thegauntlet.com heavy metal

White Wizzard Bio

White Wizzard
Band members
Jon Leon - bass Chad Yasuhara - guitars Jesse Applehans - drums Wyatt Anderson - vocals Eric Kluiber - guitars

Genres
NWOBHM

Los Angeles, California's WHITE WIZZARD is on a mission to bring back the glory days of heavy metal. Influenced by such NWOBHM-era bands as Diamond Head, UFO and Tygers Of Pan Tang along with more commercial acts as Scorpions and Van Halen, WHITE WIZZARD delivers a sound straight out of heavy metal's golden years; melodic, upbeat, fast and furious, all played with a smile on it's face. In modern times where the predominant metal trend is for bands to sound in the vein of Slipknot or Mastodon, WHITE WIZZARD's feverishly catchy hooks and soaring vocals, delivered without a drop of irony, are truly a breath of fresh air in the scene.

Disgusted with the current state of screamo/emo metal dominating the club circuit, bassist Jon Leon scoured musicians available ads around the country for members who shared in his vision of playing NWOBHM-inspired metal. Leon makes it clear that he's a man who knows what he likes; "There is nothing like a 2 guitar attack in standard tuning with a driving bass, smooth drums and a killer metal singer that you can sing along to." For WHITE WIZZARD, it's almost as if the '90s never happened - they have no truck with any modern-day metal trends, For WHITE WIZZARD, there is only true, heavy metal, as pure now as it was back in the days of its inception.

After securing a lineup to persue his musical direction, one important step remained. With such an unexpected sound, the band had to choose a band name that was equally as inspired. "Out of the list of names, it just felt like the right one" says Leon. "I wanted something epic that screamed "'80s metal" without being too cheezy." When the decision was finalized, they chose a name that would immediately set the tone for what the band, the music and their image would be all about. In the summer of 2007, WHITE WIZZARD was officially born.



Click here to update bio