QUIET RIOT Drummer Discusses His Early Musical Role Models

January 5, 2007

The MySpace Interview recently conducted an interview with QUIET RIOT drummer Frankie Banali. An excerpt from the chat follows:

Q: As a child, what did you aspire to be and when did you discover your musical talent?

Frankie: After seeing THE BEATLES and later THE ROLLING STONES on TV back in New York, that was the end of everything I was doing and the beginning of wanting to be a drummer. I don't know that I'm talented, but I certainly enjoy playing the drums.

Q: Who were some of your musical role models growing up?

Frankie: My father's interest in Italian opera, my mother's interest in Flamenco, Buddy Rich, Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, Dave Clark. Those were the early influences.

Q: How did the members of QUIET RIOT meet and how was the name "QUIET RIOT" decided upon?

Frankie: QUIET RIOT existed in various forms before I joined the band around 1981. I believe that a member of the British group STATUS QUO suggested a variation of the name which then became QUIET RIOT. I met Kevin DuBrow through Rudy Sarzo who was in the band at the time. I later suggested to Kevin that we should enlist Carlos Cavazo who was then in the local L.A. band SNOW.

Q: Who came up with the iconic image of the man in the metal mask on the cover of your "Metal Health" and other albums?

Frankie: That was a combination of our collective thoughts. Rudy suggested to use some sort of a mask based on the book "The Man in the Iron Mask". I wanted to have the character wear a red leather straight jacket fashioned after a red leather motorcycle jacket that I wore at the time. Kevin suggested to have buttons which each of our faces on the jacket to make the character a fan of the band. Carlos nodded agreement. The final result was artist Stan Watts' version of our ideas.

Q: What has been your most memorable performance in your career?

Frankie: Probably the 1983 US Festival playing to over 350,000 people and our first headlining show of the "Metal Health" tour at Market Square Arena which we sold out that 13,500-seater venue.

Read the entire interview at The MySpace Interview.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).