The Four Horsemen (band)

Infobox musical artist
Name = The Four Horsemen


Img_capt = Band photo from the sleeve of the 1991 album 'Nobody said It Was Easy'
Img_size = 199
Background = group_or_band
Origin = California
Genre = Hard rock
Years_active = 1989–1996
Label = Caroline/ILL,Def American,Magnetic Air
Associated_acts = Zodiac Mindwarp
The Cult
Little Caesar
Current_members = N/A
Past_members = Haggis, aka Stephen Harris
Frank C Starr
Dave Lizmi
Ben Pape
Dimwit, aka Ken Montgomery
Ron Young
Pharaoh
Chuck Biscuits
Randy Cooke

The Four Horsemen were an American hard rock band that had brief popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their style was blues influenced heavy rock and their fame was both fleeting and full of tragedy.

History

Formed in the late eighties by Wales-born guitarist Haggis (a.k.a. Stephen Harris), who had been a touring bassist for The Cult and member of Zodiac Mindwarp, the Four Horsemen were based out of Hollywood, California, and featured Frank Starr on vocals.

Their first release was a self titled four track EP in 1989, which generated enough interest to get them a full album record contract with Def American.

The second album, "Nobody Said it Was Easy" was produced by Rick Rubin, and was by far their most popular. The album produced the title track as a single and the hit "Rockin' is Ma Business.". However, the band was tied up in legal disputes with Rubin and lead singer Frank Starr also spent some time in jail on a drugs charge, the combination of which put their album on hold for nearly two years. By the time it was finally released in 1991, the music scene was just about to change with the rise of Grunge which in turn led to a rapid downturn in many of the existing hard rock acts. Just as they were getting wider recognition, their market disappeared. Business problems, another stint in jail by Frank Starr and internal fights followed, which prompted Haggis to leave the band.

In 1994, the band reconciled their differences and started to put together a third release with Pharaoh replacing Ben on bass. But the first of two tragedies struck on September 27th 1994 when original drummer Dimwit (Ken Montgomery) died from a drug overdose. The band continued with creating the album, dedicating it to Dimwit and including the poignant ballad 'Song for Absent Friends' which is clearly influenced by his death. Dimwit's brother Chuck Biscuits took over on drums.

Then in November 1995, lead singer Frank Starr was hit by a drunk driver while driving his motorcycle down Sunset Strip and was left in a coma suffering from severe head injuries. The band soldiered on, releasing the third album "Gettin Pretty Good...At Barely Gettin' By..." in 1996 on the Magnetic Air label and embarking on a tour with Ron Young of Little Caesar on vocals, hoping that Starr would come out of the coma, but he eventually died on June 18, 1999, and the band broke up.

In 2007, Haggis and Dave Lizmi assembled as much archive footage of the band as they could, and released a 2 disc retrospective, "Left for Dead". Disc one is a DVD featuring the promo videos from Nobody said it was Easy, plus rare interview, live performance and behind the scenes footage. Disc two is a live CD.

Lineup

Original Members:

1989: The Four Horsemen
*Frank C. Starr (vocals ex-Alien and Sin)
*Dave Lizmi (guitar)
*Haggis (guitar, former bassist of The Cult and Zodiac Mindwarp when he went by the name of Kid Chaos)
*Ben Pape (bass)
*Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery (drums)

Other Players:

*Ron Young (vocals)
*Pharaoh (bass)
*Chuck Biscuits (drums)
*Randy Cooke (drums)
*Mike Lavoie (guitar)
*Rick McGee (guitar)

Discography

Original Members:

1989: The Four Horsemen

* Frank C. Starr (vocals ex-Alien and Sin) * Dave Lizmi (guitar) * Haggis (guitar, former bassist of The Cult and Zodiac Mindwarp when he went by the name of Kid Chaos) * Ben Pape (bass) * Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery (drums)

Other Players:

* Patrick Sugg (guitar) * Ron Young (vocals) * Pharaoh (bass) * Chuck Biscuits (drums) * Randy Cooke (drums) * Mike Lavoie (guitar) * Rick McGee (guitar)

1989 The Four Horesemen (EP) - Caroline/ILL labels

:01 Welfare Boogie:02 Shelly:03 High School Rock N Roller:04 Hard Lovin' Man

1991 Nobody Said it Was Easy - American Records

:01 Nobody Said It Was Easy :02 Rockin' Is Ma' Business :03 Tired Wings :04 Can't Stop Rockin' :05 Wanted Man :06 Let It Rock :07 Hot Head :08 Moonshine :09 Homesick Blues :10 75 Again :11 Lookin' For Trouble :12 I Need A Thrill/Somethin' Good

1996 Gettin' Pretty Good at Barely Gettin' By - Magnetic Air

:01 Still Alive And Well:02 Gettin' Pretty Good At Barely Gettin' By:03 Drunk Again:04 Livin' These Blues:05 Song For Absent Friends:06 Keep Your Life:07 Hot Rod:08 Rock My Universe:09 Back In Business Again:10 Hit The Road:11 Keep On Keepin' On:12 My Song:13 What The Hell Went Wrong

2005 "Left For Dead" Box Set: DVD + Live CD(1992) and booklet - Self-released.

1) DVD: All "major release" videos, all unreleased videos, and a bunch of footage from the "club days", etc.

2) Live CD::01 '75 Again:02 Moonshine:03 Tired Wings:04 Can't Get Next To You:05 Nobody Said It Was Easy:06 Hothead:07 The Roadie From Hell:08 I Need A Thrill:09 Wanted Man:10 Rockin Is Ma Business:11 Let It Rock:12 Lookin For Trouble

ources

* [http://www.myspace.com/fourhorsemenband Official Band MySpace]
* [http://www.thefourhorsemen.com/ Official Website]
* [http://www.sleazeroxx.com/bands/fourhorsemen/fourhorsemen.shtml Sleazeroxx.com writeup]
* [http://www.sleazegrinder.com/teensleaze4horsemen.htm Sleazegrinder.com writeup]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKv_YYzdI2w Video for "Rockin' is ma business"]