Tarzen - Madrid

​Brothers Michel and Danny Peyronel were born a few years apart in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As a military family, they grew up moving quite a bit. During their younger years, they lived in Argentina and the United States of America where they were fluent in Spanish and English. During his late teenage years, Danny moved to England after spending a year at The Juilliard School in New York City. In 1973, he settled in London and became a founding member of the HEAVY METAL KIDS. The band released two albums and toured both Europe and the USA before Danny departed in 1975 to join Pete Way, Andy Parker, Phil Mogg, and Michael Schenker in UFO as the band’s first keyboardist where he also contributed backing vocals. Danny was a key part in changing the band’s musical direction as heard on the album “No Heavy Petting,” a sound that continued even after Danny’s departure from the band in July 1976. He soon formed the band THE BLUE MAX and released their only album in 1978. He also teamed up with his older brother Michel, who lived in France at the time, to produce the self-titled EP from Michel’s band EXTRABALLE in London. Michel would go on to play on the fulllength EXTRABALLE album just a year later before leaving France to return to Argentina where he joined their friend Pappo, a legend in those parts, to form the band RIFF. RIFF released several albums including “Macadam 3...2...1...0...” and “Ruedas De Metal.” The brothers also mixed and produced the live album “RIFF EN ACCIÓN” in 1983, with Danny doing a guest spot.
 
Michel came to Spain to visit and that is when he was introduced to Salvador. The three met at Danny’s home and the inevitable jam took place. And that is when the two brothers (Danny and Michel) became triplets in their eyes. Material started flowing in the new setup even though they didn’t know they were a band yet. The guys couldn’t deny the chemistry and how easy it was to write and play together. TARZEN was born. Danny invited his good friend Nicko McBrain (drummer of IRON MAIDEN) over for dinner when MAIDEN was in town for a huge concert. He told Nicko about the new band and said they needed a bassist. Nicko had just the guy in mind.
 
He suggested they check out his friend Ralph Hood, who played for the recently demised British band GRAND PRIX. They quickly got Ralph over to Madrid, Spain. Nicko had been right on the money and Ralph was a perfect fit. Only a week later, they were in the studio recording their first four songs. After laying down the four songs, Danny flew to London, cassette tape in hand, to see a few labels. First stop was Phil Carson (head of Atlantic Records in London). Phil and Dave Dee signed the HEAVY METAL KIDS a decade earlier, so Danny already had a good rapport. He got out of the taxi cab on Barners Street on the West End of London dressed to the nines in typical rockstar fashion. He went straight up to Phil’s office where they listened to the newly recorded tape. When the vocals came in, Phil asked who was singing because it sounded like Bon Scott (AC/DC). Danny was honored with the comment, but not all that surprised. Phil signed AC/DC to Atlantic nearly a decade prior. Phil was stunned, having known Danny essentially as a keyboard player and songwriter, and after hearing the four-song demo, he was determined to sign TARZEN. He told Danny that he was starting his own label, Valentino Records, as part of Atlantic Records, and that he had recently signed acts like John Miles and THE FORCE. Phil gave Danny the contact info for Dave Dee and said he was a manager now and that he should contact him. He met with Dave the next day and the ball was rolling. The band went to Jimmy Page’s (LED ZEPPELIN) studio “Sol Studios” in Cookham to record the album. The label brought in Stuart Epps, producer of recent albums by TWISTED SISTER and VANDENBERG, and engineer on Jimmy Page’s new album with his band THE FIRM.
 
After recording the album, the band embraced the opportunity to tour the United States as special guests of TWISTED SISTER in January 1986, with Dokken also on the bill. 
 
José Luis Martin, the CEO of the music magazine Popular Uno, which was and still is the most influential music magazine in Spain, had come to the USA towards the beginning of the tour, to cover the first rock band from Spain to embark on a stadium tour of the United States. However, just as the band thought things were moving in a positive direction, the tour started falling apart. It began with the record label and moved down to management and then to the band. Before anyone knew what to do, an argument ensued, and the band saw the departure of one of its founding members. Salvador exited stage right and TARZEN was now on the look-out for another guitarist. Bassist Ralph Hood suggested they bring in English guitarist Laurence Archer (STAMPEDE, GRAND SLAM, THIN LIZZY, UFO). TARZEN had a TV appearance coming up as well as a headlining gig at the Rayo Vallecano Football Club stadium in Madrid. Laurence was added to the TARZEN ranks where he did the TV spot and then the stadium show in front of 60,000 fans.
 
The band took a break and Ralph and Laurence returned home to England. During the break, Danny and Michel reached out to Salvador. They soon met up and quicky realized that this core of the band made TARZEN what it was. Though Laurence Archer was a very talented and gifted guitarist, the band was missing that Spanish passion and heat that came from Salvador. Laurence was not asked to return and Ralph, with the birth of his first child, decided to give up music and focus on family life. TARZEN recruited bassist Gary Liedeman (THIN LIZZY, ASIA) before the band played the Rayo Vallecano Football Stadium once again. Gary was only in the band for a relatively short time before TARZEN brought in Argentinian bassist and Michel’s RIFF bandmate Victor Bereciartua (LOS CRISS CROSS, VITIKEN, VITICUS), better known as Vitiko. The band played several TV and radio spots and shows here and there. Their sound shifted in a more melodic direction with a greater emphasis on the keyboards and smoother vocals, all while still having the blistering guitars and catchy riffs laid down by Salvador. 
 
TARZEN recorded the Madrid album in three different recording sessions on three different continents. The first session was at Bray Studios in England with Stuart Epps at the controls once again, where they recorded the songs “Mother Night,” “Let’s Do It,” and “Black and Blue.” The songs were mixed at Pasha Studios in Los Angeles, California, by Spencer Proffer, responsible for the hit albums by QUIET RIOT. The band recorded “Inmediate Obedience,” “Victim of Pleasure,” “Glad All Over,” “Walls and Rivers,” “Madrid,” “Always a Faster Gun,” and “Go Through The Flames” in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as Spanish versions of three of them, namely “Romance En La Linea,” “Es Una Selva Ahi Fuera,” and “Frente Al Muro, Frente Al Rio” in Buenos Aires. The band released the “Madrid” album in 1989 with pressings in both Spain and Argentina. They worked out a deal with Pasha Records for the “Madrid” album to be released in the United States, but time went by and the momentum from Pasha began to dwindle due to the label’s complicated situation. TARZEN still toured through South America in support of the album with a Chilean and a Mexican pressing released. TARZEN also recruited keyboardist Pablo Duchovny and guitarist Gady Pampillon for extra backing vocals and musicianship on the live shows and TV appearances. With this line-up, TARZEN opened for BON JOVI at Velez-Sarsfield FC Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in front of a sellout crowd of 50,000. Unbeknownst to the fans, and the band for that matter, this was the last show that TARZEN would ever play.