Old LA rock scene

[Racerxrated]

In late 1982-83' our band INVADERS was part of that scene. The Troubadour was where we ended up playing the most and it was an awesome time to be a musician. I really loved not only playing the TROUBADOUR but hanging out there too. I remember two shows in particular we did... one night with SLAYER and another night with Lizzy Borden. For a short time Gene Allen from Lizzy Borden was a roommate of mine in a small apartment in the San Fernando Valley. In the city of Reseda to be exact which was right down the street from The Country Club where I saw Queensryche , STEELER with Yngwie Malmsteen and many other great bands from that time. As for bands we would see regularly on the strip at that time that come to mind were WASP , ARMORED SAINT , Black and Blue , Joshua , BITCH , ODIN , Warrior , Witch , The Brooklyn Brats , HELLION were all playing the Troubadour and the Whisky on any given night back then. You never would know who might just show up. One night David Lee Roth randomly showed up to hang out at the Troubadours bar and get plastered. LOL... Below are a couple of pics of me at the tender age of 17... one out front of the Troubadour before a show and couple on stage. Im the one with the Black and White striped flying V. I can honestly say that those were some of the BEST times of my life. And without a doubt the most sexy , beautiful women ever were 80s babes!!! I even met my wife at the Troubadour in 1984 and we are still together today. Cheers guys.







I found this flyer searching Google of a show we played in Buena Park called "The Woodstock."Its a little hard to read but our band INVADERS went on at 8pm. You can see Slayer , Silent Rage and Dark Angel played that day too. Good times!!

Wow man that is cool! So you lived it...must've been a hell of a ride. Thanks for posting.

Chubtone should chime in, he was also playing in the LA area back in the day, as was Steve Henning, although Steve isn't around here anymore.

 

[romanianreaper]

I remember two shows in particular we did... one night with SLAYER and another night with Lizzy Borden. For a short time Gene Allen from Lizzy Borden was a roommate of mine in a small apartment in the San Fernando Valley.

Man, those are some awesome pics you posted and love hearing about that stuff!! I used to wear tiger-striped bandanas around my neck and remember that early 80s rocker style! Cool you knew the guys in Lizzy Borden too. When I was stationed in Korea, a bunch of us metalheads threw a band together and played at the club on base, packed with drunk airmen. We did Lizzy Borden's version of "Born to Be Wild" from "Decline of Western Civilization Pt 2" and people went ape shit. I actually had a girl ask me for my autograph afterwards and I said "uh, you know I am in the military right?" LOL! Ahh, the 80s....

 

[Detroit1973]

You can't go wrong with just about anything from Loudness, especially from Disillusion, Thunder in the East and Lightning Strikes. Though they are pretty far from being an LA band. Those albums are YEARS worth of guitar lessons. Geezus, is Akira good.

Yeah wow that one is great too. A lot going on. From the little I heard: Neo, Heavy, Rush. All kinds of stuff. Killer musicians.

I thought Saigon influenced AIC but after looking they came out around the same time. Crazy how similar some of it is.

Saigon Kick are from the Ft. Lauderdale area of Florida. They were decent for their time...but i grew up with them & hung out with them, so that whole scene for me is personal. grew up with Marilyn Manson too.

 

[Deanmachine]

Check out Junkyard,the Sea Hags,little kings,the Joneses,the Hangmen,t.s.o.l -Joe Woods era,Suckerpunch

 

[harsh59]

Don't know if Y&T are from LA, but I really like them. Heavy, bluesy vocals, and a lot of killer riffs.

I believe Y&T were from the San Francisco area , but I agree they were a great blues rock band .

 

[Stradazone]

Don't know if Y&T are from LA, but I really like them. Heavy, bluesy vocals, and a lot of killer riffs.

I believe Y&T were from the San Francisco area , but I agree they were a great blues rock band .

I saw them as 'Yesterday and Today' before they became Y&T in the early days and they were stunning, on a whole other level beyond the other local bands at the time!

 

[Racerxrated]

Don't know if Y&T are from LA, but I really like them. Heavy, bluesy vocals, and a lot of killer riffs.

I believe Y&T were from the San Francisco area , but I agree they were a great blues rock band .

I saw them as 'Yesterday and Today' before they became Y&T in the early days and they were stunning, on a whole other level beyond the other local bands at the time!

Mean Streak was one of the first tunes I learned way way back....I think Dave n friends are still at it, playing out....

 

[mooncobra]

What were some of the best bands from those times? I've been on a huge GnR kick lately. Not much into hair metal but I've always loved GnR and some other bands like Skid Row and Poison.

So what were some of the lesser known/harder rock bands that were big and rocking in that local scene?

Appetite is one of the best rock albums EVER!!!

 

[Markedman]

How about "Sound Barrier"? Yngwie was very big. Motley Crue was something that sort of stuck around although I though they'd be flash in the pan, more people liked them than didn't. Dokken, Y&T, Poison, Great White style crapola was really really big at the time but pure crapola. Ozzy had a billboard on Sunset Boulevard that was like 50 feet high for shot in the dark, it was some smoking hot woman with red lights for eyes! Good times for sure.

 

[311boogieman]

fret-shredder - that is some great history right there. Thanks for sharing

Seems like GnR kind of brought a new sound to that scene maybe?

They really did. Kind of in a Zeppelin sort of way. Game changer. By the late 80's the whole hair band thing had gotten out of control (as you all know) so it was refreshing to hear something stripped down and dirty.

Lots of cool bands named in this thread. I'm a huge fan of Skid Row, Crue, etc. Kingdom Come was another one. I remember they opened Monsters of Rock in '88. Saw that at the Chiefs Stadium. It was Kingdom Come, Metallica, Dokken, Scorpians, Van Halen. Oh man.

But I digress. An album you might dig is Motley Crue self titled. It was the one after Dr. Feelgood when John Corabi stepped in after Vince 'stepped aside'. Some heavy shit in there.

This wicked tho:

 

[Fret-Shredder]

You are welcome my SPLAWN brother. I have some great memories from that time. Happy to share.

fret-shredder - that is some great history right there. Thanks for sharing

Seems like GnR kind of brought a new sound to that scene maybe?

They really did. Kind of in a Zeppelin sort of way. Game changer. By the late 80's the whole hair band thing had gotten out of control (as you all know) so it was refreshing to hear something stripped down and dirty.

Lots of cool bands named in this thread. I'm a huge fan of Skid Row, Crue, etc. Kingdom Come was another one. I remember they opened Monsters of Rock in '88. Saw that at the Chiefs Stadium. It was Kingdom Come, Metallica, Dokken, Scorpians, Van Halen. Oh man.

But I digress. An album you might dig is Motley Crue self titled. It was the one after Dr. Feelgood when John Corabi stepped in after Vince 'stepped aside'. Some heavy shit in there.

This wicked tho:

 

[stratjacket]

In late 1982-83' our band INVADERS was part of that scene. The Troubadour was where we ended up playing the most and it was an awesome time to be a musician. I really loved not only playing the TROUBADOUR but hanging out there too. I remember two shows in particular we did... one night with SLAYER and another night with Lizzy Borden. For a short time Gene Allen from Lizzy Borden was a roommate of mine in a small apartment in the San Fernando Valley. In the city of Reseda to be exact which was right down the street from The Country Club where I saw Queensryche , STEELER with Yngwie Malmsteen and many other great bands from that time. As for bands we would see regularly on the strip at that time that come to mind were WASP , ARMORED SAINT , Black and Blue , Joshua , BITCH , ODIN , Warrior , Witch , The Brooklyn Brats , HELLION were all playing the Troubadour and the Whisky on any given night back then............

That's awesome man, great stories, thanks for sharing. Will always consider myself a child of the 80's.

Some great bands listed already, so won't cover those. Some of these that haven't been listed are some of my favorites, although maybe not from the LA scene.

Zebra - check out "Who's Behind The Door" and "Tell Me What You Want"
Lillian Axe - first album
Fastway - any of the first 3 albums
Krokus - - The Blitz album
Rough Cut - check out the remake of "Piece Of My Heart", really that whole album. they had a great heavy guitar tone too.
Killer Dwarfs - The "Stand Tall" album - I could sing this entire album in my head, must have listened 2 million times.
Britney Fox
Keel
Kix
Helix

 

[BlackRose]

Don't know if Y&T are from LA, but I really like them. Heavy, bluesy vocals, and a lot of killer riffs.

I believe Y&T were from the San Francisco area , but I agree they were a great blues rock band .

They were
Late 70's I shared a rehearsal space with Dave in Hayward
We had some crazy fun times

 

[Zado]

In late 1982-83' our band INVADERS was part of that scene. The Troubadour was where we ended up playing the most and it was an awesome time to be a musician. I really loved not only playing the TROUBADOUR but hanging out there too. I remember two shows in particular we did... one night with SLAYER and another night with Lizzy Borden. For a short time Gene Allen from Lizzy Borden was a roommate of mine in a small apartment in the San Fernando Valley. In the city of Reseda to be exact which was right down the street from The Country Club where I saw Queensryche , STEELER with Yngwie Malmsteen and many other great bands from that time. As for bands we would see regularly on the strip at that time that come to mind were WASP , ARMORED SAINT , Black and Blue , Joshua , BITCH , ODIN , Warrior , Witch , The Brooklyn Brats , HELLION were all playing the Troubadour and the Whisky on any given night back then. You never would know who might just show up. One night David Lee Roth randomly showed up to hang out at the Troubadours bar and get plastered. LOL... Below are a couple of pics of me at the tender age of 17... one out front of the Troubadour before a show and couple on stage. Im the one with the Black and White striped flying V. I can honestly say that those were some of the BEST times of my life. And without a doubt the most sexy , beautiful women ever were 80s babes!!! I even met my wife at the Troubadour in 1984 and we are still together today. Cheers guys.

That's a great story, especially the last part. I'm very envious!

 

[Fret-Shredder]

The only guy from Lizzy Borden I knew was Gene and only for a short time. He actually moved out of the apartment a short time after I moved in. He was a really cool guy though. I remember him being really proud of one of his guitars in particular. I dont remember if it was a Jackson or Charvel but it had a really crazy graphic of a big mouth with the tongue hanging out. The body of the guitar was Red. Could of been a free guitar he got from an endorsement or something like that. Really nice guitar.

I remember two shows in particular we did... one night with SLAYER and another night with Lizzy Borden. For a short time Gene Allen from Lizzy Borden was a roommate of mine in a small apartment in the San Fernando Valley.

Man, those are some awesome pics you posted and love hearing about that stuff!! I used to wear tiger-striped bandanas around my neck and remember that early 80s rocker style! Cool you knew the guys in Lizzy Borden too. When I was stationed in Korea, a bunch of us metalheads threw a band together and played at the club on base, packed with drunk airmen. We did Lizzy Borden's version of "Born to Be Wild" from "Decline of Western Civilization Pt 2" and people went ape shit. I actually had a girl ask me for my autograph afterwards and I said "uh, you know I am in the military right?" LOL! Ahh, the 80s....

 

[Hamer95USA]

Don't know if Y&T are from LA, but I really like them. Heavy, bluesy vocals, and a lot of killer riffs.

Great hard rock band from Hayward, CA (northern California) that's still around today though 3 of the original members passed away. They tour in Europe during the summer. Dave Meniketti is a great guitarist/vocalist. When I first heard of Y&T, I thought it was Sammy Haggar singing. Then I find out that they're from my own hometown.

Guitar George

 

[romanianreaper]

It's crazy how important timing was to the whole hair metal thing. I remember seeing an old "Hard N' Heavy" video and Warrant was on there talking about trying to make it big, how they were in debt, etc. and next thing you know they are huge. I still think Poison wouldn't have gotten as big had they not went so over the top with their first album cover. Even for hair metal, those guys were wearing too much makeup. LOL!

 

[hammered]

Don't know if Y&T are from LA, but I really like them. Heavy, bluesy vocals, and a lot of killer riffs.

I believe Y&T were from the San Francisco area , but I agree they were a great blues rock band .

They were
Late 70's I shared a rehearsal space with Dave in Hayward
We had some crazy fun times

The city of Hayward has been mentioned twice in this thread , I was born in Hayward lived there till I was 10 , little did I know it was a blessing when my parents moved us out of there

 

[jcj]

The only guy from Lizzy Borden I knew was Gene and only for a short time. He actually moved out of the apartment a short time after I moved in. He was a really cool guy though. I remember him being really proud of one of his guitars in particular. I dont remember if it was a Jackson or Charvel but it had a really crazy graphic of a big mouth with the tongue hanging out. The body of the guitar was Red. Could of been a free guitar he got from an endorsement or something like that. Really nice guitar.

I remember two shows in particular we did... one night with SLAYER and another night with Lizzy Borden. For a short time Gene Allen from Lizzy Borden was a roommate of mine in a small apartment in the San Fernando Valley.

Man, those are some awesome pics you posted and love hearing about that stuff!! I used to wear tiger-striped bandanas around my neck and remember that early 80s rocker style! Cool you knew the guys in Lizzy Borden too. When I was stationed in Korea, a bunch of us metalheads threw a band together and played at the club on base, packed with drunk airmen. We did Lizzy Borden's version of "Born to Be Wild" from "Decline of Western Civilization Pt 2" and people went ape shit. I actually had a girl ask me for my autograph afterwards and I said "uh, you know I am in the military right?" LOL! Ahh, the 80s....

You live on Hatteras Street?

 

[Fret-Shredder]

Etiwanda St. in Reseda

The only guy from Lizzy Borden I knew was Gene and only for a short time. He actually moved out of the apartment a short time after I moved in. He was a really cool guy though. I remember him being really proud of one of his guitars in particular. I dont remember if it was a Jackson or Charvel but it had a really crazy graphic of a big mouth with the tongue hanging out. The body of the guitar was Red. Could of been a free guitar he got from an endorsement or something like that. Really nice guitar.

I remember two shows in particular we did... one night with SLAYER and another night with Lizzy Borden. For a short time Gene Allen from Lizzy Borden was a roommate of mine in a small apartment in the San Fernando Valley.

Man, those are some awesome pics you posted and love hearing about that stuff!! I used to wear tiger-striped bandanas around my neck and remember that early 80s rocker style! Cool you knew the guys in Lizzy Borden too. When I was stationed in Korea, a bunch of us metalheads threw a band together and played at the club on base, packed with drunk airmen. We did Lizzy Borden's version of "Born to Be Wild" from "Decline of Western Civilization Pt 2" and people went ape shit. I actually had a girl ask me for my autograph afterwards and I said "uh, you know I am in the military right?" LOL! Ahh, the 80s....

You live on Hatteras Street?