Thursday
May272021
Quiet Riot Announces Summer 2021 Tour
Thursday, May 27, 2021 at 02:59PM
Quiet Riot announced new tour dates on their Facebook page the other day. A lot of fans were excited and some comments were less than... pleasant. Look, I have posted before that I do not think the band is exactly Quiet Riot anymore. With no original members, it is just a new rock band playing Quiet Riot tunes. And that is okay - musicians have a right to earn a living. All that said, I am not sure posting about banning fans for making comments is a great business tactic. Regardless, the band is playing dates all over starting in July, so you might want to check them out.
Reader Comments (8)
And I know that most touring bands that are low on original (or classic) members have at least one person who fits the bill. Mick Box in Uriah Heep? Check. Mick Jones occasionally in Foreigner? Check (occasionally). Even KISS hints at a rotating cast of members once Mssrs. Simmons and Stanley step out of the lamelight in 2050. Did I misspell something?
Thing is, as time goes one, what are we to do? We can go see some good cover bands. We can also go see some bands with some people in them with some sort of pedigree attached to the original band and/or the music we love (and, on that count, I think that Grossi does; so, too, Wright; and, to a lesser extent, though with a solid catalog of songs and bands and what-have you, so does Pearl).
And, for a lot of people, it isn't this granular. They want to hear the hits. So, if they hear them, who is losing out? And I say that noting that it should be, at some level, at least good enough. Sigh. I said it. Good enough. But you aren't putting the time cork in the band bottle. It marches on (I think I mixed some metaphors there).
Sure, there is the whole question of what Banali did or didn't do. Well, the one thing he did: he kept the band afloat (if it listed a bit, then teetered, then almost sank . . . several times). He was a friend to Dubrow (not an easy thing). He said he had his blessing. He was the last guy standing. Now he is not. And he signed off on this. If he didn't, you'd expect a flurry of litigation over barely any scraps that are left in the bin that holds the remnants of QR when they were QUIET RIOT. Thing is, for me, the last good song was "The Wild and the Young." But I would still like to hear their songs. So, again, cover band or a band with some imprimatur of the original? Then again, why not both?
And, after a long hibernation, induced by a pandemic, I would support a show like this if it came my way. Bands got to eat. Artists got to make a living.
If you don't support it, that's cool. Market talks, blah blah blah walks. But, again, if you expect this sort of thing to get any easier, you are kidding yourself.
So support who you will. But, please, support bands, venues, and all the people that brought us the good stuff . . . and are going to do so again.
I totally get where you are coming from. And, to be fair, the 'new' GR is a tribute band. So I guess I am giving them a pass for being that sort of band. But, then again, I give good tribute bands a pass for doing what they do. And they are a tribute band with members that have some bona fides related to that same band. Wright, for instance, played the bass on "Metal Health" and "Don't Wanna Let You Go." So he isn't exactly a stand-in, even if I (again) see your point.
I don't think this version of QR is trying to hide who they are. And I don't think that many casual fans would care. But we are not casual fans. So I am pleased that they state who is in, and who isn't, the band. And thus it follows . . . that they aren't misrepresenting themselves as Leonardo da Vinci, only as Leonardo near Vinci (if you squint, it is basically close to being, but not exactly, the same . . . but no one who knows QR ever expected this to be the 'classic' lineup).
As you boyz may recall, yet I don’t really expect you to, it’s been awhile, but I used to despise Quiet Riot Versions 3.0, 5.0, 6.0, etc., etc. where it wound up with Banali pretty much the sole remaining member, dismissing them as nothing more than a tribute band.
I regarded them as the epitome of scab, yet, for some reason, this version seems somehow, dare I say, authentic, because most members of the current line-up possess varying degrees of legit pedigree as “REAL” Rock n’ Rollers, Jizzy Pearl being the most legit in my mind ... “Black Out In A Red Room”, anyone? ...
The majority of them were playing in QR with Banali before he left us, God Bless ‘em ... HIM, you may have to straighten me out but my understanding is Banali got DuBrow’s Mother’s blessing and, in turn, Banali gave these guys his blessing ... Oddly, I think I would really enjoy seeing these guys, not just for Pearl’s killer vocals and the Banali blessed other members but because I really think they’re passionately playing from the heart ...
Of course, it would be cool if they also played Pearl’s own brushes with infamy, Love/Hate’s superb aforementioned, “Black Out In A Red Room”, as well as “Hell California, Population 4”.
This version of QR might not be the best or greatest touring act in the world (and, to be clear, I don't think it is). But I can't deride them from trying to earn a living. After DuBrow died Banali called it quits. Then he had second thoughts. He got the blessing of one of his best friend's mothers. I think he realized that QR was the band for which he was known (no slagging on his work with WASP or others). It was his best path forward.
So he saw an opportunity and ran with it. Did he make some odd decisions? Yup. Release some crap music? Yup. Treat some of his employees in ways that make me cringe? Yup. But I think he was trying, really trying. to do two difficult things: earn a salary and honor a legacy (which, depending on who you ask, was long gone, minimal, or hard to do with Mr. Big Mouth dead).
And I think it speaks to his character that he handed the band off to those that were with him till the end. Quick bit of contrast: I thought the QR documentary occasionally veered into hagiography, even as I also thought it did show how hard it is to eke out a living as a current member of a band that had a short, but impactful, run as an important part of metal. What I was more impressed with was how Banali handled his illness. Initially, he kept quiet. Some fans jeered and mocked him and the band. Then he explained himself. And, from that point on, he updated people and kept up a positive attitude. He lost the fight. But he gained my respect in his final months.