Riot

heavy metal

There are multiple artists that perform under the name: 1. Riot sprang from the basement of Mark Reale's home in Brooklyn, NY in the summer of 1976. In 1977 they had recorded and released their first album Rock City for New York's Firesign Records. Able to to obtain various licensing deals throughout the world, Rock City quickly found an audience. Capitol Records quickly signed Riot, who soon entered the studio to record their second album Narita which would be released in 1979. It was in 1981, however, that Riot released what is considered by most fans to be the band's most definitive album Fire Down Under. Early History Riot began when Kon-Tiki members Mark Reale (guitar) and Peter Bitelli (drums) recruited Phil Fiet (bass) and Guy Speranza (vocals) and recorded a four-track demo which they hoped would be included in a proposed compilation of new rock bands. While waiting for the project to get off the ground they added Steve Costello on keyboards. Reale took the various demos to New York based producer Steve Loeb, who also owned Greene Street Recording Studio and the independent label Fire-Sign Records. Loeb turned down the compilation proposal but signed Riot. The band added second guitarist Louie Kouvais, replaced Fiet with Jimmy Iommi and recorded its debut album, Rock City. After a promising start and support slots with AC/DC and Molly Hatchet, the band were unable to maintain momentum, and were on the verge of breaking up for good by 1979. In that year however, t...