Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Tarzen - Tarzen (1985)

Tarzen were a mid 80's hard rock act fronted by Argentinian born Danny Peyronel, who had spent years playing in bands like Heavy Metal Kids, UFO, Blue Max, Riff and Banzai. When Peyronel relocated to Spain in 1984, he quickly assembled a lineup including his brother Michel (drums), Salvador Dominguez (guitar) and Ralph Hood (bass). The band were almost immediately signed to newcomer label, Valentino Records and by early 1895, "Tarzen" was released. A high profile tour with Twisted Sister did little to ignite interest in the band stateside, but soon the band would become headliners all over Europe and South America. This lack of success in America prompted the departure of Dominguez, who was replaced by Laurence Archer in 1987.

Though Archer's residency would be brief, with Dominguez returning in 1988, Hood would eventually desert the band the same year, reducing Tarzen to a trio. Unfazed, the band signed a new deal with indie label, Twins Records and issued their sophomore album "Madrid" in 1989. Poor distribution and changing trends grounded any attempts for mass success and the band folded in late 1990. Peyronel would resurface as an opera tenor, as well as fronting a resurrected Heavy Metal Kids. Dominguez embarked on a solo career that persists to this day. Archer later formed Rhode Island Red, as well as joining a reunited UFO for one album in the 90's. The present activities of Hood and Michel Peyronel are not known.

Considering Peyronel's pedigree as a keyboardist, this album is quite a nice surprise, as Peyronel's throaty Bon Scott style vocals are more than competent throughout. With a sound reminiscent of AC/DC, "Tarzen" is full tilt 80's hard rock in every sense. Though some of the material dips into mediocity at times, there are quite a few standouts, particularly "The Hills Have Eyes" and "Pack Rules". Though the band would migrate to a glossier sound on their followup, "Tarzen" is a nice exercise in crunchy hard rock minus the excess that is often associated with this era of music. Never issued on CD, enjoy this fine vinyl transfer and get hip to a band that few people even remember. You just might love them.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thought you might be interested to know that Danny Peyronel ended up in New York working with Richie Ranno of Starz in the late 1990's.
They wrote a bunch of songs & recorded demos, but nothing came to fruition as Peyronel eventually relocated to Italy
Ranno rated the material they worked on & still holds out hope of recording the songs with Danny someday.
I think that would be well worth hearing!

Camelblue said...

Nice add to your blog.
Michel returned to Argentina and was part of various projects, including the Riff(argentinian band) reunion.
After that he bought the "Tango FM" station, the most important in this genre.
Now is a 'bon vivant' and the owner of a couple of high class restaurants...

Great blog, don't stop.
http://hardrockaorheaven.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Please, is it possible to update the link - all four previous links are dead. Thanks in advance.

R.G., Moscow, Russia