QUIET RIOT's FRANKIE BANALI On Split With JIZZY PEARL: 'Everything Happens For A Reason'

QUIET RIOT recently announced Seann Nicols (formerly of ADLER'S APPETITE) as its new vocalist starting in 2017. The band is currently in the studio with Seann recording its forthcoming full-length album of all new material, to be released on Frontiers Music Srl in early 2017. They will also release a music video, which will be the first QUIET RIOT music clip since 1989. The group will kick off their tour on January 27 in Medina, Minnesota and will continue their touring schedule around the globe.

Vocalist Jizzy Pearl (LOVE/HATE, L.A. GUNS, ADLER'S APPETITE, RATT),who is departing to concentrate full time on his solo career, will finish off the 2016 QUIET RIOT tour dates through December.

During a recent appearance on "Trunk Nation", Eddie Trunk's new show on SiriusXM channel Volume (106),QUIET RIOT drummer Frankie Banali stated about Pearl's departure from the group: "I don't want people to think that all of a sudden this just happened and there was some breakup. Everything happens for a reason."

He continued: "Jizzy gave notice several months ago — maybe four months ago, five months ago. It was decided that it was beneficial to both sides of the equation to continue out the year — financially, [with] consideration for Jizzy, and for me, being able to do the dates that were contracted. So I think it worked out for everyone."

Banali added: "I was actually going to go public [with Jizzy's exit] a week before [QUIET RIOT's appearance on] the [Monsters Of Rock] cruise, and then all of a sudden I came to the realization that if I go public before the cruise, I'm gonna be sequestered on a ship for four days, and the only people that are there are fans and press. And so I didn't want those dates, those two QUIET RIOT shows, to revolve around who's leaving and why; I wanted people to concentrate on the music. But as soon as we docked, 'Boom!' But it was already in place. I mean, I was gonna do it a week before."

Banali also talked about QUIET RIOT's latest addition. He said: "His name is Seann Nicols, and he was with ADLER'S APPETITE a number of years ago. But he was off my radar because for the last, I think, two or three years, he had gone back to the university to get a degree in business, so he had been off the grid. And Alex Grossi [QUIET RIOT guitarist] told me that I should check him out, so I checked him out. And I sent him a non-disclosure agreement to sign, and we went ahead about seeing if it could work, if he could sing the catalog."

He continued: "I think one of the reasons we've had such a turnover of singers is because Kevin [DuBrow, late QUIET RIOT singer] was the complete package in every sense of the word. But Seann is really, really good. And I ended up signing a deal with Frontiers Records to release a new album in 2017. And come to find out that Seann writes some great lyrics and great melodies. So all the material is written, the drum tracks are all cut, all the bass is done, we're working on guitars now. All the vocals are all mapped out, 'cause we did 'em as demos. And we're gonna go in and finish up the guitars next week and background vocals next week."

Even though Seann won't make his live debut with QUIET RIOT until January, Banali is confident that the singer is more than up to the task. "I don't do anything by chance," the drummer said. "If the QUIET RIOT movie [the 'Quiet Riot: Well Now You're Here There's No Way Back' documentary] should tell you anything about me, it's that I don't leave anything to chance."

The Pearl-fronted QUIET RIOT recorded six new songs for an album called "10", which was released digitally on iTunes and Amazon.com in June 2014, but Banali pulled the songs from both download stores shortly after putting the effort on sale and hasn't made them available again. He later explained that his decision to remove "10" from iTunes and Amazon.com was motivated in part by the fact that he couldn't find a record label that would properly promote the album. In addition, he said that the system that brought us classic rock music has been forever altered by the times and the promotional and marketing engine that is broken, no longer effectively exposing music from the labels through radio and to the masses.