’90s Rock ‘n’ Roll from Florida: 15 ‘Sunshine State’ Bands You Never Heard
Yes, there was more to the ‘Orange State’ scene than Marilyn Manson, Limp Bizkit, Creed, and Matchbox 20
“We barely made enough to survive/ But when we got up on stage and got ready to play, people came alive.” — Tom Schultz, Boston
When discussing once local, unsigned bands hailing from Florida in the cassette-driven, post-grunge ’90s (yep, bands still released demos to fans and A&R reps on cassette tapes) — ones that not only signed with major labels, but achieved significant national and international sales and radio chart success — tri-county South Florida’s (encompassing the cities of West Palm Beach to the north, Fort Lauderdale to the center, and Miami to the south) Marilyn Manson, Saigon Kick, and the Mavericks (from the ashes of Raul Malo’s ’80s, Miami power-pop concerns the Tomboys and the Basics; the latter with a failed, late ’80s deal on CBS Records) are mentioned.
By the end of the decade: The post-grunge popsmanship of Chris Carrabba rose to national prominence courtesy of his Broward County-based outfits Further Seems Forever and Dashboard Confessional. New Found Glory, which shared stages with both of Carrabba’s bands, achieved equal critical and chart success. While the ska punk/punk quintet Against All Authority from Culter Ridge (near Miami) eschewed major label interest, instead adhering to a DIY ethic typical of the ’80s punk bands they admired, their local success expanded from their 1992 roots to international acclaim by 2007.
Meanwhile, upstate: Courtesy of their music cross-formatting on a variety of rock and pop-leaning radio stations (“the dream” of the 15 bands on this list), even greater commercial success was afforded to Orlando’s multi-platinum Matchbox 20 (which earned their indie-club cred as Tabitha’s Secret) and Tallahassee’s Creed (becoming major-label BMG-connected Wind Up Records’ best-selling band). When Scott Stapp left Creed in 2003, the band recruited Myles Kennedy for the Orlando-based, gold-selling alt-rock act, Alter Bridge.
Toward the coast, near the Georgia border: The city of Jacksonville cultivated the hit trio of the rap-rockin’ Limp Bizkit (unlike most local bands: straight to the majors without a vanity-press cassette), the guitar-driven alt-rock of Shinedown (label-connected from the ashes of Brent Smith’s previous, Atlantic-signed band, Dreve), and the pop-punk of Yellowcard (straight from the hallways of Douglas Anderson School of the Arts magnet high school to stardom).
On the west coast, just south of Tampa: One of the pioneers of the progressive metal movement — which includes the internationally-prestigious Dream Theater, Fates Warning, and Queensrÿche — got its start in 1979 as Pierced Arrow and Beowolf before settling on Crimson Glory in 1983. Donning their unique, Kiss-meets-Phantom of the Opera metal-masks on stage, their on-again/off-again career — which produced the international radio hit, “Lonely,” from their second album, Transcendence (1988) — is still going strong, primarily in Europe, courtesy of major label deals on Atlantic, MCA, and Roadrunner Records. Jon and Criss Oliva’s Tampa-based metal concern Savatage rose from its 1983 local roots to international acclaim touring with Kiss, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Motörhead, and Quiet Riot; through the ups and downs of the business, Savatage continues to tour the world in 2025.
In Central Florida: The college town of Gainesville (Go Gators!) produced the platinum-selling alternative-folk rock of Sister Hazel (after two best-selling, self-released albums), and the equally-successful, punk-leaning Less Than Jake and Against Me! (the latter beginning in the city of Naples on Florida’s Southeast coast; the former released split-singles with Against All Authority), as well as Hot Water Music (with roots in the Gulf Coast cities of Bradenton and Sarasota).
In the land of Disney: Courtesy of their incessant, well-received club touring in the state, in conjunction with their highly-requested airplay as unsigned artists on Orlando’s alternative/active rock outlet WJRR 101.1 FM (a respect also afforded to Creed, Sister Hazel, and Tabitha’s Secret; leading to their signings), many Floridians are proud to call Collective Soul and 7 Mary 3 “Sunshine State” success stories — even though those alternative rock, cross-formatting bands are not from Orlando: they hail from Atlanta, Georgia, and Williamsburg, Virginia, respectively.
“Their A&R man said, ‘I don’t hear a single.’” — Tom Petty
Then there’s those musicians and their respective bands who— regardless of their musicianship, songwriting skills and tireless commitment to spending countless hours practicing in dank, windowless warehouses as they honed their craft in grimy, beer-soaked clubs (Let’s not mention those bio-hazard restrooms!) — never got their Neil Youngian or Kurt Cobianian (depending on your first hearing it as a song lyric or suicide letter quotation) opportunity to burn out or fade away from the public eye.
Hey, Hey, My, My . . . yesterday’s radio and sales charts be damned and die: Across today’s digital tundras of You Tube and Spotify, the careers of bygone rock bands — from across the decades and not just Florida, but worldwide — can reignite and materialize on cybernated stages in a new, digital public eye.
So, for every Marilyn Manson, Limp Bizkit, Creed, and Matchbox 20 . . . here’s 15 forgotten Sunshine State bands you’ve never heard of (well, maybe you heard one or two, once or twice) — ones that flirted with fame by way of the empty promises and ever-changing minds of major record labels and indifferent radio programmers— deserving of screen time on your digital device of choice.
The Bands
1. Stranger
2. Cryer
3. Tuff Luck
4. Roxx Gang
5. Rock City Angels
6. Young Turk
7. Nuclear Valdez
8. Shadowland
9. The Hazies
10. Sugarspoon
11. Super Transatlantic
12. Collapsing Lungs
13. For Squirrels
14. Mary Karlzen
15. C-60s
1. Stranger 1981–1996 (Tampa/Epic)
Lead by Charleston, South Carolina-born, hard rock lead guitarist Ronnie Garvin, the Tampa-based band Stranger — which tinkered with the oh-so-hair-metal names Lynxx and Romeo before settling — became a top club draw across the state, particularly in South Florida, courtesy of the band’s numerous appearances at the long-since-gone, infamous hair metal joints of Art Stock’s Playpen South, The Button South, Rosebuds, and Summers on the Beach in Fort Lauderdale, and Hallandale’s Agora Ballroom, later known as The Button South (in which Johnny Depp’s local band, the Kids, became a popular draw). Those standing-room-only shows caught the attention of American record producer and A&R executive Tom Werman, who brought Boston, Cheap Trick, REO Speedwagon, and Ted Nugent to Epic Records; during his tenure with Elektra Records: his discoveries of Dokken and Mötley Crüe rose to the top to the charts; as an independent-for-hire, he accomplished the same for Twisted Sister.
Where did Stranger fail — where their Epic label mates, Jacksonsville, Florida’s platinum-selling Molly Hatchet (four million copies across three albums), succeeded?
Ronnie Garvin’s long-gestating, self-titled debut album (1982) was critically well received; the album’s lead track, “Swamp Woman,” and its follow-up, “Jackie’s So Bad,” received national airplay (but failed to reach the coveted “Top 40”) courtesy of Stranger’s incessant touring with Aldo Nova, Eddie Money, Quiet Riot, Triumph, Robin Trower, and UFO.
Well, even in a post-Van Halen world where rock hounds and metal heads alike made Circus and Hit Parader best-selling music magazines in the States, guitar-driven hard rock continued fighting for acceptance on commercial FM radio and MTV against synth-driven new wave and post-punk bands in the early ’80s, such as the Cars, the Knack, Gary Numan, and Missing Persons.
Then, the band’s main supporter, Tom Werman, left Epic Records in late 1982 for a job with Elektra Records. It didn’t help that their manager, industry-heavy hitter Pat Armstrong, invested more time with his platinum-selling clients Molly Hatchet and Quiet Riot.
That triggered the serving of a cease-and-desist and paid-out by Epic to the band — in the middle of recording their sophomore effort tentatively titled, Runnin’ in the Red.
Undeterred, Ronnie Garvin and Stranger returned to Tampa, picking up where they left off: As a top draw on the Florida club circuit: a large enough of a draw that when Tom Petty was on vacation visiting friends and family in Gainesville, he jumped on stage at The Islands rock club to jam with the band. Once again— and with “hair metal” on the rise in late ’80s (Ratt, Slaughter, Warrant, Winger), a genre where Stranger’s brand of rock ’n’ roll seemed well-suited — the major labels expressed a renewed interest; but a second deal, this time with Atlantic (the home of the Werman-mentored Twisted Sister), wasn’t meant to be.
Incorporating their vanity-press Thunder Bay Records, Stranger released their second album, No Rules (1989), and third, No More Dirty Deals (1991) — the latter served as the soundtrack to a low-budget, shot-in-Florida action flick of the same name (1993). By the early ’90s — with Donnie Lee replacing long-time original vocalist Greg Billings — two more Thunder Bay-released albums followed: We Be Live (1993), and the final studio album, Angry Dogs (1995), but by then — as with the new wave scene before: the arrival of grunge stymied the band’s chances to return to the majors.
Sadly, the band’s break-up in 1996, in conjunction with martial problems, resulted in Ronnie Garvin’s shotgun suicide at the age of 37 on October 7, 1996.
2. Cryer 1982–1992 (Fort Lauderdale/Atlantic)
Long before there was a Marilyn Manson or Saigon Kick ruling South Florida’s rising alternative and established metal scenes, there was Cryer: a band that, as did Ronnie Garvin’s Stranger, could SRO-pack the house of any club they played across the Sunshine State.
The Mk. I version of Cryer came together when a singer and bassist by the name of Kenny Monroe met a guitarist named Dave Scott and a drummer named Todd Klein. The trio recruited a frontman proper in Paul Colt. By 1985, the metal quartet entered the studio for their debut single, “Back Against the Wall” b/w “Get Back,” for Teardrop Records, a short-lived New York independent metal imprint.
However, Kenny Monroe, while an accomplished guitarist and bassist, had always been, first and foremost: a singer. The next thing you know: Paul Colt stands alone as Monroe, Dave “Dirty Dave” Scott and Todd Klein — with James Marino as their bassist — form the like-minded Tuff Luck.
While upstart Tuff Luck was in the warehouse perfecting their act, Cryer Mk. II — featuring Stevie “Seve” Rose (bass), Ricky Hart, aka Sanders (drums), and Peter Sykes (guitar) backing Paul Colt — cut a seven-song demo that featured re-recordings of their initial single for Teardrop.
That demo reached the ears of acclaimed actor Micheal Douglas who recently incorporated Third Stone Records: an Atlantic subsidiary imprint, with acclaimed record producer Richard Rudolph. Two songs from the demo, “Ooh Baby” and “Johnny Was a User,” were placed — alongside “Coming Home,” from another recent Third Stone/Atlantic signing, Saigon Kick — on the soundtrack to Stone Cold (1991), the acting debut of former American NFL football star, Brian Bosworth. “Ooh Baby” also appeared on the soundtrack to the Steven Seagal action-adventure, Under Siege (1992) — but the under a new moniker: Screams and Dreams.
So, what happened? All the leading metal magazines of the time, such as Metal Edge, gave Cryer ample page space. Why the name change?
Well, maybe if Stone Cold became a box office hit (the band appeared in a bar/strip club scene). Maybe if an album out of Seattle called Nevermind wasn’t released in 1991. Maybe if either of Cryer’s songs rose up the charts as did “Love Is on the Way” by Saigon Kick in 1992. Maybe if Cryer cut a video for MTV airplay wrapped around their film appearance?
Whatever the reasons lost to the test of time: Cryer, well, Screams and Dreams by that point, were dropped by Third Stone without recording an album proper.
The once-lost demo by Cryer — encompassing their Teardrop single and both songs from the Stone Cold soundtrack, along with “Nights on Fire,” “Giddy Up,” and “You Gotta Use Love” — appeared in the digitized, online marketplace as a non-official, bootleg album.
3. Tuff Luck 1986–1993 (Fort Lauderdale/New Renaissance)
Tuff Luck, as did their previous incarnation as Cryer, wasted no time in becoming one of South Florida’s top local acts. What lead to their success — becoming the local equivalent of a Van Halen or Mötley Crüe just prior to their own signings in Los Angeles— was lead singer Kenny Monroe convincing club owners to do “all ages” shows (kids buy a lot of Cokes, after all). Those teen-driven shows skyrocketed their local fame.
During their unsung career, Tuff Luck appeared in all the metal magazines of the day, even posing alongside Ozzy Osbourne in a spread. In addition to sharing stages with the then top metal bands Dokken and Stryper, the members of Tuff Luck earned cash-infusing product endorsement deals coveted by musicians (Todd Kline’s spreads for Paiste cymbals, in particular). Metal authority extraordinaire Mike Varney of Scrapnel Records touted guitarist Dave Scott and bassist James Marino as “future stars on the rise” in his monthly Guitar Player magazine column.
More importantly: Atlantic Records loved what they heard on the band’s self-titled debut album (1988) issued by Ann Boleyn’s New Renaissance Records — the album’s infectious single, “Tonight Tonight,” in particular. They were going to buy out the contact. . . .
Then, they didn’t.
As a new vocalist, Ian Blackwell, replaced Kenny Monroe — cutting a new song, “Down,” for an Unsigned: 11 of South Florida’s Unsigned Bands local compilation (by scene supporter Gary Stryder of Gled Studios)— Tuff Luck lost the glam element from their debut album for a more timely pastiche of Guns N’ Roses sleaze meets Soundgarden grunge. Then, with yet another new vocalist, Rick Maurer, Tuff Luck recorded a new set of demos in 1991 released in 1993 as a self-titled, full-length independent cassette that failed to attract label interest.
By this point, grunge arrived and alternative music was all the rage on MTV. So, with the addition of vocalist/guitarist Dave Plotkit, Todd Kelly and James Marino left Tuff Luck. Adopting an alternative-leaning, hard rock/power pop aesthetic as a trio called Dog for a Day, the Kline-guided project released the independent XI (1994). Sadly, their new “alternative” lease on life was cut short by the drive-by-shooting murder of Todd Klein that same year, shortly after the album’s release.
Meanwhile: Kenny Monroe relocated to Detroit to pursue a career as a filmmaker and video artist, but remained musically active — under yet another, new stage name (born: Greenbaum). As Kenny Mugwump (know your Grover Cleveland presidential history or your William S. Burroughs literature) he fronted the Virgin Records-signed Loudhouse. Their lone album, industrialized-metal release, For Crying Out Loud (1991), received a promotional boost from MTV Headbangers Ball airings of the lead single, “Faith Farm,” as well as their cover of the classic rock-ubiquitous “Smoke on the Water” appearing in the Keanu Reeves actioner, Point Break (1994).
As Loudhouse failed to catch the Seattle-inspired alt-rock wave, Kenny Monroe departed; with drummer Vinnie Dombroksi — and the Cross brothers Tim and Mike on bass and guitar, respectively, from Loudhouse — took over the lead vocals for their next, more commercially accepted venture: Sponge. Signed to Columbia Records, their debut album, Rotting Piñata (1994), featured the active rock and alternative rock radio hits “Molly” and “Plowed.” Dropped after the failure of their sophomore effort, Wax Estatic (1996) (a lot of bands were dropped after their second album in the alt-rock ’90s), Sponge continues to release independent albums.
In 2015, Andrew Kline, the younger brother of the late Todd Kline, directed the feature-length documentary, Tuff Luck, about the band’s career (nope, still haven’t seen it).
4. Roxx Gang 1982–2000 (St. Petersburg/Virgin)
Tuff Luck’s Gulf Coast glam-doppelganger fronted by mainstay vocalist Kevin Steele garnered A&R interest with a full-length cassette, Love ’Em and Leave ’Em (1987), and a self-titled, five-song demo (1988) — a tall order considering “hair metal” wasn’t yet in vogue in a state that ruled the national charts with the likes of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and “southern rockers” Blackfoot, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, and .38 Special.
Virgin won the bidding war. Beau Hill — known for his platinum-selling work with the metal-analogous Kix, Ratt, and Winger—produced the debut, Things You’ve Never Done Before (1988). Consisting mostly of re-recordings from the previous demos — the radio-singles “No Easy Way Out” and “Scratch My Back” — in particular, the album sold a disappointing 250,000 copies: Guns N’ Roses signed with Geffen in 1986; their debut, Appetite for Destruction (1987), became the best-selling debut album of all time, with over 30 million copies sold.
Cue the band infighting — compounded by the usual record company hassles regarding the writing of “hit singles.” The arrival of grunge — and the resulting programming shifts on rock radio in the early ’90s — didn’t help, either.
As with the label-dropped and undeterred Ronnie Garvin before him: Kevin Steele returned to Florida’s club stages with an all-new version of the band, self-releasing High Five (1993), a five-song demo tape precursor to their third and fourth indie-albums, The Voodoo You Love (1995) and Mojo Gurus (1998). The latter’s more alt-rock contemporary, blues-rock leanings lead to a moniker change — but same line-up — as Mojo Gurus at the turn of the decade (and the official demise of Roxx Gang). Their indie debut, Hot Damn! (2004), caught the hit ears of Jack Douglas (he pops up again with another band on this list) — known for his work with Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, and the New York Dolls — who produced the sophomore effort, Shakin’ in the Barn (2005). Tommy Henriksen — known for his work with Alice Cooper — assisted the band on their fourth album, Who Asked Ya? (2014).
The music of Roxx Gang lives on in 2025 — gaining new fans along the way — courtesy of their songs, “Ball N’ Chain” and “No Easy Way Out,” appearing in the action-adventure video game, Saints Row (2006). Their discography has been the subject of three compilation albums (1998 — 2001), an all-encompassing collector’s box set (2011), and a compilation of previously lost demos from their Virgin years, Last Laugh: The Lost Roxx Gang Demos (2014).
5. Rock City Angels 1981–1993 (Fort Lauderdale/Geffen)
Courtesy of their South Florida-to-Los Angeles connection to acclaimed actor Johnny Depp, many know of the Rock City Angels in passing — even though they never heard their music that, unlike their Sunset Strip contemporaries in Guns N’ Roses, L.A Guns, and Mötley Crüe, received scant-to-no radio airplay.
The band’s narrative tangles with Depp’s Hialeah-based (Miami) AOR-meets-new wave concern, the Kids. Lead by chief songwriter Bruce Wilkin, the Kids (aka Kidz, Kydz) became a crowd favorite at the since defunct Agora Ballroom while earning a second place award at the “K-102 Homegrown Rock Festival” held on October 17, 1981, by the local rock station, WCKO. That lead to Aria, a New York-based disco label wanting to break into the burgeoning new wave market, releasing the Kids’ lone 7"/45-rpm, “I Want to be Me” b/w “Time to Explain” (1982). (The Kids shared stages with the equally popular, hard rock quartet Z-Toys, which appeared on a 1983 installment of The MTV Basement Tapes with “Miami Breakdown,” and the pop-punky the Cichlids, which signed to T.K Records, the Miami disco-based home to K.C and the Sunshine Band.)
Encouraged by management, the Kids relocated to Los Angeles in December 1983 seeking a major label deal; however, in interviews with Wilkin and Depp over the years: upon arrival, once they saw Mötley Crüe, they knew it was all over. Brief encouragement came in the form of soundtrack producer Craig Safan tapping the band for his latest, in-production project: an early Christian Slater action picture, The Legend of Billie Jean (1985), using the B-Side, “Time to Explain,” from the Kids’ well-received single.
Unfortunately, while the film became a middling box-office hit, the beleaguered picture’s release was nevertheless long-delayed, and the proposed film soundtrack — that propelled Pat Benatar (“Invincible”), the Divinyls (“Boys in Town”), and Billy Idol (“Rebel Yell”) up the charts — was never released; the Kids’ soundtrack placement was for naught. By then, with new wave out of favor and hair metal on the rise, the Kids became the harder-edged Six Gun Method; by that point, Johnny Depp starred in his first acting role in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), so the band split by July of that year.
The story continues: Sharing South Florida stages with the Kids was bassist Andy Panik and vocalist Bobby Durango’s punk concern, the Abusers; a stylistic change (break out the leathers and cowboy boots, natch) to a more timely glam metal sound transformed that band into the Rock City Angels.
An indie deal with Ann Boleyn’s New Renaissance Records (which released Tuff Luck’s debut album in 1987) lead to their L.A. transplanting and Geffen Records buying out their contract in 1986; courtesy of Steven Weiss, Led Zeppelin’s old attorney, the band netted a whopping $6.2 million dollars for a seven-album deal. But Johnny Depp, who then served as the band’s rhythm guitarist (for about six months), left prior to recording their Tom Zutaut-signed and produced debut album, Young Man’s Blues (1988; noted as the first two-disc debut album in Geffen Records’ release history (before Guns N’ Roses’ later, Use Your Illusion two-split album project) — for his next starring role on Fox Television’s hit series, 21 Jump Street.
The band hit the road — speaking of Led Zeppelin —opening for Jimmy Page. Then, Geffen lost interest (rumored to have “shelved” the band to keep them out of the way so Guns N’ Roses — Geffen’s other big signing — had no competition), so there was no “hit single” due to the lack of promotion and not stocking the records in stores. The band self-financed a failed tour of Japan. Then, the usual record company requests to “write hit singles,” ensued; Geffen rejected the band’s proposed sophomore effort, Last Generation (1990). A third attempt — with lead guitarist Brian Robertson of Thin Lizzy and Motörhead now a member — was turned down by Geffen; dropped, the Rock City Angels disbanded in 1993. Years later, the video single, “Deep Inside My Heart,” from their lone album, found a home on the MTV Network’s VH 1 Classics channel.
The band reactivated in 2001 with a start-stop recording and touring schedule — until the 2012 death of co-founder and vocalist Bobby Durango. By 2015, ex-Kids Bruce Wilkin and Johnny Depp reunited in Alice Cooper’s supergroup concern, the Hollywood Vampires. Depp was also a member of the Butthole Surfers sidebar, P, lead by that band’s Gibby Haynes (1993–1995), as well as collaborating with Jeff Beck on his final album, 18 (2022).
6. Young Turk 1985–1993 (Miami/Geffen and Virgin)
At the dawn of the decade, two of South Florida’s biggest signings — before the shift to alternative rock with the likes Marilyn Manson and Collapsing Lungs — were Nuclear Valdez and Young Turk (and the county-inflected Mavericks soon to follow). As with their hair metal scene brethren Cryer and Tuff Luck: Young Turk became a standing-room-only club act. And as with Ronnie Garvin’s Stranger: Young Turk weather two failed record deals: first, with Geffen, then Virgin.
The band self-released their debut, five-song EP, Do You Know Where Your Daughters Are? (1987; recorded for a mere $2,000), and a full-length cassette, Train To Nowhere (1990) — the latter garnered major label interest. Signed by Geffen’s A&R man Tom Zutaut (he pops up a few times in this list), the Turks recorded demos in earnest, tentatively titled, Tired of Laughing (1991), at Memphis, Tennessee’s legendary Ardent Studios (see Alex Chilton’s legendary Big Star) with noted rock drummer Carl Canedy (the Rods; know your Ronnie James Dio sidebars) as producer and engineered by noted New York City-based mastering engineer, Bob Ludwig, at Joe Walsh’s Kiva Studios. Unimpressed with the sessions — and refusing the label’s request to write “radio friendly songs” (cue Saigon Kick’s “Love Is on the Way”) — the recordings were unreleased; Geffen dropped the band.
Resuscitated by Virgin Records, Young Turk cut all-new songs for their debut album proper, N.E 2nd Ave. (1992). While the rock press was favorable and radio began supporting the album, it was too little too late: the changing tides of grunge, arrived. In the digital age, the “lost Geffen tapes” were released in 2021. As with the Rock City Angels: Young Turk found a home on VH 1 Classics with the album’s lead video single, “The Saddest Song (La Di Da).”
Undeterred, Young Turk bassist Bill McKelvy returned to South Florida, joining ex-Saigon Kick drummer Phil Varone, and vocalist Randy Bates, formerly with fellow Fort Lauderdale bands East of Gideon and Talk of War (themselves weathering failed label overtures) to form the local “supergroup” Planet Boom. A heavier, alt-rock driven concern that quickly achieved a standing-room-only club rep, it too, met with more major label tomfoolery and a quick break up.
Randy Bates returned with the apt alt-rock concerns Nectar and Mindflower; each released a nationally-distributed vanity-press album. Phil Varone’s ex-Saigon Kick bandmate, bassist Tom DeFile, also returned to South Florida — along with ex-Queen Anne’s Revenge singer Eddie Gowan, former Trouble Tribe guitarist Adam Wacht, and former Beggars & Thieves drummer Bobby Borg — for one more bite at the demo apple with Left for Dead, which split in 1995 due to label disinterest.
7. Nuclear Valdez 1985–1992 (Miami/Epic)
Prior to his management of Marilyn Manson, local impresario John Tovar guided the career of this all-Latino quartet (one from the Dominican Republic; the others from Cuba) that formed in 1985.
After a few years of well-received South Florida club dates — including two local radio hits with “Apache” and “Summer” — Nuclear Valdez became the go-to band for the Miami national tour stops of alternative bands, such as Jane’s Addiction and Living Color. Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones loved them, so they oft played his South Beach club, Woody’s on the Beach.
Brill Building legend and Sire Records co-founder Richard Gottehrer (Blondie, the Go-Gos, the Ramones, Talking Heads) and Thom Panunzio (Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones) co-produced the band’s Epic debut, I Am I (1989), featuring contributions by Bruce Brody of the Patti Smith Group and Benmont Tench from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
An extensive tour with the Hooters in the U.S and the Church across Europe, along with MTV booking the band on an early episode of their new, weekly series, MTV Unplugged (alongside the Welsh-band the Alarm), as well as placing the band in “active-rotation” (and not in the 120 Minutes, alt-rock Sunday night graveyard with the likes of the deserved-better Soul Asylum and Mary My Hope), the single for “Summer” became a minor, commercial radio hit — but the second single, “Hope,” didn’t chart.
The equally respected Steve Brown (from Thin Lizzy in the early ’70s to the Cult in ’80s) produced the sophomore album, Dream Another Dream (1991). Featuring the singles “(Share A Little) Shelter” and “Dance Where the Bullets Fly” — the latter appearing in an episode of the hit Fox series, Melrose Place — failed to build on the momentum of the first album.
So, why does a band of the industry-respected caliber of Nuclear Valdez, fail — record covers featuring a toothless old man and promotional videos featuring a crusty old dude chomping a stogie while playing dominoes, not withstanding?
Well, while career-connected to Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers — Nuclear Valdez, with their politically-charged lyrics (subjects such as the 1959 “Cuban Revolution”) backed by jangly guitars aligning them, more so, with the chart-successful the Alarm (from Wales) and Midnight Oil (from Australia) — sounded like neither (which is really the point: be original, not gimmicky). Additionally, as the musical landscape changed for all things Seattle, the Latin-based quartet didn’t conform to the then rising, programming-safe (and gimmicky) sounds of alternative bands like the Crash Test Dummies or the Spin Doctors, and didn’t benefit from having a “bee girl” dancing around in their videos like Blind Melon.
8. Shadowland 1988–1991 (Tampa/Geffen)
A&R executive and producer Tom Zutaut had his successes with Mötley Crüe and Dokken with Elektra Records, repeating those chart achievements with Guns N’ Roses (the biggest-selling debut album of all time), Hanoi Rocks, the Stone Roses, and Telsa while with Geffen.
Then there’s his Geffen-era misses with Half Way Home, I Love You, Little America, the Nymphs (more press for their antics than their music), Salty Dog (actually, in terms of radio airplay, the most successful of the lot), and Warrior Soul (alt/nu-metal), as well as the Florida bands of this discussion: Rock City Angels and Young Turk (each with at least a little MTV Headbanger’s Ball buzz).
Now, while those bands haven’t made their ill wills with Tom Zutaut, if any, internet-public: the Rademaker brothers, Brent and Darren (vocals/guitar and bass vocals, respectively), were not at a loss of words for blaming one of rock’s most successful executives — as well as their producer, Pat Moran (Lou Gramm, Robert Plant, Iggy Pop, Queen, Rush) — for the critical lambasting of their two albums. The most acidic, courtesy of the renowned Trouser Press, stated Shadowland’s ’60s trippy-influenced, self-titled debut (1989) was “an embarrassingly obvious attempt to jump-start a pretty-boy arena career with a misbegotten and overheated mash of Tom Petty, the Waterboys, U2 and Sunset Strip glam-metal [the band left Tampa for L.A for their signing].”
Ouch.
Regardless of the lack of critical acceptance and radio airplay for the debut — which, in the wake of the scathing reviews (Trouser, as well as other publications, referred to them as “poseurs”), no official single was released — Geffen put them back in the studio for the sophomore release, The Beauty of Escaping (1990); its lead single, “Garden of Eden,” failed to chart.
Two years later, with indie college rock bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Pavement gaining critical and mainstream acceptance in the noisy Seattle backwash, the Rademaker brothers and their drummer, Kevin Fitzgerald, along with a new guitarist in Josh Schwartz (replacing Edward J. Kurdziel; maybe Shadowland’s woes were his fault), ended up sounding like, well . . . Dinosaur Jr. and Pavement.
Returning to Tampa and christening their new, alt-rock lo-fi noise-pop reinvention as futher (yes, in the lower case), their indie debut, Grip Tape (1992), took Tom Zutaut to task with the smarmy “Death of an A&R Man.” Taking no prisoners, Trouser Press once again took the Rademakers to task: “. . . here’s irrefutable proof that any bozo with a fuzzbox and a pair of earplugs can be J Mascis [of Dinosaur Jr.] or Stephen Malkmus [of Pavement].” Oh, and jabs about “croaky off-key singing” and “. . . we know you own guitar tuners [from your Shadowland days].”
Double Ouch.
So much for an album produced by the esteemed Wharton Tiers (of Dinosaur Jr. fame, natch, as well as the like-minded Hole, Quicksand, Sonic Youth, and Teenage Fanclub). As the band’s career advanced — prior to their 1997 demise — across a series of albums, EPs, and 7"-inch singles, the band sounded less like Dinosaur Jr. or Pavement and more akin to fuzzy British shoe-gazers Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, and Verve— with a contribution to a Joy Division tribute album as a clue to their on-going development (and coolness).
Brent earned well-deserved critical acclaim from the Grateful Dead-inspired Phish jam-band crowd with his Los Angeles-based alternative country concern Beachwood Sparks founded in 1997, releasing records on the Seattle-based Sub Pop. By the 2000s, Brent and Darren regrouped, recording for Rough Trade and Sub Pop as the cleaner-sounding, Buffalo Springfield-inspired the Tyde. Darren Rademaker’s Tampa-based, new-wave/punk teen-band, the Straight-Jackets, digitally reissued their 1978 to 1981 recordings in 2022.
9. The Hazies 1991–1996 (Tampa/EMI)
Remember the in-joke in Tom Hanks’s writing and directorial rock ’n’ roll love letter, That Thing You Do! (1996), about Erie, Pennsylvania’s the “One-ders” — where no one picked up on the esoteric “Wonders” spelling and kept calling the band, the “Oh-NEED-ers”?
Well, back in 1991, when the Hazies began playing out as RUOK, aka “Are You Okay?”, no one got the acronym, either; so they changed their name to UROK, aka “You Are Okay” — but their ever-growing local fanbase referred to them as “You Rock.” The band gave up: the fan-made moniker, stuck (you should have used periods, like the L.U.N.G.S; a band we’ll discuss, later).
Okay, well . . . how did UROK end up with the Hazies branding?
At the time, an A&R executive with EMI Records, which was courting the band, referred to a local music ragazine’s positive take on the band’s sound as “a psychedelic haze”: The Hazies were born.
As UROK, the quartet’s brand of “groove rock” expanded from their west coast, Tampa-Clearwater-Ybor City base into the central Florida cities of Gainesville and Ocala to the north, and south into Miami-Fort Lauderdale. Their self-titled debut EP (1990) and the full-length cassette, Fashionable Sedate (1992), expanded the band’s reach further, as they gained airplay on college radio stations not only in Florida, but across the Southeast, particular in Atlanta, Georgia.
Signed to EMI Records, their major label debut, Vinnie Smokin’ the Big Room (1996), was instantly accepted on college radio and did reasonably well on commercial-alternative rock radio stations with the lead single, “Skin & Bones,” and the follow-up, “Trip Free Life,” reaching #7 and #11, respectively on the “Modern Rock” charts.
Then, under President Bill Clinton, the Federal Communications Commission (The FCC) enacted the first major overall of telecommunications law in 62 years. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, aka “Telcom Act,” deregulated the industry nationwide, removing local ownership caps allowing for the national consolidation of broadcasting outlets. The wave of mergers and acquisitions — as larger corporations bought out smaller, local broadcasting companies — lead to a flurry of format changes. In the two years since Kurt Cobain died, the frenzy for all things alternative on rock radio, cooled. Computer automation replaced disc jockeys.
Overnight, as those radio outlets disappeared though homogenization, and with record companies seeing the bottom line: it triggered a wave of consolidations in the record industry. Labels began to streamline their operations and artist rosters — including EMI Records.
The Hazies were lost . . . in the haze.
After a halfhearted attempt to promote the band, by way of a cover of the Vapor’s new wave classic, “Turning Japanese,” for the soundtrack to the Chris Farley-starring Beverly Hills Ninja (1997): it was all over.
Through their record company ups and downs on their travels though the MTV 120 Minutes alternative generation, the Hazies continue to record and tour independently into their 34th year. The band self-remaster UROK’s debut release, Fashionable Sedate, for the digital crowd — with the original artwork intact and “the Hazies” moniker added to artwork.
10. Sugarspoon 1994–1996 (Tampa/MCA)
While Shadowland packed up and moved to L.A as the Hazies continued to slug it out on Florida stages, Sugarspoon (for fans of the singles-infectious Gin Blossoms and Toad the Wet Sprocket), worked in reverse: They eschewed club dates, instead perfecting their songs to record the perfect demo tape — at Tampa’s world-famous Morrisound Studios (know your death metal scene) — to sign a major label deal.
Locals in Tampa knew scene veterans Paul Sisemore, Jeff McDonald, Kent Bradley, and Mark Henry quite well, by way of their collective, well-received, major-label hopefuls the Love Dogs, Secret Service, and the Warren Brothers.
Paul Sisemore — in terms of releasing nationally-distributed product — was the most successful of Sugarspoon’s roster, having been a member of the Florida-based Ben Schultz Band (1992): a band co-founded by bassist Tim Bogert (’70s classic rockers Vanilla Fudge and Cactus) and the Tampa-based Ben Schultz, who worked on major-label releases since the ’70s (Wizard, Pipedream, KGB, Barefoot Servants). It was through those industry connections — which expanded by way of Sisemore and guitarist Kent Bradley knocking around the early ’90s Los Angeles rock scene with Straight Monkey (1993) that flirted with major label overtures — that the duo organized industry (six) showcases in Tampa clubs. MCA Records was the first label to response to the invite.
Drummer Mark Henry, also flirted with a major label deal for his Tampa band, Secret Service. Sadly, a mere week after that band’s lead singer, Steve Gruden, passed away, Warner Bros. Records offered the band a deal. Dejected, Henry left Tampa in 1994 for the greener pastures of upstate Ithaca, New York. Sisemore and Bradley’s demos convinced him to return to Tampa.
Then, the music industry consolidations of labels and the cancelling of recording contracts occurred— in the wake of the Federal Communications Commission Telecommunications Act of 1996 triggering the consolidation and homogenization of radio stations, thus, killing off the once-hot “rock alternative” rock format — well, MCA Records, which signed the band in May 1995, lost interest.
A year passes.
Sugarspoon, finally, recorded their debut (as it turned out: only album) in February 1996. The first single, “Like Shine,” was released in mid-July; the album in mid-August. To hear the band tell it in interviews: they didn’t know of the schedule until a week before the single was released.
Even with the label’s scant promotion, “Like Shine” did reasonable well on the “Modern Rock” charts, but never crossed over to commercial “rock alternative” radio; their follow up single, “Butterfly Breeze,” failed to chart. As good as Sisemore and Bradley’s goes-down-like-gumdrops songs were: a “Hey Jealousy” or “All I Want” styled-chart topper and a now “classic alternative” hit wasn’t meant to be.
Adopting Sugarspoon’s lone hit song as a band name, Paul Sisemore issued more like-minded alternative pop with Likeshine and the album, Living Room (2003), and as Sisemore, The Disillusionment of Youth and the American Way (2011).
Sadly, we lost Kent Bradley along the way. His popsmith legacy lives on in the nickle-collated digitized grooves of Sugarspoon.
11. Super Transatlantic 1998–2000 (Fort Lauderdale/Universal)
Succeeding nationally where fellow local-to-major label acts Cryer, Tuff Luck, and Young Turk, failed: Fort Lauderdale’s Saigon Kick — when compared to those SRO-club bands — was an odd, rocking duck: They weren’t glam. They weren’t grunge. They weren’t Ratt or Warrant. They weren’t Alice in Chains or Soundgarden, either. What guitarist Jason Bieler and vocalist Matt Kramer were: great songwriters — with two local-that-should-have-been-national-hits with “What You Say” and “Love of God” (appeared on their later, debut album )— whose glam-flashy, alternative-flirting repertoire packed clubs not only in South Florida, but across the state. The industry concert trade, Cash Box, when reviewing the band’s major-label debut, accurately summed Saigon Kick’s diversity as a fusion of hard rock and heavy metal crossed with ’60s-inspired psychedelia [Hey, didn’t Tampa’s critic-maligned Shadowland, do that?] meeting ’80s punk to create an aggressive yet melodic album; Billboard appreciated the band’s pop-heavy, Beatles meets Led Zeppelin influences.
While the local-to-state buzz lead to the hard rock quartet becoming the debut release on actor Micheal Douglas’s recently incorporated Third Stone Records/Atlantic imprint: the buzz didn’t translate nationally. The band’s extensive touring only managed a minor chart showing for the self-titled debut (1991) that topped out at a 100,000 copies. Meanwhile: Virgin Records dropped Tampa’s Roxx Gang for selling a mere 250,000 copies.
Saigon Kick should consider themselves lucky: and probably did, at the time.
So much for an album featuring stellar production values by ex-Accept guitarist and producer Michael Wagner who produced or mixed multi-platinum albums for the like-minded Alice Cooper, Dokken, Great White, Keel, Poison, Skid Row, and White Lion. The failure certainly wasn’t the label’s fault: “Coming Home,” from the debut, appeared on the soundtrack to the Brian Bosworth-starring film, Stone Cold (1991), while the aggressive “Body Bags” from their second, appeared in the Charlie Sheen-starring action film, Beyond the Law. So, the label was making the push, as it were.
So, what went wrong?
The band scoring a “Top 20” single . . . that became both a blessing and a curse: that’s what.
Fueled by the Jason Bieler-penned lead single, “Love Is on the Way” — an acoustic “power ballad” untypical of the rest of their sophomore effort, The Lizard (1992), as well as their repertoire in whole (they covered the Sex Pistols in concert)— the album achieved a 500,000-plus gold-certification, while the single became the band’s only Billboard “Hot 100,” gold-certified single.
Uh, oh. Here comes trouble.
Cue the band infighting during the recording of their tentative third album, most likely from label pressures to write “Love Is on the Way: Part II” while the band wanted to go (according to reports) in a more timely direction of Alice in Chains. So Matt Kramer and bassist Tom DeFile, left.
Now, paired to a trio of Jason Bieler on lead vocals and guitars, with Chris McLernon, formerly of Cold Sweat (know your Keel/Dokken histories) on bass, and still-on-the-stool Phil Varone, the band released Water (1993). Yeah . . . when Billboard name drops “Hallmark [moment]” in an album review: you know you’re getting, well, dropped. So does selling a measly 70,000 copies.
As talent-resilient as Ronnie Garvin with Stranger and Kevin Steele with Roxx Gang: Jason Bieler returned to South Florida — expanding Saigon Kick back to a quartet with guitarist Pete Dembrowski (his band debut)— to write a new batch of songs. Courtesy of interest by American indie-retro label CMC International, Saigon Kick returned with their fourth album — which sold an embarrassing 15,000 copies. Their fifth and final album — now featuring Rick Sanders on the drum seat (his band debut) — Bastards (1999), fared worse.
It’s time for a retooling of the Saigon Kick brand: Super Transatlantic was born.
Well, not before the 1997 return of Matt Kramer on lead vocals — expanding the band to a first-time quintet — and the recording of a one-off song, “Dizzy’s Vine.” This time, after two live shows: Jason Bieler left the band. By 2000, the Bieler-less Saigon Kick — with original members Kramer, Tom DeFile, and Phil Varone, and Jeff Blando (of DeFile’s failed post-’Kick band, Left for Dead) in for Bieler— fizzed out before it even started. Another series of failed reunions continued between 2012 to 2015 with guitarist Steve Gibb — the son of the Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb and a member of Crowbar and Black Label Society — and drummer Jonathan Mover of the British prog-rock bands Marillion and GTR — a part of those configurations.
As for Saigon Kick 2.0, aka Super Transatlantic: Then unsigned, the South Florida-based quartet began as a short-lived local “supergroup” featuring Jason Bieler on lead vocals, with Erik Kothern on guitar and Jeff Libman on drums (both formerly with a popular Miami-based alt-rock band, Naked Rhythm; without either: the band signed to Germany’s Massacre Records) and bassist George Fotiadias (formerly with the hard-alternative concern Love Canal — that once featured Mark Scandariato of locals the Mary Karlzen Band — that flirted with a Sony backed-and-pass demo deal).
By the time the band — well, Jason Bieler — signed a new deal with the MCA-affiliated Universal Music, the band and its related album, Shuttlecock (2000), was essentially a sixth Saigon Kick album — since the band now featured later-day Saigon Kickers’ Pete Dembrowksi and Ricky Sanders, only now with former Extreme bassist Pete Badger (yes, the “More Than Words” guys; another great band ruined by the “power ballad” curse).
As with Saigon Kick: Super Transatlantic received a soundtrack-promotional push with their heavy-pop lead single, “Super Down,” appearing on the soundtrack to the teen-sex comedy runaway box office hit, American Pie (1999).
And while everyone loved the movie: radio programmers and the record buying public didn’t care about Super Transatlantic.
Across the naughts, Jason Bieler self-released a series of solo EPs. Matt Kramer released his own, indie-solo debut, War & Peas (2002). Phil Varone formed another, short-lived local “supergroup” with Young Turk bassist Bill McKelvy known as Planet Boom. Tom DeFile did the same, with Los Angeles-to-South Florida transplanted members from Queen Anne’s Revenge, Trouble Tribe, and Beggars & Thieves as Left for Dead. None of the projects garnered major label interest. Another of Varone’s post-Saigon Kick projects was ex-Skid Row Rachel Bolan’s late ’90s concern, Prunella Scales, which transitioned to Varone’s short-lived membership in a reformed Skid Row.
12. Collapsing Lungs 1991–1994 (Fort Lauderdale/Atlantic)
This industrialized, nu metal septet was fronted by Brian Tutunick, known in the Marilyn Manson lexicon as “Olivia Newton Bundy,” the band’s first bassist, from its days as a drum machine-backed quartet. Perry Pandrea, aka Zsa Zsa Speck — who formed the precursor, Mirror Mirror, with Brian Warner, aka Marilyn Manson — along with Tutunick, became ex-Spooky Kids in 1990 after the upstarts’ fourth local club date. The duo formed Collapsing Lungs in 1991, soon issuing (without Pandrea) a five-song cassette, Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics (1992).
Courtesy of Marilyn Manson garnering major label interest, labels began poking around South Florida and noticed Collapsing Lungs’ quick development as a standing-room-only club act — courtesy of the local radio hits “Crackerjack” and “Let’s Play a Game” to their credit.
Impressing Atlantic Records at an all-ages showcase at South Florida’s premiere national tour stop for metal bands, The Plus-Five Lounge, as well as at the mainstream alt-rock stop, The Edge (both defunct), the band issued the five-song debut effort, Colorblind (1994).
While MTV added the video for “Crackerjack” to their respective, weekend alternative and metal block programs 120 Minutes and Headbanger’s Ball, and the burgeoning, Dallas-based national radio network Z-Rock added the lead single to “active rotation” (alongside Seattle underdogs, the Melvins), the now hair metal-ignoring active rock radio format and newly-instituted “rock alternative” stations (again, more interested in the “alt-safe” Crash Test Dummies and Spin Doctors) ignored the band. A tumultuous tour ensued (their touring-Winnebago constantly breaking down) resulting in Brian Tutunick leaving the band he created.
The remaining members of the septet — now a sextet with sampler and second vocalist Frank “Crime” Cassara as lead vocalist — quickly regrouped as L.U.N.G.S (depending on the source: an acronym for “Life Under No Greedy Suckers” or “Losers Usually Never Get Signed”). As Atlantic lost interest in the beleaguered band, they signed with the Arizona-based metal specialty imprint Pavement Records, which released the radio and retail ignored Better Class of Loser (1996), featuring the single, “Pull It Off.”
Brian Tutunick returned to Florida stages in 1996 with the electronica/industrial concern Nation of Fear, which released an eponymous full-length effort (1996) and Everything Beautiful Rusts (1999); he followed with the like-minded, Orlando-based Depravity Scale (2011). Frank “Crime” Cassara returned with the punk band, the Mary Tyler Whores. Drummer Chris Goldbach — who sat on the kits for both ’Lungs concerns — did the same for the popular Florida punk bands RadioBaghdad (which also featured Pete Gross) and Against All Authority.
Collapsing Lungs is a case of an innovative band too soon: No sooner did the band split, Jacksonville, Florida, native Fred Durst formulated the analogous-sounding Limp Bizkit in 1994. Nominated for three Grammy Awards, their brand of fusing hard core punk and urban hip hop with ’80s heavy metal and European-industrial sold over 40 million records worldwide — alongside analogous platinum sellers KORN and Linkin Park.
13. For Squirrels 1992–1996 (Gainesville/Epic)
There’s rock ’n’ roll tragedies . . . then there’s the fate of this REM meets Nirvana quartet with a sound that should have taken them to the top of the charts alongside the like-minded Collective Soul and 7 Mary 3.
As with the Mavericks and Mary Karlzen Band signing major label deals under his tutelage, local store owner Rich Ulloa of Miami’s Yesterday and Today Records knew a great band when he heard one: So he assisted For Squirrels (so committed to being in a band, they would play music “for squirrels”) in the studio with the indie releases Baypath Rd., and its five-song EP outgrowth, Plymouth (both 1994), on his Y&T Music imprint. The major labels took notice, as result, with Epic Record’s alt-rock subsidiary, 550 Music, signing the band.
Then, tragedy stuck.
On September 8, 1995, while returning from a well-received showcase at CBGB’s for the annual CMJ Music Conference in New York City, the band was involved in a tour van accident in Georgia, about 75 miles north of the Florida border. The single-vehicle accident-by-tire blowout claimed the lives of vocalist Jack Vigliatura, 21, bassist Bill White, 23, and manager Tim Bender, 23 (considered the band’s unofficial fifth member).
To the corporate suites at Epic Records credit: They released the debut album, Example — produced by Nick Launay, known for his work with Midnight Oil and the Talking Heads — as scheduled, on October 3, 1995. The lead single, “Mighty K.C,” ironically, about the tragic death of Kurt Cobain, became a minor, mainstream “rock alternative” hit, while college radio and triple-A non-commercial stations turned the follow up singles, “Superstar” and “8:02 PM,” into alternative hits.
A few months after the 1995 accident, surviving members guitarist Travis Tooke and drummer Jack Greigo drafted their old school friend Andy Lord on bass. Now, with Tooke on lead vocals for the deceased Vigliatura, they resurrected the For Squirrels moniker, playing low-key dates around Gainesville. As they began writing new material, a heavier grunge sound, developed; by 1996, with a new lease on life by way of the new material, the trio became known as Subrosa.
Impressed with their comeback from tragedy, Sony Records released the band’s only album, Never Bet the Devil Your Head, which featured the video single release, “Buzzard” (1997). Adding a second guitarist in fellow Gainesville scenester Mike Amish for touring, the band opened for fellow Floridians, Creed. Sadly, a prime tour slot couldn’t overcome the record’s slow sales and scant radio airplay. In spite of favorable critical response that should have allowed for a second album, Subrosa was dropped, but pressed on as an independent act until 2001.
Ex-Squirrel Travis Tooke continued to make music on the Gainesville scene with Helixglow, while Subrosians Andy Lord and Mike Amish continued with their band, Papercranes.
14. Mary Karlzen 1992–1995 (Fort Lauderdale/Atlantic)
So, where did Mary Karzlen’s countrified alt-pop sensibilities fail where Meredith Brooks, Melissa Ethridge, and the Indigo Girls — as well as the younger alt-driven Abra Moore and Jill Sobule, and the indie-to-major label female-driven outfits Belly, the Breeders, and Letters to Cleo — succeed in the all-new “rock alternative” radio format developed in the early ’90s (those stations played “Cornflake Girl” by Tori Amos, after all). Where did Karlzen fail where country’s gold and platinum-selling Mindy McCready and Grammy Award-winning Shelby Lynne, succeeded?
The talent was there. So was the support from Y&T Records. A nationally recognized independent, the Miami-based label assisted in the career development of the multi-nominated and award-winning alternative-country outfit, the Mavericks — who signed with MCA Records, and the career cut-to-short For Squirrels — who signed with Epic.
Karlzen’s name-checked influences of biographical songwriters were there, as well. One could hear hints of Jackson Browne, Johnny Cash, Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor shine on her major label debut single, “I’d Be Lying,” which became a “Hot Pick” (in its indie EP version) on the VH 1 cable-video outlet.
In fact, the cable channel’s support dates prior to Atlantic Records releasing her debut album, Yelling at Mary (1995), when her country rock meets folk rock wares from her independently-released, five-song EP, Hide (1993), appeared on VH 1 (again, that “hot pick”), crowning Karlzen as the network’s most played independent artist of all time. The video for the second single release from the EP, “A Long Time Ago,” was also programmed on the Americana TV Network, Country Music Television, and The Nashville Network. Music critics at major metropolitan newspapers were quick to (justifiably) rave about Karlzen’s songs; so did the music and broadcasting publications Billboard and Radio & Records.
Then, the raves, stopped.
Perhaps it was Karzlen’s outspokenness (cue Shadowland) against country radio as “a haven for plastic, cloned Barbie dolls; Stepford [Wives] singers with perfect hair and bodies who don’t write their own songs.” (That’s no way to book a beneficial opening tour slot with the career-hot Mindy McCready or Shelby Lynne.) Perhaps it was her antithesis-styled album cover — featuring her as a frumpy farmgirl clad in unbecoming denim overalls while slouching her shoulders (someone was “yelling” at her, after all) that turned away buyers and radio programmers.
Sure, Karlzen toured the U.S and Canada opening for the likes of Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, John Haitt, Hootie & the Blowfish, and Warren Zevon — but the hit-making days and concert draw of those now “nostalgia” artists were in the past and not favorable to the younger, fickle alternative audience needed for chart placement. Yes, Karlzen charted in the “Top 20” on triple-A (Adult Album Alternative) stations in the U.S — but the never-commercially viable format failed to crossover-to-mainstream in the alt-crazy ’90s as result of its genre-diverse programming (from blues-to-folk-to-Americana-to-country-to-rock-to-jazz-to-rap) regulated to low-rated, non-commercial educational radio stations.
It all began for Mary Karlzen on the South Florida scene in the late 1980s as part of the all-female, Americana-styled outfit, Vesper Sparrow. A talent-to-spare, multi-instrumental quartet featuring Karlzen (primarily on bass) trading lead vocals with Kelly Christy, the band quickly became a top draw on South Florida’s alternative scene, complete with a local hit, “Highway,” from their label-shopped demo backed by Y&T Records.
The time came for the major labels to take notice.
Then, after a 1989 industry showcase at New York’s infamous CBGB’s during the CMJ (College Music Journal) Music Conference: Vesper Sparrow, imploded.
Karlzen’s roots — and respect — on the South Florida local scene ran deep: Deep enough that she provided violin to the Marilyn Manson-fronted side-collective Mrs. Scabtree (during the early-1993 Portrait of An American Family sessions). The same holds true for her long-time, lead electric guitarist, Mark Scandariato.
Scandariato’s South Florida roots date the early ’80s when his band, the Terminals, shared the area’s stages with Johnny Depp’s the Kids and Andy Panik and Bobby Durango’s the Abusers (that collectively became the Rock City Angels; essayed above). Scandariato’s friendship with Depp ran deep enough that, when the Miramar, Florida, native returned to film his second feature film, Private Resort (1985), the Terminals were cast as the resort’s house band; two of the Terminals songs, “You” and “Miami Calypso,” appear on the soundtrack. Unfortunately, as with Johnny Depp’s the Kids making their soundtrack appearance on The Legend of Billie Jean (1985): the movie flopped, no soundtrack was issued, and provided no promotional upwind for the band.
As for Mary Karlzen: She returned to the college rock indie scene where she got her start, releasing the albums Dim the Watershed (1999), The Wanderlust Diaries (2006), and Shine (2021). Y&T Records digitized the 15-song catalog of Vesper Sparrow under the title, What the Birds Say (2023). Mark Scandariato returned to South Florida stages with Satellite Six, which released a nationally-distributed album through Y&T Records, Love & Fear (2004), that failed to gain major label interest.
15. C-60s 1996–1999 (Fort Lauderdale/Dreamworks)
The hyper punk-pop of this Carey Peak-fronted trio (where he doubled on bass) birthed with the popular South Florida alt-rock quartet, Dore Soul (1990–1994). The latter was managed and produced by local rock entrepreneur Gary Styder of locally-famed Gled Studios whose work in the marketplace dates to the early days of Tuff Luck.
Courtesy of local college and commercial radio airplay for their catchy, radio-friendly songs “Breathe” and “Full in You,” Dore Soul’s popularity grew on the region’s early-to-mid ’90s, burgeoning alternative club scene alongside the newly-formed, alt-gothic metal outfit Marilyn Manson and the rap-metal crossover concern Collapsing Lungs. Signing a management deal with local impresario John Tovar— again, who negotiated the careers Nuclear Valdez and the Mavericks to major label deals — Dore Soul garnered interest from Sony (home to the since dropped Nuclear Valdez), Interscope, and Atlantic; the latter two signed respective deals with Marilyn Manson and Collapsing Lungs, instead.
Resolute, Dore Soul self-released two full-length, controversially-titled cassettes: Blow Job (1993) and The New Shit (1994); however, by that point, national, as well as local interest in the grunge-inspired alternative scene, cooled; label interest in the band waned, once hot local clubs were closing. So Dore Soul split.
The reconstituted trio-version of Dore Soul as the C-60s played their first show opening a 1997 Fort Lauderdale club date for Self: a chart-rising alt-rock band fronted by Matt Mahaffey. Impressed, the multi-instrumentalist and producer offered a deal on his Mufreesboro, Tennessee-based imprint Spongebath Records, itself a subsidiary of Enclave Records operated by (yep, there he is: again) Tom Zutaut: a former A&R executive with Geffen Records best known for signing Guns N’ Roses and Mötley Crüe.
Courtesy of Peak’s kinetic, infectious writing and singing, “Remote Control,” the lead single from the C-60s self-titled debut (1998), was quickly accepted by college radio; a commercial crossover was on the horizon.
That was until Enclave’s parent company, Dreamworks Records — founded in 1996 by David Geffen as a subsidiary of Dreamworks Pictures, itself a motion picture studio founded by Geffen, along with studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, and filmmaker Steven Speilberg — split from Dreamworks Pictures.
Then, Enclave’s new distributor, EMI Records, folded the imprint into Virgin Records, leading its June 1997 shutdown (and that EMI shuffling contributed to the Hazies losing their deal; essayed above). Mercury Records reactivated Enclave later that year; their parent, Polygram Universal, shuttered Enclave, once again, for the last time in 1999. The changes left the still-operating Spongebath as a struggling independent label unable to offer distribution, radio promotion, or tour support.
The C-60s broke up.
In November 2021, the music of the C-60s previous incarnation, Dore Soul, appeared on the soundtrack for the Showtime original series Yellowjackets (S1:E1), with “What If . . . ” from their second cassette. Both of Dore Soul’s tapes have since been digitally remastered by Phoenix, Arizona-based Fervor Records, an independent label specializing in acquiring previously released and unreleased demo catalogs of unsigned bands for the purposing of offering affordable music licensing alternatives to advertising agencies, as well as low-budget cable television and streaming series.
Hey, if Nigel Tuffnel’s amps can go to “11,” this Florida bands’ retrospective can go to “16,” with . . .
16. Gypsy Queen 1986–1990 (Miami/Loop UK)
Sure, the major labels were sniffing around South Florida in the mid-’80s, taking notice of the packed crowds for Cryer, Roxx Gang (down from Tampa/St. Pete), Tuff Luck, and Young Turk; also slugging it out on the local club scene — and vying for the “hottest band in Miami” tag against a then very hot Young Turk — was the co-lead singing twins Pamela and Paula Mattioli of Gypsy Queen.
Unfortunately, even with respected sideman Peter “Mars” Cowling from the Pat Travers Band (of the classic rock hits “Snortin’ Whiskey” and “Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights)”) on bass and songwriting chores, along with the golden ear of producer Jack Douglas (he’s back) behind the boards: a major label contract elevating the sisters to his successes with Aerosmith, Blue Öyster Cult, and Cheap Trick, wasn’t forthcoming. Yes, even with the added press buzz of the Mattioli sisters’ infamous, 1985 “nude spread” in the pages of Playboy that gave the rock twins U.S national press coverage (more on that, later).
While the “New Wave of British Heavy Metal” (which began in 1979; birthed the likes of Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, and Saxon) waned by 1985, Europe still offered loyal hard rock audiences for Gypsy Queen’s brand of melodic metal.
So, armed with their eponymous, Douglas-produced debut (Loop, their British label, teased it with the three-song Snarls ‘N Stripes EP; yes; the girls posed with tigers), the Mattioli sisters headed across the pond —where they quickly became perpetual poster girls for the country’s popular metal magazines Kerrang! and Metal Hammer — alongside the leather jumpsuit-clad, U.K “rock royalty” that was Suzi Quatro.
Now, while rockers in France couldn’t get enough of the sisters or Suzi Q (and American film comedian Jerry Lewis), the British rock press — even when a couple of Yank chicks with guitars take the 1987 Reading Festival by storm — had no problem taking Gypsy Queen to task with outright cruel reviews. (Just ask the guys from Def Leppard about their homeland reviews; the same press predicted Metallica’s favorite band, Diamond Head, would dominate the world and Joe Elliot and company would disappear.) The whole “eye-candy” marketing ploy intended to make them stars, resulted in Gypsy Queen unable to prove themselves as a “serious” rock act — this from a landscape producing the not-so-serious, “men-behaving-badly” NWoBHM outfits of Bathory, King Diamond, and Venom; besides: the Brits already had their own hard rocking female outfits in the scrappier Rock Goddess and Girlschool, so said the British rock press.
Perhaps if the Mattioli sisters headed to the U.K, earlier— as did Canada’s April Wine, Switzerland’s Krokus, and New York’s Mark Manigold’s Touch — to take advantage of the NWoBHM at its height (Touch and April Wine appeared at the inaugural “Monsters of Rock” festival at Castle Donington racetrack in 1980; each appeared on the subsequent Polydor-charting accompanying album), critical and chart success would have been assured.
Instead — with shades of Tampa’s Shadowland (essayed above)— the Mattioli sisters blamed Jack Douglas for making the band sound “too polished,” not typical of their live shows. In Jack’s defense: He had his misses, too: the never-got-a-gold record Bux, Moxy, New York Dolls, Rough Cutt, and Starz (and not everyone can have a fluke MTV-hit like Zebra).
So, Jack’s gone . . . and so is the rest of the band.
Remaining in Europe, the all-new Gypsy Queen Mk. II ditched the “polish,” adopting a harder sound conducive to the British-Euro rock scene. Their British label, Loop, put the band back in the studio to record their sophomore effort, Out of Control (1989). The tour took its name from the album and a lead single, “Take Care of Yourself,” was issued to radio.
The single flopped.
Then, as with Ronnie Garvin and Stranger and Young Turk: the label “didn’t hear another hit single,” so the album was shelved. The fact that Jack Douglas, as well as the ex-Mk. I members, sued the Mattioli sisters for “breach of contract” didn’t help.
Well, back to the good ‘ol U.S.A, but instead of Miami: the sisters habitate Los Angeles for the next phase of their career — with yet another new band roster.
In California, even in the middle of all things Seattle ruling the airwaves, the Mattioli sisters fared better as the reinvented, Cellmates. Now labelmates with the chart-topping Survivor and John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, the sisters issued their heavy, but still poppy, hair metal-leaning debut, Between Two Fires (1993; Scotti Bros.) — to little fanfare in a post-grunge world (even with the album’s controversial “kissing sisters” cover art to titilate young bucks into buying the album).
The band split.
By 1995, Cellmates’ guitarist Mike Stone recorded a one-off album (weren’t all alternative bands of the era of the one-and-done album variety) with Klover, which released Feel Lucky Punk (1995) on Mercury. If you’re keeping track: Klover was somewhat of an alt-rock supergroup featuring bassist Darren Hill of the Red Rockers (remembering “China” from the MTV ’80s) and drummer Brian Betzger (you punkers remember Los Angeles’ Jerry’s Kids and Gang Green). By 2003, Mike Stone joined prog-rockers, Queensrÿche. (And if you’re really keeping track: John Thomas Griffith of the Red Rockers found 1992-chart success with Cowboy Mouth (from the ashes of college-indie rockers Dash Rip Rock); the Red Rockers also featured drummer Jim Reilly, formerly of infamous ’80s Irish punkers, Stiff Little Fingers; Reilly and Darren Hill formed a failed, Boston alt-rock concern, the Raindogs, signed to Atco/Atlantic in the early ’90s.)
As for Pamela and Paula Mattioli: They delved into L.A session work, working with progressive rockers Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Saga. They most famously appeared as the singing voice of the ditzy Pheobe Buffay on the ’90s U.S television series, Friends, for that character’s signature song, “Smelly Cat.” Transitioning into acting, the sisters appeared in the American-made, low-budget rom-coms Banking on Love (2008) and Love Hurts (2009).
As for the rest of Gypsy Queen: The melodic hard rock crafted by Pedro Rieva and Bryan Le Mar (guitars), Mars Cowling (bass), Keith Daniel Cronin (drums), and Tim Divine (keyboards) — complete with the unique, identical-timbered voices of the Mattioli sisters — continues to gain new fans by way of the debut single, “Love Is Strange,” airing on MTV’s ’80s retro platforms into the naughts.
Over the years, while Gypsy Queen sporadically reunited for special events in their hometown of Miami, it was Pamela Mattioli’s 2014 passing from an undiagnosed heart condition that inspired a formal reunion fronted by Paula Mattioli in 2017, leading to the release of a self-titled sophomore album (2018). There are talks to release the band’s previously shelved, actual sophomore album, Out of Control.
Now, for the infamous Playboy spread . . . it’s a myth.
The “centerfold spread,” which Gypsy Queen’s fans believed hindered, instead of help the band: The girls are not the “centerfold,” nor are they completely nude or full-frontal (just sexy, teasing clothing with a hint of breasts — and no nipple). Pamela and Paula first appeared in the “The Girls of Rock ’n’ Roll: You Won’t See This on MTV” pictorial issue (January 1985, vol. 32, no. 1). Featuring Goldie Hawn on the cover (sitting legs-up in a martini glass), the issue included sassy contributions from Pat Benatar, Missing Person’s Dale Bozzio, Lita Ford, Stevie Nicks, Terri Nunn of Berlin, and Wendy O. Williams of the Plasmatics. The Mattioli sisters tame, yet titillating pictures were reprinted in a special “Playboy Sisters #1” issue in 1986.
Honorable Mentions: 10 More Florida Bands to Discover
The nu-metal outfits Darwin’s Waiting Room (1995 — 2004; MCA Records) and Endo (1995–2007; Columbia), and the progressive death metal outfit Cynic (1987–1994; Roadrunner), all from Miami; the Fort Lauderdale metal bands Nonpoint (1997-present; MCA) and Monstrosity (1990 — present; Nuclear Blast), and the funk-metal quartet Naked Rhythm (1989–1993; Germany’s Massacre Records); the Miami alt-pop quartet the Goods (1989 — 1999; Polygram and Columbia financing indie releases) and the female-fronted alt-pop quintet Al’s Not Well (1996–1999; Tommy Boy); Jacksonville’s alt-rock/grunge trio Rein Sanction (1981–1993; Sub Pop Records), and Tampa’s low-fi/noise-pop outfit, Home (1994 — 1996; Relativity).
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The official single releases from the discussed 16 Florida bands playlist-curated for your discovery by R.D Francis.
