I stumbled across them recently while surfing youtube, and I liked what I heard enough to seek out their 2 albums and EP from the 80's. They're in the vein of bands like Xavion, Living Colour, etc because they're you know, black rockers who don't make black music ()

HA-HA!

if i didn't know any better i would've thought this was a Chapelle skit.

i was a metalhead back in the day and remember hearing about these guys, but never picked up anything by them. i wish i would have. that was some pretty good metal aside from the lyrics, though i never heard a brother with a voice like that.

wonder what they're doing now?

magnificentsynthesizer said:

From what I gathered, after guitarist Spacey T's (former member of Mother's Finest & Fishbone) departure, they opted to bring in Alex Masi -- of Italian descent -- for some much needed mainstream visibility. That however didn't bring about the desired results, and the band called it quits after releasing their 1986 album Speed Of Light.

Spacey T and bassist Stanley E went on to join 90's obscure band, Gangland, which produced a one off demo in the year 1990. Spacey T is currently apart of Year Of The Dragon with former Fishbone member Walter A. Kibby II, aka Dirty Walt.
[Edited 7/29/08 10:07am]

IdentityCrisis said:

Yeah, i heard about what Spacey and Walt were doing. can't wait to hear it! i should try and find some of SB's stuff, though that might be a mission impossible.

magnificentsynthesizer said:

Orgnote.

Very familiar with them.

In the early 80s I was playing with an all Black Rock group led by a fabulous front-man vocalist, Marcus Malone.
One of the rehearsal studios we used was a place call Falcon Studios on the seedy east end of Santa Monica Blvd.
Quite often there was a band rehearsing in one of the adjacent rooms called Kahlua. They were basically doing R&B material.
We began to notice that during our rehearsals they would often check out what we were doing. Over time we met and had a few conversations.
At some later point in time, I ran into either Stanley or Tracey (Spacey T) and was asked to come to a show they were doing at Madame Wong's West in Santa Monica. Expecting R&B material, I was surprised to see their new "identity" as a Metal band and the fact that they had changed their name to Sound Barrier.

Just as I finished posting this, we just had an EARTHQUAKE!!!

Rock ON...


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431
[Edited 7/29/08 11:43am]

theAudience said:

another awesome story brought to you by, tA

you're just too cool, man.

magnificentsynthesizer said:

Thanks but i'm more shaky than cool at the moment.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

Whoa, seems as thought you may have played an instrumental part in drastic sonic shift. Kick-ass!
[Edited 7/29/08 16:52pm]

Yeah cool. I know those guys. Saw them as blackrawk metal, didn't catch their early r&b days.

RE EQ: I live right in the epicenter.

Great story..Hope you're OK Aud.

I'm a big fan of Sound Barrier. They were a little more metal than funk. The self titled debut had some "Rush" overtones but it's a classic joint. The EP
"Born To Rock" was when they were getting real heavy and "Speed Of Light" was pretty much in the "Maiden/Saxon" territory. Vic Johnson (BusBoys/Sammy Hagar) plays lead on a few tunes w/ Spacey.

And like Identity Crisis said, "Fire In The Rain" had the remaining members of S.B. with Alex Masi on lead guitar but by then they were called "Masi". And in 92, singer Bernie K and drummer Skivado put together "Total Eclipse" with Victor on lead guitars. That CD was really in the "VH/Dokken" vein with some R&B flavor. Vic KILLS it on that disc. Very underrated player.

Spacey also killed it on Mother's Finest' "Black Radio" disc.

S.B. gets lost in the cracks. They kept the torch going somewhere after Jimi and before Living Colour. It would be cool to see them do it one more time w/ all original 4 members.

SPYZFAN1 said:

Agreed...being from So. Cal, and being a black kid who grew up playing rock, I couldn't help but be hip to these cats. Underrated...ahead of their time and every other cliche' u can mention. Simply said, these cats SHOULD have had the hype Living Colour had. And then some. They were killin'.

IdentityCrisis said:

Maybe a very small part only because we were an all Black band that wasn't playing R&B/Funk/Reggae.
We definitely weren't a Metal band.

The material we were writing sounded like a cross between The Cars, Scary Monsters era Bowie and a bit of Bad Company thrown in for edge.



tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431