Bang Tango is an American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band. The band was formed in Los Angeles in 1988 and was signed to

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

the same year.

History

Formation (1988)

Initially the band was founded by guitarist Mark Knight and bassist Kyle Kyle in 1988. Knight wanted a second guitarist and recruited Kyle Stevens. At the suggestion of

Rough Cutt Rough Cutt is an American glam metal band from Los Angeles that released two studio albums on Warner Bros. Records in the mid-1980s. Rough Cutt never achieved the commercial success enjoyed by many other Los Angeles bands of that time, but var ...

Amir Derakh Amir Davidson, professionally known as Amir Derakh, is an American musician and record producer. He is currently the guitarist and the synthesizer player for the band Julien-K, and was the guitarist for the band Dead by Sunrise. He was the g- ...

, vocalist Joe Lesté joined the band as its frontman which led to Lesté's childhood friend, Tigg Ketler, completing the five piece line up as Bang Tango's drummer. The band then began to play shows and gained a following on the

Sunset Strip The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California, United States. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western bord ...

scene in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, packing all the popular clubs and venues at the time, which led to a bidding war with many major labels. Bang Tango were then signed to

''Psycho Café'' (1989–1990)

Their first release — the ''Live Injection'' EP — came out in early 1989, in advance of their

Howard Benson Howard Michael Benson (born July 20, 1956) is an American record producer from Havertown, Pennsylvania. He has been nominated for two Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2007 and 2008, among two wins and 16 total nominati ...

-produced debut album, '' Psycho Café'', which reached number 58 on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

top 200 chart. The music video for the single "Someone Like You" was a popular staple on early 1990s

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

programming such as ''

Dial MTV ''Dial MTV'' is a daily music video countdown program on MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the ...

'' and ''

Headbangers Ball ''Headbangers Ball'' is a music television program that consists of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more obsc ...

''. A video was also made for the single "Breaking Up a Heart of Stone". The band toured extensively during this period with

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1970 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. Their work bridged elements of '60s pop rock, guitar pop, '70s har ...

L.A. Guns L.A. Guns are an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1983. The lineup currently consists of Tracii Guns (lead guitar), Phil Lewis (musician), Phil Lewis (lead vocals), Ace Von Johnson (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Johnny Mar ...

Ratt Ratt (stylized as RATT) was an American glam metal band that had significant commercial success in the 1980s, with their albums having been certified as gold, platinum and multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA. ...

, and

BulletBoys BulletBoys is an American hard rock/glam metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1987. The group's original lineup was composed of singer Marq Torien (formerly of Ratt, King Kobra, and Kagny & the Dirty Rats), guitarist Mick Sweda (formerly of King ...

''Dancin' on Coals'' (1991–1992)

Their second album, the John Jansen-produced '' Dancin' on Coals'' (1991), failed to match the success of their debut. A music video was shot for the single "Untied and True" and the album peaked on the Billboard Top 200 at number 113. The band then released a second live EP, '' Ain't No Jive...Live!'' in 1992.

''Love After Death'' (1993–1995)

In 1993, after ''Dancin' on Coals'' proved to be not the success MCA had hoped for, the band's label still honored Bang Tango's record contract with a third LP. Hoping to recapture the success of their first album, the band decided to re-team with ''Psycho Café'' producer Howard Benson for ''Love After Death''. The album ended up being shelved by MCA, due to the label feeling a return would not be possible with how much was already invested monetarily for the recording. After recording was complete, guitarist Kyle Stevens made the decision to leave the band. The album saw a release in the UK and Japan through the

Music For Nations Music for Nations (MFN) is a British independent record label focusing mainly on rock and metal. Originally a subsidiary of Zomba Records, which was a division of BMG, the label was closed in 2004 and later revived in 2015 by Sony Music Ente ...

label. Though to this day the band still perform songs from this album during their live set, ''Love After Death'' has yet to see a release in the U.S.

Breakup (1996–2002)

The break up of the original line up of Bang Tango occurred in 1995 after returning from a European tour in support of ''Love After Death''. Frontman Joe Lesté and bassist Kyle Kyle then reformed the band in 1996 with a revolving door of musicians. In 1997, Lesté and Kyle Kyle formed the

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band Eating Crow as a side project. Though no recordings were ever officially released and only a handful of shows were played, the song ''So Abused'' was featured in the

Wes Craven Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Amongst his Wes Craven filmography, prolific filmography, Craven worked primarily in the Horror film, horror genre, particularly sla ...

film Wishmaster but not released on its soundtrack. With the band being a side project of then current members of Bang Tango, ''So Abused'' was featured heavily in Bang Tango's live set list in the late 1990s. In 1998 the band released the live album, simply titled ''Live''. In 1999 the band released ''Greatest Tricks'', which was a compilation of the band's most well known songs re-recorded with Bang Tango's current line up at the time. The Joe Lesté and Kyle Kyle version of the band continued to tour under the Bang Tango name until dissipating 1999. Frontman Joe Lesté went on to sign a record deal with

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

and form the hard rock band Beautiful Creatures in 2001.

Reformation (2002–present)

In 2002, Joe Lesté once again reformed the band, this time as its sole original member, and released the ''Ready to Go'' album. One reunion show with all original members of Bang Tango occurred in 2006. The whole show can be viewed on YouTube but is mislabeled as being from 2015. 2006 saw the release of the ''From The Hip'' album and 2011 saw the release of ''Pistol Whipped in the Bible Belt''. In 2010, the original lineup minus frontman Joe Lesté reformed with a different vocalist and performed two shows as Bang Tango Redux. In 2014, Bang Tango recruited former Dio guitarist

Rowan Robertson Rowan Wingate Robertson (born 22 November 1971) is an English rock guitarist who currently performs in the Las Vegas production show '' Raiding the Rock Vault'' and plays for Bang Tango. He also plays for DC4. Robertson also played guitar for ...

. Shortly after completing and screening Attack of Life: The Bang Tango Movie, director

Drew Fortier Drew Fortier is an American musician and filmmaker. He is best known for his work with the Lucid; which he cofounded alongside Vinnie Dombroski (Sponge (band), Sponge), David Ellefson (ex Megadeth), and Mike Heller (Fear Factory). He was guitar ...

went on to join Bang Tango as their second guitarist in 2015. Bang Tango has reportedly been working on a new album.

Reunion with original lineup (2019-2021)

In November 2019, it was announced that the original Bang Tango line up consisting of Joe Leste, Mark Knight, Kyle Kyle, Kyle Stevens, and Tigg Ketler would be reuniting to tour in 2020.

Other projects

Original Bang Tango guitarist Mark Knight went on to form Mark Knight & the Unsung Heroes which features appearances from former Bang Tango bandmates Tigg Ketler and Kyle Stevens. Original Bang Tango bassist Kyle Kyle went on to form Mona Lisa Overdrive.

''Attack of Life: The Bang Tango Movie''

In June 2011, the band had met

, for whom they offered to shoot a studio documentary while they recorded their then new record ''Pistol Whipped in the Bible Belt''. This project was then expanded upon, once Fortier had been put in contact with previous members of the band, as well as its founding members. Over the course of four years Fortier turned the project into a feature-length documentary titled Attack of Life: The Bang Tango Movie. The film features interviews with all original members of the band as well as most of the players who have performed in the band since its inception. The film had very positive reviews from various music websites and publications with the general feeling being that despite its low budget, the film still manages to get its point across in an unbiased, artistic, and engaging manner while being able to appeal to not only fans of the band or genre, but to anyone not familiar with Bang Tango. The film has never been given an official release, aside from Fortier himself releasing it on YouTube for free, which he stated was because of song clearing issues regarding Bang Tango's music back catalog with UMG.

Accolades and legacy

Bang Tango's ''Psycho Cafe landed at No. 37 for

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

's ''50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time'' list. Bang Tango were placed at No. 36 for

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

's ''The Hair Metal 100'', a list ranking the top 100

hair metal Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fi ...

bands of the 1980s. ''Someone Like You'' was featured at number 9 in

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...

's ''The 10 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the Hair Metal'' Era list.

Slipknot The slip knot is a stopper knot which is easily undone by pulling the tail ( working end). The slip knot is related to the running knot, which will release when the standing end is pulled. Both knots are identical and are composed of a slipp ...

and

Stone Sour Stone Sour was an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992. The band performed for five years before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000; since 2015, the group has consisted of Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Rand ...

frontman

Corey Taylor Corey Todd Taylor (born December 8, 1973) is an American musician, songwriter, author and actor. He is the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Slipknot (band), Slipknot, in which he is designated #8, as well as the lead vocalist, guitarist, ly ...

listed Bang Tango's ''Someone Like You'' as a part of his ''Ultimate 80s Rock Mixtape'' list featured on

Teamrock ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...

. LA Weekly named the former line up of Bang Tango as number 4 on their ''10 Best Hair Metal Shows of 2017'' list for their performance at ''Backyard Bash at the Rainbow'' which also featured Enuff Z'Nuff,

Dokken Dokken is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. It split up in 1989 and reformed four years later. The band has had several hit singles which charted on the Billboard Hot 100, such as " Alone Again", " In My Dreams", and ...

, and

Bow Wow Wow Bow Wow Wow are an English New wave music, new wave band, created by manager Malcolm McLaren in 1980. McLaren recruited members of Adam and the Ants to form the band with then 13-year-old Annabella Lwin on lead vocals. They released their deb ...

Members

Current

* Joe Lesté – lead vocals (1988–1995; 1996–1999; 2002-present) * Kyle Kyle – bass (1988–1995; 1996–1999; 2019–present) * Jason Walker – guitar (2022–present) *

– guitar (2014–2018; 2022–present) * Jeff Tortora – drums (2022–present)

Former

(This is a partial list. It does not include all of the members who have toured with the band.)

Drums

* Rob Jones (1996–1997) *

Ray Luzier Raymond Lee Luzier (born June 14, 1970) is an American musician. He is the drummer of nu metal band Korn, having become a full-time member of the band in April 2009. Life and career Luzier was raised in West Newton, Pennsylvania, a small town ...

(1997) * Michael Licata (1997–1998) * Danny Parker (1998) * Walter Earl (1999) * Bobby "Tango" Gibb (2003) *

Matt Starr Matt Starr is an American drummer. He has performed with numerous artists and bands throughout his career, including Ace Frehley, Joe Lynn Turner, Love/Hate (band), Love/Hate, Kevin DuBrow, and Mr. Big (American band), Mr. Big. Career In 2005, ...

(born Matt Franklin) (2003–2005) * * Troy Patrick Farrell (2009) * Trent Anderson (2009–2013) * Timmy Russell (2004–2009; 2013–2019) * Tigg Ketler (1988–1995; 2019–2021)

Guitar

* Mark Knight (1988–1995; 2019–2021) * Kyle Stevens (1988–1993; 2019–2021) * Matt Price (1993) * Mark Tremalgia (1993–1999) * Dan Aon (1996–1997) * Mattie B (1998–1999) * Anthony Focx (2003–2004; 2008–2009; 2009–2010) * Michael Thomas (2003; 2005; 2007–2008) * Ryan Seelbach (2007–2008) *

Dave Henzerling David Philip Henzerling (born May 3, 1961), a.k.a. David Michael-Philips, is an American musician, songwriter and producer. He has been a member of numerous hard rock bands including Schoolboys, Keel, King Kobra, Lizzy Borden, Geronimo!, Liqui ...

(2008) * Mark Simpson (2005–2007) *

Alex Grossi Alex Grossi (born November 22, 1976) is an American guitarist, best known as the guitarist of heavy metal band Quiet Riot and the hard rock supergroup Hookers & Blow with Dizzy Reed. Biography Early life and career Alexander Nicholas Gross ...

(2003–2005; 2008–2010) * Scott LaFlamme (2010–2014) *

(2015–2017) * Steve Favela (2018–2019)

Bass guitar

* Brian Saunders (2003) * Curtis Roach (born Chris Roach) (2003–2005) * Jamie Zimlin (2005) * Lance Eric (2006–2019)

Discography

Studio albums

Live and compilation albums

Singles

References

External links

Official website
*
Attack of Life: The Bang Tango Movie
{{Authority control American funk metal musical groups Glam metal musical groups from California Hard rock musical groups from California Heavy metal musical groups from California Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups disestablished in 1995 Musical groups reestablished in 1996 Musical groups disestablished in 1999 Musical groups reestablished in 2002 MCA Records artists Music for Nations artists Shrapnel Records artists