Who were they? Antix

These guys were a bit of a mystery to me for years and still sort of are as information on them is sketchy in some areas. In late 1984 I bought my first Hit Parader and there in the back was an ad for an album by Antix called "Get up, get happy" and I always wondered who they were. Antix were from LA and formed in 1982 when bass player BJ Norris and Ian Evans left a band called Pax and joined with singer Greg Clewley and guitarist Jace White who had been in aband called Jailbait. Antix signed with Great White manager Jeff Gordon shortly after that. In 1984 the band had managed to secure a deal to do an ep on Gordon's McDon records, but have it marketed by Enigma records. On top of that they got Don Dokken and Jeff Pilson to produce it. Apparently Dokken were recording "Tooth and nail" during the day and Don and Pilson would work with Antix in the evening. Antix's ep came out in late 1984. A few months later their song "Daze gone by" appeared on Hit Parader's cassette only compilation "The wild bunch" along with such bands as Slayer, Lizzy Borden, Megadeth and Grim Reaper to name a few. It gets a little murky from that point on. Apparently in 1986 the band announced that guitarist Jaye Paul and guitarist/keyboard player Jesse R. Curtis had joined the band. Which likely means Jace White was out of the band at this point. Then in 1987 a 12 inch single "I'll take your love" came out. However the band had changed logos, record labels, their look (they became more glam) and most of the band line-up. Drummer Ian Evans was the only member left from the 1984 ep and the band now contained five members instead of four. Quiet Riot guitarist Carlos Cavazo guests on one song on this single. I know nothing of the band following that so presumably they disbanded not long after that. The only member that did much afterwards is original singer Greg Clewley. At some point shortly after being out of Antix he began going by Greg Darling and later Gregory Darling. He played piano and did backing vocals on Faster Pussycat's debut in 1987. After that he formed a band called Darling Cruel that released an album on Polygram. My best guess is the music here was far more pop oriented. Later Darling sang back-up with Julian Lennon and he has released a number of solo album over the last say ten years. On his biography Darling admits to having played on the Sunset strip scene, but never mentions Antix by name. That's the history and it was difficult to find out that much.

Here's the lowdown on their sound and this took a while too. The problem with the "Get up, get happy" ep is that it lacks an edge and a direction. It's almost like polite hard rock which means whimpy. I always liked "Daze gone by", but out of the other songs I would say two are fair and two are very hard to take. Greg Chewley's vocals are the best thing here. It's hard to believe these guys played in the Sunset strip scene. They sound like some band the administration at a high school would hire to play at an assembly because they sound "safe". The "I'll take your love" single has a very different sound. It's obvious that second singer Mic Brandon liked Motley Crue because he tries to sound like Vince Neil to some extent. The music here sounds like a mix between Motley Crue and Poison. It's decent, but nothing special.

"Get up, get happy" was released on CD in 2005 by Retrospect record. You can also find a used copy on vinyl at almost any given time on ebay. Not a real special band, but the thing for me was it took a long time just to piece together this much of their story. It was a while before I realized Greg Clewley was Greg Darling and it was just last month that I managed to nab the 1987 single on eBay after several failed attempts. For a band who played where they did for at least five years and had some connections, there isn't that much information out there about them.

Here is a hilarious review I found on their ep. http://www.sleazegrinder.com/flashmetalantix.htm