Vicious Rumors taps Last Empire/Wild Dogs singer
San Francisco Bay Area metallers Vicious Rumors have recruited vocalist Brian Allen (Last Empire, Malice, Wild Dogs) as the replacement for the recently departed Ronnie Stixx.Allen (pictured below) was suggested to Vicious Rumors founder Geoff Thorpe by Wild Dogs/Dr. Mastermind mainman Matthew T. McCourt, who tells Blabbermouth.Net, "Brian has tremendous range - from growling to window-breaking screams - and [he is] low maintenance. Plus he's a great showman. The only guy I know who has more chains and spikes than I do. And a lot of fun on stage and off.
"Vicious Rumors has a lot more going for them than I do," Matt continues.
"I had this idea to have Brian join Wild Dogs so we could do justice to a set of the 'Reign Of Terror' songs on which Brian outdid the original, but guitarist Robert Robinson and drummer Bryce Van Patten killed that idea. And while talking to Geoff Thorpe, [i] mentioned this great singer and my situation and he mentioned Vr may be in the market for a new frontman and [i] offered to hook the two up.
"Brian did a couple gigs with the band in November and will be joining them for a show with Death Angel in a few weeks. I'll be helping out with the long-distance pre-production when it gets to that stage, offering up my studio for demoing vocal tracks. It's much the same as when I helped Deen Castronovo get into Tony Macalpine's band during the Dr. Mastermind sessions. In fact, moving Deen to the Bay Area was a part of that deal.
"I really hate to see great talent go to waste, and if I can help out - Why Not? Gimme 22 reasons why not! I can't think of one! So now it's up to Brian to prove himself with Vr and I wish them all the best."
Stixx recently announced his departure Vicious Rumors, stating, "I have quit Vicious Rumors due to unfair conditions and very shady acts from certain members [of the] band.
"With [no new] material being written or recorded in over two years and just milking the tours on old songs for one person's gain, this was not what I thought it was going to be."
Photo below courtesy of Brian Allen's MySpace page.
