This is a story that was requested by several of my subscribers
and it’s truly a tale of one of the unluckiest bands in rock n’ roll history.
Formed in 1975, metal band Riot, not to be confused with Quiet Riot
was every rock n’ roll cliche you could think of. Runaway egos, bad business decisions, bad timing
and death(s). I say the plural version of the word because the band suffered not 1, not 2 not even 3,
but 4 deaths of there members . Drummer Sandy Slavin who wasn’t an original member, but played
in the band from 1979-1984 would tell Louder Sound “It’s just amazing that anything ever happened,
When I played with Ace Frehley we’d be sitting on the bus and everybody would be telling you
their music business horror stories. Mine was always just that little bit more horrifying."
Was the band cursed or did they just make bad decisions? Let’s talk about the history of Riot.
Riot formed in 1975 when guitarist and band leader Mark Reale hooked up with drummer Peter Bitelli,
bassist Phil Feit and vocalist Guy Speranza . Reale and Bitelli used to play in a band
together called Kon Tiki TThe band soon added another member with keyboardist Steve Costello
and second guitarist Lou Kouvaris It was also during this time that Phil Feit left
the band and was replaced by Jimmy Iommi and it also seemed the band ditched their keyboard
payer. Feit would go on to play with Billy Idol appearing ng on the song White Wedding
Prior to joining Riot, Guy Speranza sang in a Top 40 cover band but Riot was a whole new
animal. This wasn’t a cover band, they were writing their own original songs. The band’s
influences drew on british rock including Led Zeppelin and Humble Pie, while also creating a
harder rocking sound. This was all happeneing in new york city when disco was popular and punk rock
bands were playing at CBGB’s. The type of music Riot was playing was years ahead of its time,
which prevented the band from gaining a foothold in America early in their career.
Riot would record a 4 track demo, which they had hoped would be proposed to a record label
as part of a New York Anthology a compilation featuring other bands from the City. The idea
got noticed by an indie outfit fire sign records, but the label was only interested in Riot and none
of the other bands. Fire Sign was run by two men Billy Arnell and Steve Loeb. Arnell & Loeb started
their own label Fire Sign Records and owned their own studio in Manhattan The pair were looking to
sign their first big act thinking it would either be a punk rock act or a nu-wave band.
After hearing Riot’s demo, the pair attended a show with Arnell telling Loudersound “They
sounded great, looked good and had some fantastic material, Little did we know what was coming.”
This led to one of the worst decisions the band ever made.
They not only signed to Fire Sign records, but they employed Loeb and Arnell as their managers
and producers for their first four records. With Arnell and Loeb wearing so many hats
it’s difficult to know where their loyalties lied. The group would release their first record,
1977’s Rock City. Despite being ahead of their time, Critics were lukewarm and Rock City did
little to make a mark in America. Maybe it had something to do with the album’s much derided
artwork a theme we'd see non subsequent records & it featured the first appearance of the band’s
mascot Tior who was an axe wielding seal. Following their debut album, Riot would play
a bunch of local gigs around New York City before heading down south to Florida to play a festival
that was being headlined by Neil Young. They would follow it up by opening a series across the Rust
Belt for the band The Gods. By 1978 the band even got a chance to open for Sammy Hagar in Texas.
It was during the band’s dates in Texas they had learned that San Antonio DJ Joe Anthony
was a big fan and had been heavily playing the band’s debut record on KISS-FM.
It was during the tour to support the group’s first album that guitarist Lou Kouvaris
left the band or was fired. Kouvaris would tell The Metal Voice he woke up one morning on tour and
discovered no one was around and he would receive a phone call saying his services were no longer
needed. A separate source claims that Kouvaris was not heavily involved in the songwriting process
and was upset by this. He would be replaced by the group's roadie Rick Ventura just ahead
of the band recording their sophomore record. Ventura would tell Loudersound how things ran
in the group saying “It was Mark’s band,”. “He started it. Sometimes, we had some conflicts
because he wanted the band to be a certain way.” The band soon hit the studio again to work on
their follow up album Narita, which was named after a controversial Japanese Airport built on
an ancient burial ground. It was the band’s way of paying homage to Japan who supported
the band early in their career, Once again their mascot Tior showed up on the front cover
this time dressed as a sumo wrestler and leaving behind what one could assume was his victims.
It was around this time the band underwent another lineup change with drummer Peter
Bitelli leaving the group and being replaced by Sammy Slavin. Bassist Jimmy Iommi would
also leave being replaced by Kip Lemming. Slavin would tell Loudersound “I’d never heard of Riot.
Mark called me and said his band had just got rid of their rhythm section. I thought,
‘These guys are idiots – they’ve got a record out. Why the fuck did you break up your band?!’
But Mark seemed real nice. We we were both big fans of Montrose. Rock Journalist Martin Popoff
would tell the metalvoice.com he suspected Mark Reale was a quiet guy and not a people person so
he may have been going along with management when it came to what they wanted to see
and that resulted in a lot of lineup changes. Once again Riot's second record failed to make
a mark in the states. Loeb and Arnell and they needed to get some heavy hitters in the band’s
corner. According to the book Heavy Metal the Definitive Guide, At one point Cliff Bernstein
of Q Prime management was in talks to represent the band, but things fell through. Loeb and Arnell
would strike a deal with Fred Heller who had previously worked with Ian Hunter & Lou Reed.
Arnell would tell Loduersound “Fred made a huge difference because he could get on the phone
with label executives,” “Freddie knew how to make people dance.” With Heller’s help the band landed
an opening slot for AC/DC in Texas alongside Molly Hatchet on their highway to hell tour. The members
of Riot could feel that they were on the cusp of stardom with Slavin telling the same publication
"They were the first arena shows any of us had done,” We were like, ‘Yeah, we’re rock stars now!’
Billy and Steve were like, ‘What colour Mercedes do you want?’ We
acted like idiots and busted up some hotel rooms. We went from a zero to a thousand.”
Following the AC/DC dates the band returned to new york more disillusioned and frustrated with
their careers. Their music didn’t appear to have a market in America and their managers were trying
to talk the band into changing their sound to be more radio friendly like Journey, Styx and
REO Speedwagon. At one point, it was suggested to the band that they should maybe wear makeup,
but they quickly scoffed at the idea. On the verge of calling it quits,
the band would receive a phone call out of the blue. The call would inform the members of
the band that their debut album had started to appear on the charts of Sounds music magazine.
It would turn out a local radio DJ named Neal Kay was heavily promoting the band
and import copies of their debut record were being bought up by metal loving fans.
1980 proved to be a huge year for the band. Because of the their popularity across the pond
they were offered a touring spot opening for Sammy Hagar. Hagar was signed to Capitol Records who
quickly offered the band a worldwide distribution deal. The same year, the band found themselves on
the Black and Blue Tour opening for Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult. Just a side note I’ve
done a whole video on the riot that happened during the black and blue tour in the states
The link is down below.Getting back to the video. Riot would cap 1980 off with an appearance at the
first ever Monsters of Rock Festival in the UK . The band would join Saxon, The Scorpions
Judas Priest and Rainbow on the same bill. As the band turned their attention to their
third album, Capitol Records much like their managers pushed the band to adopt a more radio
friendly sound. Riot was at a crossroads. They had already built a following in Japan and Europe
and while they hadn’t cracked America, they didn’t want to transform their sound. The band opted to
go in a harder rocking direction and Capitol was none too pleased, refusing to put out their album.
But rather than dropping the band, Capitol prevented the group from leaving the label.
It’s possible the whole feud with Capitol was made worse by the group’s management who butted heads
with the label. Slavin would tell Louder Sound There was a song by Rick called You’re All
I Needed Tonight that our A&R guy liked,” “He said it was a big hit,
and he took a tape to the executives in LA and played to them. Then Billy and Steve
don’t put the song on the album – it was their way to put the A&R guy in his place. Of course,
the A&R looks like an idiot. That’s when the label decided that it was ‘commercially unacceptable’.”
Riot’s management didn’t take the move lightly and in an effort to get their third album released,
they mobilized the Riot’s fanbase by sending out a postcard to all the people on their mailing list.
Soon enough artists including Iron Maiden lended their support to Riot
and fans started picketing the offices of Capitol Records in the UK and in the US. It would be
Elektra A&R man Tom Zutaut who famously signed Motley Crue and Guns N’ Roses who witnessed Riot
at a showcase in Brooklyn. Soon enough, Capitol Records released the band from their contract
and sold the recordings for the group’s third album to Elektra and the band found a new label.
Elektra would release what many considered to be the pinnacle of Riot’s career
1981’s Fire Down Under. To support the album the band opened for Rush, Triumph, Saxon and Grand
Funk Railroad across the States, before heading to the UK. The band at one point was supposed to
open for Ozzy Osbourne in the UK, but on the eve of the tour with Ozzy Fire Down Under entered the
billboard charts in America and Elektra sent them back to America to open for Rush during the band’s
moving Pictures tour. The album would go on to sell more than half a million copies stateside.
The band’s star looked to be rising, but things quickly went south. Frontman Guy Sperenza who had
found religion, was struggling with his identity, while also fighting with management and the record
label over money. He was tired of grinding to just to make ends meet and his new wife
wasn't a fan of rock music. Sperenza revealed to his bandmates while on tour with Grand Funk
Railroad,that he wanted to leave the group. He would depart the group in December of 1981
following two sold out shows opening for Rush. Guy would be replaced by Red Forrester who
played in a New York covers band named Rachel. He would sing on the band’s next 2 records including
Restless Breed, which came out the following year and 1983’s Born in America. While Forrester had
the stage presence, his unpredictable and volatile behavior also resulted in cancelled tours.
While opening for Rainbow as part of their Straight Between The Eyes Tour he vanished only
to end up in a hospital a week later suffering from a mysterious illness. And by the time Born in
America was released they were dropped by Elektra and had to release the record on an indie label.
Soon afterwards, things completely fell apart. Not helping was that in 1983 another metal band
named Quiet Riot would have the first metal album in history top the billboard charts
creating some confusion among some fans about whch band was which. By 1984 the band’s managers left,
Rick Ventura quit as did Forrester. Not long after Reale disbanded the group,
moved to Texas a and opted to pursue a new musical project called Narita in 1985,
named after the Riot's second album Narita would feature members of S.A. Slayer who I’ve also done
a video on, but the band wouldn’t stay together for very long. Slavin would convince Reale to
bring back Riot since the band appeared to still have a big following. By 1986 Riot was back in
business but Sperenza and Forrester both declined to front the band. A new riot lineup would remerge
with Satan’s Host vocalist Harry the Tyrant Conklin fronting the band. However, the band
soon ran into trouble when 4 shows into their comeback tour Conklin blew out his voice. He would
leave the group and Forrester rejoined the band, but upon relocating to Los Angeles, Forrester
once again quit Reale would go on to eventually land a deal with CBS Records in the late 80’s
and put out 10 more albums with a revolving cast of characters. None of those albums though would
match the success and fanfare of fire down under. The sad story of Riot didn’t end there.
In January of 1994, Forrester was killed by a gunman during a carjacking in Atlanta.
Following his exit from the band, Guy Sperana would leave the music industry and become an
exterminator. In fact, there’s a famous story that Riot an Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich called a
pest control company and was amazed when Sperenza showed up to do his service call. Sadly though,
In November of 2003 Guy Speranza would pass away due to pancreatic cancer. Working as an
exterminator for almost two decades may have had something to do with his cancer diagnosis/
In January of 2012 Mark Relae succumbed to crohn’s disease
a stomach condition he had been dealing with for a lot of his life.
Then as recently as this past year guitarist Lou Kouvaris who was 66
died due to the coronavirus. That does it for today's video guys. Thanks for watching. Be sure
to hit the like button and subscribe & we'll see you again on rock n' roll true stories. Take care.