Slaughter (band)

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Slaughter
Origin	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Genre(s)	Hard rock Heavy metal Glam metal
Years active	1988 - present
Label(s)	Chrysalis CMC International Victor Capitol
Website	www.slaughterweb.com
Members
Mark Slaughter Dana Strum Blas Elias Jeff Blando
Former members
Tim Kelly Dave Marshall Bobby Rock Tim DiDuro

For the Canadian death metal band, see Slaughter (Canadian band).

Slaughter is a hard rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada by lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Mark Slaughter and bassist Dana Strum. The band reached stardom in 1990 with their first album, Stick It to Ya which spawned several hit singles including "Up All Night", "Spend My Life", "Mad About You", and the power ballad "Fly to the Angels". The album reached double platinum status in the United States.

Despite diminishing success in the United States, the band has remained a steady act in national tours, mainly in the Rock Never Stops Tour which features several bands of the same era.

1 Band History
2 Band members
3 Discography
4 External links

[edit] Band History

Slaughter first formed in Las Vegas, Nevada at the height of glam metal's dominance over MTV and rock radio. Achieving popularity at the tail end of the movement, Slaughter's day in the spotlight proved to be bright but fickle and brief. They have, however, continued to record and tour.

The band formed in 1988 out of the ashes of lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Mark Slaughter and bassist Dana Strum's previous group, Vinnie Vincent Invasion, which had featured the titular lead guitarist. Slaughter and Strum completed the lineup by recruiting lead & rhythm guitarist Tim Kelly and drummer Blas Elias. Their debut album Stick It to Ya saw 3 songs hit the Billboard Hot 100: "Fly to the Angels" (#19), "Up All Night" (#27), and "Spend My Life" (#39).

During this time, they were signed by Orion Pictures to record a song for the film Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. The song, titled "Shout It Out", was accompanied by a music video and received heavy airplay.

Unlike many of the bands from the era who were suddenly phased out in the wake of the alternative movement, Slaughter remained intact and continued to produce new records. In 1992, they released their second album, titled The Wild Life. It had the Billboard Hot 100 hit "Real Love" (#69), and was certified gold.

The band planned to dedicate themselves to their next album shooting for an early 1994 release date. However, in 1993 guitarist Tim Kelly was arrested for charges of drug trafficking, while bassist Dana Strum had a motorcycle accident that injured his playing hand. The delayed album was finally completed in February of 1994 and a video for the proposed first single "Searchin'" was financed by Chrysalis. Due to the changing musical climate and Chrysalis' absorption by EMI Records, Slaughter was dropped from the label in a massive cleaning house that included dismissals of other previously popular acts such as Billy Idol and Huey Lewis and the News.

At this time, they negotiated to be released from their label and signed with CMC Records, a new label that was working to keep hard-rock bands on the scene. In 1995, they finally released Fear No Evil. Despite little success in the US, the album did well in Japan. Guitarist Dave Marshall (ex-Vince Neil band) had to fill in for Kelly at times, due to his legal problems.

Some time later, Kelly's legal troubles ended and the band committed to their next album. In 1997, they followed it with Revolution. This album featured a more eclectic and psychedelic sound, but again it was mostly ignored by the media.

In February 5, 1998, tragedy struck when guitarist Tim Kelly was killed in an auto accident in the Arizona desert. This deeply affected the band, but they were committed to continue with the band. Again, guitarist Dave Marshall (ex-Vince Neil Band) briefly performed as a touring guitarist for Slaughter in Japan. In 1998, they hired Jeff Blando as Kelly's replacement and began working on their next album. A live album titled Eternal Live was released featuring some of the band's last performances with Kelly.

In 1999, they resurged with Back to Reality, featuring Blando as the new guitarist. Blando was previously in Left For Dead and Saigon Kick. Since then, Slaughter continues to play many rock package tours with other acts that saw prominence during the glam era of the late 1980s and very early 1990s.

During the summer of 1999, while on its own (self-named) "Rock Never Stops Tour" (which included Ted Nugent and Night Ranger) Slaughter enjoyed a brief commercial resurgence, and had the "#1 Track" on the "VH-1" CD "Power Ballads" with "Fly To The Angels" and "Up All Night" became the "#1 Track" on Rhino Records "Hard Hitters," and also took part in the Summer 2000 "Poison, Cinderella, Dokken and Slaughter" tour.

In 2001 Slaughter was a part of the "Voices of Metal" tour featuring Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe, Ratt, and Vixen.

Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum's former Vinnie Vincent Invasion bandmate Bobby Rock has played as a touring drummer for Slaughter, filling in for Blas Elias on some shows of the Rock Never Stops Tour.

In April of 2004, Slaughter released a DVD-A entitled Then and Now that features 12 songs and 50 rare photos of the band over the years. Slaughter will also have a DVD that features all of the music videos and behind the scenes footage during the 2004 season.

On July 13, 2007, Slaughter performed at glam metal festival "Rocklahoma." However, Strum and Blando were not present during the band's performance, though they did perform with Vince Neil the following night.

At the end of January 2008 Slaughter performed a show on the Carnival Imagination cruise ship with Vince Neil's Mötley Cruise w/Vince Neil, Skid Row and Ratt.