What do you do when a band fires you for allegedly having a bad attitude?  What do you do?

The answer is, stroll out the door with your head held high, put together your own band, and call it Bad Attitude.  And in 1988, that’s precisely what vocalist/guitarist Brian Curtis did.

But a few years before that, during the early 80s, Brian paid his musical dues by playing in various Top 40 cover bands.  He journeyed all across America, logging long miles and even longer hours, performing shows from coast to coast, including a show in Anchorage, AK that was attended by a guy named Lonny Mead.  The two men would cross paths again.

Originally from Corinth, Mississippi, Brian packed up and moved to Hollywood in 1985 to attend the Musician’s Institute, where he once again ran into Lonny Mead.  After graduation, Brian played in a few bands on the L.A.circuit, including the one that eventually terminated him for having a bad attitude.  Tired of being someone else’s gun for hire, Brian decided to build his own band and take a shot at making it in the late 80s hard rock/hair-metal business.  The first person he enlisted was Lonny, a formidable lead and rhythm guitarist.

A longtime friend introduced Brian to drummer Ian Flanders who was promptly recruited for skin-pounding duties.  With three-quarters of Bad Attitude’s positions now filled, Brian, Lonny, and Ian went searching for a bass player in the local music scene.  Frank Reiche responded to one of their ads and they all gathered for a meet at a little Mexican café called Paquito Mas in Studio City, California. Paquito Mas quickly became Bad Attitude’s favorite restaurant; not only did Frank get hired there, but the establishment was conveniently close to the band’s rehearsal studio.  But most importantly, according to Brian, the place had the best Mexican food in all of L.A.  Nothing like some tequila, tacos, and enchiladas to wash down the blood, sweat, and tears of a hard-hitting practice session.

With the original Bad Attitude now formed and firing on all cylinders, Brian wrote a bunch of catchy songs, citing influences such as Kiss, Dokken, Ratt, Skid Row, and Poison.  The band haunted the streets under cover of darkness like pop-metal parodies of Jack the Ripper peppering the town with flyers and in the summer of 1988 played their first gig at The Night Rock Café in Tujunga, California.  It would not be the last gig they played; during their impressive run, the band rocked the rafters of several famous hot-spots, including The Roxy, Whiskey a Go-Go, and Troubadour.  They opened for well-known groups like Hurricane, Warrant, and Racer X.  Up-and-coming opening acts are often booed right off the stage, but Bad Attitude was spared this ignoble fate.  The crowds loved them.

Bad Attitude played the L.A. scene for a few years until Frank and Ian departed to pursue other interests.  Refusing to let their dreams die, Brian and Lonny held auditions for the vacant slots and soon picked up drummer Brian Lockerman and bassist Alyx Galan.  Armed with new tunes, this fresh incarnation of Bad Attitude returned to the L.A. rock scene and began showcasing for record labels.