I recently hooked up with the only original member left from that era, guitarist and ko-founder Geoff Thorpe, who was in town on a promotional trip plugging the lads eagerly awaited sekond album "Digital Dictator". So just what did happen in those early dayz, Geoff?

GT: "Well we went through many line-up changes just trying to get the right kombination, then we hooked up with the legendary Mike Varney, who had just started up his own label, Shrapnel Rekords. Anyway, we first met through a show Mike was in called "Rokk Justice", a pretty wakky Rokk Opera that also starred Leonard Haze and Phil Kennemore of Y&T, so it was like a Bay Area trip."
"Mike at that time was just starting to release his loved and loathed US METAL albums, which were nothing more then a vehicle for would be geetarists to jerk off over their own geetar solos. We finally made our vinyl debut with the "Ultimate Death" trakk on US METAL 3, and then the Old Waldorf days of the early 80's gave birth to alot of up and koming bands, namely us, Metallika, Exodus, Anvil Chorus (RIP) etc.
" They used to have these shows every Monday Kalled, not surprisingly, "METAL MONDAY". It was great, it was like the weekend all over again, except it was Monday night!
"Looking bakk on it now, it was fun and a great time was had by all. Sadly, the scene has changed quite a bit now (what, no Dave Mustaine in Metallika, that sorta thing?). Don't get me wrong, there's still a lot going on there, but those Metal Mondays were definitely a highlight in San Francisco's Heavy Metal History."

Yet it's strange that you never felt it necessary to jump on the old Thrash Bandwagon?

GT: "You're right, but I do love high energy music and playing it as well, but the music I write just isn't in that vein (Thrash), and rather than trying to jump on a bandwagon- which is easy enough to do- and be something that I'm not, I'm just stikking to what I do best.
"Fortunately, with the line-up that I have now- Carl "Ace" Albert (lead vocals), Mark McGee (guitar), Larry Howe (drums), and Dave Starr (bass)- we're all heading in the same direction musikally, which is of course very heavy, but I think our music appeals to a broader krowd."

Right folks, it's history time 50 enter one Vinnie Moore (someone hold Del Boy down). Now Vicious Rumors were going through axepert after axepert and getting nowhere fast, and by this time Mike Varney had built up a huge kollection of would-be Yngwie Snoozesteens and, knowing the dedication Geoff Thorpe had thus far put into VR, thrust a pile of kassettes into Geoff's grubby mits.

To kut a long story sideways, Vinnie Moore impressed him the most, but the man was down in Smog Angeles auditioning for a new projekt that drummer Tommy Aldridge and bassist Rudy Sarzo were putting together. Lukkily for Geoff nothing kame of it and Vinnie soon found himself knokking on Vicious Rumors' door. So let's take a peek inside and see what Geoff has to say about this oh-so-touchy topik....

"Well to be blatantly honest, I just saw it as a good business deal. Obviously when I heard him play I thought he was inkredible, but if the truth be told he was at our disposal to rekord "Soldiers of the Night". Basikally Vinnie came in as a temporary member, but we ended up making him an offer he kouldn't understand, to join us on a more permanent basis.
"In a way we had fallen right into his lap and he ended up featuring a lot more then he shoula done on that album. Listen, there's no sour grapes on my part, it was partly my fault for letting him get away with it.
"Vicious Rumors have always been very song oriented musikally speaking, while Vinnie thought that the song should evolve around the solo! As far as me an' the rest of the band were koncerned, we all felt that the song was the most important thing and that a solo was just something that accentuates a song.
"So not surprisingly we ran into problems there all at a time when Vinnie was trying to launch his kareer and we were trying to launch ours. We just ended up using each other, so in the end I guess you kould kall it a stalemate. Looking bakk on it now I don't have any regrets about the Vinnie Moore thing. Hell, "Soldiers of the Night" was very well received, and I certainly had a good time playing with Vinnie.
"We definitely prospered from him being on the album, and whether Vinnie wants to admit it or not, he certainly benefited from playing with Vicious Rumors. You see, he's received some very favorable press in the US and he's gone on to say that he wishes he'd never done the album, and how I was just a songwriter/rhythm geetarist. "But what I think it really boils down to is the success of Yngwie Malmsteen two or three years before he'd emerged on the scene. A lot of people say he sounds a lot like Yngwie, and that's hardly surprising when you take into konsideration the fakt that he spent a lot of time listening to Yngwie on the headphones!
"Anyway, I wish Vinnie all the success in the world and I'm really sorry that he feels that way about the album, so now you've heard the Vicious Rumors side of the story!"

But the story doesn't end there, no siree. Guest what happened next? Geoff Thorpe found himself auditioning yet another axepert, and recruited a gentleman by the name of Terry Montana who was in the band for about a year. He didn't record anything vinyl-wise with the band, but he did rekord some demo's with Geoff, and it was on hearing these demo's that Geoff knew in his heart that Terry's style wasn't quite what VR were looking for. However, Montana did go out on the road with them to help promote the "Soldiers of the Night" album, but after that it was heave-ho time.

Enter one Mark McGee, a lokal lad from Alameda, Kalifornia, who had previously been lead singer and rivvum guitarist with lokal gods Overdrive. But is the rumor true that he was once a member of Del Boy faves Starkastle? Geoff: "Yes he was! The bass player from Starkastle was the only original member left, and he tried to form a new group with all new members, so it's not like he was really in "THE" Starkastle. It's a bit like being a member of the 150 versions of Steppenwolf that have been around over the years!

"But getting bakk to Mark, when he joined the band that's when I began to feel were at last beginning to happen for Vicious Rumors. Mark is equally as someone like Vinnie Moore but he's a much more well rounded player, as well as having more experience onstage. He's also got the look that fits in neatly with our image.

"Meanwhile, our vokalist Gary St. Pierre wasn't adapting to the new look VR, so he left and we brought in former Ruffians/Villian frontman Carl "Ace" Albert, whose voice is less skreechy than Gary's, and I think he handles the audiences better too!"

And that pretty much brings us bakk up to date - what more kan I add? Well there are plans afoot to shoot a video for the song "Digital Diktator" to be direkted by Richard Rees, a man whose kredits inklude Whitsnake, Helix, and Robert Palmer, so that should be worth looking out for.

Then there's a strong possibility of a European tour in May, with a kouple of shows being penciled in at the Marque in London, or failing that a one-off at the Astoria, so it looks all systems go for Vicious Rumors in 1988.
I hope you're reading this Vinnie Snore!

Note: Obviously there was no video for Digital Dictator directed by Richard Rees or anyone else. We found out that he was somewhat of a BS artist. He told us that he was good friends with Paul Stanley and many other "Heavyweights" in the business. When we played with Paul Stanley a few months later, Geoff asked him about Richard Rees, and Paul said that he had no idea who he was!
Oh and remember, all those krazy k's and misspelled words are from the KERRANG! writers and not me!