Trixter

TRIXTER was formed in 1983 in Paramus, New Jersey by STEVE BROWN & PETER LORAN. After a year in the basement and the addition of new drummer, MARK GUS SCOTT, they played their first live gigs. They began playing the NJ / NY club scene and built a huge following of fans. In 1988 bassist, PJ FARLEY joined TRIXTER finalizing the line up. With every gig the band was drawing more & more people to their shows and by May of 1989 the band landed a deal with MECHANIC/MCA RECORDS. September of 1989 the band went to Hollywood to record the debut album with producer, BILL WRAY. TRIXTER was released in May of 1990 with the song LINE OF FIRE as the single for ROCK RADIO. The song slowly climbed the charts reaching number 1 on Z-ROCKS Top 100 by July of 1990.

Along with the release of the album TRIXTER also filmed their first video for the song GIVE IT TO ME GOOD. In September the band headed out a nationwide tour and after two weeks they landed the opening slot for STRYPER. From New York to Seattle, the band rocked clubs and theaters earning legions of fans who were captivated by their high energy live shows. In Mid October TRIXTER joined DON DOKKEN for another tour around the USA. It was on this tour that MTV added the video for GIVE IT TO ME GOOD. Within one week the video was number 1 on the popular DIAL MTV top ten video countdown. The video stayed number 1 for 5 weeks straight. The crowds were getting bigger and record sales started kicking into high gear. In December of 1990 TRIXTER filmed the video for the 2nd single, ONE IN A MILLION at a Sold Out show in Rockland County, NY. The band also recorded a song , ONE MO TIME, for the film IF LOOKS COULD KILL. The song featured Rock legend, EDGAR WINTER, on Saxophone. By January 1991 the record was selling 20,000 units per week. The video for ONE IN A MILLION went number 1 on MTV for 3 weeks. The album peaked at number 28 on BILLBOARD's TOP 200 ALBUM CHART and the single for GIVE IT TO ME GOOD was a TOP 50 HIT on BILLBOARD's TOP 100 SINGLES CHART.

The band's self-titled debut album attained gold status, reaching #28 on the Billboard 200 in 1990 and spawned three minor hit singles: "Surrender" (#72), "One In A Million" (#75), and "Give It To Me Good" (#65).Despite the fact that none of the singles made the Top 40 or garnered much radio airplay, the videos for all three tunes were in heavy rotation on MTV (especially "Give It To Me Good", which was #1 on the channel for several weeks.) Trixter's second album, Hear, was released in 1992, but was not as successful on MTV or in record shops.

They stated on VH1's Top 40 Hair Band Countdown that their goal was to play the arena near their hometown, Continental Airlines Arena, in East Rutherford, New Jersey: they achieved this when Trixter opened for the Scorpions in 1991.

TRIXTER did their 1st ever arena shows opening for POISON and then headed out on a 5 month North American Tour with the legendary German rockers, THE SCORPIONS. As ONE IN A MILLION rocked MTV, the single also went TOP 50 on BILLBOARD. In February the band flew to Daytona, Florida to do MTV'S SPRING BREAK and soon after MCA records gave the band some incredible news. Backstage at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in California, the boys were told that their debut album had gone GOLD selling over 500,000 copies. In April of 1991 TRIXTER played their hometown MEADOWLANDS ARENA, where they were presented with their GOLD ALBUMS at a special after show party. In May they filmed the video for the 3rd single SURRENDER. By June TRIXTER started the BLOOD,SWEAT & BEERS TOUR with WARRANT & FIREHOUSE. Around this time the popular rock magazine, METAL EDGE, dedicated an entire issue to the band, THE TRIXTER COLOR SPECTACULAR. The video and single for SURRENDER were released and once again the video went to number 1 on MTV for 2 weeks and the single went TOP 50 in BILLBOARD. In September of 1991 the BLOOD, SWEAT & BEERS TOUR was filmed for a Pay Per View special. October marked the end of the TRIXTER touring cycle for the very successful debut album. By years end the band racked up worldwide sales of 750,000, 3 number 1 MTV videos, 3 TOP 50 SINGLES, HIT PARADER MAGAZINES BEST NEW BAND AWARD for 1991, METAL EDGE READERS POLL BEST CONCERT FOR THE BLOOD, SWEAT & BEERS Tour, and GIVE IT TO ME GOOD was in MTV'S TOP 100 VIDEOS OF 1991.

TRIXTER also wound up in the movies... Their song LINE OF FIRE was on the soundtrack for the film MARIO BROS....WHITE KNUCKLE SCORIN and ONE MO TIME was on the soundtrack for the film IF LOOKS COULD KILL. In January 1992,TRIXTER began pre-production on the 2nd album. Also,during that time the band renegotiated their record deal and were signed directly to MCA records. TRIXTER chose JAMES JIMBO BARTON of RUSH & QUEENSRYCHE fame to produce. Recording began in April and lasted until August of 1992. The result was the stellar rock cd, " HEAR" .Released in October along with another Arena tour opening for long time idols, KISS, TRIXTER raged across North America supporting the new disc. Unfortunately , Grunge had taken over the airwaves which left little room for the single , "ROAD OF A THOUSAND DREAMS" on Radio & MTV. January 1993, they shot a video for the next single," ROCKIN HORSE " and began a headlining club tour called THE HEAR CLUB FOR MEN TOUR. May of that year had TRIXTER embarking on a tour of Japan. "HEAR" was doing very well in the Land of the Rising Sun, so the band was invited over to do 2 shows and a lot of promotion. The shows in OSAKA at Moda Hall and KAWASAKI at Club Citta were very successful. The boys had a great time. TRIXTER finished the HEAR tour in late June of 93 in front of 5,000 screaming fans at Milwaukees' Summerfest. Times were changing and the band was dropped from MCA records.

In 1994 the band recorded the UNDERCOVERS EP in STEVE BROWNs home studio. This was a cd of all cover songs that was released in Oct. 1994 on the indie label BACKSTREET RECORDS. Once again the band headed out on the road again across America. No matter how tough things got the band kicked ass and the shows were more often like a big keg party opposed to the typical rock show. Lots of Fun, but the writing was on the wall that TRIXTER's style of Pop Metal had run its course. Time to move on....but what a great ride. Still to this day TRIXTER has fans all around the world and the music still gets airplay. In 1999 the band was featured on VH-1s WHERE ARE THEY NOW and in 2000 they were voted number 29 on VH-1S TOP 40 HAIR BAND COUNTDOWN. The songs are on various rock compilation cds: GIVE IT TO ME GOOD is on GLAM ROCK VOL. 2 , ONE IN A MILLION is on ROCK OF THE 80S and SURRENDER is on HARD LOVE.

Trixter was originally managed by Shark Management, which was founded by Ken Makow (now a web media consultant and designer) and Joel Weinshanker, currently CEO of the National Entertainment Collectibles Association.

Steve Brown announced on 12/1/07 that Trixter will be reuniting in 2008 for the Give It To You Good Tour. In 2008 Pete Loran called The 2 Music Geeks and discussed Trixter's 2008 touring plans and the production of a new live album.


Band members

Peter Loran - lead vocals
Steve Brown - lead guitar
P.J. Farley - bass guitar
Mark "Gus" Scott - drums


Discography

Trixter (1990)
Hear! (1992)
Undercovers (1994)


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Watch Trixter Video!

Surrender



Road of A Thousand Dreams



Rocking Horse



Give It To Me (Live)