Mass, from left, Joey "Vee" Vadala, Michael Palumbo, Louis St.
August, and Gene D'Itria. The band is playing a benefit for Boston
Marathon bombing victims on Sunday.
Please, it's no longer referred to as "hair metal."
"Melodic rock," is now the preferred term, says Louis St. August, singer for the band Mass.
No matter what we call it, what we're talking about is that sound
born in the 1980s, when rock grew slick and showy. Bands were getting
power ballads on the radio and playing screaming guitar solos in
concert. MTV helped stoke the visual flash that was once the domain of a
few bands, such as Kiss.
The Boston band Mass was in the thick of it, releasing "New Birth" on
RCA Records in 1985 and landing a hit with "Do You Love Me." In 1988,
Mass released "Voices in the Night," an album produced by Stryper's
Michael Sweet that earned the band a Boston Music Award nomination for
best metal album.
It was nothing but a good time; what could go wrong?
"Grunge killed melodic rock," St. August says. "It wiped out everything in America."
But not in Europe and Japan, where Mass kept its record deals and
audiences and was able to ride out the storm before interest back home
rekindled, restoring careers for the likes of Cinderella and L.A, Guns.
"Things really picked up four or five years ago after Rocklahoma
started. When that festival was drawing 50,000 people a day, promoters
realized there is an audience for this music," St. August says,
referring to the Oklahoma music fest that started in 2007 and featured
Poison, Ratt, and Twisted Sister as headliners.
Mass will be playing similar festivals in Colorado and Nebraska in
October, as well as supporting L.A. Guns at a show in September (the
band's schedule is online at www.massrocks.com).
"People were missing this music," he says. And without tweaking what
it has been doing all along_ two ballads per album; a couple of
mid-tempo songs, a couple of "pedal to the metal" guitar blowouts_
Mass is readying its seventh album for release next year.
"We all come from individual places in terms of what we like. We all
grew up liking different kinds of music," St. August says of working
with guitarist Gene D'Irtia, bassist Michael Palumbo, and drummer Joey
"Vee" Vadala. "We're not heavy metal and we're not light metal either.
Some of the metal today just sounds like screaming. Our era focuses on
melody and lyrics."
Mass is headlining a benefit for victims of the Boston Marathon
bombing on Sunday, June 9, at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston The show
begins at 2 p.m. and in addition to Mass features the ChickZ, Amanda
McCarthy, Linda Veins, Aaron Norcross Jr. and the Old Dogs, Dookie
Houser, the Joe Hart Band, GrandEvolution, Elizabeth Mitchell, and other
guests. Tickets are $15 with proceeds going to America's Fund, a
charity that supports members of the armed services and established a
special fund for victims of the bombing.
That was then...this is now!!
