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After a not so amicable split from "April Fool", I needed a break from the music scene. From spring 1991 to summer 1992 I dropped completely off the scene. I traveled, relaxed and started to write some new material. I decided I was going to record an album, play everything (except guitar) & sing lead for the first time in an original band. I was always arranging vocal parts for the last few bands I was in & was confident I could do it. All I needed was a guitarist... When George Smith of "April Fool" backed out, into my mind comes Michael Petrone. I had played with Mike previously in "Ston
After a not so amicable split from "April Fool", I needed a break from the music scene. From spring 1991 to summer 1992 I dropped completely off the scene. I traveled, relaxed and started to write some new material. I decided I was going to record an album, play everything (except guitar) & sing lead for the first time in an original band. I was always arranging vocal parts for the last few bands I was in & was confident I could do it. All I needed was a guitarist... When George Smith of "April Fool" backed out, into my mind comes Michael Petrone. I had played with Mike previously in "Stone Cold" for an album & a few shows and I really liked his style and his energy onstage. I called him and next thing you know, we were rehearsing the 14 songs that became "Take On The World". I had 6 songs that were left over from my "April Fool" days, 3 I redid from "Brat" & all the rest were brand new. It was an experimental recording for me, not just a Rock & Roll record. Ballads, drum machines, keyboards & some background vocal help from my good friends Cindy Eckert, Stan Sykes, Jay J. Regan (who was also in "April Fool") & the incredible Toni Smith. Toni's beautiful voice blended well with mine. especially on "Hold On" where she sounded so smooth... So we had the CD, all we needed was the band. I put an ad in the paper and auditioned alot of awful musicians! Then I get a call from this guy named Jay Helm... His name rang a bell & we both realized we knew each other from when I played briefly with his band "Big City". Needless to say Jay & Joe Ritts joined Mike & I and "The Rage" was born. We rehearsed alot. So much so that it took a toll on my voice, so I decided to pull this off live I needed vocal lessons. Joe suggested Debbie Scarpell who taught me breathing and gave me alot of tone and confidence. We gigged so much in 1993 that we were getting a great following. We played so much at the "Cell Block" that they painted our band name on a mural of local heroes on the wall of the place. The best show was on July 30, 1993 when we opened for "Ace Frehley" of "KISS". A Dream come true for me. Ace was kind of spacey, but very cool! We had some management & overseas record company interest, so I went to England after that show only to return to Jay & Joe telling me that they were going to put "Big City" back together. So on with the auditions again. We did audition one guy named Tony Federico who I really liked that had a drummer already, but he wanted to fire Mike & I wouldn't do it. So, in early 1994 Jay & Joe agreed to play on the recordings for what became "Rock & Roll It". We recorded the whole thing at our rehearsal space in Northeast Philly on Jay's equipment - all the while jamming with other musicians (like "Big City" keyboardist Bob Egan who we almost recorded the "Cheap Trick" song "Dream Police" with, plus a brief reunion with a reformed "April Fool"). Jay & I produced & engineered the recording. It was a heavy rock record with elements of pop worked in. It was totally my record 100% & represented me & my vision completely. By the time the album was mixed though, "Grunge" had pretty much taken over the music scene and there was no room for a band like "The Rage". "Rock & Roll It" was never released because of that & I'm still upset about it today. That album would have been huge in 1988!! So when the album was finished, so was "The Rage". If only I could have gotten Curt Ritchie involved, who knows what would have happened...
I was really discouraged when this band ended, so I decided to stop playing music. And since I also hated "grunge" (I like it now) I decided to cut my hair and get out of the music biz...!
I didn't play in another band until 2000....Eventually I got music bug again & I formed "Red Sky" with Dominic Macrone...
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