Cristian Machado (vocals)
Marc Rizzo (guitars)
Jardel Paisante (guitars)
Lazaro Pina (bass)
Roger Vasquez (percussion)
Dave Chavarri (drums)
The New Jersey-based Latin metal sextet Ill Nino includes members Cristian Machado (vocals), Dave Chavarri (drums), Marc Rizzo (guitars), Jardel Paisante (guitars), Lazaro Pina (bass), and Roger Vasquez (percussion). Most of its members are of South American descent, resulting in a type of music that combines crunchy heavy metal with Latin rhythms and lyrics that alternate between English and Spanish. The idea of Ill Nino began when former Pro Pain member Chavarri was touring as an interim member of Max Cavalerra's Soulfly. Once his tour of duty ended and he returned home, he immediately phoned his friends Rizzo and Machado with the idea of forming an original band (to quote Chavarri, "The idea is to be as heavy as possible and as melodic as possible -- with a Latin twist"), with the other members enlisting shortly thereafter. The new group enjoyed exposure via the New York metal college radio station WSOU and began to gig heavily, opening for the likes of Kittie, Soulfly, Snapcase, plus a co-headlining set at the March Metal Meltdown festival in New Jersey. Soon after, the sextet signed to Roadrunner Records, issuing Ill Nino's debut recording, Revolution/Revolucion in July of 2001. Two years touring to support the record followed before the reappeared in the record stores with 2003's Confession. The live DVD Live from the Eye of the Storm followed a year later with a new album, One Nation Underground, landing in 2005. Greg Prato, All Music Guide.
H O L E
Courtney Love (singer/guitarist)
Eric Erlandson (guitarist)
Jill Emery (bassist)
And Caroline Rue (drummer)
The band Hole was created by Courtney Love in late 1989. Since then, the band has gone through countless members and changes in their musical styles. The first original lineup consisted of Courtney Love (singer/guitarist), Eric Erlandson (guitarist), Jill Emery (bassist), and Caroline Rue (drummer). This first successful lineup lasted from 1990 to early 1992. Courtney Love had experienced failed attempts at putting together bands with friends in the past; now she had a band that wouldn't "kick me out." By placing ads in magazines Flipside and The Recycler, the first lineup for Hole to present to the world was formed. In March 1990, the band went into a Los Angeles studio called Rudy’s Rising Star and recorded their first few tracks. The result was the 7 inch EP Retard Girl. It consisted of three songs: Retard Girl, Phone Bill Song, and Johnnie’s In The Bathroom. One track left off the EP from the same recording session was Turpentine, which would later emerge on numerous bootlegs and finally later on The First Session EP and the compilation CD, My Body, The Hand Grenade. The EP was released in July 1990 on Sympathy For The Record Industry label. It was produced by Courtney Love’s then-husband Falling James Moreland.
Between this and their next single, Dicknail, Hole toured small Los Angeles punk clubs to gain more recognition. Noted for her screaming and ranting between songs on stage, Courtney and Hole soon attracted a small punk following. At the end of 1990, Hole returned to the studio for their next 7 inch release: Dicknail. The B-side track was Burn Black. This single was popular with punk enthusiasts in England, especially, and apparently got a lot of airplay by BBC disc jockey John Peel. The single was released on another label, the then unknown Sup Pop label.
For their real first album, Courtney sought out Kim Gordan of Sonic Youth and Don Fleming of an unknown band Gumball as producers. They had signed to Caroline Records for their debut. At the beginning of 1991, Hole were on a more widely traveled tour, and we getting ready to record their debut album. Recorded in several days, Pretty on the Inside was released in September 1991. It was critically acclaimed, especially in England and the UK. One single was released from the album, Teenage Whore backed with Burn Black and a new song, Drown Soda. One video was made to promote the album for the song Garbadge Man. Touring Europe at the end of the year, singer Courtney Love often ended up ditching her own tour to be with her then boyfriend, Kurt Cobain.
Hole then moved into 1992, on a U.S. tour and gaining popularity with the American public. Courtney Love discovered she was pregnant, and in February, married Kurt Cobain. Shortly after, Caroline Rue was fired for a poor performance at a recording session, and then Jill Emery gave her notice and quit the band. Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson have always been the two stable fronts that keep the band together. Courtney, now on maternity break, scoped out local clubs with Erlandson for a new bassist and a new drummer to complete the band. Kurt Cobain suggested Patty Schemel for a drummer, and she was quickly recruited for the spot. At one club Courtney and Eric spotted a band called Janitor Joe, and immediately asked their female bassist, Kristen Pfaff to join up. She declined at their offer. Courtney took her maternity break and heartbreak from the media when her daughter was born. A bidding war for Hole had began, and after being sought after by Virgin Records, Madonna’s label Maverick, and several others, Hole settled with DGC, Nirvana’s label. Finally, in late 1992, Hole took to the studio again. Having recruited temporary bassist Leslie Hardy, the group recorded 3 songs to be released as a single in 1993. In January 1993, Kurt Cobain, Patty Schemel, and Courtney Love formed a joke group called Nighty Nite. They went into a studio drunk and recorded a Courtney/Kurt duet It’s Closing Soon, and an early demo version of the Hole song, Miss World. These tapes are referred to as the Rio Tapes. Hole started getting to work after their break in 1993. In March, the band, having convinced Kristen to join up, had a brief UK tour. The single from the late ’92 sessions were released in April 1993 in the Beautiful Son EP/single. The single was released on the City Slang label only in Germany. Hole spent the summer of ’93 on a Europe tour, debuting the songs that would fold together as their second album Live Through This live to the happily obliging Europeans. Hole started recording their second album for DGC in the late months of 1993. 14 songs were recorded for the album; only 12 were issued to the actual release. The two left out were Rock Star and Old Age. These songs re-emerged as b-sides on future singles and on numerous bootlegs. In the late months of 1993 and the early ones of 1994, Hole had numerous photo shoots for magazines and publicity lined up for the new album. Live Through This was released on April 12, 1994, unfortunately for the band, several days after the suicide of Kurt Cobain. The album has ever since been labeled cursed. Only 4 singles were released from the album, and 3 made into music videos: "Miss World," "Doll Parts," "Violet," and "Softer, Softest." Because of the recent tragedy, Hole ditched their tour scheduled to start in May. Then in June, Kristen Pfaff, who said she needed a break from the band, scheduled herself to return to her hometown. She was found the morning she was supposed to leave dead in her bathtub from an overdose of heroin. The band, or what was left of it, was again in a state of shock. Through their grieving time, an old boyfriend of Courtney’s found the band a new bass player, 22-year old Melissa Auf der Maur from Canada. With Melissa recruited, the band finally got themselves onto their feet and had their first show in months on August 26, 1994 at the Reading Festival in England. The show was a disaster, but given the circumstances at the time, that is understandable.
The band moved into late 1994 on a U.S. tour, and their new album went gold at this time. In early 1995, Hole toured Australia, with Courtney getting into trouble along the way. In February, Hole filmed their Unplugged performance for MTV, a memorable and enjoyable performance with a new stance: Hole completely acoustic. That spring Hole went back to Europe for a brief tour. That summer Hole was a headlining act at the 1995 Lollapalooza tour; again Courtney got into some trouble along the way. In August Hole headed back to the UK areas for the ’95 Reading festival, a performance that definitely surpassed the year before’s. In September, Hole played Violet at the MTV VMA’s. Courtney had an amusing run in with Madonna at the show. After a year and a half of touring for Live Through This, an album that made many magazine’s Album of the Year award polls, the band took a long break, supposedly writing rough material for their third album. An EP was released in the meantime, a CD containing radio sessions from 1991, called Ask For It.
In 1996, Hole had one new song out, a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Gold Dust Woman on the Crow soundtrack. A video was made and played often on MTV that summer. That fall, Courtney’s movie The People VS. Larry Flynt was released, and so began Courtney’s Hollywood venture. All through 1997, Hole were in the news, stating that the new album was being written and recorded. To keep the fans happy, two CDs of unreleased material were unleased: My Body, The Hand Grenade, a compilation of rare and unreleased tracks, and The First Session a CD of Hole’s first 4 recordings ever.
At the beginning of 1998, the media stated that the new Hole album, called Celebrity Skin was to be released in June. That date was pushed back to September 8, 1998. Two days later Hole played on the 1998 MTV VMA’s with newly recruited drummer Samantha Maloney. Patty Schemel had left the band for various reasons: problems in the studio and apparently drugs. Hole had a brief UK tour that fall and then a U.S. tour. In January 1999 Hole left once again for the friendly country of Australia and played memorable Big Day Out shows. That spring they came back to the U.S. touring for Celebrity Skin and that summer played a lot of dates in Canada. They stopped the tour in July. Only 3 singles were taken from the album, all three made into music videos: "Celebrity Skin," "Awful," and "Malibu." "Hit So Hard," the third track on the CD was supposed to have been a single at some point. That October, Melissa Auf der Maur gave her notice to leave the band. Various reasons were reported: she wanted to be solo, work on her photography, etc. She ended up touring as a replacement bassist for the Smashing Pumpkins in late 1999 and early 2000. Hole now are left with three members; the search for a new bassist continues. In January 1999, Hole released an unreleased song from the Celebrity Skin studio sessions: Be A Man for the movie soundtrack of the movie Any Given Sunday. Another song from the CS sessions, Best Sunday Dress has been released as a b-side. Even though it was rumored in October 2000 that they were heading back into the studio to record their fourth album, most of 2000, 2001, and 2002 saw Hole through yet another period of speculation and inactivity. In May 2002, Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson announced the official disbanding of Hole on the official Hole website. Courtney is now working on her own material for a solo album due sometime in 2003.
Kittie
Morgan Lander (vocals, guitars)
Mercedes Lander (vocals, piano, drums)
Tara McLeod (guitars)
Ivy Vujic (bass).
Kittie is an all-female nu metal/metalcore band from London, Ontario, Canada. The band rose to success in 1999 when the track Brackish from their debut album Spit became a hit single. The band also supported Slipknot during the early 2000’s on Slipknot’s United Kingdom tour heightening the band’s popularity.
As of 2008, Kittie consists of Morgan Lander (vocals, guitars), Mercedes Lander (vocals, piano, drums), Tara McLeod (guitars), and Ivy Vujic (bass).
Kittie was formed in 1996, when Mercedes Lander and Fallon Bowman met in a high school gymnastics class. The lead singer, Morgan Lander, is sister to Mercedes. Their original bassist was Tanya Candler, who was forced to leave the band in the winter of 1999 due to health problems. She was replaced with [Contracted side player from=1999 to=2001]Talena Atfieldcontracted side player who was never an official member of the band. In 2001, Fallon Bowman left Kittie without citing any official reasons, though it was alleged that it was due to disagreements with the band’s manager, Dave Lander, and the musical direction their second album was taking. The band’s guitar technician, Jeff Phillips, filled the vacant spot during tours, but he was never officially made a member.
Bassist Talena Atfield left in 2002 and was the subject of much controversy for quite some time. She issued a statement saying the band had given her an ultimatum, although the validity of this is unknown. She was replaced by Jennifer Arroyo.
In 2004 they added a fourth member, the second guitarist Lisa Marx who played for a total of 10 weeks on tour, and Jeff Phillips went full time to his side project Thine Eyes Bleed.
Until March 2005 they were signed to Artemis Records but parted ways due to a proposed amendment to the recording budget for the pending 4th Kittie album. Problems between the group and record label had been rumored for a long time. The only official sign of these problems was a settlement out of court for unpaid royalties in March 2004.
On March 23, 2005, Morgan Lander made a post indicating that both Marx and Arroyo had left the band. Arroyo’s split was amicable while Marx’s was a surprise. Financial reasons were cited as well as, in the case of Arroyo, the desire to work outside of Kittie full time. Arroyo joined with Billy Graziadei of Biohazard, to form Suicide City.
In 2005 Kittie added 2 new members: Tara McLeod, guitar; and Trish Doan, bass. Tara And Trish were the first official members of the band since the original 4 Morgan,Mercedes, Tanya and Fallon Most fans have stated that this is Kittie’s tightest and most musically talented lineup yet.
In 2006, vocalist Morgan Lander provided vocals for the song It Turns to Rust on Canadian metal band Kataklysm’s album, In the Arms of Devastation.
In May 2006 Kittie announced a joint venture to create their own record label, X of Infamy Records which will include major label distribution by EMI records. Their 4th studio album is entitled Funeral For Yesterday and was released on February 20, 2007.
On March 4, 2008 Kittie announced the departure of bassist Trish Doan due to an eating disorder. Doan had been diagnosed with the eating disorder Anorexia nervosa, which she developed during the recording of Funeral For Yesterday. Doan has been battling the disease for nearly two years. She was replaced by Ivy Vujic.
