Steve Alex - vox, guitar
Chaz Winzenread - ld. guitar
Raulton Reichel - wurli, b3
Brian Thompson - drums
Bela Wurtzler - bass, vox
Influences
Wilco, Spoon, Cheap Trick, Prince, The Faces, The Afghan Whigs, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, LCD Soundsystem, The Twilight Singers, The Kooks, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Radiohead, Blur, Talking Heads, Portishead, The Cardigans, Maggie's Dream, DAG, Gavin DeGraw, Elliott Smith, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Shins, Rufus Wainwright, Slayer, Streets, The Zombies, Chk Chk Chk, The Who, Peter Gabriel, The Specials, James Brown, Stone Temple Pilots, Gnarls Barkley, Outkast, The Mars Volta, Wire, Sean Paul, Lansing Dreiden, Procol Harum, Daft Punk, Missy Elliott, Mr. Vegas, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bill Withers, Miles Davis, Bjork, Bob Dylan, The Buzzcocks, Duran Duran, INXS, U2, Jay Z, Jeff Buckley, John Coltrain, Charlie Parker, Johnny Cash, New Order, Led Zeppelin, Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, Morrissey, Outkast, Paul Simon, The Flaming Lips, The Pixies, The Roots, Stevie Wonder, The Strokes, Sly & The Family Stone, Superdrag, Television, Tom Petty, Weezer, The Meters, English Beat, Brian Eno, The Fall, Guided By Voices, The Hives, Muse, Nirvana, Paul Simon, Swiss Beats, Suede, DJ Shadow, AC/DC, Beck, Billy Bragg, Billy Idol, Mark Ronson
Real rock ‘n’ roll has never been trendy. It can’t be, because it’s timeless, eternal. Rock ‘n’ roll isn’t just about bad kids with good hearts, out late on a school night. It’s about always being able to make you remember how you felt when you were one of those kids, or desperately wanted to be. It’s about passion and heartbreak and release, about knowing better but going ahead and doing anyway. Real rock ‘n’ roll is incalculably more than melody, rhythm and sexual analogy. It’s gotta shake your soul as well as your ass.
The four young men of Four Star Riot understand this perfectly.
Over the course of five years and three independently produced releases, Four Star Riot have risen to the top of the Tampa Bay original-music scene by ignoring trends in favor of crafting their own take on the catchy, soulful rock ‘n’ roll that’s been frightening parents and giving their offspring libidinous ideas for half a century. This Clearwater, Florida quartet doesn’t take much influence from the last decade’s worth of punk posers and angsty post-Eddie Vedder clones. Inspired by the unimpeachable rock ‘n’ soul that the genre’s originators stole from their R&B forebears, Four Star Riot update those warm, earnest grooves to modern-rock eclecticism and an inescapable and stylish power-pop edge. And as grunge, nu-metal, garage-fuzz and any number of other target-marketed fads have come and gone, FSR continue to refine a sound equal parts familiar and new, danceable and ballsy, sweet and gritty.
Burn So Bright, Four Star Riot’s brand-new fourth effort, finds the foursome effortlessly and infectiously blending sex, sass and soul with their strongest batch of songs to date. Songwriter Steve Alex’s mesmerizing vocal presence and instantly resonant lyrical style have never been more effective. Whether describing a young lady who wants to feel like a woman (“All They Way”) or wearing his own heart on his sleeve (“Numb”), Alex is the archetypical rock frontman, enthralling to hear and engrossing to watch. Guitarist Joe Sanders’ evocative liquid playing echoes Alex’s bare-nerve humanity, at turns bluesy, funky and hard, and always for the good of the song, be it a rave-up like “Still My Girl” or the last-call seduction of “In Your Arms.” In the end, however, a rock ‘n’ roll band lives or dies on the strength of its rhythm section, and drummer Mike Chilton and bassist Johnny Deliz deftly guide Four Star Riot through the stompers, ballads and slightly ‘80s-flavored hard candy – including the syncopated Police-meets-Rick-Springfield surprise highlight “No Good Actress” – with their dynamic propulsion.
Four Star Riot and Burn So Bright aren’t custom-tailored for emo kids, or classic-rock obsessives, or indie scholars, or headbangers, or rhythm ‘n’ blues aficionados – and yet they are. This is a band and CD for anybody that still believes real rock ‘n’ roll should move the heart and soul as well as the head and the feet. And the group’s four members suspect that’s what everybody who really loves rock ‘n’ roll wants, or maybe needs, from it.
Four Star Riot have supported Lit, Jimmy Eat World, Def Leppard, Sum 41, Sugarcult, Saliva, and Bon freakin’ Jovi, among many others, and have performed at Austin’s annual South by Southwest industry to-do, as well as Atlanta’s Atlantis Music Festival and the Florida Music Festival. The group has also garnered multiple awards and kudos from the hometown press, and national ink in outlets such as Music Connection.
yeah..just had to start pouring when we were leaving. We made out safe and didn't get too soaked, so was cool. We'll try and catch another show soon. :D
You guys kicked ass last night! It was a real treat, as usual. Thanks for making me happy!
And Happy Father's Day to you daddys too, as tired as you might be right now, after 2 Ybor gigs...keep in mind that it's the children that make the world go 'round.
Cannot make the show tonight, but will be in Ybor on Saturday fo sho! I wish you guys could know how excited this makes me! I miss y'all!!! I can't wait to hear your new music either, will I have new cd's to sell one day, as well? Woo Hoo!!
Stop looking at me that way...I know I'm a nut. lol
Inscris-toi gratuitement sur www. b-stream. com pour voir le concert en direct de chez toi !!! de Lala Power Madchester Fever Mais inscrit toi dés maintenant , le concert c'est jeudi 5 juin . Attention les inscriptions seront closes mercredi soir
Hi guys...I cheated on you last night...*hangs head in shame*. I saw a band here in Pinellas county, they even sang a few Doors for me, but...I must have been feeling a bit guilty, they just didn't compare to my fave band. :)
So why is there no shows for next weekend? huh? Do I need to start finding you bookings too? lol Dammit...I want my FSR.
If I promise to sell 50 cd's at your next gig, will you get a booking before july?? lol
My friend Sammie right below me has told me lots about ya. She is gonna get me to travel up to Tampa for a long weekend just to come out and see yas. Can't wait.
Ok...last night was...in a word...awesomeness. I had WAY too much fun, you guys get better and better, each time I see you. So to show my appreciation for doing your part in lifting my soul, I took a few pix last night, and decided to play around a bit. But please let me first say, that I WILL be getting some more pix, and I owe Raulton a good one.
Christopher Walken WISHES he looked this good...lol
Nice to see you at the BB tonight~def a pleasant suprise. Had a great time-great playlist~definately the favorites of a different genres to please all. Hopefully See you at the next Clw gig (the spring breakers will be gone so some more originals will be desirable). XOXO~ Mona Lisa PS update the profile with the new members so a girl has a clue
Let's Go Bananas, this Saturday! Live Music, Free Beer!!!! Please Repost!!!
Hello Friends,
If you dig good reggae/dub, come on out this Saturday, April 12th to the Dunedin Brewery and go Bananas!!! "Part One Tribe" (Skunk/Long Beach Records) will be performing from 9:00-1:30. This may be the last time that you will get to see them before they go on tour to support their new album ("Obvious As Ever").
Pre-party at Harris's starting at 4:00: 3 Corn Hole sets, free beer (from The Dunedin Brewery) and free food from the grill (yes, we will have some Vegi shit for all of you rabbits out there)! Contact me (Jimmy) for pre-party directions and details. Show starts @ 9:00 PM, doors at 8:30 PM. $5 at Door 18 & Up Free Give Aways from: Double Barrel Surf Shop
Dunedin Brewery is located @: 937 Douglas Ave. Dunedin, Florida 34698 Phone: (727) 736-0606
I hope to see all of you out for this wonderful evening of festivities!!!!!