Q5 is an American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

/ heavy metal band from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, who formed in 1983. Their first studio album, titled ''Steel the Light'', came out in 1984. Picking up some critical praise, the outfit toured with the likes of

Lita Ford Lita Rossana Ford (born 19 September 1958) is an English-born American guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the lead guitarist for the all-female rock band the Runaways in the late 1970s, before embarking on a successful glam metal solo ...

and

Twisted Sister Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York. Their best-known songs include " We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock", both of which were associated with m ...

. However, the group faced internal divisions that ultimately ended the project before the 1980s came to a close. In 2014, Q5 re-formed to perform at the Sweden Rock Festival, and the band members involved found that the one-off event was not enough, deciding to continue on with the revamped version of the group.

Biography

Q5 started in 1983. It functioned as a kind of '

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

' of sorts by mixing together members of two popular

bands of the time. Frontman Jonathan K and guitarist

Floyd D. Rose Floyd D. Rose (born 1948) is an American musician and engineer who invented the ''Floyd Rose Locking Vibrato systems for guitar, Tremolo'' System in the late 1970s, eventually founding a company of the same name to manufacture and license his pr ...

from "C.O.R.E." (or "The C.O.R.E.") joined up with guitarist Rick Pierce, bassist Evan Sheeley, and drummer Gary Thompson from "TKO". Their first studio album, 1984's ''Steel the Light'', earned praise from several critics. Q5 signed on with

Polygram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

for their 1985 sophomore release, ''When the Mirror Cracks'', but the writing was already on the wall. Personal differences ripped the group apart not long after said release. The band has featured a melodic

sound incorporating heavy metal influences, with its songs being covered by the likes of Great White and

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. Ex-member

Floyd Rose The Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo, or simply Floyd Rose, is a type of locking vibrato arm for a guitar. Floyd D. Rose invented the locking vibrato in 1976, the first of its kind, and it is now manufactured by a company of the same name. The Floyd R ...

is also better known as the inventor of the guitar locking tremolo system.

Members

Current line-up

*Jonathan Scott K. – lead vocals *Turner Williams-guitar *Chris Eger – guitar *Chance White – keyboard *Greg McClellan – bass *Morgan Williams – drums

Founding members

*Jonathan Scott K. – lead vocals *

– guitar *Rick Pierce – guitar *Gary Thompson – drums *Evan Sheeley – bass/keyboard

Reunion tour line-up 2014–2019

*Jonathan Scott K. – lead vocals Rick Pierce-Guitar *Dennis Turner – guitar *James Nelson guitar *Evan Sheeley – bass *Jeffrey A. McCormack – drums

Discography

Albums

*1984 – ''Steel the Light'' (Music For Nations)MFN 39 *1985 – ''When the Mirror Cracks'' (

) *2016 – ''New World Order'' (

Frontiers Records Frontiers Music – formerly Frontiers Records – is an Italian record label, predominantly producing hard rock. It was founded in 1996 by Serafino Perugino and is based in Naples. History In 1996, Serafino Perugino started working in the m ...

)

Demos

*1983 – ''Demo'' *1984 – ''Demo 1984''

Singles

*1985 – "Steel the Light" *1986 – "Living on the Borderline" *2016 – "The Right Way"

References

{{Authority control Hard rock musical groups from Washington (state) Heavy metal musical groups from Washington (state) Musical groups established in 1983 Music for Nations artists Frontiers Records artists PolyGram artists