Back in the 80's, Ron Finn began his music endeavors by co founding and singing for the Massachusetts based heavy metal band; MACE. The band had managed to create a "buzz" and had been highly acknowledged by the Boston music scene having opened for numerous popular metal acts such as; Anthrax, Armored Saint, Raven, Saxxon, Lizzie Borden, and Malice to name some. Unfortunately after almost ten year tenure, MACE disbanded after an entertainment lawyer failed to secure a recording contract for the band.
Ultimately disappointed in the group's decision to call it quits, Ron decided to take a break from the original music scene and accepted a job fronting a cover band by the name RUKKUS to clear his head. This union lasted only a year before he decided to join another band consisting of friends from the same rehearsal complex MACE once practiced in. it would prove to be not only a comfortable fit but also a coming together of some great talent that became the band ; MAD JACK. This band did also perform covers but mainly set out to compose & write a full length CD featuring the song "Raising Cain" (which one can hear on this MySpace page). It was actually this song that caught the attention of Chris Caffery of the band Savatage. This resulted in an audition for Ron for the then empty lead vocalist position recently vacated by Zach Stevens. Although the job was practically secure from what was transpiring, the spot was eventually given to Damond Jiniya after Savatage producer Paul O'Neil decided that he would rather audition Ron for his more popular Trans Siberian Orchestra.
Prior to this audition, MAD JACK had been working on a follow up to the first CD, a three song disc under a new band name; SUSPIRIA named after the Italian horror film of the same name. Sporting an even more aggressive singing style along with darker tuned down riffs, the SUPSIRIA CD was never able to be shopped due to some band members electing to leave to pursue other career paths or simply just settling down with new families. What remained however was a killer EP that could still stand up to any of the now more popular heavy acts.
Just when Ron thought his number had been passed up when the Savatage/T.S.O. auditions all came to a close, their management referred Ron to the European metal band; EASY RIDER, based out of Madrid Spain. The audition almost didn't happen because of the September 11th tragedy but as soon as flights were opened once again, Ron boarded a plane and headed to Madrid for the audition.
EASY RIDER
After being offered the lead vocalist slot for EASY RIDER, Ron returned home to the states to add lyrics & vocal melodies to what would become EASY RIDER's fourth album; "Regeneration". With the writing then completed, the new singer for EASY RIDER flew back to Madrid in January of 2002 to record all of the vocal tracks.
A month and a half long tour followed the same year which took the band through out most of Spain including cities such as Seville, Murcia & Bilbao, as well as performing at the popular Spanish music festival "Vina Rock" in front of over 3,000 people. The band took advantage of a break in the tour to write new songs which would subsequently appear on the follow up to Regeneration.
ANIMAL ON THE LOOSE!
The songwriting process with all five members coming together in their small practice space in the country side on the outskirts of Madrid proved to be extremely successful. Ideas flowed naturally and songs were completed quite fast and the result was powerful. Songs such as "Chasing Demons" and "Sacrifice" became staples on EASY RIDER's next road trek, while other experiments in different styles produced songs such as "Suddenly" and the hidden track "In My Life' (the latter of which almost didn't make the album due to a fear by the record company of the song being too "soft" for the metal community. EASY RIDER's fifth album was aptly titled "ANIMAL" not just for its title track but for the different moods, much like that of a living beast, that appears on the CD. The art work created by artist Gyula Havencsak depicted the "face of man" busting through our planet earth as a strong statement towards mankind's' primal animal like nature.
A tour (aptly titled; "The Animal on the Loose Tour") followed with the band finally being able to take their music to the rest of Europe visiting Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. This was a dream come true for all the members of EASY RIDER, boarding a double decker tour bus and trekking across these fabulous countries along with the band "Tierra Santa" another Spanish metal quintet. A short day by day journal of the tour will be available shortly on this MySpace page. Once the tour wrapped up, EASY RIDER returned months later to cap off the tour in Spain with a handful of Spanish dates.
Since these dates, Ron has returned to Spain on occasion to perform with the band as well as playing back home in Boston with another cover project called WILDSIDE. The boys in Spain have also put together another original project called Neomenia which offers a lighter side of progressive rock to the other side of the Atlantic's music fans. Ron is also currently working on some new original music with some local musicians and is looking forward to recording and releasing these new songs in the not too distant future. Until then, keep the music turned up loud!