Mad Parade (band)

Mad Parade
Background information
Origin Los Angeles, CA
Genres Punk Rock
Years active 1982–present
Labels Important Records (1984),BYO,Dr. Strange Records ,Flipside Records,Toxic Shock Records Sattelite Records, Last Resort Records, Hostage Records
Associated acts Catch-22, The Things, SLAB, Virgin Circus
Members Billy Ledges-Vox
Joey Kelly-Guitar
Mike Sosa-Drums
Stevo-Bass
Daniel Tessier-Guitar
Past members Coleen Campbell
Kenny Vogel
Ron Ray
Mike Lawrence
Paul Almanza
Steve Weitzman

1980's

In the summer of 1982 from their parents garage in the San Gabriel Valley, a suburb of Los Angeles, brothers Billy Ledges and Joey Kelly formed Mad Parade. Inspired and taking their cue from the first punk movement of 1976, their name taken from the Sex Pistols song "God Save the Queen". After playing many shows along with personnel changes which included Mike Sosa and Ron Ray they released their debut album in 1984. The music was explosive with thick guitars, addictive melodies and thought provoking lyrics. Tough and abrasive as any hardcore, but managing to keep it's pop sensibilities intact. Without excuses or apologies, their songs along with a cover of "One Tin Soldier", roared into the Los Angeles scene, electrifying audiences and receiving rave reviews among the punk rock elite. Word spread and soon came the attention of Rodney Bingenheimer who began to play the record on a regular basis. Thanks to him and other disc jockeys of the day, it became a radio staple and is today considered a punk rock classic. Playing shows with other punk favorites such as X, FEAR, The Dickies, Black Flag, TSOL, Social Distortion and a host of other ground breaking bands of the day. Mad Parade embarked on their first tour of the US in the summer of 1985, along the way hooking up with The Zero Boys frontman Paul Mayhern. The band entered the studio and recorded what was to become the bands first single "Right is Right", released at years end by Toxic Shock Records. Mad Parade toured the states again in 1986 with Mike Lawrence now on bass guitar. The tour was followed closely by the release of their second album "A Thousand Words", released by the Stern brothers label BYO Records in 1987. With psychotic lyrics and imagery, and heavier guitars than their debut, this release helped set the stage for bands like Nirvana, The Offspring, and Green Day a few years later. In 1988 however, the ball dropped and the band splintered.

1990's

Only a temporary hiatus, in 1994 the band reformed with Stevo now handling the bass chores. In 1995, the band released the single "Flowers of Evil" as well as the concept album "Jigsaw Reality" on Satellite Records, which received mixed reviews. The band stated at the time that they had no interest in nostalgia, or putting out the same album twice. It made quite a buzz overseas, and in late 1995 Mad Parade did their first European tour, winning over audiences everywhere they played. The band was back and in fine form. Meanwhile back in the states, with clockwork precision the band continued and in 1997 their back to basics album "Clowntime is Over" on Last Resort Records, which was released in Europe as "Crawl" on Lost and Found Records, which both received high praise and much critical acclaim. In 1999 they hooked up with punk rocks invisible man Dr. Strange Records. The label released "Re-issues", which was a was a collection of the 80's output. This was followed quickly by 2000's God Bless America. The song of the same name received heavy airplay and went on to be the bands first music video, airing on MTV and elsewhere. The song was also used on the popular TV reality show The Osbournes. With this exposure the band began to attract a whole new audience.

2000's and onward

The dawn of the 21st century saw the return of original bass player Ron Ray, just in time to play the 2001 Holidays in the Sun Festival in San Francisco CA. The bands song "Sex and Violence" scored big for street punks Lower Class Brats around the same time. In 2004 the band recorded and released "Bombs and the Bible" on Dr. Strange Records. The album was received well. Not too long after, singer-writer Ledges was gone. The band continued without him but eventually disbanded. In the intervening years with Stevo back in the band, Mad Parade has played a handful of amazing shows. More recently adding second guitarist Danny Tessier, along with Ledges new found faith, Mad Parade went into the studio to lay down some new songs. The first single "The Fool" was released in March 2015 on Hostage Records and sold out within hours. The second single "Underground" will release on record store day, in April 2015. It seems you cannot keep a good band down. Now being held as old school punks from back in the day, after all these years the boys can still kick out the jams.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

References

  1. ↑ Mad Parade 2003 interview Las Vegas Mercury Magazine retrieved 2/7/2015
  2. ↑ East LA Punk is alive and well in the hearts of many
  3. ↑ Cat Bitten Tounge EP review retrieved 2/7/2015
  4. ↑ Selections from The Punk Vault
  5. ↑ Mod-A-Day: Mad Parade
  6. ↑ Mad Parade · Re-Issues

External links