Feel the ’80s Noize – Quiet Riot and Black ‘N Blue rock Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe on Sept. 7
From a press release:
If you miss the big hair and big riffs of ’80s heavy metal music, Quiet Riot and Black ‘N Blue will be performing together at Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe on Thursday, Sept. 7 at 8 p.m.
Tickets, which are $23 in advance or $28 the day of the show, go on sale this Friday, April 14 at 10 a.m. and will be available at ticketmaster.com and all Ticketmaster outlets, the Penn’s Peak box office (325 Maury Rd., Jim Thorpe), and Roadies Restaurant and Bar (325 Maury Rd., Jim Thorpe). Penn’s Peak box office and Roadies Restaurant ticket sales are walk-up only; no phone orders.
Quiet Riot has a hot new studio album called “Road Rage” about to be released, and they have recently won several motion picture festival awards for their outstanding feature documentary film “Well Now You’re Here, There’s No Way Back.” This award-winning film has been showing for two years on Showtime. Everyone remotely and intimately familiar with music today knows their many hit songs. Everyone also knows they had the first No. 1 album in heavy metal history.
So what does Quiet Riot do to increase their already well-established popularity? They arrange for one of the most skilled vocalists in all of music, at once a fresh face and yet an established nationally known name and extremely popular (and good looking) singer, a finalist on the enormously successful TV show “American Idol,” James Durbin, to join the band.
Now the iconic Quiet Riot lineup of Frankie Banali (drums), Chuck Wright (bass), and Alex Grossi (guitar) is coupled with this truly super special vocalist. If one can believe the press reviews, critics, pundits, and fans, Quiet Riot, once again, truly rules.
Black ‘N Blue was formed in 1981 and released four successful and critically acclaimed albums through Geffen Records, including their self-titled debut (1984), “Without Love” (1985), “Nasty Nasty” (1986), and “In Heat” (1987), with the latter two albums produced by the legendary Gene Simmons of KISS. The band, which featured Jaime St. James (vocals), Tommy Thayer (lead guitar and currently performing with KISS as the replacement for Ace Frehley), Jef “Woop” Warner (guitar), Patrick Young (bass), and Pete Holmes (drums), started in Portland, Oregon as a group of friends who came together to make their mark on ’80s hard rock. The band eventually relocated to Los Angeles and was signed to Geffen Records.
Black ‘N Blue would go on to sell over a million albums throughout their tenure in the ’80s. The band scored a hit single in “Hold on to 18” (which was featured on the group’s first release), a track that is widely known as a hard rock classic and still garners airplay on stations across the country. Their second single (off “Without Love”), “Miss Mystery,” was a great success for the band. In addition, the band toured relentlessly with the likes of KISS, Aerosmith, Queensryche, Night Ranger, and Yngwie Malmsteen, among other platinum acts.
In early 2003, vocalist Jaime St. James reformed Black ‘N Blue. Joining St. James were original members Warner, Holmes, and Young, along with new guitarist Shawn Sonnenschein. The band began working on a new album titled “Hell Yeah!”, though the recording came to a halt when St. James joined Warrant as their new lead vocalist in February of 2004, touring the world with them for four years.
In 2008, plans to get back into the studio and finish “Hell Yeah!” were underway, as well as festival appearances and other touring. The new album on Frontiers Records is described as “classic” Black ‘N Blue, as heard on the group’s original recordings, and promises not to disappoint.” In 2012, BNB performed on the massively successful Monsters of Rock Cruise with Cinderella, Tesla, UFO, Kix, and many more, returning to the cruise in 2013. After 30+ years of rock with four out of five original members, they’re still kicking ass.
