Leather Charm was a short-lived American heavy metal band from

Downey, California Downey is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities. The city is the birthplace of the Apollo space program. It is also the home of ...

, noteworthy as a forerunner to

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

. The group rehearsed

new wave of British heavy metal The new wave of British heavy metal (commonly abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that started in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Journalist Geoff Barton coined the term i ...

covers and original material for a period of months in 1981.

History

Leather Charm was formed in June 1981 following the demise of Phantom Lord, a

garage band Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

featuring

James Hetfield James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, co-founder and a main songwriter of heavy metal band Metallica. He is mainly known for his intricate rhythm playing, but occasionall ...

and guitarist Hugh Tanner. At the time, Hetfield was living with an older brother in

Brea, California Brea (; Spanish for "tar") is a city in northern Orange County, California. The population as of the 2010 census was 39,282. It is southeast of Los Angeles. Brea is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The city began as a center of cru ...

and attending

Brea Olinda High School Brea Olinda High School is a 9th–12th grade public high school located in Brea, California. Established in 1927, the school was originally located across the street from the Brea Mall. In 1989, the school moved to its current location on the ...

after the unforeseen death of his mother. In the new band, Hetfield and Tanner were joined by Hetfield's childhood friend and roommate

Ron McGovney Ronald J. McGovney (born November 2, 1963) is an American semi-retired musician, best known as the original bass guitarist in the heavy metal band Metallica from October 1981 to December 1982. Having previously played with guitarist James Het ...

, and later drummer Jim Mulligan. While Hetfield had played guitar in Phantom Lord, he acted solely as lead vocalist in Leather Charm. Tanner was replaced several months later by guitarist Troy James. The group was influenced by the new wave of British heavy metal and practiced covers of songs by such bands of the period, including Diamond Head and

Sweet Savage Sweet Savage are a heavy metal band from Belfast, Northern Ireland, formed in 1979. Future Dio and Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell was an early member. Since forming in 1979, Sweet Savage have released three studio albums, three single ...

. They were also influenced by

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

and covered their songs "Remember Tomorrow" and "Wrathchild". When Mulligan left the group in late 1981, Leather Charm disbanded and Hetfield began working with drummer

Lars Ulrich Lars Ulrich (; ; born 26 December 1963) is a Danish musician best known as the drummer and co-founder of American heavy metal band Metallica. The son and grandson respectively of tennis players Torben and Einer Ulrich, he played tennis in his ...

on a new band,

. Early the next year, McGovney and guitarist

Dave Mustaine David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter of the thrash metal band Megadeth, as well as their sole consistent member. Mustaine has releas ...

completed Metallica's first gigging lineup. The Leather Charm song "Hit the Lights" was integrated into the band's set among the first original compositions in the band's repertoire, and eventually became the opening track on their debut album, ''

Kill 'Em All ''Kill 'Em All'' is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on July 25, 1983, through the independent label Megaforce Records. Metallica began by playing shows in local clubs in Los Angeles. They recorded several ...

''.

References

Sources

* Doughton, K.J. ''Metallica Unbound: The Unofficial Biography''. First Edition. Time-Warner Books, 1993. Pages 16–17 Metallica Hard rock musical groups from California Musicians from Downey, California {{US-metal-band-stub