Year : 1987-1991 (AOR Blvd Records Limited Edition 2022)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock , AOR
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + all scans
Size : 127 mb
Bio:
Short Circuit was born in 1982 in Brooklyn, NY. Initially, the band was composed of 4 members - Sal Russo - Bass, Jimmy Pimpinella - Guitar, Rob Barbado - Drums, and Vocalist - Tommy Barca. In the beginning they played traditional metal in the vein of Priest/Maiden, but with a sound all their own. They recorded a 4-track demo in 1984 with that line-up and played numerous shows in the tri-state area. Lamour the rock capital of Brooklyn basically being their home.In 1985, original vocalist Tommy Barca left the band and Bass Player and main songwriter Sal Russo took over on lead vocals. After recording a 1 track demo the band decided to add a 2nd guitarist. In came Anthony Russo, Sal's younger brother. The band recorded another 4 track demo in 1987. In my opinion, Short Circuit became more melodic with Sal on vocals; comparable to the sound of Leatherwolf '87 and Fifth Angel 1st LP, while maintaining the heaviness and power of the band.Interestingly enough, Short Circuit had no idea who these bands were. Their influences were KISS, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, AC DC, Bread and early Van Halen.That year, the band entered a Battle of the Bands in Lamour. Not surprisingly, they won - beating out over 50 bands. Short Circuit's material was head and shoulders above the other bands that played. Sal's song writing coupled with the rest of the band's input was meticulous, to say the least.They were interviewed on 89.5 WSOU, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ and the 4 track 1987 demo debuted on the radio! The band played regularly, opening up for national acts such as Zebra, Prophet's on the Cycle of the Moon Tour!, Peter Criss's Child's Play, Pat Travers, Overkill, Carnivore, Cry Wolf, Greg Howe, and also played alongside Foreplay, Shanghai, Magenta, Lynx, Tora, Distant Vision, Checkmate, Stone Cold and Deceiver.Short Circuit also headlined select shows. The band held the attendance record at Christopher's, a Brooklyn Club, over Type O Negative and Britney Fox. During a show at Staten Island's Red Spot, Danny Vaughn from Waysted/Tyketto requested to get up and jam with the band.In 1989 the band started to record a full length LP with producer Frank Buonadonna who was known for producing Debbie Harry, Teddy Pendegrass and Chubby Checker. The band's manager and producer convinced them to go in a more commercial direction because of what was happening a the time. Reluctantly, the band did so.In the middle of recording the album there was a hurricane that caused the roof of the studio to cave in and destroy the mixing board. This delayed the finishing of the LP until 1991 and by this time, the scene was changing with Nirvana leading the way.But Short Circuit was still proud of the album they recorded and began shopping the record to all the labels. A top A&R rep at Virgin Records heard the record through a friend, Stan Bleend from Zig Zag records, and loved it and wanted to sign the band.When the A&R rep presented it to the higher ups at the label, the guy who was going to help left the company, and the LP stayed in obscurity except for the hundreds of fans who had copes that the band had thrown out to crowds at shows. It's a shame this was never released, because the sing "Heaven Stole my Angel" could have easily been a huge power ballad of that time.Short Circuit continued to play live and record numerous demos until 1994. They never officially broke up or disbanded. Each member still plays in different projects and all 4 members continue to get together and play in the studio, even writing new material.
Album:
Hailing from New York, four piece SHORT CIRCUIT rocked the East Coast circuit during the first half of the Eighties to the early Nineties. The group released a couple of cassettes only distributed locally and now AOR BLVD Records is releasing these SHORT CIRCUIT recordings from the 1987 / 1991 period under the title “Shock To The System“, fully remastered.SHORT CIRCUIT style range from melodic hard rock to US metal with nice melodious riffs and cool choruses with several influences such as Y&T, Night Ranger, Adrenalin, etc.The early, first two songs in the track list are heavier and while pretty interesting, however we largely prefer the more melodic songs like ‘Gimme What U Got’, ‘Turn Your Love Around’, the anthemic midtempo ‘Come into My World’, the punchy ‘Hard to Handle’ (some Autograph here) or the hairy metal ‘Chain Reaction’.Very well produced for an indie and with a bright remastering treatment, ”Shock To The System” will please fans of the aforementioned acts and late ’80s American melodic hard rock sound & style.
Line-Up:
Tommy Barca - vocals (left band in 1985)
Anthony Russo - guitar
James Pimpinella (R.I.P. 2026) - guitar
Sal Russo - bass , vocals
Robert Barbaro - drums
Tracklist:
01. Queen of Dreams
02. Endless Dream of You
03. Tonight We're Gonna
04. Turn Your Love Around
05. Too Late to Say Goodbye
06. Gimme What U Got
07. Heaven Stole My Angel
08. Come into My World
09. Thrill of Danger
10. Hard to Handle
11. Wasted Years
12. Chain Reaction
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
