LASH! – Crank It Up 1989-90 [FnA Records remaster] (2026) *HQ*

320_1 /// 320_2 /// HQ 1 /// HQ 2

The exclamation mark shouldn’t be missed. LASH! only recorded a demo album on cassette in 1989-90. In the golden era when hair metal in Hollywood was booming, such an awesome band like Lash! could have been huge, because they had the killing single “Crank it Up” which was promoted with a music video, but they were finally submerged without a recording deal and an official album released.
Now FnA is finally releasing LASH! recordings / cassette, for the first time on CD, remastered, and titled as their original single / video; “Crank It Up“.
LASH was a self-contained, self-functioning band. “We did it all, everything from booking our own shows, flyering the clubs and the streets, to becoming the house band at the Whisky A Go Go – all without a manager or team (except for the short period we were managed by L.A. Guns manager),” States lead guitarist JP Cervoni.
They had very flaming hard rock songs and soulful ballads, with a sound close to the ‘American’ Whitesnake circa 1990 and The Cult, all intermingled with the glammy stuff from the hair metal genre. And they had the looks… some of them were performers / models at Chippendales. But also were fine musicians.

The band start came when JP was producing an album for actress Ann Turkel (wife of actor Richard Harris). Ann had wanted to put a band together so she asked JP for help in doing so. JP hired John Platero for the drum position and as as friendship developed between JP and John, they would desire to put their own band together.
John brought in Bernie Tavis and Al Prano from Chippendales (hell, we all were in tremendous shape and looked like Chippendale dancers – says JP). ”It was the late 80s and as every band on the Sunset Strip new the looks were extremely important – so we hired Sam who was a friend of John and was the last missing piece of the 5 member band”.

LASH! (1989-1990) worked tirelessly, and the hard work began to pay off when they were asked to become the House band of The Whisky a GoGo (other bands who were the house band were Chicago, The Doors, Motley Crue, and a handful or two more).
”Being the House band at The Whisky was a huge deal; we started playing the venue mid-week days, around 7:30 pm… It was still light outside! We ended up packing the Whisky (amongst other venues). In a pay-to-play town, we were getting paid as the Whisky house band.”

It was time for LASH! to go into the studio and record some demos in hopes of finding a major producer / record deal.
JP was friend with Paul Stanley and the plan was to have Paul see the band in hopes of having him produce the album; it never happened, but JP did show the band to Gene Simmons! Gene said that the band was so good looking, that he questions if the band was going to be taken seriously.
But they were fine musicians. At that time, Lita Ford use to hang with JP, as she was a fan of his guitar playing. Picked up by ex- Jimi Hendrix’s Band Of Gypsys drummer Buddy Miles, JP was the next guitar player to play with Buddy after Hendix’s passing (JP is now the ambassador guitar player for “The Jimi Hendrix Foundation”).
John was a Top graduating student at P.I.T school, Bernie was a classically trained Violin player.

So what happened to the 5 guys of LASH? JP went on to play with Buddy Miles (Jimi Hendrix), John Platero played with Cher and Bo Diddley – and well… Bernie and Al (as well as John) were in demand performers/models at Chippendales. Sam would remain a local musician.
Very cool hard rockin’ music from the LA 1989/90 era.
Highly Recommended

01 – Lay Your Body Down
02 – Crank It Up
03 – Bad Boys
04 – Think Of Me
05 – Angel
06 – Higher
07 – Alice
08 – White Lady
09 – Suicide Resolution
10 – Joy’s

JP Cervoni: guitars
Bernie Tavis: lead vocals
John Platero: drums
Al Prano: bass, vocals
Sam: keyboards, vocals

BUY
fnarecords.net/crank-it-up.html