Firstryke originally formed in 1984 when two of Tulsa OKs best bands came together, Ric Adams from (the Tulsa) Slayer along with Jim Rutledge, Bryan Wallace and Page Pancoast from Lazarus combined forces into one band and they immediately knew they had something special. They began to tour non-stop, playing clubs throughout the Midwest, always leaning more towards their original music than the covers they had to play to do the club scene. Their sets gradually began to fill up with their own music and when they had enough to do an album, the band came off the road to record Just A Nightmare. They had a moderate level of success with the record when it was released, with critics comparing their sound to bands like Armored Saint and UFO. It was on the strength of the album that Firstryke slowed down touring clubs and began sharing the bill with national touring acts such as Metallica, Dokken, Stryper, Kings X, etc. They were poised to break in the early 90s and were getting some interest from a few of the major record labels when grunge hit the airwaves, and Firstryke, along with so many other bands from that era, fell by the wayside as the “Seattle sound” started to pick up steam and dominate the next decade. Jim Rutledge said, “We talked about trying to make the shift into grunge, and a lot of bands did, but our hearts just weren’t in it, and while we all really dug listening to that type of music, it just wasn’t us, if we had lived in a larger city we might have been able to pull through and keep playing, but it was hard to get gigs as all the Metalheads kind of dropped off the face of the earth, leather and spikes just didn’t go well with flannel.” Although the guys all stayed close friends and would continue to reunite to play periodically, they all went on to do other musical projects, but nothing that would compare to the successes they had with Firstryke. But due to the recent resurgence in interest for 80s bands, Firstryke signed with Retrospect Records in March 2009, with just enough time to work up their show for three dates at Rocklahoma 09. After the success of those shows the band decided to play fulltime again and they have begun to work up material for a new CD. When asked about the new music, Ric Adams said, “The new stuff is a lot heavier and more melodic than what we’ve done in the past, we’re really taking our time to craft these songs into something that we hope will stand the test of time, we’re spreading the writing around a lot more than we did in the past and everyone is bringing their own influences into the mix, it’s hard to put a tag on it, I think fans of Firstryke will be surprised at what we’re doing now, and how much the band has progressed!” He’s right, after listening to some of the rough tracks for the upcoming CD, it’s obvious that the band is hitting on all cylinders, the raw power in the voice of lead singer Adams, stinging leads and crunching rhythms of guitarist Rutledge, mixed with the tight grooves laid down by bassist Wallace and a solid beat from drummer Pancoast have propelled the band to new heights, the music is in depth and well thought out, stylistically all over the place, but in a good way, melodic and grooving one minute, head banging and thrashing the next! 2010 is shaping up to be an exciting year for Firstryke, the band was picked to play Rocklahoma for the second time, they are also expected to do some touring this summer, but the first order of business is recording, they are heading into the studio to lay down the new tracks for their upcoming CD and are hoping to release it by June of 2010, the Metal Machine is ready to rock, ready to roll…back with a vengeance!

Source : http://www.myspace.com/firstryke