Local hair-metal bands of the '80s experience a new brush with fame

No musician who gained renown in the late '80s playing "glam" or "hair metal" loves those descriptions. The skilled musicians and singers who made heavy metal with contagious pop hooks (and big hair, be honest) find it as off-putting as "neo-soul" is to R&B players of the 2000s.

"Not a fan of the term, but considering what most bands looked like at the time, I totally understand," Mark Evans says with a laugh. "There were a lot bands not taken seriously because of how they looked vs. their level of talent."

As the lead singer of Heavens Edge, Evans was - like Cinderella, Bon Jovi, Britny Fox, Tangier, and Poison - on the top tier of commercial New Jersey and Pennsylvania metal acts.

Though it's no secret that pop metal had fallen out of favor by the early '90s, the genre has had delicious revenge. Over the last several years, some of its biggest and locally based practitioners have not only reunited - playing for charities, cruises, and festivals - but also flourished as they've found fresh fans. This includes Heavens Edge, Hammer Down, Mike LeCompt (onetime singer of Tangier), and other headbangers who were members of bands like Money, Shaky Jake, and Dead End Kids, but who gig under names like Diamond Dogs, American Sugar Bitch, and Kick It Out.

"Hard work and dynamic musicianship - cool to hear we've been acknowledged," Cinderella's Tommy Keifer said of the band's two mentions in Rolling Stone mag's list of "50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time" (1986's Night Songs, 1988's Long Cold Winter) and a place last year on the Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame.

"Tom and I were cut from that same cloth. We terrorized a big chunk of the East Coast. People loved us," says Phil Michaels, a onetime member of the picked-to-click Saints in Hell, where Keifer and other Cinderella members started. Michaels currently fronts the Jersey metal group Hammer Down.

Friends Evans and Michaels are in no way delusional about what was and what remains.

Mention to Evans the reception for Heavens Edge's eponymous 1990 album, and he's pragmatic. "We didn't get the mega-success we'd hoped for, but got further than most and feel blessed."

Michaels talks of "hitting skids" and "losing sparks" after riding glorious highs.

Speaking of glam metal's first local breaths, Evans says, "That was a magical time in the Philly area. Not only did you have a great hard-rock-metal scene, [but also] record companies looked for the next big thing here after Cinderella and Britny Fox took off. Seeing bands you actually know succeed made you want it more."

Evans also recalls when the good times got wonky. "Our first record came out in 1990, the same year grunge became a thing. By '91, Nirvana came out, and that was it. We became the past. It hurt - felt like what I imagine an athlete feels when they make it to the Olympics and lose. You've worked your whole life for one moment. Then it's over."

By 1993, Heavens Edge had folded, as had many of their friends' bands. But that didn't mean longtime fans disappeared. "All music has its time," says Michaels, "but also true believers that refuse to let go."

WMMR-FM overnight DJ and metal-music maven Jacky BamBam says what's going on with glam metal now isn't so much a resurgence as a call to arms. "All of these guys had a strong fan base that came out and supported them even when they weren't the flavor of the week. "

Evans, 54, jokes that many of his contemporaries no longer have kids at home - "We're all coming out of our child coma" - so headbanging adults have time to rock once more.

"Guys like Heavens Edge can still pack a house that nationals have trouble filling," BamBam says, cackling. "That's giving a middle finger to the record companies who turned their back on them, who won't touch metal."

Though Britny Fox has reunited several times since its 1992 dissolution and is currently together, Heavens Edge avoided reunions. Evans didn't feel confident in his chops. The time wasn't right - until 2012, when cruises and fests dedicated to metal became popular. Being asked to reunite Heavens Edge for the 2013 Firefest in Nottingham, England, also helped.

"When it was announced we'd be at Firefest, I was asked by a promoter that found me on Facebook to play a solo acoustic show of Heavens Edge material in Athens, Greece," says Evans. "I played our songs for two hours. Fans knew every word."

Since then, Heavens Edge has sold out shows at TLA, World Cafe Live, and such. "Their reunion, its popularity, was an inspiration," says Michaels. "We've benefited. There is resurgence."

Crowds who fill the metal-theme cruises, charitable events, and club gigs that are hair metal's second act tend to be close to his age, Evans says. "The magic is similar, but, at our age, we appreciate it more than we did back then. We're blessed to be able to do what we do."

And to offer the voice of experience to up-and-coming rockers: "Live in the moment and enjoy it. You've worked hard for it. You don't know when and if they'll happen again," Evans says. "And hair spray? Buy the cheap stuff like Aqua Net. Works better and lasts longer."

Cinderella's Tom Keifer plays at 7 p.m. Thursday at Harrah's Philadelphia, 777 Harrah's Blvd., Chester, caesars.com.

Keifer, Heavens Edge, and Britny Fox play the M3 Rock Festival on Friday and Saturday at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, Md., merriweathermusic.com.

Hammer Down, Cyanide Saints, American Sugar Bitch, and Boss Hydro play at 9 p.m. May 13 at the Trocadero, 1003 Arch St., 215-922-6888, thetroc.com.