The Four Horsemen (band) Totally Explained

Everything about The Four Horsemen Band totally explained

The Four Horsemen were an American hard rock band that had brief popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their style was blues influenced heavy rock and their fame was both fleeting and full of tragedy.

History

Formed in the late eighties by Wales-born guitarist Haggis (a.k.a. Stephen Harris), who had been a touring bassist for The Cult and member of Zodiac Mindwarp, the Four Horsemen were based out of Hollywood, California, and featured Frank Starr on vocals.
   Their first release was a self titled four track EP in 1989, which generated enough interest to get them a full album record contract with Def American.
   The second album, Nobody Said it Was Easy was produced by Rick Rubin, and was by far their most popular. The album produced the title track as a single and the hit "Rockin' is Ma Business.". However, the band was tied up in legal disputes with Rubin and lead singer Frank Starr also spent some time in jail on a drugs charge, the combination of which put their album on hold for nearly two years. By the time it was finally released in 1991, the music scene was just about to change with the rise of Grunge which in turn led to a rapid downturn in many of the existing hard rock acts. Just as they were getting wider recognition, their market disappeared. Business problems, another stint in jail by Frank Starr and internal fights followed, which prompted Haggis to leave the band.
   In 1994, the band reconciled their differences and started to put together a third release with Pharaoh replacing Haggis on bass. But the first of two tragedies struck on September 27th 1994 when original drummer Dimwit (Ken Montgomery) died from a drug overdose. The band continued with creating the album, dedicating it to Dimwit and including the poignant ballad 'Song for Absent Friends' which is clearly influenced by his death. Dimwit's brother Chuck Biscuits took over on drums.
   Then in November of 1995, lead singer Frank Starr was hit by a drunk driver while driving his motorcycle down Sunset Strip and was left in a coma suffering from severe head injuries. The band soldiered on, releasing the third album Gettin Pretty Good...At Barely Gettin' By... in 1996 on the Magnetic Air label and embarking on a tour with Ron Young of Little Caesar on vocals, hoping that Starr would come out of the coma, but he eventually died on June 18, 1999, and the band broke up.
   In 2007, Haggis assembled as much archive footage of the band as he could, and released a 2 disc retrospective, Left for Dead. Disc one is a DVD featuring the promo videos from Nobody said it was Easy, plus rare interview, live performance and behind the scenes footage. Disc two is a live CD.

Lineup

Original Members:
1989: The Four Horsemen

Frank C. Starr (vocals ex-Alien and Sin)
Dave Lizmi (guitar)
Haggis (guitar, former bassist of The Cult and Zodiac Mindwarp when he went by the name of Kid Chaos)
Ben Pape (bass)
Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery (drums)

Other Players:

Ron Young (vocals)

Pharaoh (bass)

Chuck Biscuits (drums)

Randy Cooke (drums)

Rick McGee (guitar)

Discography

1989 The Four Horesemen (EP) - Caroline/ILL labels ť 01 Welfare Boogie

   02 Shelly ť 03 High School Rock N Roller

   04 Hard Lovin' Man
   1991 Nobody Said it Was Easy - Def American ť 01 Nobody Said It Was Easy

   02 Rockin' Is Ma' Business ť 03 Tired Wings

   04 Can't Stop Rockin' ť 05 Wanted Man

   06 Let It Rock ť 07 Hot Head

   08 Moonshine ť 09 Homesick Blues

   10 75 Again ť 11 Lookin' For Trouble

   12 I Need A Thrill/Somethin' Good
   1996 Gettin' Pretty Good at Barely Gettin' By - Magnetic Air ť 01 Still Alive And Well

   02 Gettin' Pretty Good At Barely Gettin' By ť 03 Drunk Again

   04 Livin' These Blues ť 05 Song For Absent Friends

   06 Keep Your Life ť 07 Hot Rod

   08 Rock My Universe ť 09 Back In Business Again

   10 Hit The Road ť 11 Keep On Keepin' On

   12 My Song ť 13 What The Hell Went Wrong

2005 Left For Dead CD/Live'92 - No Label ť 01 '75 Again

   02 Moonshine ť 03 Tired Wings

   04 Can't Get Next To You ť 05 Nobody Said It Was Easy

   06 Hothead ť 07 The Roadie From Hell

   08 I Need A Thrill ť 09 Wanted Man

   10 Rockin Is Ma Business ť 11 Let It Rock

   12 Lookin For Trouble

Sources

Sleazeroxx.com writeup

Sleazegrinder.com writeup

Video for "Rockin' is ma business"

Official Website

Further Information

Get more info on 'The Four Horsemen Band'.

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