Johnny Gioeli lead vocals, guitars
Joey Gioeli guitars
Christopher Paul guitars
Jay Scott King bass
Darek Thomas drums
In the band's brief timeline Brunette managed an impressive career. The band broke Van Halen and The Doors single-weekend attendence records at Gazzarri's on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood California. Raising global awareness with their touring and 'over the top' marketing the band built a loyal fan base stretching over the US, UK, South America and Asia. The band were courted by top record executives for months. Playing sold-out shows and industry showcases. Indifferences took shape within the band before a recording deal could be negociated. They called it quits in late 1991. Within the bands tenure a full length album was never officially released. All that exist are self-produced demos and, an EP for the motion picture "Smash Crash and Burn" which garnered major radio airplay.
Soon after the split members Johnny and Joey went on to form HARDLINE with JOURNEY guitarist Neal Schon and release the highly recommended "Double Eclipse" CD. Jay would join Canadian act BIG HOUSE. Darek would provide drum tracks for BANGALORE CHOIR 's "On Target" and audition for CINDERELLA. Christopher would go on to play in bands Red Rebel Devils and Roadhouse. Latter day Guitarist Dave Marshall would join MOTLEY CRUE frontman VINCE NEIL on Neil's debut solo CD "Exposed".
Below
is a brief biography written by Debra Rosner, the bands co-manager
and publicist for AUCOIN ENTERTAINMENT and NEW IMAGE Public Relations on September 19, 1989 *With edits.
MONSTERS
AND A MOVIE ROLE
In the summer of 1988, Brunette came up with a brilliant promotional idea. They
hired an airplane to display their name in lights reading "Brunette Rocks"
and "Brunette attacks in August" during Van Halen's set at The Monsters of Rock concert in
the L.A. Coliseum exposing Brunette to over 90,000 metal fans. This
stunt brought Brunette to the attention of Roman Coppola, son of Francis Ford
Coppola and President of Commercial Pictures. He Chose Brunette to star in his
film "Smash Crash and Burn" portraying the fictitious band "Royal Smash" . A heavy metal "Hard Days Night", which chronicles their way to the top after moving to Los Angeles. -The movie
was set for release in the summer of 1989. *Note, Due to discrepancies the
movie was completed but never released.
KILLERHIT
IS FORMED
In 1983, a band called "Killerhit" was formed in Lancaster, PA by
lead singer/drummer Johnny Gioeli and his brother Joey Gioeli. Killerhit was
formed on the basis of the "ultimate band". Johnny and Joey proceeded
to hand-pick members from the Pennsylvania area's most talented acts, Stealing
lead quitar wiz Christopher Paul from York PA's "Cry Tough" and taking
"wildman on bass" Jay Scott King from Hanover PA's "Backstreet
Kids". Killerhit was immediately referred to as an "all-star band" and quickly saw local success. Though their spectacular arena-style stage show
and widespread musical appeal, they solidified their reputation and became one
of the biggest bands in the Mid-Atlantic area.
GOING
THROUGH SOME CHANGES
In the Spring of 1987, Killerhit was ready to go for it all. Following their friend Bret Michaels lead, They packed up their 40 foot touring coach and moved to Los Angeles. Realizing that in their collective 12 1/2 feet of hair, their wasn't a single blonde among them, they changed their name to "Brunette." The bands biggest challenge was soon to come. Although Johnny was an extremely talented drummer, his first love was singing, so he gave up the drums and took his rightful place as frontman. Brunette now had the task of finding a new drummer to fit the mold.
BRUNETTE
SEARCHES FOR NEW DRUMMER
After months of searching nationwide, Brunette couldn't find the drummer they were looking
for. Suddenly, an impressive package came via mail from Las Vegas drummer Darek Thomas that caught attention. Brunette were friends with Las Vegas native Mark Slaughter (formerly of The
Vinnie Vincent Invasion) and asked Mark what he knew about Darek. Mark's recommendation
was of high caliber. Johnny and Joey were on a plane. Darek auditioned
and got the gig. It was that simple! With the addition of Darek Thomas, Brunette
then possesed the right line up moving forward.
BRUNETTE'S
TOURING PHILOSOPHY
Right away, Brunette refused to participate in the usual L.A. band routine (ie:
hanging around Hollywood, getting a "normal" job, sponging off girlfriends
and fans, ect.) while awaiting fame and fortune. Instead, they immediatley began
touing the United States, returning for their L.A shows every other month. In
doing so, Brunette have laid a widespread fan base and are determined to continue
this constant roadwork, as they feel it's the surest way to actively gain notoriety.
Joey explains, "If we have to get jobs, we'd rather go out and make money
at doing what we do best.
THE
LIVE SHOW
Brunette live is an experience of unparalleled energy on any stage. Chris explains, "We
always try to portray a 'concert within a club' atmoshpere because we came up in the smaller venues."
It's easy to see how much they care about their live show. Jay elaborates, "When
we hit the stage, our main goal is to keep the audiences' attention on us. if
anybody is out their thinking about what they had for lunch, then we're not
doing our job."
additional players: Dave Marshall/guitar Doug Aldrich/guitar Bobby Rock/drums
*This is a tribute website. Note there are NO official Brunette social media pages on any platform. All rights to images, music and videos are reserved to their rightful owners.