Bang Tango

Although Bang Tango was often lumped in with the whole '80s glam metal movement (perhaps due to their pretty boy looks and the fact that they hailed from Los Angeles, CA), the hard rockin' quintet was one of the few L.A. glam groups to incorporate funk into its sound -- some time before the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Faith No More made it acceptable to do so. The original lineup consisted of Joe Lesté (vocals), Kyle Stevens (guitar), Mark Knight (guitar), Kyle Kyle (bass), and Tigg Ketler (drums), and gained the interest of Mechanic/MCA shortly after the quintet issued the in-concert recording Live Injection in 1987. Their major-label debut, Psycho Café, was issued in 1989, and despite MTV's Headbanger's Ball program giving some air time to their single/video "Someone Like You," the album failed to break the band into the big time.

The group continued to issue albums during the early part of the '90s -- 1991's Dancin' on Coals, 1992's Ain't No Jive...Live, and 1994's Love After Death -- but with the emergence of the Seattle movement, bands like Bang Tango became passé with most of the metal community. The original line up departed ways in 1995. Kyle Kyle and Joe Lesté resurrected the Bang Tango name and in 1998 released, Live (on the Cleopatra label). A best-of compilation, Greatest Tricks, saw the light of day in 1999, as did United and Live the same year. In 2001, Lesté formed a more modern-sounding alt-metal outfit, Beautiful Creatures, issuing a self-titled debut the same year on Warner Bros., and toured as part of Ozzfest.

Bang Tango-
Joe Lesté - Vocals
Kyle Kyle - Bass
Rowan Robertson - Guitar
Jason Walker - Guitar
Jeff Tortora - Drums