommy Sisco - bass, Larry Howe - drums. This album generated immediate attention and put the band back on the road. In Europe, VR is back to perform at the "Dynamo Festival" in Holland once again, then joins up with Accept for more festival dates. After the completing that tourm thewy hit the road again for a second European tour with Metal Church, Killers, and Zodiac Mind Warp. At the request of Rising Sun Records, VR is asked to go into the studio and record two bonus tracks to be put on a special re-released version of this album. The bonus tracks were recorded in, Hanover, Germany, engineered by Steve Mann, (from MSG & Sweet) with a special appearance by Paul Quinn, (from Saxon) lending his assistance on the backing vocals for, "Communication Breakdown". Since this request was completely unexpected, the band had no material prepared and the recording would have to start the next day during their only days off for the remainder of the tour. Cover songs were their only option - but which ones?? The band decided to go back to the roots of rock and chose two songs from the British Invasion era. The result - "Communication Breakdown" (Led Zeppelin) and "Paint It Black" (Rolling Stones) learned, recorded and mixed in 1 day!! "Word of Mouth" became Alfa Music's biggest seller that year. This year was extremely productive for VR, putting them back in the eye of the public and the media. The success of this album and it's US and 2 European tours had generated tremendous acclaim, recognition and endless rave reviews - the VR Ball was rolling once again!! 1995 - Mark McGee left the band in order to pursue change in musical direction and solo career. Geoff, Carl, Tommy and Larry began writing for the next album. For some time, the band had been considering a change in musical direction to a harder, more aggressive sound, especially Carl, and Something Burning was his opportunity to make it a reality. A lot of people are not aware that Carl and the band worked together on this sound. In fact, Carl made his biggest writing contribution of his career with VR on this album, co-writing most of the songs on it - unfortunately, Carl never got to see his dream through. Steve Smyth, a highly regarded local guitarist and friend of the band's, was the first guitarist they worked with following Mark's departure. He filled in for Mark during the writing process with Carl and the rest of the members.
April 22, 1995 - Carl "Ace" "The Voice" Albert one of the greatest and most talented singers in rock 'n roll history passed away. Even though still grieving over their loss, an important decision had to be made - What would the future be for VR? With over half of the material for the next release already written, much of it by Carl, the band felt they had no choice but to go on in Carl's memory and release his last works - and they knew, without a doubt, that Carl would have wanted and expected nothing less. By this time a rapport had been established between Steve and the band, not to mention being highly impressed with his playing, talent and vast musical knowledge - he was the obvious choice to fill Mark's spot. 1995 - "Tribute to Carl Albert - European Bootleg", a special limited edition CD was released. The lineup: Carl Albert - vocals, Geoff Thorpe - guitars, Mark McGee - guitars & co-vocals, Tommy Sisco - bass, Larry Howe - drums. While in the process of writing and releasing "Something Burning", which would include Carl's last and never heard works, the band still felt that this was not enough. During Carl's last tour in Europe for "Word of Mouth", the band had recorded every show on a portable DAT machine with two room microphones over the sound board, specifically for their own reviewing purposes after the tour. They reviewed this footage and decided it should be released in memory of him and his final performances. And "live" it was! Recorded with no studio editing, no over-dubs - just as if you were there at the show and had the DAT recorder hanging from your belt.
1996 - "Something Burning" is released. The line-up: Geoff Thorpe - guitars/vocals, Larry Howe - drums, Tommy Sisco - bass, Steve Smyth - guitars. After months of auditioning very talented and worthy singers, none of them felt right to the band - something was missing. To the band the only time it ever felt right was during their writing sessions with Geoff filling in the vocals. At this point the band decided to go as a four piece, with Geoff on vocals. As a result, "Something Burning" reached ..4 in Germany's ..1 rock magazine, "Rock Hard". The band was chosen for the cover story over Ozzy in the February 96 edition of "Heavy Oder Was" magazine. Exactly one year to the day of Carl's tragic death, the band left for a six week tour through all of Europe with Accept on their final, farewell tour, as well as supporting artists such as, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy, and Blue Oyster Cult at home in the States. 1997- After a year of their grieving was over, the band felt ready and wanted to be able to incorporate their original sound into their future live sets and new album. Enter Brian O'Connor on vocals. 1998 - "CyberChrist" is released. The line-up: Brian O'Conner - vocals, Geoff Thorpe - guitars, co-vocals, Steve Smyth - guitar, Tommy Sisco - bass, Larry Howe - drums. The 10th VR album, VR returns with a more tradition sound and is invited to go on tour with Blind Guardian, a top ten band in Europe. This was the largest attendance tour VR had been on to date. The band received excellent live reviews in all major media throughout Europe.
2001 - "Sadistic Symphony" is released. The line-up: Morgan Thorn - vocals, Geoff Thorpe - guitars, co-vocals, Ira Black - guitar, Cornbread - bass, Atma Anur - Drums. The 11th VR album. Mastermind Geoff Thorpe regroups forces and is joined by a brand new lineup featuring the soaring vocals of Morgan Thorn, the electric magic of Ira Black and the Bass bombardments of Cornbread, not forgetting the skins expertise of drummer extraordinaire Atma Anur. Sadistic Symphony received impressive reviews before it's release date and will prove that VR still is a force to reckon with. Be Prepared as the Ball is about to Crush the world...
Going forward - the metal masses will undertake the rebirth of true powerful, speed metal - VICIOUS RUMORS. - is back with the original 3 members - Geoff Thorpe, Larry Howe and Dave Starr and have added guitarist Brad Gillis (Ozzy, Night Ranger) and James Rivera vocals The legendary VR is about to Crush the World with the release of their new DVD and a killer lineup - 'WARBALL' AVAILABLE NOW ON TOUR AND ON VICIOUSRUMORS.COM-'WORLD WAR TOUR 2007'
Vicious Rumors (summer 2007)
L to R: Thaen Rassmussen, Stephen Goodwin, James Rivera, Larry Howe, Geoff Thorpe
The VR family welcomes Brad Gillis and James Rivera to the band! The veteran, all-star lineup is now complete. Brad Gillis (Ozzy Osbourne, Night Ranger) returns to metal and beyond with VR for the next studio CD and tour. Brad blew everyone away when he took over for the late Randy Rhoads touring with Ozzy in 82 & 83 and did all the guitar work on the Speak of the Devil Live and then went on to platinum success with Night Ranger. His mind bending guitar playing is perfect for the VR guitar team and is sure to provide some scorching riff exchanges! James Rivera (Helstar, Flotsam & Jetsam) joins VR bringing soaring vocals and a true metal spirit to the band. James has performed, recorded and toured with many legendary metal outfits.
2007 WORLD WAR TOUR Dates: US/EUROPE/JAPAN DATES LISTED ABOVE WITH MORE TO COME! AND DON'T MISS VR AS THE WARBALL ROLLS THRU GERMANY AT THE 'BANG YOUR HEAD FESTIVAL WITH HEAVEN AND HELL(Black Sabbath w/ DIO!!!)
(from the BYH.com site:
BANG YOUR HEAD!!!-NewsHere you'll get all the latest information about our festival. These are the news for now:VICOUS RUMORS complete the band lineup W.A.S.P. confirmed DARK TRANQUILLITY confirmed HAMMERFALL and VIOLENT STORM confirmed AMORPHIS, WOLF and ARCHER confirmed HEAVEN AND HELL will be second headlining act AMON AMARTH and 80ies legend POWERMAD confirmed GIRLSCHOOL, EVERGREY and STEELHEART confirmed BANG YOUR HEAD!!! 2007: first bands confirmed______________________________________04/02/07 Finally it's done: VICOUS RUMORS are the latest and final act to be confirmed for the BANG YOUR HEAD!!! fest 2007. Back in 2005, the band was one of the few unlucky ones who had to shorten their set every strictly as a result to the legendary Balingen hurricane, which messed up both site, stage and the Saturday's schedule back then. Now they'll get a second chance, and they will not only perform on the big festival stage, but be the headlining act of the clubshow on Thursday night. More information about that startup event will follow soon...
- World War Tour 2007 -
VICIOUS RUMORS new CD entitled ‘Warball’ is rolling full speed world wide as the band prepare to tour the USA! The band's twelfth official release reunites founding member/guitarist Geoff Thorpe with original members Larry Howe (drums, vocals) and Dave Starr (bass), while introducing newly recruited vocalist James Rivera (HELSTAR, SEVEN WITCHES) and guitar icon Brad Gillis (NIGHT RANGER/OZZY OSBOURNE) into the fold. VICIOUS RUMORS toured Europe with BEYOND FEAR (featuring current ICED EARTH/former JUDAS PRIEST vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens) in November 2006, and received rave reviews on their live performance.
‘Warball’ is ranked .. 4 on the charts in Germany’s Rock Hard magazine, the Top 5 in Holland’s Aardschok magazine, and Japanese magazine Burn gives the album 8.4 out of 10, not to mention a full spread is featured in Young Guitar magazine, also from Japan.
Journalist "Fish" from KNAC.com has deemed ‘Warball’, “A Sherman tank on a roller coaster!!!”, while Mark Gromen of BWBK listed ‘Warball’ in his top six of 2006.
VICIOUS RUMORS kick off their US tour in February, which will continue through May. In April, the band will pause from touring America to make two appearances in Tokyo, Japan, with special guest RIOT. A European tour that will include major festivals is currently in the works for June with Mascot Records label mates AGENT STEEL.
Don’t miss ‘Warball’ LIVE when VICIOUS RUMORS rolls through your town! VICIOUS RUMORS ‘Warball’ CD is available on the World War Tour 2007.
THE WARBALL'S ON
additional tour dates-see 'upcoming shows', viciousrumors.com, or VR on Myspace Calendar
Geoff Thorpe is now a proud member of the DEAN GUITAR family!-check out his page
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VR 'Music Profile' layout code,album pics & BIO by F.J. Sheffield VR 'Music Profile' Header & Graphics/webmaster-xXKrisXx Official 'Vicious Rumors on MySpace' Band Profile-HERE