Artist description NC-17 achieves its "heavy" sound with distorted Rhodes piano and few guitars. sax, electric violin, piano, bass and drums. Vocals and (at times) complex harmonies are the backdrop for politically inspired themes.

Music Style Heavy Rock/Alternative

Musical Influences Zeppelin meets Pink Floyd/Beatles with a Modern Rock sound

Similar Artists U2/Pink Floyd/Sabbath/NIN

Artist History The founders of NC-17, Robin Canada, Frank and Vince Rogala were also founding members of seminal Orange County, CA techno-pop band EXUDE. In creating a heavier more "classic" rock based sound they recorded "the Happiest Place On Earth" the defining concept album that began NC-17. Currently the subject of a feature length documentary film by Director Dov Kelemer, (theatrically released by Seventh Art Releasing) the band has finished recording 9 new songs for the album "Listen" which has been released in conjuction with the film. A trailer for the film can be seen at http://www.anybodylisten.com

Group Members Frank Rogala, Vince Rogala, Robin Canada, Ron Perron, Chuck Hohn, Robert Aviles,

Instruments distorted Rhodes piano and acoustic guitar. sax, electric violin, piano, bass and drums

Albums The Happiest Place on Earth, Hellhead, Live at 5902, Listen

Press Reviews NC-17: FILM TO DEPICT ROCK BAND'S STRUGGLE Los Angeles Times Staff Writer Mike BoehmNC-17 is making a movie that it figures will be rated PG. The idea, according to singer Frank Rogala, is to depict the life and times of the long-struggling band from Orange County and to use its story to illustrate the downside of the Southern California rock dream. Filmmaker Dov Kelemer chose NC-17 as his subject after being impressed with the band when it appeared on "Rock America," a cable television show he produced. Kelemer already has shot concert footage at Club 5902 in Huntington Beach. Rogala said the goal is to make a documentary with broad enough appeal to run on cable networks or to be given theatrical release. "This is the story of one band but we're trying to put it through the lens that there are thousands of other people going through the same experience," Rogala said. "The director is really trying to make it a mass-appeal type of thing, a cross between "Roger and Me" and "Truth or Dare." Rogala said the film, which is being financed with the help of NC-17's fans, with involve interviews with music industry figures, including executives who have turned down the band's bids for a record contract. "Its [about] the insanity of playing music in Southern California and thinking you're going to get anywhere [given] the odds." Rogala said, "Everyone flocks here - there's estimated to the 10,000 artists clamoring for attention, and 97% of the records that are put out [nationally] fail. Its a struggling-against-impossible-odds kind of thing. We want to show things that are the truth, not have any acting, and just let it be real."Los Angeles TimesWithout benefit of any substantial record deal, the core members of NC-17 have been an admirably persistent and resourceful presence on the Orange County scene since the mid-1980's. Formerly a synth-rock band called Exude, they have dropped their old no-strings rule and added accoustic guitars and a sizzling violin while branching out into heavier sounds. This latest well-crafted missive from the band's back-yard studio is a six-song cassette that introduces Robert Aviles, an electric-violin wiz who also leads a Satriani-meets-Stradivarious instrumental trio called Insight. With a voice that is scratchy and narrow, NC-17's singer, Frank Rogala, isn't going to win any awards for crooning. But the band always comes up with vehicles that work. Find the right atmospherics and a sharp enough melodic hook for a song, and even a less-than-pure voice will do nicely. Here, NC-17 casts its hooks on songs concerned mainly with romantic and sexual obsessions. Rogala ostensibly addresses the lingering shadow of a lost love as he sings the title track's refrain, "get the hell out of my head." But he might also be slyly sizing up a listener's chances of expunging said refrain once it has sunk in. The hook is unshakable. "Shoot the Bull" finds him playing a lounge sleaze who comes on to emotionally vulnerable prey with lines worthy of a self-help guru. Singing in a hissing near whisper, he makes a good, snakelike villian. Aviles, who is used with restraint elsewhere, turns a cover of "Purple Haze" into an orgy of flashy, electronically distorted bowing. The violinist's finest contribution is the instrumental, "Anxious Echos," a tensely undulating piece that would have sounded at home on Brian Eno's 1975 progressive rock gem, "Another Green World."

Additional Info See band members other albums on MP3.com Frank Rogala and EXUDE

Location Anaheim, Ca - USA

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