When Vinnie Moore left us high and dry after the Soldiers photo shoot, the band was caught off-guard to say the least.

Geoff and I discussed what to do at this critical junction of the bands career,here we were with our 1st record about to come out and Vinnie is gone! We needed a guitar player and fast! As I reflect on this chapter of VR history, I recall that we never really did audition any replacements for Vinnie!
Terry Montana was a local guitar player who had some local success with a Bay Area band in the early 80's called TYRANT. That band was a VanHalen/Aerosmith style rock act with a sizable SanFrancisco following. Due to the usual internal problems that plague most bands,TYRANT was not to be for very long and after a few years and numerous personnel changes the band broke up.
Terry and I had been friends since 1979 when we met as rival guitar players trying to get our bands off the ground in our hometown of Alameda,Ca. I went off to several different bands projects over the next 5 years before hooking up with Geoff and Gary in VR, while Terry did his best to make a go of it with TYRANT.

Fast forward to 1985. Terry and I were hangin' out and talking over beers, when I brought up the fact of Vinnie leaving VR for good.Terry was no longer in TYRANT at this time, and we discussed the idea of having him come down and play with us. I ran the idea by Geoff and he said:"sounds like a good idea...lets do it".
Terry was working on learning Soldiers material for about a week, and then he came down to the studio to play with us. After a few informal band practices, we asked him to join the band-and he did.

Looking back on this,I don't know if we should have auditioned more guitar players or not. At the time, we did not want to lose any momentum with Soldiers of the Night coming out in a few months.We wanted to get out and play live to showcase the new songs and to prove that Vinnie or no Vinnie, VR was still going strong and we would prove it live on stage!

With no tour support from our label, and not much money in our pockets- we financed our own shows. We took the Soldiers sound live, and played concerts all over the Bay-Area. From tiny clubs like the "MAB" in S.F., to opening for bands such as B.O.C.,Ted Nugent, and UFO. We even put on and promoted our own concerts, playing to crowds of up to a thousand screaming VR fans! This was a pretty good time for VR,and even though the bands best days were ahead of it-this lineup would not last long........

Soldiers of the Night (SOTN) came out in January of 1986. By this time we had been playing live with Terry for about 4 months. The shows were well received, and we never heard much talk anymore about "Where is Vinnie?". We sold the records at our shows, and the label was selling them through mail order and through our labels overseas. SOTN got great reviews, especially in Europe and Japan. I must admit, alot of the attention was because of Vinnie Moore's playing, this was a double edged sword for the band,s ince Vinnie was long gone and out of the picture.

Mike Varney took note of this publicity, and used it to help further Vinnie's budding solo career. He also reminded us that Shrapnel Records was a real guitar oriented label, and that he was looking for a similar sound for the next record. He told us that if he did not like what we were doing on a follow up to SOTN, that he would drop us! He was aware of Terry playing with us, and said that he was not really a big fan of his style and what he had heard Terry do with his old band TYRANT. Wow...so much for label support...
I think Geoff and I were a bit on edge at this point. Terry did seem to struggle at times with playing the neo-classical style of Vinnie's that was such a key to the SOTN sound. He had more of a blues type playing style in the vain of Montrose and VanHalen. The song writing for the next record was not really clicking either at this junction. Geoff has a rather abstract aproach to guitar playing and writing that Terry never really could understand. The two of them were never able to come up with any solid ideas together. To make things worse, Terry was having some personal problems, job problems, and just seemed to be unhappy with his place in VR. At this point,things really started to turn bad....

Along with the problems surrounding Terry,we were also having problems with singer Gary St. Pierre. Gary was having substance abuse problems that were making life for Geoff, Larry, and I a living hell. He would not show up for practice for days at a time. When he would show up, he was usually carrying a bottle of whiskey in one hand and he would give us a lame excuse for not being around. Problems with Gary were magnified when we played live. His already strained voice was starting to give out, and his bevavior was really getting eratic. I have a live video of him from 1986 falling down on stage with us that is really sad. We tried for months to get him to cool it with the drugs and booze, but it did nothing to slow him down. I think he was deep into the "live fast, die young" mentality and he would not listen to any of us.

In the fall of 1986, I had a long talk with Geoff about the problems with Terry and Gary. We both agreed that the band was in turmoil, and that something had to be done fast. Although neither Terry nor Gary would leave on their own terms, neither would they make changes to help turn things around for themselves in VR.
In October of 1986, Geoff and I were convinced that this was the end of the line for Terry and Gary. I was already in the process of recruiting Mark and Carl into the band. By November it was a done deal. Geoff informed Gary that he was out, and I had to do the same with Terry. This was a very hard thing for me to do. I really liked Terry as a person, but it was not working out for him or for the band. I was not really as close to Gary as Geoff was, so Geoff took care of that end. As an intersting side note; We actually rehearsed a few times with Mark and Gary before Gary was let go! An odd VR lineup that lasted a few days, and one that few know about!

Fast forward to 2000. Terry Montana is back in action with a new project along with his old TYRANT bass player (Steve Perkins) and ex Mark McGee Solo Project drummer (Jim Wells). I have heard some of there new material, and it is outstanding! I wish him all the best. He deserves it.
Although no records were made with Terry Montana, he was a valuable member of the Vicious Rumors family during 1985-1986. His live contributions helped to keep the VR ball rolling ahead at a critical period of the bands history. I am sure that all of the thousands of VR fans who saw Terry play with us live at that time feel the same as I do.
As far as Gary goes, no one has heard from him in years....Gary....are you out there??

Dave Starr 2/2000