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Mick Sweda | |
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| Born | April 18, 1960 Gowanda, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, synthesizers |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Formerly of | King Kobra, BulletBoys |
Mick Sweda (born April 18, 1960) is an American guitarist, best known as a former member of the rock bands King Kobra and BulletBoys.
Mick Sweda began playing guitar at age 17. [1] He attended community college in Jamestown, New York on a drama scholarship while simultaneously touring the East Coast of the United States with a band covering various acts such as ZZ Top and Cheap Trick. [1]
In 1980, Sweda and a few friends formed a band called The Pedestrians that leaned towards punk rock. [1] A year later, they moved to Los Angeles, where Sweda got involved in various musical projects. [1] In 1984, he was approached by Carmine Appice to join his new band King Kobra, which had been signed to Capitol Records. [1] Sweda recorded two records with King Kobra ( Ready to Strike and Thrill of a Lifetime ) and toured extensively, opening for bands such as Iron Maiden, Kiss and Ted Nugent. [1] Sweda left the band in 1987 and started BulletBoys [1] with Marq Torien, who had briefly served as King Kobra's lead singer. [2] The band signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988. Upon the release of their eponymous debut, the band toured extensively opening for bands such as Cheap Trick, Bon Jovi, Ozzy Osbourne, Cinderella and others, as well as headlining theaters. BulletBoys recorded two more records for Warner Bros., Freakshow and Za-Za . Sweda said that inspiration for the former came from taking in the scene at truck stops while the band was on tour. [3] Sweda supported both records with tours before he left the band.
In 1993, Sweda started recording music of his own, which varied between hard rock, blues and jazz, amounting to six albums. [1] After recording demos for a wide range of artists in his studio and doing some session work, Sweda formed a band called Brain Stem Babies which included Jason Hook and Jeremy Spencer. They played scattered shows but spent the majority of their time recording records which Sweda made available on his Monsters Making Music label. The band parted ways in 1996 and Sweda, along with BSB bassist Jon Winquist, recruited Troy Patrick Farrell of White Lion to form Lolligag. They played occasionally in Los Angeles but again spent more time recording and disbanded in 1998.
Sweda continued to record with John Porter and Marty Horenburg at Cello Studios in Hollywood, but began to concentrate more on family matters after he moved to Merced, California in 2002 to be closer to his wife Shellie's family. [1] After forming Mick Sweda and the Candy Bar Band in 2007, he released Songs in the Key of Cool, a record geared towards kids and parents alike. [1] Shellie came up with two of the songs on the album, "Only Monster In My Room Is Me" and "Nothing To Do". [1]
Sweda played guitar on two more King Kobra records released on Frontier Records. He co-wrote an original Christmas song with Tilli Tills called "Merry Christmas, little baby!", which was featured on Rodney Bingenheimer's radio show on KROQ. He released The Hot Summers album with Shane Tassart.
Sweda lives in Los Angeles, where he is still active, and works in his own studio, Redcake Digital. He is married to Shellie and has a son, Wyatt. He also has a son by the name of Easton Rocket Sweda, who is an actor on General Hospital [1]
America are a British-American rock band formed in London in 1970 by US artists Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek, and Gerry Beckley. The trio met as sons of US Air Force personnel stationed in London, where they began performing live. Achieving significant popularity in the 1970s, the trio was famous for its close vocal harmonies and light acoustic folk rock sound. The band released a string of hit albums and singles, many of which found airplay on pop/soft rock stations.
Robert Lawrence Welch Jr. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter who was a member of Fleetwood Mac from 1971 to 1974. He had a successful solo career in the late 1970s. His singles included "Hot Love, Cold World", "Ebony Eyes", "Precious Love", "Hypnotized", and his signature song, "Sentimental Lady".
King Kobra is an American heavy metal band founded by drummer Carmine Appice after his tenure with Ozzy Osbourne from 1983 to 1984.
Carmine Appice is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his associations with Vanilla Fudge; Cactus; the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice; Rod Stewart; King Kobra; and Blue Murder. He is also Vinny Appice's older brother. Appice was inducted into the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2014. He is also a more than capable (fretless-) bass player, as can be heard on the "Guitar Zeus" albums, for example.
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, guitarist Mick Sweda, bassist Lonnie Vencent, and drummer Jimmy D'Anda. The group released two successful albums and had a number of singles featured on MTV between 1988 and 1991. From the 1990s onward, the group went through numerous lineup changes, with Torien as the only consistent member. Their most recent album From Out of the Skies was released in 2018. The original lineup reunited for one-off shows in 2011 and 2019.
Edward John “Ted”Templeman is an American record producer. Among the acts he has a long relationship with are the rock bands Van Halen and the Doobie Brothers and the singer Van Morrison; he produced multiple critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums by each of them.
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Ready to Strike is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band King Kobra, released in 1985 by Capitol Records.
Thrill of a Lifetime is the second album by the American hard rock band King Kobra, released in 1986 by Capitol Records. The album features "Iron Eagle ", the theme song of the 1986 film Iron Eagle. The music video of the song features Louis Gossett Jr. as Charles "Chappy" Sinclair from the film as the band members going through vigorous boot camp training.
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Marq Torien is an American musician, best known as the lead singer of the hard rock act BulletBoys. He is the only member to have remained with the group since the release of their self-titled debut album in 1988.
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The Red Devils were a Los Angeles–based blues rock band who were active from 1988 to 1994. With their no-frills approach and singer Lester Butler's convincing Chicago-style blues harp, they were a popular fixture on the Los Angeles club scene and toured the U.S. and Europe.
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Freakshow is the second album by American rock band BulletBoys. It was released in 1991 by Warner Bros. Records. It is the follow-up to their successful self-titled debut.
Za-Za is the third studio album by American rock band BulletBoys, released in 1993. It was their last album released by Warner Bros. Records, and the final one produced by Ted Templeman.
King Kobra is the fourth studio album by American hard rock band King Kobra. It was released on April 4, 2011 in Japan with 13 tracks and on April 15, 2011 in Europe and May 5, 2011 in North America with only 12 tracks. It is the first album to feature vocalist Paul Shortino and the first since 1986 to feature Johnny Rod, Mick Sweda, and Dave Henzerling on bass and guitar, respectively.
King Kobra II is a 2013 album by the hard rock band King Kobra. It was the second release by the band King Kobra since its reformation by founding member Carmine Appice.
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