Rockandi
Demos

1978.

1430, East Covina Boulevard, Charter Oak High School, Los Angeles. James Alverson has just changed schools. He is a teenager who is not at all calm. He also plays the guitar. Discreetly, but he certainly knows how to use it as a tool of seduction. He has always been able to attract girls by making the six strings roar. Now that he has changed schools, the matter becomes difficult. At a young age, a newcomer can be a victim of teasing or exclusion. When he looks in the mirror, his long hair reassures him little as well. But that's his nature, and the mop of hair will help him make himself known. Yes. But where to start? Certainly not with the drug dealers, they are useful but better to have occasional contact. He needs someone like him, neither geeks nor calm types. To build a reputation at school, you need the pack, and the pack has to be the right one. A pack of rockers. This is why James initially keeps to himself. He studies the situation. He identifies some people but doesn't immediately throw himself in. He wants to understand. He wants to be sure to get everything right on the first try but without giving in to instinct. Without approaching the first long-haired person he sees with a "Hey, hi!" He could be a nerd, after all. James studies, after tracking them down, the groups of cocky and roguish boys, trying to understand which was the strongest and who was in charge within it. And after a few weeks of keen analysis, he sees clearly. He casts the line, and the blonde with the longest hair in school takes the bait. That blonde is Vince Neil Wharton.

At this point, the game becomes easy. The friendship strengthens, girls come like mice to cheese, and while Vince enjoys their company, James looks for the other two needed to start the band. Joe Marks and John Marshall then take over bass and drums. Thus, a group is born that takes the name of Rockandi and has the only claim to make affordable rock n' roll for unofficial school parties. The guys start with covers of Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, and Brownsville Station. The idea works great, and Vince's mind is diabolical. His knowledge of the institute and the people frequenting it is almost total, and he is the one pushing Rockandi towards a choice that strategically turns out to be winning. After mapping the nerds, identifying many, Vince starts with a stressful and incessant persuasion effort towards them, aimed at getting access to houses free from parents. He only asks for the possibility to organize parties, bring girls, and play. Despite disasters and destructions of all kinds, the project takes off, and before long, Rockandi becomes the most famous teenage party rock band in the area.

On the heels of this small but substantial local success, Rockandi goes into the studio to record a five-song demo tape (1979) written by them, marking their peak expressive point. Then again, calling it an expressive point might be really too much.

In fact, the work the young men perform hurriedly in the recording room has absolutely no good audio quality. On the contrary, it perfectly expresses the concept of low fidelity. But it's not unlistenable either. The music is very oriented towards melodic rock n' roll of Cheap Trick and Aerosmith, but it can't be dismissed so quickly. Although it contains all the naivety of teenage rockers from the west coast, the most glamorous and 80s sense of the term catchy starts to make its way. The sweetness of old love lyrics begins to become rougher and more provocative. James' guitar is more scratchy and distorted. Vince's voice is still that of a kid, not yet ready to be the singer of Motley Crue. In short, it's an immature basic product but with a lot of potential inside. "She’s Gone" perfectly expresses the leap forward made by our guys, towards a positivity of melodies which nevertheless, especially on the overall rhythmic base (and guitar in particular), become more modern. Strange to talk about it today when these things are considered vintage. Some tempo changes are reminiscent of punk, which is the main influence of a song like "I Really Want To Dance With You". How much did the early Poison take from this track? The catchiness of this song is very, very marked, almost wanting to anticipate the sales successes of the groups that would start from the following year. The real glam, the one that would come out of school to invade the streets, has its seed in "Let’s Get Rockin Tonight", a track with rhythms borrowed by anyone who succeeded in the 80s and 90s. "My Girl Waiting For Me" has a rhythmic base that was also liked by the brit bands of the 90s. "All American Kid" is the hardest track of the five and is the closest to street rock sounds, then turned into real sleaze with Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns.

Before them, “relics” of this kind can only be attributed to the Sisters of Lawless and Sixx. Their music was much closer to metal, therefore more aggressive. Rockandi should be credited for being able to merge the commercial sounds of Cheap Trick with a style that is decidedly less vapid and more concrete. Don't expect anything particularly exciting. After all, they were just four crazy guys looking for sex. Just expect to go discover the roots of glam. At the address 1430, East Covina Boulevard, Charter Oak High School, Los Angeles.