Thirty Round Clip - …On Target After four years of blood, sweat and tears, the second album from California hard-rockers Thirty Round Clip is with us. And …On Target is certainly worth the wait.

Produced by legendary South Bay producer Darian Rundall, the album will appeal to any who likes their rock hard. However, there is a groovy edge to this sound which allows them to a reach a wider audience. "The sound makes you 'bump'," says drummer Rick 'BooM' Steel. "You can see this in our fan base. There's lots of girls at our shows."

Written by Steel and singer Mike Anthony, these 13 incendiary tracks perfectly replicate Thirty Round Clip's famously raucous live shows. As the band themselves say, this is one that demands to be played LOUD!

They may have been compared favorably with Disturbed, but Thirty Round Clip are not your average metal heads. Steel, the founder and creative force behind the band even has a classical background. His ancestry includes a German classical composer, while he has been spotted playing along with Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor on one of his regular appearances on  www.drum-tv.com.

So how did he discover the music, and instrument, he so clearly loves? "The drums saved my life," says Steel. A difficult childhood in a small town led to find his release in drumming and in metal.

Steel moved to LA to create Drum TV and met original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward — an inspiration both before and since for Steel. They took their drum clinic on tour around music shops and Steel soon became a man in demand. He formed his first band, produced a solo album and even wrote a book on drumming.

However, it was when he met Mike Anthony that Steel could finally fulfill his musical vision and formed Thirty Round Clip. The personnel have changed over the years, but Anthony and Steel have been a constant and together have written this ground-breaking album.

From the hard-riffing Flipside through tongue-in-cheek moshpit favourite Zombies and KROQish hit The Mask, and right on to the theatrical menace of Spider, this is one tight set of tunes, with not a filler in sight. Perfectly accompanied by Kevin Ogden's deep-as-the-devil bass and Ivan Manoloff taut fretwork on guitar, …On Target feels as electrifying as a Thirty Round Clip live show. And that sure can't be a bad thing.

You can find TRC at www.thirtyroundclip.com  and the new album is available to buy on itunes, CD Baby, Amazon as well as at Brick n Mortar stores around the world.

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In late fall 2001, after an introduction by Keith Lynch, guitarist for the Bill Ward Band (of Black Sabbath fame), the line up of Thirty Round Clip was completed with the addition of vocalist Mike Anthony, who was then currently fronting the South Bay metal band, NME. The line up at that time consisted of Rick Steel, formerly of Kill Van Kull, on drums, Felix Nunez, formerly of Potato Salad (a progressive jazz group with David Garfield), on bass and Dave "Dr. Shred" Bates on guitar. The band began writing new music, and in the spring of 2002 were ready to begin the recording of a 10 song demo. Helping guide TRC at that time were gold record producer Bob Kulick (Motorhead, Kiss, Driven By Hate) and grammy nominated producer Billy Sherwood (Yes, Quiet Riot, Fear Factory) who sharpened the bands sound and direction. After playing a number of memorable live shows around the Hollywood area, including headlining the Whisky a Go Go, TRC headed back into the studio at the end of 2002 to finish writing and recording their demo. This time they began working with Stevo Bruno (Fear Factory, Brides Of Destruction, Prong) at Klown Records in Santa Monica where they finished recording the remaining songs.

2003 saw the band visit Nashville, Tennessee after an invitation to play at The Outer Limits, a popular Nashville club, for the Nashville Music Conference where they promptly "...blew the roof off the place." Upon returning to LA, TRC returned to the studio to begin writing and recording the, to date, unreleased single "Listen" at The Wall in San Bernardino, CA under the direction of producer Dave Bush. Differences in vision between producer and band eventually separated the two and in the later months of 2003 Bates left the band to pursue other musical opportunities, eventually joining Bleed (Tony Franklin, Greg Bissonette and Robin McAuley). Bates was replaced by guitarist Doug Nofsinger who was with the band for about 6 months. The end of 2003 was a difficult and trying time for TRC; when their vision and commitment were tested. Dejected by the seemingly slowness of progress and unclear direction of the band, bass player Felix Nunez left Thirty Round Clip. It looked like the end... or was it?

Rick "Boom" Steel and Mike Anthony met at a coffee shop in Santa Monica, CA in November of 2003 after licking their respective wounds for a month and contemplating each one's musical future. The decision was made then to continue on with the band and, having forged a new vision and purpose, the creation of an album; the target was set and the two remaining members of Thirty Round Clip took aim.

Beginning in December 2003 Boom and Anthony started writing the album "...on target", "Dissipate" being the first tune forged from the smolten metal of their songwriting mill, Anthony's South Bay studio. They continued on throughout 2004, 2005 and 2006 creating the rest of the 13 tracks on the album with focused determination. Boom and Mike both took side gigs during this time; Boom did a brief stint with Bleed and Mike fronted Stockyard, Deaddrop and even a blues band for a time in the South Bay. November 2006 saw the completion of the writing and preproduction recording process which had been going on concurrently. In early 2007, Boom and Anthony approached producer Darian Rundall (Pennywise, Suicidal Tendencies, Dokken, Dio) and began recording "...on target" in April at Stall #2 Studios in Redondo Beach with Brian "Stone" Pennington on guitar and John "JJ" McNeil (Ankla) on bass. Distractions with another project caused JJ McNeil to depart, leaving TRC to acquire another bassist while in the middle of tracking. Kevin Ogden, an instructor at Musicians Institute in LA, got the slot. Tracking was completed and in mid July Stone Pennington left to tour with Contortion. The album was finished in late August '07 and Ivan Manoloff joined the band on guitar after his time with Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Planet X). The band began rehearsing for live shows throughout August and September where they have begun to again cause tremors in the LA music scene. The live show is vibrant and aggressive, the band; skilled, focused... the vision; definitely ... on target.

Instrumentation
Mike Anthony, Vocals
Rick "Boom" Steel, Drums
Kevin Ogden, Bass
Ivan Manoloff, Guitar

Discography
...On Target