\m/ 80's metal \m/

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In 1988, Tony DiLeo was struggling to assemble an original heavy metal act to support a piecemeal demo tape called "It's Been A Long Year" which he and long-time collaborator Mike Troxell had put together under the name of Nasty Nasty. The going was tough. Few gave the cassette much consideration, and finding stable, dedicated band members proved an exasperatingly ugly task.
However, DiLeo and Troxell persevered, and Sunday night, they and the rest of Nasty Nasty stand ready to ring out 1989 in a triumphant blaze of power chords with friends The Blissters and Kraken at Wally's in Bethlehem.
(If you've already made plans for New Year's Eve, Nasty Nasty also is part of a less-attractive bill featuring Lansdale hard-rockers RoughHouse and The Mob tonight at the Airport Music Hall.)
In a recent interview from his converted warehouse/apartment in Allentown, the 28-year-old Dieruff grad told of this past year's struggle. "We - Mike Troxell (drums), Steve Long (vocals, rhythm guitar), Kris Kunkle (bass) and myself - have been a real band about 10 months. Before that, Mike and I had been working on 'It's Been A Long Year' while trying to find the right people."
Last summer, Nasty Nasty made its debut at WZZO's benefit for the homeless at the Little Lehigh Parkway in Allentown. Opening shows for Tora Tora and Daddy Licks at the Airport Music Hall in Allentown followed, as the band began trying to find bookings in New York City.
"The Lehigh Valley has become a graveyard," said DiLeo, who currently works at Allentown's waste water treatment plant to make ends meet. "I think that people won't support original music here. The club owners, those that are left, only book Top 40 (bands) - they refuse to take chances. Top 40 is all fine and dandy if that's your cup of tea, but who really still wants to hear Magnum? I remember going to see them when I was just out of high school, almost 12 years ago!"
Fed up with limited opportunity at home, Nasty Nasty went to work and was able to pull down bookings at Jammin', a Manhattan hard-rock nightspot. "We set up a bus ride to the club for our fans," said DiLeo. "On a Saturday night, we'd rent a Bieber coach and charge the kids for the admission at the club and the price of the ride. We filled the bus on two different occasions and broke even."
DiLeo and Troxell first met five years ago in bar band White Hott. That act played covers of classic rock hits from the '60s and '70s while working a circuit that included the since-closed Chubby's Bar in Allentown and Mickey Kelly's in Bethlehem.
Quickly burned out by the emphasis on cover music, DiLeo and Troxell parted ways with the rest of the act and began writing their first stabs at original material. Recruiting guitarist Danny Brown (from Media 5 Top 40 act Reflex) and bassist Carl James, White Hott reformed with the idea of performing only original material. But the ship ran aground once again when Brown was stolen away by local lite-metal act, Washed.

The two rock 'n' roll friends then began passing time in the bawdily named band Buster Cherry. "Buster Cherry - heh, heh - was us and anyone else who came by to jam," DiLeo said. That "act" became de facto house band at The Liederkranz in Allentown, playing avuncular host to many boozy, late night parties.
Realizing they were going nowhere, DiLeo and Troxell began work in earnest on Nasty Nasty, an all-original act with visions of hitting the big time. After completing "Year" with Danny Brown and Carl James acting as studio stand-ins, Kris Kunkle (formerly of Gothic-rock act The Blessing) and Steve Long (from Reading Top 40 act Sensei) joined on bass and vocals, respectively.
Nasty Nasty has just completed a new, as yet untitled, six-song demo recorded at West Wires Studio in Allentown. On it is a number, "Just Around The Corner," that sports a funky, chrome-snazz riff. In no time at all, it will have you imagining you are gliding down the highway, peering out over the Z-bars of your Harley.
It's the only local heavy metal offering this year worth crowing about. "Just Around The Corner" earned the band a slot in the WZZO "Unsigned Heroes Contest" quarterfinal.
"It's our favorite," admitted DiLeo. "It's about a friend of ours who strayed. We're saying, 'You can screw up and we'll still be there for you . . . no hard feelings.' "
DiLeo also is an avowed tattoo fanatic. He's accumulated 10 or so over his years as a rocker. "I put the first one on myself," he said.
How did that work? "Not so hot. I put my name on my arm with India ink and a quill pen in high school. Stupid kid stuff!"
If you're going to tonight's Music Hall show, you already may know that RoughHouse rose to area notoriety earlier in the decade as Teeze. Under that name, the band led by guitarist Greg Malack, released an independent album which sold in the neighborhood of 70,000 copies worldwide.
In 1988, the band regrouped under the new name of RoughHouse and produced a debut album for CBS Records. The LP, a credible piece of metal-tinged rock 'n' roll, sold poorly. Recent advertising for the Allentown show had touted RoughHouse's association with the label, but a spokeswoman at CBS said Wednesday that the band had been dropped from the label.
Malack, reached at his home in Lansdale, remains hopeful. "The deal is still up in the air. We're currently producing demos of new songs at a studio in New Jersey."
Nasty Nasty performs Sunday night with The Blissters and Kraken at Wally's, 24 W. 3rd St., Bethlehem. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are expected to be available.
George Smith is a free-lance writer on entertainment for The Morning Call.