Spread Eagle (band)

Spread Eagle
Spread Eagle Live Dec. 16th 2010 at The Local 269, New York, NY
Background information
Origin	New York City, New York, United States
Genres	Hard rock, glam metal
Years active	1989–1995, 2006–present
Labels	MCA/Universal Records, Lovember Records
Associated acts	Bang, Sebastian Bach, All Pointz

Members	Ray West Rob De Luca Rik DeLuca Ziv Shalev

Past members	Paul DiBartolo Tommi Gallo Dennis Kimack

Spread Eagle is an American hard rock band from New York City. After only a few months of rehearsal they were signed by MCA/Universal Records. They released two albums Spread Eagle (1990) and Open To The Public (1993) and disbanded in 1995.^[1] In 2006 the band reunited.

In January 2011 the band officially announced their new line-up ^[2] and according to bassist and founding member Rob De Luca there are plans for touring in North America and Europe.^[3]^[4]

Biography

Early years

In the late 1980s, founding members Paul DiBartolo, Rob De Luca and Tommi Gallo were playing in a Boston-based band called Bang.

In 1989 guitarist Paul Di Bartolo (real name Salvadore Poe) traveled to New York where he met singer Ray West. Paul was so impressed by his voice, that he immediately convinced bassist Rob De Luca and drummer Tommi Gallo to follow him to New York and start a new band with Ray which became Spread Eagle.^[5]

After only a few months of rehearsing they signed with MCA/Universal Records.

Spread Eagle

As they were signed while still rehearsing for their first gig, they wrote most songs for their debut 1990 debut album Spread Eagle in the studio. Receiving little promotion from MCA the band produced the video for "Scratch Like A Cat" using their own money and with the help of friends.^[1]^[6]

Open To The Public

The band spent a lot of time on the road before recording their follow-up album and began burning out. First to leave was drummer Tommi Gallo. He was replaced by Kirke Blankenship who did not stay for long and played drums on one track (High Horses) of the second album Open To The Public. That album was then recorded with session drummers John Macaluso from TNT and Thommy Price from Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.^[1] Open to the Public was released in 1993. Dave Femia played the drums on the following tour.^[7] The new record did not meet the expectations of their fans and Grunge took over the music scene. So in 1995 Spread Eagle resigned and split up.

Post Spread Eagle

Ray West turned his back to music business for a while. He is singing in a band called All Pointz West or shortly APW.

Paul DiBartolo changed his name to Salvadore Poe after writing and recording songs for Swedish singer Lisa Ekdahl who was his wife at that time. He is fascinated by Indian culture and spends much of his time there.^[5]

Rob De Luca started a new band called Ouijipig,^[8] later another one called OF EARTH.^[9] He's also worked as studio bassist and touring bassist for many bands including UFO, Sebastian Bach, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Helmet and George Lynch.^[10]

There is nothing known about Tommi Gallo, a former member of the bands Iron Rage and Bang, ^[11]since he left Spread Eagle.

2006 Reunion

In 2006 Rob De Luca and Ray West started Spread Eagle again.^[12] Their debut album which had been out of print for over 10 years was remastered and re-released by the small independent label Lovember Records. They started touring in 2006 with Chris Caffery on guitar and John Macaluso on drums.^[2] Due to basically everybody being busy touring with other bands, there were only a few shows.

Recent

They found new guitarist Dennis Kimak and Rob De Luca returned to New York from touring with Sebastian Bach and UFO. In December 2010 they started touring the Northeast of America. Their debut album was recently voted as one of the top 20 glam albums of all time (along with Guns N' Roses, Mötley Crüe, Hanoi Rocks and Skid Row):^[13] In 2012 guitarist Dennis Kimak quit and was replaced by Ziv Shalev who played the first 2 shows with Spread Eagle in December 2012.

Band members

Current members

Ray West - lead vocals (1989–1995, 2006–present)
Rob De Luca - bass, vocals (1989–1995, 2006–present)
Ziv Shalev - guitar (2012–present)^[14]
Rik De Luca - drums (2010–present)^[15]

Former members

Paul DiBartolo (Salvadore Poe) - guitar (1989–1995)
Tommi Gallo - drums (1989–1992)

Tour members

Dave Femia - drums (1993)
John Macaluso - drums (2006)^[2]
Chris Caffery - guitar (2006)^[2]
Gerry White - drums (2008)^[15]

Classic line up

Ray West - lead vocals
Paul DiBartolo - guitar
Rob De Luca - bass, vocals
Tommi Gallo - drums

Discography

Year	Title	Label
1990	Spread Eagle	MCA/Universal Records^[1]
1993	Open To the Public	MCA/Universal Records^[1]
2006	Spread Eagle (remastered)	Lovember Records^[1]