Americade (band)
Americade | |
|---|---|
| Americade Raid in 1983 at the Calderone Concert Hall, Hempstead, NY Americade Raid in 1983 at the Calderone Concert Hall, Hempstead, NY | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Brooklyn, New York, United States |
| Genres | Hard rock, heavy metal |
| Years active | 1979–1995 |
| Labels | Adem Records, Planet "A" Records |
| Associated acts | White Lion, Black Sabbath, The Scream, Dick Dale, Alice Cooper, Rainbow, Ted Nugent |
| Past members | PJ de Marigny, Gerard de Marigny, Danny Simoes, Frank Antico, Jerry Cuccurullo, Walt Woodward III, Nick Sodano, Dave Spitz, Mark Weitz, Greg Smith, Paul Cammarata |
Americade was an American rock band formed by the de Marigny brothers, in Brooklyn, New York, in the summer of 1979. There were various lineups of the band including a pre-1981 rock fusion 5-piece unit; a 1981-1984 (most well-known) heavy metal 4-piece unit; a 1988-1990 4-piece unit; and a 1995 4-piece lineup that only performed live once.
Though the band never reached superstar band status on its own, several of its members went on to achieve great success with bands such as White Lion, Black Sabbath, The Scream, and Ted Nugent. Americade also had a profound impact on one of the founders of Anthrax, Dan Spitz. Dan Spitz, the younger brother of Americade's bassist in 1983-1984, Dave Spitz, accredits Americade as the band he wanted to model his new band Anthrax around. He told Gerard de Marigny on a taped interview in 2014, for a possible memoir on Dan's life that de Marigny might pen, "I wanted us (Anthrax) to come out with as large a setup as Americade had … a large, loud show."
In total, Americade recorded three albums, an EP, music for a movie that was never released, a four-song demo, and a video of the Grand Funk Railroad hit, "We're an American Band". In 1983, the video went on to win "Best Video: Heavy Metal" on MTV. The band received the award on July 4, 1983, announced and accepted by Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac on the band's behalf. Only the first Americade album, recorded in 1982, titled, American Metal, was ever released on their own Adem Records label, until 2013 when Retrospect Records released a box set titled, Americadence: 1980-1995 that included almost all of their recordings.
Because of the band's notoriety in the heavy metal genre, combined with the relatively low-volume of authorized releases, Americade recordings have been traded and bootlegged many thousands of times all over the world. The band's music can still be found on a number of heavy metal internet sites, as well as on eBay.
The band reached its pinnacle of acclaim in 1983. According to Billboard magazine, "Americade (is) a howling heavy metal band … they cover the bases well."[1] Hit Parader magazine wrote of the band, "Mixing such influences as Van Halen, Judas Priest, and the aforementioned Grand Funk, Americade has emerged as a bright new face on the hard rock scene."[2] Americade's first album received local New York-New Jersey attention. Of the album, Good Times newspaper reported, "Their first album, American Metal, was self-produced, self-financed and, to hear them tell it, self-descriptive."[3]
Even with their rocky history, as a result of their impact on the hard rock and heavy metal genre, Americade was included in The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.[4]
Americade disbanded for the final time in 1995. Since then, two members of their various lineups have died: Drummer Walt Woodward III died on June 8, 2010 from alcohol poisoning,[5] and keyboardist Frank Antico died on February 24, 2013[6] from an apparent heart attack.
History[edit]
Rock Fusion lineup (1979-1980)[edit]
Prior to 1981, the band's sound was one of rock fusion, with the main lineup of vocalist/keyboardist P.J. de Marigny, guitarist Danny Simoes, bassist Gerard de Marigny, keyboardist Frank Antico, and drummer Jerry Cuccurullo, brother of Duran Duran guitarist Warren Cuccurullo. But, according to the younger de Marigny, in conversations, it was not until the band reformed as a four-piece unit and changed their musical style to heavy metal that they began receiving worldwide notoriety.
The heyday of Americade (1981-1984)[edit]
For most of 1981, the de Marigny brothers held auditions. They auditioned 147 musicians mostly from the New York and New Jersey area before finally inducting drummer Walt Woodward III, and bassist Nick Sodano, of the cover band Rachel, into the lineup. Gerard de Marigny also switched to guitar at that time and became the main songwriter for the band. This lineup recorded the first rendition of their debut album, American Metal, but right after the recording bassist Sodano decided to leave the band. Sodano was immediately replaced with Freeway (a band out of Rochester, New York) bassist Dave "The Beast" Spitz. Because Sodano co-wrote some of the material on the original rendition of the album, some of the songs were replaced with others he did not write, and the entire album was retracted with Spitz on bass. American Metal was released in late 1982. In its first full year of release, the album was estimated, by the de Marignys, based on their distribution records, to have sold 24,000 copies, with tens of thousands of additional unlicensed albums sold by bootleggers all around the world, after the initial pressing.
The band and their American Metal album began garnering attention outside of the heavy metal sphere. In their July 1983 issue, the nationally-syndicated Young Miss magazine posted their review of American Metal, "Americade's debut album, featuring a band that's been described as a cross between Van Halen and Grand Funk Railroad, is a pleasant surprise!"[7] Gerard de Marigny's guitar work was described as "marvelous". Gallery magazine said of the band, "The way to make it big in the marketplace is to have a first-rate product, total confidence, and persistence. The new group Americade, much discussed in underground music circles, has all those ingredients—and then some."[8]
In 1983, the band began playing sold-out shows in concert hall sized venues like New York's Northstage Theater and Calderone Concert Hall, along with sold-out shows at Brooklyn, NY L'Amour and Queens, NY L'Amour-East clubs. The band also performed a TV-broadcast performance from the Ritz Theater in Elizabeth, New Jersey on the state's TV-3 channel, sponsored by Good Times newspaper. Yet, the band did not play live often. As reported in The Aquarian newspaper, "Unlike most other developing bands, Americade avoided the club circuit grind by devoting untold hours of rehearsal in a concert setting in an effort to perfect their craft."[9] The much-respected, underground KickAss Monthly newsletter put it this way, "Well, like I said in the past, Americade needs to play around to gain some exposure. If the show at L'Amours in Brooklyn on March 11 is any indication of what the band can do in the club scene then they should definitely do a few more gigs before leaving for England. This headbanging outfit hauled in a strapped-down version of their 'Americade Raid' into a club and tore the place to shreds."[10]
The news about the band and its debut album spread across the Atlantic. Holland's top rock magazine, Aardschok wrote, "Americade certainly stands out and therefore has good future possibilities."[11] The French magazine, Enfer talked about Americade's huge "Americade Raid" live show setup, "And, in the area of scenery, Americade is strong; 1.5 million watts, 15,000 amps, 1,500 lights, fog, laser beams, and a light show made with the landing lights for planes."[12] While the Belgium magazine Tele Moustique spoke of Americade's similarity to Van Halen, "When the first album of Van Halen came out in '78, certain rock critics said that they were strongly influenced by Led Zeppelin. There, a person does not dream of complaining. Then, who can blame Americade for sounding like Van Halen?"[13]
By the summer of 1983, Americade was preparing for their first tour of the Midwestern United States when the band decided to change course and enter the studio to record their second album. They contacted mega-producer Tom Werman before ultimately deciding on another mega-successful producer, Jeff Glixman (Kansas, Black Sabbath, Lita Ford, Saxon, Gary Moore, Mother's Finest). Glixman brought the band down to his studio located just outside Atlanta, Georgia, where he had previously recorded the ultra-successful Leftoverture and Point of No Return albums for Kansas. Americade spent months recording the album they were going to call Rock Hard, but ultimately, personal differences were ripping the band apart. According to Gerard de Marigny, "The band members returned to New York in April 1984, and on April 24, 1984 the de Marigny brothers decided that the band could not go on."
Music for the movie Electric Prophet (1984)[edit]
Within months of the band disbanding, Gerard and PJ de Marigny were contacted by the co-producer of American Metal, Ben Rizzi, who had become the head of the music studio at Kaufman Astoria Movie Studios. Rizzi hired the de Marignys to record tracks for an upcoming movie based on the life of Jimi Hendrix that was to be produced by Elliot Geisinger (Child's Play, The Amityville Horror). The movie, tentatively named Electric Prophet, was never released due to intellectual property disputes between the producer and rights holder, yet the music was already recorded. The de Marignys were given permission to release the music themselves. They decided to press it into a demo and used the band's name to promote it, but the music wasn't heavy metal. The result was confusion on behalf of the band's management and ultimately no support, and no interest from the record labels. PJ de Marigny subsequently left New York and pursued a degree in theology, which he earned years later, while Gerard remained in New York and began writing and producing music with various dance music artists and for TV.[citation needed]
Reemergence with a new singer (1988-1990)[edit]
In 1988, Gerard de Marigny attempted to put Americade back together, but by that time the members of the 1981-1984 lineup had moved on. Vocalist PJ de Marigny was out of the music business altogether, while bassist Dave "The Beast" Spitz had become a member of Black Sabbath and had performed on their Seventh Star album. Walt Woodward had relocated to Los Angeles and was playing for Shark Island.[citation needed]
Gerard replaced his brother with Malice vocalist Mark Weitz. They recorded a four-song demo in New York City before heading to Los Angeles to rehearse and attempt to recruit Walt Woodward back into the band. While considering the offer, Woodward practiced with de Marigny, Weitz, and bassist Tommy Rucci, who was a member of Shark Island with Woodward. Ultimately, Woodward and Rucci decided to remain with Shark Island, while de Marigny and Weitz returned to New York. de Marigny then recruited bassist Greg Smith, and Michael Angelo drummer Paul Cammarata. This lineup rehearsed in Brooklyn, New York, but according to de Marigny, other than a handful of closed showcases, never played live. Disagreements between Weitz, Cammarata, and de Marigny combined with the music business moving away from heavy metal and towards grunge led to this lineup's breakup.
Americade.com … Americade's swan song (1995)[edit]
PJ de Marigny had returned to New York in late 1992 with a rekindled desire to make music. He began writing music for an album that would later become Americade.com. According to conversations with PJ, he envisioned regrouping Americade into a recording-only hard rock act that would sell its music on its own website.
By late 1994, PJ had written enough material for an album and approached his brother Gerard to recruit him. Gerard originally said no, but according to him, PJ's persistence finally persuaded him to not only perform all the instruments (except keys, which PJ performed), but to also produce the album. The brothers recorded the album in Gerard's apartment in Brooklyn, New York on a Session-8 digital recording system.
PJ decided that a few live performances could augment the kickoff of the band. His idea was to target the burgeoning internet community, to gain support for the band's website which was also the album's title. He enlisted Gerard to gather the other members. Gerard turned to former members Walt Woodward, who had just played a European tour with surfer-rock legend Dick Dale, and Greg Smith who by this time was a member of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Smith agreed to split time with both bands, because of the light demand of work from Americade. This unit played only one live performance, at the Broward County Convention Center, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, as a featured performer at an internet convention.
PJ de Marigny had been financing the band on his own, and, according to his brother, by the time the band returned to New York, financial pressures as well as internal band disagreements led to this final lineup of Americade to disband.[citation needed]
Band members[edit]
1979-1980[edit]
- PJ de Marigny – vocals, keyboards
- Gerard de Marigny – bass, guitar
- Danny Simoes – guitar
- Frank Antico – keyboards
- Jerry Cuccurullo – drums
Horn Line
- John "Screech" Arientano – trumpet
- Ken McCune – trumpet
- Joe Forlenza – trumpet
1981-1984[edit]
- PJ de Marigny – vocals
- Gerard de Marigny – guitar
- Walt "Wildman" Woodward III – drums
- Dave "The Beast" Spitz – bass
- Nick Sodano – bass
1988-1990[edit]
- Gerard de Marigny – guitar, keyboards
- Mark Weitz – vocals
- Greg Smith – bass, background vocals
- Paul Cammarata – drums
1995[edit]
- PJ de Marigny – vocals, keyboards
- Gerard de Marigny – guitar, background vocals
- Walt Woodward III – drums, background vocals
- Greg Smith – bass, background vocals
Discography[edit]
- Americade EP, later named First Cuts (1980)
- American Metal (1982)
- Rock Hard (1983)
- Heroes Are Back (1984, 1988)
- Americade.com (1995)
References[edit]
- ↑ "Top Album Picks". Billboard magazine: 61. March 5, 1983. Retrieved August 17, 2016 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "Shooting Stars". Hit Parader magazine (December 1983). December 1983.
- ↑ Millman, Barry (July 12–18, 1983). "Amaricade Mans The Barricades". Good Times newspaper (July 12–18, 1983).
- ↑ Jasper, Tony; Reynolds, Derek Oliver, Steve Hammond, Dave (1985). The international encyclopedia of hard rock & heavy metal. New York, N.Y.: Facts on File. ISBN 978-0816011339. Search this book on
- ↑ http://www.gerarddemarigny.com/selfpubbers-pub-blog/walt-woodward-iii-a-few-thoughts-about-my-friend
- ↑ http://obituaries.nydailynews.com/obituaries/nydailynews/obituary.aspx?n=frank-antico&pid=170674226&fhid=22042
- ↑ "Record Department". Young Miss magazine (July 1983). July 1983.
- ↑ "God Bless Americade". Gallery magazine (September 1983). September 1983.
- ↑ Chermerka, Bill (December 8–15, 1983). "Talkin' With Americade". Aquarian newspaper (December 8–15, 1983).
- ↑ Erigo, John (April 1983). "Americade: Stand Up and Salute". KickAss Monthly newsletter (April 1983).
- ↑ Stefan (April 1983). "Americade - American Metal". Aardschok magazine (April 1983).
- ↑ Jiminez, J.F. (April 1983). "Americade ... "For the Fans of Metal"". Enfer magazine (April 1983).
- ↑ ""American Metal" ... by Americade". Tele Moustique (April 1983). April 1983.
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