24-7 Spyz

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24-7 Spyz (pronounced "twenty-four-seven spies") are a crossover band from the South Bronx, New York City, formed in 1986, originally consisting of Jimi Hazel (guitar), Rick Skatore (bass), Kindu Phibes (drums), and P. Fluid (real name, Peter Forrest) (vocals). The fact that they were African Americans playing variations of heavy metal and punk along with R&B, soul, and hip hop led critics to compare them to bands such as Living Colour, Bad Brains, and Fishbone. The band is best known for mixing soul, funk, reggae, and R&B with heavy metal and punk music. Though they were pioneers in the fusion of rap and metal, influencing many bands, they have never achieved substantial commercial success. The band broke up in 1997, but reformed in 2003 before releasing their first new album of original material in over a decade in 2006.

1 Early Days
2 In-Effect Records
3 EastWest America
4 The Enemy Label
5 Solo albums and Reformation
6 Whereabouts of Former Members
7 Discography
8 External links

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Early Days

Upon their formation in 1986, the band immediately earned a dedicated following in New York due to the eclectic mix of their music. The band would switch gears from Motown and soul sounds with lush vocal harmonies to violent heavy metal and punk with ease, sometimes several times within the course of one song. The band was frequently compared to Living Colour, another all-African American quartet from New York City that played hard rock music. Though Living Colour's sound was more accessible (a trait that led to their surge in popularity), the Spyz musical output was much more diverse, some would say to a fault, in that it contained several different styles of music and many quick tempo changes and odd time signatures. The band is also noted for its musicianship and instrumental skills.

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In-Effect Records

In 1988, In-Effect Records, a subsidiary of Relativity, would remix the band's original demo tape and release it as their debut album, the genre-hopping Harder Than You. By this time, Khan had been replaced by drummer Anthony Johnson. The first single was a cover of the Kool & The Gang song "Jungle Boogie." Critics and fans took notice of the band's left-wing political stance and the unique and original sound of their tight-knit, high-energy music. The album was an underground hit and remains a pioneering classic in the rock/funk/hip hop genre made popular by such bands as 311, Limp Bizkit, and Kid Rock.

The band's second album, 1990's Gumbo Millennium, was once again released through In-Effect Records. The album was much softer than the previous effort, focusing mostly on clean guitar and lush R&B harmonies and grooves (even though it still contained elements of thrash metal and punk). The first single, "Don't Break My Heart!", while commercially viable, failed to receive radio airplay. Regardless, the album proved to be an underground success and it soon brought the attention of several major labels. The band were soon opening for Jane's Addiction on the "Ritual De Lo Habitual" tour. The tour brought the band to a new audience, but their growing success could not halt the sudden departure of Anthony Johnson and the band's erratic vocalist, P. Fluid. While Johnson desired to return to school and his girlfriend, Fluid wanted to capitalize on the band's Eurpoean popularity, venturing out to start his own band, the "P. Fluid Foundation." Fluid made the announcement of his departure during a live performance on the Jane's Addiction tour without making it known to his bandmates beforehand.

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EastWest America

Despite the loss of two of the band's four members, Rick Skatore and Jimi Hazel decided to continue on. After playing with Cro-Mags and Bad Brains drummer Mackie Jayson for a short time as a temporary fill-in, Joel Maitoza was hired along with vocalist Jeff Brodnax. The new lineup recieved rave reviews and the band was soon signed to EastWest America records, a division of Atlantic Records. The company tested the marketability of the new Spyz by releasing a five-song EP entitled This is...24-7 Spyz! in 1991.

In 1992, the band received their largest commercial exposure by appearing in a Budweiser television commercial that aired for the first five months of the year. Soon after, the hour-long Strength In Numbers album, produced by Terry Date, was released and proved to be the band's most critically acclaimed release to date. The album saw the band depart from it's New York hardcore roots to concentrate more on heavy metal and soul. Unfortunately, popular music was shifting away from musical dexterity and towards the simplicity of Seattle grunge music. The album's single, "Break The Chains," failed to receive radio airplay and EastWest America stopped providing label support before dropping the band in the midst of what many feel was their creative peak.

Disillusioned, the band members began work on other projets. Hazel looked to form a new band, Black Angus, with Follow For Now drummer Enrique Coley. Maitoza formed Shockhead with vocalist Joseph McCraw and Nixons bassist Ricky Wolking. Brodnax concentrated on his band, Egypt.

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The Enemy Label

When the band discovered how popular the original lineup of 24-7 Spyz remained in Europe, Anthony Johnson and P. Fluid, now performing as Forrest (his real last name), reunited with Skatore and Hazel to release Temporarily Disconnected. The album was released exclusively in Europe by the Enemy label, and was followed by a quick tour of the continent before Johnson and Fluid left the band again.

Alternate versions of the next studio album were released in 1996. In March, 6, was released exclusively in Europe through the Enemy label. The album contains covers of The Association's "Along Comes Mary" and Love's "7 and 7 Is." These songs would not be available on the American version of the album. The album was titled 6 due to it being the sixth release by the band, if including the This is...24-7 Spyz! EP.

In September of 1996, What Are Records released Heavy Metal Soul by the Pound, the American version of 6. The track listing would remain almost identical to 6 with the exception of the removal of "Along Comes Mary" and "7 and 7 Is" and the additions of "Earth And Sky" and "Save The World" as replacements.

Both versions of the album saw the band returning as a trio with Jimi Hazel on guitar and lead vocals, Rick Skatore on bass and Joel Maitoza returning to the drums for the first time in four years. Two tracks recorded before Maitoza's return feature guest drummer Carlton Smith of Royal Crescent Mob. Lead vocals were contributed by Doug Pinnick of King's X for the songs "Love And Peace" and "Yeah X 3".

The next release was the If I Could EP, available exclusively through their fan club and featuring remixes and live performances of several songs. In 1997, after a European tour featuring Matt Martin on drums, Hazel and Skatore ended the band over a disagreement.

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Solo albums and Reformation

In 2000, Hazel co-wrote several songs for a band named Crime, who were using the material to shop for labels. Skatore re-emerged in 2001, playing bass in a band named Blockk 16. The band's first release, Too Brutal For Radio, would feature guest appearances by Savatage guitarist Chris Caffrey and Spread Eagle vocalist Ray West. After the release of the album, Skatore suffered from a collapsed lung. Despite prior disagreements, Hazel came to the aid of his friend by performing together as 24-7 Spyz for a benefit concert at New York City's CBGB's. Proceeds from the show went towards Skatore's medical bills.

In 2002, Hazel released his first solo CD, 21stCenturySouthBronxRockStar. It was followed by the formation of Maitoza's new band, Crown 10, in May of 2003. 2003 also saw Hazel and Skatore reunite for a second CBGB's performance with Tony Lewis on drums. Later that year, Hazel and Skatore would announce the official reformation of 24-7 Spyz. In 2005, the band released a limited edition DVD titled HMS4L: The Many Lives of Walter Rattamus through their website. The DVD tells the history of the band and also includes a video retrospective.

Two years after the band's reformation, they released 2006's Face The Day with new drummer Tobias Ralph. It marks the first 24-7 Spyz studio album in a decade. A tour for the album is expected.

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Whereabouts of Former Members

Anthony Johnson re-emerged as a drummer for Ben Folds's tour supporting his solo album, Rockin' the Suburbs. In 2005, he made an appearance on the self-titled, five song release by Lost Tricks, a band fronted by actor Trevor Oswalt.

P. Fluid never achieved the success that he expected with the P. Fluid Foundation. They played clubs in and around New York City but never released an album. Since then, he has released a five song EP titled The Collector's Item through the Catch A Fire website. Most recently, P. Fluid, once again using his proper last name of Forrest, has formed Blkvampires. The New York City based band released one self titled album consisting of seven new tracks as well as the five songs previously included on The Collector's Item EP. The band played at least one show in August of 2005 but it is currently unknown if they are still active.

Joel Maitoza's Crown 10 lasted less than a year but managed to release a self-titled album. In 2004, it was announced that Maitoza would continue playing with bassist Roz Taylor in a new and unnamed band. Maitoza also became heavily involved in session work and band management.

During Jeff Brodnax's time with Egypt, the band released two albums, Drowning in the Promised Land and Soul Hammer. The singer has since released an album titled Acoustic EP and continues to tour in support of it.

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