Slaughter: The Tragic Story of the Band

Slaughter was one of the last hair metal bands to have success before the whole scene imploded in the early 90’s. Their success was almost unheard of because of the unusual path they took.

“I’m very proud to be from Las Vegas.” – Mark Slaughter

Slaughter’s beginnings started with the vocalist Mark Slaughter and bassist Dana Strum. Mark Slaughter hailed from Vegas and fronted a band named Xcursion but the city wasn’t a hotbed of rock talent back in the 80’s. He would tell the Las Vegas Sun, “I’m very proud to be from Las Vegas… In those days, you high-tailed it out of Vegas as fast as you could to go be a rock star in L.A., New York or whatever.”

Mark Slaughter met Dana Strum for the first time when he was recording the backing vocals for a band called Sin. Strum, was a studio engineer who had already worked with ex-kiss guitarist Vinnie Vincent and who famously told Randy Rhoads to audition for Ozzy Osbourne.

“Is that an act or do you always sing like that?” – Dana Strum

Strum recalled to the Las Vegas Sun, “All of a sudden I hear this kid in the background sessions, singing, in that upper register and I said, ‘Hang on, do you always sing like that?’ And he’s like, ‘Do you want me to drop down?’ And I’m like, ‘No, no, no. Is that an act or do you always sing like that?’ I’d ask. And he says, ‘Well, I’m kind of like a soprano in the choir.'”

Strum got Mark Slaughter a gig fronting the group Vinnie Vincent Invasion through the 80’s. The band would eventually lose their recording contract with Chrysalis Records, after which the band called it a day.

“Vinnie didn’t like my singing but the record company did.” – Mark Slaughter

Luckily for Dana Strum and Mark Slaughter, Chrysalis wanted to do business with the pair. Mark Slaughter told the LA Times, “Another guy got the job and made the first album but then he left. I did the first tour and the next album. Vinnie didn’t like my singing but the record company did. That’s why they signed me after Vinnie’s band folded… One of the happiest days of my life was August 28, 1988. That’s when I was through with that band. There was only one good thing about it – it was my stepping stone to building Slaughter.”

The pair relocated to Las Vegas to write and record Slaughter’s first album and recruit guitarist Tim Kelley and drummer Blas Elias. The album was self-produced. The plan was for Strum to help record the album and then leave the group, but he ended up staying.

Slaughter’s debut record Stick It To Ya would be released in January of 1990. It resulted in Slaughter being one of the last bands from that hair metal era to hit it big before alternative rock took over the following year.

”We’re proud that our fans helped pick our songs.” – Dana Strum

Ahead of their debut record coming out, the band’s label held focus groups and played 20 songs in several major cities who would then choose the best songs to go on the album. While some would claim this move was done by the band, to have a wider commercial appeal, Strum disagreed, telling the Chicago Tribune, ”We’re proud that our fans helped pick our songs.”

The band proved to be one of the most successful groups of 1990, a huge feat considering that the record label didn’t market the band a lot and the group only played one live show before their album hit a major milestone.

The band’s first ever show was an opening date for Kiss and Faster Pussycat on May 4, 1990 in Lubbock Texas. The band was met by representatives of their record label after the show.

“We went gold as soon as we came off the stage.” – Mark Slaughter

Slaughter recalled to the Chicago Tribune, ”We had never played live before. ‘We had played in rehearsals where roadies watched us, but other than that, nobody had seen us. And we went gold as soon as we came off the stage. Two guys from our record company, Chrysalis Records, presented us with gold records when we came off. I could not believe it…”

How did the band end up being so successful with only one live show under their belt? According to the Chicago Tribune, there were several things working in the band’s favour. They weren’t exactly unknown musicians as half of the group had played with Vinnie Vincent and MTV was also instrumental in the band’s success.

The video for their single “Up All Night” was one of the most requested videos for the month of April in 1990. In addition, their debut album produced two other successful singles including “Fly to the Angels” and “Spend My Life”, which pushed the album to go double platinum in America, selling over 2 million copies. The record was nominated for Best New Metal Album at the American Music Awards the following year.

“If you want to make it, the fast lane is fun but too often it’s the fast lane to nowhere.” – Mark Slaughter

Slaughter seemed to have their priorities straight when it came to the business. The frontman told the LA Times in 1990, “We’re musicians, serious musicians, who aren’t into glamour or being totally wild and out of control. I like fast girls and fast cars and all that as much as the next guy. It’s hard to play this music and not live a bit wild. But you really have to focus on the music and the business end of things. If you want to make it, the fast lane is fun but too often it’s the fast lane to nowhere.”

The band’s second album, 1992’s The Wild Life would come out just as hair metal bands from the 80’s had fallen out of favour with the public, but the record still proved to be successful, peaking at No. 8 on the album charts in the US. To support the record, the band toured with both Ozzy Osbourne and Ugly Kid Joe.

The band ran into trouble on the tour. Guitarist Tim Kelly recalled to The Morning Call newspaper, “We went on tour with Ozzy Osbourne and were very excited to tour with someone like him. At that time, Mark Slaughter had a vocal problem, a nodule on his vocal cord and had to go in for surgery. A lot of people in rock had the same thing, so we weren’t worried about him recovering, but it takes time. Six months later, his voice not only came back, it came back stronger.”

“We had a couple of free weeks with nothing to do so we asked if we could just get on the bill and play some live shows.” – Dana Strum

In an almost unheard of move for an established act, Slaughter would open for both Poison and Trixter. Strum told the Baltimore Sun, “We had a couple of free weeks with nothing to do so we asked if we could just get on the bill and play some live shows. It sure beats sitting around and doing nothing. The money wasn’t in the budget to pay us and tickets were already being sold so we decided to gamble that we’d earn enough in t-shirt sales at the show to cover our expenses.”

“Why is this simple Las Vegas quartet shining brighter than other heavy metal bands?” – Chicago Tribune

In a 1992 Chicago Tribune article on the band, they questioned the appeal of the band, writing, “There’s no denying that this rather average pop-metal band has carved out a far-from-average space in the hearts of fans. Guys like them. Girls absolutely love them. Not since Skid Row has there been a metal band that has appealed to both sexes and people ages 10 to 24, the way Slaughter does. Figuring out Slaughter’s appeal is not simple. The songs are standard party tunes or ballads, and the guys are fairly boy-next-doorish. So why is this simple Las Vegas quartet shining brighter than other heavy metal bands? It just proves there’s no such thing as too big a party.”

Slaughter Fans are Credited with the Success of the Band

The band would chalk up their success to how they interacted with fans. Slaughter became known for sleeping at fans’ homes, even playing a concert on the back of a flatbed truck, parked outside a Taco Bell and they were easily accessible to fans for meet and greets and to sign autographs.

Around 30,000 fans from Slaughter’s fan club and mailing list were sent a 6-song demo tape of their second record, months before its release. Strum recalled to the Chicago Tribune, ”We sent out those tapes two months before the record came out as our way of giving the fans something the regular public couldn’t get. It was one of our dreams when we were kids. Just think if Led Zeppelin had sent us a demo of “Whole Lotta Love”. Wouldn’t that have been great? … Three days later, we got 2,000 letters of thanks and comments. After we sold a couple million albums, everyone thought we’d become elite. Everyone was looking to the Seattle bands, and they won’t deal with the fans. I’d like to see where Nirvana is five years from now. I’d like to see how long Guns N’ Roses fans are going to put up with them canceling shows and not letting the fans get near them.”

”We’re the only self-produced, self-written American rock band there is.” – Dana Strum

Strum took a shot at other big rock acts when it came to songwriting, telling the Tribune, ”We’re the only self-produced, self-written American rock band there is. Skid Row, Aerosmith, Motley Crue – they’ve all used outside songs and outside producers in their careers. We have never done that. We even engineered this record and co-engineered the last one. When the fans hear something by Slaughter, they know it’s ours.”

By 1993, the band looked to enter the studio once again but guitarist Tim Kelly was arrested for drug trafficking and sentenced to 3 years probation for being part of a national drug smuggling ring. In addition to legal problems, the band’s third album was delayed when bassist Dana Strum suffered a hand injury from a motorcycle accident.

The group’s label, Chrysalis was absorbed into the company EMI. Kelly told the Morning Call, “The new president at EMI had no clue who we were. He couldn’t name a song. He said, ‘Let’s just release it and see how it does.’ We worked too hard on the next record to put it out like that. We wanted a marketing strategy and he didn’t have one.”

Slaughter found a new home in CMC International who had a roster of big 80’s bands who were flying under the radar.

“We’re probably the only band in the world with two albums who also had a Greatest Hits album.” – Tim Kelly

Ahead of releasing their third record Fear No Evil in the May of 1995, EMI issued a greatest hits album without the band’s consent or involvement. Kelly told the Morning Call, “We’re probably the only band in the world with two albums who also had a Greatest Hits album. The most upsetting thing was that we didn’t even get to pick the artwork… The order of songs on it is absolutely horrid. They even lifted our autographs off our live EP and put it on the greatest hits, like we endorsed it or something.”

The band attempted to stay true to their roots. Mark Slaughter told the Morning Call where the band’s head was at at the time. “Bands like AC/DC, Aerosmith and Kiss stayed true to their style. Those bands have always withstood the test of time by staying true to what it is they did, which was play straight-ahead, driving rock n’ roll. That’s the way we feel about what we do.”

Fear No Evil represented a sharp commercial decline for the band with the record peaking at No. 182 on the charts. Slaughter released their final 2 albums in 1997 and 1999 Revolution & Back to Reality, both of which failed to chart.

Tragedy Strikes Slaughter with the Death of Tim Kelly

The band was struck by tragedy in 1998 when guitarist Tim Kelly was killed on a highway in the Arizona desert when an 18 wheeler which was heading in the opposing lane of traffic crossed into Kelly’s lane. He was replaced by guitarist Jeff Blando.

The band put out a live album titled Eternal Live in 1998, which featured the last performances of Kelly with the band. Slaughter’s last studio album was put out in 1999. The band has been pretty active on the touring circuit playing shows as recently as this year.

Strum and Blando contributed to Vince Neil’s 2010 album Tattoos and Tequila and Mark Slaughter released several solo albums over the past half a decade.

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