Znowhite
Standard American power metal team, with the notable exception that it boasted multi-racial membership, who came together late 1983 in Chicago, Illinois, with brothers Ian and Sparks Tafoya on guitar and drums and vocalist Nicole Lee. They spent much of the following year gigging in the Bay Area of San Francisco with Metallica, and supported Raven on their US tour. Their first album was released thanks to help from influential friends Johnny Z and Doc McGhee whose better known credits include Anthrax and Motley Crue. A second collection again followed the power metal mantra, but in 1988 they adopted a higher profile when they signed to Roadrunner Records and played gigs outside of the San Francisco scene. Musically they became much heavier and eagerly joined the thrash metal bandwagon—though with results which hardly compared to those of their new peer group. Following disappointing sales the group sundered just after the close of the decade, with members drifting off in to a new conglomeration, Cyclone Temple.