Anyone who lives in Los Angeles- or any rocker who’s ever visited El Lay’s fair shores- is well aware of a certain notorious tattoo shop that exists on the famed Sunset Strip. It was there that at some point over the last decade or so, everyone from Anthony Keidis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses wandered in to have some “work” done to expand their epidermal art. The guy all these stars sought out was a dude by the name of Kevin Quinn, who back in the late ‘80s had developed a rep as the guy to see if you wanted to have the latest and the greatest in tat-art. Well, one way or another, his association with some of hard rock’s biggest and best must have rubbed off on Quinn, because the guitarist, along with guitarist/vocalist Kevin Roentgen, bassist Rodney Rocha and drummer Noah Shain have now formed their own band- American Pearl.
“This band came together in that tattoo parlor,” Roentgen said. “Quinn and I have known each other for something like six years. He tattooed me a bunch of times and he’d come to see my old band play. We had a mutual admiration society going. When I was looking to put together a new band he decided to pick up his guitar again and give it a try. American Pearl is the result.”
In any number of ways, the music made by American Pearl harkens back to the late- ‘80s, that glorious time in hard rock history when L.A. was the epicenter of the entire metal world. Back then, it seemed like everyone, everywhere who ever dreamed of being in a successful band would migrate out to the Left Coast hoping to encounter like-minded musical souls. IT was out of such a musical-mad environment that the members of American Pearl first discovered their love for loud, in-yer-face rock and roll. And while tastes in both tattoos and musical styles have certainly changed over the ensuing decade, such trivialities seem to have minimal impact on this heavy-handed musical quartet.
“Living in L.A. dealing with a lot of the people we know has obviously had an impact on us,” Quinn said. “But it’s not limited us in any way. We grew up loving loud, guitar-driven, American rock and roll, and that’s what we play. We’re lucky in that we’ve already had some great opportunities come our way, but we like to think that we’ve also made the most of those chances.”
While Quinn and Roentgen may have first me in the mid-‘90s it wasn’t until 1998 that they combined their fortunes together under the guise of American Pearl. After rounding out the band’s lineup a year later, they drew upon wide-ranging industry contacts to garner opening act gigs with everyone from the Cult to Buckcherry. They even landed a prestigious slot at the 1999 Woodstock show- one of the few bands without a major album release to be asked to perform during that giant festival. After landing a song, Automatic on the Scream 3 soundtrack, it seemed that it was clear sailing to the top for American Pearl, and now with the release of their self-titled debut disc, all the promise that this group has hinted at during their live shows has reached full fruition. From the rip-roaring energy of California to the rollicking passions housed in Free Your Mind, American Pearl is a band seemingly destined to keep the good times rolling for heavy metal fans around the globe.
”We see our record as a complete body of work,” Quinn said. “We don’t have favorite tunes on the album. Each song shows all the emotions and moods that make us stand apart from all the other bands that are out there right now. We tried to capture the danger, sadness, angst and mix of emotions that, make really great rock and roll music.”
