Rock City Angels

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The Rock City Angels were a popular South Florida live band in the mid 1980s. The Rock City Angels started out as a punk band called The Abusers and eventually evolved into the Angels. Their hair got longer, "Bobby Bondage" became "Bobby St. Valentine," and the guys started wearing eyeliner, lipstick and nail polish. The music was an exciting mixture of punk-inspired glam rock. It was during this time that they developed what would become their signature sound. According to Bobby, "The true Rock City Angels that became popular in South Florida, opening for out of town bands like T.S.O.L. and Tex & the Horseheads, and finally headlining our own shows, was me, Andy Panik, Davy Lightning, Brad Shaw and Billy Starr."

Although the band developed a large local following in South Florida, they were ready to call it quits by the late 80's. At was to be their farewell show, New Renaissance Records offered them a recording contract. The band then relocated to Los Angeles where they took the town by storm. Bobby St. Valentine changed his name to Bobby Durango. Actor Johnny Depp joined the band and played with them before getting a part on 21 Jump Street.

It wasn't long before Geffen Records took notice and bought their contract from New Renaissance Records. 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 recording their debut album Young Man's Blues which was released in 1988.

The band toured for several years and recorded a wealth of material for a second album. At one point they recorded with Thin Lizzy guitarist Brian 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 Geffen's desire for them not to compete with Guns 'N Roses (who were signed around the same time), drug use, a desire to keep Johnny Depp in acting, or lawsuits about wrongly credited songs. According to the band's own web site, the song "Hush Child", which supposedly got them their deal with Geffen, was written by former lead guitarist Davy Lightning (Gregg), but was not so credited on the album.

New Renaissance Records released Rock City Angels (often referred to as “the glam cd”) in 2000. This would have been the Angel’s first release if Geffen had not bought out their contract. A short while later the band reunited and recorded a third cd titled Use Once & Destroy. This recording is a return to the band’s more punk roots.

1 Members
2 Discography
3 Video
4 External link

[edit] Members

Bobby Durango, Andy Panik, Dirty Dave Johns, Taggert Reid, John Patrick Mahoney, Matt Cloutier, Billy Blaze, Glenn Stock Miller, Jimmy Blitz, Steve Knight, Billy Starr, Brad Shaw, Punky Stevens, Greg Sparxx, Davy Lightning, Jimmy James, Wade, Jack Smack, Mike Barnett, Johnny Depp, Ringo Jukes, Greg Larsen, Taz Rudd, Len Fagen, Doug Banx, Mike Barnes, Steven Norton, James Cooper, Stuart Casson, Jeff Johnson, Brian Robertson and Chris Spencer.