Hittman (band)

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Hittman's self titled debut Album Cover

Hittman is a hard rock/heavy metal band from Long Island New York that released two moderately successful albums between 1989 and 1993.

Vocals: Dirk Kennedy

Guitar: Jim Bachi, (x)Don Fair, (x)Greg Walls, John Kristen

Bass: Michael Buccell

Drums: Chuck Kory, Mark Jenkins

footnote: (x) departed

[edit] Biography

New York's HITTMAN was founded in 1984 by erstwhile Attilla members guitarist Jim Bachi and bassist Michael Buccell together with former Takashi drummer Chuck Kory. The band soon added singer Dirk Kennedy, who had previously been involved in the formative stages of Anthrax and took on a name influenced by the comic book character He-Man.

The band added to their line up with second guitarist Don Fair, previously a member of Alien. In mid 1985, the line-up issued Hittman's first demo which gained the outfit their inauguaral live appearance opening for Stryper at Nassau Community College in Long Island. Further shows followed including guest slots to Poison, Kix, Black N' Blue and Saxon.

Four tracks on their first demo - containing 'Metal Sport', 'Sleepless Nights', 'Winds Of Warning' and 'Live For Tomorrow'- quickly began to elicit rave reviews, especially in Europe, although record companies were slow in picking up on the buzz.

In 1986, Hittman suffered from line up changes as Brian Fair departed, reportedly due to a lack of commitment, to be supplanted by guitarist Greg Walls. Before too long Walls was out in favour of John Kristen.

[edit] Debut

Looked over by many labels purely because they were playing a more traditional brand of Metal than the in vogue Thrash of the day, it wasn't until 1988 when the New York quintet finally issued their debut product through German recording label SPV. Hittman had previously abandoned plans for a self-financed EP(Extended play recording) in order to hold out for a deal. While the album features a metallic cover of the theme tune to the old American TV series Secret Agent Man it did not feature demo favourite 'Live For Tomorrow', considered by most observers at the time to be one of the band's classic songs.