ROCK CITY ANGELS - Rock City Angels

ROCK CITY ANGELS Rock City Angels cd 2000 320 kbps

Teenage Lipstick Boys / Dark Angels / Glitter Queen / All Alone / Need Some Luv / Born to lose / Let's Go! / Cinderella In Black! / Pitbull Blues! / Cherry Street / L.A. Woman.

Produced by A. Panik & B. Durango.

Rock City Angels : B. Durango : vocals / A. Panik : bass / M. Barnette : guitar / R. Jukes : drums.

The Rock City Angels started out in the early 1980s as the punk band "The Abusers", the product of singer B. Bondage and bassist A. Panik's chance meeting at a late night showing of the movie "The Decline of Western Civilization".

Later evolving into the Angels, their hair got longer, "B. Bondage" became "B. St. Valentine," and the band began wearing eyeliner, lipstick and nail polish. It was during this time that they developed what would become their signature "glam" sound. The music was an aggressive mixture of punk and glam rock, which spoke of rebellion, failed relationships, and the underground culture that they epitomized. Songs such as "Cinderella in Black", "Hush Child", "Dark Angels" and "Teenage Lipstick Boys" were power chord driven and defiant, yet also hook centered and melodic. However, the band regularly suffered setbacks in their pursuit of becoming a known quantity, as they developed a reputation of having a revolving door when it came to membership. According to B. St. Valentine , "The true Rock City Angels that became popular in South Florida, opening for out of town bands like T.S.O.L., Tex & the Horseheads, and finally headlining our own shows, was me, A. Panik, D. Lightning, B. Shaw and B. Starr."

Although the band developed a large local following in South Florida, they were ready to call it quits by the mid-80's. At what was to be their farewell show, New Renaissance Rds offered the act a recording contract. The band then relocated to Los Angeles where they quickly rebuilt the kind of loyal fan base they had enjoyed in Florida. B. St. Valentine changed his name to Bobby Durango, and actor J. Depp, also from So. Florida, joined the band and played with them before getting a part on "21 Jump Street".

After signing with Worldwide Media, and under former manager G. Reinbold, Geffen Rds took notice and bought their contract from New Renaissance Rds in 1986. Geffen offered The Rock City Angels a 6.2 million dollar contract and sent the band to Memphis where they spent the next two years in seclusion. Stories about this time period vary depending on the source. Journalists in publications such as The Cutting Edge, Hit Parader, and RIP have theorized that the Rock City Angels were signed by Geffen to thwart potential competition with Guns 'N Roses.
Eventually "Young Man's Blues" was released in 1988. The band toured in support of the album with such acts as J. Page, J. Jett, and the Georgia Satellites, and recorded a wealth of material for a second album. At one point they recorded with Thin Lizzy guitarist B. Robertson. The band’s second album never saw the light of day as Geffen decided to drop the band. Many theories abound as to why they were dropped including drug use, a desire to keep Johnny Depp in acting, as well as fear of lawsuits concerning wrongly credited songs. According to the band's own web site, the song "Hush Child", which allegedly got them their deal with Geffen, was written by former lead guitarist D. Lightning, but was not so credited on the album.
New Renaissance Rds released Rock City Angels (often referred to as “the glam cd”) in 2000. This would have been the Angels’ first release if Geffen had not bought out their contract. In 2001 the band reunited and recorded a third CD titled "Use Once & Destroy" (buy it here!), which is said to be a return to the band’s more punk roots. The album remained unfinished for several years, but was finally completed in 2007 and released in November 2008.
After releasing "Use Once & Destroy", B. Durango put a new version of the band together. The 2009 version of Rock City Angels began playing live in June 2009 in both Memphis and Nashville, TN. Source