L.A's Rockicks / "Reach for the Sky" (1977 demo)

Описание: BRIEF BIOGRAPHY on ROCKICKS

As with Sorcery -- of “Stunt Rock” and “Rocktober Blood” movie fame – Rockicks is another unsung, under-the-radar L.A band that should have been. . . . .

If you’re from Los Angeles and haunted the The Rock Corporation, you know Rockicks as the Van Nuys’ club’s “house band,” as well as their many club co-appearances with the likes of Sorcery, the Randy Rhodes-era of Quiet Riot, and Legs Diamond at places like The Roxy, and their many-a-west coast shows with Greg Guiffria’s Angel (as they shared management).

This awesome, Iron Maiden-styled, NWoBHM barnstormer (analog tape-to-digital saved by Jerry Zubal; sent to me) was written by Rockicks’ bassist Sammy Pate (each member sang lead on the songs they wrote; died November 2021) after the release of their lone album, “Inside,” issued in early 1977 on Robert Stigwood’s home for the Bee Gees and Eric Clapton, R.S.O Records. The other members are: Rick Altschuler, drums (ex-Ruby Starr of Black Oak Arkansas; died in the late ‘90s), Brian Naughton, guitars (ex-Rock Candy; died 2012), Jerry Zubal, guitars (ex-1776, one album in 1971; died fall 2025).

“Reach for the Sky” was part of a three-song demo recorded in 1977 -- which included the cuts “Let It Roll and “Taken It All The Way” -- which garnered interest from MCA Records. Instead of wanting to sign the band to an independent deal, MCA offered a deal to be the “band” for a solo artist on their roster: either Ray Kennedy (ex-KBG; wrote hit songs for the Babys), Lane Caudell (ex-Skyband), or Eric Braunn (ex-Iron Butterfly), each which the label was heavily invested at the time. Rockicks passed on that offer, no other label made an offer, so they split. Ironically, Jerry Zubal then recorded demos with a solo-bound Doug Ingle, formerly of Iron Butterfly, shortly after, before returning to Detroit, Michigan, in 1978.

So, if you’re a fan of the late ‘70s to early ‘80s era of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with the likes of Iron Maiden and Saxon, or the post-Van Halen American Hard Rock concerns of Jimi Jamison's Target and Cobra, Jerry Riggs’s Riggs, Mark Reale's Riot, Eric Moore's the Godz, or Ronnie Montrose's Gamma trilogy of albums -- then you’ll dig Rockicks. If Rockicks stuck to this “sound,” they could have dovetailed themselves into NWOBHM-era, the same way April Wine had done when they became heavier with the albums “Harder Faster,” “First Glance,” and “Nature of the Beast,” or Krokus during their “Burning Bones”-to-“Screaming in the Night”-era. An April Wine / Rockicks or Krokus / Rockicks tour would have been amazing, indeed.

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Learn more about the career of Jerry Zubal and Rockicks with the essay, “Sometimes You’re Kiss . . . and Sometimes You’re Rockicks: Interview with Guitarist Jerry Zubal” on Medium at   / sometimes-youre-kiss  

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God bless Jerry. It was great to have met you and becoming your friend, even if for a short time. I was "friends with a rock star," as far as I was concerned and it meant the world to me: all the rare tracks and photos you shared. What a treat it all was!

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